Ethnic discrimination in private rental housing markets in Australia

Over the last two decades new and significant demographic, economic, social and environmental changes and challenges have shaped the production and consumption of housing in Australia and the policy settings that attempt to guide these processes. These changes and challenges, as outlined in this book, are many and varied. While these issues are new they raise timeless questions around affordability, access, density, quantity, type and location of housing needed in Australian towns and cities. The studies presented in this text also provide a unique insight into a range of housing production, consumption and policy issues that, while based in Australia, have implications that go beyond this national context. For instance how do suburban-based societies adjust to the realities of aging populations, anthropogenic climate change and the significant implications such change has for housing? How has policy been translated and assembled in specific national contexts? Similarly, what are the significantly different policy settings the production and consumption of housing in a post-Global Financial Crisis period require? Framed in this way this book accounts for and responds to some of the key housing issues of the 21st century

Witnessing Anti-White ‘Racism’: White Victimhood and ‘Reverse Racism’ in Australia

© 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. In a national survey of witnessing racism, ten per cent of respondents reported an event where they perceived a white Australian had been the target of racism. We discuss the social and political context in which claims of anti-white ‘racism’ have come to the fore. The paper introduces three analytical entry points from which to approach the problem of anti-white ‘racism’: an individual analysis, an analysis of power and its effects, and a historical and structural analysis. These entry points cascade into each other, revealing both divergence in how these reported experiences might be understood and the tensions between different ways of approaching the analytical problem of claims of anti-white ‘racism’. We explore the characteristics of those who report witnessing anti-white ‘racism’ and examine the contexts within which anti-white ‘racism’ is perceived to have occurred. The racialised incidents reported are analysed in their specificities; we attend to the individuals involved and their social positioning, the historical context and how the event relates to structures and histories of domination. The paper highlights the asymmetry of claims to race based victimhood, emphasising the differences between anti-white ‘racism’ and other experiences of racism

Racial and cultural minority experiences and perceptions of health care provision in a mid-western region

© 2018 The Author(s). Background: Disparities across a number of health indicators between the general population and particular racial and cultural minority groups including African Americans, Native Americans and Latino/a Americans have been well documented. Some evidence suggests that particular groups may receive poorer standards of care due to biased beliefs or attitudes held by health professionals. Less research has been conducted in specifically non-urban areas with smaller minority populations. Methods: This study explored the self-reported health care experiences for 117 racial and cultural minority Americans residing in a Mid-Western jurisdiction. Prior health care experiences (including perceived discrimination), attitudes towards cultural competence and satisfaction with health care interactions were ascertained and compared across for four sub-groups (African-American, Native American, Latino/a American, Asian American). A series of multiple regression models then explored relationships between a concert of independent variables (cultural strength, prior experiences of discrimination, education level) and health care service preferences and outcomes. Results: Overall, racial/cultural minority groups (African Americans, Native Americans, Latino/a Americans, and Asian Americans) reported general satisfaction with current healthcare providers, low levels of both health care provider racism and poor treatment, high levels of cultural strength and good access to health care services. Native American participants however, reported more frequent episodes of poor treatment compared to other groups. Incidentally, poor treatment predicted lower levels of treatment satisfaction and racist experiences predicted being afraid of attending conventional health care services. Cultural strength predicted a preference for consulting a health care professional from the same cultural background. Conclusions: This study provided a rare insight into minority health care expectations and experiences in a region with comparatively lower proportions of racial and cultural minorities. Additionally, the study explored the impact of cultural strength on health care interactions and outcomes. While the bulk of the sample reported satisfaction with treatment, the notable minority of participants reporting poor treatment is still of some concern. Cultural strength did not appear to impact health care behaviours although it predicted a desire for cultural matching. Implications for culturally competent health care provision are discussed within

Rental Discrimination in the Multi-ethnic Metropolis: Evidence from Sydney

© 2016 Editorial Board, Urban Policy and Research. Investigating differential treatment in rental housing markets is important to ensure that renters are not discriminated against based on their personal characteristics. However, little Australian research has focused systematically on this question. This paper reports the results of a study that used paired tests to estimate the extent of differential treatment of Anglo, Indian, and Muslim Middle Eastern renters in the Sydney metropolitan housing market. We find statistically significant differences in treatment on several measures, including the likelihood an agent will offer an individual appointment, will provide additional information about other housing, will provide additional information about completing the application form, and will contact a prospective renter after an inspection

Does the contribution of modifiable risk factors on oral health inequities differ by experience of negative life events among Indigenous Australian adults?

Objective Although the prevalence of poor self-rated oral health and experience of negative life events among Indigenous adults is high, the contribution of modifiable risk factors is unknown. We aimed to estimate the contribution of modifiable risk factors in poor self-rated oral health among Indigenous Australian adults with high and low experience of negative life events using decomposition analysis. Methods The study utilised a cross-sectional design, with data from a large convenience study of Indigenous adults in South Australia. Participants were stratified based on a median split of negative life events in the last 12 months. The outcome was the proportion of fair/poor selfrated oral health (SROH). Independent variables included experience of racism, sex, age, geographic location, car ownership, and time since last dental visit. Results Of the 1011 participants, the proportion with fair poor self-rated oral health was 33.5% (95% CI 30.5 to 36.4) and the proportion who had experienced 3+ negative life events in the past 12 months was 47.3% (95% CI 43.7 to 50.9). More than half the contribution in fair/poor selfrated oral health among Indigenous adults with a higher magnitude of negative life events was from experience of racism (55.3%, p<0.001), followed by residential location (19.9%), sex (9.7%) and car ownership (9.8%). Conclusions The contributions of modifiable risk factors in poor self-rated oral health among Indigenous adults with different exposures to negative life events differed substantially. Targets to reduce racism will decrease oral health inequities for both groups, however Indigenous adults who have experienced substantial negative life events require additional focus on provision of culturally safe dental care.Lisa Jamieson, Joanne Hedges, Yin Paradies, Xiangqun J

Promoting proactive bystander responses to racism and racial discrimination in primary schools: a mixed methods evaluation of the ‘Speak Out Against Racism’ program pilot

BackgroundRacism and racial discrimination are fundamental causes and determinants of health and health inequalities globally, with children and adolescents particularly vulnerable. Racial discrimination is a common stressor in the lives of many children and adolescents, with growing evidence of negative associations between racial discrimination and multiple domains of child and adolescent health. Addressing racism and racial discrimination must be core public health priorities, even more so among children and young people. Schools are key settings in the lives of children and adolescents and become increasingly more important to identity formation. School communities, teachers and peers greatly influence children and adolescents' beliefs about race and difference. Schools are therefore key sites for the delivery of population-based programs to reduce racism and promote proactive bystander behaviour and healthy resistance to racism among all children and adolescents as well as among the adults.MethodsThis study examines the feasibility and acceptability of the 'Speak Out Against Racism (SOAR)' program, a whole of school, multi-level, multi-strategy program that aimed to promote effective bystander responses to racism and racial discrimination in primary schools. A mixed-methods, quasi-experimental design was used. Students in Years 5 and 6 (10-12 years) across six schools completed surveys pre- and post- intervention (N = 645; 52% female; 6% Indigenous, 10% Middle Eastern, African, Latinx or Pacific Islander, 21% Asian, 52% Anglo/European). Focus groups with students and interviews with staff collected qualitative data about their experiences of the program and their views about the program's perceived need, implementation, impacts and suggested improvements.ResultsQuantitative data showed student prosocial skills and teacher inter-racial climate improved in intervention schools compared to comparison schools. Qualitative data highlighted teacher attitudinal and behaviour change regarding racism, and student reduced interpersonal racial discrimination, improved peer prosocial norms, commitment to anti-racism, knowledge of proactive bystander responses and confidence and self-efficacy to intervene to address racism.ConclusionsThis study provides quantitative evidence of the potential of the SOAR program to improve the prosocial skills of students and their perceptions of the inter-racial school climate provided by their teachers. This program also provided qualitative evidence of the potential to promote teacher and student attitudinal and behavioural change. Further refinement and testing of the program in a large scale implementation trial is recommended

The DRUID study: racism and self-assessed health status in an indigenous population

BackgroundThere is now considerable evidence from around the world that racism is associated with both mental and physical ill-health. However, little is known about the mediating factors between racism and ill-health. This paper investigates relationships between racism and self-assessed mental and physical health among Indigenous Australians as well as potential mediators of these relationships.MethodsA total of 164 adults in the Darwin Region Urban Indigenous Diabetes (DRUID) study completed a validated instrument assessing interpersonal racism and a separate item on discrimination-related stress. Self-assessed health status was measured using the SF-12. Stress, optimism, lack of control, social connections, cultural identity and reactions/responses to interpersonal racism were considered as mediators and moderators of the relationship between racism/discrimination and self-assessed health status.ResultsAfter adjusting for socio-demographic factors, interpersonal racism was significantly associated with the SF-12 mental (but not the physical) health component. Stress, lack of control and feeling powerless as a reaction to racism emerged as significant mediators of the relationship between racism and general mental health. Similar findings emerged for discrimination-related stress.ConclusionsRacism/discrimination is significantly associated with poor general mental health among this indigenous population. The mediating factors between racism and mental health identified in this study suggest new approaches to ameliorating the detrimental effects of racism on health. In particular, the importance of reducing racism-related stress, enhancing general levels of mastery, and minimising negative social connections in order to ameliorate the negative consequences of racism

Development and validation of the Measure of Indigenous Racism Experiences (MIRE)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In recent decades there has been increasing evidence of a relationship between self-reported racism and health. Although a plethora of instruments to measure racism have been developed, very few have been described conceptually or psychometrically Furthermore, this research field has been limited by a dearth of instruments that examine reactions/responses to racism and by a restricted focus on African American populations.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In response to these limitations, the 31-item Measure of Indigenous Racism Experiences (MIRE) was developed to assess self-reported racism for Indigenous Australians. This paper describes the development of the MIRE together with an opportunistic examination of its content, construct and convergent validity in a population health study involving 312 Indigenous Australians.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Focus group research supported the content validity of the MIRE, and inter-item/scale correlations suggested good construct validity. A good fit with <it>a priori </it>conceptual dimensions was demonstrated in factor analysis, and convergence with a separate item on discrimination was satisfactory.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The MIRE has considerable utility as an instrument that can assess multiple facets of racism together with responses/reactions to racism among indigenous populations and, potentially, among other ethnic/racial groups.</p

Embedding cultural competence in faculty : a mixed-methods evaluation of an applied Indigenous proficiency workshop

One of the most pressing issues in Australian society is the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous health and life expectancies (Marmot, 2017). Australia agreed with the World Health Organisation’s 2008 Closing the Gap in a Generation report (WHO, 2008), spending approximately 5.6% of government expenditure towards ameliorating this gap (Gardiner-Garden & Simon-Davies, 2012), yet there have been only minimal positive outcomes (Alford, 2015; Gannon, 2018). In applied terms, this means Indigenous people are still dying younger (Anderson et al., 2016), scoring higher on psychological distress (Markwick, Ansari, Sullivan, & McNeil, 2015) and suffering poorer indices on all chronic diseases (e.g. Walsh & Kangaharan, 2016; Thompson, Talley, & Kong, 2017). The level of complexity involved in addressing these “wicked” or seemingly “impossible to solve” health problems is made worse by the lack of any pan-national strategic planning and/or intervention evaluation (Lokuge et al., 2017), even though there has been a plethora of programs and projects designed to improve Indigenous health (see for example, AGPC, 2016). Leaders in health and educational institutions must consider why there is a lack of progress in closing the gap in Indigenous health and life expectancies. Addressing the inequities in Indigenous health requires a determinant of health approach (Mitrou et al., 2014), as 39% of the gap in health outcomes can be explained by social determinates (AIHW, 2017; Markwick, Ansari, Sullivan, Parsons, & McNeil, 2014). The social determinant considered to most reliably predict Indigenous poor health is racism (Kelaher, Ferdinand, & Paradies, 2014; Paradies, 2006; Paradies & Cunningham, 2009; Paradies et al., 2015; Paradies, Truong, & Priest, 2014)