Ironbark trial: healthy ageing for older Aboriginal people
This research is building on the Ironbark: Standing Strong and Tall project conducted by TGI in 2015 – 2016. This project found that there was a lack of Aboriginal specific falls prevention and other healthy ageing programs for older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia. The Ironbark: Standing Strong and Tall program was developed to address this gap.
The Ironbark trial is a cluster randomised control trial comparing the health outcomes of the Ironbark: Standing Strong & Tall program (a weekly exercise and yarning circle) to the Ironbark: Healthy Community program (a weekly social program) among groups of Aboriginal people aged 45 years and older.
The research includes funding local Aboriginal services to deliver one of the programs for 10 – 15 Aboriginal people for 12 months. We aim to recruit 60 services and around 600 participants (both men and women) into the trial over the next 4 years. We are working with collaborators in NSW, SA and WA.
There is a nested evaluation to determine acceptability of the Ironbark: Standing Strong and Tall program to participants, and an economic analysis. We envisage the research will have direct policy and program benefits for Aboriginal specific falls prevention programs, and wellbeing programs for older Aboriginal people.
We are now actively recruiting Aboriginal organisations to participate in the project. Participating sites will be funded to support their involvement, provided training on program delivery, have opportunities to develop their research capacity, and be involved in the governance of this research. We are looking for services that have existing groups who might want to be involved, and also services that would like to start a group.
This project was funded by the NHMRC, from 2018 – 2022.
For more information please visit the research website:
