School of Psychology, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Hwy, Burwood VIC 3125, Australia.
BMC Public Health. 2012 Jan 11;12:28. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-12-28.
Overall the physical health of Indigenous men is among the worst in Australia. Research has indicated that modifiable lifestyle factors, such as poor nutrition and physical inactivity, appear to contribute strongly to these poor health conditions. To effectively develop and implement strategies to improve the health of Australia's Indigenous peoples, a greater understanding is needed of how Indigenous men perceive health, and how they view and care for their bodies. Further, a more systematic understanding of how sociocultural factors affect their health attitudes and behaviours is needed. This article presents the study protocol of a community-based investigation into the factors surrounding the health and body image of Indigenous Australian men.
The study will be conducted in a collaborative manner with Indigenous Australian men using a participatory action research framework. Men will be recruited from three locations around Australia (metropolitan, regional, and rural) and interviewed to understand their experiences and perspectives on a number of issues related to health and health behaviour. The information that is collected will be analysed using modified grounded theory and thematic analysis. The results will then be used to develop and implement community events in each location to provide feedback on the findings to the community, promote health enhancing strategies, and determine future action and collaboration.
This study will explore both risk and protective factors that affect the health of Indigenous Australian men. This knowledge will be disseminated to the wider Indigenous community and can be used to inform future health promotion strategies. The expected outcome of this study is therefore an increased understanding of health and health change in Indigenous Australian men, the development of strategies that promote healthy eating and positive patterns of physical activity and, in the longer term, more effective and culturally-appropriate interventions to improve health.
整体而言，澳大利亚原住民男性的身体健康状况是所有族群中最差的。研究表明，一些可改变的生活方式因素，例如营养不良和缺乏身体活动，似乎是导致这些糟糕健康状况的主要原因。为了有效地制定和实施改善澳大利亚原住民健康的策略，我们需要更多地了解原住民男性如何看待健康，以及他们如何看待和照顾自己的身体。此外，还需要更系统地了解社会文化因素如何影响他们的健康态度和行为。本文介绍了一项基于社区的调查研究计划，该研究旨在调查澳大利亚原住民男性健康和身体形象的相关因素。
该研究将以合作的方式与澳大利亚原住民男性一起进行，采用参与式行动研究框架。将从澳大利亚三个地区（城市、地区和农村）招募男性参与者进行访谈，以了解他们对与健康和健康行为相关的一系列问题的经验和看法。收集到的信息将使用改良的扎根理论和主题分析进行分析。然后，将利用这些结果在每个地点开展社区活动，向社区反馈调查结果，促进健康促进策略，并确定未来的行动和合作。
本研究将探讨影响澳大利亚原住民男性健康的风险和保护因素。这些知识将传播给更广泛的原住民社区，并可用于为未来的健康促进策略提供信息。因此，这项研究的预期结果是提高对澳大利亚原住民男性健康和健康变化的理解，制定促进健康饮食和积极身体活动模式的策略，以及在更长远的时间内，制定更有效和更符合文化背景的干预措施来改善健康。
