Strengths-based approaches for quantitative data analysis: A case study using the australian Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children

Abstract

In Australia and internationally, there are increasing calls for the use of strengths-based methodologies, to counter the dominant deficit discourse that pervades research, policy, and media relating to Indigenous health and wellbeing. However, there is an absence of literature on the practical application of strengths-based approaches to quantitative research. This paper describes and empirically evaluates a set of strategies to support strengths-based quantitative analysis. A case study about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child wellbeing was used to demonstrate approaches to support strengths-based quantitative analysis, in comparison to the dominant deficit approach of identifying risk factors associated with a negative outcome. Data from Wave 8 (2015) of the Australian Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children were analysed. The Protective Factors Approach is intended to enable identification of factors protective against a negative outcome, and the Positive Outcome Approach is intended to enable identification of factors associated with a positive health outcome. We compared exposure-outcome associations (prevalence ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), calculated using Poisson regression with robust variance) between the strengths-based and deficit approaches. In this case study, application of the strengths-based approaches retains the identification of statistically significant exposure-outcome associations seen with the standard deficit approach. Strengths-based approaches can enable a more positive story to be told, without altering statistical rigour. For Indigenous research, a strengths-based approach better reflects community values and principles, and it is more likely to support positive change than standard pathogenic models. Further research is required to explore the generalisability of these findings.

Co-Designing Health Service Evaluation Tools That Foreground First Nation Worldviews for Better Mental Health and Wellbeing Outcomes

“…There is a recognised need for evaluation frameworks to be more reflective of, and responsive to, Aboriginal worldviews to allow the cultural standpoint of Aboriginal people to directly contribute to the quality improvement of mainstream health service delivery [29,[37][38][39][40][41][42]. The development of the service evaluation is an example of how co-design that foregrounds Aboriginal ways of working can be more responsive and relevant to local cultural needs.…”

“…For example, the Ngaa-bi-nya Framework is a practical evaluation guide that was designed from an Aboriginal standpoint informed by the holistic concept of Aboriginal health and used a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods [37]. Co-designing evaluations can strengthen, improve and provide a sense of ownership for community members [38][39][40][41][42]. Foregrounding Aboriginal ways of working ensures evaluation instruments are relevant, credible and importantly, effective and meaningful in documenting outcomes [42,43].…”

“…Secondly, for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal service staff alike, developing a shared understanding that taking a strengths-based approach to experiences of mental health and wellbeing and acknowledging the central role of culture as a protective factor in Aboriginal people's recovery journeys is critical [17,65,66]. Strengths-based approaches lead to positive impacts for the community, based on their direct engagement and input into the research itself [33,38,42]. Having Elders in the workplace provides an additional protective factor that supports Aboriginal workers as well as clients and serves to refocus support efforts on client, family and community assets and strengths underpinned by cultural origins of good health and wellbeing to attend to concerns about mental ill-health.…”

Deadly news: the downward trend continues in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander smoking 2004–2019

“…These surveys provide population‐representative data about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples nationally, noting some limitations to the scope of surveys, as detailed elsewhere 11 . Using a strength‐based approach, 12 we quantified the change in daily current smoking prevalence overall and by demographic factors, estimating corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using the formula SE(x‐y)=[SE(x)2+SE(y)2] 12 …”

Community level cultural connectedness and suicide by young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

“…It is important to recognise that suicide as described in the health literature often does not centre our mob. Gap reporting, the starting point for the research article by Gibson and colleagues in this issue of the MJA , 2 continues to regard the non‐Indigenous Australian community as the standard 3 . This point is even more important in the context of this article, as cultural social capital and the experience of racism are factors not relevant to the experiences of most people in this country.…”