‘For the Life of Me, I Can't See Why Those Students were Let Go on So Long’: Educating the Educators, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-Style

2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 156-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne Plater
Keyword(s):  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Indigenous Health ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Individual Student ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Student Effort ◽  
The Past ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
The University ◽  
Study Participants

In 2008, almost 40% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students enrolled in the Graduate Diploma in Indigenous Health Promotion at The University of Sydney failed to complete the course. Although this was not considered unusual when compared to previous years, the decision was made to investigate why so many students struggled to meet the expectations of a course that was pedagogically progressive, culturally affirming, taught by highly regarded academics and strongly supported by the university and its stakeholders. A qualitative study using in-depth semi-structured interviews was conducted, and many complex and interrelated issues were explored. One issue that was raised both unexpectedly and emphatically by almost half the study participants who completed the course was the unintentional stifling of individual student effort and achievement through the development of co-dependent relationships between academic staff and students. This article presents the data relevant to this particular issue, reflects on the findings, and outlines some of the strategies implemented since this study commenced that have contributed to a healthy completion rate of 98% over the past 3 years.

'I'm not sure it paints an honest picture of where my health's at' – identifying community health and research priorities based on health assessments within an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community: a qualitative study

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 549 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey K. Spurling ◽  
Chelsea J. Bond ◽  
Philip J. Schluter ◽  
Corey I. Kirk ◽  
Deborah A. Askew
Keyword(s):  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Indigenous Health ◽  
Health Assessment ◽  
Health Priorities ◽  
Assessment Data ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Key Informants ◽  
Health Assessments ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
Torres Strait Islander Health

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health assessments are conducted annually in Australian primary care to detect risk factors, chronic diseases and implement preventive health measures. At the Inala Indigenous Health Service, health assessment data have also been used for research purposes. This research has been investigator-driven, which risks misinterpreting or ignoring community priorities compared with community-led research. The objective of this research was to learn about the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community’s health priorities that could be translated into research themes, and investigate these using health assessment data. A thematic analysis of data was conducted from 21 semi-structured interviews with purposively selected key informants from an urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. Key informants articulated an authoritative understanding of how interrelated, inter-generational, social, cultural and environmental determinants operated in a ‘cycle’ to influence the community’s health. Key informant views supported the inclusion of these determinants in health assessments, reinforced the importance of comprehensive primary healthcare and strengthened referral pathways to community resources. Some key informants were ambivalent about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health assessments because of their biomedical emphasis. This research also revealed limitations of health assessment-based research and the biomedical emphasis of the health system more broadly.

The Purga Project: Indigenous Knowledge Research

2001 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 11-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norm Sheehan ◽  
Polly Walker
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Research Methodologies ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
University Lecturers ◽  
The University

We are Indigenous University lecturers involved in research with the Purga Elders and Descendants Aboriginal Corporation. Our research at Purga involves the instigation of Indigenous Knowledge as the basis of effective and valid research methodologies. This article will describe the work that the University of Queensland (UQ) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit is doing at Purga. It will then articulate the principles of Indigenous Knowledge Research that inform this work.

scholarly journals NEWS: UQ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Student Participation Project

1995 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-54
Keyword(s):  
Academic Performance ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Student Participation ◽  
Indigenous Students ◽  
Monitoring Strategies ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
The University

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit at The University of Queensland has identified the need to develop detailed monitoring strategies to gauge the participation and academic performance of indigenous students at The University of Queensland. To reach this goal the Unit has launched a project which aims to investigate the participation and post-study destinations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

Finding Space and Place: Using Narrative and Imagery to Support Successful Outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in Enabling Programs

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clair Andersen ◽  
Ann Edwards ◽  
Brigette Wolfe
Keyword(s):  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Aboriginal People ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
Space And Place ◽  
Torres Strait Islander People ◽  
Entry Level ◽  
Whole Person ◽  
Low Expectations ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
The University

‘Riawunna’ is an Aboriginal word meaning ‘a place of learning’ for Aboriginal people, from entry level to tertiary studies, at the University of Tasmania (UTAS) and operates on Hobart, Launceston and Burnie campuses. The Riawunna Centre was established to encourage Aboriginal people to aspire to higher levels of education, and to support them to be successful in their chosen course of study. One strategy developed to support the participation, retention and success of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is the Murina program. During the four year period between 2010 and 2013 every student at UTAS who graduated from the Murina program and chosen to enrol in undergraduate studies has been successful in completing their courses. One of the tools used to achieve this result is the strong use of narrative and images in our teaching. This whole-person approach to teaching resonates culturally with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, but is also applicable to any student of any culture, especially those who come to university tentatively and with low expectations of what they can achieve.

scholarly journals Academic Staff Perceptions of Factors Underlying Program Completion by Australian Indigenous Nursing Students

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roianne West ◽  
Kim Usher ◽  
Kim Foster ◽  
Lee Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Students ◽  
Cultural Awareness ◽  
Indigenous Health ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Indigenous Education ◽  
Individual Student ◽  
Staff Perceptions ◽  
Indigenous Students ◽  
Undergraduate Nursing ◽  
Education Support

An increase in the number of Indigenous health professionals is one way to help reduce the poor health outcomes of Australia’s Indigenous people. However, while Indigenous students are enrolling in Australian tertiary undergraduate nursing courses in increasing numbers, their completion rates remain lower than non-Indigenous students and many barriers hinder course completion. This critical interpretive qualitative study explores academic staff perceptions of factors enabling successful course completions by Indigenous nursing students from universities in Queensland, Australia. Content analysis of data revealed five themes: (a) Individual student characteristics; (b) Institutional structures, systems, and processes; (c) Relationships, connections, and partnerships; (d) Family and community knowledge, awareness, and understanding; and (e) Academics’ knowledge, awareness, and understanding. To increase the number of Indigenous nurses, strategies such as appointing Indigenous nursing academics; partnerships between nursing schools and Indigenous Education Support Units, and the implementation of tailored cross-cultural awareness programs for nurse academics are proposed.

scholarly journals Listening to and learning from the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to facilitate success

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katelyn Barney
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
Indigenous Australian ◽  
Indigenous Students ◽  
Future Developments ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
The University ◽  
Tertiary Study

Drawing on interviews with current and past Indigenous undergraduate students at the University of Queensland (UQ), this paper reports on findings from a project that explored the experiences of Indigenous Australian students and identified inhibitors and success factors for students. It also discusses one of the outcomes of the project and planned future developments that aim to provide better support for Indigenous Australian students at UQ. By knowing and acting upon the kinds of mechanisms that can assist Indigenous students, their experiences of tertiary study can be enhanced, leading to more students enrolling in and completing university study.

Diwurruwurru: Towards a New Kind of Two-Way Classroom

1999 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 24-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Bradley ◽  
Frances Devlin-Glass ◽  
Elizabeth Mackinlay
Keyword(s):  
Performance Practice ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Community Education ◽  
Ethnographic Film ◽  
Women's Music ◽  
Indigenous Australia ◽  
Education Centre ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
The University ◽  
Anthropological Society Of London

A project is currently underway at http://arts.deakin.edu.au which is innovative on a number of fronts. It has multiple beginnings: in the proactive, as culture dissemination work of a number of Yanyuwa and Garrwa women, who proclaimed in the white man’s world that they were ‘bosses themselves’ (Gale 1983) and who in various ways have sought to bring their culture to the attention of the wider world. This has been accomplished through a prize-winning (Atom Australian Teachers of Media awards in 1991) film, Buwarrala Akarriya: Journey East (1989), of are-enacted ritual foot-walk in 1988 from Borroloola to Manankurra 90 kilometres away. They also made a another prize winning film called Ka-wayawayarna: The Aeroplane Dance (1993) which won the Royal Anthropological Society of London award for the best ethnographic film in 1995. Since 1997 senior Yanyuwa women have been involved on a regular basis in sharing their knowledge of Yanyuwa performance practice with tertiary students in a subject called Women’s Music and Dance in Indigenous Australia which is offered as a course in anthropology through the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit, they have also lectured in core anthropology subjects in the faculty of Social and Behavourial Sciences Department of Anthropology and Sociology at the University of Queensland. They have also engaged actively in work as language preservers and teachers at the Borroloola Community Education Centre (hereafter BCEC) and in the Tennant Creek Language Centre program called Papulu Apparr-Kari.

scholarly journals Integrated learning in a drug and alcohol university degree for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults: a case study

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-51
Author(s):  
KS Kylie Lee ◽  
Michelle Harrison ◽  
Scott Wilson ◽  
Warren Miller ◽  
Jimmy Perry ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Professionals ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Indigenous Health ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
Optimal Approach ◽  
University Degree ◽  
Alcohol And Other Drugs ◽  
Drug And Alcohol

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) health professionals working in the alcohol and other drugs field perform a complex role in tackling substance misuse and related harms. Professional training and development opportunities for these “frontline” Indigenous alcohol and other drugs staff is key to prevent burnout and to allow them to work to their full potential. However, there are many barriers for those seeking to improve their skills. A number of teaching approaches have been described as important, but we were unable to identify peer-reviewed publications that detail the optimal approach to tailor university learning to meet the needs of Indigenous alcohol and other drugs health professionals. This article reflects on the experience of providing one such programme: a graduate diploma in Indigenous health and substance use, designed and delivered specifically for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mature-aged students.

Improving the Service to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders through Innovative Practices Between Aboriginal Hospital Liaison Officers and Social Workers in Hospitals in Victoria, Australia†

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Bnads ◽  
Elizabeth Orr ◽  
C John Clements
Keyword(s):  
First Nations ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Indigenous Health ◽  
Public Hospitals ◽  
Cultural Safety ◽  
Colonial Legacy ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
First Nations People

Abstract Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have suffered violence and extreme prejudice in every walk of life as a result of the European colonisation of Australia. We acknowledge the ongoing colonial legacy to this suffering and discuss how cultural safety is a solution to overcoming some elements of the disadvantages that still beset Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in terms of accessing health care. Accessible and culturally safe health services are critical in reducing health inequalities for First Nations’ people because of the burden of ill-health they experience. ‘Cultural safety’ in this context refers to approaches that strengthen and respectfully engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures in mainstream services. Alongside holistic Indigenous health and primary prevention approaches, a broad range of medical, socio-cultural and allied health support is needed to alleviate these inequalities. In this article, we describe how the working relationship between Aboriginal Hospital Liaison Officers and Social Workers in public hospitals in Victoria, Australia, contributes to cultural safety, and thereby improves the quality of care and a reduction in discharges against medical advice by Aboriginal patients. We conclude that elements of this model may be applicable to improving care for First Nation peoples in other countries.

Culturally safe health care practice for Indigenous Peoples in Australia: A systematic meta-ethnographic review

2021 ◽  
pp. 135581962110418
Author(s):  
Stephanie De Zilva ◽  
Troy Walker ◽  
Claire Palermo ◽  
Julie Brimblecombe
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Indigenous Health ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Cultural Safety ◽  
Care Practice ◽  
Health Care Practice ◽  
Torres Strait

Objectives Culturally safe health care services contribute to improved health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in Australia. Yet there has been no comprehensive systematic review of the literature on what constitutes culturally safe health care practice. This gap in knowledge contributes to ongoing challenges providing culturally safe health services and policy. This review explores culturally safe health care practice from the perspective of Indigenous Peoples as recipients of health care in Western high-income countries, with a specific focus on Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Methods A systematic meta-ethnographic review of peer-reviewed literature was undertaken across five databases: Ovid MEDLINE, Scopus, PsychINFO, CINAHL Plus and Informit. Eligible studies included Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples receiving health care in Australia, had a focus on exploring health care experiences, and a qualitative component to study design. Two authors independently determined study eligibility (5554 articles screened). Study characteristics and results were extracted and quality appraisal was conducted. Data synthesis was conducted using meta-ethnography methodology, contextualised by health care setting. Results Thirty-four eligible studies were identified. Elements of culturally safe health care identified were inter-related and included personable two-way communication, a well-resourced Indigenous health workforce, trusting relationships and supportive health care systems that are responsive to Indigenous Peoples’ cultural knowledge, beliefs and values. Conclusions These elements can form the basis of interventions and strategies to promote culturally safe health care practice and systems in Australia. Future cultural safety interventions need to be rigorously evaluated to explore their impact on Indigenous Peoples’ satisfaction with health care and improvements in health care outcomes.

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