Fighting a Different Battle: Challenges Facing American Indians in Higher Education
Educational access and attainment are among the most pressing issues facing Indian Country. Of particular challenge are those of post secondary education. American Indian students are retained and graduated from colleges at rates far below their non-Native peers. Making a successful adjustment to college is a formidable challenge for many people. It is particularly challenging […]
The DRUID study: racism and self-assessed health status in an indigenous population
Background: There is now considerable evidence from around the world that racism is associated with both mental and physical ill-health. However, little is known about the mediating factors between racism and ill-health. This paper investigates relationships between racism and self-assessed mental and physical health among Indigenous Australians as well as potential mediators of these relationships. […]
Preparing Students for Cross-cultural Practice: Indigenous Australians as a case study
The DRUID study: Exploring mediating pathways between racism and depressive symptoms among Indigenous Australians
Purpose: Racism is an important determinant of mental and physical health for minority populations. However, to date little is known about the relationship between racism and ill-health outside of the U.S. or the causal pathways between racism and poor health. This paper focuses on the relationship between racism and depression in a non-U.S. indigenous population, […]
The contact caveat: negative contact predicts increased prejudice more than positive contact predicts reduced prejudice
Contact researchers have largely overlooked the potential for negative intergroup contact to increase prejudice. In Study 1, we tested the interaction between contact quantity and valence on prejudice toward Black Australians (n = 1,476), Muslim Australians (n = 173), and asylum seekers (n = 293). In all cases, the association between contact quantity and prejudice […]
Measures of Indigenous social capital and their relationship with well-being
Objective: To provide the first estimates of a comprehensive measure of social capital for the Indigenous population and to link the indicators to well-being. Design: Observational study-based. Setting: Household survey. Participants: Nationally representative sample of 7823 Indigenous Australians aged 15 years and over who were usual residents of private dwellings. Main outcome measure: Whether or […]
Do indigenous health curricula in health science education reduce disparities in health care outcomes?
Racism, social resources and mental health for Aboriginal people living in Adelaide
Background: This paper examines whether reported experience of racism by Aboriginal people living in Adelaide is negatively associated with mental health, and whether social resources ameliorate the mental health effects of racism. Methods: Face-to-face structured and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 153 Aboriginal people. Data on self-reported experiences of racism (average regularity of racism across […]
The effects of a common in-group prime on intentions to help Indigenous and homeless Australians
The article reports on research designed to test Australian attitudes towards helping impoverished members of the Australian society, in particular, indigenous and homeless people. Australian university students completed a questionnaire to measure their attitudes towards helping homeless and indigenous people under conditions that primed a common Australian identity. The findings showed that priming an inclusive […]
Indigenous cultural training for health workers in Australia
Purpose Culturally inappropriate health services contribute to persistent health inequalities. This article reviews approaches to indigenous cultural training for health workers and assesses how effectively they have been translated into training programmes within Australia. Data sources CINAHL PLUS, MEDLINE, Wiley InterScience, ATSIHealth and ProQuest. Study selection The review focuses on the conceptual and empirical literature […]
Turning the corner: assessment as a key strategy to enhance greater engagement and understanding in Indigenous health
Background: Developing a culturally competent health workforce is a key strategy in the struggle to provide quality healthcare services for Aboriginal people. Since 2000, the Centre for Aboriginal Medical and Dental Health has implemented a comprehensive vertically and horizontally integrated Aboriginal health curriculum across the 6 year MBBS program at the University of Western Australia. […]
Racism as a determinant of social and emotional wellbeing for Aboriginal Australian youth
Objective: To explore the associations between self-reported racism and health and wellbeing outcomes for young Aboriginal Australian people. Design, setting and participants: A cross-sectional study of 345 Aboriginal Australians aged 16–20 years who, as participants in the prospective Aboriginal Birth Cohort Study, were recruited at birth between 1987 and 1990 and followed up between 2006 […]
Racism and health among urban Aboriginal young people
Background: Racism has been identified as an important determinant of health but few studies have explored associations between racism and health outcomes for Australian Aboriginal young people in urban areas. Methods: Cross sectional data from participants aged 12-26 years in Wave 1 of the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service’s Young People’s Project were included in hierarchical […]
Responding to racism: Insights on how racism can damage health from an urban study of Australian Aboriginal people
This paper examines responses to racism and the pathways through which racism can affect health and wellbeing for Aboriginal people living in an urban environment. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in 2006/07 with 153 Aboriginal people living in Adelaide, Australia. Participants were asked about their experience of, and responses to, racism, and the impact of these […]
Closing the gaps in and through Indigenous health research: guidelines, processes and practices
Research in Aboriginal contexts remains a vexed issue given the ongoing inequities and injustices in Indigenous health. It is widely accepted that good research providing a sound evidence base is critical to closing the gap in Aboriginal health and wellbeing outcomes. However, key contemporary research issues still remain regarding how that research is prioritised, carried […]
Psychometric validation of the Growth and Empowerment Measure (GEM) applied with Indigenous Australians
Objective: Empowerment is a complex process of psychological, social, organizational and structural change. It allows individuals and groups to achieve positive growth and effectively address the social and psychological impacts of historical oppression, marginalization and disadvantage. The Growth and Empowerment Measure (GEM) was developed to measure change in dimensions of empowerment as defined and described […]
Indigenous Suicide and Colonization: The Legacy of Violence and the Necessity of Self-Determination
Contemporary indigenous first nations psychologists have developed an alternative frame for viewing suicide that not only shifts the focus from individual-level to group-level explanations, but challenges discourses that position group-level influences as “risk factors” that can be easily subsumed within standard repertoires for suicide prevention. First nations psychologists show the violent legacy of colonization has […]
Atoning for Colonial Injustices: Group-Based Shame and Guilt Motivate Support for Reparation
An investigation of the role of group-based shame and guilt in motivating citizens of ex-colonial countries to support restitution to former colonized groups which were the target of violence and oppression. Study 1 (N = 125) was conducted in Australia during the lead-up to the first official government apology to Aboriginal Australians. Among white Australians, […]
Psychological and cognitive assessment of Indigenous Australians
Objective: The aim of the present review was to evaluate the psychological and cognitive assessments that have been considered suitable for Indigenous Australians. This will provide a basis from which future developments can occur, leading to improved mental health services for Indigenous Australians. Method: Literature searches of key health science databases were conducted using the […]
Rejected! Cognitions of rejection and intergroup anxiety as mediators of the impact of cross_group friendships on prejudice
In a sample of White Australians (N =273), cross-group friendship with Aboriginal Australians was associated with reduced cognitions of rejection and intergroup anxiety, and these variables fully mediated the effect of cross-group friendship on conversational avoidance of sensitive intergroup topics, active avoidance of the outgroup, and old-fashioned prejudice. The novel mediator proposed here, cognitions of […]
Experiences of racism among urban Indigenous Australians: Findings from the DRUID study
Engaging Indigenous content within teaching of Qualitative research in psychology
Australian universities recognise cultural competency as an essential attribute for graduates. Within this context, The Australian Psychology Accreditation Committee (APAC) has enforced requirements for students within psychology programmes to have access to Indigenous content. Though Indigenous participation rates are low, the inclusion of Indigenous content or what is often labeled ‘Indigenous psychology’ acts at least […]
Prejudice and the function of attitudes relating to Muslim Australians and Indigenous Australians
The aim of the present study was to examine prejudice against Muslim Australians and Indigenous Australians and the function of those attitudes using previously identified functions, direct experiential–schematic and value expressive, and including a new indirect experiential–schematic function. Respondents were categorised into two groups: accepting and rejecting. For the Muslim data there was no difference […]
Theory to social action: A university-based strategy targeting prejudice against Aboriginal Australians
The level of racism in Australia against Aboriginal Australians is well documented. This has an extremely detrimental effect on the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal Australians. One part of the solution may be anti-prejudice strategies, but to date few strategies that include a pre-test and a post-test assessment have been conducted in Australia. The present […]
Towards cultural competence: Australian Indigenous content in undergraduate psychology
This paper discusses the development and preliminary analysis of psychology undergraduate courses on cultural competence in relation to Indigenous Australians. The paper summarises the process that led to the formation of draft curriculum guidelines for psychology academics, including the need to critically examine the assumptions and history of Western psychology in relation to Indigenous peoples, […]