Connection to... Addressing Digital Inequities in Supporting the Well-Being of Young Indigenous Australians in the Wake of COVID-19 (original) (raw)
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Springer eBooks, 2024
In April 2021 the Australian Government announced digital inclusion as a new Closing the Gap target, aiming for digital equity for First Nations people by 2026 (Coalition of Australian Governments, 2020). The Closing the Gap target is intended to provide the incentive for government investment in measuring and tracking digital inclusion of remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders. However, the COVID-19 experience suggests this is highly ambitious without a targeted and well-funded strategy to bridge the growing digital gap. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are among the most digitally excluded population groups in Australia. While the availability of D. Featherstone (*
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
This paper describes the first six years of a government-initiated project to train Indigenous health professionals in digital mental health (d-MH). It illustrates how community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods were used to enable this “top-down” project to be transformed into a ‘ground-up’ community-guided process; and how, in turn, the guidance from the local Indigenous community partners went on to influence the national government’s d-MH agenda. The CBPR partnership between five community partners and a university rural health department is described, with illustrations of how CBPR harnessed the community’s voice in making the project relevant to their wellbeing needs. The local Indigenous community’s involvement led to a number of unexpected outcomes, which impacted locally and nationally. At an early stage, the conceptual framework of the project was changed from d-MH to the culturally-relevant Indigenous framework of digital social and emotional wellbeing (d-SEWB)....
Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2023
Background: Digital health is becoming ubiquitous, and we must ensure equity in access. Indigenous people across most high-income countries typically have not benefited as much as other citizens from usual health care systems and technologies. Despite Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's clear interest in, and enthusiastic use of, new technologies, little research has examined the needs or interests of older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. Objective: This study prioritizes the perspectives of older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, tapping into their expertise associated with Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing, as well as their unique position within their families and communities, to design a model for using digital technologies to improve health for themselves and their families as well as their communities. Methods: Older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women from 4 partner organizations were recruited for this study. This co-designed qualitative research included citizen scientists in shaping the protocol as well as collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data. We used yarning, an Indigenous research method validated for use in health research with Indigenous people and seen as respectful and culturally safe, as a primary research tool. The use of Indigenous methodologies and our iterative process enabled us to deeply explore and incorporate perspectives from all participants and ensure that the perspectives of Indigenous citizen scientists with lived experience were privileged. The data-checking methods also used a yarning methodology, which ensured that the findings and translational model derived from the findings were validated by the participants. Results: Participants comprised 24 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women aged ≥41 years and including 3 generations that did not grow up with the internet: seniors, baby boomers, and Generation X. The key findings in this research were that older women use various digital technologies to improve health and well-being for themselves and their families as well as their communities. Older Aboriginal women want a culturally sensitive cyberspace that caters specifically to their needs and includes relevant content and functionality that are accessible and efficient. Our translational model highlights the conditions necessary for anyone to use digital health technologies, summarizes the essential elements needed to promote equity in digital health, and illuminates the unmet needs and requirements for older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women to fully benefit from digital health technologies. Conclusions: Health is a fundamental right. As we move toward greater reliance on digital health solutions, we must recognize and address the concerns of the smaller populations of people who differ in their needs. We must urgently address the financial, connectivity, and other limiting factors highlighted by older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in this study that limit equitable access to digital health tools.
Visual Studies, 2019
is concerned with the lives of modern youth from education to technology to mental health. Technology is ubiquitous in the day to day lives of young people in Canada but little is known about the ways in which digital media affects their mental health, especially for Indigenous youth. Research seldom engages youth to clarify and or interrogate digital media and well-being. This paper addresses the dearth of empirical work and supports the development of practices which better reflect and address health impacts of digital technology on young lives. In using an empowering participatory process to provide Indigenous youth opportunity and tools to produce short digital story films helped them to reflect their unique experiences with digital media and its role in both personal and community wellbeing. The study also explores youth-produced filmmaking as an effective medium for communicating technologyrelated experiences and challenges. We share youthproduced films to exemplify the cultural process and products that arose in this project.
Visual Studies, 2019
The Young Lives Research Laboratory is concerned with the lives of modern youth from education to technology to mental health. Technology is ubiquitous in the day to day lives of young people in Canada but little is known about the ways in which digital media affects their mental health, especially for Indigenous youth. Research seldom engages youth to clarify and or interrogate digital media and well-being. This paper addresses the dearth of empirical work and supports the development of practices which better reflect and address health impacts of digital technology on young lives. In using an empowering participatory process to provide Indigenous youth opportunity and tools to produce short digital story films helped them to reflect their unique experiences with digital media and its role in both personal and community well-being. The study also explores youth-produced filmmaking as an effective medium for communicating technology-related experiences and challenges. We share youth-produced films to exemplify the cultural process and products that arose in this project.
Indigenous Online Creative Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown in Western Australia
Preservation, Digital Technology & Culture
In response to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, many communities of endangered Indigenous languages have utilised digital technologies and created online language resources with renewed motivation. In this article we explore the ways that Noongar community members have shifted, adapted and persisted in creating new language revitalisation resources for their endangered Aboriginal language, describing three case studies of video content created and shared online through social media as localised responses to the pressing need for easily produced, accessible and engaging online approaches to support Indigenous communities and their languages.
Australian Journal of Social Issues, 2020
In April 2020 a Group of Eight Taskforce was convened, consisting of over 100 researchers, to provide independent, research‐based recommendations to the Commonwealth Government on a “Roadmap to Recovery” from COVID‐19. The report covered issues ranging from pandemic control and relaxation of social distancing measures, to well‐being and special considerations for vulnerable populations. Our work focused on the critical needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities; this paper presents an overview of our recommendations to the Roadmap report. In addressing the global challenges posed by pandemics for citizens around the world, Indigenous people are recognised as highly vulnerable. At the time of writing Australia's First Nations Peoples have been largely spared from COVID‐19 in comparison to other Indigenous populations globally. Our recommendations emphasise self‐determination and equitable needs‐based funding to support Indigenous communities to recover from COVID‐...
Australians’ Well-being and Resilience during COVID-19
This report was produced as part of the project Enhancing resilience and social belonging during the COVID-19 pandemic, funded through the Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Societies (CRIS). The Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Societies The Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Societies (CRIS) is an independent think-tank, researching some of the trickiest challenges that our society is facing-racism, societal division, systemic bias and disadvantage, economic inequities, extremism and discrimination. Our team is passionate about creating meaningful social change. We produce robust evidence and rigorous analysis that shapes policies for social inclusion and resilience and supports people and communities working in these fields. At the heart of our approach is a genuinely inclusive and collaborative practice. We partner with organisations working on the ground and work with communities at all stages of the research process, from design to dissemination.