Indigenous Resiliency Project Participatory Action Research Component: A report on the Research Training and Development Workshop, Townsville, February 2008

The Indigenous Resiliency Project proposes to build capacity in Indigenous communities in Australia, New Zealand and Canada to conduct investigations into the factors that may support Indigenous people in responding toblood borne viral (BBV) and sexually transmitted infections (STI). The goal of this international project is to identify strategies related to resiliency that can be incorporated into public health and clinical practice. The Australian arm of the Indigenous Resiliency Project focuses on young adults (aged 16 to 25 years) in urban settings. It employs a range of research methods to gain an understanding of the factors thatmight be strengthened to better protect young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people against BBV and STI. The project has four components, the third being the Participatory Action Research (PAR) project. The PAR has four aims: 1. Build the capacity of Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services in Participatory Action Research practice. 2. Identify, assess and enhance selected BBV/STI resilience capability of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations in the study sites. 3. Inform on opportunities to decrease the risk of BBV/STI transmission in these populations. 4. Provide information for local and area health service planning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander BBV/STI prevention. The PAR project is running in three sites: the Townsville Aboriginal and Islander Health Service (TAIHS), Derbarl Yerrigan Medical Service in Perth (DY), and the Aboriginal Medical Service in Redfern (AMS). In each health service, a site research team works together with a research team from the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research (NCHECR) to develop the project locally. Each site is using the following framework: Phase I: Develop protocols, identifypriority population, and obtain ethics. Phase II: Research training and development workshop. Phase III: Fieldwork – recruitment, observation, and data collection. Phase IV: Focus groups. Phase V: Analysis and dissemination of findings. This report describes the first two phases of the PAR project at the TIAHS.the International Collaborative Indigenous Health Research Program (ICIHRP