Do traditional culture and identity promote the wellbeing of Indigenous Australians? Evidence from the 2008 NATSISS

Dockery, Alfred Michael

doi:10.22459/caepr32.11.2012.13

Cited by 45 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…The ATSICPP ensures both that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are removed from their parents' care only when they cannot safely remain at home and, when they are placed in care, that they remain connected to family, culture, and community. This is important because connection to culture helps build resilience, a sense of self-worth, and self-confidence (Dockery, 2011).…”

Section: The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Prmentioning

confidence: 99%

Realist Review of Programs, Policies, and Interventions to Enhance the Social, Emotional, and Spiritual Well-Being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Young People Living in Out-of-Home Care

Lindstedt

Moeller‐Saxone

Black

et al. 2017

iipj

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The child protection system in Australia includes out-of-home care (OoHC) for children and young people at risk of harm and neglect. In Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people are 9 times more likely to be placed in care than non-Aboriginal young people (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2015). Australia's history of colonization and subsequent policies have caused trauma to individuals, families, and communities and resulted in poor physical and mental health and mistrust of services. This review was undertaken to identify programs and policies currently in place that aim to improve the mental health and well-being of this vulnerable population. It provides an analysis of both the strengths of the current system as well as what has been inadequately addressed based on literature in the area.By incorporating an Aboriginal perspective, this review focuses on social, emotional, and spiritual well-being (SESWB) and the aspects of a child's life and community that promote this. A realist review of the academic and grey literature was conducted in 2014. It included an extensive search of government and non-government (NGO) publications. The review identified nine programs or policies that are designed to improve the SESWB of Aboriginal young people in OoHC in local and international settings. These are the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle, cultural support plans, Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs), family group decision-making, therapeutic care, and Panyappi Mentoring Program. Given that culturally competent service provision is important to SESWB, the review concludes that an increase in monitoring and evaluation is necessary to determine the effectiveness of programs and ensure their implementation and sustainability when warranted. Policy and research work is needed to adapt and devise programs promoting the SESWB of Aboriginal young people (at both the individual and system levels), determine their effectiveness, and ensure they are sustained when warranted.

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Section: The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Prmentioning

confidence: 99%

Realist Review of Programs, Policies, and Interventions to Enhance the Social, Emotional, and Spiritual Well-Being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Young People Living in Out-of-Home Care

Lindstedt

Moeller‐Saxone

Black

et al. 2017

iipj

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…traditional lifestyle has been associated with significant health benefits for Indigenous Australians (Burgess et al 2008;O'Dea 1984), and an association has been found between cultural attachment and positive outcomes in health, psychological wellbeing, substance abuse, and employment (Dockery 2009(Dockery , 2011. It is important to identify what works in recovery from substance abuse for Indigenous Australians, including identifying cultural drivers of resilience and health gains (National Health and Medical Research Council 2002).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Growth and Empowerment for Indigenous Australians in Substance Abuse Treatment

Berry

Crowe

Deane

et al. 2012

Int J Ment Health Addiction

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“…Along with local approaches, there is a corresponding need for local health and education indicators of Indigenous social environments and individual health determinants and outcomes, particularly for small remote communities (Abonyi et al, 2013;Commonwealth of Australia, 2013). In Australia, data for Indigenous well-being and self-harm are aggregated and available only at state and national levels (Dockery, 2011) and information relevant to understanding the relationship of risk and protective factors is very limited. Hence, determining local self-harm risk and protective factors requires services and/or researchers to identify appropriate routine and/or survey data.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Development of a Survey Instrument to Assess Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students’ Resilience and Risk for Self-Harm

et al. 2017

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Background: Australian policies for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander well-being outline the importance of local community-based interventions; for adolescents, schoolbased programs have been identified as beneficial. However, there is a lack of localized data to determine levels of resilience and risk and thus whether programs are effective. This paper describes the challenges and opportunities in collaboratively designing and piloting a localized survey instrument to measure Indigenous students' resilience and upstream risk factors for self-harm and the resultant instrument.Methods: A participatory action research approach was used to engage education staff, health-care providers, students, and researchers to design and pilot the survey instrument. A six-phased process facilitated survey development: (1) defining the logic and exploring the evidence; (2) understanding and tailoring for context; (3) testing for feasibility and relevance; (4) testing for appropriateness and comprehension; (5) facilitating survey administration; and (6) refining the instrument. Processes in each phase were recorded and transcribed with thematic analysis used to identify key challenges and opportunities arising during development.results: Four key challenges and opportunities were identified: (1) the relevance of international survey instruments for Indigenous Australian students; (2) accounting for distinct environments; (3) the balance between assessing risk and protective factors; and (4) tailoring for literacy levels and school engagement. The final Student Survey instrument comprised 4 demographic and 56 resilience, risk, service use, and satisfaction questions. The T4S will be administered routinely on annual student intake. Discussion and conclusion: The six-phased participatory processes resulted in a tailored instrument that could identify the critical resilience and upstream risk factors facing a cohort of Indigenous students who attend boarding schools for secondary education. Challenges were resolved collaboratively and the pilot results were directly translated to education practice and its integration with health services. Our results suggest that both the phased process of developing the T4S and the instrument itself can be adapted for other Indigenous adolescent well-being and/or self-harm prevention programs.

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Do traditional culture and identity promote the wellbeing of Indigenous Australians? Evidence from the 2008 NATSISS

Cited by 45 publications

References 2 publications

Realist Review of Programs, Policies, and Interventions to Enhance the Social, Emotional, and Spiritual Well-Being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Young People Living in Out-of-Home Care

Realist Review of Programs, Policies, and Interventions to Enhance the Social, Emotional, and Spiritual Well-Being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Young People Living in Out-of-Home Care

Growth and Empowerment for Indigenous Australians in Substance Abuse Treatment

The Development of a Survey Instrument to Assess Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students’ Resilience and Risk for Self-Harm

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