Explore the vast range of titles available.

Background Improving the rates of, and instruments used in, screening for perinatal depression and anxiety among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are important public health priorities. The Kimberley Mum’s Mood Scale (KMMS) was developed and later validated as an effective and acceptable perinatal depression and anxiety screening tool for the Kimberley region under research conditions. Other regions have expressed interest in using the KMMS with perinatal Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. It is, however, important to re-evaluate the KMMS in a larger Kimberley sample via a real world implementation study, and to test for applicability in other remote and regional environments before recommendations for wider use can be made. This paper outlines the protocol for evaluating the process of implementation and establishing the ‘real world’ validity and acceptability of the KMMS in the Kimberley, Pilbara and Far North Queensland in northern Australia. Methods The study will use a range of quantitative and qualitative methods across all sites. KMMS validation/revalidation internal consistency of Part 1 will be determined using Cronbach’s alpha. Equivalence for identifying risk of depression and anxiety compared to a standard reference assessment will be determined from receiver operating characteristic curves. Sensitivity and specificity will be determined based on these cut-points. Qualitative methods of phenomenology will be used to explore concepts of KMMS user acceptability (women and health professionals). Additional process evaluation methods will collate, assess and report on KMMS quality review data, consultations with health service administrators and management, field notes, and other documentation from the research team. This information will be reported on using the Dynamic Sustainability Framework. Discussion This project is contributing to the important public health priority of screening Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women for perinatal depression and anxiety with tools that are meaningful and responsive to cultural and clinical needs. Identifying and addressing barriers to implementation contributes to our understanding of the complexity of improving routine clinical practie. Trial registration The study was registered retrospectively on 15/05/2019 with the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trial registry ( ACTRN12619000580178 ).

More than 4000 Indigenous Australian students enrol and take up a placement at boarding school each year. While reasons for attending boarding school vary, the impetus for many remote and very remote-dwelling students is restricted secondary educational opportunities in their home communities. A large multi-site study is being undertaken across Queensland to understand the conditions required for these students to be resilient while studying away from home. This paper reports on levels of student satisfaction with Queensland Department of Education's Transition Support Service (TSS) that provide assistance to remote-dwelling Indigenous students in the transition to boarding schools. A survey instrument administered to students included 22 close-ended questions to elicit levels of student satisfaction with TSS. Data were collected electronically using SurveyMonkey™ and analysed in SPSS v24. Descriptive statistics were calculated for variables assessing service support, student perceptions and experiences. A total of 294 primary, secondary and re-engaging students across 21 sites responded. Nearly all primary students (97%) anticipated that TSS would assist their move to boarding school. All secondary students identified that TSS had assisted their transition to boarding school. All re-engaging students agreed that TSS support had increased their capacity to cope when things go wrong. Lower scores related to students’ ability to access TSS when needed. Very high levels of satisfaction with TSS were countered by constraints of distance between TSS and students, and resources available to support the work of TSS. Findings point to the need for equitable provision of transition services in Queensland that emphasise the importance of relationship between service provider and student, and can inform the design of similar transition services across Australia.

To examine key factors influencing the prioritisation of food and nutrition in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health policy during 1996-2015. A qualitative policy analysis case study was undertaken, combining document analysis with thematic analysis of key informant interviews. Australia. Key actors involved in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health policy between 1996 and 2015 (n 38). Prioritisation of food and nutrition in policy reduced over time. Several factors which may have impeded the prioritisation of nutrition were identified. These included lack of cohesion among the community of nutritionists, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders and civil society actors advocating for nutrition; the absence of an institutional home for nutrition policy; and lack of consensus and a compelling policy narrative about how priority nutrition issues should be addressed. Political factors including ideology, dismantling of public health nutrition governance structures and missing the opportunities presented by 'policy windows' were also viewed as barriers to nutrition policy change. Finally, the complexity and multifaceted nature of nutrition as a policy problem and perceived lack of evidence-based solutions may also have constrained its prioritisation in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health policy. Future advocacy should focus on embedding nutrition within holistic approaches to health and building a collective voice through advocacy coalitions with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership. Strategic communication and seizing political opportunities may be as important as evidence for raising the priority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health issues.

Gudjal is the language of the people of the Mural (Charters Towers) region, in western inland north Queensland.The beginnings of this dictionary and learner's guide were in the 1970s when Gudjal people began working with linguists to record their language.

The last large group of indentured Asian labourers to arrive in Australia disembarked at Thursday Island, North Queensland in 1958. They were imported from US-administered Okinawa, Japan, by master pearlers hoping to restore the fortunes of the ailing pearlshelling industry. In retrospect, the Okinawans’ arrival coincided with the end of the industry and by 1962 only a few remained. This article examines the men’s relations with the remnant Japanese families living on the island and the Indigenous (Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal) residents of Thursday Island. Using written and oral (ethnographic and genealogical) sources, it argues that a small, short-lived but distinctive Okinawan community developed on the island between 1958 and 1962, overlapping the arrival of a small number of Japanese pearl culture technicians (1961–72). The pre-war Asian communities of Northern Australia, generally descended from labourers in its extractive industries, have greatly influenced the culture, genetics, identity, economy and politics of local Indigenous societies. Indeed, they foreshadowed the largely peaceful multicultural experiment that is contemporary Australia. This article identifies the last of North Queensland’s marinebased Asian communities and discusses the mechanisms by which social capital and social stability were created and maintained by an ethnically heterogeneous population.

Background This paper provides a narrative review that scopes and integrates the literature on the development and strengthening of the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health researcher workforce. The health researcher workforce is a critical, and oft overlooked, element in the health workforce, where the focus is usually on the clinical occupations and capabilities. Support and development of the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health researcher workforce is necessary to realise more effective health policies, a more robust wider health workforce, and evidence-led clinical care. This holds true internationally. It is critical to identify what approaches have resulted in increased numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in health research, stronger local community partnerships with universities and industry, and research excellence and have contributed to evidence-led health workforce development strategies. Methods The search was for peer-reviewed journal articles between 2000 and early 2018 on capacity building of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health researcher workforce. Databases searched were CINAHL (EBSCO), PubMed, PsychINFO, LIt.search, and Google Scholar, combined with manual searches of select journals and citations in the grey literature. A coding scheme was developed to scan research coverage of various dimensions of health research capacity building. Results Twenty-four articles were identified. Eight focused on strengthening research capabilities of community members. A recurrent finding was the high research productivity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health researchers and strong interest in furthering research that makes a substantive contribution to community well-being. Action-based principles were derived from synthesis of the findings. Generally, research capacity building led to numerous gains in workforce development and improving health systems. Conclusions There is a shortage of literature on health researcher workforce capacity building. National-level research on capacity building strategies is needed to support the continued success and sustainability of the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health researcher workforce. This research needs to build on the strengths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers. It also needs to identify clear and robust pathways to careers and stable employment in the health workforce, and health researcher workforce more specifically. This need is evident in all settler colonial nations (e.g. Canada, United States of America, New Zealand), and principles can be applied more broadly to other minoritised populations.

Issue addressed Physical inactivity is a key health risk among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) Australians. We examined perceptions of the Indigenous Marathon Program (IMP) in a remote Torres Strait island community. Methods Semi‐structured interviews with community and program stakeholders (n = 18; 14 Indigenous) examined barriers and enablers to running and the influence of the IMP on the community. A questionnaire asked 104 running event participants (n = 42 Indigenous) about their physical activity behaviours, running motivation and perceptions of program impact. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic content analysis, and quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Results Interviews revealed six main themes: community readiness, changing social norms to adopt healthy lifestyles, importance of social support, program appeal to hard‐to‐reach population groups, program sustainability and initiation of broader healthy lifestyle ripple effects beyond running. Barriers to running in the community were personal (cultural attitudes; shyness) and environmental (infrastructure; weather; dogs). Enablers reflected potential strategies to overcome described barriers. Indigenous questionnaire respondents were more likely to report being inspired to run by IMP runners than non‐Indigenous respondents. Conclusions Positive “ripple” effects of the IMP on running and broader health were described to have occurred through local role modelling of healthy lifestyles by IMP runners that reduced levels of “shame” and embarrassment, a common barrier to physical activity among Indigenous Australians. A high initial level of community readiness for behaviour change was also reported. So what? Strategies to overcome this “shame” factor and community readiness measurement should be incorporated into the design of future Indigenous physical activity programs.

Leafmining flies (Diptera: Agromyzidae) can be serious economic pests of horticultural crops. Some genera such as Liriomyza are particularly problematic with numerous species, some of which are highly polyphagous (wide host range), which can only be confidently identified morphologically from adult males. In our study, DNA barcoding was employed to establish new locality records of the vegetable leafminer fly, Liriomyza sativae, from the islands of Torres Strait (Queensland, Australia) and the central highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG). These records represent significant range extensions of this highly invasive plant pest. Specimens of immature leafminers (from leaf mines) were collected over a 5-year period during routine plant health surveys in ethanol or on FTA® filter paper cards, both methods proved effective at preserving and transporting insect DNA under tropical conditions, with FTA cards possessing some additional logistical benefits. Specimens were identified through sequencing two sections of the cytochrome oxidase I gene and the utility of each was assessed for the identification of species and intra-specific genetic lineages. Our study indicates that multiple haplotypes of L. sativae occur in PNG, while a different haplotype is present in the Torres Strait, with genetic regionalization between these areas apart from a single possible instance – one haplotype ‘S.7’ appears to be common between these two regions – interestingly this has also been the most common haplotype detected in previous studies of invasive L. sativae populations. The DNA barcoding methods employed here not only identified multiple introductions of L. sativae, but also appear generally applicable to the identification of other agromyzid leafminers (Phytomyzinae and Agromyzinae) and should decrease the likelihood of potentially co-amplifying internal hymenopteran parasitoids. Currently, L. sativae is still not recorded from the Australian mainland; however, further sampling of leafminer flies from Northern Australia and surrounding areas is required, as surveillance for possible Liriomyza incursions, as well as to characterize endemic species with which Liriomyza species might be confused.

Issue addressed: Diabetes is associated with significant depression, which can result in poorer clinical outcomes, including increased mortality. Little is known about the prevalence of depression among Torres Strait Islander adults with diabetes. Methods: Self-reported depression was measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-9 translated into Torres Strait Creole, and associations with socioeconomic, behavioural and clinical indicators in Torres Strait Islander adults with diabetes in five remote Torres Strait Islands were examined. Results: Seventy-three men and 115 women completed interviews. The median PHQ-9 score was 5.5 (IQR 0-7); 42% of respondents scored 0-4 (none-minimal), 46% scored 5-9 (mild) and 12% scored 10+ (moderate-severe). Mean HbA1c was 8.3% (67.4 mmol). HbA1c was not related to PHQ-9 scores (b = 0.20, P = 0.323), however exercise in hours (b = -0.34, P < 0.001) and screen time in hours (b = 0.11, P < 0.001) were significant predictors of depression after adjusting for other study variables. Conclusions: This sample of remote living Torres Strait Islanders reported relatively low rates of depression compared with national samples, and depression was not related to glycaemic control. Exercise and screen time were the strongest predictors of depression based on PHQ-9 scores. This represents an opportunity for health promotion.