Lunch meeting by Mieke Snijder - Aboriginal community-based research: integrating rigorous research and community participation

Aboriginal Australians experience a 2.3 times higher burden of disease compared to non-Aboriginal Australians. Solutions designed and led by Aboriginal Australians are most effective and sustainable in improving the health of Aboriginal Australians. The challenge is to bring together the leadership, skills and knowledge of Aboriginal communities with the highly specialised, real-world evaluation skills of senior researchers.

This presentation will showcase how local Aboriginal expertise was combined with evaluation expertise of academics in a project aiming to reduce alcohol-related harms among Aboriginal Australians. The project was a multiple baseline trial conducted with Aboriginal Australians in three communities in regional Australia. The partnership, project activities and results will be presented.

Mieke Snijder is completing her PhD at the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW Australia.