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This study takes a retrospective look at the educational experiences of Indigenous health professionals who graduated from The University of Queensland's Indigenous Health Program between 1994 and 2005, to understand the enablers for growing an Indigenous health workforce capable of advancing the health of Indigenous peoples. Drawing on the qualitative accounts of 31 students and 9 staff members, this paper examines the enablers to educational success at this time, juxtaposed against current Indigenising agendas in higher education, of aspiration and capacity building alongside the task of embedding Indigenous knowledges within curricula. We look back not as a call to return to Indigenous-specific cohort courses but rather reconsider both the measures of and strategies for success in Indigenous higher education, within health and beyond, interrogating the ideological assumptions that inform them.

Objective: To determine the psychometric properties of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander‐developed depressive symptom screening scale. Design: Prospective diagnostic accuracy study. Setting: Ten primary health care services or residential alcohol and other drug rehabilitation services in Australia that predominantly serve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Participants: 500 adults (18 years or older) who identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander and were able to communicate sufficiently to respond to questionnaire and interview questions. Recruitment occurred between 25 March 2015 and 2 November 2016. Main outcome measure: Criterion validity of seven Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander‐developed items, using the adapted Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (aPHQ‐9) and depression module of the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) 6.0.0 as the criterion standards. Results: The seven‐item scale had good internal consistency (α = 0.83) and correlated highly with the aPHQ‐9 (ρ = 0.76). All items were significantly associated with diagnosis of a current major depressive episode. Discriminant function and decision tree analysis identified three items forming a summed scale that classified 85% of participants correctly. These three items showed equivalent sensitivity and specificity to the aPHQ‐9 when compared with the MINI‐identified diagnosis of a current major depressive episode. Conclusion: Three items developed by and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people may provide effective, efficient and culturally appropriate screening for depression in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health care contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Effective management of hearing loss in adults is fundamental for communication, relationships, employment, and learning. This study examined the rates and management of self-reported hearing loss in urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults. Methods: A retrospective, observational study of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged ≥15 years who had annual health checks at an urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander primary healthcare clinic in Inala, Queensland, was conducted to determine self-reported hearing loss rates by age and ethnic groups stratified by sex. A medical record audit of patients who self-reported hearing loss from January to June 2021 was performed to identify current management approaches, and the proportion of patients that were appropriately managed. Results: Of the 1735 patients (average age 40.7 years, range 15.0–88.5 years, 900 [52.0%] women) who completed 3090 health checks between July 2018 and September 2021, 18.8% self-reported hearing loss. Rates did not differ between men and women. However, significant effects were noted for age, with rates increasing from 10.7% for patients aged 15–24 years to 38.7% for those aged ≥65 years. An audit of 73 patient medical records revealed that 39.7% of patients with self-reported hearing loss were referred to Ear, Nose and Throat/audiology or received other management. A total of 17.8% of patients owned hearing aids. Conclusions: Only 40% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults who self-reported hearing loss were referred for management. Significant changes to clinical management and government-funded referral options for hearing services are required to improve the management of self-reported hearing loss in this population. Limited evidence on hearing loss in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults exists. In this primary care adult population, the rate of self-reported hearing loss was 18.8%. Only two in five adults received further action to manage their hearing loss with successful hearing outcomes evident. Hearing loss in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults is underreported, undermanaged, and requires urgent attention from health professionals and government policymakers to enhance its clinical management leading to improved quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health services research is underpinned by partnerships between researchers and health services. Partnership-based research is increasingly needed to deal with the uncertainty of global pandemics, climate change induced severe weather events, and other disruptions. To date there is very little data on what has happened to health services research during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper describes the establishment of an Australian multistate Decolonising Practice research project and charts its adaptation in the face of disruptions. The project used cooperative inquiry method, where partner health services contribute as coresearchers. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, data collection needed to be immediately paused, and when restrictions started to lift, all research plans had to be renegotiated with services. Adapting the research surfaced health service, university, and staffing considerations. Our experience suggests that cooperative inquiry was invaluable in successfully navigating this uncertainty and negotiating the continuance of the research. Flexible, participatory methods such as cooperative inquiry will continue to be vital for successful health services research predicated on partnerships between researchers and health services into the future. They are also crucial for understanding local context and health services priorities and ways of working, and for decolonising Indigenous health research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]