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Australian Aboriginal people experience stressors from inequalities across crucial social determinants, including deep and entrenched disadvantage and exclusion. The impact of unaddressed historical issues is pervasive and intergenerational. The disproportionate rates of Aboriginal youth suicide, juvenile detention and imprisonment highlight the inadequacy of existing social and emotional wellbeing programs and services for Aboriginal children and young people.
Citation: Skinner T, Brown A, Teixeira-Pinto A, et al. Sensitivity and specificity of Aboriginal-developed items to supplement the adapted PHQ-9
Maternal psychological distress is related to poorer physical and mental health as well as child developmental problems. Interventions that optimise maternal mental health and wellbeing during the "first 1,000 days" of life should have wide-reaching benefits for the mother and her child.
Globally, Indigenous people, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia, experience significantly poorer health outcomes than their non-Indigenous counterparts. In part, this can be attributed to the ongoing impacts of colonization, marginalization, and systemic discrimination. In the genomic healthcare era, Indigenous people remain underrepresented in public genetic health services, raising concerns about cultural competency and inclusivity within the genetic counseling profession.
Defining rurality matters in healthcare. Evidence supports the singularity of the rural experience and its detrimental impact on health outcomes and, specifically, on mental health. Yet, no internationally accepted definition of 'rural' exists.
Movement is at the core of human existence. For infants and children, exploratory movement offers a scaffold for important learning and development outcomes, and in adolescents and adults, regular activity is key for promoting good physical and mental health.
Citation: Passmore H. Neurodiversity (in)Justice: Learnings for Australia from international approaches to supporting neurodivergent people in
Evidence suggests that the earlier supports are provided to young Autistic children, the better the overall outcomes. Supports have typically only been available after an autism diagnosis but with increased knowledge about early developmental trajectories, clinical supports can now be offered prediagnosis for infants showing early autism features and/or those with a family history of autism.
Parental support is a critical protective factor for trans and gender diverse children, yet many parents lack access to trustworthy, evidence-based information. The Transforming Families project aimed to address this gap by co-designing a digital resource to enhance parental understanding, support, and acceptance.
Repetitive Negative Thinking (RNT) during pregnancy is a key risk factor for psychopathology in the perinatal period. However, the cognitive mechanisms underlying prenatal RNT remain poorly understood. Recent research has suggested that a tendency to volitionally seek negative rather than positive information (i.e., biased information seeking) may contribute to the formation of more negative prenatal expectations, which in turn predict elevated prenatal RNT.