'Next Generation Youth Well-being Study:' understanding the health and social well-being trajectories of Australian Aboriginal adolescents aged 10-24 years: Study protocol
Date
2019
Authors
Gubhaju, Lina
Banks, Emily
Ward, James
D'Este, Catherine
Ivers, Rebecca
Roseby, Robert
Azzopardi, Peter
Williamson, Anna B
Chamberlain, Catherine
Liu, Bette
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BMJ Publishing Group
Abstract
Introduction Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander (hereafter referred to as ‘Aboriginal’) adolescents (10–24 years) experience multiple challenges to their health and well-being. However, limited evidence is available on factors influencing their health trajectories. Given the needs of this group, the young age profile of the Aboriginal population and the long-term implications of issues during adolescence, reliable longitudinal data are needed.
Methods and analysis The ‘Next Generation: Youth Well-being Study’ is a mixed-methods cohort study aiming to recruit 2250 Aboriginal adolescents aged 10–24 years from rural, remote and urban communities in Central Australia, Western Australia and New South Wales. The study assesses overall health and well-being and consists of two phases. During phase 1, we qualitatively explored the meaning of health and well-being for adolescents and accessibility of health services. During phase 2, participants are being recruited into a longitudinal cohort. Recruitment is occurring mainly through community networks and connections. At baseline, participants complete a comprehensive survey and undertake an extensive age relevant clinical assessment. Survey and clinical data will be linked to various databases including those relating to health services; medication; immunisation; hospitalisations and emergency department presentations; death registrations; education; child protection and corrective services. Participants will receive follow-up surveys approximately 2 years after their baseline visit. The ‘Next Generation’ study will fill important evidence gaps by providing longitudinal data on the health and social well-being of Aboriginal adolescents supplemented with narratives from participants to provide context.
Ethics and dissemination Ethics approvals have been sought and granted. Along with peer-reviewed publications and policy briefs, research findings will be disseminated via reports, booklets and other formats that will be most useful and informative to the participants and community organisations.
This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
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