Engagement with regular asymptomatic COVID-19 testing in young people in North West England: a qualitative focus group study.

OBJECTIVES: Communities in North West England had some of the highest incidence of COVID-19, particularly in their younger populations. Test kits were provided to young people in Blackburn with Darwen to encourage regular testing and reduce COVID-19 transmission. The aim of this study was to identify barriers and facilitators to engaging in regular asymptomatic testing in young people. DESIGN: Focus groups. SETTING: Young people and parents of school-aged children in North West England. PARTICIPANTS: 14 participants aged 12-15 years, 13 participants aged 16-25 years and 9 participants who were parents of school-aged children. RESULTS: Six focus groups (36 participants) were conducted. Analysis identified young people were not against testing and many wanted to test to protect others; however, they felt their needs were not met when they were seeking information on the importance of testing and accessing tests. Young people also felt they wanted more autonomy to make decisions and access tests themselves, without having to rely on parents. Language barriers and challenges with the testing process, particularly reporting the results, were also identified as barriers for parents and young people. Parents were reluctant to test in the absence of symptoms and also noted that young people were very adaptable and testing became more acceptable to them as the pandemic progressed. CONCLUSIONS: Tailored messaging for young people would help this group engage in regular testing and feel part of the COVID-19 response. Regular testing is not currently required in England, however, it is important to understand barriers to engaging in testing for young people, as testing may be reintroduced in response to this or future pandemics.

The Her Tribe and His Tribe Aboriginal-Designed Empowerment Programs.

This study documents evaluation of the Her Tribe and His Tribe Aboriginal-designed empowerment pilot programs. The programs were designed to support Victorian Aboriginal people to strengthen mental health, social and emotional wellbeing, community connection, and to reduce psychological distress. A second aim was to explore participants' experiences of the programs, including the feasibility and acceptability of the evaluation component. Her Tribe ran for 16 weeks and His Tribe for 12 weeks. In total, 43 women and 26 men completed assessments at pre- and post-program completion, and 17 and 10, respectively, participated in yarning circles at the 6-month follow up. For both programs, there were significant increases in participants' access to personal strengths and resources, relationship-community-cultural strengths and resources, and decreases in psychological distress. These changes were associated with small to moderate effects that were maintained at the 6-month follow up. There was a significant increase in aerobic fitness for female but not male participants, and no significant changes in weight for either group. Participants described a range of benefits from the programs, including positive elements and areas for improvement. They also viewed the evaluation as feasible and acceptable, and the findings of value. The outcomes from both pilot programs provide evidence that Aboriginal-designed programs, with a focus on physical and cultural activities, can help to strengthen mental health and wellbeing, community connection, and reduce psychological distress in Victorian Aboriginal communities.

Collaborative Social-Epidemiology: A Co-analysis of the Cultural and Structural Determinants of Health for Aboriginal Youth in Victorian Schools.

Social-epidemiology that excludes Aboriginal voices often fails to capture the full and complex social worlds of Aboriginal people. Using data from an existing co-designed Victorian government Adolescent Health and Wellbeing Survey (2008/9), we worked with Aboriginal organizations to identify data priorities, select measures, interpret data, and contextualize findings. Using this participatory co-analysis approach, we selected "cultural" and "structural" determinants identified by Aboriginal organizations as important and modelled these using principal component analysis. Resulting components were then modelled using logistic regression to investigate associations with "likely being well" (Kessler-10 score < 20) for 88 Aboriginal adolescents aged 11-17 years. Principal component analysis grouped 11 structural variables into four components and 11 cultural variables into three components. Of these, "grew up in Aboriginal family/community and connected" associated with significantly higher odds of "likely being well" (OR = 2.26 (1.01-5.06), p = 0.046). Conversely, "institutionally imposed family displacement" had significantly lower odds (OR = 0.49 (0.24-0.97), p = 0.040) and "negative police contact and poverty" non-significantly lower odds (OR = 0.53 (0.26-1.06), p = 0.073) for "likely being well". Using a co-analysis participatory approach, the voices of Aboriginal researchers and Aboriginal organizations were able to construct a social world that aligned with their ways of knowing, doing, and being. Findings highlighted institutionally imposed family displacement, policing, and poverty as social sites for health intervention and emphasized the importance of strong Aboriginal families for adolescents.

Employee Musculoskeletal Complaints and Supervisor Support: Implications for Behavioral Stress Reactions.

OBJECTIVE: This research investigated the moderating role of supervisor support for employees with musculoskeletal complaints and their intentions to seek medical advice; take sick leave; transfer jobs; and resign. METHODS: Cross-sectional questionnaire data were collected from 1024 Australian employees. RESULTS: Regressions with bootstrapping revealed no support for the buffering role of supervisor support. In contrast to expectations, high supervisor support heightened, rather than lowered, musculoskeletal complaints on intentions to transfer jobs. For sick leave and resignation intentions, high supervisor support buffered the negative effects of musculoskeletal complaints for full-timers but exacerbated such intentions for part-timers. Furthermore, full-timers with high musculoskeletal complaints appeared more vulnerable to the exacerbating effects of low supervisor support compared with part-timers. CONCLUSIONS: Supervisor support for employees with musculoskeletal complaints both weakens and strengthens behavioral stress reactions, depending on employment status.

Functional interplay between LIS1, NDE1 and NDEL1 in dynein-dependent organelle positioning.

LIS1, NDE1 and NDEL1 modulate cytoplasmic dynein function in several cellular contexts. However, evidence that they regulate dynein-dependent organelle positioning is limited. Here, we show that depletion of NDE1 or NDEL1 alone profoundly affected the organisation of the Golgi complex but did not cause it to disperse, and slightly affected the position of endocytic compartments. However, striking dispersal of organelles was observed when both NDE1 and NDEL1 were depleted. A substantial portion of NDE1 and NDEL1 is membrane associated, and depletion of these proteins led to complete loss of dynein from membranes. Knockdown of LIS1 also caused the Golgi complex to fragment and disperse throughout the cell, and caused endocytic compartments to relocalise to the periphery. Depletion of LIS1, which is primarily cytosolic, led to partial loss of membrane-associated dynein, without affecting NDE1 and NDEL1. These data suggest that NDE1 and NDEL1 act upstream of LIS1 in dynein recruitment, and/or activation, on the membrane. Consistent with this hypothesis, expression of exogenous NDE1 or NDEL1 rescued the effects of LIS1 depletion on Golgi organisation, whereas LIS1 was only partially effective at rescuing the loss of NDE1 and NDEL1.

'Individual' harms, Community 'harms': reconciling Indigenous values with drug harm minimisation policy.

This paper uses data on the social context of drug-related harms in the Melbourne Aboriginal Community to inform an alternative model of harm minimisation, and discusses its potential application in programme development. The paper involves a secondary analysis of interviews and focus group discussions with 62 Community members who participated in a qualitative injecting drug use study conducted at the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service in Melbourne. Individuals and families within the Melbourne Aboriginal Community experience significant levels of harm associated with injecting drug use, and face restricted access to appropriate service options. This experience of drug use contributes to a broad range of values within the Community around harm minimisation approaches to programme delivery. We propose a fundamentally distinct harm minimisation model which explicitly acknowledges this range of conflicting values, and reflects the need for a breadth of services and programmes that address these tensions. Policies and funding must support Aboriginal Communities to negotiate through these conflicting Community values to actively create spaces in the service system for both using and non-using Community members. This includes the development of regional approaches which articulate an appropriate mix of services and the roles of Aboriginal and mainstream services in their delivery.

Researching Aboriginal health: experience from a study of urban young people's health and well-being.

European colonisation had a devastating effect on the health and well-being of indigenous people in Australia. The history of Aboriginal health research has reflected the history of colonisation; research has understandably been viewed with distrust. The need for accurate statistics and improved understanding of health problems is clear, but obtaining them is not easy. In this paper we describe the first stage of a study of the health and well-being of urban young people that was initiated and carried out by the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS), a community controlled organisation. This longitudinal study aims to describe the prevalence and incidence of a range of health problems, to explore their interrelated determinants, and to increase the capacity of the VAHS to carry out research. The process of planning and carrying out this study raised a number of interesting ethical, cultural and methodological issues. These issues include the establishment of an appropriate and properly constituted local ethics committee, the difficulty of obtaining a representative sample, the need for ongoing negotiation, attention to language, the use of a subject-generated identity code, and the need to recruit a wide range of peer interviewers. Achievements include a series of community reports of the findings, the establishment of a cohort of young people for a longitudinal study; a shift in attitudes toward research; a strengthened network of young Kooris; increased use of the health service by young people and the establishment of an after-hours clinic service and meeting place for young people. The aim of this analysis of our achievements and constraints is to assist others planning similar research, and to demonstrate the value for process and outcomes of research conducted under Aboriginal community control.