Cross-Cultural, Aboriginal Language, Discovery Education for Health Literacy and Informed Consent in a Remote Aboriginal Community in the Northern Territory, Australia

The teaching of mathematics to Aboriginal children poses many difficulties for teachers. Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal teachers agree that many Aboriginal children are not making adequate progress in their development of mathematical understanding. The teaching of mathematics in Aboriginal communities is discussed in the Northern Territory Infants Curriculum (1974 : 119–123). After reviewing the outcomes of a desirable mathematics course the curriculum writers conclude that “many Aboriginal children do not manifest many of these outcomes at a level comparable with that obtained by European children”.John Gay and Michael Cole have written a very valuable book, The New Mathematics and an Old Culture, which examines the teaching of mathematics in a cross-cultural situation. They state that “... in order to teach mathematics effectively, we must know more about our students. In particular we must know more about the indigenous mathematics so that we can build effective bridges to the new mathematics we are trying to introduce.” (Gay and Cole, 1967:1)

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Mutual Incomprehension: The Cross Cultural Domain of Work in a Remote Australian Aboriginal Community

International Indigenous Policy Journal ◽

10.18584/iipj.2010.1.2.2 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Eva McRae-Williams ◽

Rolf Gerritsen

Keyword(s):

Northern Territory ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Social Culture ◽

Aboriginal Community ◽

Remote Community ◽

Australian Aboriginal ◽

Cultural Domain ◽

Formal Employment ◽

Australian Aboriginal Community

This article is set within the context of concerns about Indigenous workforce participation disadvantage. It discusses conflicting life-worlds relating to work of both Aboriginal and non- Indigenous residents in Ngukurr, a remote community in South East Arnhem Land in Australia’s Northern Territory. It contrasts an Indigenous social culture of kinship and relatedness to a Western one where employment is central to identity and its formal rules shape behaviour. We investigate how these different social ideologies affect cross-cultural relationships and shape the formal employment domain in Ngukurr. Given that governments have moved to more assimilationist policies in recent years, there are important policy implications following from this mutual cultural incomprehension.

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Narratives and processes – Developing a responsive parent–child program to empower local facilitators in a remote Aboriginal community

Qualitative Social Work ◽

10.1177/1473325021992413 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 147332502199241

Author(s):

Carolin Stock ◽

Maggie Kerinaiua Punguatji ◽

Carmen Cubillo ◽

Gary Robinson

Keyword(s):

Play Therapy ◽

Northern Territory ◽

Parenting Program ◽

Research Translation ◽

Aboriginal Communities ◽

Aboriginal Community ◽

Parenting Support ◽

Pilot Implementation ◽

User Friendly ◽

Parent Child

This article presents the results of a retrospective study that critically examines the development of a responsive parent–child program from conceptualisation to pilot implementation. The development of the Play to Connect program was a continuation of research translation work of the Let’s Start parenting program which was delivered in remote Aboriginal communities across the Northern Territory, Australia from 2005–2016. The impetus for the Play to Connect program came from the community need for parenting support that could be delivered by local Aboriginal workers living in the community. The aim was to bring research and community together through the co-creation of contextually relevant knowledge directly useful for local Aboriginal facilitators. Embedded in a dynamic cycle of planning, delivery, observation and reflection, the team of local Aboriginal staff and visiting practitioners designed and piloted an innovative, user-friendly and adaptable parent–child program which was underpinned by the evaluation findings of an existing program, drawing on the framework of play therapy. The 2.5 year long process of development brought about action and change for the local Aboriginal staff. They valued the co-creation of the program and resources and reported increased knowledge of child development and confidence to deliver family support in their community. This study shows that the development of Play to Connect was more than “tailoring” a parenting program – it was a way of creating sustainable support around a program to increase the chances of continuity of implementation and successful community engagement and development.

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Healthcare Interpreting and Informed Consent: What is the Interpreter’s Role in Treatment Decision-Making?

TTR traduction terminologie rédaction ◽

10.7202/015772ar ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 225-247 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Andrew Clifford

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Informed Consent ◽

Medical Ethics ◽

Treatment Decision ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Professional Relationships ◽

Case Scenario ◽

Treatment Decision Making ◽

General Communication

This article examines the part that healthcare interpreters play in cross-cultural medical ethics, and it argues that there are instances when the interpreter needs to assume an interventionist role. However, the interpreter cannot take on this role without developing expertise in the tendencies that distinguish general communication from culture to culture, in the ethical principles that govern medical communication in different communities, and in the development of professional relationships in healthcare. The article describes each of these three variables with reference to a case scenario, and it outlines a number of interventionist strategies that could be potentially open to the interpreter. It concludes with a note about the importance of the three variables for community interpreter training. Keywords: community interpreting, informed consent, role of the interpreter, healthcare.

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‘We're Hands-On People’: Healing Diabetes in the Absence of Traditional Healers in an Aboriginal Community in Northern Territory, Australia.

Sites a journal of social anthropology and cultural studies ◽

10.11157/sites-id437 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 17 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Ashleigh Elizabeth Mitchell ◽

Trisia Farrelly ◽

Robyn Andrews

Keyword(s):

Traditional Healers ◽

Holistic Health ◽

Northern Territory ◽

Ethnographic Study ◽

Holistic Healing ◽

Self Healing ◽

Aboriginal Community ◽

Aboriginal Populations ◽

Hands On ◽

Biomedical Treatment

This study of a remote Aboriginal community in Australia’s Northern Territory in 2014 sought to understand diabetes from a local Aboriginal perspective. Participants drew on a variety of holistic healing methods in the absence of an individual or individuals identified as holding a healing role in the community. The study offers an alternative to the common assumption that all communities can identify specific individuals as Aboriginal healers who are central to maintaining Aboriginal beliefs and wellbeing who contribute to holistic health (Clarke 2008; Maher 1999; McDonald 2006; Seathre 2013; Williams 2011). This research found the seven adult Aboriginal diabetes patients participating in the longitudinal ethnographic study actively engaged in self-healing strategies. Moreover, diabetes clinicians could combine local remedies and biomedical treatment to heal diabetes within the clinic, as well as actively engaging the patient in their own treatment, effective to reduce the symptoms and prevalence of diabetes in Aboriginal populations.

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Increasing Health Literacy to Improve Clinical Trial Recruitment

Optimizing Health Literacy for Improved Clinical Practices - Advances in Medical Technologies and Clinical Practice ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-4074-8.ch006 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 94-108

Author(s):

Saliha Akhtar

Keyword(s):

Clinical Trial ◽

Decision Making ◽

Clinical Trials ◽

Informed Consent ◽

Health Literacy ◽

Trial Recruitment ◽

Negative Perception ◽

Consent Forms ◽

Clinical Trial Recruitment ◽

And Training

Health literacy has been found to be linked to healthcare understanding and decision making. Therefore, it makes sense why individuals who do not understand clinical trials will be less likely to want to enroll in one. In fact, three major barriers found in the literature that prevent potential participants from enrolling in clinical trials include a distrust or negative perception, lack of understanding, and lack of accessible and affordable healthcare. Hence, there is a need to increase potential participants' healthcare understanding so that they can make the best healthcare decisions for themselves. Strategies suggested to help increase potential participants' health literacy include revising informed consent forms, utilizing culturally targeted statements, using a variety of material, and training investigative site personnel. These proposed strategies may help increase health literacy, which in turn could improve clinical trial recruitment. Furthermore, these strategies focus on different elements of health literacy and coupled together may bring the most improvement.

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Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation of Oral Health Literacy Instrument (OHLI) for Malaysian Adults

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17155407 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (15) ◽

pp. 5407

Author(s):

Muhammad Zulkefli Ramlay ◽

Norkhafizah Saddki ◽

Mon Mon Tin-Oo ◽

Wan Nor Arifin

Keyword(s):

Reading Comprehension ◽

Oral Health ◽

Health Literacy ◽

Cultural Adaptation ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Dental Visit ◽

Oral Health Literacy ◽

Retest Reliability ◽

Cross Cultural Adaptation ◽

Test Retest Reliability

Currently, the availability of a functional oral health literacy instrument in the Malay language is limited. This study aimed to cross-culturally adapt Oral Health Literacy Instrument (OHLI) into the Malay language and to determine its psychometric properties in Malaysian adults. Cross-cultural adaptation of the OHLI into the Malay version (OHLI-M) was conducted according to a guideline, followed by a cross-sectional study among outpatients in a selected health clinic. The psychometric evaluations were the comparison of the OHLI-M scores by education levels and last dental visits, the correlation of the reading comprehension section of OHLI-M with the Malay version of the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (S-TOFHLA-M), the correlation of OHLI-M with decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) and Community Periodontal Index (CPI), and the test-retest reliability of OHLI-M. A total of 195 outpatients participated in this study. The OHLI-M scores were significantly different between participants with different levels of education and timing since last dental visit. Participants with lower secondary school qualification and below, and those whose last dental visit was more than two years ago or never, had significantly lower OHLI-M scores. There was a positive correlation between the reading comprehension scores of the OHLI-M and the S-TOFHLA-M (Spearman’s rho = 0.37, p < 0.001). There was no significant correlation between the OHLI-M scores and the DMFT index scores or the CPI scores. The internal consistency was good (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.83 to 0.88). The test-retest reliability was excellent (intraclass correlation = 0.80 to 0.86). The OHLI-M showed good validity and reliability among adults in Malaysia.

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The effectiveness of health literacy interventions on the informed consent process of health care users: a systematic review protocol

The JBI Database of Systematic Reviews and Implementation Reports ◽

10.11124/jbisrir-2015-2304 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 13 (10) ◽

pp. 82-94 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Beatrice Perrenoud ◽

Venetia-Sofia Velonaki ◽

Patrick Bodenmann ◽

Anne-Sylvie Ramelet

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Health Care ◽

Informed Consent ◽

Health Literacy ◽

Informed Consent Process ◽

Consent Process ◽

Systematic Review Protocol ◽

Literacy Interventions ◽

Review Protocol

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Adolescent Health Literacy in Beijing and Melbourne: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17041242 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (4) ◽

pp. 1242 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Shuaijun Guo ◽

Xiaoming Yu ◽

Elise Davis ◽

Rebecca Armstrong ◽

Elisha Riggs ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Literacy ◽

Health Outcomes ◽

Secondary Students ◽

Adolescent Health ◽

School Environment ◽

Cultural Context ◽

Assessment Tool ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Cultural Perspective ◽

Cultural Groups

While adolescent health literacy has gained momentum, it is under-researched from a cross-cultural perspective. This study aims to compare health literacy among two cultural groups of secondary students in Beijing and Melbourne. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 770 students from five secondary schools in Beijing and Melbourne. A self-administered questionnaire was designed to collect information on health literacy (the eight-item health literacy assessment tool (HLAT-8), the Newest Vital Sign (NVS) and the 47-item Health Literacy Survey (HLS-47)), its antecedents and health outcomes. Overall, students’ health literacy in Melbourne (n = 120) was higher than that in Beijing (n = 650): 28.25 ± 6.00 versus 26.37 ± 5.89 (HLAT-8); and 4.13 ± 1.73 versus 3.65 ± 1.64 (NVS). The proportion of students with low health literacy varied by instruments, representing 23.7–32.2% in Melbourne and 29.0%–45.5% in Beijing. In both cultural groups, students’ self-efficacy, social support, and perceptions of school environment were associated with their health literacy, which in turn predicted their health behaviours, patient-provider communication and health status. Given the nature of our study design and small samples, a cautious conclusion would be that adolescent health literacy is sensitive to the broad cultural context and might be an interactive outcome influenced by an individual’s health skills and the social environment. Particularly, creating a supportive school environment is critical to develop adolescent health literacy that would eventually contribute to better health outcomes.

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