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Research

Risk averse practice has dominated the child protection field for decades, with high-profile child deaths, ever-tightening surveillance, and regulation of families. In this context, the practice of social work as ‘risk work’ including the use of risk assessment tools has been subject to substantial scholarly investigation. Less attention has been paid to the community organisations that play a central role in supporting child protection-involved parents. Based on interviews with Australian community workers, we examine their negotiation of the parent support/parent risk dichotomy.

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Our data set provides a useful reference point for genomic studies on Aboriginal Australians

Research

Most estimates of stroke incidence among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (hereinafter Aboriginal) Australians are confined to single regions and include small sample sizes. We aimed to measure and compare stroke incidence in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal residents across central and western Australia.

Research

Children spend almost one-third of their waking hours at school. Streptococcus pyogenes (Strep A) is a common childhood bacterial infection that can progress to causing serious disease. We aimed to detect Strep A in classrooms by using environmental settle plates and swabbing of high-touch surfaces in two remote schools in the Kimberley, Western Australia.

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Healing Right Way (HRW) aimed to improve health outcomes for Aboriginal Australians with stroke or traumatic brain injury by facilitating system-level access to culturally secure rehabilitation services. Using a stepped-wedge randomised controlled trial design, a two-pronged intervention was introduced in four rural and four urban hospitals, comprising cultural security training for staff and training/employment of Aboriginal Brain Injury Coordinators to support Aboriginal patients for 6-months post-injury.

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This study described the distribution of healthy body composition among Aboriginal adolescents in Australia aged 10-24 years and examined associations with health behaviours and self-rated health.

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Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is a lifelong disability of varying severity that occurs among individuals prenatally exposed to alcohol. Among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) Australians, the effects of colonisation and ongoing racism could increase the risk of alcohol consumption during pregnancy.

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Indigenous Australians harbour rich and unique genomic diversity. However, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ancestries are historically under-represented in genomics research and almost completely missing from reference datasets. Addressing this representation gap is critical, both to advance our understanding of global human genomic diversity and as a prerequisite for ensuring equitable outcomes in genomic medicine.

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Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is highly prevalent within the Indigenous Australian community. Novel glucose monitoring technology offers an accurate approach to glycaemic management, providing real-time information on glucose levels and trends. The acceptability and feasibilility of this technology in Indigenous Australians with T2DM has not been investigated. 

Research

The Indigenous peoples of Australia have a rich linguistic and cultural history. How this relates to genetic diversity remains largely unknown because of their limited engagement with genomic studies. Here we analyse the genomes of 159 individuals from four remote Indigenous communities, including people who speak a language (Tiwi) not from the most widespread family (Pama-Nyungan). This large collection of Indigenous Australian genomes was made possible by careful community engagement and consultation.