Program leaders: Alwin Chong / Komla Tsey
Program manager: Vanessa Harris
What’s the program about?
‘Healthy Communities and Settings’ is focused on supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to develop wellbeing and resilience.
The Program 2 research agenda is built on the work of the Social Determinants of Health program at our predecessor organisation, the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health. A body of work has accumulated that suggests the conventional indicators used in mainstream social determinants research are not necessarily appropriate for use when tracking health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations.
The program will develop knowledge, and evaluate tools and resources to give communities a stronger capacity to address the underlying social determinants of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health.
Scope
Improvements in individual health are more likely to be sustained over the long term when the social and physical environment is positive and supportive. Some of the broader social and environmental factors identified as important to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health include:
- intergenerational trauma
- the impact of racism
- relationship to land
- connectedness to community and family
- self-determination and community control
- identity.
Stakeholders
The outputs of Program 2 will be useful to primary care practitioners, public health practitioners, managers and policy makers from:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health organisations
- other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community organisations
- other primary health services
- local governments
- the education sector
- corrections, law and justice sectors
Research
Active projects
- Aboriginal Adult Literacy Campaign – Stage 2
- Alcohol management plans in Indigenous Australia
- Community Control: Aboriginal self-determination and liberal democracy (PhD thesis)
- Creating Healthy Environments: Development and trial of an integrated model for Aboriginal health promotion and its evaluation
- Culture mediation approach in Aboriginal primary health care: Impacts on screening and treatment for risky alcohol consumption
- Evaluation of a health education initiative for urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- Health Promotion Capacity Building: From tools to training
- An integrated and comprehensive model of care targeting at-risk clients in metropolitan Aboriginal community controlled health service: Model development and evaluation plan
- Post-prison release support experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in an urban setting (PhD thesis)
- Quantifying the health benefits of on-country activities in the remote Indigenous community of Groote Eylandt
- Reproducing history: Aboriginal women in a remote community in Northern Territory (PhD thesis)
- TRAK Study– Talking about raising Aboriginal kids (PhD thesis)
- Understanding and Addressing Racism against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians through the LEAD Program
- Yarning up with Koori Kids
Completed projects