Participatory action research opens doors: Mentoring Indigenous researchers to improve midwifery in urban Australia

Problem

There is increasing demand for capacity building among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) maternal and infant health workforce to improve health outcomes for mothers and babies; yet few studies describe the steps taken to mentor novice Indigenous researchers to contribute to creating a quality evidence-base in this space.

The Kids Say Project: Supporting Children to Talk about their Experiences and to Engage in Decision-making

Research and policy calls for hearing the voices of children and youth in out-of-home care and involving them in decisions about their own lives. The “Kids Say” cards were designed to facilitate this engagement, particularly with Indigenous children and youth. A feasibility study explored the extent to which the Kids Say cards were acceptable to young people, and prompted discussion about their lives and what is important to them. The study involved 47 participants, aged 7 to 18 years, from three cultural groups: Aboriginal n?=?20; culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) n?=?10; non-Indigenous English-speaking n?=?17. The cards were found to be appealing to all three groups, and to facilitate child and youth voice. Findings also did not differ significantly according to gender or age. These preliminary findings indicate the potential value of appropriate practice tools to support children and youth to share their experiences and participate in decision-making.

IMPLICATIONS

• Engaging resources, such as the Kids Say resource, are potentially valuable in supporting practitioners to encourage children and young people to share their experiences and participate in decision-making about their own care and service needs.

• Training in creating safe sharing contexts for children and young people is essential. While emphasis is often given to gathering child voices, there is a need for at least equal emphasis on respectful adult listening.

     

Reimagining the Northern Territory Intervention: Institutional and cultural interventions into the Anglo‐Australian imaginary

This paper draws on the example of the Northern Territory Intervention to examine the role of Australia's broader socio‐cultural context in maintaining racist policies concerning Indigenous self‐governance. Central to this paper is the claim that legislative, constitutional, and other structural reforms are limited on their own to prevent institutional practices of violence and exclusion that are bound up with popular ways of imagining Indigenous and non‐Indigenous identities. In light of the potential limitations of top‐down reforms to prevent the perpetuation of discriminatory policymaking in relation to Australia's First Peoples, this paper explores the value of bottom‐up initiatives that constructively engage the imaginative, affective, and reflective capacities of individuals to facilitate a ‘critical re‐imagining’ (The Epistemology of Resistance: Gender and Racial Oppression, Epistemic Injustice, and Resistant Imaginations, Oxford University Press, 2013) of Indigenous Australians as social and political actors. Developing and supporting such initiatives, on this view, is integral to the wider task of promoting and protecting Indigenous rights, interests, and entitlements.     

Aboriginal women in rural Australia; a small study of infant feeding behaviour

BackgroundAboriginal women in rural areas have lower rates of breastfeeding than Australian averages. The reasons for this are poorly understood. Aboriginal people experience higher morbidity and increased rates of chronic disease throughout the life cycle. The protective effects of sustained breastfeeding could benefit rural Aboriginal communities.ObjectiveTo explore the factors impacting upon infant feeding choices in a rural Aboriginal Community.MethodsSemi-structured interviews were conducted with eight Aboriginal rural dwelling first time mothers. These women received a continuity of midwife and Aboriginal Health Worker model of care. Interviews were also undertaken with five Aboriginal Health Workers and two Aboriginal community breastfeeding champions. The analysis was integrated with a conventional literature review and was further developed and illustrated with historical literature. Indigenist methodology guided the study design, analysis and the dissemination of results.ResultsThree key themes were identified. These were “I’m doing the best thing for…” which encompasses the motivations underpinning infant feeding decisions; “this is what I know…” which explores individual and community knowledge regarding infant feeding; and “a safe place to feed” identifying the barriers that negative societal messages pose for women as they make infant feeding decisions. It appears loss of family and community breastfeeding knowledge resulting from colonisation still influences the Aboriginal women of today.DiscussionAboriginal women value and trust knowledge which is passed to them from extended family members and women within their Community. Cultural, historical and socioeconomic factors all strongly influence the infant feeding decisions of individuals in this study.ConclusionsEfforts to normalise breastfeeding in the culture of rural dwelling Aboriginal women and their supporting community appear to be necessary and may promote breastfeeding more effectively than optimal professional care of individuals can do.     

Indigenous demography and public policy in Australia: population or peoples?

This paper reviews the application of demographic analysis to Indigenous Affairs public policy in Australia as an exemplar case of the demography of disadvantage. Demography has found a natural and successful role using census, survey and administrative data, but for the most part this is restricted to a series of gap analyses based on a deficit model of Indigenous well-being as measured by standard social indicators. While useful for macropolicy settings, translation of these research findings into coherent policy on the ground is thwarted by a lack of ethnographically informed data that account for the intercultural world in which many Indigenous people exist and operate. This is because the categories and contexts deployed are uncritically those of the mainstream, and not those reflective of Indigenous social structures or life projects. This inadequacy is explored against the background of an emerging dialogue between demography and anthropology. Ironically, Australian demographers pioneered such a dialogue but so far it has failed to penetrate demographic research that informs Indigenous public policy.     

白人殖民对澳大利亚土著社会的破坏

1788年英国殖民者在澳大利亚建立罪犯流放地,从此打破土著在澳大利亚的宁静.为了夺取土地与资源,白人殖民者对土著进行剥夺、屠杀.殖民者带往澳大利亚的疾病与瘟疫(主要是天花和性病)也不断侵袭土著部落.这些导致澳大利亚土著人口锐减、生活方式和社会文化的破坏.白人殖民对澳大利亚土著种族的生存构成严重威胁.     

Special Interest Groups in Alcohol Anonymous:

Millions of alcoholics around the world find their recovery in “working the program” of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Most AA members find belonging to an AA group and attending meetings to be very important parts of working the program. Many recovering alcoholics, however, find that “special interest groups” are highly desirable in their recovery. This is the case of many gay men who see gay groups as critical in their achieving and maintaining sobriety. In this article, we will explore the special interest groups in terms of their definitions, types, and history. We will than take one group, gay men, and see why they have formed special interest AA groups, the positives of such groups, and the limitations of such groups. Clinical implication will then be provided.     

The “White Card” is grey: Survelliance,endurance and the Cashless Debit Card

Introduced in 2016, the Cashless Debit Card (CDC) is part of a welfare policy trial designed to restrict and direct the expenditure of Aboriginal people receiving a range of government benefits. In this article, I explain that the CDC, also referred to as the “White Card,” appeases the concerns of non-Aboriginal residents and broader Australia and that government is attempting to ameliorate Aboriginal dysfunction. I offer an account of income management in daily life from the perspective of those living with the Card in the East Kimberley town of Wyndham. I describe it as interconnected to a broader range of suite of government policies and enmeshed in broader social and political relations. Focused on participant observation and interviews undertaken with Wyndham residents in the period immediately after the introduction of the Card, this perspective is informed by longer-term research in the region since 2013. I show that the Card acts as a quotidian form of disciplining surveillance against Aboriginal people. It is also a site of reinterpretation and rearticulation through the development of subversive practices by Aboriginal people, what I describe as the labour of endurance: Card holders are trying to endure its effects and manage its invasiveness into their lives.     

Strengthening youth citizenship and social inclusion practice — The Australian case: Towards rights based and inclusive practice in services for marginalized young people

This article provides a framework for understanding disadvantaged young people from a youth citizenship perspective that includes social inclusion principles and a rights based approach to service delivery. This paper will argue that a rights based and inclusive practice approach can help to enable the self-confidence, resilience and capacities of marginal youth in efforts to counter social exclusion. A social inclusion strategy that is derived from the European Union helps frame inclusive practice and is explicitly linked to an emerging national human rights and inclusive agenda for marginalized youth in Australia. Elements of inclusive service practice include youth participation in services, issues of access and equity, service responsiveness, joined-up services and user-led accountability. These elements provide a basis for bringing a citizenship framework into services, and for professional learning and education in work with marginal youth. A framework is suggested that seeks to recognise and respond to highly disadvantaged youth that includes the marginalizing ‘intersections’ of gender, racial and disability identities. Brief excerpts of secondary qualitative data on two highly vulnerable youth populations-homeless youth and Aboriginal youth-are used to highlight the need for a citizenship approach that listens and responds to these vulnerable young people in both research and practice.     

Diversity,Disruption, Continuity: Parenting and Social and Emotional Wellbeing Amongst Aboriginal Peoples and Torres Strait Islanders

This paper reviews the diversity in parenting values and practices amongst Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders. First, issues arising from the historical traumatic disruption of families' attachments are discussed. Then the contribution Indigenous parenting makes to the development of healthy and vulnerable individuals becomes the central focus. Family therapists can draw from a broad understanding of the diversity of parenting values and practices in the context of a strength‐based approach.