Indigenous and Intercultural Health

This subject will help you to develop introductory level skills and knowledge that underpin culturally competent healthcare. This is particularly important for working with Australian Indigenous peoples, where illness and mortality are generally known to be far worse than for non-Indigenous Australians. When you have successfully completed this subject, you will understand some important ways to help provide good health and social care to Indigenous and other Australian cultures.

1. Explain Intercultural Health Competence by assessing your own strengths and improvement areas
2. Explain how culture, history and demography influence health and healthcare encounters
3. Develop healthcare related communication skills appropriate to a range of cultural groups and situations
4. Identify how human rights, professional responsibility and community development underpin Intercultural Health Competence
5. Same as 1-4 above focusing on Indigenous Health Competency
6. Apply and self-evaluate these learning objectives by applying them to an intercultural community-based setting

• More detail...

The following exercises, activities and assignments are used to assess your learning outcomes, based on the formal learning objectives for the subject:

1. Online learning exercises
2. Workshop activities
3. Community Focused Project

All topics include themes of cultural respect and safety; the human right to access quality healthcare; a multidisciplinary approach that recognises the need for interprofessional attitudes, knowledge and skills; and social determinants approach to promoting intercultural health and wellbeing.

1. Introduction

Health & Australian Cultures - ‘Culture-General’ concepts which are applied to case examples across several cultural groups.

• Intercultural Health Competency
• The Australian Context: Identity, Power & Relationships
• Culture as Communication
• Human Rights & Professional Roles

Indigenous Health & Well-being - 'Culture-Specific', and focuses on Indigenous health.

• Developing Indigenous Health Competency
• Applying Indigenous Health Communication Competency
• History, Demography and Indigenous Health
• Human Rights in Indigenous Health

Community-Based Project - Integrate prior intercultural learning through an applied Community Focused Project

• Integrating prior learning (from Modules 1 and 2)
• Applying prior learning (from Modules 1 and 2 via the Community Focused Project)
• Reviewing prior learning (from Modules 1 and 2 incl. the Community Focused Project)

Case studies - Requiring active collaboration across different health and social care professions.

• Social Work
• Podiatry
• Case studies in development

The development of this resource was led by Nick Stone (then Research Fellow at the Faculty of Health Science's Teaching and Learning Unit) commissioned by La Trobe University's School of Nursing. It is designed for a wide range of disciplines both within and outside the health and social care sectors. Only the middle unit is complete due to funding and staffing lapses. Dr Karen Adams (then of the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation- VACCHO) was the primary consultant for this middle unit which can be used as a generic introduction to Indigenous Health and Well-Being across a wide range of health, social science and other learning areas.

• La Trobe Learning Management System