1+1- A Healthy Start To Life:Targeting The Year Before And The Year After Birth In Aboriginal Children In Remote Areas
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$587,272.00
Summary
Indigenous Australians in remote communities are less healthy and more socially disadvantaged than other Australians. This influences the quality of the intrauterine environment. Babies often suffer malnutrition and recurring infections during infancy which are exacerbated by their less than optimal birth status and contribute to chronic conditions (diabetes, cardiovascular disease, renal failure) in adulthood. Existing health services are costly to Government and do not achieve their potential ....Indigenous Australians in remote communities are less healthy and more socially disadvantaged than other Australians. This influences the quality of the intrauterine environment. Babies often suffer malnutrition and recurring infections during infancy which are exacerbated by their less than optimal birth status and contribute to chronic conditions (diabetes, cardiovascular disease, renal failure) in adulthood. Existing health services are costly to Government and do not achieve their potential for promoting health and providing quality care. Evidence suggests redesigned models based on continuity of care, focused, proactive family support and workload reform will improve maternal and infant outcomes. New models need to be developed, costed, implemented and evaluated providing governments with the evidence base to initiate service improvement. Such models will have applicability elsewhere in Australia. Professor Lesley Barclay and her team of researchers from Charles Darwin University will conduct research into developing such a model. The project aims to improve the quality of care for remote dwelling Aboriginal women and infants in the year before, during and the year after birth by providing evidence for, and facilitating changes to, service delivery. This will enhance the potential for the development of resilience and well-being of their children. It will also test if service improvements can improve the health of women and reduce childhood disease and therefore reduce the impact of health conditions occurring in adulthood which have their origins in the early stages of life.Read moreRead less
Creative Tropical City: Mapping Darwin's Creative Industries. This research will improve our knowledge and understanding of the creative industries in Darwin. It will provide a strong evidence base for the development of policy options for growing the creative industries in Darwin. And it will interrogate national and international creative industry policy frameworks for their applicability to Darwin.
Immunising Aboriginal Mothers With Pneumococcal Polysaccharide Vaccine To Prevent Infant Ear Disease And Carriage
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,131,530.00
Summary
Aboriginal children experience the highest rates of acute and chronic ear infections in the world, with resultant permanent ear damage, hearing loss and educational disadvantage. These infections are mainly bacterial, and Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is the predominant pathogen. Pneumococcal colonisation and infection begins within days of birth, many months before any potential immunological protection from infant pneumococcal conjugate vaccine may be expected. New strategies are nee ....Aboriginal children experience the highest rates of acute and chronic ear infections in the world, with resultant permanent ear damage, hearing loss and educational disadvantage. These infections are mainly bacterial, and Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is the predominant pathogen. Pneumococcal colonisation and infection begins within days of birth, many months before any potential immunological protection from infant pneumococcal conjugate vaccine may be expected. New strategies are needed to eliminate, or at least delay, this early-onset pneumococcal colonisation. One such strategy is the administration to the mother of pneumococcal vaccine, which may protect the newborn infant by leading to higher titres of transplacental or breast milk pneumococcal antibodies and-or by reducing carriage (and transmission to the infant) of maternal pneumococci. Previous small studies using this strategy have been encouraging, but there have been no studies properly evaluating carriage or disease endpoints in infants. The polysaccharide pneumococcal vaccine is currently recommended for all Aboriginal and Torres Islander persons aged 15 years or more in the Northern Territory but uptake of the vaccine has been poor. We propose to conduct a pilot study to determine if maternal immunisation with this vaccine, either in the third trimester of pregancy of immediately following delivery, can reduce pneumococcal carriage and the prevalence of middle ear disease among Aboriginal infants at seven months of age. We aim to recruit 210 Aboriginal women who have uncomplicated pregnancies from Darwin and remote communities in the Top End of the Northern Territory. Each subject and their infant offspring will be followed-up after vaccination and at birth, one , two and seven months after birth.Read moreRead less
Gambling-related harm in Northern Australia: A Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-based spatiotemporal analysis of venue catchments. There is growing national concern about the impact of electronic gaming (poker) machines yet little is known about the effects of this gambling in rural and remote areas of Australia. We will develop a database to define the geographic distribution of gambling impacts, the nature of high-risk venues, and the characteristics, both spatial and social, of vulnerable ....Gambling-related harm in Northern Australia: A Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-based spatiotemporal analysis of venue catchments. There is growing national concern about the impact of electronic gaming (poker) machines yet little is known about the effects of this gambling in rural and remote areas of Australia. We will develop a database to define the geographic distribution of gambling impacts, the nature of high-risk venues, and the characteristics, both spatial and social, of vulnerable communities. This will enable the design of much needed harm minimisation strategies and will provide regulatory bodies with insights into the capacity of local communities to absorb the impact of electronic gaming machine venues.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR200200605
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$247,683.00
Summary
Australian Boys: Beyond the Boy Problem. In Australia, most research on boys and boyhood is focused on risk-reduction, representing boys as problems at school, on the streets, or in relationships, with an ambivalent (if not oppositional) relation to feminism. At the same time, anti-feminist public discourse highlighting the experiences of boys and young men is used to justify violence towards women as well as call for the reversal of social changes that have expanded opportunities available to g ....Australian Boys: Beyond the Boy Problem. In Australia, most research on boys and boyhood is focused on risk-reduction, representing boys as problems at school, on the streets, or in relationships, with an ambivalent (if not oppositional) relation to feminism. At the same time, anti-feminist public discourse highlighting the experiences of boys and young men is used to justify violence towards women as well as call for the reversal of social changes that have expanded opportunities available to girls. This research project will develop a framework for interdisciplinary research that takes Australian boys and boyhood as the subjects of a more inclusive future, working to overcome ingrained oppositions between feminist scholarship and the lives and interests of boys. Read moreRead less
Aboriginal place names and ethnobiology: enhancing interpretation of Indigenous culture and heritage. This project looks at how Indigenous people’s knowledge of place names and bush tucker can create opportunities for Indigenous communities in areas such as tourism. The project aims to do this by harnessing new advances in digital media which offer new ways of passing on this knowledge to both Indigenous and intercultural audiences.
Where migrants go: A study of immigrants' post-arrival moves in Australia . The project aims to establish the geographical and occupational trajectories of different migrant groups after arrival in Australia. Migration within Australia is a key driver of economic, demographic and social change. Recognising the growing diversity of immigrants, including the rapid rise in temporary migration, the project examines post-arrival moves of immigrants by visa type, country of birth and year of arrival. ....Where migrants go: A study of immigrants' post-arrival moves in Australia . The project aims to establish the geographical and occupational trajectories of different migrant groups after arrival in Australia. Migration within Australia is a key driver of economic, demographic and social change. Recognising the growing diversity of immigrants, including the rapid rise in temporary migration, the project examines post-arrival moves of immigrants by visa type, country of birth and year of arrival. It seeks to improve understanding of the incidence, spatial patterns and drivers of migrants’ movement within Australia and the socio-demographic impact on regions and individuals. Such understanding is an essential first step to the formulation of effective immigration and settlement policies and programs.Read moreRead less
An empirically-derived conceptual framework for designing usable and useful wireless mobile applications. The technological challenges posed by mobile computing devices have taken priority over the issues of appropriate use and usability that will ultimately determine their success in real work environments.
This project investigates these issues, particularly the role played by the context of use in the usability and usefulness of mobile applications.
The project's aims will be realised ....An empirically-derived conceptual framework for designing usable and useful wireless mobile applications. The technological challenges posed by mobile computing devices have taken priority over the issues of appropriate use and usability that will ultimately determine their success in real work environments.
This project investigates these issues, particularly the role played by the context of use in the usability and usefulness of mobile applications.
The project's aims will be realised through ethnographic studies of mobile work practice, representative use scenarios and the development of an empirically grounded conceptual framework that can guide the design of usable mobile applications.
The results will increase the successful utilisation of mobile technology by Australian industries.
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Modelling the Causes of Regional Disparities across Australia. This project aims to explain the changing patterns of regional economic performance across Australia between 2001-2011 in the context of two developments: major structural shifts in world trade and commodity prices spawning massive mining growth and negative exchange rate impacts elsewhere (for example, manufacturing); and the financial crisis ending the credit boom leaving east coast economies struggling. The resulting regional disp ....Modelling the Causes of Regional Disparities across Australia. This project aims to explain the changing patterns of regional economic performance across Australia between 2001-2011 in the context of two developments: major structural shifts in world trade and commodity prices spawning massive mining growth and negative exchange rate impacts elsewhere (for example, manufacturing); and the financial crisis ending the credit boom leaving east coast economies struggling. The resulting regional disparities have policy implications for education and skills training, housing affordability, infrastructure provision, and community sustainability. These issues will be investigated using a new functional economic regions geography and state of art spatial modelling tools supplemented by regional case studies.Read moreRead less
Predicting the diagnostic performance of individuals and organisations. Predicting the diagnostic performance of individuals and organisations. This project aims to address diagnostic error in advanced technology systems, by providing a mechanism to assess and improve individual diagnosticians’ performance. Organisations that rely on their employees’ diagnostic skills rarely assess them once the operators become qualified, so there is no basis for interventions that might prevent diagnostic erro ....Predicting the diagnostic performance of individuals and organisations. Predicting the diagnostic performance of individuals and organisations. This project aims to address diagnostic error in advanced technology systems, by providing a mechanism to assess and improve individual diagnosticians’ performance. Organisations that rely on their employees’ diagnostic skills rarely assess them once the operators become qualified, so there is no basis for interventions that might prevent diagnostic errors affecting thousands. This research tests a new method of assessing diagnostic skills based on how skilled operators respond to cues. This project will test how employees’ diagnostic skills change and whether this change corresponds to measures of organisational performance. This research is expected to provide organisations with a tool to pre-empt diagnostic errors that could minimise costs to the economy.Read moreRead less