Kylie Gwynne

Macquarie University · Department of Heath Sciences

Background Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people avidly use technology for a variety of purposes. Digital health technologies offer a new way to build on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples propensity for early adoption and innovation with technology. Only limited research has focused on mature aged adults in non-urban locations as...

Background Ear and hearing care programs are critical to early detection and management of otitis media which disproportionately impacts First Nations children, affecting speech and language development, social and cognitive development and, in turn, education and life outcomes. This review aimed to identify ear and hearing care programs to chart p...

Background: in this protocol we outline a method of working alongside Aboriginal communities to learn about and facilitate improvement in the oral health habits in Aboriginal adolescents. By facilitating positive oral health in Aboriginal adolescents, we hope to achieve lifelong improvement in oral health and general wellbeing. Methods: this pap...

Background: Co-design is the latest buzzword in healthcare services and research and is ubiquitous in Australian funding grants and policy documents. There are no standards for what constitutes co-design and it is often confused with less collaborative processes such as consultation. Collective impact is a co-design tool used for complex and entren...

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated limitations on physical interaction, requiring the rapid virtual adaptation of key health programs and services. A national lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Australia was introduced in March 2020. This lockdown included the closure of exercise clinics, fitness centres and other communit...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented shifts in the way health programs and services are delivered. A national lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Australia was introduced in March 2020. This lockdown included the closure of exercise clinics, fitness centers, and other community spaces, which, before the pandemic, were...

Background: Older people consistently report a desire to remain at home. Beat It is a community-based exercise and lifestyle intervention that uses evidence-based strategies to assist older people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) to improve physical and functional fitness, which are crucial to maintain independence. This follow up, real-world s...

The purpose of this review is to compare research evaluation tools to determine whether the tools typically used for assessing the quality of research adequately address issues of Indigenous health and culture, particularly when the studies are intended to benefit Indigenous peoples in urban, regional, rural, and remote settings. Our previously pub...

Background A mixed method systematic review was undertaken to address the research question, Do young Australian Aboriginal people barriers in accessing public sexual health services? Aboriginal people are disproportionally affected by significantly higher incidence rates of sexually transmissible infections (STIs), compared to the rest of the Aust...

Objective: To assess the accessibility, availability and utilisation of a comprehensive range of community-based healthcare services for Aboriginal people and describe contributing factors to providing effective healthcare services from the provider perspective. Setting: A remote community in New South Wales, Australia. Participants: Aborigina...

Background Digital health offers a fresh avenue to address health disparities experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Despite the scant evidence about how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders access and use health technology, the Australian government has prioritised research that uses technology to enable people to manage their he...

Many rural communities in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, have poor-quality water supplies. The lack of a palatable alternative increases the risk of the high consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, a significant contributor to adverse health outcomes. This disproportionately effects Aboriginal people living in these towns, who are also profoun...

Introduction Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer affecting Australian women, and the second highest cause of cancer death in Australian women. While the incidence of breast cancer is lower in Aboriginal women than non-Aboriginal women, the mortality rate for Aboriginal women is higher, with Aboriginal women 1.2 times more likely to...

Background/Introduction Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia and it is increasing in prevalence and incidence globally. True prevalence is underestimated because silent/asymptomatic AF is frequent and under-detected, but can cause stroke. Guidelines recommend opportunistic screening for AF in patients aged ≥65 ye...

This paper presents the findings of the National Fluoride Varnish Workshop in 2018 along with subsequent actions to scale-up the use of fluoride varnish nationally in Australia. The use of fluoride varnish programs to prevent dental caries in high-risk child populations is an evidence-based population health approach used internationally. Such prog...

The aim was to systematically assess the evidence on whether cultural safety affects breast cancer outcomes with regards to care for Indigenous women in high income countries. We conducted a systematic review in accordance with PRISMA guidelines of peer-reviewed articles in Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science, Proquest Sociology and Inf...

Objectives The Child Dental Benefits Schedule (CDBS) is an Australian Government initiative providing basic dental care to children from low-income households. We sought to investigate levels of utilisation of the CDBS among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children to determine whether there is equal access to dental services provided through the sch...

Background Aboriginal people face challenges on several fronts when it comes to the health and wellbeing of their community, compared to the rest of the Australian population. This is no different in urban areas such as Australia’s largest urban Aboriginal community located in Blacktown, NSW, where sexually transmitted infections (STIs) remain an i...

(1) Background: Genomic precision medicine (PM) utilises people’s genomic data to inform the delivery of preventive and therapeutic health care. PM has not been well-established for use with people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ancestry due to the paucity of genomic data from these communities. We report the development of a new protocol...

Background There is evidence that involving potential participants and the public in co-designing research can improve the quality of the study design, recruitment and acceptability of the research, but appropriate methodologies for doing this are not always clear. In this study we co-designed a way of involving people affected by a rare genomic di...

Background: Australia's healthcare system is complex and fragmented which can create challenges in healthcare, particularly in rural and remote areas. Aboriginal people experience inequalities in healthcare treatment and outcomes. This study aimed to investigate barriers and enablers to accessing healthcare services for Aboriginal people living in...

Background: Australia’s healthcare system is complex and fragmented which can create challenges in healthcare, particularly in rural and remote areas. Aboriginal people experience inequalities in healthcare treatment and outcomes. This study aimed to investigate barriers and enablers to accessing healthcare services for Aboriginal people living in...

Background Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer affecting Australian women, and the second largest cause of cancer death in Australian women. While the incidence of breast cancer is lower in Aboriginal women than non-Aboriginal women, the mortality rate for Aboriginal women is higher. There are a number of factors impacted by whether...

Introduction: The early closure of the Voluntary Dental Graduate Year Program and the Oral Health Therapy Graduate Year Program by the Australian Government adversely impacted New South Wales (NSW) Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs). This led to the co-design of a small-scale oral health therapy graduate year program for ACCH...

Early childhood is important for future cognitive and educational outcomes. Programs overcoming barriers to engagement in early education for Indigenous children must address family cultural needs and target developmental delays. This systematic review identifies culturally adapted programs to improve developmental delays among young children, in r...

Indigenous peoples in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States of America (USA) have a higher burden of chronic lung disease than non-Indigenous people. Exercised-based interventions, such as pulmonary rehabilitation, are highly effective to manage chronic lung disease. The outcomes of these interventions for Indigenous people require...

There is good evidence that fluoride varnish programs are effective in preventing dental caries in children. This study aims to provide a costing for the scale-up of a child fluoride varnish program in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Most child fluoride varnish programs are school-based, and a number of studies have examined the acceptability and...

Objective To examine the ability of ear, nose and throat (ENT) outreach programmes to improve health outcomes among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Methods We conducted a systematic literature search of nine databases (Medline, CINAHLS, PsycINFO, Embase, Cochrane, Scopus, Global health, Informit Rural health database and Indigenous c...

Early childhood is important for future cognitive and educational outcomes. Programs overcoming barriers to engagement in early education for Indigenous children must address family cultural needs and target developmental delays. This systematic review identifies culturally adapted programs to improve cognitive, emotional and developmental delays a...

BACKGROUND Despite Australia being one of the most developed nations in the world there is a significant and widening gap in health and welfare between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Aboriginal) people, and non-Aboriginal people. Aboriginal workers known or local to Aboriginal communities who access the health, ageing, and disability suppor...

Background Despite a plethora of research into Aboriginal employment and recruitment, the extent and nature of the retention of frontline Aboriginal people in health, ageing, and disability workforces are currently unknown. In this application, frontline service delivery is defined as Aboriginal people who are paid employees in the health, ageing,...

Background In Australia, models of care have been developed to train antenatal care providers to promote oral health among pregnant women. However, these models are underpinned by Western values of maternity care that do not consider the cultural needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. This study aimed to explore the perceptions and e...

Problem: There are significant inequalities in oral health status between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children in Australia, particularly where the children have insufficient access to various forms of fluoride. There has been a growing interest in seeing fluoride varnish programs used more widely for Aboriginal children due to proven effectiven...

Background There is evidence that involving potential participants and the public in co-designing research can improve the quality of the study design, recruitment and acceptability of the research, but appropriate methodologies for doing this are not always clear. In this study we co-designed a way of involving people affected by a rare genomic di...

Background There is evidence that involving potential participants and the public in co-designing research can improve the quality of the study design, recruitment and acceptability of the research, but appropriate methodologies for doing this are not always clear. In this study we co-designed a way of involving people affected by a rare genomic di...

Expanded carrier screening (ECS) for recessive monogenic diseases requires prior knowledge of genomic variation, including DNA variants that cause disease. The composition of pathogenic variants differs greatly among human populations, but historically, research about monogenic diseases has focused mainly on people with European ancestry. By compar...

Background Circulatory diseases continue to be the greatest cause of mortality for Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and a major cause of persistently lower life expectancy compared with non-Aboriginal Australians. The limited information that exists on atrial fibrillation (AF) prevalence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islan...

Aboriginal people face challenges on several fronts when it comes to the health and wellbeing of their community, compared to the rest of the Australian population. This is no different in urban areas such as Australia’s largest urban Aboriginal community located in Blacktown, NSW, where sexually transmitted infections remain an issue of concern. A...

Background: To review the international literature on community-based interventions aiming to improve the oral health of Indigenous adolescents and identify which demonstrate a positive impact. Methods: Data sources were MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, SCOPUS, the COCHRANE library and the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet. Articles were included wher...

Objective: Improving the oral health of Aboriginal children is an Australian priority. Public policy recommends the development of evidence-based, culturally competent oral health promotion programs. Positive health outcomes are more likely for Aboriginal people when programs are co-designed with the community and tailored to local needs. This stu...

Background: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children experience a higher prevalence of ear, nose, and throat (ENT) diseases than non-Indigenous children. Many programs exist that aim to prevent and treat these diseases. Culturally appropriate and timely specialist outreach services may help improve access, service use, and outcomes but there...

Background Aboriginal Health Workers provide a unique insight into understanding the health needs of the Aboriginal peoples in the community on account of their cultural knowledge, experiences and understanding of the health services. The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions and experiences of Aboriginal Health Workers towards oral heal...

Background: In Australia, models of care have been developed to train antenatal care providers to promote oral health among pregnant women. However, these models are underpinned by Western values of maternity care that do not consider the need to ensure cultural safety for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. This study aimed to explore the...

Background: In Australia, models of care have been developed to train antenatal care providers to promote oral health among pregnant women. However, these models are underpinned by Western values of maternity care that do not consider the cultural needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. This study aimed to explore the perceptions and...

Background To review the international literature on community-based interventions aiming to improve the oral health of Indigenous adolescents and identify which demonstrate a positive impact. Methods Data sources were MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, SCOPUS, the COCHRANE library and the Australian Indigenous Health Info Net. Articles were included where t...

Background: To review the international literature on community-based interventions aiming to improve the oral health of Indigenous adolescents and identify which demonstrate a positive impact. Methods: Data sources were MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, SCOPUS, the COCHRANE library and the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet. Articles were included where t...

Background To review the international literature on community-based interventions aiming to improve the oral health of Indigenous adolescents and identify which demonstrate a positive impact. Methods Data sources were MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, SCOPUS, the COCHRANE library and the Australian Indigenous Health Info Net. Articles were included where t...

Public involvement in research occurs when the public, patients, or research participants are actively contributing to the research process. Public involvement has been acknowledged as a key priority for prominent human genomics research initiatives in many different countries. However, to date, there has been no detailed analysis or review of the...

Background Western models of care to improve the oral health of pregnant women have been successfully implemented in the healthcare setting across various developed countries. Even though Indigenous women experience poorer pregnancy and birth outcomes compared to other women, these models have not been developed with Indigenous communities to addre...

Issue addressed: Australian Aboriginal children are less likely to access preventive oral health services such as fluoride varnish. The regular application of fluoride varnish can prevent dental caries. This study aims to determine if a school-based fluoride varnish program can provide Aboriginal children with at least three fluoride varnish appli...

Objective: Examine the feasibility and acceptability of an electrocardiogram (ECG) attached to a mobile phone (iECG) screening device for atrial fibrillation (AF) in Aboriginal Controlled Community Health Services (ACCHS) and other community settings. Methods: Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with ACCHS staff in urban, rural and remote com...

Objective Completion rates in vocational education are typically poor for Aboriginal students (<30%). A scholarship program was designed for Australian Aboriginal students using five enablers of success previously identified for Aboriginal preregistration tertiary nursing students. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the five enablers...

Background Australian Aboriginal children experience high levels of dental caries (tooth decay) and are less likely to access preventive dental health services. High-strength fluoride varnish has been shown to reduce the incidence of dental caries and is commonly used in community-based preventive dental health service programs. In New South Wales,...

Background A community-led oral health service for Aboriginal people in Central Northern NSW identified the need for oral health promotion, as well as dental treatment; in three remote communities with limited access to dental services. A three-stage plan based on the Precede-Proceed model was used to develop a school-based preventive oral health p...

BACKGROUND Primary, specialist and allied health services can assist in providing equitable access in rural and remote areas where higher proportions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (Aboriginal Australians) reside to overcome high rates of chronic disease experienced by this population group. Little is currently known about the loca...

Background: Primary, specialist, and allied health services can assist in providing equitable access in rural and remote areas, where higher proportions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (Aboriginal Australians) reside, to overcome the high rates of chronic diseases experienced by this population group. Little is currently known abou...

Introduction: As part of an oral health service for Aboriginal people in central northern New South Wales (NSW), Australia, oral health promotion was identified as a priority by the local Aboriginal community. The objective of this study was to collaborate with local Aboriginal communities to determine (1) the oral health needs of Aboriginal child...

Objective The aim of the present systematic review was to examine the enablers for effective health service delivery for Aboriginal Australians.Methods This systematic review was undertaken in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. Papers were included if they had data related to h...

p>Aboriginal people fare worse than other Australians in every measure of health including in a ten-year gap in life expectancy, infant mortality, cardiovascular disease, dental disease, mental health, chronic disease and maternal health. Despite sustained, whole of government effort, progress to improve Aboriginal health has been very slow. The co...

Presntation to the Canadian Dental Association about models of oral health care for Aboriginal people in rural and remote Australia. http://oasisdiscussions.ca/author/jcda-oasis/

Approximately 10% of ischemic strokes are associated with atrial fibrillation (AF) first diagnosed at the time of stroke. Detecting asymptomatic AF would provide an opportunity to prevent these strokes by instituting appropriate anticoagulation. The AF-SCREEN international collaboration was formed in September 2015 to promote discussion and researc...

Background: Aboriginal people, and particularly those in rural areas, continue to suffer very high levels of dental disease despite significant reductions in the wider Australian population in the past 30 years. Until recently, there has been a shortage of oral health clinicians and the majority have provided care in major cities. The NSW Governme...

Objectives: Dental issues are more prevalent for Aboriginal Australians, especially those living in rural/remote locations, but distribution of clinicians is favoured towards metropolitan areas and are not always culturally competent. This study aimed to document the experiences of dental clinicians who relocated to rural/remote communities to pro...

Introduction There is a 10-year gap in life expectancy between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians. The leading cause of death for Aboriginal Australians is cardiovascular disease, including myocardial infarction and stroke. Although atrial fibrillation (AF) is a known precursor to stroke there are no published studies about the prevalence of...

Objective: An oral health service was implemented, using a unique community development approach, for Northern NSW Australian Aboriginal communities in 2013-14. This study examined the views of children (and parents) who accessed the service, including: the extent of reported dental problems, oral health knowledge, attitudes and behaviour, accessi...

Objective The aim of the present study was to identify evidence-based strategies in the literature for developing and maintaining a skilled and qualified rural and remote health workforce in Australia to better meet the health care needs of Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander (hereafter Aboriginal) people.Methods A systematic search...

A sustainable model of oral health care for disadvantaged Aboriginal people living in rural and remote communities in New South Wales was developed using collective impact methodology. Collective impact is a structured process which draws together organizations to develop a shared agenda and design solutions which are jointly resourced, measured an...

A Report to the Senate Select Committee on Health about Aboriginal health and models of care http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query%3DId%3A%22committees%2Fcommsen%2F8265b9a4-32ab-42bd-808e-cba0afa7e024%2F0000%22