Birthing in Our Community (BiOC) – Healthy Mums & Bubs
Supervisors: A/Prof Judith Dean & Dr Penny Haora
Duration: 4 weeks
Birthing in Our Community (BiOC) is an Indigenous-led maternity care program designed and implemented in Brisbane from 2013. An initial evaluation of BiOC’s outcomes, published in the Lancet Global Health (2021), showed a significant reduction in preterm births in the region of between 43% and 50%, improvement in healthy weight babies, increased antenatal visits and an increase in exclusive breastfeeding at hospital discharge.
The Poche Centre has partnered with The Institute for Urban Indigenous Health (IUIH), and together we will be implementing the next phase of evaluating BiOC. The evaluation will assess clinical outcomes; as well as program acceptability, scalability, sustainability, feasibility and cost effectiveness. Our goal is to build the evidence base to support adaptation and implementation of BiOC programs in other urban Indigenous communities while also contributing to policy, systems, and practice changes in support of the Best Start to Life for First Nations mums and families.
This winter project will be aligned with supporting development of the qualitative methods we will be using in this evaluation research, including interviews, photovoice and storying. The successful applicant will work closely with the Poche research team and there may be opportunity to visit with our partners at IUIH.
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Urban Indigenous Health Scoping Review
Supervisor: Prof James Ward
Duration: 4 weeks
The University of Queensland Poche Centre for Indigenous Health is an Indigenous-led health research centre working collaboratively to transform urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ experiences of injustice and inequity in health and wellbeing. The UQ Poche Centre also works in regional and remote settings across Australia, and with other Indigenous peoples internationally.
Research that aims to address the health needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples living in urban areas in Australia is disproportionate to the population with 2-3 times fewer publications focused on urban health. This is despite 61% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in major cities and outer metropolitan areas, and because just over half of this population contributes to the gap in health equity. Urban Indigenous health research is an emerging field in Australia, and consequently lags other Indigenous populations in New Zealand, Canada, and the United States of America. The issue of rapid urbanisation has implications for Indigenous populations living in major cities globally and the services that aim to serve them.
We are seeking to engage a scholar to undertake a scoping review of literature relevant to the health of Indigenous peoples living in the urban areas of Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States of America.
An overview of this existing knowledge will assist in the identification of current research gaps and future research priorities and inform the development of a new urban Indigenous research agenda in Australia. It will also enable new imaginations of methods to better understand and respond to the health needs of urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, families, and communities.
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The ATLAS Indigenous Primary Care Network: behavioural risk factors, knowledge and attitudes survey
Supervisor: Dr Clare Bradley
Duration: 4 weeks
The ATLAS Indigenous Primary Care Surveillance and Research Network is a sentinel surveillance system established to monitor sexually transmissible infections (STI) and blood-borne virus (BBV) testing, diagnosis and management data, principally with Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHS). This surveillance system is a driver of Continuous Quality Improvement at participating sites and other research activities in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander primary health care nation-wide.
In addition to the analysis of deidentified clinical data relating to STIs and BBVs, the ATLAS network collects survey data focused on behavioural risk factors, knowledge and attitudes. Collection of these surveys has been piloted in some of the participating ATLAS health services but not yet analysed. Similarly, survey data addressing the service characteristics of the 34 ACCHS participating in ATLAS requires analysis.
This project will undertake preliminary analysis of existing survey data under supervision of the ATLAS data team and draft a report outlining findings, contributing to the development of an implementation plan for the continuation of these programs.
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The ATLAS Indigenous Primary Care Network: Understanding the diagnosis, management, and surveillance of Hepatitis B
Supervisor: Dr Clare Bradley
Duration: 4 weeks
The ATLAS Indigenous Primary Care Surveillance and Research Network is a sentinel surveillance system established to monitor sexually transmissible infections (STI) and blood-borne virus (BBV) testing, diagnosis and management data, principally with Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHS). This surveillance system is a driver of Continuous Quality Improvement at participating sites and other research activities in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander primary health care nation-wide.
Regular reports delivered to participating ACCHSs address 12 performance measures considered to be best practice in STI and BBV screening and clinical management. The ATLAS project has also developed an interactive online dashboard for participating ACCHS, for access to customisable analyses and output. The relative youth and richness of the ATLAS surveillance infrastructure provides substantial opportunity for research and analyses not yet fully explored by the data team and investigators, and the quality assurance and refinement of coding and processes already developed. Students undertaking placements with the ATLAS team will develop their clinical knowledge and health research skillset through application to real world disease surveillance and research.
The project will focus on Hepatitis B, its clinical features, diagnosis (pathology), management, and surveillance. The research student will be asked to conduct literature searches and critical appraisal of published material to inform data management and analysis of ATLAS surveillance data. This work will contribute to improving disease surveillance as well as contributions to Continuous Quality Improvements for service delivery in the management of Hepatitis B.
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