Research and Evidence
Research and Evidence
ON THIS PAGE:
- Free resources, training, academic research and further reading about digital and data capabilities.
This resource list was compiled by Professor Kath Albury and Dr Samantha Mannix in December 2024, and will be updated throughout the life of the DDCSRH project. We have focused on open-access (non-paywalled) publications.
Please contact us if links are broken, or you are unable to access a resource. We also welcome suggestions for future additions to this list.
Policy Guidance
- Guidance on the rights-based ethical use of digital technologies in HIV and health programmes (UNDP, 2021)
Outlines key ethical, technical and human rights considerations for countries adopting digital technologies for HIV and health.
- The role of artificial intelligence in sexual and reproductive health and rights (WHO, 2024)
Technical brief providing an overview of the landscape surrounding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in sexual and reproductive health and rights. Highlighting the risks, implications and policy considerations.
- UNICEF Safer Chatbots Implementation Guide: provides blueprints for the inclusion of improving safeguarding measures into any chatbots reaching users who may be at risk.
- Lowitja Institute Indigenous data governance and sovereignty factsheet: for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and organisations who are interested in research, thinking about being involved in research or have recently become involved in research.
- A manifesto to guide digital health app development from Deakin University’s Institute for Health Transformation
- Enhancing understanding in Digital Health Guideline: a guide to understanding Data Quality in Health, produced by the Australasian Institute for Digital Health (2023)
Strategies, Roadmaps and Action Plans
The Australian digital transformation policy landscape is dynamic and evolving. For more information follow: https://digitalhealthworkforce.org.au/strategies-frameworks/
Current policies include:
- World Health Organisation – Global Strategy on digital health 2020-2025
- The Digital Health Blueprint and Action Plan 2023-2033 – Australian Department of Health and Aged Care
Outlines a ten-year vision for digital health to drive a more connected and sustainable health system.
- National Digital Health Strategy and Roadmap 2023-2028 – Australian Digital Health Agency
A five-year plan for Australia’s digital health future.
- National Digital Health Capability Action Plan – Australian Digital Health Agency
Two-year program of work that sets out the initiatives to equip Australia’s health workforce for a connected, digitally-enabled future.
- Australian Digital Health Capability Framework – Australian Digital Health Agency/Australasian Institute of Digital Health
A standard framework in digital health capabilities for those working in health and care.
Training, education and support resources
Please note, courses, degrees and training programs are listed for the purposes of information only. They have not been evaluated or accredited by the research team:
- General Assembly is private company offering short online and face-to-face bootcamps, courses and workshops in digital and data skills:
- TransJustice Resources – including the Anti-Trans Disinformation Handbook
- Resources for abortion activists and advocates (not Australia-specific but has transferrable elements)
Health practitioners in our research highlighted the importance of building digital and data capabilities with the support of peers across their respective sectors. For some, a Community of Practice (CoP) was identified as an opportunity to facilitate this learning and support.
- A quick guide to establishing a community of practice: Developed by the Australian Resource Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY) specifically for Australian audiences.
- Introduction to communities of practice a brief overview of the concept and its uses: Developed by Etienne and Beverly Wagner, this site provides useful information about what communities of practice look like and where/how they are established.
- How and why are communities of practice established in the healthcare sector? An open-access systematic review exploring communities of practice in the healthcare sector.
- Justice Connect’s Not-for-profit Law program have created a factsheet that outlines some key issues and strategies for community organisations using social media. You can access that here: https://www.nfplaw.org.au/free-resources/advertising/social-media
- The Western Australian Government developed a Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Social Media Toolkit: https://siren.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/SHBBV-Social-Media-Toolkit-FINAL.pdf
Academic and civil society research and commentary
A Data Capability Framework for the not-for-profit sector
McCosker A., Shaw F., Yao X., Albury K. (2022) A Data Capability Framework for the Not-for-Profit Sector. Swinburne University, Melbourne, DOI: https://doi.org/10.25916/h2s6-r178 (report)- Data for social good: non-profit sector data projects
Farmer, J., McCosker, A., Albury, K. and Aryani, A., 2023. Data for social good: Non-profit sector data projects. Springer Nature. - Developing data capability with non-profit organisations
McCosker, A., Yao, X., Albury, K., Maddox, A., Farmer, J. and Stoyanovich, J., 2022. Developing data capability with non-profit organisations using participatory methods. Big Data & Society, 9(1)
- Data & Society Institute (US-based) open library of research on current and emerging issues
- Mapping the Digital Gap: Using qualitative and quantitative research methods, this project website presents data to help measure progress on Closing the Gap Target 17, which aims for equivalent levels of digital inclusion for First Nations people by 2026.
- The Australian Digital Inclusion Index tracks and reports on digital inclusion. The website uses survey data to measure digital inclusion across three dimensions of Access, Affordability and Digital Ability, exploring how these vary across the country and across different social groups.
- A review of literature discussing the potential impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) on sexuality and sexual health:
Döring, N., Le, T.D., Vowels, L.M., Vowels, M.J. and Marcantonio, T.L., 2025. The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Human Sexuality: A Five-Year Literature Review 2020–2024. Current Sexual Health Reports, 17(1), pp.1-39.
- A review of literature discussing recent research into smart sextoys (also known as sextech):
Power, J., Pym, T., James, A. and Waling, A., 2024. Smart Sex Toys: A Narrative Review of Recent Research on Cultural, Health and Safety Considerations. Current Sexual Health Reports, 16(3), pp.199-215.
- Information asymmetries in the digital sexual and reproductive health space (UNDP, 2021)
This paper discusses the ethical and human rights risks relating to power imbalances and information asymmetries in the use of digital technologies to deliver SRH services.
- Critical approaches to smart sextoys/sextech:
Albury, K., Stardust, Z. and Sundén, J., 2023. Queer and feminist reflections on sextech. Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, 31(4).
- Relational ethics in health care automation (Shaw and McCosker, 2024).
This review offers a provocation for health care practitioners, managers and policy makers to consider the use of automated tools in practice settings and to examine how these tools might affect relationships and healthcare outcomes.
- Why Chayn took down its chatbot in 2020 and what we’ve learned about building culturally-aware chatbots since.
This blogpost by Hera Hussain – CEO of Chayn, a global nonprofit that creates resources on the web to address gender-based violence – outlines ethical concerns emerging from the implementation of referral chatbot for people experiencing intimate partner violence.
- What do school-aged young people want from sexual health education?
McKee, A., Watson, A.F. and Dore, J., 2014. ‘It’s all scientific to me’: focus group insights into why young people do not apply safe-sex knowledge. Sex Education, 14(6), pp.652-665.
- Everyday/vernacular digital practices for sexual and reproductive health:
Albury, K. and Hendry, N., 2023. Information, influence, ritual, participation: Defining digital sexual health. Journal of Sociology, 59(3), pp.628-645.
Process evaluation plus literature review/evidence-base for the Alannah and Madeline Foundation’s award-winning eSafety Commission-funded digital resource Crushed But Okay.
While the project targets young men aged aged 15-17, strategies outlined the literature review and process evaluation are applicable to projects and campaigns targeting 18-29-year-olds:
- Albury, K., Golding, D., McCosker, A., Veitch, A., Williams, J. (2022) Process evaluation of Crushed But Okay campaign. Melbourne: Swinburne University of Technology.
- Maddox, A., Albury, K., McCosker, A. (2021) Improve Your Play intervention design and evaluation: Literature review. Melbourne: Swinburne University of Technology.
Key concepts for digital and data capabilities
- Data Capability Framework for the not-for-profit sector (McCosker, Shaw, Yao & Albury, 2022)
- Building data capacity in the not-for-profit sector: interim report (Yao, McCosker, Albury, Maddox & Farmer, 2021)
- Developing data capability with non-profit organisations using participatory methods (McCosker, Yao, Albury, Maddox, Farmer and Stoyanovich, 2022)
- Everyday Data Cultures (Burgess, Albury, McCosker and Wilken, 2022).
- Data for social good: non-profit sector data projects (Farmer, McCosker, Albury and Aryani, 2022). This book is available to download for free via the APO website here: https://apo.org.au/node/320440
This page offers basic GenAI terms and examples, developed in collaboration with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society (ADM+S) and the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner (OVIC):
https://www.admscentre.org.au/genai-concepts/
The Manifesto for Sex-Positive Social Media sets out guiding principles that platforms, governments, policy-makers and other stakeholders ought to take into account in their design, moderation and regulation practices. It builds upon the generative work currently underway with the proliferation of alternative, independent collectives and cooperatives, who are designing new spaces, ethical standards and governance mechanisms for sexual content.
A portal produced by the US-based Data & Society Institute, which includes original research reports and a syllabus for further reading: https://datasociety.net/library/media-manipulation-and-disinfo-online/