Cultural Proficiency in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research: A mixed-methods, cross-cultural evaluation of a novel resource.

Description

Background: While many unfavourable outcomes are represented within Western interpretations, Indigenous Australians possess a vast and unique repertoire of knowledges and skills that have been refined over tens of thousands of years. Historical devaluation of Indigenist ways of knowing, doing, and being have hindered progress of Indigenous people in several areas, including research. With a push towards reconciliation of Australia’s first people, recent efforts have illustrated the efficacy of Indigenist approaches to research, underpinned by culturally proficient partnerships between researchers and Indigenous communities.
Purpose: To determine whether the utilisation of a novel online resource improved the perceived cultural proficiency of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers, as well as to assess whether the addition of a cultural proficiency workshop will add to perceived outcomes compared to the online resource alone. Also, if the novel resource could be applied universally across all Indigenous communities within Australia.
Methods: The evaluation adopts a mixed-methods cross-sectional observational design, utilising both qualitative and quantitative techniques to appraise various novel cultural proficiency interventions. Participants are divided into three cohorts based on cultural background and intervention. Both face-to-face and online evaluations are undertaken.
Results: The quantitative evaluation showed minimal variation between the cultural cohorts with regards to the online cultural proficiency resources. Significant differences in perceived cultural proficiency were found between those who did and did not attend a cultural immersion workshop. Qualitative findings demonstrated considerable disparities between the cultural cohorts in both research perceptions and approaches.
Conclusion: Cultural proficiency education and training programs that emphasise an immersive, interactive, and ongoing framework can build perceived cultural competence of non-Indigenous researchers. Applying the underlying ethical principles of Indigenous research with a local, context-centred approach, allows for the universal application of cultural proficiency education and training programs within Australia. The need for a consistent and reliable cultural proficiency measurement tool within the Australian Indigenous research context will provide an accurate evaluation of cross-cultural research practice.

Period	Mar 2021 → 2024
Examinee	Paul Saunders
Examination held at	University of Western Sydney
Degree of Recognition	International