Cultural determinants of health for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people - a narrative overview of reviews.

INTRODUCTION: The cultural determinants of health centre an Indigenous definition of health, and have been linked to positive health and wellbeing outcomes. There is growing evidence for the importance of the cultural determinants of health; however, to date, no high-level overview of the evidence-base has been provided. Synthesising existing literature on cultural determinants of health for Aboriginal peoples in a single manuscript will highlight what we know, and what needs to be explored in future research. It will also contribute to global efforts to capture the evidence of cultural determinant approaches amongst Indigenous populations. We therefore endeavoured to identify cultural determinants and highlight their impact on Aboriginal health and wellbeing outcomes, and outline the relationship and interconnection of different cultural determinants of health. METHODS: An overview of reviews was conducted. Medline (Ovid) and Scopus were searched using terms related to 'cultural determinants of health' and an 'Aboriginal definition of health'. The database search was complemented by a web-based search of grey literature. Nine reviews were retrieved and included in our overview. RESULTS: Family/community, Country and place, cultural identity and self-determination were strongly identified across reviews as having a positive impact on the health and wellbeing outcomes of Aboriginal peoples. Family/community and Country and place were found to be components of 'culture' that shaped cultural identity. Self-determination was outlined as a requirement for Aboriginal peoples to pursue their cultural, social, and economic rights. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSIONS: Cultural determinants are associated with health benefits for Indigenous peoples. A causal framework, developed to discuss the relationship and interconnection of the cultural determinants of health, demonstrates that cultural identity at an individual-level is important to benefiting from other cultural determinants of health. While self-determination and connection to culture and community-controlled organisations are integral factors to increase Aboriginal resilience and resistance and improve health and wellbeing outcomes. Further research is required to shift towards a multi-level understanding of the cultural determinants of health and to develop an Indigenous-led evidence-base around causal pathways. Such a shift would ensure priorities important to Indigenous peoples are captured in policy and practice.

Primary care practice-based interventions and their effect on participation in population-based cancer screening programs: a systematic narrative review.

AIM: To provide a systematic synthesis of primary care practice-based interventions and their effect on participation in population-based cancer screening programs. BACKGROUND: Globally, population-based cancer screening programs (bowel, breast, and cervical) have sub-optimal participation rates. Primary healthcare workers (PHCWs) have an important role in facilitating a patient's decision to screen; however, barriers exist to their engagement. It remains unclear how to best optimize the role of PHCWs to increase screening participation. METHODS: A comprehensive search was conducted from January 2010 until November 2023 in the following databases: Medline (OVID), EMBASE, and CINAHL. Data extraction, quality assessment, and synthesis were conducted. Studies were separated by whether they assessed the effect of a single-component or multi-component intervention and study type. FINDINGS: Forty-nine studies were identified, of which 36 originated from the USA. Fifteen studies were investigations of single-component interventions, and 34 studies were of multi-component interventions. Interventions with a positive effect on screening participation were predominantly multi-component, and most included combinations of audit and feedback, provider reminders, practice-facilitated assessment and improvement, and patient education across all screening programs. Regarding bowel screening, provision of screening kits at point-of-care was an effective strategy to increase participation. Taking a 'whole-of-practice approach' and identifying a 'practice champion' were found to be contextual factors of effective interventions.The findings suggest that complex interventions comprised of practitioner-focused and patient-focused components are required to increase cancer screening participation in primary care settings. This study provides novel understanding as to what components and contextual factors should be included in primary care practice-based interventions.

"Nothing to lose and the possibility of gaining": a qualitative study on the feasibility and acceptability of registry-based randomised controlled trials among cancer patients and clinicians.

BACKGROUND: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are considered the "gold standard" for evaluating the effectiveness of interventions in clinical research. However, conventional RCTs are typically complex, expensive, and have narrow eligibility criteria, which limits generalisability. Registry-based randomised controlled trials (RRCTs) are an alternative approach that integrates the internal validity of an RCT with the external validity of a clinical registry by recruiting real-world patients and leveraging an existing registry platform for data collection. As RRCT is a novel research design, there has been limited research on the feasibility and acceptability of RRCTs from the patients' and trial team's perspectives. This study aims to explore patients', clinicians', and study coordinators' perspectives towards participation in and conduct of oncology RRCTs in Australia. METHODS: Thirty-seven semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 cancer patients, 15 clinicians, and 7 study coordinators. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Three overarching themes were identified: (1) enablers and barriers to recruitment and enrolment of patients in RRCTs, (2) experiences of patients participating in RRCTs, and (3) recommendations for the implementation of future RRCTs. For patients, altruism and "trust in the clinician" were key reasons to participate in a RRCT. For clinicians and clinical trial coordinators, the RRCT study design was perceived as "simple and straightforward" but "less exciting" than RCTs. Competition from commercially sponsored RCTs poses challenges for investigator-led RRCTs recruitment, particularly if eligible patient numbers are low. There were limited impacts on patients' treatment experiences and clinicians' clinical workflow given that the RRCTs explored different standards of care. Recommendations to improve the enrolment of patients in RRCTs included generating greater buy-in from clinicians by increasing awareness of RRCTs via education initiatives and broader promotion of the "selling point" of RRCTs and providing monetary compensation to hospitals for enrolling patients. CONCLUSIONS: Whilst patients, clinicians, and study coordinators were generally supportive of RRCTs, several barriers to effective RRCT implementation in oncology were identified. Developing strategies to increase acceptance of the methodology by clinicians will help enhance the uptake of RRCTs in Australia and internationally.

Health care system factors influencing primary healthcare workers' engagement in national cancer screening programs: a qualitative study.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore factors across the environment, organisation and care team levels of the health care system that influence the engagement of primary healthcare workers (PHCWs) in Australia's national cancer screening programs. METHODS: A cross-sectional qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews with PHCWs - general practitioners (n=10), practices nurses (n=10), and practice managers (n=10) from settings across Australia. Transcripts were analysed using the Framework Method. RESULTS: Two environment-level factors were found to influence several organisation and care team level factors. Firstly, the financial structure of primary health care, impacting on practitioner: time, practice culture, screening knowledge and opportunistic conversations. Secondly, the structure of screening programs had flow-on effects for: access to patient screening records, recall and reminder systems, and sense of program ownership. CONCLUSIONS: Encouraging more effective PHCW engagement in the screening programs requires the consideration and mitigation of overarching financial and structural barriers. Up-to-date and easy-to-use recall and reminder systems, whole-of-practice approaches which optimise the role of each PHCW and the identification of a 'champion' to drive implementation should be considered. IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH: This study offers insights into what elements practice and practitioner targeted initiatives in Australia should incorporate, potentially leading to improved engagement of PHCWs and increased cancer screening participation rates.

Clinical registries data quality attributes to support registry-based randomised controlled trials: A scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Clinical registries have become an important platform for performance measurement, quality improvement, and clinical research including registry-based randomised controlled trials (RRCTs). However, the success of RRCTs is highly dependent on the quality of the registry. The aim of this study was to undertake a scoping review to identify the key characteristics that a registry must possess to be considered of high quality to successfully support the conduct of a RRCT. METHODS: A comprehensive search of four databases and grey literature was conducted. A narrative synthesis was conducted with a focus on summarising the characteristics that a high-quality registry must possess to support the conduct of RRCTs, and the mechanisms underpinning the collection of high-quality data. RESULTS: A total of 50 articles were included. Data accuracy, completeness, population capture, data standardisation, and timeliness were identified as essential data attributes of a high-quality clinical registry. The legal and ethical environment in which a registry operates, the available infrastructure support, and ongoing participation by healthcare providers were identified as impacting the collection of high-quality data. CONCLUSIONS: This review summarises the considerable work undertaken to determine the criteria with which to judge the suitability of a clinical registry to support a RRCT. Moving forward, the certification of individual clinical registries may be one way of identifying registries that can support a RRCT. In the interim, we propose the Registry Attributes Framework which can be used to ascertain the suitability of a registry to support a RRCT. Ultimately, the ideal goal should be to define minimum acceptable standards for a registry's key performance indicators (as depicted in the Framework) that would determine its certification status. New registries planned to support a RRCT should be designed and constructed against agreed standards once these are established.

Questioning the ethics of evidence-based practice for Indigenous health and social settings in Australia.

Australian government planning promotes evidence-based action as the overarching goal to achieving health equality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations. However, an inequitable distribution of power and resources in the conduct of evidence-based practice produces a policy environment counterintuitive to this goal. This context of contemporary evidence-based practice gives legitimacy to 'expert practitioners' located in Australian governments and universities to use Western guidelines and tools, embedded in Western methodology, to make 'evidence' informed policy and programming decisions about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations. This method for decision making assumes a positional superiority that can marginalise the important perspectives, experiences and knowledge of Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations and their processes for decision making. Here we consider the four steps of an evidence review: (1) developing a review question; (2) acquiring studies; (3) appraising the evidence and (4) assessing the evidence, as components of wider evidence-based practice. We discuss some of the limitations across each step that arise from the broader context within which the evidence review is produced. We propose that an ethical and just approach to evidence-based review can be achieved through a well-resourced Aboriginal community controlled sector, where Aboriginal organisations generate their own evidence and evidence is reviewed using methods and tools that privilege Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, doing and being.

An implementation research programme to support an intravenous iron intervention for pregnant women with moderate and severe anaemia in Malawi: study protocol.

BACKGROUND: Antenatal iron supplementation is critical to maternal and child health; however, access and adherence to oral iron are inconsistent in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Modern intravenous (IV) iron products have become available in high-income clinical settings and provide an opportunity to deliver high doses of iron in a single-short infusion during pregnancy. However, there is limited knowledge of the drivers and barriers for such an intervention to be effectively delivered and upscaled in LMICs. In this study protocol, we describe the implementation research programme to support an IV iron intervention in Malawi for pregnant women with moderate and severe anaemia. METHODS: The implementation research programme has three phases, each guided by implementation science conceptual frameworks. In Phase 1, we will conduct formative research (context assessment of the health system with key informant interviews) to determine how IV iron can be effectively introduced into routine antenatal care. We will use the findings to co-develop potential strategies with end-users and healthcare providers to improve intervention implementation. In Phase 2, we will disseminate the implementation strategies to support the uptake and delivery of the intervention in the study settings. In Phase 3, the intervention will be implemented, and we will conduct formative evaluation (interviews with end-users, healthcare providers, and analysis of health services data) to investigate the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention and strategies. We will also identify processes and contextual factors that facilitate or impede the delivery and uptake of IV iron. DISCUSSION: In LMICs, modern IV iron products present a novel opportunity to rapidly cure moderate and severe anaemia in pregnancy, thereby improving maternal and child health outcomes. This implementation research programme will provide guidance and recommendations on how best an IV iron intervention for pregnant women with anaemia can be implemented in an LMIC setting like Malawi. We will develop locally relevant and culturally appropriate implementation strategies by engaging with key stakeholders (pregnant women, healthcare providers, and policymakers) and identifying factors likely to facilitate successful implementation. The findings of this research can guide the implementation of an IV iron intervention in Malawi and other LMICs.

Defining key design elements of registry-based randomised controlled trials: a scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Traditional randomised controlled trials remain the gold standard for improving clinical care but they do have their limitations, including their associated high costs, high failure rate and limited external validity. An alternative methodology is the newly defined, prospective, registry-based randomised controlled trial (RRCT), where treatment and outcome data is collected in an existing registry. This scoping review explores the current literature regarding RRCTs to help identify the key design elements of RRCTs and the characteristics of clinical registries on which they are reliant on. METHODS: A scoping review methodology conducted in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines was performed. Four databases were searched for articles published from inception to June 2018: Medline; Embase; the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature and; Scopus. The search strategy included MeSH and text words related to RRCT. RESULTS: We identified 2369 articles of which 75 were selected for full-text screening. Of these, only 17 articles satisfied our inclusion criteria. All studies were published between 1996 and 2017 and all were investigator-initiated. Study designs were mainly multi-site comparative/effectiveness studies incorporating the use of disease registries (n = 8), procedure registries (n = 8) and a health services registry (n = 1). The low cost, reduced administrative burden and enhanced external validity of RRCTs make them an attractive research methodology which can be used to address questions of public health importance. We identified that that there are variable definitions of what constituted a RRCT and that issues related to ethical conduct and data integrity, completeness, timeliness, validation and endpoint adjudication need to be carefully addressed. CONCLUSION: RRCTs potentially have an important role to play in informing best clinical practice and health policy. There are a number of issues that need to be addressed to optimise the utility of this approach, including establishing universally accepted criteria for the definition of a RRCT.