Pina palya, pina kulilku (good ears, good learning)

• Reach:

  WA

• Focus area:

  Indigenous

• Status:

  Current

• Evaluated:

  No

Overview

The Pina palya, pina kulilku project aims to develop a culturally appropriate, multi‐faceted program of early ear screening and an enhanced awareness campaign for the prevention of otitis media (OM, ear disease) that can be introduced throughout the Goldfields and later to other regions of Western Australian. The three‐year intervention project is currently running in Kalgoorlie‐Boulder and five other Aboriginal communities located within four hours drive.

The components to the program are:

• health worker training
  • aims to empower Aboriginal Health Workers, community health nurses and school nurses to examine ears (by otoscopy and tympanometry) and to treat appropriately
• regular ear screening
  • targets Aboriginal children aged under five years using opportunistic, rather than scheduled visits
• health promotion
  • aims to create awareness of OM and identify ways of preventing OM through three key messages, 'regular ear checks', 'frequent hand washing' and 'keep cigarette smoke away from children'
  • messages communicated through interactive soap‐making, hand washing and music workshops as well as an inflatable 'Pina pulka' (big ear).

The project arose from research conducted between 1999 and 2005 in Kalgoorlie investigating OM and the upper respiratory tract (upper airway) and is a collaboration between the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Population Health, Bega Garbirringu Health Service, Ngunytju Tjitji Pirni and the Rural Clinical School of Western Australia.

Abstract adapted from Pina palya, pina kulilku (good ears, good learning) paper presented at the 11th National Rural Health Conference

Contacts

Telethon Institute for Child Health Research
PO Box 855
West Perth WA 6872
Ph: (08) 9489 7777
Fax: (08) 9489 7700
Email: enquire@ichr.uwa.edu.au

Related publications

Lehmann D, Arumugaswamy A, Elsbury D, Finucane J, Stokes A, Monck R, Jeffries-Stokes C, McAullay D, Coates H, Stanley FJ (2008)

The Kalgoorlie Otitis Media Research Project: rationale, methods, population characteristics and ethical considerations.

Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology; 22(1): 60-71

• Links
• View abstract: The Kalgoorlie Otitis Media Research Project: rationale, methods, population characteristics and ethical considerations
• View article: The Kalgoorlie Otitis Media Research Project: rationale, methods, population characteristics and ethical considerations (PDF - 188.0 KB)
• View website: Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology

Links

• View conference presentation: Pina palya, pina kulilku (good ears, good learning)
• View information: GlitterBug hand washing education system
• View news item: ‘Pina pulka (big ear)’ launched to promote Indigenous ear health in the Goldfields
• View news item: The big ear [interview Dr Deborah Lehmann, Principal Research Fellow, Telethon Institute for Child Health Research]
• View website: Telethon Institute for Child Health Research