Understanding and valuing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of working: Opportunities for change in health service provision to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

Abstract

This thesis draws on an analysis of the experiences of Aboriginal and/or Torres health professionals to argue that the Australian health system is missing opportunities to create something better for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health clients and health professionals. In 2018 Closing the Gap1 will be 10 years old and despite 10 years of national policy designed to close the gap on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander disadvantage in Australia, only one of the seven key measures remains on track to meet the goals set for 2020 (Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, 2017). There is an immediate need to make change in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health through changes in national policy, systems and practices. This thesis investigates the workplace experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health professionals working in mainstream and in community controlled health services in the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector. I have explored this from an Australian Aboriginal (Koori) perspective that was informed by Indigenous2 theories including decolonisation, Cultural Interface and Indigenous Standpoint Theories. As a Koori scholar undertaking doctoral research in a Western academy I respected and upheld both my cultural and my Western academic ethics and requirements: Yarns, including my own, are central to this thesis. I have used Indigenous research methods, Yarning and PhotoYarning, the latter having been developed as a new Indigenous research method by me within this doctoral study. Fifteen Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers from diverse health services across Australia contributed data. The empirical chapters highlight Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of working in Australian health services. For the Australian health sector to provide culturally safe services that meet the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia it needs to better engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of being, knowing, doing and seeing