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There is a growing call for arts-health and community arts professionals to work in 'trauma informed ways' to prevent re-traumatisation and promote healing. This paper reports on a scoping review of existing literature that deal with trauma aware and informed practice and its applications in arts-health and community arts. Trauma informed practice does not seek to target or treat trauma but, rather, seeks to provide a safer and more informed space for people who experience post-traumatic stress conditions and symptoms to engage in facilitated arts activities. We particularly examine the extent to which existing literature acknowledges the presence of oppression-related collective trauma – such as racial trauma – and offers appropriate creative, anti-oppressive and trauma aware practice approaches. A total of 19 articles were included following librarian input and team checking. Included articles were written in English, published in peer reviewed academic journals, included a creative arts component, and adopted an intentional trauma informed or aware approach to practice. An additional three sources were included as part of descriptive synthesis to foreground leading First Nations resources for practice. Although no specific guidelines for trauma aware practice in arts-health or community arts were found, findings are consolidated at the end of the paper to offer interim principles, values and activities for trauma aware and informed practice in arts-health and community arts. Findings can also inform general trauma related research and therapy by highlighting the growing role of arts and creativity in responding to diverse experiences of trauma and its effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This article reports on findings that indicate how First Nations musical activities function as cultural determinants of health. Drawing on early findings from a 3-year Australian Research Council funded project titled The Remedy Project: First Nations Music as a Determinant of Health, we detail Australian and Ni Vanuatu First Nations musicians' reported outcomes of musical activity using a First Nations cultural determinants of health framework. The broader findings indicate that our respondents see musical activity as actively shaping all known domains of cultural health determinants, and some surrounding political and social determinants. However, this paper focusses specifically on the political and economic determinants that emerged in analysis as the most dominant subthemes. We argue that this study provides strong impetus for continued investigation and reconceptualization of the place of music in cultural health determinant models. Lay Summary: This article looks at how making and performing music, recording music and listening to music helps the health of First Nations peoples in Australia and Ni Vanuatu. Music is an important part of the lives of First Nations peoples from these places and so research was done to try to understand why it is meaningful. Music can be used as an outlet for personal feelings, and can also be a way that groups of people can express common concerns. First Nations musicians talked about how music makes them feel, and how music is used to strengthen relationships between people, and between people and their culture. Musicians also talked about how music helps them express their political and economic goals. The findings backed up existing First Nations' models of health that say that health for First Nations People's needs to be thought about in a holistic way. The findings also showed that the relationship between music and health needs to be studied more so that we can better understand how it helps maintain links with the past, gives a guide for the present and opens options for the future. Graphical Abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to interpret and theorise non-Indigenous health students' emotional learning experiences within a cultural safety course from an Australian First Peoples' perspective. All undergraduate health students enrolled in a First Peoples' health and cultural safety course were invited to complete a post-course online survey. The survey included quantitative items along with six free-text responses about students' emotional learning experiences. The free-text comments provided by 72 health students are the focus of this article. Drawing upon Kamilaroi Country and the metaphor of the river in drought, flood and when waters become clear, this research provides a synthesis of non-Indigenous health students' emotions in the cultural safety classroom. Students acknowledged the powerful impact of work undertaken by First Peoples educators in sharing their narratives, creating safe spaces and bearing witness to students' emotions. The analysis informs an understanding of student learning and recommendations for teaching practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the environmental, interpersonal, and personal outcomes of music performance in a hospital oncology setting. An original, qualitative research study examined the impact of live music for staff, patients, and carers. Data were collected using a multi-method approach of observations and semi-structured interviews and were analysed using inductive and theory-driven theming that was shaped by a determinants of health framework. The research found that live music promoted stronger relationships and calmer environments, among other environmental, social and individual outcomes. Improved communication between staff through the creation of a more supportive environment was a pertinent finding of the research. No negative effects were reported. We discuss research findings in the context of relevant literature and suggest recommendations for future hospital-based live music programs. Results of this study indicate that live music interventions impacted individual, interpersonal, social and environment factors that led to health and wellbeing outcomes for participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to identify developmental and environmental factors and personal strategies that have shaped the lives of eight successful Autists in Australia, North America, and the United Kingdom. The article employs a process of meta-ethnography to distil learnings and factors from Autist's publicly available autobiographical accounts. Key findings relate to the importance of: identifying and enabling productive individual special interests; matching individual strengths with environmental resources and opportunities; nurturing self-awareness; developing personal strategies for success; and finding a niche in the world. The article concludes with recommendations for applying study findings in strengths-based approaches to social work and other human services. Autist's as people with autism spectrum conditions (ASCs) who have successfully established a social niche for themselves can be a source of wisdom for other Autist's, their families, and social work and human service practitioners; This study examined the life stories of eight successful Autists to identify factors that supported their success; We identified four key areas that shape their abilities and success. Those included: being aware of and supported in their special interests; having self-awareness of their internal experience and how they can embrace relationships with others; developing personal strategies to better navigate their world; and finding social and vocational opportunities that capitalise on their strengths, special interests, and self-awareness; The study findings hence suggest pathways for strengths-based social work, human services, and other forms of professional practice such as education and training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issue Addressed Method Results Conclusion So What? While social determinants frameworks are still popular in research about First Nations health in Australia, a growing body of research prefers cultural determinants of health models. Cultural determinants models provide a holistic, strength‐based framework to explain connections between health and contextual factors, including the potential role of music and its impact on social and emotional well‐being. Given the growing international recognition of links between music, health, and wellbeing through bodies such as the World Health Organisation, this article examines whether and how music practices are acknowledged in First Nations determinants of health literature.We conducted a scoping narrative review of literature from five databases: Scopus, PsycInfo, CINAHL, PubMed and ProQuest Central. The search returned 60 articles published since 2017, which we analysed in NVivo for common themes.Music was only explicitly identified as a determinant of health in two studies. Yet, participants in five studies identified music and song as directly impacting their social and emotional well‐being. When we broadened our frame of analysis to include other forms of expressive cultural practice, one quarter of included studies empirically acknowledged the role of expressive cultural practice for social and emotional well‐being.While many recent studies identify the impact of First Nations' expressive practices broadly, they miss important features of First Nations music as a potentially unique cultural, social, political and ecological determinant of health.There is an opportunity for future research and health determinant modelling to explicitly examine the role of First Nations music and other creative practices for social and emotional well‐being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital storytelling assessments at university can develop emerging human service and social workers' skills in contemporary social media production and related advocacy. Despite growing interest in digital storytelling in these disciplines, there is little support for developing the technical sides of the practice. This article shares key learnings from an Australian teaching and learning project used to develop a digital storytelling module for social work and human services students at university who are not filmmakers. Students across a range of courses undertook digital storytelling assessments using the module. A key finding was that students still experienced considerable fear but were able to turn that into significant personal and professional development. This article explores these and other key learnings from the project and offers tips for others wishing to implement digital storytelling. IMPLICATIONS Emerging social work and human services professionals studying at university often exhibit fear and resistance to new tasks such as digital storytelling. Such students need to be supported to navigate that discomfort to achieve learning. Students can be supported using online modules that support the technical and creative sides of digital storytelling. This project found that students were able to develop confidence and skills in digital storytelling after completing this module and assignment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the role that the arts sector plays in supporting and sustaining communities in one of Australia's remotest regions, the Barkly (Northern Territory). Drawing on findings from a three-year Australian Research Council Linkage project, 'Creative Barkly', the article outlines how artistic and creative activities in very remote regions, such as the Barkly, constitute significant cultural, social, and economic value. To illustrate this, the article explores one such example, the annual Desert Harmony Festival, run by Barkly Regional Arts. This example demonstrates how an event such as this can provide a site of diverse intercultural expression that promotes both social and economic linkages and networks and generates cultural vitality in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reflects on the many diverse professionals who often come together around complex community music programmes to exercise and voice their own values and commitment to social justice and to work together to make a change more broadly in society. Drawing on a qualitative case study of an Australian refugee and asylum-seeker music programme, we argue that such diverse and values oriented music facilitation teams and their surrounding networks can be productively conceptualized, developed and evaluated as 'epistemic communities'. Epistemic communities consist of diverse professional and academic agents who share common values and beliefs about a social problem. They also share beliefs about things that they can do to effect change. In this case study, the common concern was social justice for refugees and asylum seekers. The common method for promoting change was music creation, participation and dissemination. We argue that the epistemic communities conceptual framework provides one way of conceptualizing the 'ripple' effects of complex community music programmes and the ways that music and other professionals and self-advocates (e.g. music programme participants) act as broader agents of social justice and social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the value of service-learning opportunities has long been aligned to student engagement, global citizenship, and employability, the rhetoric can be far removed from the reality of coordinating such activities within higher education. This article stems from arts-based service-learning initiatives with Indigenous communities in Australia. It highlights challenges encountered by the projects and the tactics used to overcome them. These are considered in relation to Young, Shinnar, Ackerman, Carruthers, and Young’s four tactics for starting and sustaining service-learning initiatives. The article explores the realities of service-learning initiatives that exist at the edge of institutional funding and rely on the commitment of key individuals. The research revises Young et al.’s four tactics and adds the fifth tactic of organizational commitment, which emerged as a distinct strategy used to prompt new commitment, enact existing commitment, and extend limited commitment at the organizational level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This paper draws on existing literature across the fields of community music and health promotion to map the potential for participatory music practices to support health and well-being outcomes for asylum seekers and refugees across contexts of conflict, liminality and refuge. As such, the paper provides a foundation for future empirical work in the field of music and health for asylum seekers and refugees. Methods: The paper reports on the outcomes of a "scoping" literature review of the benefits of participatory music-making across three different contexts: "conflict" settings, refugee camps and resettlement settings. Results: The scoping review provided a new synthesis of existing knowledge and empirical work on the health and well-being outcomes of participatory music for asylum seekers and refugees across contexts. In particular, the review highlighted the different roles that music can have in people's lives as they move away from home countries towards resettlement settings. Conclusions: When coupled with broader evidence from the fields of health and well-being research, growing empirical research on music and well-being for asylum seekers provides a strong foundation for both further research and investment in music (and the arts more generally) as a key positive social and cultural determinant of health for this group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article outlines the research approach used in the international 1000 Voices Project. The 1000 Voices project is an interdisciplinary research and public awareness project that uses a customised online multimodal storytelling platform to explore the lives of people with disability internationally. Through the project, researchers and partners have encouraged diverse participants to select the modes of storytelling (e.g. images, text, videos and combinations thereof) that suit them best and to self-define what both ‘disability’ and ‘life story’ mean to them. The online reflective component of the approach encourages participants to organically and reflectively develop story events and revisions over time in ways that suit them and their emerging lives. This article provides a detailed summary of the project's theoretical and methodological development alongside suggestions for future development in social work and qualitative research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explains how the speaking and listening practice of yarning circles can be used in the literacy classroom. The article opens with an account of a live enactment of yarning circles with elementary students in a mainstream classroom in Australia. It explains the purpose and origin of yarning circles in Indigenous communities, and provides steps for establishing and implementing the practice in classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a need to enhance the effectiveness and reach of complex health promotion initiatives by providing opportunities for diverse health promotion practitioners and others to interact in online settings. This paper reviews the existing literature on how to take health promotion communities and networks into online settings. A scoping review of relevant bodies of literature and empirical evidence was undertaken to provide an interpretive synthesis of existing knowledge on the topic. Sixteen studies were identified between 1986 and 2007. Relatively little research has been conducted on the process of taking existing offline communities and networks into online settings. However, more research has focused on offline (i.e. not mediated via computer networks); 'virtual' (purely online with no offline interpersonal contact); and 'multiplex' communities (i.e. those that interact across both online and offline settings). Results are summarised under three themes: characteristics of communities in online and offline settings; issues in moving offline communities online, and designing online communities to match community needs. Existing health promotion initiatives can benefit from online platforms that promote community building and knowledge sharing. Online e-health promotion settings and communities can successfully integrate with existing offline settings and communities to form 'multiplex' communities (i.e. communities that operate fluently across both online and offline settings). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a need to enhance the effectiveness and reach of complex health promotion initiatives by providing opportunities for diverse health promotion practitioners and others to interact in online settings. This paper reviews the existing literature on how to take health promotion communities and networks into online settings. A scoping review of relevant bodies of literature and empirical evidence was undertaken to provide an interpretive synthesis of existing knowledge on the topic. Sixteen studies were identified between 1986 and 2007. Relatively little research has been conducted on the process of taking existing offline communities and networks into online settings. However, more research has focused on offline (i.e. not mediated via computer networks); 'virtual' (purely online with no offline interpersonal contact); and 'multiplex' communities (i.e. those that interact across both online and offline settings). Results are summarised under three themes: characteristics of communities in online and offline settings; issues in moving offline communities online, and designing online communities to match community needs. Existing health promotion initiatives can benefit from online platforms that promote community building and knowledge sharing. Online e-health promotion settings and communities can successfully integrate with existing offline settings and communities to form 'multiplex' communities (i.e. communities that operate fluently across both online and offline settings). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital life stories have been solicited, archived, and Web-cast by organizations and individuals as a way of amplifying marginalized voices in the public domain. Despite the now large collections of digital stories that are available, researchers and policy makers have rarely discussed these stories as qualitative data and powerful evidence for decision making. We analyze the political, ethical and methodological tensions that have limited the use of digital life-story archives to date. In conclusion, we begin to set out future directions for analyzing and applying on-line archives of digital life stories research, drawing on debates within existing research that uses large-scale qualitative datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. There is ongoing public and private concern regarding the appropriateness of young people with complex health needs residing in nursing homes and the search for alternative living environments. Despite the demand for change, there is only tacit understanding of the key motivations behind this call for change and even less in the way of coherent arguments underlying the need for alternative solutions. The study aimed to explore the assumed truths that have formed around this topic in recent years and to reposition ambitious but ambiguous arguments regarding the need to relocate younger people from aged care facilities. Method. By applying the method of systematic metaphor analysis, the authors conducted a review of social discourse (i.e. media corpus of 904 published articles dated 2001--2009). Results. A conceptual media map was developed to document the process of social change around this topic. Additionally, the narrative described five metaphors that outlined the experience of aged care residential homes for young people with complex health conditions, namely ''captivity'', ''commodity'', ''battlelines'', ''fragmentation'' and ''a contemporary life''. These metaphors reflected the fears and hopes held by young people and their families. Conclusions. Results indicate that young people at risk of nursing home placement are confronted with a range of distinct and complex personal dilemmas which ought to be resolved through initiatives purported to offer ''more appropriate'' residential options. We conclude that principles of good quality care are in danger of becoming misplaced within over-simplified interpretations of the needs of young people with complex conditions. Alignment of disability and rehabilitation policy with residential care practice will allow for more informed decisions about long-term care needs of young people, leading to quality outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community-based research (CBR) refers to an applied research methodology that is conducted in community settings in partnership between academic and nonacademic participants in research. This article reports on a series of in-depth interviews conducted with 11 Australian CBR researchers between 2008 and 2009. The interviews were designed to explore whether university-employed CBR researchers experience the particular phenomenon of 'moral distress,' or feelings of helplessness to act in accordance with one's moral values due to systemic or institutional constraints. Study results found that the CBR researchers experienced unavoidable moral distress at varying levels of intensity related to blurred boundaries between settings, participants, and stakeholders. Based on the outcomes of this study, further research and enhanced professional development and training practices are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite recent public attention to e-health as a solution to rising healthcare costs and an ageing population, there have been relatively few studies examining the geographical pattern of e-health usage. This paper argues for an equitable approach to e-health and attention to the way in which e-health initiatives can produce locational health inequalities, particularly in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas. In this paper, we use a case study to demonstrate geographical variation in Internet accessibility, Internet status and prevalence of chronic diseases within a small district. There are significant disparities in access to health information within socioeconomically disadvantaged areas. The most vulnerable people in these areas are likely to have limited availability of, or access to Internet healthcare resources. They are also more likely to have complex chronic diseases and, therefore, be in greatest need of these resources. This case study demonstrates the importance of an equitable approach to e-health information technologies and telecommunications infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the use of a partnership self-evaluation tool in local health partnerships in Australia. Partnership tools are intended to be used across all phases of partnership development and are typically delivered in the form of a self-administered survey. Survey questions are designed to encourage members of local partnerships to reflect on their progress to date and, if necessary, to reorient future activities to satisfy objectives and desired outcomes. In this paper we argue that without a broader surrounding framework of partnership development and appropriate assistance in administering partnership tools, the potential benefits of self evaluation in local partnerships may be restricted. We base these comments on a study of the use of a partnership self-evaluation tool as part of a broader chronic disease initiative in 17 communities across regional Australia during 2008. Although participants reported favourable outcomes from being involved in the local partnerships, and some found the tool to be of benefit, only 8 of the 17 partnerships actually used the self-evaluation tool. The reported reasons for non-use related primarily to: (1) lack of time; (2) perceptions that it was too early to 'evaluate' the partnership; and (3) difficulty in administering the tool. These barriers to use indicate that participants may have been unaware of the potential of the tool to assist in partnership development over time. Partnership participants may require more preparation to use partnership tools in a way that can secure high quality sustainable local health partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective This paper provides a review of key issues affecting the uptake of clinical guidelines by general practitioners (GPs) in Australia and internationally. Attention is given to the barriers that affect guideline uptake, the quality of guidelines and the dissemination of guidelines to GPs in practice settings. Method A comprehensive cross-disciplinary literature review of peer-reviewed journals was conducted between January and April 2008. The literature review was undertaken by three independent researchers from diverse disciplinary backgrounds. The review focused on studies that explored the barriers and issues associated with the use of guidelines in general practice and suggestions for more effective use. Results Pathways for clinicians to evaluate and use guidelines are still not clear. The majority of contemporary literature promotes linear ‘uptake’ and ‘accessibility’ models for clinical guidelines that may not attend to more complex issues associated with GPs' ways of practising on a daily basis. There are also few clear guidelines for GPs on how to ‘adapt’ guidelines for local and individual patient circumstances. Conclusions Peak organizations such as General Practice Queensland in Australia can have a significant role in helping GPs to evaluate and use clinical guidelines. The suggested approach emphasizes the need for such peak bodies to promote respect for practitioner experience, interpretation and patient insight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a fresh examination of claims that biotechnology and other high profile areas of scientific research and development create a "virtuous cycle" that delivers benefits to society and ecology through an array of consumer products. Specifically, the article investigates who and what has agency in this virtuous cycle and who and what does not. I argue that official discourses on and definitions of biotechnology create strict demarcations not only on who can act in relation to biotechnology research development options, but also on where and at which stages of the virtuous cycle these agents can act. For example, scientists are presented as passive rather than active agents whose influence is limited to the laboratory context despite rhetorical use of their identity and credibility across all contexts of product development and consumption explored. Agency is highly significant in biotechnology and other areas of scientific advance because it determines who or what has moral decision making power regarding the place of new technologies in society. The article concludes with a discussion of the social and ethical impacts of these demarcations of agency in biotechnology's virtuous cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews existing approaches to inclusive, co-produced and agentic research in disability, and shares related reflections from a co-produced digital storytelling project. The project, which included self-advocates with intellectual disabilities, academics, and support staff was undertaken in Queensland, Australia, in 2018. This paper reflects on the potential and limitations of inclusive research methods by, and with, people with intellectual disabilities. We reflect on and analyse our experiences using a co-production framework and consider how this project increased participation and agency by, with, and for people with intellectual disabilities. The paper concludes with a summary of learnings and recommendations for future co-produced research activities including the importance of taking time to build capacity and establish the required foundations for more inclusive research. Historically, researchers tended to conduct research on people with intellectual disabilities instead of researching with people as co-researchers. Time and deliberate efforts are needed for all people involved in co-produced research, be they people with disabilities, family and carers, advocates, disability workers or academic researchers, to work together in ways which share power and decision-making. This project reflects on the processes used to co-produce individual digital stories and a group digital story about the activities of a long-established group of self-advocates. This includes reflecting on how the digital stories were shared and received; and how the research findings have been communicated, to date, including at a national conference about intellectual disability. The project demonstrates the value of co-production methods and the extended benefits that can arise from this way of working collaboratively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is increasing recognition that the creative arts sector has a crucial role to play in supporting and sustaining communities in remote contexts. However, there are still major gaps in understanding how this sector functions in such settings, and few resources to support the design and delivery of arts research in these contexts. To help address these gaps, this article draws on findings from a three-year project, Creative Barkly, the first study of its kind to adopt an ecological approach to mapping how the creative arts sector operates in one of Australia's remotest regions. The article touches on five core principles that underpinned our approach to mapping creative practices in this region, reflecting a design that was (1) relationships-focused, (2) strengths-based, (3) co-designed, (4) accessible, and (5) community-engaged. Drawing on our experience of conducting this research in a complex remote Australian context, the article raises questions and opportunities for further research and policy making in arts for regional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article outlines a framework for working with First Peoples. The framework supports respectful and mutually beneficial learning partnerships and culminates from 6 years of practice and research in arts-based service learning with Aboriginal communities in Australia. We begin by looking at synergies between global service learning and service learning with First Peoples. We then position this work within an international context, focusing on Indigenous frameworks for practice identified in service learning with First Nations communities in North America. We next describe the Australian context and touch on the multilayered intercultural processes and outcomes associated with the programmes across three universities. Finally, we introduce the framework and elaborate on its dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing evidence that participatory music can be supportive and empowering for marginalised, culturally diverse populations. Amid largely hostile reception of asylum seekers in Australia, a group of music facilitators regularly attends an Immigration Transit Accommodation facility to share music and singing activities with detained asylum seekers, to counter significant mental and emotional distress resulting from indefinite detention. Methods This paper outlines the key themes of a narrative analysis, from a health and wellbeing perspective, of music facilitators' monthly written observations recorded in 2012. Results By drawing on examples from observational narratives, we outline a framework that suggests links between music and singing, and the health and wellbeing of detained asylum seekers. The framework includes four intertwined concepts: (1) Humanisation, (2) Community, (3) Resilience, and (4) Agency. Conclusions The framework suggests the potential for participatory music to counter the significant impact of traumatic experiences and detention on asylum seekers' health and wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article celebrates the life and work of Australian musician and educator Steve Dillon (20 March 1953-1 April 2012). It focuses on the most significant pedagogical and philosophical ideas that informed his community music practice, and illustrates these concepts with examples from his work with the Sweet Freedom, Accessible Interactions, DIScoveringABILITIES, jam2jam and One Laptop Per Child projects. In particular, the article focuses on Steve Dillon's belief that music has profound transformative effects on people of all ages and cultures, and has the power to enable people to express themselves, build relationships and find their place in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]