Health Sciences

Launching TranZnation

On December 13, ARCSHS released TranZnation: A report on the health and well-being of transgender people in Australian and New Zealand. The report was launched by film maker, Dee McLachlan, whose acclaimed film The Jammed won the top prize at the Inside Film awards for 2007.

(top picture:from left, Murray Couch, Vikki Sinnot, Marian Pitts, Anne Mitchell and Dee McLachlan)

The research had its beginnings in an act of transgender activism, arising as it did out of the dissatisfaction with the capacity of the ARCSHS Private Lives (2005) project to capture the complexity of transgender lives. Over 250 people participated in the TranZnation survey, which covered questions relating to sex and gender identity, physical and mental health, health service use and experiences, use of hormone treatments, surgery, and legal and social discrimination. In particular, it invited participants to comment on these issues in their own words, as well as on the survey itself.

The launch was attended by 55 people and had the celebratory feeling of many people bringing a dream to fruition. Dee McLachlan in launching the report talked about how hard it had been to get her film career back on track after transitioning. “A life coach told me: 'You will not be successful until you accept visibility’, she said, “It is one of the hardest things to get through. When you take on transitioning you take on a journey: a medical journey, an emotional journey, a journey to self-esteem.”

Vikki Sinnot, author of the report Best practice models for the assessment, treatment and care of transgender people and people with transsexualism: , also spoke at the launch about some of the policy implications. “ The report is not a clinical sample, its a community sample”, she said, “so it represents a diversity we haven't had before...It gives us the material to argue for change and the development of services to meet needs.”

The report is available on our website: www.latrobe.edu.au/arcshs/tranznation.html

Researching the margins

Long anticipated, the ARCSHS-based book, Researching the margins: Strategies for ethical and rigorous research with marginalised communities (2007), was recently published by Palgrave Macmillan. Based upon a decade of the Centre’s projects and collaborative work, it is a book about how to be a researcher with marginalised communities. It shares experiences of working with these communities, identifies the challenges and risks, and discusses modes of engagement within the context of existing frameworks of ethical practice.

The book is grounded in extensive case studies which include research on drug use, and working with lesbians, people with intellectual disabilities, Indigenous populations, vulnerable young people, older people and HIV positive populations. The book also reflects upon the nature of the margins and ‘the mainstream’, and the importance of reflexivity in the research process.

Crystal clear? Gay men and “ice”

The current explosion of general media interest in crystal methamphetamine (“ice”) has been paralleled in the gay and lesbian press, with suggestions of its links to rising rates of HIV and STIs among gay men. However, the scale, scope and consequences of crystal meth use are a subject of debate among researchers, policy makers and health care workers. The Communicable Diseases unit in DHS recently commissioned ARCSHS to provide an analysis of national and international data on gay men’s use of crystal meth and its associations with sexual risk taking and rising HIV and STI rates. Researched and written by William Leonard, the report examines levels and patterns of illicit drug use among gay men, and the cultural and social determinants that underpin such practices.

The recommendations are designed to assist DHS with developing short-term interventions and improved service provision for gay men, as well as longer-term harm minimisation strategies. The report also suggests further research be undertaken in a range of areas related to gay men’s health and illicit drug use. The report is currently with DHS for approval.

Jen Johnson: new BBV Project Co-ordinator

The Blood Borne Virus (BBV) project work undertaken at ARCSHS focuses on supporting the Victorian BBV sector, and the wider community and health sector, to respond to the HIV, hepatitis C and hepatitis B epidemics. Jen Johnson has taken on the role vacated by Judith Jones. For the last 10 years Jen has been working in the area of BBVs in a wide range education, support, training and prevention settings. Jen has worked in BBV funded positions and services, as well as a variety of organisations working with people affected by, or at risk of, BBVs.

Most recently, Jen held the Statewide Education and Prevention position at the Hepatitis C Council of Victoria. In this role, Jen worked closely with rural and regional health and community services to raise awareness about the importance of hepatitis C as a health issue, and to build the skills of the workforce to better respond to the hepatitis C epidemic.

If you aren’t already on the ARCSHS BBV Project mailing list and would like to be added, simply email Jen - j.johnson@latrobe.edu.au - with ‘subscribe’ in the subject line. If you would like to know more about the BBV Project at ARCSHS, or the nature of the mailing list, please contact Jen with any questions.

Finding a way forward: affirming gender and sexual diversity in health and sexuality education.

ARCSHS PhD student, Debbie Ollis has just had her thesis successfully examined. In its broadest sense her study aimed to develop strategies and recommendations that would improve the health and educational outcomes of same sex attracted young people (SSAY) in Victorian secondary schools. More specifically it concentrated on change in teacher practice by exploring whether professional development and resources for teachers can enable them to affirm and include gender and sexual diversity in their health education classrooms.

The study involved staff currently involved in sexuality education in Victorian secondary schools. The teachers were interviewed, their practice was observed and their curricula canvassed to explore the ways they position and address sexuality, gender and sexual diversity at a personal and professional level. The teachers then participated in a workshop designed to provide the theoretical and practical knowledge and skills needed to confidently affirm the diversity of SSAY in schools. They were re-interviewed and their practice observed in the first couple of weeks following the workshop and again 12 months later when their curricula were also reassessed to examine any change in approach and practice. The study found that, whilst there is a range of personal and structural barriers to changing teacher practice, professional development can impact positively on teachers’ willingness and ability to include and affirm gender and diverse sexualities in their health education programs.

The 2008 National Survey Of Secondary Students And Sexual Health

ARCSHS has received funding from the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing to conduct a fourth National Survey of Secondary Students and Sexual Health. The study, which has been conducted every five years throughout Australia since 1992, will survey the knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices of year 10 and 12 students in relation to sexual health, including knowledge of HIV, sexually transmitted infections, and blood borne viruses. Comparisons across the three samples have allowed us to track important changes in sexual cultures among young people and have provided some of the most robust findings anywhere in the world.

Important outcomes flowing from previous surveys include the development of a national policy framework to guide best practice STI prevention and sexuality education, and the production of resources to assist teachers and parents. An expected outcome from the 2008 survey is information about changes in the knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices of year 10 and 12 students in relation to sexual health. This outcome will provide a sound basis for further revision of curriculum frameworks and classroom materials; and identify emerging areas of concern and needs for intervention. The study will be conducted across Government, Catholic and Independent High Schools in all States and Territories of Australia and is expected to be complete in December 2008.

The National Hepatitis B Needs Assessment

The hepatitis B virus, identified 40 years ago, remains a major global public health challenge with 400 million people infected worldwide. A National Hepatitis B Needs Assessment has been carried out by ARCSHS researchers. It is a world first in both identifying the needs of those chronically infected with the virus, and capturing health professionals’ views on a more responsive health care system.

There is no nationally coordinated public health response to chronic hepatitis B, although up to 160,000 Australians are chronically infected. Only a small proportion of these people receive treatment and rates of hepatitis B-related liver cancer in Australia are increasing, despite improvements in antiviral therapy. People with hepatitis B reported their diagnosis as a shocking event, and few received pre or post test discussion or information at this point. There were indications that people with hepatitis B were ill-informed about their infection and that decisions made about health were based on incorrect information. Cultural understandings of hepatitis B play a part in how people and communities respond. Indigenous Australians constitute an estimated 16% of people in Australia who live with chronic hepatitis B, despite these communities representing 2% of the total population.

There has been little attention to ways of helping medical and public health professions adapt to the changing hepatitis B environment. Workforce development was identified as necessary for all of the professional sectors interviewed as part of this assessment – clinicians including general practitioners, and non-government health and welfare workers.

The Assessment report is available in print or from the ARCSHS website in January 2008. Further information is available from Jack Wallace: j.wallace@latrobe.edu.au

ARCSHS Netball triumph!

In 2003 ARCSHS formed UniSex; a netball team which now stands proud as 2007 Championship winners of the Melbourne City Sports Corporate Challenge. Adorned with the team logo ‘[re]Searching 4 Sex’, it took four years (8 seasons) and a predominance of losses before the team was ready for a look-in at a finals playoff. This season UniSex defeated MS Muppets 12 to 1 in the Grand Final. Three players from UniSex also made the competition’s top ten players list: Steve Mullins, Philomena Horsley and Jason Ferris.

Dr Jeffrey Grierson who was one of thirteen successful applicants offered a Charles La Trobe Research Fellowship for 2008.The title of Jeffrey's project is "Male to Male sex in the Asia Pacific Region: Meanings and practices."

Linda Bennet who has a new son, Raphael, and is currently on maternity leave

Director, Marian Pitts who has been appointed by the Federal Minister for Education as Chair of The Australian Research Council Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences within the College of Experts for 2008.

Mark Handley, the Executive Officer, was offered the position of Operations Manager at the Centre for Adolescent Health, Royal Children's Hospital. He took up the position in late November. We thank Mark for his outstanding work at ARCSHS and wish him well for his future at the Royal Children's Hospital.

Hunter Mulcare left us in December to take a position as a counsellor at Turning Point. Hunter had made a significant contribution to several of our large quantative studies and we wish him well in his new job

Sophie Dutertre who has been working with us in the area of Hepatitis C research and will be taking a short term position to act as head of the Multicultural HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C Service while the current Director is on leave. We look forward to continuing to work with Sophie in her new role.

Finally we are saying farewell to Philomena Horsley who has been a long standing member of the Community Liaison and Education Unit at ARCSHS and an active contributor to the research into practice work. She has been the author of this newsletter for several years and our “editor in residence” so we will miss her from our workplace very much. Philomena is in the final stages of her PhD and we wish her well for its completion.