The WA Centre for Rural Health conducts research on issues that are important for rural health service delivery, with a particular focus on Aboriginal health, population health, workforce development and health professional education.
Current Research Projects
Clinical Yarning is a framework to assist clinicians to improve the effectiveness of their communication in Aboriginal health care. Clinical Yarning workshops build upon in-place cultural learning and provide clinicians and students with skills that translate cultural learning into healthcare practice. Clinical Yarning is complemented by an eLearning program which can be viewed here - www.clinicalyarning.org.au
The WA Centre for Rural Health initiated the Community of Practice (CoP) to build on the Community Respect and Equality initiative for the primary prevention of family and domestic violence in Geraldton, led by the local agency Desert Blue Connect.
The CoP provides an opportunity to engage with cross-disciplinary experts across The University of Western Australia on issues related to FDV prevention and response. Members of the CoP come from a variety of disciplines including: Law, Media, Medicine, Social Work, Population Health, Policy and Student Services.
This multipronged and multilevel participatory action research aims to examine the effectiveness of community-led family violence primary prevention efforts in Geraldton, Western Australia. Components of the project include a community survey, training delivery and a targeted media intervention.
For the 1% of the Pilbara population living with disabilities natural disasters can have severe short and long term consequences. It is not clear if these risks are addressed in current disaster policies in the region. It is also unclear if people with disability are able to inform local disaster policies. This study aims investigate how current disaster policies address the needs of people with disability and how they can inform future disaster policy design.
This Kindegarten based project aims to assist teachers and carers to better prepare kindergarten children for the transition to school. The project is running in selected schools across the Pilbara region. It uses an evidence based activity program to support the development of a range of skills in kindy/pre-school children, and is complemented by a home based and online program.
The Safe and Respectful Pilbara (SaRP) Project is a primary prevention approach that aims to challenge and change the deeply entrenched attitudes and social norms that drive high levels of family violence in our community. The project was developed by the WA Centre for Rural Health, as part of the Vital Change Program led by WACOSS and funded by BHP. View the Safe and Respectful Pilbara website.
There is an increasing need to address health workforce shortages in rural and remote Australia. This series of studies explores the professional development experiences of remotely based health professionals in order to build the evidence base regarding their professional development needs.
Published Research
Researchers at the WA Centre for Rural Health regularly publish papers. These papers can viewed on the UWA Profiles and Research Repository.
Research Training
We welcome research higher-degree students and honours students with an interest in rurally-based health and social research. We have a team of experienced research academics available to provide supervision and support. We encourage place-based research and engagement with local communities as research partners.