Tinashe Dune

• B.A. (Hons), MPH, PhD
• Lecturer at Western Sydney University

This timely handbook responds to the international drive to know more about Whiteness – its origins, its impacts and, importantly, the means for diffusing it. Guided by critical Whiteness theory, the volume deconstructs, decodes and disrupts Whiteness as it is constructed and employed in contemporary and diverse contexts. To do so, the internationa...

In this chapter, students will explore the ways in which constructions of gender influence health outcomes throughout Australia. Students will analyse this impact through the lens of social determinants, reflecting upon activities that demonstrate how men and women experience health. A discussion of health policies and systems introduces students t...

Indigenous overrepresentation in Australia is a pervasive social injustice problem, which sees this once proud group of people fail to meet minimum standards across education, employment, health, criminal justice, and socioeconomic status. Currently, Indigenous people account for 3.3 percent of the Australian population but account for 28 percent o...

This chapter discusses the movement away from ‘cultural competence’ towards the negotiation of ‘culturally safe’ practices and environments for engaging diverse communities. Firstly, the concept of cultural competency is introduced, and the strengths and limitations of this model discussed. Cultural safety is then presented as a model that extends...

Abstract Background Traditional medicine serves as a form of primary health care for more than 80% of African populations. Currently, there is no research documenting if and how African migrant communities engage with their traditional health practices and beliefs after they resettle in Western countries. The aim of this study was to examine Africa...

Transgender individuals who desire medical transition need to access care through their local healthcare system. This is the first study to explore the perceptions of the community and attitudes of healthcare providers towards the delivery of transgender health care in an Australian context. An anonymous survey was conducted of trans and gender-div...

Introduction: Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rate of adolescent pregnancy in the world. While pregnancy during adolescence poses higher risks for the mother and the baby, the utilisation of maternity care to mitigate the effects is low. This review aimed to synthesise evidence on adolescent mothers' utilisation of maternity care in Sub-Saharan...

Research into the rising rates of sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies among adolescents has highlighted the challenge in developing sexual education campaigns that affect behavioural change. Frequent attempts to apply the otherwise robust Health Belief Model to the challenge of high-risk sexual behaviours have yielded confoundi...

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) as experienced by minority populations is poorly understood. Within the Western world, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, and Queer or Questioning LGBTIQ population is one such group which suffers from misrepresentations and misunderstandings. In Western nations, IPV is primarily constructed as perpet...

An online forum analysis was conducted to explore experiences of sexual violence and safety among transwomen, with a particular focus on transwomen of colour. Four online forums were chosen for the analysis. Three key themes were identified: dating and violence in intimate relationships; fear of violence and safety strategies; and coping after sexu...

: Antenatal care (ANC) services are an essential intervention for improving maternal and child health worldwide. In Ethiopia, however, ANC service use has been suboptimal, and examining the trends and factors associated with ANC service use is needed to inform targeted maternal health care interventions. This study aimed to investigate the trends a...

A review for the Sociology of Human Rights, by Mark Frezzo

Migration can be a very stressful event that post migration involves major changes in family dynamics and intergenerational relationships. With plenty of literature discussing the challenges in these areas, this article focuses on the ways migrants perceive, navigate, and manage changes to their family structure, roles, and relationships. This stud...

Background Poor diabetes management prior to conception, results in increased rates of fetal malformations and other adverse pregnancy outcomes. We describe the development of an integrated, pre-pregnancy management strategy to improve pregnancy outcomes among women of reproductive age with diabetes in a multi-ethnic district. Methods The strategy...

Abstract Background: Whilst e-Portfolios have been used in a variety of learning contexts, disciplines and academic levels, its effectiveness amongst tertiary health science students in Australia has yet to be explored. Investigating students’ development of reflexivity through an individually assessed e-Portfolio will produce more information abou...

A systematic review of research published in English was conducted across seven electronic databases in psychology, health and social sciences. The aim was to ascertain the nature of mental health care workers’ constructions about culturally and linguistically diverse individuals in order to facilitate provision of culturally appropriate service de...

Article selection process. (DOCX)

PRISMA 2009 checklist. (DOC)

This Q methodological study was conducted to examine the perspectives of health professionals in providing sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care to refugee and migrant women. Forty-seven health professionals rank-ordered 42 statements and commented on their rankings in subsequent open-ended questions. A bi-person factor analysis was performed a...

Objective: This study aimed to explore the health care professional (HCP) experiences of working with interpreters when consulting refugee and migrant women who are not proficient in English around sexual and reproductive health (SRH) issues, in order to identify service and policy implications. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted...

Mixed methods research is consistently used quantitatively and qualitatively to understand and explore the many facets of a range of phenomena. Generally, mixed methods research involves the use of qualitative and quantitative methods simultaneously or concurrently, yet for the most part independently. What if these methods could be truly mixed? Th...

There is an increasing body of work identifying and analyzing notions of resilience from indigenous perspectives. Notwithstanding the utility of this research for the Australian context (some parallels may be cautiously inferred for some Indigenous Australian groups), critical knowledge gaps exist in our understanding of how Australian Indigenous p...

This study explored how Indigenous women living in Australia understand, experience and construct sexuality within contexts dominated by revealed the impact of Eurocentric conceptualisations of gender, embodiment and intimacy. This project was informed by feminist methodology and collected data using semi-structured focus groups, which naturally to...

Past research suggests that factors related to health care professionals’ (HCPs) knowledge, training and competency can contribute to the underutilisation of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care by refugee and migrant women. The aim of this study was to examine the perceived preparedness of HCPs in relation to their knowledge, confidence and t...

Background There is a paucity of literature describing traditional health practices and beliefs of African women. The purpose of this study was to undertake a systematic review of the use of traditional medicine (TM) to address maternal and reproductive health complaints and wellbeing by African women in Africa and the diaspora. Method A literatur...

Background In Australia only 2.2% of published health research has focused on multi-cultural health despite the increase of culturally and linguistically diverse populations. Research on the perceptions and experiences of health care professionals (HCPs) in engaging with refugee and migrant women is also lacking. Given the integral role of HCPs in...

Background In Australia, those who migrate as children or adolescents (1.5 generation migrants) may have entered a new cultural environment at a crucial time in their psychosexual development. These migrants may have to contend with constructions of sexual and reproductive health from at least two cultures which may be at conflict on the matter. Th...

This paper discusses the influence of cross-cultural modes of communication on perceptions of sexual health and wellbeing for Shona (Zimbabwean) women living in Australia and their children. Data was collected using focus groups in South Australia with fourteen women, between the ages of 29 and 53. Transcripts were analysed thematically. The women...

Obtaining ethics approval from university ethics committees is an important part of the research process in Australia and internationally. However, for researchers engaging in ethnographic work, obtaining ethics approval can (re)present significant hurdles to overcome in planning and facilitating a research project. In this article, we discuss pote...

Little is known about the restorative outcomes of Indigenous resilience borne through personal and community agency among Indigenous Australian women. This is particularly true of the agency of Indigenous women who often overcome the trap of colonial and postcolonial gender roles that ensnare women in limiting constructions of femininity - a situat...

Notifications for sexually transmitted diseases in young people in Australia are increasing. Young people are a priority population within the National Sexually Transmissible Infections Strategy, yet their knowledge of sexual health issues is limited. In the context of Health-Promoting Universities, we examined sexual health knowledge and access to...

This paper describes and reflects on a teaching experience developed as a complimentary workshops to MA class on history, theory and politics of consumption. We used Wikipedia as a tool to consider the circuit of knowledge production in the Web 2.0 era, where consumers are no longer passive audiences but producers and consumers at the same time. We...

The proportion of women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds is growing in Australia. Synthesising existing evidence concerning the views and experiences of these women in accessing sexual and reproductive health care is crucial to future policy and service development. A systematic review of scientific articles and grey literatur...

Interprofessional education and cultural competence are both necessary for health professionals working in interprofessional teams serving diverse populations. Using a pre-post-survey case series design, this study evaluates a novel learning activity designed to encourage self-reflection and cultural competence in an Australian interprofessional ed...

The institutionalisation of discrimination is often cited as a key factor in poor health and wellbeing outcomes for people identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ). Such health outcomes include poor mental health, psychological stress resulting in physical manifestations of illness, and higher incidence of dru...

Constructions of sexuality and disability have been discussed widely by scholars across a number of fields. However, there has been relatively little research on how people with cerebral palsy construct their own sexuality and the salience of the socio-sexual schema which are involved in this process. One such sexual schema is that of sexual sponta...

This workshop is focused on the experiences of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) health care workers as a vulnerable population in relation to in the Australian healthcare system (Dr Tinashe Dune). Specifically, this workshop will unpack the consequences of prejudice and discrimination in the (health) work place for health workers and ul...

Language framed as derogatory names and symbols can have implications for people and their life experiences. Within a Saussurian-inspired frame, and looking at ideas of stigma and social inclusion, this paper examines the use of language as a weapon within a social context of (changing) intent and meaning. Three examples of language use in mainstre...

This paper is based on a research which explored sexual scripts in the lives of people with cerebral palsy. To assess the utility of the study protocol, aimed at exploring the relative salience of public, interactional and private sexual scripts as described by people with cerebral palsy, a pilot study was conducted. This paper discusses the develo...

This paper presents findings from an exploratory study that explored how Shona-Zimbabwean women living permanently in Australia understand and construct sexuality in following migration. Main concepts within sexuality under scrutiny in this paper therefore include: gender, embodiment and intimacy. A core finding of the study presented in this paper...

This chapter describes data on mental health generated by the 273 FtM transgender Australians in the 2013 E-Males study. Whilst most participants were satisfied with their lives in general, a high proportion (69 %) had received a diagnosis of depression and anxiety within the previous 12 months. Over 80 % of the participants had thought about self-...

This chapter explores data on gender identity generated by the 273 FtM transgender Australians in the 2013 E-Males study. Most participants (51 %) identified simply as “male”. This group tended to have known their identity from a young age, and had struggled with the development of secondary sex characteristics during puberty. However, some were un...

This chapter examines data on employment generated by the 273 FtM transgender Australians in the 2013 E-Males study. The majority of participants (58 %) were working (full-time, part-time or in an apprenticeship). However, 15 % were unemployed—a higher portion than in previous studies on broader populations. The qualitative data revealed there were...

This chapter explores the data on parenting from the 2013 E-Males study of 273 FtM transgender Australians. Some participants were parents or knew of other FtM transgender people who were. They expressed frustration that their ability to parent was widely overlooked, as it was an important element in their identity. FtM transgender people had becom...

In total, 273 FtM transgender people participated in the E-males project in 2013; the largest number of FtM transgender people in an Australian study. This chapter provides some basic demographic information about these diverse respondents. Participants ranged in age from 16 to 64, with the average age 30.5. The participants came from all states of...

In 2013, the E-males study was launched to increase the visibility of (and meet the research gaps on) FtM transgender Australians and their needs, with a view to informing policy. This chapter describes the study’s two design components: an anonymous online survey which gathered basic data through quantitative and qualitative questions, and an anon...

Transgender people enliven sexualities research and can challenge traditional ideas about gender-based orientations or the mechanics of pleasure. This chapter examines data on sexuality, romance and relationships generated by the 273 FtM transgender Australians in the 2013 E-Males study. Over half of the participants were in a romantic/sexual relat...

This chapter discusses data on health generated by the 273 FtM transgender Australians in the 2013 E-Males study. Participants mainly considered their physical health in the past year to have been good or very good. Unfortunately, they reported that many of the health service-providers they had used, such as doctors, had a lack of knowledge about t...

Schools can reproduce, or challenge, the restrictive gender norms of society in various ways. This chapter discusses data on education generated by the 273 FtM transgender Australians in the 2013 E-Males study. A large portion (69 %) of participants had a post-secondary qualification compared to the general Australian population. Conversely, 4 % ha...

In concluding our discussion of the 2013 E-Males study of 273 FtM transgender Australians, this chapter outlines the key findings of the data. We urge all Australian government offices and other places where documentation (featuring name and sex) is required to familiarise staff with new national guidelines on the recognition of gender. We call for...

Transgender people may engage in transition (or self-affirmation) processes with any or all of personal, internal, social, legal and physical elements. This chapter discusses data on transitioning generated by the 273 FtM transgender Australians in the 2013 E-Males study. In terms of physical transitions, non-surgical measures were the most common,...

Discrimination against transgender people on the basis of their gender identity or expression is illegal in Australia, however it is not always easy for Australian transgender people to find adequate social support. This chapter examines data on discrimination and social support generated by the 273 FtM transgender Australians in the 2013 E-Males s...

This is the first national study on female-to-male (FtM) transgender people’s experiences in Australia. It describes an extensive study that fills the current gap in Australian research on the specific experiences and beliefs about transition for contemporary Australian FtM transgender people. Following an overview of current literature on the vari...

This paper presents findings from an exploratory study that explored how Shona-Zimbabwean women living permanently in Australia understand and construct sexuality in following migration. Main concepts within sexuality under scrutiny in this paper therefore include: gender, embodiment and intimacy. A core finding of the study presented in this paper...

This chapter introduces the first national study on Australian FtM transgender peoples’ experiences. It argues that whilst FtM transgender people have been less “visible” in Australian culture and media in the past, this is changing with the advent of recent reality shows and websites. It discusses how increased advocacy in the last decade has secu...

Through the ages, and within myriad cultural contexts, fairytales and folklore have taught children and adolescents morality and socially acceptable behaviours. In particular, fairytales and folklore propagate ideals about the ways in which female characters should best behave, and the ways in which others interact with them. On the one hand, w...

Introduction/Background Cultural competency is an important attribute of all health professionals. At the University of Western Sydney, allied health students are educated about cultural, social and sexual diversity via face-to-face lectures and tutorials within an interprofessional education (IPE) setting in a unit called Culture, Diversity and He...

This study examined the messages perceived by adolescent girls with orphanhood to influence their sexual decision making. Participants were 125 students (mean age = 14.7 years), 54% of whom attended church schools in a rural district of eastern Zimbabwe. We collected and analyzed data using concept mapping, a mixed method approach that enabled the...

Older age is often associated with asexuality. That is, older individuals are not viewed as desiring of sex, nor as sexually desirable to others. Broader social and cultural norms that downplay women’s sexual desire and agency further compound these phenomena. Whether this popular image accurately reflects older women’s sexual desires, behaviour an...

This study explored how people with cerebral palsy (CP) negotiated and perceived their sexual interactions with others. In doing so, this research discusses participant conceptualizations of sexuality with CP. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with two women and five men with moderate to severe cerebral palsy from Canada and Austr...

This study investigated how people with cerebral palsy (CP) perceived the influence of public sexual schema on their construction of sexuality. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with five men and two women with moderate to severe cerebral palsy from Australia and Canada. The interview discourse focused on how, if at all, public co...

Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) addresses sexual rights, reproductive processes, and sexual functions at all stages of life. It is about the right to participate in sexuality, including seeking, receiving, and passing on information about sexuality. It also encompasses personal choices about sexual activity, including fertility control. Yet, S...

E-health has become a burgeoning field in which health professionals and health consumers create and seek information. E-health refers to internet-based health care and information delivery and seeks to improve health service locally, regionally and worldwide. E-sexual health presents new opportunities to provide online sexual health services irres...

For the past five years in the Anglophone West, narratives of the sexual child have been dominated by anxieties about sexualization (of girls), sexting (by both girls and boys) and most recently, children sexually ‘abusing’ children. The terms in which these social issues are discussed are increasingly negative and, in the case of the latter, domin...

Purpose: To examine the relevance of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) to CBR monitoring and evaluation by investigating the relationship between the ICF and information in published CBR monitoring and evaluation reports. Method: A three-stage literature search and analysis method was employed. Studies...

This paper analyses the power of dress in defining and redefining identities for continental African women in the diaspora. It uses data from a qualitative study with Shona-Zimbabwean migrant women in Australia – about their understandings of sexuality, to explore the significance of dress in socio-cultural constructions of Shona womanhood. The foc...

Purpose: To identify and analyse tools and methods that have been reported in the literature for the monitoring and evaluation of community-based rehabilitation (CBR) programmes. Method: A literature review and descriptive analysis were carried out to scope CBR monitoring and evaluation methods and tools. A search was conducted using PubMed and...

This study explored how people with cerebral palsy (CP) negotiated and perceived their sexual interactions with others. In doing so, this research discusses participant conceptualizations of sexuality with CP. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with two women and five men with moderate to severe cerebral palsy from Canada and Austr...

Human sexuality is constructed via public, interactional and private sexual scripts (Simon & Gagnon, 1986, 1987, 2003). However, normative sexual scripts often exclude or asexualize people with cerebral palsy. Consequently, rehabilitation counselling may rely on conceptual models of sexuality which are derived from typical populations. This paper p...

As I Am: A True Story of Adaptation to Physical DisabilityFreyGarrett Lee and Hutchins PirnotKarenDrThe Peppertree Press, 2008University of New England and University of Sydney, Australia - Volume 18 Issue 1 - Tinashe M. Dune

People with physical disability and/or chronic illness are more likely to seek medical help than their typical peers. Once pressing matters related to their condition are addressed clients may pay attention to how to incorporate the management of their health condition into other aspects of their lives (i.e., sexuality). This paper discusses inhibi...

Following a presentation given at the 16th Australian and New Zealand Haemophilia Conference; Enjoying your sex life: Issues and solutions for men with physical impairment [Dune TM. Enjoying your sex life: issues and solutions for men with physical impairment. 16th Australian and New Zealand Haemophilia Conference: Health and Wellbeing - The Decade...

The study explored contexts for health and wellbeing for women and children influenced by the structural behavior of an Apostolic faith church organization in Zimbabwe. Twenty-three purposively selected members of an African indigenous Apostolic church (males = 12; females = 11; age range 22-95 years) were informants to a focus group discussion ses...

Constructions of sexuality and disability have been discussed widely by scholars across a number of fields. However, there has been relatively little research on how people with Cerebral Palsy construct their own sexuality and the salience of the socio-sexual schema which are involved in this process. As such this study aimed to address three quest...

Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with nursing managers from 198 randomly selected residential aged care facilities (RACFs) in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, Australia to gather information about how they perceive and respond to the sexual expression of elderly residents, particularly in relation to policy and training....

Western culture portrays sex as most gratifying when it is spontaneous. However, portraying sex in this way can lead to unrealistic expectations. If perfect and spontaneous sexual performances are expected, this may then impede one’s ability to enjoy satisfying sexual relationships. The “myth of sexual spontaneity” functioning as a sexual script op...

Homophilia, a term once used to define “unnatural” relations between same-sex people in the early- to mid-20th century has been given a makeover. Urban gay communities around the world are using homophilia to mean an open, supportive and non-judgemental acceptance towards gays and lesbians. Available at: http://theconversation.edu.au/from-homophob...