Publications by authors named "Matilde Breth-Petersen"

Most public health practitioners and researchers in Australia acknowledge the poorer health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders peoples relative to non-Indigenous Australians; some work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities; however, few acknowledge the role that public health itself has played in the plight of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders peoples throughout Australia's colonial history. In this essay, we - Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, and non-Indigenous scholars at the Sydney School of Public Health (SSPH) - argue that truth-telling, which is critical for reconciliation, can only truly begin in Australian public health circles when we listen to the stories and truths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as it relates to the colonial history of public health in Australia. Herein we give a brief outline of that history and provide some recommendations on ways forward; we also describe the successes and failures at SSPH in hopes that our story can help the broader Australian public health community on their truth-telling journeys.

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A shift in practice by anaesthetists away from anaesthetic gases with high global warming potential towards lower emission techniques (e.g. total intravenous anaesthesia) could result in significant carbon savings for the health system.

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Background: Clinical activity accounts for 70-80% of the carbon footprint of healthcare. A critical component of reducing emissions is shifting clinical behaviour towards reducing, avoiding, or replacing carbon-intensive healthcare. The objective of this systematic review was to find, map and assess behaviour change interventions that have been implemented in healthcare settings to encourage clinicians to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their clinical activity.

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Solastalgia is a term used to describe the pain and distress experienced by those witnessing their home environments destroyed or changed in unwelcome ways. Solastalgia is expected to become more prominent as climate change worsens and transforms landscapes. This scoping review examines and maps the existing literature on solastalgia in Australia, particularly focusing on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander experiences.

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Objective: To undertake an assessment of the health, financial and environmental impacts of a well-recognised example of low-value care; inappropriate vitamin D testing.

Design: Combination of systematic literature search, analysis of routinely collected healthcare data and environmental analysis.

Setting: Australian healthcare system.

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The health impacts of climate are widely recognised, and extensive modelling is available on predicted changes to climate globally. The impact of these changes may affect populations differently depending on a range of factors, including geography, socioeconomics and culture. This study reviewed current evidence on the health risks of climate change for Australian Aboriginal populations and linked Aboriginal demographic data to historical and projected climate data to describe the distribution of climate-related exposures in Aboriginal compared to non-Aboriginal populations in New South Wales (NSW), Australia.

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Background: Although cultural factors play a crucial role in experience of stigma, there is scant review on the impact and importance of culture on stigma of mental illness across Pacific Rim Region. This study aims to investigate: 1) the cultural factors related to stigmatizing beliefs about mental illness in Pacific Rim region, and 2) culture-specific measures and interventions on stigma of mental illness.

Methods: A systematic search of papers was conducted in the MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science, PsycINFO, Scopus, Cochrane Library and Google scholar through January 2003 to April 2019.

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