Independent variables

Ethnicity was self-reported by participants. Although there were nine different ethnicities, they were categorised into five main groups based on geographic location: Burmese/Vietnamese (South East Asia), Sri Lankan/Bhutanese (South Asia), Afghani/Arabic-speaking (Middle East), Somali/Sudanese (Africa) and Pacific Islander. These emerging or established communities were targeted as they had known chronic disease risk.

The duration of residency in Australia, as a representation of acculturation, was self-reported at the beginning of the study. A cut-point of 5 years was used as a previous study showed that cardiometabolic risks of migrants increased within 5 years of settling in Australia⁽³²⁾. Participants were grouped into a duration of ‘≤5 years’ or ‘>5 years’. Another cut-point of 1 year was also used in the analysis to determine if any changes in behaviour had occurred.