Resilience to blood borne and sexually transmitted infections: The development of a participatory action research project with young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Townsville

The Indigenous Resiliency Participatory Action Research (IR PAR) project is one of four components of a collaborative project being conducted by Townsville Aboriginal and Islander Health Service, Derbarl Yerrigan Aboriginal Health Service, Perth, the Aboriginal Medical Service, Redfern and the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, UNSW. This part of the project uses a participatory action research framework to bring young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, staff from Aboriginal community controlled health services (ACCHS), and university researchers together to develop and conduct research on what keeps young people protected against blood borne viruses (BBV) and sexually transmitted infections (STI). This paper focuses on the research process, describing how we developed the IR PAR project in Townsville, reflecting on the challenges and celebrating the strengths we have encountered working together