Current Projects List:

• A mortality profile of Victoria's Aboriginal (and non-Aboriginal) children 1998-2008 using an innovative method and research process
• Aboriginal identification in administrative and statutory databases in Victoria that describe infant, child and young people’s health
• Accreditation and quality systems for Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services
• Support systems for quality Indigenous primary health care
• Developing Sustainable Aboriginal Health Research Practice
• NATSISS Family Violence Analysis

Past Projects List:

• Designing a Victorian Aboriginal Child Health, Development and Wellbeing Survey
• Promoting ethical research with Indigenous communities
• Victorian Aboriginal Ethics Project
• VACCHO Advice to researchers: a web-based resource
• Models of community engagement and knowledge transfer - Universities working with and for Communities
• Collaborative participatory research in Aboriginal health
• Building the capacity of local Aboriginal Communities to develop population health initiatives
• Ethics of Aboriginal health research (NHMRC)
• Review of the Partnership Between mainstream and Indigenous Organisations in the Victorian Indigenous BBV/IDU Training Project

Click here for a full list of our research projects

Current Project Details:

PROJECT NAME A mortality profile of Victoria's Aboriginal (and non-Aboriginal) children 1998-2008 using an innovative method and research process
STAFF Jane Freemantle, Ian Anderson
COLLABORATORS Victorian Community Controlled Health Organisation
FUNDING SOURCE Australian Research Council
DATE 2008 – 2010
PROJECT DESCRIPTION The development of a population mortality profile of Victoria's children that includes accurate Indigenous identification will provide robust information to assess the effectiveness of programs, interventions and policies aimed at reducing preventable deaths in children.
PROJECTED OUTCOMES This research will contribute to state, national and international imperative to improve the collection of Aboriginal death information in order to allow meaningful comparisons between Australian jurisdictions and Aboriginal people globally. The consistent input of the Aboriginal community and relevant experts in all phases of the project will enable and strengthen links with those who can influence government and policy makers to effect change.

PROJECT NAME Aboriginal identification in administrative and statutory databases in Victoria that describe infant, child and young people’s health
STAFF Jane Freemantle, Sonia Sheridan
COLLABORATORS Department of Human Services Victoria, National , Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation. NCIS
FUNDING SOURCE Unfunded – student project
DATE 2008
PROJECT DESCRIPTION This project will identify all administrative and statutory databases in Victoria that describe infant, child and young people’s health, describing on the integrity of data, identifying the custodians of the data, variables collected and how to access the data with a particular focus on inclusion (or not) of the Aboriginal population.
PROJECTED OUTCOMES This project will develop a monograph that provides a comprehensive description of the administrative and statutory databases in Victoria that describe infant, child and young people’s health, focusing on the inclusion and accuracy of the Aboriginal population.  The monograph will include links to custodian websites and other relevant information b for accessing these data.

PROJECT NAME Accreditation and quality systems for Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services
STAFF Ian Anderson
COLLABORATORS Mick Gooda, Pippa Duncan, Margaret Scrimegour, Leah Ahmat
FUNDING SOURCE Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health and the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing
DATE 2007-2009
PROJECT DESCRIPTION This project aims to identify the systems, capacities and frameworks required to support the uptake of accreditation and quality assurance processes in the Aboriginal community controlled health sector. 
PROJECT AIMS To draft a quality and accreditation framework that is based on input from the Aboriginal community controlled health sector and accreditation providers.
PROJECTED OUTCOMES The development of a national framework for accreditation in the Aboriginal community controlled health sector.

PROJECT NAME Support systems for quality Indigenous primary health care
STAFF Alister Thorpe, Ian Anderson
COLLABORATORS La Trobe University
FUNDING SOURCE Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health
DATE January 2007 – December 2009
PROJECT DESCRIPTION This project aims to address the recognised problem that many Indigenous-specific primary healthcare services (especially, but not limited to, small services in remote Aboriginal communities) do not have the capacity (for various reasons, including size) to develop all aspects required of them to provide high-quality comprehensive primary healthcare. The research will focus on systems to support functions that contribute to organisational capacity to operate effectively and sustainably.
PROJECT AIMS The aims of the project are to contribute to improving the viability and sustainability of ACCHOs as corporate entities through identifying the range of corporate functions for which ACCHOs require external support; developing a ‘typology of services’ as this relates to organisational capacity, context and requirements for meeting corporate support needs; identifying access to and adequacy of existing support systems (for a range of service ‘typologies’); and describing potential external support structures/frameworks required for provision of adequate support (according to service ‘typology’).
PROJECTED OUTCOMES To undertake a literature review, collect in-depth information through case studies, consult with key stakeholders through workshops to identify structures and tools required for support, and develop an 'organisational corporate capacity' resource. A final report will draw together the project findings and make recommendations for support systems required, and implementation and evaluation of such systems.

PROJECT NAME Developing Sustainable Aboriginal Health Research Practice
STAFF Priscilla Pyett
COLLABORATORS Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation
FUNDING SOURCE VicHealth
DATE May 2005 – April 2009
PROJECT DESCRIPTION Develop, implement and evaluate a program of reforms in research practice that will build capacity and facilitate sustainable research collaborations with the Koori community.
PROJECT AIMS Development of ethical, productive and sustainable collaborative research relationships with the Koori community. Development of research capacity in Aboriginal health.
CURRENT OUTCOMES Ongoing collaboration with VACCHO as honorary researcher; supporting emerging researchers, producing publications, 25 conference presentations; development of web-based resource for VACCHO.
SELECT PUBLICATIONS

• Pyett, P., Waples-Crowe, P. & van der Sterren, A. (in press) ‘Challenging our own practices in Indigenous health promotion and research’ Health Promotion Journal of Australia.
• Pyett, P., Waples-Crowe, P. & van der Sterren, A. (in press)‘Engaging with Aboriginal Communities in an Urban Context: some practical suggestions for public health researchers.’ Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.
• Pyett, P. (2008) ‘Reflecting on a role for Sociology in Indigenous Health’ Nexus 20(3) 11-12.
• Walter, M. & Pyett, P. (2008) ‘Closing the gap in Sociology’ [Editorial] Nexus 20(3) 11.
• Campbell, D., Pyett, P. and McCarthy, L. (2007) ‘Community development interventions to improve Aboriginal health: building an evidence base’. Health Sociology Review 16 (3-4):304-14.
• Campbell, D., Pyett, P., McCarthy, L., Whiteside, M. and Tsey, K. (2007) ‘Community development and empowerment – a review of interventions to improve Aboriginal health.’ In Anderson, I., Baum, F. and Bentley, M. (eds) Beyond Bandaids: exploring the underlying social determinants of Aboriginal health. Darwin: Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal health pp165-180.
• Walter, M., Pyett, P., Tyler, B. & Vanderwyk, A. [Editorial] (2006) ‘Beyond the margins/beyond marginality’. Journal of Sociology 42(4):341-5.
• Walter, M. & Pyett, P. (2006) ‘Australian sociology engages with Indigenous issues’.  Nexus 18 (1) 14.
• Waples-Crowe, P. & Pyett, P. (2005) The Making of a Great Relationship: a review of a healthy partnership between mainstream and Indigenous organisations. Melbourne: Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation.
• Pyett, P. & Walter, M. (2004) ‘Where is the sociology of Indigenous issues? Please explain?’ Nexus 16 (3), 9-10.

PROJECT NAME NATSISS Family Violence Analysis
STAFF Kyllie Cripps
COLLABORATORS Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS); Professor David Studdert and Dr Catherine Bennett
FUNDING SOURCE National Health and Medical Research Council
DATE 2005 – 2009  
PROJECT DESCRIPTION This is a quantitative project which explores risks of Indigenous people becoming a victim of family violence.  It will analyse the data from the 2002 and 1994 National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS).
PROJECT AIMS To analyse the factors associated with being a victim of violence in Indigenous communities. It will specifically explore the following questions as they relate to family violence: Are the social determinants of violence different for Indigenous women with dependents aged 0-14 years? Are these differences consistent with determinants identified in other major research as domestic violence risk factors?  Are the differences likely to impact on mum’s choosing to leave (assuming that the violence occurred in the home)?
CURRENT OUTCOMES International and national conference presentations, seminars and the 2006 Rob Riley Memorial Lecture at Curtin University, WA.
PROJECTED OUTCOMES Further publications and presentations
PUBLICATIONS

• Cripps, K (accepted 14/10/08).  Indigenous family violence: A statistical challenge.  INJURY.

Past Project Details:

PROJECT NAME Designing a Victorian Aboriginal Child Health, Development and Wellbeing Survey
STAFF Alister Thorpe, Kevin Rowley, Ian Anderson
COLLABORATORS Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency, Victorian Community Controlled Health Organisation, Victorian Aboriginal Education Association Incorporated, Deakin University Institute of Koori Education, Royal Children’s Hospital
FUNDING SOURCE Department of Human Services, Victoria
DATE April 2007 – July 2008
PROJECT DESCRIPTION The project objectives were to design a Victorian Aboriginal Child Health, Development and Wellbeing survey (of 0–18 year olds), to explore and recommend the most appropriate sampling framework and data collection methodology for conducting the survey.
OUTCOMES Following extensive consultation on Aboriginal community priorities, recommendations were presented to the State Government's Office for Children on the requirements for protocols on data access, governance and reporting, and capacity building, needed to ensure that Victorian Aboriginal communities benefit from participating in a survey of child health, development and wellbeing.  Additional content was recommended for the Victorian arm of the Australian Bureau of Statistics' 2008 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey, and for the Victorian Adolescent Health Survey.
PUBLICATIONS

• Rowley K, Thorpe A, Thorpe L, Anderson I for the Project Partnership Group (2008).  Designing a Victorian Aboriginal Child Health, Development and Wellbeing Survey.  Onemda VicHealth Koori Health Unit, Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency, Institute of Koorie Education, and Community Child Health Unit, Royal Children's Hospital. Melbourne.

PROJECT NAME Promoting ethical research with Indigenous communities
STAFF Paul Stewart, Ian Anderson, Priscilla Pyett
COLLABORATORS Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health (CRCAH), formerly with the Cooperative Research Centre in Aboriginal and Tropical Health (CRCATH)
FUNDING SOURCE CRCAH (and CRCATH)
DATE 2002 - 2007
PROJECT DESCRIPTION This collaborative project set out to identify current procedures by which Indigenous research projects undergo ethical review processes and the extent to which Indigenous people were involved in that process. 
PROJECT AIMS To develop strategies to support the participation of Indigenous people in the regulation of research ethics
OUTCOMES 1) Survey of Human Research Ethical Committees (HRECs) throughout Australia was conducted in 2002. 2) Workshop was conducted in 2003 to discuss the experiences and concerns of Indigenous people involved in the ethical review process, and to identify their resource and support needs. 3) Community Report was published in 2004 (see below). 4) Website developed as a resource for those involved in ethics review processes relating to research involving Indigenous people.
PUBLICATIONS

• Stewart, P., Shibasaki, S., Ian Anderson, I., Pyett, P., Dunbar, T. & Devitt, J. [letter] (2006) ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation in ethical review of health research’ Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health 30 (3) 291-2.
• Shibasaki, S. & Stewart, P. 2004. Workshop Report: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people involved in Ethics. Darwin: Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health

PROJECT NAME Victorian Aboriginal Ethics Project
STAFF Paul Stewart, Priscilla Pyett
COLLABORATORS Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO)
FUNDING SOURCE VicHealth
DATE 2002 - 2007
PROJECT DESCRIPTION This project involved a literature review, together with Community consultations, individual interviews and focus groups with key people to find out how Aboriginal people could have more control of the ethics of research that is carried out in, or impacts on, Aboriginal Communities in Victoria.
PROJECT AIMS To provide VACCHO and its members with a number of options for consideration.
OUTCOMES Six different models have been developed and are outlined in a community report (link). Each model is described in terms of representation, resources, expertise, power and its potential strengths and weaknesses. VACCHO is trialling one of the models within its organisation.
PUBLICATIONS

• Stewart, P. J. & Pyett, P. M. 2005, Victorian Aboriginal Ethics Project Report: Community Report , Onemda VicHealth Koori Health Unit, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne.

PROJECT NAME VACCHO Advice to researchers: a web-based resource
STAFF Priscilla Pyett
COLLABORATORS Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO)
FUNDING SOURCE Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health
DATE 2007-2008
PROJECT DESCRIPTION Development of a web-based resource for the VACCHO website to provide advice to researchers on how to conduct Aboriginal health research in Victoria.
PROJECT AIMS Develop information for researchers and links to appropriate resources around research and ethics in Aboriginal health in Victoria.
OUTCOMES Web-based resource
PUBLICATIONS

• VACCHO Advice to Researchers at http://www.vaccho.org.au/resources/resources_advice.asp

PROJECT NAME Models of community engagement and knowledge transfer - Universities working with and for Communities
STAFF Priscilla Pyett
COLLABORATORS The McCaughey Centre: VicHealth Centre for the Promotion of Mental Health and Community Wellbeing
FUNDING SOURCE Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences Faculty Grant
DATE 2007-2008
PROJECT DESCRIPTION Study of strategies currently used within five Victorian university research centres to promote the engagement of communities in research and to share research findings with those communities.
PROJECT AIMS Describe models that are used by universities to maintain links with communities, and to identify advantages and disadvantages of each approach
OUTCOMES Policy Signpost Report; community forum.
PUBLICATIONS

• MacLean, S., Warr, D & Pyett, P. (2008) Universities Working with and for Communities: strategies for collaborative community research and knowledge exchange. Policy Signpost #2. The McCaughey Centre: VicHealth Centre for the Promotion of Mental Health and Community Wellbeing, University of Melbourne.
• MacLean, S, Warr, D & Pyett, P (2008) ‘Promoting collaborative and participatory research with disadvantaged communities.’ In Touch: Newsletter of the Public Health Association of Australia. 25 (2), pp 6-7.
• MacLean, S, Warr, D & Pyett, P (in press) ‘Working at the interface of research and practice: the value and challenges of community liaison officer roles’ Proceedings of the Annual Conference of The Australian Sociological Association, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, December 2008.

PROJECT NAME  Collaborative participatory research in Aboriginal health
STAFF Priscilla Pyett
COLLABORATORS Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation
FUNDING SOURCE NHMRC
DATE 2000-2004
PROJECT DESCRIPTION NHMRC Post-doctoral training fellowship
PROJECT AIMS To develop an understanding of processes and protocols for conducting collaborative participatory research in Aboriginal health in Victoria.
OUTCOMES Establishment of honorary position as researcher at VACCHO. Development of ongoing relationship with VACCHO; 6 conference presentations.
PUBLICATIONS

• Gillam, L. and Pyett, P. (2003) A Commentary on the NHMRC ‘Draft Values and Ethics in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research’. Monash Bioethics Review 22 (4) 8-19.
• Pyett, P. and VicHealth Koori Health Research and Community Development Unit (2002) ‘ Towards reconciliation in Indigenous health research: the responsibilities of the non-Indigenous researcher’. Contemporary Nurse, 14 (1) 56-65.
• Pyett, P. (2002) ‘Working together to reduce health inequalities: reflections on a collaborative participatory approach to health research’. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 26 (4) 332-6 .

PROJECT NAME Building the capacity of local Aboriginal Communities to develop population health initiatives
STAFF Priscilla Pyett, Anke van der Sterren
COLLABORATORS Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation
FUNDING SOURCE Aboriginal Affairs Victoria
DATE 2005 - 2006
PROJECT DESCRIPTION Public Health capacity-building in Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCHOs)
PROJECT AIMS Identify the support and training needs of ACCHOs to develop their capacities to identify and address population health needs of their Communities. Increase knowledge of population health issues and develop the skills to respond to them among workers within the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) and in member ACCHOs.
OUTCOMES Community consultations complete.

PROJECT NAME Ethics of Aboriginal Health Research
STAFF Kim Humphery
COLLABORATORS National Health and Medical Research Council
DATE 1999-2002
PROJECT DESCRIPTION This project explored debates relating to the ethics of Indigenous health research and historically documented the rise of ethical guidelines relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research.
PROJECT AIMS To contribute to a contemporary process of reviewing and of re-writing NHMRC ethical guidelines for research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
OUTCOMES The findings were reported on in two Onemda discussion papers and in a lead article for the Australian & New Zealand Journal of Public Health. These publications have subsequently been extensively cited in papers and policy documents relating to the process and politics of Indigenous health research.
PUBLICATIONS

• Humphery, K. 2002, The Development of the National Health and Medical Research Council Guidelines on Ethical Matters in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research: A Brief Documentary and Oral History, Discussion Paper 8, VicHealth Koori Health Research and Community Development Unit, Melbourne.
• Humphery, K. 2001, ‘Dirty Questions: Indigenous health and “Western” research’, Australian & New Zealand Journal of Public Health vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 197–202.
• Humphery, K. 2000, Indigenous Health & Western Research, Discussion Paper 2, VicHealth Koori Health Research and Community Development Unit, Melbourne;

PROJECT NAME Review of the Partnership Between mainstream and Indigenous Organisations in the Victorian Indigenous BBV/IDU Training Project
STAFF Priscilla Pyett
COLLABORATORS Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation
FUNDING SOURCE Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health
DATE 2004 - 2005
PROJECT DESCRIPTION Document the factors contributing to the successful partnership between mainstream and Indigenous Organisations in the Victorian Indigenous BBV/IDU Training Project.
PROJECT AIMS Identify factors that contributed to the successful partnership.
OUTCOMES Community report and four conference presentations.
PUBLICATIONS

• Waples-Crowe, P. & Pyett, P. (2005) The Making of a Great Relationship: a review of a healthy partnership between mainstream and Indigenous organisations, Melbourne: Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation.
• Waples-Crowe, P. & Pyett, P. (2006) ‘Learning from a successful partnership between mainstream and Indigenous organisations’ Aboriginal and Islander Health Worker Journal 30(2), 4-5, 33.

Click here for a full list of our research projects