DANMM that’s good!”: Evaluating the feasibility and acceptability of the Deadly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nursing and Midwifery Mentoring (DANMM) Program across rural, regional, and metropolitan NSW

Project Summary
This project will determine the feasibility and acceptability of a cultural mentoring program designed for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nurses and midwives across five diverse local health districts (LHDs).

What is the issue for NSW?
Government and health agencies highlight the importance of culturally appropriate and safe environments for Aboriginal people. Specifically, NSW Health prioritises workforce strategies that support Aboriginal people to enter and stay in the health workforce. However, Aboriginal people are under-represented in the NSW nursing and midwifery workforce and retaining Aboriginal nurses and midwives remains challenging. The DANMM project will address critical issues of workforce cultural safety and retention.

What does the research aim to do and how?
DANMM is an Aboriginal designed and led program which involves 8 weeks of comprehensive online training, the provision of online mentorship and an online community of practice.

This research will use a mixed-methods pre-post pilot evaluation to assess the feasibility, acceptability, resource implications and early indicators of impact of implementing DANMM across 5 LHDs in NSW. The methods draw on the Ngaa-bi-nya evaluation framework which uses the Context, Input, Processes, Products (CIPP) model. The research builds on that model by utilising prompts to increase data collection and analysis of factors that are related to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s ways of being, knowing and doing that influence the success of health and social support programs.

The project will assess:

Feasibility will be measured using detailed process data including the number and characteristics of each participant; the proportion of program elements implemented and how many times; the number and proportion of program elements attended by participants.
Acceptability will be measured using program attendance and completion rates.
Early indicators of Impact will be measured via culturally appropriate pre and post surveys of participants. Satisfaction and retention of Aboriginal nurses and midwives will be measured through Nursing Workplace Satisfaction Questionnaire and administrative data.