HEALS (Hearing EAr health Language and Speech services) project

A key outcome for CRE and the SEARCH program has been the collection, for the first time, of information about hearing and speech development. In 2014, the NSW Ministry of Health approved $800,000 to continue providing ENT surgery and speech therapy services to children identified through SEARCH and children attending the ACCHSs who have been identified with speech and language delays and middle ear disease. The deliverables for 2014 included completion of service provision for HEALS project, completion of qualitative studies and the economic modelling for the scale up of HEALS into a state wide model.The research reported in this paper is a project of the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute which is supported by a grant from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing under the Primary Health Care Research Evaluation and Development Strategy

Mental healthcare pathways for urban Aboriginal children

Social and emotional wellbeing problems are the chief health issue experienced by young Australians. The small amount of information available suggests that Aboriginal young people experience even higher levels of mental health related harm. Little is known about the pathways that Aboriginal children and adolescents with mental health concerns take when accessing specialized care and to what extent services are available, accessible and culturally appropriate. Further, although GPs are generally considered the gatekeepers to accessing specialist mental health services it is unclear the extent to which they feel confident and equipped to detect, assess and refer children for suspected mental health concerns, particularly in Aboriginal children. This compilation of work sought to understand whether current guidelines and treatment pathways meet the needs of Aboriginal young people presenting with SEWB-related concerns and the extent to which GPs, nurses and Aboriginal Health Workers feel confident and equipped to deal with the mental health concerns they see in the children they deal with in their work at the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs). To gain this understanding two systematic reviews and a qualitative study were conducted.The research reported in this paper is a project of the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute which is supported by a grant from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing under the Primary Health Care Research Evaluation and Development Strategy.This work was supported through grants to SEARCH from the Australian Primary Care Research Institute, the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (grant numbers 358457, 512685, 1023998 and 1035378), the NSW Ministry of Health, beyondblue and the Rio Tinto Aboriginal Fund. The CRE and SEARCH are conducted in partnership with the AH&MRC and four Aboriginal medical services across NSW: Awabakal Limited, Riverina Medical and Dental Aboriginal Corporation, Sydney West Aboriginal Health Service, and Tharawal Aboriginal Corporation

Perspectives on childhood resilience among the Aboriginal community: an interview study

Australian Aboriginal children are exposed to a number of adversities that have been attributed to the downstream effects of European colonisation. Childhood adversities increase the risk of negative health and social outcomes that can contribute to longstanding mental and physical health 'gaps' between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people and the high rates of youth suicide observed. Despite these challenges, most Aboriginal children are resilient and show remarkable adaption during difficult circumstances. Resilience is often mentioned in conjunction with Aboriginal people, yet there is comparatively little research investigating Aboriginal resilience in Australia, including the aetiology of resilience and strategies for promoting resilience in children. A better understanding of the factors that can enhance children�s resilience will aid in the development of targeted programs to promote better health and wellbeing outcomes for Aboriginal children who face long-standing adversity. This research was based on face-face interviews with Aboriginal health service professionals, youth workers and adult community members and aimed to describe the perspectives of members of urban and regional Aboriginal communities on childhood resilience, including how resilience can be enhanced.The research reported in this paper is a project of the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute which is supported by a grant from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing under the Primary Health Care Research Evaluation and Development Strategy

Knowledge exchange and research capacity building in urban Aboriginal health

The Centre for Research Excellence (CRE) on urban Aboriginal Child Health is linked to this unique base of information on 1600 children and their parents/ caregivers. The Centre is designed to: (a) increase the translation of knowledge arising from the SEARCH program and additional data collection undertaken as part of the CRE; (b) to enable ACCHSs to effectively use the information emerging from SEARCH to improve the quality of primary care, and; (c) enhance research capacity in primary health care within ACCHSs by increasing their capacity to undertake multidisciplinary research and knowledge translation in primary care. This work will provide evidence to support sustainable and transferable improvements in Aboriginal primary health care and, ultimately, health outcomes.The research reported in this paper is a project of the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute which is supported by a grant from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing under the Primary Health Care Research Evaluation and Development Strategy

Experiences from the ImageCLEF Medical Retrieval and Annotation Tasks

The medical tasks in ImageCLEF have been run every year from 2004-2018 and many different tasks and data sets have been used over these years. The created resources are being used by many researchers well beyond the actual evaluation campaigns and are allowing to compare the performance of many techniques on the same grounds and in a reproducible way. Many of the larger data sets are from the medical literature, as such images are easier to obtain and to share than clinical data, which was used in a few smaller ImageCLEF challenges that are specifically marked with the disease type and anatomic region. This chapter describes the main results of the various tasks over the years, including data, participants, types of tasks evaluated and also the lessons learned in organizing such tasks for the scientific community

How to evaluate sexual health in cancer patients:Development of the EORTC sexual health questionnaire for cancer patients

Background: The aim of the study is to describe the development of a comprehensive European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) questionnaire to assess sexual health of female and male cancer patients and for cancer survivors. Methods: According to the EORTC guidelines, the development of an EORTC sexual health questionnaire is typically organised in four phases. The first phases comprise a literature search following interviews with patient and health care professionals (HCPs) (phase 1) and the operationalization into items (phase 2). The translation process is formally conducted according to the EORTC QLG Translation guidelines with a rigorous forward-backward procedure supported by native speakers. Results: Studies on sexuality in oncology patients which were identified by a literature search predominantly focused on issues of activity, experiences of sexual dysfunction, and satisfaction with sexual functioning. The literature review identified themes beyond these aspects. In total 53 potentially relevant issues were presented to 107 patients and 83 HCPs, different evaluations were found. Conclusions: A questionnaire that includes physical, psychological, and social aspects of sexuality of cancer survivors will be needed. Pre-testing and validation of the questionnaire will be done in future (phases 3 and 4). Divergent ratings of patients and professionals should be further investigated. Keywords: Cancer; sexual health; European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) sexual health questionnair

Riesgo cardiovascular en estudiantes de medicina del municipio Puerto Padre de Las Tunas

Introduction: cardiovascular diseases are the first cause of death in Cuba; as a result, the identification of cardiovascular risks from early ages allows the implementation of health promotion and prevention strategies to reduce their impact in the futureObjective: to identify the cardiovascular risk in medical students in Puerto Padre Municipality, Las Tunas province.Methods: an observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted. The target group included 545 medical students, 237 of whom were selected by means of a simple random sample. The body mass index and waist-hip ratio were studied. Descriptive statistics was applied.Results: the predominant age group was 18-21 years old (50,2 %). The 51,47 % of the students presented a high waist-hip ratio, 54,02 % a high abdominal circumference, 52,74 % a high body mass index, and in all groups 35,44 % presented blood pressure figures lower than 120/80 mmHg; 39 % had a cardiovascular risk.Conclusions: low percentages of cardiovascular risk were identified in medical students from Puerto Padre Municipality, Las Tunas province, determined by high values of waist-hip index, body mass index and abdominal circumference.Introducción: las enfermedades cardiovasculares constituyen la primera causa de mortalidad en Cuba; por lo cual la identificación de riesgos cardiovasculares desde edades tempranas permite implementar estrategias de promoción y prevención de salud para disminuir su impacto en el futuroObjetivo: identificar el riesgo cardiovascular en estudiantes de medicina del municipio Puerto Padre de Las Tunas.Método: se realizó un estudio observacional, descriptivo y transversal. El universo estuvo constituido por 545 estudiantes de medicina, seleccionándose 237 mediante un muestreo aleatorio simple. Se estudió el índice de masa corporal, la circunferencia abdominal y la índice cintura cadera. Se empleó estadística descriptiva.Resultados: se encontró predominio del grupo etario de 18 a 21 años (50,2 %). El 51,47 % de los estudiantes presentó un índice cintura-cadera alto, el 54,02 % una circunferencia abdominal alta, el 52,74 % un índice de masa corporal alta, así como en todos los grupos el 35,44 % presentó cifras de tensión arterial inferiores a 120/80 mmHg. El 39 % presentó riesgo cardiovascular.Conclusiones: se identificaron bajos porcientos de riesgo cardiovascular en los estudiantes de medicina del municipio Puerto Padre de Las Tunas, determinado por altos valores los índice cintura-cadera, índice de masa corporal y circunferencia abdominal

Developing secure data protocols for LGBTI research

This presentation explains how SEARCH designed a secure data protocol for a project on LGBTI health