A study of Aboriginal health and ageing approved by AHMRC and funded by the NHMRC.
Not much is known about how urban Aboriginal people grow old. Now is the time – as people in Aboriginal communities are starting to grow older in greater numbers – to look at both well-being and at health risks in older Aboriginal people.
Older people have different problems. Some have problems with their memory, and in some cases this can really affect their lives and can lead to dementia. Our project is interested in finding out how many older Aboriginal people have memory problems and dementia, what causes it, when it begins, how dementia is related to what has happened over someone’s life, and how people can be helped who have memory loss. We have been asked, by many Aboriginal people over the years, why people always assume that Aboriginal people don’t always grow old. This study has come from those original questions.
The Koori Growing Old Well Study wants to talk to around 600 Aboriginal people in NSW, aged 60 years and over, in five urban communities: La Perouse, Campbelltown, Kempsey, Nambucca, and Coffs Harbour. With the assistance of these people we hope to find answers to some common questions about growing older:
- What does “growing old well” mean for Aboriginal people? How many Aboriginal people get there? How healthy are older Aboriginal people?
- What are the causes - across the Life Cycle - of premature heart, lung and vascular diseases etc? How common are they in older Aboriginal people? Can they lead to memory loss or dementia in later life?
- What factors across the Life Cycle affect our minds and our memory? Do schooling, education and parenting affect our minds in later life? How common is dementia in Aboriginal people?
What will the Study do for the local community?
- We hope to find the things we can prevent or avoid - across the whole Life Cycle - that affect health in mid-life and lead to memory loss in later life.
- We will help the local community to find the best ways of looking after older people with memory loss or dementia.
- We will employ local Aboriginal Researchers to be trained in the Project team who will work with the local community.
- We will make sure that our work will be guided by you in the communities.
- We will report our results back to the community, leave skills on the ground, and increase local knowledge about research and services.
We will work within the proper guidelines of respect and ethical conduct. We have obtained ethics approval from the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council and our University of NSW Ethics Committee and the whole study will be guided by an independent Aboriginal Reference Group.
Two workshops have been held to allow discussion between the Australian Association of Gerontology and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ageing Committee: the first held in Sydney in 2008 and the second in Darwin in 2010. Click to view the Reports from
2008 or
2010 workshop. The Report from the 2010 workshop will be made available in coming months.
For any questions about the Study, please contact: Study Manager, Holly Mack, on (02) 9399 1048 or email at h.mack@neura.edu.au
