Conference Papers
Session H1.2. Training approaches in Primary Health Care
1. Melissa Lindeman: Recognising and responding to dementia in Indigenous communities: integrating research findings into a professional development program
An increased awareness of the higher prevalence of dementia in Australian remote Aboriginal communities has led to a need for up-to-date and contextually relevant learning materials for health professionals and for relevant and culturally appropriate materials for use with Indigenous community members. This paper will 1) highlight some key findings from recent research projects related to Indigenous dementia care, and 2) report on a successful professional development program for remote primary health care (PHC) providers. Selected findings will be presented from a recent evaluation of an education tool that reinforces the need for good intercultural communication skills and training for health professionals. This includes the need for dementia awareness and care to be a whole of community issue in remote communities. Another current project has found pathways of care for Indigenous people with dementia are hampered by poor communication and inconsistent intersectoral collaboration and care planning practices. The professional development program ‘recognising and responding to dementia in Indigenous communities’ offered by the Centre for Remote Health aims to develop PHC workers’ skills and knowledge in Indigenous dementia care and management, including dementia assessment using the validated Kimberly Indigenous Cognitive Assessment (KICA) tool. This program translates relevant recent research findings into a comprehensive resource document, and an interactive two-day workshop. One learning strategy used focuses on carer communication strategies to encourage skill development in determining what, when and how practitioners need to communicate with carers and family members. There is also a key focus on collaborative and intersectoral care planning.
Author bio:
Melissa is currently Head of Research at the Centre for Remote Health, Flinders NT. She has a background in social welfare, policy and service development, research and education particularly in aged/community care. Several of her current projects focus on remote and Indigenous aged and dementia care. She is inaugural President of the Australian Association of Gerontology NT Division.
2. Samia Goudie, Louisa Tatton and Emma Tippett: Beyond the clinic: learning on country
“Health is not just the physical wellbeing of the individual, but the social, emotional and cultural wellbeing of the whole community. This is a whole of life view and it also includes the cycles of life- death- life view “NATSIHWP. The Hopevale- Pelican project is a retreat produced by collaboration between the local community and Elders of Hopevale and Pelican Expeditions, an NGO dedicated to Indigenous issues, sea Country maintenance and engagement. One of the aims of the retreat, is for the Guugu Yimithdirr community from Hopevale to return to sea country and through various activities improve their wellbeing and bring “old ways and new ways” together through an exchange between “Traditional “ knowledge and stories with western science. In 2009, Samia Goudie, held discussions with Elders and camp participants about including a stronger focus on health and wellness. Subsequently, at the invitation of the Elders and Pelican expeditions, Samia linked UQ medical students interested in Indigenous health with the Hopevale community and the retreat. With the support of Brisbane GP Dr John Cadden, the Royal Flying Doctors, Indigenous Community Volunteers and the Hope Vale clinic she and the students created a project that aimed at improving the “wellness“ of the gathering through a range of strategies both at the camp and in the community. Through this a ‘ pit stop “ health promotion program was run with the Hopevale clinic followed by a rich exchange on country as part of the annual retreat where the students shared and learnt on country about wellness from the communities perspective and also participated with the activities of the retreat , whilst sharing their knowledge and expertise and vital clinical support . The project encompasses all the generations and thus supported the community in its larger aims, whilst providing the students and unique opportunity to broaden their approaches to health service delivery. The connections built by the project – which has continued with the students returning to the community in 2010 - aims to increase health and health education for the Hopevale community and to encourage youth within the community to consider careers as future doctors or in generalist Indigenous health as well as promote partnership and complementary approaches that incorporate Indigenous bush foods, wellness understandings and practice. This paper will share the experiences, changes in perceptions and the impact of the experience on the student’s future practice as doctors and explore the relevance this has for developing Indigenous health curriculum. It is based on interviews, reports and conversations from the students, Doctor and Lecturer before, during and after the project.
Author bio: Samia Goudie is currently an Indigenous visiting researcher with AIATSIS. She has worked within Indigenous, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, media and community development both in Australia and in the USA. Her current research practice is focused on exploring how using new media to tell stories of “hope and resilience” facilitates “wellness” for Indigenous people(s). Samia has also been working for a number of years on her fishing skills, with little success.
Authro bio: Emma Tippett is a scientist who specialised in HIV prior to starting medicine. Her long term goals are to specialise in tropical infectious diseases and sexual health in disadvantaged communities in Australia and abroad.
Author bio: Louisa Tatton is a final year medical student who has been involved in the project since its inception. She has returned to the Cape and continued her connection with the community through a residency in the Hopevale Clinic in 2010 where she was able to strengthen her interest in Indigenous health and improve her fishing skills.
3. Robyn Williams: Educating for culturally safe practice in Indigenous primary health care: (How we know what we don’t know)
For health practitioners working in Indigenous primary health care, there are challenges in terms of the aging work force and provision of appropriate education and training. The question for educators is how to best educate for culturally and clinically competent practice in an increasingly complex cross-cultural world. Little is known about the ‘what’ ‘why’ and ‘how’ of pedagogical theories and practices related to cultural safety and primary health care education in Australia. As part of the author’s PhD research this qualitative study is exploring the question of how best to educate for culturally safe practice in Indigenous primary health care; thus contributing to the young and emerging workforce. The author intends to critically examine and challenge pedagogical positions in teaching for culturally safe care in primary health contexts and how this can be best used to bring on and retain the next generation of practitioners. In the study the focus will be on training or 'growing up' the next generation as it is primarily about giving voice to people’s stories and creating a space for people to stand and voice their emergent and contemporary professional identities. It is also about ‘enabling’ people to know ‘who’ and ‘how’ they are in the professional world and ‘to know what they don’t know’. How do we respect, value and maintain the collective wisdom of the last two or three decades of health practitioners and 'pass the baton' to tomorrow's graduates?
Author bio: Robyn has health and education qualifications and significant experience in working collaboratively with various government and non-government organisations. She also has over thirty years of experience of working with Indigenous people from urban, rural and remote communities; primarily in the NT but also has strong links with Indigenous peoples in regional NSW, Victoria and South Australia.
Her fields of expertise include cross-cultural curriculum development and program implementation; evaluation of community based programs, and qualitative research in Indigenous issues.
She is undertaking PhD studies where her thesis is on what constitutes best educative practice for health practitioners in Indigenous primary health care settings. She is also developing and coordinating a new Bachelor of Health Science with a strong focus on Indigenous perspectives and up skilling the local health workforce.