Jandu Yani U 'For All Families' Triple P-positive parenting program in remote Australian Aboriginal communities: a study protocol for a community intervention trial

Increasing access to quality parent education through a virtual synchronous setting: A qualitative study

BACKGROUND

America's crisis of youth mental health challenges has been worsened by COVID-19. Group-based parent education has been proven effective in intervention and prevention; however, a lack of universal access and the busyness of parents are significant barriers to participation. Rapid growth in technology-based education aims to increase accessibility but live, virtual parent education was understudied. E3 Parent Education (E3 PE) was a free, virtual, and synchronous group programme offered in Montana by a certified parent educator to support families navigating common and uncommon challenges.

METHODS

Through qualitative evaluation with eight programme participants (n = 8), this study aimed to understand impacts and access of this parent education programme.

RESULTS

All participants (100%) aligned on three themes describing the virtual, synchronous parent education experience: convenience, connection, and comfort. Participants suggested strategies for improvement as well.

DISCUSSION

A free, virtual, synchronous, group-based format provided equitable access and lowered the barriers to participation. Findings advised that the developers, facilitators, and policymakers consider adding virtual options alongside in-person settings to reduce participant barriers and meet the needs of different families.

Bigiswun Kid Project: a longitudinal study of adolescents living with high rates of prenatal alcohol exposure, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and early life trauma in remote Australian Aboriginal communities

INTRODUCTION

The Lililwan Project was the first Australian population-based prevalence study of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) using active case ascertainment. Conducted in 2010-2011, the study included 95% of all eligible children aged 7-9 years living in the very remote Aboriginal communities of the Fitzroy Valley, Western Australia. Women from Marninwarntikura Women's Resource Centre, a local Aboriginal-led organisation, are concerned that some participants from the study are struggling in adolescence so partnered with researchers from the University of Sydney to follow up the Lililwan cohort in 2020-2022 at age 17-19 years.The overarching aim of the Bigiswun Kid Project is to identify adolescents' needs and build knowledge to inform services to improve the health and well-being of adolescents in remote Aboriginal communities. The specific aims are to: (1) provide a voice to adolescents and their families to understand the health and well-being status of the Lililwan cohort at 17-19 years. (2) Examine relationships between exposures during pregnancy, birth characteristics, and health and neurodevelopment at 7-9 years, and positive/adverse adolescent outcomes at 17-19 years. This information will identify prenatal and early life factors that predict good health and well-being in adolescence. (3) Determine whether management plans provided in the Lililwan Project were followed, and identify past and present service gaps, support needs and barriers to service use. (4) Determine if key physical characteristics of FASD change between childhood and adolescence in this Aboriginal population.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

Approved by the Kimberley Aboriginal Health Planning Forum and relevant ethics committees.

It takes a village: Influencing policy and practice to prevent alcohol use in pregnancy and promote better outcomes for individuals living with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by exposure to alcohol in utero. It has pervasive, lifelong impacts and is recognised as a major public health concern in many countries where alcohol is used. The FASD Research Australia Centre of Research Excellence (CRE) was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council to generate and translate evidence to address prevention, diagnosis, and management of FASD in Australia. The current paper describes the approach to policy and practice impact taken by our CRE, including our stakeholder engagement processes and the key principles that underlie our approach. We provide examples of policy and practice influence in FASD prevention, diagnosis and management that have been achieved over the past five years and discuss challenges that are routinely faced in the translation of our work.

Barriers and Facilitators of Access to Psychological Services for Indigenous Populations: A Scoping Review and Thematic Analysis

Background: The extent to which behavior-analytic interventions are offered to Indigenous populations across CANZUS in accessible and culturally appropriate ways is unknown. We conducted a scoping review with a thematic analysis of the extant literature to find: (1) what are the barriers and facilitators for providing effective and equitable delivery of psychological services (with a behavioral component) to Indigenous populations; and (2) what tools and practices exist for an effective and equitable service delivery. Methods: We systematically reviewed Medline, CINAHL, PubMed, PsycInfo, Web of science, Ovid and INNZ databases between 1990 and 2020. For the scoping review, we adhered to the JBI methodological approach (2015) and the PRISMA strategy for the identification, selection, and appraisal of the reviewed articles. A total of 1265 unique articles met the criteria for the screening by title; 238 by abstract; 57 were included for full text assessment; and 37 were included in the final analysis. Results: Three themes were revealed to account for the barriers and facilitators of culturally friendly practices: (1) connecting practices are about interactions shaping the relationship between service provider and service client; (2) innovative practices test new approaches and innovations that could facilitate access to psychological services and overcome barriers, and (3) reflective practices are about critically examining the processes and actions undertaken toward effective cultural adaptation of services. Conclusions: Our analysis suggests that the level of success in bringing together services and the recipients of treatment (connection), showing flexibility and persistence in finding solutions (innovation) and examining the role of our behaviors in reaching our goals (reflection) is determined by the providers' action in the aforementioned three dimensions of practice.