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Data on the prevalence of asthma in children residing in remote indigenous communities in Australia are sparse, despite the many reports of high prevalence in nonindigenous children of this country. Two previous Australian studies have had poor participation rates, limiting interpretation of their results.A study of children in the Torres Strait and Northern Peninsula Area of Australia was conducted to document the prevalence of asthma symptoms. Five indigenous communities were randomly selected and trained interviewers, who were local indigenous health workers, recruited participants using a house-by-house approach. Information was collected by a structured face-to-face interview based on a standardized questionnaire constructed from the protocol International Study of Asthma and Allergy in Childhood; 1,650 children were included in the study with a 98% response rate.Overall, the prevalence of self-reported ever wheezing was 21%; 12% reported wheezing in the previous year; and 16% reported ever having asthma. There was significant variation in the prevalence of asthma symptoms between communities.It is concluded that there are significant intercommunity variations in the prevalence of asthma symptoms in remote communities and that the prevalence in these communities is as high as in nonindigenous groups.

The first community of practice of Torres Strait Islander researchers in Australia was established to ensure knowledge translation efforts are effective in addressing the gap between “what is known” and “what is currently done” in policy and practice settings in the region. The scoping review involved a search of publicly accessible and relevant online databases and a rapid appraisal of systematic reviews and scoping studies of knowledge translation models and frameworks. The search identified 156 knowledge translation models and frameworks, of which 15 models and frameworks were selected for analysis. Selected models described knowledge use in terms of characteristics about the individual or the individual’s context. Surprisingly, given the growth in information about knowledge translation and research impact, there appear to be very few knowledge translation models and frameworks that were framed from the perspective of the knowledge user, and there was no model or framework that was a stand-alone pull approach.

BackgroundIn Australia, there is growing use of technology supported knowledge translation (KT) strategies such as social media and mobile apps in health promotion and in Indigenous health. However, little is known about how individuals use technologies and the evidence base for the impact of these health interventions on health behavior change is meager.ObjectiveThe objective of our study was to examine how Facebook is used to promote health messages to Indigenous people and discuss how KT can support planning and implementing health messages to ensure chosen strategies are fit for the purpose and achieve impact.MethodsA desktop audit of health promotion campaigns on smoking prevention and cessation for Australian Indigenous people using Facebook was conducted.ResultsOur audit identified 13 out of 21 eligible campaigns that used Facebook. Facebook pages with the highest number of likes (more than 5000) were linked to a website and to other social media applications and demonstrated stickiness characteristics by posting frequently (triggers and unexpected), recruiting sporting or public personalities to promote campaigns (social currency and public), recruiting Indigenous people from the local region (stories and emotion), and sharing stories and experiences based on real-life events (credible and practical value).ConclusionsKT planning may support campaigns to identify and select KT strategies that are best suited and well-aligned to the campaign’s goals, messages, and target audiences. KT planning can also help mitigate unforeseen and expected risks, reduce unwarranted costs and expenses, achieve goals, and limit the peer pressure of using strategies that may not be fit for purpose. One of the main challenges in using KT systems and processes involves coming to an adequate conceptualization of the KT process itself.

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