In the lead up to National Reconciliation Week (NRW), from 27 May – 3 June, Optometry Australia (OA) is calling on optometrists to complete cultural responsiveness training, which is available via the Institute of Excellence until 30 June 2023.
NRW is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation.
The delivery of culturally responsive care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is an essential requirement for the optometry profession and other healthcare services in Australia
In 2023, the NRW theme is Be a Voice for Generations, encouraging all Australians to advocate for reconciliation in tangible ways in our everyday lives – where we live, work, and socialise. Research from Reconciliation Australia has shown large community support for the next steps in Australia’s reconciliation journey, including the Voice to Parliament, treaty making and truth telling.
As outlined in its reconciliation action plan, OA is dedicated to taking steps towards creating a better and more just Australia for all. We continue to acknowledge the importance of providing readily accessible, culturally safe, and responsive eye care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and remain committed to supporting the optometry profession achieve this goal.
As a result, we have made Indigenous Allied Health Australia’s (IAHA) market-leading Cultural Responsiveness Training (Levels 1 and 2) available to our members from August last year to 30 June 2023 via the Institute of Excellence. Combined, both levels offer eight hours of CPD (three non-clinical hours for Level 1 and five non-clinical hours for Level 2).
The delivery of culturally responsive care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is an essential requirement for the optometry profession and other healthcare services in Australia.
Achieving cultural safety involves more than just acknowledging cultural differences and showing respect; it requires a continual and dedicated effort to gain a deep understanding of the unique needs and practices of First Nations communities and involves incorporating this knowledge into the delivery of care.
OA recognises that this is not only vital, but also a crucial step towards addressing eye health inequities and improving health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Culturally Safe and Responsive Care
According to IAHA, cultural safety “represents a key philosophical shift from providing a service regardless of difference to providing care that takes account of peoples’ unique needs, requiring all people to undertake an ongoing self-reflection and cultural self-awareness and an acknowledgement of how these impact on interactions and service delivery”.
Cultural safety is central to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their relationships with the health system. It describes a state where people are enabled and feel they can access healthcare that suits their needs, are able to challenge personal or institutional racism (when they experience it), establish trust in services and expect effective and quality care.1 Like most developments, the process of seeking cultural safety is lifelong, and it is the receiver of services who determines whether the care delivered is culturally safe or not.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have a long history of promoting health and wellbeing and providing health care
Culturally responsive care is the practice of delivering culturally safe care, and requires an active effort and commitment from individuals, organisations, and systems to promote and maintain it. This commitment involves working in a way that promotes and supports the principle of self-determination for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, as well as working with them to determine what is culturally safe care for them.
Optometry’s Responsibility
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have a long history of promoting health and wellbeing and providing health care. OA, alongside the Australian Health Practitioner Regulatory Agency (Ahpra), acknowledges that over the past centuries, “colonisation, oppression, land dispossession and racism have produced, and continue to produce, gross health inequities including in vision-related outcomes”.2
The ongoing effects of colonisation, oppression, land dispossession, and racism on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples impacts their access to, and experience of, healthcare.
Increasing practitioner understanding of cultural values in partnership with First Nations peoples is vital in addressing systemic barriers, providing safe, responsive healthcare, and improving health and wellbeing outcomes.
Within the context of Australia’s culturally and linguistically diverse community, a competent optometrist must practise in a respectful, collaborative, and responsive way that acknowledges and incorporates the importance of culture and cultural differences. It is our responsibility as healthcare providers to engage in positive relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, communities, and organisations, built on reciprocity. We must work together to remove the systemic barriers sustaining eye health inequalities that have resulted from colonisation and social determinants of health. An important part of this is ensuring that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples can access care that they deem is culturally safe.
Support For Optometrists
Last year, Ahpra and the National Boards (except Medical, Nursing and Midwifery, and Psychology) released a revised shared code of conduct, describing the professional behaviour and expectations that are expected from registered health practitioners. The revised code includes a new section on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and cultural safety, requiring that all optometrists provide culturally safe and sensitive practice for all communities.
The IAHA training available to optometrists uses an evidence-based framework to guide practitioners through action-oriented and highly interactive levels of learning, focussing on strength-based outcomes through critical self-reflective practice. It not only covers the diverse cultural background of First Nations peoples, but also walks practitioners through self-reflection exercises. Its purpose is to support healthcare providers to consider their own culture and belief systems, how they inform their day-to-day actions and how they might differ from someone of another cultural background.
All health professionals want to have the best health outcomes for their community. OA recognises that this involves continuously engaging with the community in a culturally responsive way that promotes awareness and respect. Additionally, it involves an ongoing commitment to continually reviewing and modifying how care is received and delivered by the communities we serve.
Skye Cappuccio is the interim Chief Executive Officer of Optometry Australia.
References
1. Indigenous Allied Health Australia (2019), Cultural Safety Through Responsive Health Practice.
2. Australian Health Practitioner Regulatory Agency (2020), The National Scheme’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Cultural Safety Strategy 2020–2025.