| Victorian Refugee Health Network E-Bulletin February 2011 The Victorian Refugee Health Network brings together health, settlement and community services to be more accessible and responsive to the needs of refugees and asylum seekers. The E-Bulletin provides a regular forum to share news and information to support practitioners and services in providing health care to people of a refugee background. News and Events 1. Call for Abstracts - Primary Health Care (PHC) Conference - closing date 11 March. This conference held in July in Brisbane is convened by the Primary Health Care Research and Information Service (PHCRIS) and will include a blend of plenary sessions, workshops, symposia, poster and paper sessions with presenters from Australia and overseas. For more information see www.phcris.org.au/conference/2011/index.php VRHN would like to encourage people doing research in refugee health to consider submitting an abstract. 2. "The Primary Care Needs of Refugees" workshop will be presented by Dr. I-Hao Cheng at the Reforming Urban Primary Care forum on Thursday 24 February. Hosted by the Southern Academic Primary Care Research Unit (SAPCRU) this forum is designed to illuminate the challenges of delivering equitable, high quality primary care to Australian urban communities. Click here for a flyer. Spaces are strictly limited, please RSVP to Lisa Short as soon as possible on 8792 1900 or at l.shore@dcgpa.com.au. For further information about the research covered at the forum see the SAPCRU website: www.med.monash.edu.au/general-practice/research/sapcru.html Resources 3. Oral Health Resource Kit for Culturally and Linguistically Diversity (CALD) Communities. Developed by Dental Health Services Victoria (DHSV), this 39 page booklet would be useful for all health professionals and aims to assist practitioners to provide high quality services to CALD communities by bringing together a directory of useful resource links and contact details. Visit the DHSV website for a copy. 4. Free - Multilingual Health Education Sessions. The Multicultural Centre for Women's Health (MCWH) is a women only health service which is committed to improving the health of immgrant and refugee women around Australia. Bookings for education sessions for March - June and July - December are currently being taken. MCWH is keen to promote their sessions to immigrant and refugee women who may not have had the opportunity to talk about health issues in their own language before. Click here for a leaflet about the Multilingual Health Education Programs. 5. DVD - "Hear Our Voice: Cultural Perspectives on Mental Health Care." Developed by Multicultural Mental Health Australia this resource aims to help mental health services, consumers and carers understand how culture can impact on perceptions of mental illness and recovery, and encourage their participation in mental health advisory groups. For more information email admin@mmha.org.au Professional Development 6. Foundation House's Learning and Professional Development Calendar is now available. In Semester 1 2011, Foundation House is offering a variety of courses including a new seminar series on Masculinity, Refugee Flight and Resettlement and professional development for nurses such as courses in Responding to the Psychological Impact of Torture and Trauma and an Intensive Introduction to Refugee Health Assessment and Care. Click here for a copy of the calendar, visit www.foundationhouse.org.au or call Georgia on 9389 8914 for further information. 7. The Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health's Training Calendar is now available. Throughout 2011, the Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health (CEH) is running a number of training courses for health, government and community sector employees on topics such as sustained engagement with CALD communities, social marketing, language services and working with interpreters. For further information visit www.ceh.org.au or call 9342 9714. Research / Reports 8. Sundram, S. (2010). Chronic disease, acculturation and mental health. Diversit-e, 3, 13 - 14. This article reports on findings of a research project looking at the relationship of depression and anxiety in people with chronic physical health problems, and what role acculturation plays in that association. 9. Jackson Bowers, E. & Cheng, I. (2010). Meeting the primary health care needs of refugees and asylum seekers. PHCRIS Research Roundup, December issue, 16. This discussion paper examines the health needs and associated primary health care challenges for refugees and asylum seekers in Australia and highlights the need for new models of primary health care that can provide critical services for refugees and asylum seekers. 10. Sister2sister evaluation now available. Sister2sister is a health education program for young women which enables them to learn about sexual and reproductuve health issues with female peers and community workers. The program was developed by the Multicultural Health & Support Service, the Department of Human Services (DHS) and the Centre for Multicultural Youth and makes use of the traditional ways of sharing information in African cultures. The evaluation of the Sister2sister pilot program, run in 2009, is now available from the Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health website. Subscriptions and contributions to the Victorian Refugee Health Network E-bulletin are welcome. If you would like to subscribe or send news or information relevant to refugee health please go to the Contact Us page on the Refugee Health Network website: www.refugeehealthnetwork.org.au or email: ebulletin@refugeehealthnetwork.org.au Disclaimer |