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Background of the study

The purpose of Footprints in Time is to collect data from across Australia to help understand the links between early childhood experiences and later life outcomes for Indigenous children living in remote, regional and urban locations. The study will help researchers to learn a great deal more about how some two thousand-plus Indigenous children are raised in diverse circumstances across the nation. It will help them identify what Indigenous children need to have the best start in life and build a ‘story’ about each child—either from babyhood or from the third or fourth year—over a minimum period of four years for each cohort.

The study will provide a data resource that can be used by governments, organisations, researchers, communities and families to develop practical and effective policies and programs to make Indigenous children stronger, healthier and close the gap of disadvantage experienced by Indigenous families. This will compliment the learnings from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) which, although valuable, could not shed sufficient light on the specific circumstances of Indigenous children.

Ethics approval

Part of the preparation for the study involved ensuring Footprints in Time meets the National Health and Medical Research Council’s (NHMRC) Guidelines for Ethical Conduct in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research. The NHMRC guidelines state that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community that is the focus of the research needs to indicate support and approval of the research (NHMRC 2003). Community consent is necessary for all research projects, as individual consent alone is not sufficient to proceed with research. However, defining communities and establishing who can speak for who becomes a difficult task (Oxenham et al. 1999, cited in Grove, Brough & Dobson 2003).

Sound community engagement processes across areas such as participation in decision making and providing feedback to communities have been essential in gaining ethics approval for Footprints in Time.

Ethical clearance has been obtained from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing Departmental Ethics Committee (DEC) which has been chosen as the primary Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) for the study. Ethical approval has been given for a period of three years initially. The DEC complies with the membership requirements for HRECs—the national statement on ethical conduct in human research—and has an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander as a member. There is also an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander panel working with the DEC to assist with Indigenous research applications.

In addition state/territory and/or regional ethics clearance and support has been sought for all the Footprints in Time sites through state and territory HRECs or their equivalents, state and territory departments of education (in order for teachers to complete questionnaires about the study children) and departments concerned with out-of-home care.

Where to from here

The interviews for the Footprints in Time study began in April 2008, with the first wave of data collection continuing until September 2008. Interviews will be conducted by Indigenous Research Administration Officers (RAOs) employed by FaHCSIA within the selected sites.

Research Administration Officers employed by FaHCSIA

Footprints in Time will use a mixed method design, including structured annual interviews (using core survey questions across the sites).

The parents and carers of two groups of children aged between 6 and 18 months and 3 years, 6 months to 4 years, 6 months will be interviewed each year for a minimum of four years. With parental or guardian permission, questionnaires will also be given to each child’s preschool teacher or child care provider to complete.

There is an opportunity to explore either some of the survey issues in greater depth and/or other issues of particular concern through a narrative or ‘story-working’ component individually, on a family basis, or through ‘focus groups’ or ‘anecdote circles’ with parents and people in each community.

With consent, individual/family conversations will be taped and each major issue raised will be incorporated in wider thematic analyses while maintaining linkage to the original ‘story’.

The process also allows for RAOs in each site to continually enhance an initial community profile for each site through the life of the study, so it evolves over time alongside the participants’ individual stories. Case studies and/or topic-specific ‘stories’ combined with community profiles will enrich the study as a whole and help researchers understand what the ‘core’ survey data means, and how to interpret it.

It is hoped this will allow all information arising from the study to be used in ways that will increase resilience and wellbeing in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families.

Alyssa Brookman, Sharnay Gyemore-Purcell
and Kevin Wasaga

Community/regional sites for the study include:

• Darwin and some surrounding communities (NT)
• Alice Springs and some surrounding communities (NT)
• Greater Shepparton (VIC)
• NSW lower South Coast (NSW)
• Greater Western Sydney (NSW)
• Dubbo (NSW)
• Mt Isa and some surrounding communities (QLD)
• Brisbane (QLD)
• Torres Strait Islands (some) and Northern Peninsula Area (QLD)
• Adelaide (SA)
• Derby/Fitzroy Crossing and surrounding communities (WA).

References

Grove, N, Brough, M & Dobson, A 2003, ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research and the conduct of longitudinal studies: issues for debate’, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, vol. 27, no. 6, pp. 637–41.

National Health and Medical Research Council 2003, ‘Values and ethics: guidelines for ethical conduct in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research’, Commonwealth of Australia.

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Research under the SPRS agreements:

• Dr Helen Berry and Ms Megan Shipley, FCH, ANU
  Longing to belong: personal social capital and psychological distress in an Australian coastal region

‘Social capital’, defined as a combination of community participation and social cohesion, is considered of vital importance to the wellbeing of individuals, families and the wider community, bringing both social and health benefits. It is, therefore, of concern that there is evidence of a substantial decline in social capital worldwide: recent research has indicated that this is equally true of Australia, including Indigenous communities.

In this study, the researchers examined one core component of social capital: community participation. They tested the hypothesis that levels of social capital influence the development and experience of mental health problems.

The researchers surveyed 963 adults living in Eurobodalla Shire—a socioeconomically disadvantaged rural and remote region of coastal New South Wales.

A self-report questionnaire, delivered by mail, collected sociodemographic data and asked particular sets of questions to determine the nature and frequency of respondents’ community participation, and their sense of belonging, trust, reciprocity and optimism (these latter qualities indicate social cohesion). Participants’ levels of general psychological distress were also measured as an indicator of the presence or otherwise of mental health problems.

The researchers then used the statistical technique of structural equation modelling to build and test a hypothetical model of the relationship between personal social capital and general psychological distress. They expected that community participation would not be directly predictive of mental health outcomes but would have a mediated relationship via social cohesion. This was confirmed.

Key findings

• The study demonstrated that the personal social capital hypothesis is a plausible explanation for the link between community participation and mental health.
• Participating in the social and civic life of the community is important for mental health, primarily because of the increase in personal social cohesion which it is associated with.
• The most important aspect of community participation is enjoying the participation.
• The study has confirmed the importance of the breadth of community participation across specific types, and has found that perceptions of participating too little are also important (negatively) for mental health.

Overall, the study supports the notion that encouraging participation in the community could be a safe and effective strategy for mental health promotion.

The types of participation would be: taking an active interest in current affairs; socialising with members of the immediate household, friends, extended family and neighbours; involving oneself in organised community activities; and religious observance. However, it is essential that this participation is perceived as enjoyable.

This study has confirmed that social capital theory can contribute positively to mental health research. Dr Berry plans to conduct five further studies over the next three years, using data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, to expand on this work and to examine the connection between social capital and mental health in the context of issues such as retiring from work, living in substandard housing and being affected by drought.

Further information: FaHCSIA: Moira Smith (Research and Analysis Branch), tel (02) 6244 1491 or email moira.smith@fahcsia.gov.au

• Dr Bruce Bradbury, SPRC, UNSW
  Young mothers and child outcomes

There is considerable evidence in the academic literature of a correlation between young motherhood and poorer outcomes for both the mother and her children. However, this association is not necessarily causal—it may be that underlying socioeconomic disadvantage influences both the fertility choices of the mother and the outcomes for the child. Findings from international research that test for a causal relationship have been mixed. A United States (US) survey found that teen motherhood does not impact on children’s test scores, but may negatively affect behavioural outcomes. Research in the United Kingdom (UK) concluded that young motherhood has significant negative impacts on schooling and employment outcomes.

Defining young mothers as those under the age of 25 years at the time of the child’s birth, this research used several methods to test for a causal impact of young motherhood on child outcomes.

Data from Wave 1 of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) was analysed to compare learning, physical and social–emotional outcomes for 4 and 5 year-old children of younger and older mothers. Two approaches were used to control for background socioeconomic characteristics. In the first approach, the researcher controlled for a conventional set of observed characteristics known to have an association with child outcomes, including variables related to child’s characteristics, current family structure and socioeconomic background. In the second approach, mother’s age at birth of first child is also held constant. Since this variable captures much of the impact of background characteristics on fertility decisions, controlling for it means that the impact of differences in mother’s age can be estimated.

The HILDA survey was then used to examine learning outcomes and life satisfaction for teenagers and young adults. A comparison of sibling outcomes allowed for the control of all fixed family characteristics, including those that are unobserved, since these are the same for each sibling. The potentially confounding effects of birth order were also controlled for in the analysis.

Key findings

• Bivariate analysis of LSAC data revealed that young children born to mothers aged 30 years have substantially better scores in both learning and social–emotional domains than children of younger mothers. However, when controlling for family characteristics, the learning difference disappears, indicating that different learning outcomes are more likely due to contrasting observed family background characteristics, rather than mother’s age.
• In contrast, a small but statistically significant difference remains in the social–emotional domain, with children of younger mothers found to score less highly. Thus, there is some evidence that being born to a younger mother might lead to poorer social–emotional outcomes for young children. However, the researcher notes that as social–emotional scores in the LSAC are entirely parent-rated, differing parental expectations might also explain this finding.
• Using HILDA data to look at Year 12 completion rates, self-rated educational performance and life satisfaction, the researcher found no evidence of poorer outcomes for youths born to young mothers. However, the relatively small sample size means that these findings are not conclusive.

Further information:
FaHCSIA: Kath Richards (Research and Analysis Branch), tel (02) 6244 7537 or email kath.richards@fahcsia.gov.au

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Regulation occurs in any situation where we seek to steer behaviour, or influence the flow of events (Parker & Braithwaite 2003). Responsive regulation incorporates persuasion, education and sanctioning in the same model. It asserts that regulation is most effective when intervention proceeds in an incremental manner; from education through sanctioning to incapacitation (for example, removing an offender’s capacity to re-offend or de-licensing), providing only as much interference as is required to achieve an effective outcome. The purpose is to foster cooperation and voluntary compliance through a process that rewards effort while managing risk. Responsive regulation offers a framework for governments to most effectively intervene in order to enable and empower, rather than disable and disempower. A number of significant policy issues that confront FaHCSIA—for example, the National Child Protection Framework and the Social Inclusion Agenda—can be informed by a responsive regulation perspective.

Professor Valerie Braithwaite (Head of RegNet) and Dr Nathan Harris (also from RegNet) are involved in a four-year project—Capacity Building in Child Protection (CBCP). Ms Ivec’s secondment has enabled a satellite project to be launched, which focuses on Indigenous families and communities. Ms Ivec and colleagues have prepared a submission to the Wood Special Inquiry into Child Protection in New South Wales, which incorporates RegNet’s expertise in the field of regulation and its application to child protection policy.

RegNet’s proposed model for child protection looks at a balance between both the provision of support and the protection of children. The overall objective of the CBCP project is to demonstrate how safety for children can be improved, and care capacity in the child’s local community can be more effectively harnessed, through a responsive regulatory approach. The project involves interviews with fifty Indigenous parents who have had a child protection intervention. The research focuses on parents’ perceptions of that intervention, and how it has affected their lives.

Responsive regulatory theory suggests that the ability of child protection systems to build capacity in local communities depends upon the degree to which they are ultimately able to engender feelings of hope and empowerment in parents (Braithwaite 2004). By applying an innovative regulatory approach, in which child protection is understood as a domain in which governments and non-government sectors seek to regulate the behaviour of families, responsive regulation transcends the traditional divide between the provision of support and protection. Through developing a responsive framework for child protection issues, and through the use of interventions like family group conferencing, it is possible for governments to establish a supportive and caring relationship with families without undermining their responsibilities to protect children. The strategic insight offered is that intervention need not involve disempowering family and community, which is what happens with traditional command-and-control interventions.

Through her secondment, Ms Ivec hopes to bring together the skills and knowledge gained at RegNet to not only give the department value for money, but to build strong linkages for the department with RegNet. This will enable relevant research to be communicated through FaHCSIA to inform program and policy development. The opportunity exists for FaHCSIA to explore what is meant by ‘regulation’ and apply some of the best available evidence in regulation research to various dimensions of social policy, including areas such as child protection.

References

Braithwaite, V 2004, ‘The hope process and social inclusion’, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 592, pp. 128–65.

Parker, C & Braithwaite, J 2003, ‘Regulation’, in P Cane & M Tushnet (eds), The Oxford handbook of legal studies, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 119–45.

Further information:
Mary Ivec (RegNet),
tel (02) 6125 4438 or 0438 629 211
or email mary.ivec@anu.edu.au
or http://demgov.anu.edu.au/childprotection/WoodSubmission.pdf

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OECD thematic review of school-to-work transitions and youth employment

Australia is one of 16 countries participating in a thematic review by the OECD on school-to-work transitions and youth employment (young people aged 15 to 29). HILDA data was used to inform responses by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations for the policy and data questionnaires. The focus of the review is the transition of young people from school into employment rather than into further education or training, as a thematic review was previously conducted on this topic.

The structure of this OECD thematic review encompasses:

• a diagnosis of the labour market situation of youth
• an examination of policies that promote employability and facilitate youth transition to jobs
• activation strategies and income support for youth
• an analysis of the demand-side barriers to youth employment.

The research will provide Australia with an excellent opportunity to benchmark itself against other OECD countries in respect of the increasingly vital issue of young people and their role in the labour market. The final report will be produced in 2009, with the possibility of an international conference in 2010.

Wave 6 data now available

The release of Wave 6 data in February 2008 builds upon the Government’s commitment to provide quality survey data for research into social and economic policy. In addition to the regular data topics around income, employment and family dynamics, Wave 6 provides a wealth of data for research into the issues addressed by the Australian Social Inclusion agenda, including information about social connectedness, social capital, disability and housing. Information provided by Wave 6 data will be an important contribution to social inclusion research and policy development.

Wave 7 update

Collection of the Wave 7 data was completed in March 2007 and the data will be available from February 2009. The Wave 7 survey instruments are available on the HILDA website. Additional topics for Wave 7 include retirement and transitions to retirement, literacy, numeracy and financial literacy, work-related training, diet, mental health, smoking, employment contracts and social support at work.

Wave 8

The survey instruments for Wave 8 are now being finalised in preparation for the collection of the data in August. Fertility questions from Wave 5 will be included in Wave 8. Additionally, questions about method of pay determination, non co-residential relationships, expanded child support questions, and job discrimination will be tested in the dress rehearsal.

New arrangements for accessing the HILDA survey data

New licensing arrangements for access to the HILDA survey data are now in place. In response to concerns about indemnity and intellectual property, organisational licensing arrangements are now in place in addition to individual licences. The new policy is detailed in the ‘Manual for the access to and use of FaHCSIA longitudinal survey datasets’.

FaHCSIA staff wishing to apply for access to HILDA data can obtain the necessary application package, including an IT systems access form, from the FaHCSIA HILDA intranet site. All other researchers wishing to obtain the data can apply by downloading the application form and applicable licence from the HILDA website.

Enquiries about the HILDA survey should be directed, in the first instance, to the HILDA website.

For technical enquiries about the survey email hilda-inquiries@unimelb.edu.au, and for data access enquiries email longitudinalsurveys@fahcsia.gov.au.

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Longitudinal Studies Advisory Group meeting March 2008

In early March the Longitudinal Studies Advisory Group (LSAG) met in Canberra. The Group is composed of executive level representatives from government departments and other bodies with an interest in LSAC or HILDA. LSAG provides strategic and policy advice, including direction on the content, research questions and research priorities of LSAC.

Attendees included representatives from FaHCSIA, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS), Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR), Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Department of Health and Ageing, as well as academics from the LSAC and HILDA advisory/reference groups. Discussions were held on the review of LSAC’s key research questions, future waves and the internal review of LSAC. Updates were also given on external longitudinal surveys, such as the Longitudinal Study of Australian Youth and the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health.

Data collection

Apart from the main waves, separate funding was obtained to enable the collection of between-wave information in short mail-out questionnaires targeting specific areas of interest. During Wave 2.5 (August 2007), study families were contacted with a short mail-out questionnaire containing questions on children’s media and technology use, parents’ return to work and child support. The study design teams worked with DEEWR and the Child Support Policy Branch of FaHCSIA in the development of the questionnaire. This data was released at the end of May 2008.

The dress rehearsal for Wave 3 of LSAC was conducted in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland between July and October 2007 using the same panel of approximately 500 families used for the dress rehearsals of previous LSAC waves. Some of the key objectives of the Wave 3 dress rehearsal were to:

• investigate response rates and timings for the Computer Assisted Interview (CAI)
• determine the impact of incorporating items from the P1 (primary parent) self-complete forms into the CAI
• do final tests on content changes
• assess the impact on response rates of a Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) instead of a mail-out survey for parents living elsewhere.

Wave 3 represents the first opportunity to exploit the cross-sequential cohort design: children in the younger cohort will be around the same age as the older cohort in Wave 1, allowing for inter-cohort comparisons. The younger cohort is now approximately 4 to 5 years, while the older cohort is 8 to 9 years.

The primary data collection method—face-to-face interview with the child’s main parent—will continue, with self-complete forms for parents and teachers. A computer-assisted telephone interview is being used for parents living apart from the study child for the first time, replacing the mail-back questionnaire used in previous waves.

The main collection phase for Wave 3 began in April 2008. Interviewer training was held in late March and early April in the major cities.

Design teams for Wave 4 were established and are now meeting to discuss content and as well as possibilities for different methodologies of collecting data. There are five design teams formed around five different content domains: family functioning, child functioning, health, education and sociodemographics/child care. The main focus of the development process for each wave will be on the older cohort, while content for the younger cohort will mostly mirror that of previous waves. The older cohort is now reaching 8 to 9 years of age, which means that new areas of their life become important to measure, and the children themselves are able to provide more information.

Recent publications

A list of recent publications using LSAC data can be found on the AIFS website.

Data access

New licensing arrangements for access to the LSAC data are now in place. In response to concerns about indemnity and intellectual property, organisational licensing arrangements are now in place in addition to individual licences. The new policy is detailed in the ‘Manual for the access to and use of FaHCSIA longitudinal survey datasets’.

FaHCSIA staff wishing to apply for access to LSAC data can obtain the necessary application package, including an IT systems access form, from the FaHCSIA LSAC intranet site. All other researchers wishing to obtain the data can apply by downloading the application form and applicable licence from the LSAC website.

Further information:
FaHCSIA: Dr Helen Rogers (Research and Analysis Branch), tel (02) 6244 7726
or email helen.rogers@fahcsia.gov.au
or lsac@fahcsia.gov.au
or web http://www.aifs.gov.au/growingup/home.html

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Data access and dissemination issues

A sub-committee of the Footprints in Time Steering Committee is working on data access and dissemination issues. In addition to the protocols covering access to data for the HILDA and LSAC studies, Footprints in Time must balance a culturally appropriate framework for interpreting results with a commitment to provide results directly to communities and participants. Both communities and participants are keen to see the data from the study being used to improve outcomes for Indigenous children as soon as possible.

Initial results from the study are expected to be available towards the end of 2008 while access to datasets is not expected to be available until 2009.

Further information:
FaHCSIA: Melinda Tynan (Research and Analysis Branch),
tel (02) 6244 7545
or melinda.tynan@fahcsia.gov.au
web www.fahcsia.gov.au/lsic

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FaHCSIA funds the FHBH program to improve the houses and household conditions in rural and remote Indigenous communities across Australia. The Housing for Health approach used in the FHBH program supports the idea that a householder’s ability to practice specific healthy living practices (HLP) is dependent upon the functionality of their house, in particular what is called ‘health hardware’. This includes items such as safe electricity and water supply, toilets, showers, washing areas and food preparation areas.

The Housing for Health method conducts a survey and fix on each house to determine whether the health hardware and other features of that house are functioning (FHBH Survey Fix 1). The non-functioning elements of the house are then fixed, either on the spot or shortly after the initial survey and over a 6 to 12 month period before the second survey fix. Houses are then surveyed again (FHBH Survey Fix 2) to assess functionality of all items and urgent items are fixed.

The FHBH program is conducted by Healthabitat Pty Ltd in Indigenous communities in Australia. The communities and dwellings included in the FHBH database are not a random sample of dwellings or communities. Communities are either selected or request to participate in the program. The FHBH data is therefore not representative of Indigenous community housing nationally or in a particular region. For each community which participated in the program, all accessible dwellings in the community were surveyed and fixed. The program collected a large amount of detailed information on the functionality of houses before (at Survey Fix 1) and after repairs were completed (Survey Fix 2) and this information is included in the data cubes. The data cubes are available at the AIHW website.

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The Minister also noted the release of the third version of the National Indigenous Housing Guide. Building on surveys of over 3,500 houses, the survey identifies where housing design, construction and maintenance can be improved, and includes sections on community infrastructure and housing maintenance.

The Conference included a range of presentations by representatives from the states and territories as well as the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

There were over 70 presentations and panel discussions, including:

• Professor Rachel Bratt, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning, Tufts University, USA, who presented ‘Partnerships, policies and people: promoting affordable housing for lower income households—observations from the United States’. Dr Bratt’s research is focused primarily on the role of non-profit organisations in supplying decent, affordable housing to low-income households. After briefly summarising what appear to be some of the major characteristics of Australia’s current housing situation, Dr Bratt focused on six broad observations about the US’s experiences in promoting affordable housing for lower income households.
• David Mullins, Professor of Housing Policy, University of Birmingham, UK, discussed ‘The UK and European experience’. Professor Mullins drew upon a decade of research on the expanding role of non-profit housing in England, the Netherlands and Ireland, to raise some key questions the Australian sector will face in its relationship with the state and the market.
• Information on developments in Europe was provided by John Doling, Professor of Social Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK, in his presentation ‘A European perspective’. In March of this year, Professor Doling started leading 11 research partners from across the European Union members in the 33-month European Union funded Demographic Change and Housing Wealth (DEMHOW) study. In almost all the member states in recent decades there has been a significant increase in the size of home ownership sectors, so that some two-thirds of European households now own their homes. His presentation addressed a number of scientific and policy issues related to three main stakeholders: households, financial institutions and governments.
• Steve Pomeroy, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Ottawa Centre on Governance. Mr Pomeroy’s presentation noted that the past decade has seen a dramatic decline in rental construction, with serious implications for rental affordability. The main lesson, he noted, is how poor or neglected policy can be a disincentive to investment.
• Julian Disney, Professor and Director of the Social Justice Project at the University of NSW discussed the ‘National affordable housing framework’. Professor Disney’s presentation noted that the Government’s new scheme for attracting institutional investment in low-rent housing will require vigorous and sustained effort , and need to draw especially on ideas and expertise from housing and community groups.

Deputy Secretary Geoff Leeper was a discussant on a panel session on community aspirations and expectations, and implications for governmental housing assistance and for social housing providers in Australia.

Dr Jeff Harmer participated in the conference closing panel discussion, which was facilitated by Ms Jenny Brockie, of SBS TV, where the panel members were asked to think about the ‘Australia in the year 2020, a brave new world where Australia has gone a long way towards addressing the housing crisis’.

During the Conference, Minister for Housing Tanya Plibersek MP launched the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s publication Housing Assistance in Australia, stating that the government will continue to use reports such as this to measure improving access to affordable housing in Australia. The publication adds to the existing evidence base for both policy makers and the general community by presenting housing facts about programs, eligibility criteria, numbers of households or individuals affected, expenditure and geographic and demographic information.

Minister Plibersek also provided the conference’s closing address. The Minister noted that, after more than a decade of economic growth, the level of homelessness, the reduction in public housing and housing affordability was unacceptable. The Minister is particularly concerned with the capacity of the labour force to deliver the housing response required to meet the Government’s commitments.

As part of improving the evidence base to support the development of robust housing policy and programs, FaHCSIA has recently commissioned the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM) to undertake estimates of housing stress. Housing is fast becoming unaffordable for too many Australians; housing research indicates that we are starting to see the social implications of the housing affordability problem, and Treasury data shows that the supply gap emerged in early 2004 and has grown steadily.

Further information:
FaHCSIA: Helen Fletcher (Office of Housing), tel (02) 6244 6486
or email helen.fletcher@fahcsia.gov.au
or http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/internet/facsinternet.nsf/housing/nav.htm

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In his opening remarks, Dr Krosnick noted that in developing surveys and considering the appropriate mode of collection, researchers needed to take into consideration the importance of various aspects given the nature of the survey and the characteristics of respondents. These included:

• rapport and trust
• confidentiality
• modeling of commitment
• accountability
• pace (discomfort with silence, ability to consider one screen at a time)
• time of day
• literacy
• working memory burden.

Dr Krosnick then compared the effectiveness of face-to-face versus telephone interviews using data from a range of general public surveys of about an hour’s length. Face-to-face interviewing resulted in higher response rates, and a lower rate of dissatisfaction with the interview length, although the interviews were some 6 minutes longer on average. Telephone interviews also produced a significantly higher rate of socially desirable responses and of ‘satisficing’. Satisficing is a word coined by Dr Krosnick for when interviewees effectively short cut survey responses through: not differentiating their ratings across questions; providing ‘no opinion’ responses; and acquiescing with the interviewer. Respondents with lower education levels were more likely to ‘satisfice’ than the more highly educated across both survey modes.

Interviewers also rated both respondent interest and cooperation more highly in face-to-face interviews, while respondent unease when discussing sensitive topics and suspicion were higher in telephone interviews. Demographic information was significantly more accurate in face-to-face interviews.

To compare the validity of telephone as against paper-based surveys, Dr Krosnick used an example from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) where pilots were surveyed about safety incidents. The telephone survey produced a slightly higher response rate, and significantly better accuracy of recall. It was noted that the telephone interview took almost twice as long as the paper form to complete, suggesting that respondents had perhaps taken more time to think in responding to the telephone questions and hence had recalled more information.

In his final comparison, Dr Krosnick looked at a laboratory experiment comparing telephone interviews with computer-based questionnaires. There were significant differences in the responses suggesting that aspects such as response order and social desirability had a considerably greater influence for telephone interviews. It also appeared that those respondents with no past experience completing surveys may benefit more from visual presentation and self-pacing, as may respondents with low cognitive skills.

Overall, Dr Krosnick’s analysis suggested that:

• face-to-face survey is better than telephone survey
• telephone-based survey is better than paper and pencil survey
• computer-based survey is better than telephone survey.

Clearly, survey mode does matter in the quality of survey responses and ‘you (mostly) get what you pay for’. However, as noted at the beginning of the seminar, the importance of this for survey analysis depends on the nature of the survey (for example, factual versus sensitive questions) and the characteristics of the respondents (education levels, investment in the outcome and so on).

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In his presentation, Professor Halford examined the impact of relationship satisfaction, global marriage and divorce trends, and influences on marriage outcomes. He indicated that an individual’s level of satisfaction with their relationships is one of the main predictors of overall life satisfaction. Professor Halford also indicated that divorce rates have increased in both developed and developing countries since the 1970s and that marriage outcomes are influenced by a number of factors. These include the broader social context, partner characteristics, life events and couples’ interactions. Of these factors, an intervention focusing on couple interactions may improve marriage outcomes and consequently individuals’ overall life satisfaction.

Professor Halford analysed the different types of evidence for evaluating the outcomes of psychosocial interventions, using research on two couple relationship education programs to illustrate the different evaluation methodologies. The illustrative education programs were Couple Care and RELATE. He examined the distinction between process and outcome evaluation; and between randomised controlled and other efficacy evaluations; efficacy and effectiveness; effectiveness and cost-effectiveness; and cost-effectiveness and impact. Finally, there was discussion of how a program of research can be conducted to develop and evaluate the real impact of interventions, and how this can guide the development of evidence-based practice that can achieve desired community impacts.

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This report presents the results of the first of a two-phase program of research (the Australian Archetypes Study), which was conducted from 2005 to 2007 and investigated typologies of Australians based on an analysis of sociodemographic, psychosocial and health data.

The researchers used the HILDA dataset—a large, nationally representative dataset with a social policy focus. Therefore the findings are broadly applicable to all Australians and directly relevant to social policy development and practice.

This paper analyses the first wave of HILDA data to:

• demonstrate that it is possible, in a statistically sound, meaningful and scientifically useful way, to place members of the general population into groupings based on sociodemographic, psychosocial and health factors
• identify the characteristics that best describe each category and that best discriminate between groupings
• prepare profiles that synthesise findings about the characteristics of each category in terms of primary and secondary variables
• evaluate the usefulness of employing cluster analytic and associated techniques using large, nationally representative datasets
• demonstrate that profiling techniques can be deployed using large, nationally representative samples for social policy-applicable research.

Five ‘contemporary Australian archetypes’ identified by the researchers are:

1. Connected Retirees (representing 22 per cent of the population)
2. Financially Secure Working Couples (20 per cent of the population)
3. Time-pressured Couples with Children (26 per cent of the population)
4. Dissatisfied Working Age Singles (19 per cent of the population)
5. Marginalised Australians (13 per cent of the population).

According to the authors, the construction of these five archetype groupings is a ‘unique, pragmatic and intellectually sound way’ of making sense of the enormous heterogeneity of Australians, with the potential to contribute to the defining and understanding of key stakeholder groupings accurately, sensitively and meaningfully.

Implications for policy and practice

The common goal of the analytic approach used in this research, known as ‘cluster analysis’, is to generate profiles for the purpose of improving the design and delivery of services and interventions. It is particularly relevant when service delivery recipients have multiple needs or complicated characteristics, as is commonly the case for recipients of social policy interventions.

The archetypes developed and described in this study may assist in understanding and defining the targets of social policy and interventions within the bigger picture of the broad Australian population. The archetypes help identify combinations of characteristics that require either simpler or more complex interventions. This would help the department to avoid the opportunity cost and wasted expenditure involved in inappropriate service delivery, and direct policy and programs to the most appropriate types and levels of intervention. It would also provide a framework for measuring in detail the impacts of interventions on target groups.

Like many developed economies, Australia has a system of income support that focuses on entitlement. The system aims to ensure that recipients receive access to a level of support or service to which they are entitled not more nor less and includes controlling access to more complex and expensive interventions. In cases where psychosocial factors such as mental health affect people’s capacity to participate in social and economic life, social policies may need to focus on addressing complex need rather than only providing entitlement to income support.

The use of archetypes could build a clearer picture of the type, level and timing of interventions. For example, people with high and complex needs are unlikely to respond to minimal, single or lower-order interventions, but instead require tailored packages of services, coordinated for social inclusion. Delaying the delivery of such services, particularly if this involves stressful intervening steps, can lead to a worsening of a person’s situation and thus to increased intractability in their issues and ultimately increased costs in addressing these social issues.

While this research focused on social policy needs, the authors believe that the archetypes developed in the study could have other applications, for example, helping inform decisions about taxation reform, neighbourhood renewal or health care. Of particular value are the insights generated by the research into prototypical groupings of Australians independent of vested interests. These have been produced by using an analytic approach that enables the data and, as HILDA is a nationally representative database, all Australians, to speak for themselves.

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In the context of an ageing population, it is helpful to build a better understanding of the dynamics of wealth, particularly for those in the retirement and pre-retirement cohorts. This involves measuring household wealth and assessing the causes and consequences of change more frequently than in the past.

In 2002, the first large-scale survey of household wealth in Australia since World War I was undertaken as part of Wave 2 of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey. The wealth data obtained in the survey (from 7,245 households) covered all the main components of asset portfolios and debts. The data were found to match satisfactorily with national aggregate statistics available from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Reserve Bank of Australia.

This paper analyses the 2002 HILDA wealth module data to derive the following information:

• the structure and composition of household wealth and debt and whether this has changed in recent years
• the distribution of wealth, including among and within age cohorts and between the most and least wealthy cohorts
• retirement issues, focusing on the capacity of pre and post-retirement cohorts for self-funding during retirement
• the wealth and debt levels of vulnerable groups in society; especially income support recipients and lone parents
• the main factors (demographic, educational, income related) that determine levels of wealth and debt.

Key findings include:

• Asset holdings are heavily concentrated in the hands of older households—those within 20 years of retirement and those 10 to 15 years post retirement. This distribution is mainly due to the fact that asset levels depend on the length of time spent saving and benefiting from the effects of compound interest. It is also a consequence of government policy and initiatives such as the Superannuation Guarantee and generous tax concessions to encourage investment and superannuation savings.
• Superannuation holdings are increasing rapidly and are now more widely distributed than in the past. However, the evidence in this report shows that most households within 20 years of retirement are likely to be partly reliant on the Age Pension for their retirement income. Tackling this problem involves changing incentives for both the age at which people choose to retire and their likelihood of doing some paid work during retirement. However, most Australians desire to retire before age 65 and a serious underlying issue is that most working-age people continue to underestimate the savings they will need to maintain their current lifestyle in retirement.
• It is often assumed that the stock of household wealth, unlike household income flows, is fairly stable and usually just increases gradually over time. However, the main assets types of Australian households are housing, equities and superannuation and, given the volatility in the value of these assets in the short to medium term, it is probably mistaken to believe that household wealth is fairly stable.

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This report discusses what has been learnt from the Stronger Families and Communities Strategy 2000–04 (the Strategy) about how to strengthen Indigenous families and communities. These lessons have implications for future interventions funded through the next Strategy, and for other funding initiatives and programs targeting Indigenous people. The report provides insights into critical factors that explain the success of some projects and the frustrations experienced in others.

Evidence for the study was drawn from multiple sources, including research and policy literature, and the data gathered as part of the national evaluation of the Strategy. This qualitative data included questionnaire responses from Indigenous projects; three in-depth case studies; site visits to nine other Indigenous projects; review of progress reports and final reports (where available) for these projects and another 16 projects; and consultations with departmental staff.

The report shows that the Strategy made an important contribution to the process of strengthening Indigenous families and communities. These findings are consistent with the research literature, which indicate that investment in capacity building and using an early intervention and preventative approach can be effective in strengthening families and communities.

What’s working

• Piggybacking project initiatives onto existing activities, social events and community structures
• employing competent and committed staff who have close relationships with the local community, cultural competence and relevant subject matter expertise
• having the support of an auspice with demonstrated strengths in administering project funds, relevant previous project experience and established links with Indigenous people
• having external assistance in areas such as program planning, preparing funding applications and budgets, being linked with the right project partners and having access to intensive after-care during the implementation phase
• engaging in action learning processes that improve project implementation
• using mentoring, role modelling, providing home-based services and a buddy system as successful strategies to achieve training outcomes.

In many instances, definitive information about the effectiveness of particular strategies in strengthening Indigenous families and communities was hard to find. Contextual differences meant that what worked well in one setting may not do so in another, and few projects had been conducted for long enough to know about what worked over time.

What’s not working

While some projects effectively strengthened Indigenous families and communities, the report suggests that projects had not achieved high order outcomes within Indigenous communities such as: greater resilience, the capacity to initiate action beyond the initial Strategy project, and long-term sustainability. Furthermore, it was found that the Strategy had been less effective in strengthening Indigenous families and communities than in strengthening families and communities more generally.

Several inhibiting factors could explain this finding:

• Many projects operated in a difficult and unsupportive social environment that was not conducive to effective project implementation. Ill health and security anxieties restricted the life choices of Indigenous families and communities and this reduced their capacity to participate in projects.
• In some communities, projects were inhibited by a lack of basic infrastructure, such as appropriate places to conduct project activities, suitable office accommodation and access to vehicles. These contributed to high staff turnover, feelings of burnout and other human resource issues. Recruiting and retaining quality staff was a critical issue for Indigenous projects, especially in rural and remote areas.
• Most projects reported the need for ongoing funding and other forms of support in order to continue beyond the expiration of Strategy funding. There was little evidence that projects had planned for this transition.
• Few partnerships were built between Strategy projects in Indigenous communities and mainstream business or philanthropic organisations. No projects were generating any notable income of their own or self-funding their activities. This is understandable given the lack of private sector presence in remote regions and the fact that most Indigenous communities were impoverished.
• Indigenous family and community issues are extremely complex and there is limited knowledge about how best to strengthen these relationships.

These factors should be considered when determining achievable project objectives and deciding on the scale of intervention, the necessary duration of the project and the level of funding and other resources required to operate projects in Indigenous communities.

Key findings for future interventions in Indigenous contexts include:

• Strong Indigenous families and communities are outcomes that can only be attained through sustained, long-term intervention.
• Indigenous capacity-building activities are more effective when undertaken in connection with a specific, practical, social purpose and in association with a particular project activity (as distinct from an isolated workshop or training exercise).
• Strengthening Indigenous families and communities is about healing the effects of trauma, attitudinal and behavioural change, and the rebuilding of confidence and self-belief, as well as the transfer of particular knowledge and skills. There is scope to review the effectiveness of healing initiatives.
• When investing in Indigenous capacity building, it is important to find the appropriate balance between upstream institutional capacity building (building the capacity of organisations to plan and implement projects) and downstream capacity building within families and communities (enhancing the self-reliance of families and communities).
• Projects could learn from each other’s experience through dialogue about implementation issues, such as determining which participation strategies work best in Indigenous contexts.
• Greater networking might have improved outcomes, particularly for projects with similar initiatives. For example, encouraging linkages between projects and well-known organisations with proven experience, such as the Australian Indigenous Leadership Centre.
• Indigenous projects should be assisted and resourced to build partnerships and access support from the philanthropic and business sector.
• Strategic partnership arrangements can provide much-needed stocks of linking and bridging social capital for Indigenous projects; but these relationships require a lot of time and energy to build and maintain.
• The choice of an appropriate project auspice had a significant impact on project success. Projects that had a well-established auspice organisation with administrative capacity, relevant project expertise, and an existing solid relationship with the Indigenous community added value to that Indigenous project.

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This paper presents a summary of the information collected during FaHCSIA’s community engagement qualitative trial (for Footprints in Time) undertaken in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) metropolitan (metro) region and the Queanbeyan region. It is based on focus group and in-depth interviews with key informants and community members including: Elders, parents, care givers, young people, prominent Indigenous organisations and government departments funding Indigenous programs. The trial was conducted between January and August 2005.

These extracts of ‘growing up stories’ from people who live in the ACT metro/Queanbeyan region relate to recollections about Indigenous children growing up healthy and strong and perceptions of how their families, communities and environment affect their children’s pathways throughout life. This qualitative research—the stories—have made an important contribution to the overall evaluation of preparatory work for the Footprints in Time national study. The analysis of these qualitative data provides a strong evidence base, endorsed by stakeholders, to guide the future design and content of the study including strategies for: community engagement; promotion of the study and obtaining informed consent; qualitative data collection; and dissemination of information and data back to communities.

Key contributors to Indigenous children growing up strong and resilient:

• The culturally inclusive position of the extended family caring for and supporting children is the best family environment for children growing up strong and is the centre of their wellbeing. Having positive role models, a good education, strong connections to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, knowing the positives and how to attain them, all contribute to a resilient life.
• Families and family values are central to learning and maintaining Indigenous culture. Exposure to Indigenous culture should also be an integral part of the school curriculum, and this is more likely if cross-cultural training for teachers is given priority.
• Community support networks, such as the ‘Parents Groups’ and the ‘Uncles/Nephews Groups’ assist in maintaining family values in a community where extended families often live elsewhere.
• Team sport, such as football, plays an important role in building support networks, self-esteem and respect.
• Access to a range of services such as health, education and cultural services provided by Indigenous and non-Indigenous organisations also supports the development of resilient children. However, the Indigenous service organisations accessed by most community members are stretched to the limit. Lack of transport and economic circumstances are factors that hamper access to these services.
• Respondents in the 18–25 years age range tend to have a sense of empowerment. They believe they can give their children a ‘good life’ because their own experiences of growing up have taught them the life skills to raise strong children.

Key contributors to poor outcomes for children:

• The absence of parental support and adequate preparation for transition from high school to college (Years 11–12 in the ACT school system) can cause children to drop out of school. Strengthening experiences of Indigenous children and families during preschool and primary school offer the best solution to long-term engagement with the education system. The role of Indigenous Education Officers in the schools was reported to help attendance rates and build better school experiences.
• The extended family is not always present in the urban ACT metro/Queanbeyan community because many have left behind families in other parts of Australia to find employment in the ACT.
• Historically, and in the present, Indigenous people experience racial discrimination in the community and in the school system. Stepping stones to improve the inclusiveness of schools for Indigenous children could include: cross-cultural training for teachers; increased numbers of Indigenous teachers; and cultural awareness programs in the school curriculum.
• The passing down of culture from the older generation to younger people is not complete. Grandparents and parents visiting their country with their children and grandchildren provide some teaching; however, there is concern that culture could disappear with the passing of these Elders. The younger generation experience confusion about identity and would benefit from Indigenous studies being introduced into the school system. The belief is that this would help to retain cultural knowledge and improve cross-cultural understanding.
• Drugs and alcohol are a problem and, in the absence of parenting and strong male leadership, can make increased demands on the extended family. Grandparents play a strong and positive listening role.

Enquiries:
publications.research@fahcsia.gov.au
web: www.fahcsia.gov.au/research

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ACWA08 conference—strong, safe and sustainable: responding to children, young people and families in a civil society

18–20 August 2008
Sydney, New South Wales
Further information:
email: info@acwa08.com
tel: (02) 9254 5000
web: www.acwa08.com

Open access and research conference 2008

24–25 September 2008
Brisbane, Queensland
Further information:
email: oar2008@qut.edu.au
tel: (07) 3138 9358
web: www.oar2008.qut.edu.au

Disclaimer

Readers should confirm conference details through the contacts listed. FaHCSIA assumes no responsibility for the accuracy of dates, venues or other information presented in this selection.

To submit details of upcoming seminars or conferences, please email: publications.research@fahcsia.gov.au.

Research and Analysis Branch
Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
Box 7576 Canberra Mail Centre ACT 2610
web: www.fahcsia.gov.au (follow the links ‘publications’ › ‘research’)

Editorial enquiries:
tel: (02) 6244 5458
fax: (02) 6244 6589
email: publications.research@fahcsia.gov.au

FaHCSIA Research News is released quarterly.