HLSC120 - Indigenous Health and Culture

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Nil

Teaching organisation

Unit rationale, description and aim

Being a health professional, it is a requirement that you are able to perform person-centred care in a culturally competent manner. This requirement exists because all people deserve to be treated with respect and dignity regardless of their beliefs, values or attitudes. Students are required to undertake this unit as it provides the foundation for culturally competent practice through the lens of Indigenous Australian culture to ensure graduates enter the workforce as culturally competent practitioners.

The social-historical-political context, cultural knowledges, and related health issues of Indigenous peoples across the world and in Australia will be the focus of this unit. The concept of globalisation will be introduced and explored with reference to the health of Indigenous peoples. Students will then examine the historical context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ health, contemporary issues in healthcare provision, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ ways of knowing, being and doing. The impact of current strategies to close the gap in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health care will be examined, along with ways that the health care system can respond to the health needs of this group. The notion of culturally competent care will be introduced, and students will start to develop knowledge and skills needed to provide culturally competent care to people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Aligned with cultural competence are principles of community engagement – in this unit, students will be introduced to the principles that would enable safe and effective community engagement and explore how these principles can be applied within their practice.

The aim of this unit is to provide health students with a solid foundation on which to build cultural competency across their undergraduate program – knowledge and skills that they will need to apply to their future health care practice.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Describe the implications and health consequences of the socio-historical-political context on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and other First Nations populations, from individual and community contexts (GA1, GA2)

LO2 - Critically evaluate how social, cultural and cross-cultural factors shape the health beliefs, experiences and outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders peoples and other cultural groups (GA4, GA5, GA7)

LO3 - Apply the principles of cultural safety to enable culturally sensitive health care across a range of populations and health care settings, but with particular reference to socially and culturally marginalised populations (GA1, GA5, GA7)

Graduate attributes

GA1 - demonstrate respect for the dignity of each individual and for human diversity

GA2 - recognise their responsibility to the common good, the environment and society

GA4 - think critically and reflectively

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession

GA7 - work both autonomously and collaboratively

NMBA Registered Nurse Standards for Practice

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia’s Registered Nurse Standards for Practice developed in this unit are:

NMBA Registered Midwife Standards for Practice

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia’s Registered Midwifery Standards for Practice developed in this unit are:

Paramedicine Board of Australia Professional Capabilities for Registered Paramedics

The Paramedicine Board of Australia is responsible for assessing, consulting on and setting the standards for paramedics practicing in Australia. These standards and relevant domains are articulated in the Professional Capabilities for a Registered Paramedic document. The learning outcomes of this unit are matched to the relevant capabilities, in order to align students’ development with the requirements of a paramedic.  

Content

Topics will include: 

The health consequences of globalisation with particular reference to

• Social determinants of health
• Inequalities in health status
• Global Indigenous health

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health

• Indigenous Australian ways of knowing, being and doing
• Traditional ways of healing
• History and health consequences of colonisation
• Acute and chronic conditions, co-morbidity and disability amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• Racism and the impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• Effect of government policy on health and social wellbeing

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health care provision

• Policy and community initiatives in health care, including the Closing the Gap strategy
• Primary healthcare approach
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health care workers
• Self-determination and Aboriginal controlled healthcare organisations
• Reconciliation

Cultural competence in health care

• Definitions and debates around cultural competence
• Knowledge and skills in the provision of culturally competent care
• Using a strengths-based approach 
• Providing culturally appropriately care
• Community engagement
• Interprofessional and multisectorial healthcare

Introduction to community engagement in health

• Principles of working collaboratively with communities, capacity building, reciprocity, and transformative learning

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This unit requires students to undertake 150 hours of focused learning to achieve the unit learning outcomes. It has two delivery patterns: a standard full semester delivery pattern which is scheduled nationally; and an intensive delivery pattern which is scheduled off-shore. Modes of delivery in this unit for both full semester and intensive delivery patterns include lectures, tutorials, online activities and self-directed study. Consistent with adult learning principles, the teaching and learning approaches used within these modes of delivery will provide students with foundational knowledge and skills relevant to professional practice for healthcare professionals. These strategies will also support students in meeting the aim, learning outcomes and graduate attributes of the unit and the broader course learning outcomes. Learning and teaching strategies will reflect respect for the individual as an independent learner. Students will be expected to take responsibility for their learning and to participate actively with peers. The social-historical-political context, cultural knowledges, and related health issues of Indigenous peoples across the world and related concepts will be delivered as lectures and online content. Explanation, exploration and application of these concepts to health care practice will be undertaken in the tutorial classes and embedded in the assessment activities.  

This unit may also be offered on or off campus in intensive mode or multi-mode for sponsored / special cohorts, with the learning and teaching strategies being equivalent  with on campus mode offerings as endorsed by the School Course Implementation Committee.

Assessment strategy and rationale

A range of assessment items consistent with University assessment requirements and policy will be used to ensure students achieve the Unit Learning Outcomes and attain the Graduate Attributes. These assessments are required to build student knowledge and skills which, by the conclusion of this programme, will enable the student to graduate as a safe and effective health care professional.

The oral assessment ensures sound communication skills which are required for all interactions as a health care professional; it assesses an understanding of issues specific to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The written assignment and cultural project examine cultural competence and associated knowledge which will direct future practice as a health care professional. These assessments are required to build student knowledge which, by the conclusion of this programme, will allow the student to graduate as a health care professional who can behave with cultural competence. This requirement exists because all people deserve to be treated with respect and dignity regardless of their beliefs, values or attitudes.

Intensive and multi-mode assessment of this unit will be transparently equitable with on campus mode offerings as endorsed by the relevant Course Implementation Committee.

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Recommended references:

Biles, B., & Biles, J. (Eds.). (2020) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' health and wellbeing. Oxford University Press. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/acu/detail.action?docID=5611991.

Best, O., & Fredericks, B. (2018). Yatdjuligin: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nursing and midwifery care (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108123754.

Eckermann, A-K., Dowd, T., Chong, E., Nixon, L., Gray, R., & Johnson, S. (2010). Binan Goonj: Bridging cultures in Aboriginal health (3rd ed.). Churchill Livingstone/Elsevier. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/acu/detail.action?docID=1721994.

Germov, J. (Ed.) (2019) Second opinion: an introduction to health sociology (6th Ed). Oxford University Press. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/acu/detail.action?docID=5611991.

Guzys, D., Brown, R., Halcomb, E. & Whitehead, D. (2019) An introduction to community and primary health care. Cambridge University Press.

https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316711873.

Hampton, R., & Toombs, M. (Eds.). (2013). Indigenous Australians and health: The wombat in the room. Oxford University Press. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/acu/detail.action?docID=1986010).

Labonte, R. & Ruckert, A. (2019). Health inequities in a globalizing era: past challenges, future prospects. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198835356.001.0001.

Smith, J.(2020). Australia’s rural, remote and Indigenous health 3e. Elsevier. https://www.clinicalkey.com.au/nursing/#!/content/book/3-s2.0-B9780729542418000159.

Taylor, K., & Guerin, P. (2019). Health care and Indigenous Australians: Cultural safety in practice (2nd ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/acu/detail.action?pq-origsite=primo&docID=6235065.