A major new youth sleep research project is about to begin in Mount Isa.
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Young People Ahead have employed two new workers to work on the project which is the first of its kind in Australia.and is funded by the federal government in,partnership with James Cook University and the University of Queensland
JCU Mount Isa-based sleep researcher Dr Yaqoot Fatima said the program was being developed in collaboration with community elders, youth, and service providers and they will offer the program to youth experiencing poor sleep.
As well as the mental problems associated with poor sleep, research has shown it leads to higher blood sugar increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes later in life.
Dr Fatima will lead a research team to collect data to assess whether the program improves their sleep and reduces the risk of mental health problems.
"Sleep is deeply affected by our cultural background and we found that for Indigenous Australians their understanding of good sleep is slightly different from non-Indigenous counterparts," Dr Fatima said.
"We found some of the dimensions of good and bad sleep for Indigenous people are missing in the tools we use for diagnosis."
Dr Fatima said the wording in research questionnaires is not typical language used by Indigenous people while research findings show Indigenous young people are not sleeping well.
Last year she and fellow sleep researchers successfully applied for federal funding of $600,000 for a sleep health program for Indigenous youth sleep program which Dr Fatima will lead.
"The target group will be Mount Isa youth and we are doing this in partnership with YPA who will provide two youth workers for the project," she said.
"We are providing their salaries and also some upskilling activities in a formal training program, creating an employment pathway for Indigenous people."
The youth workers will help co-design the program and be the interface with the research participants.
"Those who are experiencing poor sleep or having mental health issues will enrol in the program and will be reimbursed by Coles gift tokens," Dr Fatima said.
She said participants would wear specially designed activity watches similar to fitbits which will monitor their sleep patterns and other health indicators and they will also complete questionnaires.
"We will collect data at three touchpoints, one will be baseline data, then the program will be six weeks long and we will collect follow up data, and then three months later we will see if they still have the changes we saw earlier," she said.
"There are a lot of factors that are beyond the control of the community but we are hoping to promote community awareness that if they do not want to have diabetes set in later then they need to act now."
READ ALSO: Mount Isa man set for Indigenous marathon
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