Digital Commons Network^™

Audit Tools For Culturally Safe And Responsive Healthcare Practices With Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander People: A Scoping Review, Jessica Muller, Susan Devine, Lynore Geia, Alice Cairns, Kylie Stothers, Paul Gibson, Donna Murray

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia face disparities in accessing culturally safe and appropriate health services. While current cultural safety and responsiveness frameworks set standards for improving healthcare practices, ensuring accountability and sustainability of changes, necessitates robust mechanisms for auditing and monitoring progress. This study examined existing cultural safety audit tools, and facilitators and barriers to implementation, in the context of providing culturally safe and responsive healthcare services with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This will assist organisations, interested in developing tools, to assess culturally responsive practice. A scoping review was undertaken using Medline, Scopus, CINAHL, Informit …

Which Way From Here? An Exploration Of Local Perspectives On Strengths, Needs And Goals In The Aurukun Community, Jack R. Menges, Marie L. Caltabiano, Alan Clough, Tim White

Journal of the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet

Aurukun is a small Aboriginal community located in remote Cape York, Far North Queensland. This study explores local perspectives on the goals, strengths and areas of need in the community, and perceptions of the role of a man in Aurukun. Seventeen individuals from the Aurukun community were informally interviewed. The sample comprised eight community elders (four female, four male) and nine community members (six male, three female). A reference group comprising local community members and elders guided the research project. Results indicated that the communities’ main strength was their connection to culture, the areas most needing improvement were violence, alcohol …

Aboriginal Health Consumers Experiences Of An Aboriginal Health Curriculum Framework, Petah Atkinson, Marilyn Baird, Karen Adams

Australian Indigenous HealthBulletin

Introduction

In settler colonised countries medical education is situated in colonist informed health systems. This form of colonisation is characterised by overt racism and contributes to the significant health inequities experienced by Indigenous peoples. Not surprisingly, medical accreditation bodies in these countries have mandated the curriculum include content relating to Indigenous peoples. However, what is absent is the Indigenous health consumer worldview of health care and their nuanced lived experience of the delivery of medical care.

Methods

Yarning methods, integral to Aboriginal peoples’ ways of understanding and learning, were utilised. A Yarning guide was constructed with Social Yarn and Research …

The Importance Of Explicit And Timely Knowledge Exchange Practices Stemming From Research With Indigenous Families, Elizabeth J. Cooper, S Michelle Driedger

The Qualitative Report

Ethical research practice within community-based research involves many dimensions, including a commitment to return results to participants in a timely and accessible fashion. Often, current Indigenous community-based research is driven by a partnership model; however, dissemination of findings may not always follow this approach. As a result, products may not be as useful to participants who were motivated to be involved in the research process. We conducted a seven-week workshop on three occasions with different First Nations and Metis women and girls (age 8-12) in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The workshop explored participants’ perspectives around health, safety, and family wellbeing using a …

Breaking The Silence: Insights Into The Lived Experiences Of Wa Aboriginal/Lgbtiq+ People: Community Summary Report 2021, Braden Hill, Bep Uink, Jenny Dodd, Dameyon Bonson, Anne-Marie Eades, Sian Bennett

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The ‘Breaking the Silence’ research project is one of the first to focus on the unique experiences of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ+ people living in Western Australia. Research focusing on the intersection of Indigeneity and gender/sexual diversity is severely lacking in Australia. This is the first survey to comprehensively capture the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ+ Western Australians. Previously, major research pertaining to LGBTIQ+ Australians rarely just focused on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander same sex attracted or gender variant individuals (Bonson, 2017; Dudgeon, et. al., 2017; Growing Up Queer, 2014; Hill, et. al., 2021; …

The Fringe Or The Heart Of Things? Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Musics In Australian Music Institutions, Clint Bracknell, Linda Barwick

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Teetering on the fringe of Australian music scholarship and knowledge institutions, research and teaching of local Indigenous musics hold a marginal place, belying the positioning of Indigenous music-makers at the centre of international representations of Australian culture, and the dynamic local connections of Indigenous music-making to Australian landscapes and social realities. Music’s ubiquity and diversity worldwide show its potential as a tool to manage the changing world in societies of the past and present, yet this potential is largely neglected in contemporary Australia, and our theories and evidence base are limited by the narrow western focus within our knowledge institutions. …

Breaking The Silence: Insights From Wa Services Working With Aboriginal/ Lgbtiq+ People: Organisations Summary Report 2021, Braden Hill, Bep Uink, Jenny Dodd, Dameyon Bronson, Anne-Marie Eades, Sian Bennett

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The ‘Breaking the Silence’ research project is one of the first to focus on the unique experiences of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQ+ people living in Western Australia. The report presents the first phase of a twopart research project that explores how a range of health, social support and education organisations respond to the needs of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, living in Western Australia and identifying as LGBTIQ+. This report presents the findings of focus groups, interviews and surveys with staff employed within a range of organisations that work closely with Aboriginal and/or LGBTIQ+ individuals. The discussion …

A Conservation And Management Plan For The National Heritage Listed Fitzroy River Catchment Estate (No. 1), Martuwarra Riveroflife, Anne Poelina, Jason Alexandra, Nadeem Samnakay

Nulungu Reports

The Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council (Martuwarra Council) has prepared this document to engage widely and to articulate its ambitions and obligations to First Law, customary law and their guardianship authority and fiduciary duty to protect the Martuwarra’s natural and cultural heritage. This document outlines a strategic approach to Heritage Conservation and Management Planning, communicating to a wide audience, the planning principles, key initiatives, and aspirations of the Martuwarra Traditional Owners to protect their culture, identity and deep connection to living waters and land. Finer granularity of action items required to give effect to this Conservation and Management Plan for the …

Martuwarra Country: A Historical Perspective (1838-Present), Martuwarra Riveroflife, Magalie Mcduffie, Anne Poelina

Nulungu Reports

No abstract provided.

A Review Of Nyoongar Responses To Severe Climate Change And The Threat Of Epidemic Disease—Lessons From Their Past, Francesca Robertson, Jason Barrow

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Nyoongar people have lived in the South West of Western Australia for at least 50,000 years. During that time, they experienced significant climate change, including wide variations in temperature and rainfall, and hundreds of metres’ difference in sea levels. Nyoongar people have a long memory, and climate change is described in their stories and in the knowledge they hold about how life was lived in earlier times. There are artifacts and places that have been manipulated to be productive despite severe drought. COVID-19 disrupted the writing of this article, and the authors felt it appropriate to include Nyoongar responses to …

Online News Representation Of Missing/Murdered Indigenous Women In Washington, New Mexico, And Arizona, Kelli Bowers

McNair Scholars Manuscripts

There is limited research on the rates of violence against the many missing and murdered indigenous women (MMIW) in the United States, especially in urban areas. There is also little news coverage given to women who are victims of this violence. The absence of research on this topic and the shortage of news coverage leads to a lack of understanding by the general public on the issue as a whole. This is a qualitative content analysis of the representation of MMIW in Washington, New Mexico, and Arizona. I will analyze the newspaper reporting of MMIW in these states and the …

Second Growth By Fabienne Calvert Filteau, Josephine M. Massarella

The Goose

Review of Second Growth by Fabienne Calvert Filteau.

Aboriginal Health Worker Perceptions Of Oral Health: A Qualitative Study In Perth, Western Australia, Angela Durey, Dan Mcaullay, Barry Gibson, Linda Slack-Smith

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Background:

Improving oral health for Aboriginal Australians has been slow. Despite dental disease being largely preventable, Aboriginal Australians have worse periodontal disease, more decayed teeth and untreated dental caries than other Australians. Reasons for this are complex and risk factors include broader social and historic determinants such as marginalisation and discrimination that impact on Aboriginal people making optimum choices about oral health. This paper presents findings from a qualitative study conducted in the Perth metropolitan area investigating Aboriginal Health Workers’ (AHWs) perceptions of barriers and enablers to oral health for Aboriginal people.

Methods:

Following extensive consultation with Aboriginal stakeholders, …

You Will Be Punished: Media Depictions Of Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women, Caitlin Elliott

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The following thesis focuses on media depictions of Canada’s missing and murdered Indigenous women, a list that carries upwards of 1,200 names. The news coverage of these stories is reminiscent of television crime dramas in their depictions of minority victims of crime, specifically in regard to victim blaming. In order to examine this relationship, the present study compares coverage of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canadian news articles to depictions of victims, particularly minority female victims, within crime procedural television shows. An ethnographic content analysis (ECA) was conducted in order to parse out common themes between news articles featuring …

Assessing Student Perceptions Of Indigenous Science Co-Educators, Interest In Stem, And Identity As A Scientist: A Pilot Study, Sarah Alkholy, Fidji Gendron, Tanya Dahms, Maria Pontes Ferreira

Nutrition and Food Science Faculty Research Publications

Minorities are underrepresented in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce, post-secondary STEM education, and show high academic attrition rates. Academic performance and retention improve when culturally relevant support is provided. The interface of Western science and Indigenous science provides an opportunity for bridging this divide. We hypothesized that there would be regional (U.S.A. vs. Canada) differences amongst post-secondary students regarding these variables: perceptions of traditional Elders as STEM co-educators; interest in STEM; and self-identity as a scientist. We conducted a short-term longitudinal pilot study of an interdisciplinary, multi-institutional, and cross-cultural STEM course in the spring of 2013. This …

Indigenous Poetics In Canada Edited By Neal Mcleod, Kelly Shepherd

The Goose

Review of Neal McLeod's Indigenous Poetics in Canada.

Social Determinants Of Mental Health And Well-Being Among Aboriginal Peoples In Canada, Susan Wingert

Susan Wingert

The articles in this volume address the question: How do social determinants structure the health and well-being of the Aboriginal population in Canada? The first article uses bivariate statistical tests to assess whether First Nations residents’ subjective assessments of personal and community well-being correspond to scores from the Community Well-Being (CWB) Index, which is a measure of socioeconomic conditions in the community. The second article uses path analysis to test the extent to which the stress process model explains the social distribution of psychological distress and well-being in the off-reserve Aboriginal population. Specifically, it investigates whether stress, mastery, and social …

Addressing The Persistence Of Tuberculosis Among The Canadian Inuit Population: The Need For A Social Determinants Of Health Framework, Kassandra C. Kulmann Ma Candidate, Chantelle Am Richmond Professor

Chantelle Richmond

Canadian Aboriginal people have poorer levels of health than the general population. A serious issue is the high rate of tuberculosis (TB) among the Inuit population; rates are much higher than those of the general Canadian population. Several social determinants of health (SDOH), including household crowding and poverty, are strongly correlated with TB prevalence. In this paper, we describe the medical and social determinants of TB, and critically examine the TB literature specific to the Inuit population. The majority of studies recommend biomedical interventions for the treatment of TB. Few researchers have employed the social determinants of health theory to …

Selected Cases On The Continuum Of First Nations Learning, Julie Peters

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Each of the articles in this dissertation addresses a policy or theoretical issue at a different point on the learning continuum. Chapter 2, First Nations Early Learning and Child Care in Canada, examines federal policy specific to First Nations early learning and child care (ELCC). This article contributes to our understanding of ELCC by examining the historical role and relationship of the federal government in the financing and delivery of ELCC, outlining the current state of federal early learning policy related to First Nations, and presenting national data on First Nations ELCC to assess how it can inform policy …

Socially Constructed Teen Motherhood: A Review, Marc Fonda, Rachel Eni, Eric Guimond

Marc V. Fonda Ph.D.

This article reviews literature on the gradual construction of teenage pregnancy as a social issue in North America. It shows how teen motherhood emerged not as an issue unto itself, but as a microcosm of numerous, closely intertwined phenomena including: the evolution of Western views on human sexuality and gender roles; the place of religious values in society; and the emergence of various modern technologies, the social and medical sciences, and how such disciplines view childhood, motherhood, and women in society. In particular, it shows that even as teen pregnancy is today viewed primarily through public health and/or socioeconomic lenses, …

Risk Factors For Diabetes Mellitus: A Comparative Analysis Of Subpopulation Differences In A Large Canadian Sample, Michael James Taylor

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Objectives: Certain Canadian subpopulations observe numerous modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors for diabetes. This study compares immigrants and Aboriginals (First Nations, Inuit, and Métis) with Canada-born individuals at higher risks for diabetes, and deciphers the determinant differences between them.

Methods: Pooled Canadian Community Health Survey data (2001-2010) were used. Time trends for diabetes within each subsample were calculated using individual survey year prevalence rates; diabetes diagnoses were self-reported (N=33,565). Various risk factors were also examined using logistic regression.

Results: Diabetes prevalence rates significantly increased from 2001 to 2010 for each subpopulation, as well as the total sample: Canada-Born individuals (3.9% …

The Gambling Behavior Of Indigenous Australians, Nerilee Hing, Helen Breen, Ashley Gordon, Alex Russell

Dr Helen Breen

The gambling activities of minority groups such as Indigenous peoples are usually culturally complex and poorly understood. To redress the scarcity of information and contribute to a better understanding of gambling by Indigenous people, this paper presents quantitative evidence gathered at three Australian Indigenous festivals, online and in several Indigenous communities. With support from Indigenous communities, the study collected and analyzed surveys from 1,259 self-selected Indigenous adults. Approximately 33 % of respondents gambled on card games while 80 % gambled on commercial gambling forms in the previous year. Gambling participation and involvement are high, particularly on electronic gaming machines (EGMs), …

"Fourth World" Values In A Spanish-Language Newspaper Serving An Immigrant Community, Richard J. Peltz-Steele

Richard J. Peltz-Steele

This study operationalized the Four Worlds model for mass media values in a new context — that of a foreign-language newspaper serving a recent-immigrant community within a First World society, namely a Hispanic community in central Arkansas, in the United States. The study established baseline representations of previously described “First World” and “Fourth World” values in a mainstream central Arkansas newspaper, and in Cherokee and Koori newspapers. The study speculated that the central Arkansas Hispanic community exists with a measure of physical and cultural separation from mainstream society — arising from informal barriers such as socioecomomic status, residential neighborhoods, language, …

Aboriginal Youth, Hip Hop And The Politics Of Identification, George Morgan, Andrew Warren

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

This paper explores the identity work taking place around contemporary subcultural hip hop amongst Australian indigenous youth in two disadvantaged urban locations. Previous work on Aboriginal hip hop has been attentive to the interface between tradition and modernity. However, existing scholarship has lacked a deeper ethnographic understanding of the dynamics between youth and parent cultures, and the tensions between the two generations. This article is based on research with young hip hop enthusiasts, community activists and educators. It deals with the cultural politics of identification and sees hip hop practice as associated with a process in which Aboriginality is crystallized …

"Fourth World" Values In A Spanish-Language Newspaper Serving An Immigrant Community, Richard J. Peltz-Steele

Faculty Publications

This study operationalized the Four Worlds model for mass media values in a new context — that of a foreign-language newspaper serving a recent-immigrant community within a First World society, namely a Hispanic community in central Arkansas, in the United States. The study established baseline representations of previously described “First World” and “Fourth World” values in a mainstream central Arkansas newspaper, and in Cherokee and Koori newspapers. The study speculated that the central Arkansas Hispanic community exists with a measure of physical and cultural separation from mainstream society — arising from informal barriers such as socioecomomic status, residential neighborhoods, language, …

Social Determinants Of Mental Health And Well-Being Among Aboriginal Peoples In Canada, Susan Wingert

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The articles in this volume address the question: How do social determinants structure the health and well-being of the Aboriginal population in Canada? The first article uses bivariate statistical tests to assess whether First Nations residents’ subjective assessments of personal and community well-being correspond to scores from the Community Well-Being (CWB) Index, which is a measure of socioeconomic conditions in the community. The second article uses path analysis to test the extent to which the stress process model explains the social distribution of psychological distress and well-being in the off-reserve Aboriginal population. Specifically, it investigates whether stress, mastery, and social …

Aboriginal Practitioners Speak Out: Contextualising Child Protection Interventions, Dawn Bessarab, Frances Crawford

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

One month before the June 2007 Federal Government Emergency Intervention in the Northern Territory some 55 West Australian Aboriginal child protection workers attended a 3-day summit in Fremantle. Their purpose as front-line practitioners from across the State was to identify how more nurturing and healing communities could be developed and supported in a climate of despair. This paper reports on how the summit was designed and on some of the ideas and concerns that emerged within this dialogical space of cooperative inquiry. The project was a partnership between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal representatives of university, government, and community-service bodies. Aboriginal practitioners …

Community-Based Suicide Prevention Research In Remote On-Reserve First Nations Communities, Corinne A. Isaak, Mike Campeau, Laurence Y. Katz, Murray W. Enns, Brenda Elias, Jitender Sareen

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Suicide is a complex problem linked to genetic, environmental, psychological and community factors. For the Aboriginal population more specifically, loss of culture, history of traumatic events, individual, family and community factors may also play a role in suicidal behaviour. Of particular concern is the high rate of suicide among Canadian Aboriginal youth. While the need to develop interventions to reduce suicidal behaviour for First Nations on-reserve populations is evident, there may be an element of distrust of researchers by Aboriginal communities. Furthermore, research in mental health and specifically suicide is much more sensitive than studying medical illnesses like diabetes. Clearly, …

Gender And Place Influences On Health Risk Perspectives In Northern Canadian Aboriginal Communities, Cynthia G. Jardine, Amanda D. Boyd, Christopher M. Furgal

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Developing a better understanding of the factors underlying health and environmental risk perspectives has been the focus of significant research in recent years. Although many previous studies have shown that perspectives of risk are often associated with gender, sociocultural variables and place, our understanding of the relationship between these factors and risk remains equivocal. A research study was undertaken to develop better insights into the understanding and perspectives of various types of health risks in two sets of northern Canadian Aboriginal communities – the Yellowknives Dene First Nation communities of N’Dilo and Dettah in the Northwest Territories and the Inuit …

Football Barriers – Aboriginal Under‐Representation And Disconnection From The ‘World Game’, John Maynard

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Indigenous Australians have had some great successes in Australian football and rugby. However, this success has not been mirrored in the ‘world game’, soccer. This study examines the reasons for such under-representation in Australia. The barriers to access to soccer were a combination of racist government policy which restricted the movement of Aboriginal people, and thus their opportunities to engage with a game that was not located near the isolated reserves in which they were held. The most successful Aboriginal players were fortunate that their circumstances placed them in close proximity to locales that were soccer strongholds. Moreover, the multicultural …