Browsing by Author "Guthridge S."
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Item Early influences on developmental outcomes among children, at age 5, in Australia's Northern Territory.Guthridge S.; Li L.; Silburn S.; Li S.Q.; McKenzie J.; Lynch J.Redressing developmental and school learning inequalities among children requires an understanding of the factors that influence development across population groups. This study utilized the 2009 Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) to explore the association of perinatal health and socio-demographic factors with early development of children in the Northern Territory of Australia. The study cohort included 1110 Aboriginal and 812 non-Aboriginal children, most aged 5 years, whose developmental status was assessed during their first year of full-time school enrollment. Individual-level information was probabilistically linked across three administrative datasets. Logistic regression models were used to estimate the association (odds ratio (OR)) between early life characteristics of children and teacher-rated vulnerability on one or more of five domains of development. The crude OR for developmental vulnerability was much greater for Aboriginal than non-Aboriginal children (OR: 6.93, 95% CI: 5.62-8.56). After adjustment for other variables, the increased risk of developmental vulnerability for Aboriginal children was substantially moderated (OR: 1.68, 95% CI: 1.21-2.32). Influential factors in the adjusted model included: English as a second language (OR: 3.11, 95% CI: 2.27-4.26), gestational age at birth of 34-36 weeks (OR: 2.08, 95% CI: 1.27-3.39) and living in a very remote area (OR: 1.68, 95% CI: 1.19-2.37). There was a gradient in the strength of the association with the level of primary caregiver's education. An additional risk, for Aboriginal children only, was not having attended a day care or pre-school program (OR: 1.43, 95% CI: 1.01-2.04). The study demonstrates the emerging capacity for linkage of data across administrative datasets to inform our understanding of the extent to which multiple factors in early-life operate in their association with children's early development. Our findings are of particular relevance to initiatives to improve outcomes for Aboriginal children by demonstrating that potentially modifiable health and socio-economic factors account for almost all of the difference in developmental vulnerabilities observed between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)Item Evaluation of an Australian Indigenous housing programme: community level impact on crowding, infrastructure function and hygiene.(2011-08-30) Bailie R.S.; McDonald E.L.; Stevens M.; Guthridge S.; Brewster D.R.Background and Aim: Housing programmes in Indigenous Australian communities have focused largely on achieving good standards of infrastructure function. The impact of this approach was assessed on three potentially important housing-related influences on child health at the community level: (1) crowding, (2) the functional state of the house infrastructure and (3) the hygienic condition of the houses. Method(s): A before-and-after study, including house infrastructure surveys and structured interviews with the main householder, was conducted in all homes of young children in 10 remote Australian Indigenous communities. Result(s): Compared with baseline, follow-up surveys showed (1) a small non-significant decrease in the mean number of people per bedroom in the house on the night before the survey (3.4, 95% CI 3.1 to 3.6 at baseline vs 3.2, 95% CI 2.9 to 3.4 at follow-up; natural logarithm transformed t test, t=1.3, p=0.102); (2) a marginally significant overall improvement in infrastructure function scores (KruskaleWallis test, chi2=3.9, p=0.047); and (3) no clear overall improvement in hygiene (KruskaleWallis test, chi2=0.3, p=0.605). Conclusion Housing programmes of this scale that focus on the provision of infrastructure alone appear unlikely to lead to more hygienic general living environments, at least in this study context. A broader ecological approach to housing programmes delivered in these communities is needed if potential health benefits are to be maximised. This ecological approach would require a balanced programme of improving access to health hardware, hygiene promotion and creating a broader enabling environment in communities.Item Impact of perinatal health and socio-demographic factors on school education outcomes: a population study of Indigenous and non-Indigenous children in the Northern Territory.(2015-03-12) Guthridge S.; Li L.; Silburn S.; Li S.Q.; McKenzie J.; Lynch J.Aim: This study investigated the association between early-life risk factors and school education outcomes. Methods This is an historical cohort study of 7601 children (61% were Indigenous) born in the Northern Territory between 1999 and 2004. Information was linked, for each child on: perinatal health, student enrolment and National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) Year 3 results. Logistic regression was used to estimate the association between selected risk factors and a NAPLAN result 'below' the national minimum standard (NMS) in reading and numeracy. Results Indigenous children had much higher odds, than non-Indigenous children, of a result below the NMS for both reading (odds ratio (OR): 8.58, 95% confidence interval (CI): 7.55-9.74) ) and numeracy (OR: 11.52, 95% CI: 9.94-13.35). When adjusted for all other variables, the increased odds were attenuated for both reading (OR: 2.89, 95% CI: 2.46-3.40) and numeracy (OR: 3.19, 95% CI: 2.65-3.84). Common risk factors for Indigenous and non-Indigenous children included higher birth order, maternal smoking in pregnancy and being a boy. There were gradients of decreasing risk with increasing education level of primary care giver and increasing maternal age. Among Indigenous children only, risks increased when living in remote areas, with younger age (<8 years) and low birthweight. Conclusions The study highlights that many of the risk factors associated with poor education outcomes among Indigenous children are shared with the general population. The results inform a targeted, cross-agency response to address modifiable early-life risk factors for educational disadvantage. Data linkage, using existing administrative datasets, provides a useful addition to methods that identify priority areas for prevention and early intervention.Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health © 2015 Paediatrics and Child Health Division (Royal Australasian College of Physicians).Item Learning from alcohol (policy) reforms in the Northern Territory (LEARNT): protocol for a mixed-methods study examining the impacts of the banned drinker register.(2022-05-20) Miller P.; Coomber K.; Smith J.; Livingston M.; Stevens M.; Guthridge S.; Room R.; Wright C.J.C.; Rung D.; Clifford S.; Baldwin R.; Das S.; Paradies Y.; Scott D.; Griffiths K.E.; Farmer C.; Mayshak R.; Silver B.; Moore S.; Mack J.; Mithen V.; Dyall D.; Ward J.; Boffa J.; Chikritzhs T.Introduction The Banned Drinker Register (BDR) was reintroduced in the Northern Territory (NT) in September 2017. The BDR is a supply reduction measure and involves placing people who consume alcohol at harmful levels on a register prohibiting the purchase, possession and consumption of alcohol. The current study aims to evaluate the impacts of the reintroduction of the BDR, in the context of other major alcohol policy initiatives introduced across the NT such as Police Auxiliary Liquor Inspectors and a minimum unit price for alcohol of US$1.30 per standard drink. Methods and analyses The Learning from Alcohol (policy) Reforms in the Northern Territory project will use a mixed-methods approach and contain four major components: epidemiological analysis of trends over time (outcomes include health, justice and social welfare data); individual-level data linkage including those on the BDR (outcomes include health and justice data); qualitative interviews with key stakeholders in the NT (n>=50); and qualitative interviews among people who are, or were previously, on the BDR, as well as the families and communities connected to those on the BDR (n=150). The impacts of the BDR on epidemiological data will be examined using time series analysis. Linked data will use generalised mixed models to analyse the relationship between outcomes and exposures, utilising appropriate distributions. Qualitative data will be analysed using thematic analysis. Ethics and dissemination Ethics approvals have been obtained from NT Department of Health and Menzies School of Health Research Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC), Central Australia HREC and Deakin University HREC. In addition to peer-reviewed publications, we will report our findings to key organisational, policy, government and community stakeholders via conferences, briefings and lay summaries.Copyright © 2022 BMJ Publishing Group. All rights reserved.