Indigenous Research: Three Researchers Reflect on their Experiences at the Interface

2007 ◽  
Vol 36 (S1) ◽  
pp. 23-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deanne Minniecon ◽  
Naomi Franks ◽  
Maree Heffernan
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Standpoint Theory ◽  
Indigenous Research ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Cultural Interface ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Torres Strait

AbstractUtilising Nakata’s (2007) description of the “cultural interface”, two Indigenous researchers and one non-Indigenous researcher examine their development of Indigenous research in and with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities conducted from within an institution of higher education. The authors reflect on their experiences in developing an Indigenous research project and use Indigenous standpoint theory as a device to explore these experiences. The framing of priorities and research questions, ethics processes, the treatment of project information or data, the managing of competing accountabilities, and the role of non-Indigenous researchers in Indigenous research are all explored in these reflections.

scholarly journals Employability readiness for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students: Yarning Circles as a methodological approach to illuminate student voice

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Michelle J. Eady ◽  
Joel Keen
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Student Voice ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Indigenous Research ◽  
Indigenous Students ◽  
Skill Sets ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
Personal Reflections

This paper describes the current situation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander graduates entering the workforce and compares this with personal reflections from current Indigenous students engaged in the tertiary setting. The purpose is twofold: first, to promote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student voice; and second, to provide an avenue for this voice to contribute to and influence the design of employability programs in higher education. This study examines how the use of Indigenous research methods, such as yarning/yarning circles, can effectively and ethically collect data to amplify and promote the student voice in ways that conventional Western research methods currently fail to do. This amplified voice can create a platform for researchers and practitioners to understand students’ views and implement informed and tailored approaches to planning programs and delivering curriculum; in this case, employability-readiness skill sets for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in higher education. The findings are analysed thematically, and recommendations presented for higher-education institutions to consider when creating pedagogical approaches for the employability readiness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander graduates.

Beyond apologies: The Stolen Generations and the Churches

2001 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 4-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Briskman
Keyword(s):  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
Aboriginal Children

The complicity of state and church in the removal and placement of Aboriginal children in Australia has been well documented. Since the investigation by the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families, a number of churches have apologised for their participation in these practices. Alongside the apologies, churches have engaged in activities of reconciliation. This paper documents a research project, commissioned by the Minajalku Aboriginal Corporation, to explore the role of churches and church agencies in Victoria.

scholarly journals “My work? Well, I live it and breathe it”: The seamless connect between the professional and personal/community self in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Dickson
Keyword(s):  
Health Worker ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Indigenous Research ◽  
Indigenous Australian ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
Torres Strait Islander Health

Abstract Background Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health professionals often juggle the challenges of working and living in the same community in ways that are positive for both themselves and their clients. This study specifically examines the strategies Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health professionals have developed to enable them to feel empowered by the sense of being always visible or perceived as being always available. Findings provide examples of how participants (Team Members) established a seamless working self, including how they often held different perspectives to many work colleagues, how Team Members were always visible to community and how Team Members were comfortable to be seen as working when not at work. Methods This qualitative study engages an Indigenous research methodology and uses an Indigenous method, PhotoYarning, to explore lived experiences of a group (n = 15) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers as they worked in the Australian health sector. Results The analysis presented here comes from data generated through PhotoYarning sessions. Team Members in this study all work in health care settings in the communities in which they also live, they manage an extremely complex network of interactions and relationships in their daily working lives. They occupy an ambivalent, and sometimes ambiguous, position as representing both their health profession and their community. This article explores examples of what working with seamlessness involved, with findings citing four main themes: (1) Being fellow members of their cultural community, (2) the feeling of always being visible to community as a health worker, (3) the feeling of always being available as a health worker to community even when not at work and (4) the need to set an example. Conclusions While creating the seamlessness of working and living in the same community was not easy, Team Members considered it an important feature of the work they did and vital if they were to be able to provide quality health service to their community. However, they reported that the seamless working self was at odds with the way many of their non-Indigenous Australian colleagues worked and it was not well understood.

scholarly journals Healing the Past by Nurturing the Future—co-designing perinatal strategies for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents experiencing complex trauma: framework and protocol for a community-based participatory action research study

BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. e028397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Chamberlain ◽  
Graham Gee ◽  
Stephanie Janne Brown ◽  
Judith Atkinson ◽  
Helen Herrman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Complex Trauma ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
Action Research Cycles

IntroductionChild maltreatment and other traumatic events can have serious long-term physical, social and emotional effects, including a cluster of distress symptoms recognised as ‘complex trauma’. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Aboriginal) people are also affected by legacies of historical trauma and loss. Trauma responses may be triggered during the transition to parenting in the perinatal period. Conversely, becoming a parent offers a unique life-course opportunity for healing and prevention of intergenerational transmission of trauma. This paper outlines a conceptual framework and protocol for an Aboriginal-led, community-based participatory action research (action research) project which aims to co-design safe, acceptable and feasible perinatalawareness, recognition, assessmentandsupportstrategies for Aboriginal parents experiencing complex trauma.Methods and analysisThis formative research project is being conducted in three Australian jurisdictions (Northern Territory, South Australia and Victoria) with key stakeholders from all national jurisdictions. Four action research cycles incorporate mixed methods research activities including evidence reviews, parent and service provider discussion groups, development and psychometric evaluation of a recognition and assessment process and drafting proposals for pilot, implementation and evaluation. Reflection and planning stages of four action research cycles will be undertaken in four key stakeholder workshops aligned with the first four Intervention Mapping steps to prepare programme plans.Ethics and disseminationEthics and dissemination protocols are consistent with the National Health and Medical Research Council Indigenous Research Excellence criteria of engagement, benefit, transferability and capacity-building. A conceptual framework has been developed to promote the application of core values of safety, trustworthiness, empowerment, collaboration, culture, holism, compassion and reciprocity. These include related principles and accompanying reflective questions to guide research decisions.

Commentary on ‘Opportunities and Challenges of Engaged Indigenous Scholarship’ (Van de Ven, Meyer, & Jing, 2018)

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 463-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne S. Tsui
Keyword(s):  
Research Design ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Primary Factor ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Indigenous Research ◽  
Chinese Firms ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Chinese Management

The mission ofManagement and Organization Review, founded in 2005, is to publish research about Chinese management and organizations, foreign organizations operating in China, or Chinese firms operating globally. The aspiration is to develop knowledge that is unique to China as well as universal knowledge that may transcend China. Articulated in the first editorial published in the inaugural issue of MOR (2005) and further elaborated in a second editorial (Tsui, 2006), the question of contextualization is framed, discussing the role of context in the choices of the research question, theory, measurement, and research design. The idea of ‘engaged indigenous research’ by Van de Ven, Meyer, and Jing (2018) describes the highest level of contextualization, with the local context serving as the primary factor guiding all the decisions of a research project. Tsui (2007: 1353) refers to it as ‘deep contextualization’.

scholarly journals ‘We’re here to listen and help them as well’: a qualitative study of staff and Indigenous patient perceptions about participating in social and emotional wellbeing research at primary healthcare services

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Farnbach ◽  
◽  
Graham Gee ◽  
Anne-Marie Eades ◽  
John Robert Evans ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Primary Healthcare ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Healthcare Staff ◽  
Emotional Wellbeing ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Social And Emotional ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
Social And Emotional Wellbeing

Abstract Background Research can inform culturally-appropriate care to strengthen social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB) among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (hereafter, the term ‘Indigenous Peoples’ is respectfully used and refers to all Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples of Australia). We acknowledge the cultural diversity of Australia’s Indigenous First Peoples and they do not represent a homogenous group.) (hereafter Indigenous) Peoples. We explore the perspectives of primary healthcare staff and Indigenous patients about their willingness to and experiences participating in SEWB research. Method Process evaluation using grounded theory approaches of Getting it Right: The validation study, a national validation designed Indigenous SEWB research project (N = 500). Primary healthcare staff (n = 36) and community members (n = 4) from nine of ten primary healthcare services involved with the research project completed qualitative semi-structured interviews. Interview data were triangulated with participant feedback (responses to structured questions and free-text feedback collected during Getting it Right), study administrative data (participant screening logs, communication logs, study protocol, deviation logs and ethics correspondence) and interviewer field notes. Results Three themes about staff, patient and community perspectives concerning research participation developed: (1) considering the needs, risk, preferences and impact of participation in research for staff, patients and community; (2) building staff confidence speaking to patients about research and SEWB problems and (3) patients speaking openly about their SEWB. Some staff described pressure to ensure patients had a positive experience with the research, to respond appropriately if patients became upset or SEWB problems were identified during interviews, or due to their dual role as community member and researcher. Patients and staff reported that patients were more likely to participate if they knew the staff outside of the service, especially staff with a shared cultural background, and they perceived SEWB as a community priority. Staff reported their skills speaking to patients about the research and SEWB improved during the research, which built their confidence. Contrary to staff preconceptions, staff and patients reported that many patients appreciated the opportunity to speak about their SEWB and contributing to research that may eventually enhance SEWB in their community. Conclusion Our research project was considered acceptable by most staff and patients. The positive outcomes reported by staff and feedback from patients highlights the importance of providing opportunities for people to speak about their SEWB and for research-informed SEWB PHC care. Trial registration Getting it Right is registered on ANZCTR12614000705684.

What constitutes ‘support’ for the role of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child health workforce?

2013 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Watson ◽  
Jeanine Young ◽  
Margaret Barnes
Keyword(s):  
Child Health ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Cultural Awareness ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Overall Acceptability ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
Use Of Health Services ◽  
Torres Strait Islander Health

As well as providing primary health care services, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers are known to significantly contribute to the overall acceptability, access and use of health services through their role of cultural brokerage in the communities within which they work. As such they are uniquely positioned to positively influence health improvements for this vulnerable population. This study sought to identify key areas that both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous health professionals working within Indigenous communities felt were important in providing support for their roles. This group of workers require support within their roles particularly in relation to cultural awareness and capability, resource provision, educational opportunities, collaboration with colleagues and peers, and professional mentorship. What is known about the topic? Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers are known to significantly contribute to the overall acceptability, access and use of health services in the communities within which they work. As such they are uniquely positioned to positively influence health improvements for this population. What does this paper add? Through consultation with a sample of Indigenous child health workers and child health workers key areas necessary to provide support for the individuals working in these roles have been identified. What are the implications for practitioners? The findings from this study will inform policy and program development in order to more comprehensively support health workers in the community and contribute towards workforce development and satisfaction, recruitment and retention.

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