Through their recently established Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Committee, MS Society of NSW and Victoria (MSL) engaged JM&A to undertake a needs analysis to assist them to better engage, support and provide services to people with MS from culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
 
This analysis involved an environmental scan of several other not-for profit agencies to investigate and evaluate strategies that they have used to engage with culturally and linguistically diverse groups; a series of in-language focus groups to gauge the needs of people with MS from 6 culturally and linguistically diverse communities and interviews with key staff, clients and volunteers in MSL across the two states.

The needs analysis identified the following:

• evidence of the incidence of MS among culturally and linguistically
  diverse groups in Australia (including reference to relevant ABS data and AIHW reports);
  
  
• facilitators and barriers to MSL registered clients from culturally and linguistically diverse  backgrounds accessing MSL services;
  
  
• opportunities to better meet the needs of clients from culturally and linguistically diverse communities;
  
  
• strategies for raising awareness of MS and of MSL services among
  culturally and linguistically diverse communities;
  
  
• strategies for raising MSL staff awareness of the needs of people
  with MS from culturally and linguistically diverse communities (such
  as inclusion and induction and training programs); and
  
  
• recommendations for the development of culturally and linguistically diverse information resources for use by all stakeholders.
  

This review focuses on literature examining the way in which specialist clinicians should communicate with Indigenous patients with breast cancer in particular and cancers in general and how they should take into account cultural differences during these encounters. The literature review also looks at the cultural issues surrounding treatment and choices regarding not undergoing or discontinuing treatment.

The focus of the literature review was on evidence for the effectiveness of interventions designed to improve health outcomes for Australian Indigenous women with a confirmed diagnosis of breast cancer.

In essence, the review identifies skills and knowledge requirements of oncology clinicians working with Indigenous women with breast cancer. The primary focus has been evaluated examples of good practice in Australia, with some readings of international articles relevant to the Australian context also read for comparative purposes. Some policy documents and conceptual studies were also read.

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JM&A conducted research to examine issues related to teaching Emergency Management subjects to children form culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. This research then informed the development of culturally inclusive teaching materials for the school sector and conduct of cross cultural training for Emergency Management agencies.

Consultation highlighted the perceived low level of understanding of amongst people from culturally diverse backgrounds on issues surrounding emergency management and what to do in an emergency. Three audiences for the resource were thus identified – students, their families and their communities. Consultation also stressed that resources needed to be targeted to general/mainstream class groups but provide teachers with information on how to tailor their classes depending on the make-up of the class group.

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In the report, funded by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), we probed vocational education and training (VET) participation in six ethnic communities, investigating awareness of VET, English proficiency an cultural expectations in relation to course participation and completion.

Previous research indicated low awareness and undervaluing of VET in ethnic communities; dissatisfaction with the generality of English language training; an over-representation of people from a language other than English background in VET multi-field (language, preparatory and access courses); and low participation in employment based training opportunities through apprenticeships and traineeships.

The language groups selected were Arabic, Bosnian, Cantonese, Spanish, Turkish and Vietnamese. These have large proportions of working adults, while representing varying settlement experiences and English language proficiencies.

The focus was working-age adults currently or prospectively participating in VET. Sixty-in-depth interviews with community intermediaries were followed by in-language focus groups with 140 adults in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.

We conducted qualitative research to seek out why young refugee and migrant women were not making use of health services. For the report, Getting Connected we developed benchmarks and strategic initiatives to overcome the barriers that impeded the young women's use of health services. (In association with the Australian Multicultural Foundation.)

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