Objective
This project will establish an evidence base that will provide policy makers and business with an objective measure of the complex interrelationships between health, wellbeing, education and economic participation.
Summary
Low education and poor health are both linked to low economic status, particularly in remote Australia. While the impact of employment on health has been extensively studied, the influence of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment on wellbeing has been little studied – despite intense policy attention in recent years.
This project will establish two important baselines for analysis and policy interpretation:
- a longitudinal health study to enable the monitoring of changes in dependent and independent variables
- a conceptual framework for the stratification and selection of variables for the longitudinal health study and a quantitative systems model representing interconnections between key variables and associated feedback loops, as well as linear and non-linear relationships.
Data will be collected in communities participating in initiatives in education, enterprise and economic development.
From the outset, consultation and discussion will be coordinated between the other CRC-REP research teams, presenting a coherent and strategic approach to participants in government, service providers and the community.
The project will be managed in three stages:
- Stage 1 will consist of project planning, development of analytical frameworks, agreements, survey and analytical instruments
- Stage 2 will consist of field data collection and analysis
- Stage 3 will be focused on the long-term sustainability of the project.
The research will provide information that is central to policy responses to the 2002 Council of Australian Governments' requirement to provide regular reporting against key indicators of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander disadvantage and will fill other gaps in data that have been cited by the Productivity Commission as critical to future developments in this area.
The primary strategies for the outputs of the project will be through our end-user partners, facilitated utilisation via consultancies, and dissemination through publishing of papers and results.
The participating individuals and communities will benefit directly from ongoing feedback as to the effectiveness of economic and educational changes in their communities.
Outputs
- A preliminary analysis of the effect of education and employment on health and wellbeing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals, families and communities in remote Australia.
- A comparative analysis of the effects of different types and approaches to education and employment on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing.
- Usable and relevant information provided to communities, families and individuals on ways they can positively influence their health and wellbeing through education and employment.
- Usable and relevant knowledge for policy-makers and service providers on the design and development of policy and practice to achieve improved health and wellbeing outcomes.
- Relationships with communities and community organisations that enable them to contribute to and derive long-term value from research towards achieving their own future objectives.
Longer-term outcomes will be achieved through uptake of the research results to inform and influence policy and behavioural change. These benefits will be achieved beyond the life of the CRC-REP.
Impact
The major impact will be felt in changes in government policy which will have access to attributable values for changes in health and wellbeing as a result of interventions in education and economic participation.
Principal Research Leader
Sheree Cairney
email: sheree.cairney@nintione.com.au
phone: +61 438 121 473
Sheree is Principal Research Leader on the Interplay between Health, Wellbeing, Education and Employment Project. She works with the Centre for Remote Health in Alice Springs.
As a cognitive neuroscientist in Aboriginal health at the Menzies School of Health Research, her work has focused on the brain-behavioural and wellbeing consequences of substance abuse and mental health problems and the development of strategies to overcome these.
