University represents a pathway to upward social mobility for many working-class people. However, this distinctly middle-class environment also provides a number of unique social psychological challenges for working-class students. Working-class university students are often in the minority group at university, they are often the first in their families to attend university, and they often feel out of place at university. They also lack the time and money required to engage with other students on campus. Consequently, they are less likely to be as integrated into social life at university as their middle-class peers. In this chapter, we consider the potential implications of this lack of social integration for working-class students' academic outcomes and mental health. In particular, we review recent research that shows that working-class students' lack of integration at university is associated with poorer academic outcomes and poorer mental health. We conclude with a discussion of potential interventions to increase working-class students' social integration at university.

ince the 2005 Social Justice report criticised the Australian Government for not addressing the inadequate life expectancy of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, national efforts have been made towards closing the gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Aboriginal Australians. The then Social Justice Commissioner, Professor Tom Calma AO, made three recommendations to address equality in life expectancy: i) a government commitment to achieving equality in health status in 25 years, ii) equality in access to primary care and health infrastructure, and iii) bipartisan support for this commitment. 2 Improvements in age-standardised mortality rates of about 10% have been observed for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people since 2006, but similar improvements have occurred for non-Aboriginal Australians. 3 Therefore, Australia has fallen short of the federal government's targets to close the gap in disproportionate health outcomes and life expectancy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. 3 In the Prime Minister's 2020 Closing the Gap statement to Parliament, he reported "despite the best of intentions; investments in new programs; and bi-partisan goodwill, Closing the Gap has never really been a partnership with Indigenous people". 4 The "best of intentions" for Closing the Gap has been widely questioned in academic literature 5,6 and mainstream media, 7,8 including highlighting the lack of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples involvement in decision-making processes 9 and acknowledgement of Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services as exemplars of best practice in providing holistic health care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. 10 Over the past 12 years, the reported "investments in new programs" funding has fluctuated, 11,12 highlighting resources as finite. The Closing the Gap framework identifies the need for research and evaluation to inform effective policies, 13 with calls for increased research in urban settings 14 and to evaluate evidence-based practices, policy and programs. 6 Early research also explored the extent to which the policy changes informed new models for research conduct. 15 In 2021, with a reformed agenda for Closing the Gap now established with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people represented by their community-controlled peak organisations, the Coalition of Peaks 16 -an Aboriginalled research team -felt it timely to interrogate the intentions for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health through a critical review of research outputs since Closing the Gap was established in 2008.Providing an overview of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research since 2008 allows for an examination of the scope and characteristics of the knowledge base to inform evidencebased practices, policies and programs. To date, no review of Indigenous health research outputs have described the scope and characteristics of the research, most notably the burden of disease focus or the research designs being im...

High quality intervention research is needed to inform evidence-based practice and policy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We searched for studies published from 2008–2020 in the PubMed database. A narrative review of intervention literature was conducted, where we identified researcher reported strengths and limitations of their research practice. A total of 240 studies met inclusion criteria which were categorised as evaluations, trials, pilot interventions or implementation studies. Reported strengths included community engagement and partnerships; sample qualities; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander involvement in research; culturally appropriate and safe research practice; capacity building efforts; providing resources or reducing costs for services and communities; understanding local culture and context; and appropriate timelines for completion. Reported limitations included difficulties achieving the target sample size; inadequate time; insufficient funding and resources; limited capacity of health workers and services; and inadequate community involvement and communication issues. This review highlights that community consultation and leadership coupled with appropriate time and funding, enables Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health intervention research to be conducted. These factors can enable effective intervention research, and consequently can help improve health and wellbeing outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Despite social class being a burgeoning area of research in the higher education literature, there is no single comprehensive measure of social class in university student populations. Most previous research has included objective single-item measures (e.g., parent education or occupation) to assess social class and then sorted students into distinct social class categories using these items. Such approaches do not adequately capture the complexity and nuance of class, and they ignore the subjective and social components involved. The present paper reports the development and validation of an 11-item Comprehensive Social Class Scale (CSCS) that uses a mix of objective and subjective items to assess multiple aspects of social class, including education level, occupational prestige, family affluence, social class identity and subjective social status. Across 12 samples (N = 4926), we provide evidence for a single factor structure of the CSCS and demonstrate aspects of its reliability and validity. We conclude by discussing some limitations and suggestions for use of the CSCS in higher education populations.