Introduction to COMPASS: navigating complexity in public health research

Authors: Angela J Taft and Mridula Bandyopadhyay

Finding my ground in public health research: lessons from my Grandmother’s kitchen

Research has a 'bad name' in Aboriginal communities. Too often, researchers have come, gathered information and taken it away from Aboriginal people, with no benefit for the communities taking part in the rese...

Authors: Tanya Koolmatrie

Ethical complexities of screening for depression and intimate partner violence (IPV) in intervention studies

Intervention studies for depression and intimate partner violence (IPV) commonly incorporate screening to identify eligible participants. The challenge is that current ethical evaluation is largely informed by...

Authors: Victoria J Palmer, Jane S Yelland and Angela J Taft

The power of social connection and support in improving health: lessons from social support interventions with childbearing women

Social support interventions have a somewhat chequered history. Despite evidence that social connection is associated with good health, efforts to implement interventions designed to increase social support ha...

Authors: Rhonda Small, Angela J Taft and Stephanie J Brown

Maternal bodies and medicines: a commentary on risk and decision-making of pregnant and breastfeeding women and health professionals

The perceived risk/benefit balance of prescribed and over-the-counter (OTC) medicine, as well as complementary therapies, will significantly impact on an individual’s decision-making to use medicine. For women...

Authors: Karalyn McDonald, Lisa H Amir and Mary-Ann Davey

Tackling complexities in understanding the social determinants of health: the contribution of ethnographic research

The complexities inherent in understanding the social determinants of health are often not well-served by quantitative approaches. My aim is to show that well-designed and well-conducted ethnographic studies h...

Authors: Mridula Bandyopadhyay

Looking back in time: conducting a cohort study of the long-term effects of treatment of adolescent tall girls with synthetic hormones

Public health research is an endeavour that often involves multiple relationships, far-reaching collaborations, divergent expectations and various outcomes. Using the Tall Girls Study as a case study, this pap...

Authors: Fiona J Bruinsma, Jo-Anne Rayner, Alison J Venn, Priscilla Pyett and George Werther

Exploring implementation and sustainability of models of care: can theory help?

Research on new models of care in health service provision is complex, as is the introduction and embedding of such models, and positive research findings are only one factor in whether a new model of care wil...

Authors: Della A Forster, Michelle Newton, Helen L McLachlan and Karen Willis