Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples remain significantly under-represented in higher education systems. There are significant disparities in university completion rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students compared with their non-Indigenous counterparts. The poor-retention and high-attrition rates among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students come at significant financial and personal cost for the individual, families, community, universities and governments. Existing evidence in relation to attrition has identified complex and multifaceted reasons including ill health, family and community responsibilities, financial difficulties, lack of social support, academic disadvantage and issues surrounding personal well-being. The current study aimed to add to evidence of the academic, financial, social support and well-being factors affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student's decision to continue or withdraw from their university studies. Contrary to expectation, students' decision to withdraw was not related to academic and social factors. It was found that students between 22 and 25 years old strongly agreed they were likely to withdraw from studies. There was a significant association between withdrawal and type of enrolment. This study provided important insights into the factors that contribute to a students' decision to withdraw from their university studies, with implications for future educational interventions.
Objective: Physical inactivity is an important modifiable cause of the excess burden of disease among Indigenous Australians. We describe physical activity patterns and influencing factors, comparing Indigenous and non‐Indigenous adolescents.
Methods: Indigenous (n=359) and non‐Indigenous (n=637) adolescents aged 13–17 years from disadvantaged New South Wales regions completed a health and lifestyle survey. Socio‐demographic, social, psychosocial and health correlates of out of school physical activity (high vs. low) among the whole sample, and stratified by Indigenous status were examined.
Results: Only 21% of Indigenous and 28% of non‐Indigenous adolescents achieved higher levels of physical activity. Overall, higher levels were associated with being male; sports team membership; lower levels of TV viewing time and having an employed mother. Indigenous girls were less active than boys (OR=0.36; 85%CI=0.24–0.54), as were those whose mothers were unemployed (OR=0.66; 95%CI=0.40–1.09). Among non‐Indigenous adolescents, high levels of physical activity were associated with sports team membership (OR=2.28; 95%CI=1.39–3.74) and community involvement (OR=1.46; 95%CI=1.04–2.06).
Conclusions: Physical activity levels were similarly low among disadvantaged Indigenous and non‐Indigenous adolescents. Some influencing factors existed across the whole sample; others in stratification by Indigenous status.
Implications for public health: Early and targeted, supportive approaches are necessary. Some apply to disadvantaged adolescents broadly; others are Indigenous or non‐Indigenous specific.
An evidence-based approach to designing and delivering an Aboriginal-specific health promotion intervention appears to have facilitated the development of a state-wide network of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal health professionals and strengthened their capacity to deliver a brief smoking cessation intervention with Aboriginal clients.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.