TY - JOUR
T1 - A systematic review of studies evaluating Australian indigenous community development projects
T2 - The extent of community participation, their methodological quality and their outcomes Health behavior, health promotion and society
AU - Snijder, Mieke
AU - Shakeshaft, Anthony
AU - Wagemakers, Annemarie
AU - Stephens, Anne
AU - Calabria, Bianca
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Snijder et al.
PY - 2015/11/21
Y1 - 2015/11/21
N2 - Background: Community development is a health promotion approach identified as having great potential to improve Indigenous health, because of its potential for extensive community participation. There has been no systematic examination of the extent of community participation in community development projects and little analysis of their effectiveness. This systematic review aims to identify the extent of community participation in community development projects implemented in Australian Indigenous communities, critically appraise the qualitative and quantitative methods used in their evaluation, and summarise their outcomes. Methods: Ten electronic peer-reviewed databases and two electronic grey literature databases were searched for relevant studies published between 1990 and 2015. The level of community participation and the methodological quality of the qualitative and quantitative components of the studies were assessed against standardised criteria. Results: Thirty one evaluation studies of community development projects were identified. Community participation varied between different phases of project development, generally high during project implementation, but low during the evaluation phase. For the majority of studies, methodological quality was low and the methods were poorly described. Although positive qualitative or quantitative outcomes were reported in all studies, only two studies reported statistically significant outcomes. Discussion: Partnerships between researchers, community members and service providers have great potential to improve methodological quality and community participation when research skills and community knowledge are integrated to design, implement and evaluate community development projects. Conclusion: The methodological quality of studies evaluating Australian Indigenous community development projects is currently too weak to confidently determine the cost-effectiveness of community development projects in improving the health and wellbeing of Indigenous Australians. Higher quality studies evaluating community development projects would strengthen the evidence base.
AB - Background: Community development is a health promotion approach identified as having great potential to improve Indigenous health, because of its potential for extensive community participation. There has been no systematic examination of the extent of community participation in community development projects and little analysis of their effectiveness. This systematic review aims to identify the extent of community participation in community development projects implemented in Australian Indigenous communities, critically appraise the qualitative and quantitative methods used in their evaluation, and summarise their outcomes. Methods: Ten electronic peer-reviewed databases and two electronic grey literature databases were searched for relevant studies published between 1990 and 2015. The level of community participation and the methodological quality of the qualitative and quantitative components of the studies were assessed against standardised criteria. Results: Thirty one evaluation studies of community development projects were identified. Community participation varied between different phases of project development, generally high during project implementation, but low during the evaluation phase. For the majority of studies, methodological quality was low and the methods were poorly described. Although positive qualitative or quantitative outcomes were reported in all studies, only two studies reported statistically significant outcomes. Discussion: Partnerships between researchers, community members and service providers have great potential to improve methodological quality and community participation when research skills and community knowledge are integrated to design, implement and evaluate community development projects. Conclusion: The methodological quality of studies evaluating Australian Indigenous community development projects is currently too weak to confidently determine the cost-effectiveness of community development projects in improving the health and wellbeing of Indigenous Australians. Higher quality studies evaluating community development projects would strengthen the evidence base.
KW - Aboriginal
KW - Community development
KW - Community participation
KW - Empowerment
KW - Health promotion
KW - Indigenous
KW - Methodological quality
KW - Qualitative
KW - Quantitative
KW - Torres Strait Islander
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84947750983&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12889-015-2514-7
DO - 10.1186/s12889-015-2514-7
M3 - Article
SN - 1472-698X
VL - 15
JO - BMC Public Health
JF - BMC Public Health
IS - 1
M1 - 1154
ER -