Empowerment as a strategy for wellbeing in Indigenous settings: developing tools to systematically evaluate outcomes

该项目将大大加强澳大利亚在促进健康和福祉方面的关键举措之一，即家庭福祉计划。这一方案是由阿德莱德的一群土著人民制定的，目的是专门解决殖民对土著澳大利亚人的情感健康和福祉的影响。这是一门国家认可的课程，已在各种环境和参与群体中授课。之前使用深度访谈、焦点小组和课程评估表进行的评估显示，参与者的生活技能和解决问题的能力得到了长期的提高，从而使他们能够更好地帮助自己和周围的年轻人处理情绪和生活中的挑战。在完成了完整的四个阶段课程(40周课程)的个人及其家庭和社区中，变化尤其深刻。到目前为止，家庭福祉计划的影响和结果还没有像其他健康促进计划那样被客观地衡量。这在一定程度上是由于其目标的复杂性：赋予人们控制自己生活的权力，而不是试图直接改变将他们置于疾病风险中的行为。这也是因为成为一个被赋予权力的人、群体和社区的定义、途径和结果没有完全被理解，而且很可能在不同的社会和文化群体之间有不同的表达。这个目前的项目旨在更清楚地了解人们对赋权的意义、经验、结果和价值观；然后利用这些信息来设计工具，帮助评估寻求刺激赋权的计划的有效性。活动将包括对现有质量数据的进一步分析、研讨会讨论、试用工具并在社区内通过正在进行的家庭福祉计划实施这些工具。

This project will add significant strength to one of Australia's key initiatives in the promotion of health and well-being, namely the Family Well Being Program . This program was developed by a group of Aboriginal people based in Adelaide in order to specifically address the effects of colonisation on the emotional health and wellbeing of Indigenous Australians. It is a nationally accredited course and has been delivered in a wide variety of settings and participating groups. Previous evaluation using in-depth interviews, focus groups and course evaluation forms have revealed long lasting increases in participants' life skills and problem-solving capacity, thereby making them better able to help themselves and the young people around them to deal with emotions and life's challenges. Changes are particularly profound among individuals who have completed the full Four Stage Program (40 week course) and their families and communities. Up to now, the impact and outcome of the Family Well Being Program has not had a way of being objectively measured in the way that other health promotion programs have. This is partly due to the complexity of its aims; empowering people to take control of their lives, as opposed to trying to directly change behaviours that place them at risk of illness. It is also because the definition, pathway and results of becoming an empowered person, group and community are not completely understood and are likely to be expressed differently from one social and cultural group to another. This current project aims to gain a clearer understanding of the meaning, experience, outcomes and values people attach to empowerment; then use this information to design tools to help assess the effectiveness of programs that seek to stimulate empowerment. Activities will include further analysis of existing qualitative data, workshop discussions, piloting tools and implementing them within communities with ongoing Family Well Being programs.