Annotated Bibliography: Australian Indigenous Health Policy Research

This annotated bibliography presents a critical analysis of three key articles related to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health in Australia. The first article, by Anderson (2004), examines recent developments in national health strategies, focusing on policy agendas, organizational roles, and responsibilities, primarily using a qualitative approach to analyze policy developments. The second article, by Browne et al. (2017), investigates the framing of health policy and the network structures influencing policy implementation, using qualitative framing analysis to understand how different subgroups within the network affect policy outcomes, with a focus on network actors and governance. The third article, by Canuto et al. (2021), reviews health promotion programs aimed at modifying chronic disease risk factors within the Indigenous community, employing a mixed-methods approach, including inclusion criteria, to analyze program effectiveness and identify common risk factors such as nutrition and physical activity, while also highlighting the limitations of program evaluation and the need for social support.

Annotated Bibliography
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Article 1- Anderson, I. P. (2004). Recent developments in national Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander health strategy. Australia and New Zealand health policy, 1(1).
Anderson did a study about recent development in National Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander health policy which occurred in 2003 -04. Also, it has been described about agenda of
policy which is useful in providing health benefits to the community. The author has also
mentioned roles and responsibilities of various organization and associations in policy. Here, the
analysis method is qualitative as secondary data is gathered regarding policy development.
Thus, a lot of information is collected by author to find out recent developments in policy. The
findings of article indicate that a roll out program was launched in 1999 and a streamline
approach was followed. So, a revolution program was launched by Prime Minister in April in
context of Aboriginal affairs. Thus, article provide overview of various developments occurred
within policy. But limitation of article is qualitative approach may focused only on
developments in policy but not on its benefits to community. The article will still provide
useful information on health care policy.
Article 2 - Browne, J., de Leeuw, E., Gleeson, D., Adams, K., Atkinson, P., & Hayes, R. (2017).
A network approach to policy framing: A case study of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Health Plan. Social Science & Medicine, 172, 10-18.
Browne & et.al., (2017) did a research on framing of policy and network structure of
organizations which influence the policy. Besides, scholar has described about how different sub
group within network implies the policy in community. For that a qualitative framing analysis
was undertaken and using inductive coding of the policy discourses in the submission. Also, it is
found that eye health clique was an example of a group of well connected network in framing of
policy. The findings of article state that important actor in the network was Close the Gap
Campaign Steering Committee. The study concluded that network structure and the function of
actors in a policy subsystem must be integrated. There is need to have a proper governance so
that framing process can be aligned with policy. It will be useful in future policy implementation.
Thus, article provide a summary of policy structure and organization role in framing of policy.
Although qualitative analysis may led to some interpretation of data gathered. However, the
article is useful in getting overview of how policy is formed in health care.
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Article- 3 Canuto, K. J., Aromataris, E., Burgess, T., Davy, C., McKivett, A., Schwartzkopff, K.,
... & Brown, A. (2021). A scoping review of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health
promotion programs focused on modifying chronic disease risk factors. Health Promotion
Journal of Australia, 32(1), 46-74.
Canuto & et.al., (2021) conducted a study on chronic disease that is experienced by
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. It has been described about risk factors,
smoking, etc. which impact on policy forming. Thus, there is need to close gap so that health
policy is properly implemented. So, qualitative, mixed method data analysis was done in
which inclusion criteria was applied. It can be found from article that health program was
implemented across entire community. In that SNAPS factor was included in policy. These
program effectively focused on improving health of community. However, most common risk
found in it is nutrition and physical activity. This article shows that there were 14 programs in
which no outcome was assessed. Therefore, it can be summarized that health policy of
community is not properly evaluated. The policy has not emphasized on social support given to
people. The limitation is that it may be difficult to compare data in mixed method as they are in
different forms. But still this article will provide useful information in this field.
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