Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T11:11:32.831Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Addressing the knowledge gap of Indigenous public health: reflections from an Indigenous public health graduate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2020

Natasha Lee
Natasha Lee*
Affiliation:
School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland4072, Australia
*
Author for correspondence: Natasha Lee, E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

The current agenda in public health training in higher education works to produce well-trained public health professionals. Operating within a western pedagogical framework it aims to build a cohort of critical and analytical thinkers, skilful problem solvers and extraordinary communicators across key disciplines in health. Many graduates possess interdisciplinary specialities, skills and knowledge transferable within health and other sectors. Core competencies in the curricula, which notably does not currently include Indigenous health, are considered the foundational platform of theory and practical understandings of public health and the health system. Despite a framework that aims to produce health professionals capable of improving the health of the population as a whole; the lack of engagement with an Indigenous health criticality maintains a longstanding Australian public health tradition of failure when it comes to addressing the health disparities experienced by Indigenous people. As a recent Indigenous public health graduate with practical training and experience working in the public health system, I consider possibilities for decolonising the curricula through an Indigenist approach to health, including theories of transformative learning which could strengthen public health practice and in turn facilitate the changes necessary to improving Indigenous health outcomes.

Keywords

Cultural safetyracism and health systemIndigenous healthreflective practicetransformative learning
Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 49 , Special Issue 2: Critical conversations on higher education as an enabler to building an Indigenous health workforce , December 2020 , pp. 110 - 118
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Angus, L, Ewen, S and Coombe, L (2016) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander public health: online and integrated into core Master of Public Health subjects. Journal of Public Health Research 5, 32–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Askew, D, Brady, K, Mukandi, B, Singh, D, Sinha, T, Brough, M and Bond, C (2020) Closing the gap between rhetoric and practice in strengths-based approaches to Indigenous public health: a qualitative study. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health 44, 102–105.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barney, K (2016) Listening to and learning from the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to facilitate success. Student Success 7, 1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bastos, J, Harnois, C and Paradies, Y (2018) Health care barriers, racism, and intersectionality in Australia. Social Science and Medicine 199, 209–218.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bond, C (2005) A culture of ill health: public health or Aboriginality? Medical Journal of Australia 183, 39–41.Google ScholarPubMed
Bourke, C, Marrie, H and Marrie, A (2019) Transforming institutional racism at an Australian hospital. Australian Health Review 43, 611–618.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bullen, J and Roberts, L (2018) ‘I wouldn't have been culturally safe’: health science students’ experiences of transformative learning within Indigenous studies. Journal of Higher Education Research & Development 38, 688–702.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calhoun, J, Ramiah, K, McGean Weist, E and Shortell, S (2008) Development of a core competency model for the master of public health degree. American Journal of Public Health 98, 1598–1607.Google ScholarPubMed
Coombe, L, Lee, V and Robinson, P (2019) Educating for Indigenous public health competence – how do we stack up in Australia? Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health 43, 143–148.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Durey, A and Thompson, S (2012) Reducing the health disparities of Indigenous Australians: time to change focus. BMC Health Services Research 12, 1–11.Google ScholarPubMed
Ewen, S, Hill, S and Paul, D (2012) Revealing the (in)competency of ‘cultural competency’ in medical education. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples 8, 318–328.Google Scholar
Fragkos, K (2016) Reflective practice in healthcare education: an umbrella review. Education Science 6, 1–16. doi: 10.3390/edusci6030027.Google Scholar
Genat, B (2008) National Indigenous Public Health Framework. Retrieved from http://www.phile.net.au/files/site/docs/PHERPFramework.pdf.Google Scholar
Genat, B and Robinson, P (2010) New competencies for public health graduates: a useful tool for course design. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health 34, 513–516. doi: 10.1111/j.1753-6405.2010.00599.x.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Genat, B, Robinson, P and Parker, E (2009) Foundation competencies for Master of Public Health graduates in Australia. Retrieved from http://caphia.com.au/documents/Competencies-MPH-Graduates-Australia-ANAPHI-2009.pdf.Google Scholar
Genat, B, Robinson, P and Parker, E (2015) Foundation competencies for Public Health graduates in Australia. Retrieved from http://caphia.com.au/testsite/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/CAPHIA_document_DIGITAL_nov_22.pdf.Google Scholar
Gerlach, A (2012) A critical reflection on the concept of cultural safety. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy 79, 151–158.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harvey, A and Russell-Mundine, G (2019) Decolonising the curriculum: using graduate qualities to embed Indigenous knowledges at the academic cultural interface. Teaching in Higher Education 24, 789–808.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henry, B, Houston, S and Mooney, G (2004) Institutional racism in Australian healthcare: a plea for decency. Medical Journal of Australia 180, 517–520.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jayatilleke, N and Mackie, A (2012) Reflection as part of continuous professional development for public health professionals: a literature review. Journal of Public Health 35, 308–312.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jennings, B (2020) Ethics codes and reflective practice in public health. Journal of Public Health 42(1), 188–193.Google ScholarPubMed
Jongen, C, McCalman, J and Bainbridge, R (2018) Health workforce cultural competency interventions: a systematic scoping review. BMC Public Health 18, 1–15.Google ScholarPubMed
Joyce-McCoach, J and Smith, K (2016) A teaching model for health professionals learning reflective practice. Social and Behavioral Sciences 228, 265–271.Google Scholar
Lee, V, Allen, C, Robinson, P, Jessen, J, Angus, L, McLachlan, E, Coombe, L, Genat, B (2017) National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Public Health Curriculum Framework. Retrieved from http://caphia.com.au/testsite/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Curriculum-Framework-2nd-Edition.pdf.Google Scholar
Mann, K, Gordon, J and MacLeod, A (2009) Reflection and reflective practice in health professions education: a systematic review. Advances in Health Sciences Education 14, 595–621.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McKay, F and Dunn, M (2014) Student reflections in a first year public health and health promotion unit. Reflective Practice – International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives 16, 242–253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moreton-Robinson, A (2013) Towards an Australian Indigenous Women's standpoint theory: a methodological tool. Australian Feminist Studies 28, 331–347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrison, A, Irabinna-Rigney, L, Hattam, R and Diplock, A (2019) Toward an Australian culturally responsive pedagogy: a narrative review of the literature. Retrieved from University of South Australia.Google Scholar
Nakata, M, Nakata, V, Keech, S and Bolt, R (2012) Decolonial goals and pedagogies for Indigenous studies. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education and Society 1, 120–140.Google Scholar
Nakata, M, Nakata, V, Day, A and Peachey, M (2017) Closing gaps in Indigenous undergraduate higher education outcomes: repositioning the role of student support services to improve retention and completion rates. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education 48, 1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paradies, Y (2016) Colonisation, racism and Indigenous health. Journal of Population Research 33, 83–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paradies, Y, Harris, R and Anderson, I (2008) The impact of racism on Indigenous health in Australia and Aotearoa: towards a research agenda. Retrieved from Darwin: http://dro.deakin.edu.au/eserv/DU:30058493/paradies-impactofracism-2008.pdf.Google Scholar
Public Health Indigenous Leadership in Education Network (2016) National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Public Health Curriculum Framework. Retrieved from Canberra.Google Scholar
Rigney, L-I (1999) Internationalization of an Indigenous anticolonial cultural critique of research methodologies: a guide to Indigenist research methodology and its principles. Wicazo Sa Review 14, 109–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saunders, V, West, R and Usher, K (2010) Applying Indigenist research methodologies in health research: experiences in the borderlands. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education 39, 1–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Somerset, S, Robinson, P and Kelsall, H (2016) Foundation competencies for Public Health graduates in Australia. Retrieved from http://caphia.com.au/testsite/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/CAPHIA_document_DIGITAL_nov_22.pdf.Google Scholar
Spivak, G (1988) Can the Subaltern Speak? Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Stanley, J, Harris, R, Cormack, D, Waa, A and Edwards, R (2019) The impact of racism on the future health of adults: protocol for a prospective cohort study. BMC Public Health 19, 1–10.Google ScholarPubMed
Tuhiwai Smith, L (2012) Decolonizing Methodologies – Research and Indigenous Peoples, 2nd Edn. London, UK: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Wepa, D (2003) An exploration of the experiences of cultural safety educators in New Zealand: an action research approach. Journal of Transcultural Nursing 14, 339–348.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed