Poster Presentation Australian Diabetes Society and the Australian Diabetes Educators Association Annual Scientific Meeting 2017

Identifying the key components for successful engagement of aboriginal communities for studies in diabetes (#250)

Audrey SY Eer 1 , Rebecca Kelleher 2 , Tracey Hearn 2 , Shannon Drake 2 , Satpal Singh 2 , Arup Bhattacharya 1 , Jeffrey D Zajac 3 4 , Richard C O'Brien 3 4 , Elif I. Ekinci 3 4
  1. Department of Medicine, Goulburn Valley Health, Shepparton, Victoria, Australia
  2. Rumbalara Aboriginal Co-operative, Mooroopna, VIC, Australia
  3. Department of Endocrinology, Austin Health, Heidelberg, VIC, Australia
  4. Department of Medicine, The University of Melbourne (Austin Health), Parkville, VIC, Australia

Aims

The aim of this review is to identify components of successful community engagement of Aboriginal* communities for studies in diabetes.

 

Methods

A literature search was conducted from 1947 until May 2017. The following electronic bibliographic databases were searched: MEDLINE/Pubmed, EMBASE and CINAHL. Reference lists of relevant studies were also searched. The search strategy included a combination of terms including ‘Aboriginal’ or ‘Indigenous, ‘community consultation’ or ‘community engagement’, ‘diabetes’ and ‘intervention’. There was no language restriction provided the abstracts were available in English. Suitability was determined based on title, abstract and full text availability.

 

Results

Eighteen publications were identified through the database search. After review of the titles and abstracts, seven of these were suitable. These publications, and the reference lists of key studies were reviewed. In total, thirty-two publications were reviewed. There are very few studies exploring community engagement of Aboriginal communities for studies in diabetes. Successful strategies previously employed to engage the Aboriginal communities in research aimed to improve diabetes and chronic diseases include: creating sustainable programs for Aboriginal Health Workers and local people, having an Aboriginal person as a key member of the research team, conducting focus groups and semi-structured interviews, and working in partnership with Aboriginal communities.

 

Conclusions

There are limited studies exploring community engagement methods of Aboriginal communities in studies in diabetes. Successful strategies of community engagement include creating sustainable programs, having an Aboriginal person as a key member of the research team, utilising focus groups and semi-structured interviews, and working in partnership with Aboriginal communities.

 

* In this abstract, the term ‘Aboriginal’ refers to Indigenous, first nation’s people. This term has been chosen out of respect for some elders in the community in Shepparton, who prefer not to use the term  ‘Indigenous’.