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Yarning with Aboriginal-Identified Health Workers: Hearing Stories of Working at the Cultural Interface
Thesis   Open access

Yarning with Aboriginal-Identified Health Workers: Hearing Stories of Working at the Cultural Interface

Darlene Rotumah
Southern Cross University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Southern Cross University
2023
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25918/thesis.345
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Rotumah D PhD 20232.49 MBDownloadView
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Abstract

Indigenous methodologies Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander health Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander identified health professionals Health professionals Decolonisation
The underrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people employed in the Australian health system is well documented. It contributes to the fear and avoidance by First Nations Peoples to access and remain engaged with mainstream health services. The Aboriginal health Professional/practitioner workforce plays a fundamental role in reducing the fear and avoidance of mainstream health services experienced by First Nations Peoples. Their skills and experience in navigating the cultural interface between two systems of knowledge ensure cultural safety for First Nation Peoples and ensure they are not disadvantaged and excluded from vital healthcare treatment. Similarly, they educate their mainstream colleagues in cultural awareness, respect, safety and competency (NAATSIHWP, 2020). Despite the importance of these roles, there has been little research on how Aboriginal-identified professionals navigate the cultural interface and what they see as critical to the effectiveness of their roles. This research allows us to hear these voices. In this thesis, I intentionally draw on Indigenous research methodologies to develop an Indigenous research framework that is based on my : Indigenous ways of being, Bunjulung ways of knowing, Booningbah (Fingal) ways of doing, using Burugar (beach) yarning as my main research method., supported by longstanding Indigenous practices of communication, such as yarning and storytelling. My research aims to honour and bring to light what up till now has been the relatively invisible cultural work of Aboriginal-identified health workers. My research involves yarning with ten Aboriginal-identified health workers working and living on Bunjulung Country. While my focus and research questions are about how health professionals navigate the challenges of their roles, the yarns reveal something much more important. Stories of strength, resilience and epistemological survival are evident in all the yarns, even though they tell different stories. What emerges is a deeper connected story, which I call the ‘deeper story of love and spirit’. Despite all the challenges and tensions the health professionals experience at the cultural interface (issues like inequity within roles, lack of cultural supervision, lack of understanding around the cultural requirements of the role and the ever-present racism that comes with the territory), they still love their work. The real story is about an Aboriginal worldview that is alive and active within the Aboriginal-identified health professionals, evident in the way they approach their jobs. The stories that emerge are about cultural pride, cultural strengths, enjoyment, passion and love of the work we do in the community.

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