Indigenous Health and technology

Weblog #5

As part of my assignment I plan to look at patient education delivered by technology for Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. To date I have found many websites but the vast majority are directed at health professionals and not the patients themselves. Also many initiatives do not use technology, but rather focus on visiting communities in buses, or creating festival days, Men’s sheds etc.

Beyondblue is a website that focuses on mental health disorders and provides information for patients and health professionals. It has an Indigenous section, but the use of technology for health is limited to the depression Yarns DVD – The Depression Yarns: Tackling Depression, Anxiety and Related Disorders in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities.

The DVD was developed for use by Indigenous Mental Health Workers and service providers working with Aboriginal people. The DVD focuses on postnatal depression and depression in men. It includes two mini-dramas on the topics, as well as interviews with:

• Project Leader Mibbinbah Men’s Spaces, Jack Bulman
• Indigenous ex-Rugby League player Nathan Blacklock who has experienced depression
• Darwin (NT) based social worker, Josephine Battaglini.
• beyondblue Board Director and Clinical Advisor, Associate Professor Michael Baigent