BackgroundChronic wet cough, the most common symptom of a disease spectrum that encompasses protr... more BackgroundChronic wet cough, the most common symptom of a disease spectrum that encompasses protracted bacterial bronchitis (PBB) and bronchiectasis, is common among Aboriginal children. In the absence of any community prevalence data, and with the high burden of respiratory disease and the European Respiratory Society task force's recommendation to identify disease burden, we determined the prevalence of chronic wet cough and PBB in young Aboriginal children in four remote communities in north Western Australia.MethodsA whole-population, prospective study was conducted. Aboriginal children aged ≤7 years were clinically assessed for chronic wet cough by paediatric respiratory clinicians between July 2018 and May 2019. Where children had a wet cough but parents reported a short or uncertain cough duration, children were followed up 1 month later. A medical record audit 6 weeks to 3 months later was used to determine those children with chronic wet cough who had PBB (based on resp...
IntroductionSkin is important in Australian Aboriginal culture informing kinship and identity. In... more IntroductionSkin is important in Australian Aboriginal culture informing kinship and identity. In many remote Aboriginal communities, scabies and impetigo are very common. Untreated skin infections are painful, itchy and frequently go untreated due to under-recognition and lack of awareness of their potential serious complications. We hypothesise that the skin infection burden in remote Aboriginal communities can be reduced by implementing streamlined training and treatment pathways integrated with environmental health and health promotion activities, tested in the See, Treat, Prevent (SToP skin sores and scabies) trial.Methods and analysisSToP will evaluate a skin control programme using a stepped-wedge, cluster randomised trial design with three intervention components (the ‘SToP activities’): (1) seeing skin infections (development of training resources implemented within a community dermatology model); (2) treating skin infections (employing the latest evidence for impetigo, and...
This participatory action research study was situated within a larger research study, which inves... more This participatory action research study was situated within a larger research study, which investigated the development of a peer-led Aboriginal parent support program in the remote setting of Halls Creek in Western Australia. The aim of this smaller research component was to explore the self-perceived role of home visiting peer support workers in this remote area. Participatory Action Research methodology was employed, within which eleven Action Learning Sets were used to facilitate participant collaboration (n = 8). All participant data was collected in focus groups during the Action Learning Sets where culturally appropriate home visiting parent support strategies were developed and examined in partnership with a child health nurse researcher. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis with three themes relating to the peer support workers' self-perceived role being identified: Helping parents be strong for their children; Strengthening culture; and Facilitating effective co...
Infectious diseases contribute a substantial burden of ill-health in Australia's Aboriginal c... more Infectious diseases contribute a substantial burden of ill-health in Australia's Aboriginal children. Skin infections have been shown to be common in remote Aboriginal communities, particularly in the Northern Territory, Australia. However, primary care data on skin and other infectious diseases among Aboriginal children living in remote areas of Western Australia are limited. We conducted a retrospective review of clinic presentations of all children aged 0 to 5 years presenting to four clinics located in the Western Desert region of Western Australia between 2007 and 2012 to determine this burden at a local level. Infectious diseases accounted for almost 50% of all clinic presentations. Skin infections (sores, scabies and fungal infections) were the largest proportion (16%), with ear infections (15%) and upper respiratory infections (13%) also high. Skin infections remained high in all age groups; 72% of children presented at least once with skin infections. Scabies accounted ...
The objective of this study was to describe the occurrence of skin infection associated hospitali... more The objective of this study was to describe the occurrence of skin infection associated hospitalizations in children born in Western Australia (WA). We conducted a retrospective cohort study of all children born in WA between 1996 and 2012 (n = 469,589). Of these, 31,348 (6.7%) were Aboriginal and 240,237 (51.2%) were boys. We report the annual age-specific hospital admission rates by geographical location and diagnostic category. We applied log-linear regression modelling to analyse changes in temporal trends of hospitalizations. Hospitalization rates for skin infections in Aboriginal children (31.7/1000 child-years; 95% confidence interval [CI] 31.0-32.4) were 15.0 times higher (95% CI 14.5-15.5; P<0.001) than those of non-Aboriginal children (2.1/1000 child-years; 95% CI 2.0-2.1). Most admissions in Aboriginal children were due to abscess, cellulitis and scabies (84.3%), while impetigo and pyoderma were the predominant causes in non-Aboriginal children (97.7%). Admissions decl...
Objective: Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB)... more Objective: Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB) is a multifaceted concept that acknowledges that a person&#39;s wellbeing is determined by a range of interrelated domains: body, mind and emotions, family and kinship, community, culture, Country, and spirituality. This paper explores the meaning of these seven domains of SEWB. Method: A thematic analysis of qualitative data obtained from the National Empowerment Project (NEP) was conducted, along with a literature review of each domain. Results: Findings from the NEP, together with relevant literature, indicate that implementing strategies that focus on strengthening SEWB is important for individual, family, and community wellbeing. Addressing the social determinants of Indigenous disadvantage is also shown to have an important role in strengthening the SEWB of individuals, families, and communities. Conclusion: It is important for all practitioners and policymakers involved with improving Indigenous health to recognise the seven interrelated domains of SEWB and to acknowledge and support people in addressing the social determinants of wellbeing.
JBI database of systematic reviews and implementation reports, 2016
Designing child and family health services to meet the diverse needs of contemporary families is ... more Designing child and family health services to meet the diverse needs of contemporary families is intended to minimize impacts of early disadvantage and subsequent lifelong health and social issues. Innovative programs to engage families with child and family support services have led to interest in the potential value of peer-led home visiting from parents in local communities. There is a range of benefits and challenges identified in a limited number of studies associated with home visiting peer support. The objective of the review is to identify: INCLUSION CRITERIA PARTICIPANTS: Families/parents with one or more children aged zero to four years, peer support workers and their supervisors. Peer-led home visiting parenting support programs that use volunteer or paraprofessional home visitors from the local community compared to standard community maternal-child care. The phenomenon of interest will be the relationships between participants in the program. Quantitative studies: rando...
BackgroundChronic wet cough, the most common symptom of a disease spectrum that encompasses protr... more BackgroundChronic wet cough, the most common symptom of a disease spectrum that encompasses protracted bacterial bronchitis (PBB) and bronchiectasis, is common among Aboriginal children. In the absence of any community prevalence data, and with the high burden of respiratory disease and the European Respiratory Society task force's recommendation to identify disease burden, we determined the prevalence of chronic wet cough and PBB in young Aboriginal children in four remote communities in north Western Australia.MethodsA whole-population, prospective study was conducted. Aboriginal children aged ≤7 years were clinically assessed for chronic wet cough by paediatric respiratory clinicians between July 2018 and May 2019. Where children had a wet cough but parents reported a short or uncertain cough duration, children were followed up 1 month later. A medical record audit 6 weeks to 3 months later was used to determine those children with chronic wet cough who had PBB (based on resp...
IntroductionSkin is important in Australian Aboriginal culture informing kinship and identity. In... more IntroductionSkin is important in Australian Aboriginal culture informing kinship and identity. In many remote Aboriginal communities, scabies and impetigo are very common. Untreated skin infections are painful, itchy and frequently go untreated due to under-recognition and lack of awareness of their potential serious complications. We hypothesise that the skin infection burden in remote Aboriginal communities can be reduced by implementing streamlined training and treatment pathways integrated with environmental health and health promotion activities, tested in the See, Treat, Prevent (SToP skin sores and scabies) trial.Methods and analysisSToP will evaluate a skin control programme using a stepped-wedge, cluster randomised trial design with three intervention components (the ‘SToP activities’): (1) seeing skin infections (development of training resources implemented within a community dermatology model); (2) treating skin infections (employing the latest evidence for impetigo, and...
This participatory action research study was situated within a larger research study, which inves... more This participatory action research study was situated within a larger research study, which investigated the development of a peer-led Aboriginal parent support program in the remote setting of Halls Creek in Western Australia. The aim of this smaller research component was to explore the self-perceived role of home visiting peer support workers in this remote area. Participatory Action Research methodology was employed, within which eleven Action Learning Sets were used to facilitate participant collaboration (n = 8). All participant data was collected in focus groups during the Action Learning Sets where culturally appropriate home visiting parent support strategies were developed and examined in partnership with a child health nurse researcher. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis with three themes relating to the peer support workers' self-perceived role being identified: Helping parents be strong for their children; Strengthening culture; and Facilitating effective co...
Infectious diseases contribute a substantial burden of ill-health in Australia's Aboriginal c... more Infectious diseases contribute a substantial burden of ill-health in Australia's Aboriginal children. Skin infections have been shown to be common in remote Aboriginal communities, particularly in the Northern Territory, Australia. However, primary care data on skin and other infectious diseases among Aboriginal children living in remote areas of Western Australia are limited. We conducted a retrospective review of clinic presentations of all children aged 0 to 5 years presenting to four clinics located in the Western Desert region of Western Australia between 2007 and 2012 to determine this burden at a local level. Infectious diseases accounted for almost 50% of all clinic presentations. Skin infections (sores, scabies and fungal infections) were the largest proportion (16%), with ear infections (15%) and upper respiratory infections (13%) also high. Skin infections remained high in all age groups; 72% of children presented at least once with skin infections. Scabies accounted ...
The objective of this study was to describe the occurrence of skin infection associated hospitali... more The objective of this study was to describe the occurrence of skin infection associated hospitalizations in children born in Western Australia (WA). We conducted a retrospective cohort study of all children born in WA between 1996 and 2012 (n = 469,589). Of these, 31,348 (6.7%) were Aboriginal and 240,237 (51.2%) were boys. We report the annual age-specific hospital admission rates by geographical location and diagnostic category. We applied log-linear regression modelling to analyse changes in temporal trends of hospitalizations. Hospitalization rates for skin infections in Aboriginal children (31.7/1000 child-years; 95% confidence interval [CI] 31.0-32.4) were 15.0 times higher (95% CI 14.5-15.5; P<0.001) than those of non-Aboriginal children (2.1/1000 child-years; 95% CI 2.0-2.1). Most admissions in Aboriginal children were due to abscess, cellulitis and scabies (84.3%), while impetigo and pyoderma were the predominant causes in non-Aboriginal children (97.7%). Admissions decl...
Objective: Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB)... more Objective: Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB) is a multifaceted concept that acknowledges that a person&#39;s wellbeing is determined by a range of interrelated domains: body, mind and emotions, family and kinship, community, culture, Country, and spirituality. This paper explores the meaning of these seven domains of SEWB. Method: A thematic analysis of qualitative data obtained from the National Empowerment Project (NEP) was conducted, along with a literature review of each domain. Results: Findings from the NEP, together with relevant literature, indicate that implementing strategies that focus on strengthening SEWB is important for individual, family, and community wellbeing. Addressing the social determinants of Indigenous disadvantage is also shown to have an important role in strengthening the SEWB of individuals, families, and communities. Conclusion: It is important for all practitioners and policymakers involved with improving Indigenous health to recognise the seven interrelated domains of SEWB and to acknowledge and support people in addressing the social determinants of wellbeing.
JBI database of systematic reviews and implementation reports, 2016
Designing child and family health services to meet the diverse needs of contemporary families is ... more Designing child and family health services to meet the diverse needs of contemporary families is intended to minimize impacts of early disadvantage and subsequent lifelong health and social issues. Innovative programs to engage families with child and family support services have led to interest in the potential value of peer-led home visiting from parents in local communities. There is a range of benefits and challenges identified in a limited number of studies associated with home visiting peer support. The objective of the review is to identify: INCLUSION CRITERIA PARTICIPANTS: Families/parents with one or more children aged zero to four years, peer support workers and their supervisors. Peer-led home visiting parenting support programs that use volunteer or paraprofessional home visitors from the local community compared to standard community maternal-child care. The phenomenon of interest will be the relationships between participants in the program. Quantitative studies: rando...
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