The focus of Aboriginal health promotion activities — Agentur Pty Ltd
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The focus of Aboriginal health promotion activities (149)

Kevin Rowley 1 , Bradley Firebrace 1 , Joyce Doyle 1 , Petah Atkinson , Julie Calleja 2 , Margaret Cargo 3 , Sharon Atkinson-Briggs 1 , Rachel Reilly 4 , for the Health Promotion Alliance Steering Committee
  1. The University of Melbourne, Carlton, VIC, Australia
  2. Viney Morgan AMS, via Barmah, VIC, Australia
  3. University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA
  4. South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Adelaide, SA

Background:

Health promotion activities often seek to change health behaviours like diet and exercise, and these types of programs are commonly funded by government and other funding bodies.  In our earlier work we identified other important determinants of wellbeing for Aboriginal people: history; relationship with mainstream; connectedness; threats to wellbeing (including substance misuse); and sense of control (Reilly et al., 2008).  

Methods:

As part of a project to characterise and evaluate Aboriginal health promotion, we have collected systematic information about health promotion activities implemented by community controlled organisations in northern Victoria. These organisations have run programs for nutrition, physical activity, weight loss, reconciliation, cultural activities, and maternal and child health, among others.  The programs included in this study were not selected at random but were those for which it was appropriate to collaborate on evaluation and where existing relationships facilitated this collaboration.  The 80 activities we have analysed made up these programs, and for each activity we identified its focus from a pre-defined list that included the determinants of wellbeing previously identified.

Results/Discussions:

 The most common focus of the health promotion activities was connectedness, which was recorded as a focus for two thirds of the activities. Physical activity, nutrition and weight loss were each a focus of about half of the activities.  Increasing participants’ sense of control, strengthening relationships with mainstream community, acknowledging and celebrating history, and cigarettes and other threats to wellbeing were a focus of some activities. While these programs do not represent the complete range of health promotion at partner organisations, the information nevertheless represents a broad cross-section of the health promotion activity and provides a useful description of the nature of Aboriginal health promotion in the region.

Conclusions/implications: Social connectedness is a major focus of Aboriginal health promotion, regardless of health context or funding sources, and should be considered in program evaluation.

  1. Reilly R, Doyle J, Bretherton D, Rowley K. Identifying psychosocial mediators of Indigenous health for the Heart Health Project. Ethnicity and Health 2008; 13: 351-373.
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