Research Themes and Major Projects

Indigenous Ageing Project

Current federal policy assumes that Indigenous people age earlier than the general population. While aged care services are planned for the general population aged over 70, they are planned for the Indigenous population aged over 50. This project examines the evidence for this assumption and any unintended consequences of this policy.

The project will be conducted in two parts. Quantitative analysis of existing data sets will compare the two population groups in terms of self-reported health, mortality, hospitalisation and patterns of use of aged care services. It will test what current policy implies: that Indigenous people in their fifties have the same conditions and care needs as non-Indigenous people in their seventies.

The second part of the project will be a qualitative investigation on how the Indigenous population became a focus in aged-care policy and how the underpinning concepts have been framed. This aims to inform thinking about the policy implications.

Project leaders: Dr John Condon, Philippa Cotter

Project partners: Menzies School of Health Research, University of Melbourne, Australian National University

Funders: National Health and Medical Research Council/Australian Research Council's Ageing Well Ageing Productively program