Credit Points 10

Legacy Code 401445

Coordinator Fung Koo Opens in new window

Description This subject will specifically enable nursing students to investigate, discuss and develop an understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, health statistics, historical and present-day issues associated with poor health outcomes in Indigenous Australians. The concepts of cultural safety, health, illness and wellbeing will be discussed and synthesised in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Students will explore and reflect on the impact of the different attitudes, institutional policies and value systems relating to the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in Australia.

School Nursing & Midwifery

Discipline General Nursing

Student Contribution Band HECS Band 1 10cp

Level Postgraduate Coursework Level 7 subject

Restrictions

Students must be enrolled in the Master of Nursing Practice (Preregistration)

Assumed Knowledge

An understanding of Australian society, diversity of care to a variety of individuals across a broad range of health care settings.

Learning Outcomes

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

1. Critically reflect on different forms of racism, the concept of white privilege, one’s own positioning in terms of white privilege and the social determinants of health.
2. Qualify the role of family and community that underpin the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples 
3. Contextualise how colonisation has impacted the contemporary health situation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples 
4. Appraise current demographic, health indicators and statistical trends for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples with non-Indigenous people in Australia 
5. Critique strategies to deliver culturally safe and appropriate health care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients from a strengths-based approach 
6. Evaluate the role of nurses and/or midwives in achieving culturally safe health care for and with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples

Subject Content

1. Examine the culture of nursing, along with the broader health system, in terms of their impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health service experiences (Cultural safety)

2. Describe the historical development of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled health services and health sector initiatives (History &  Diversity)

3. Analyse the contemporary role of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health professionals, organisations, and communities in delivering culturally safe health care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients from a strengths-based approach 
a. Meaning of health and illness
b. Values, belief systems, attitudes, bias, cultural safety and practices in the care of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
c. Definitions of culture from the perspectives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
d. Health and status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People
e. Social determinants of health in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
f. Cultural isolation
g. Poverty
h. Discrimination – social and institutional
i. Historical events and health care policies in relation to the impact it has had on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
j. Health care policies and service provision “Bridging the Gap”
k. Ethical care in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations
l. Models, theories and cultural care
m. NMBA Standards for Registered Nurse Practice
n. Relate the importance of culturally appropriate care and service provision for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People 
- Racism
- White privilege appropriate care
o. Accesses and analyses the best available evidence, that includes research findings, for safe, quality practice.