On Thursday 16th of September an event was held at the Alere Function Centre to officially launch a new research alliance focused on men’s health and wellbeing. The members of the research partnership are the Freemasons Centre for Male Health and Wellbeing, Flinders University, the Flinders Foundation, SAHMRI and Masonic Charities.
One of the new projects funded through the Alliance is led by A/Prof Tamara Mackean and will be based in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research team within FHMRI and the Discipline of Public Health. Other members of the team are Dr Matt Fisher, Tirritpa Ritchie, Dr Annabelle Wilson, Roland Wilson, Madison Shakespeare, Doug Turner and Duncan Langford-Glass.
The research is titled “Translation of knowledge into practice: building the wellbeing of Aboriginal men and boys using an ecological framework.” The research will be guided by a holistic framework for understanding protective factors for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ health and wellbeing.
As Tamara was unable to attend, Dr Matt Fisher, Madison Shakespeare and Duncan Langford-Glass attended the launch on behalf of the team. Matt and Duncan presented the research project and spoke about our plans to:
- Identify a range protective and promotive factors for Aboriginal men and boys’ wellbeing
- Adopt a place-based approach, and develop digital health promotion resources that reflect cultures, communities and country within South Australia
- Use Indigenous research methodologies to engage with Aboriginal men and boys and key Aboriginal stakeholder groups in SA to gain their perspectives on the research and planned resources
- Build research networks with like-minded researchers working in Indigenous men and boys’ health.