Partner organisations
Voice is funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council and supported by participating health services. These are Bullinah Aboriginal Health Service (NSW), Central Australian Aboriginal Congress (NT), Charleville & Western Areas Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Community Health Ltd. (Qld), Inala Indigenous Health Service (Qld), Minjilang Clinic (NT), Nunkuwarrin Yunti (SA), Pirlangimpi Health Centre (NT) and Werin Medical Clinic (NSW).
Status/timing
Voice is currently ongoing. Research started in 2021 and will continue until 2025.
What does the Project focus on?
Voice is a key component within CRE-Stride, a Centre for Research Excellence working toward equitable health care for Aboriginal people. The project grew out of discussions between services, researchers and other stakeholders which identified a need to develop a validated PREM to capture Aboriginal peoples’ experience of care. We want to enhance processes for community to have input into the care they receive. To do this, we are working with eight communities to co-develop and validate an Indigenous-specific survey tool that reflects the values and worldviews of Aboriginal people.
What type of project/study?
We take the ‘All teach, all learn’ approach to two-way learning and capacity building and integrate a combination of Indigenous methodologies, participatory action research, and traditional techniques for the PREM development. Our way of working puts the strengths, needs and aspirations of Aboriginal people at the centre of the research process that reflects the Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing. We are holding yarning circles with Aboriginal consumers from each participating community about their experiences of care. We will then use this information to develop questions for inclusion in the survey tool, and work through a process to refine and improve the questions until we have the final tool for use by services. While we are hearing stories from community members, we will also be holding focus groups with staff from the partner health services about how to make this practical and useful.
What do we expect to achieve with this project when complete?
Our co-production approach ensures this new survey tool will satisfy accreditation requirements of primary health care services and be available for services to use as a quality improvement tool for patient-centred care. Importantly, it will be suitable for use in metropolitan, rural and remote settings. Critically, this new tool will enable primary health care services to truly respond to priorities and perspectives of the people in their communities, in order to improve the quality of care they provide, improve health outcomes and reduce inequities in health and well-being experienced by Aboriginal Australians.
Notable insight?
The diversity of the communities involved is significant, yet they have many things in common. We recognise the importance of capturing all the work and programs that Aboriginal Health Services provide in each location: not just GPs, but multidisciplinary care, social supports, health promotion and a cultural safe place. This is a challenge in designing this feedback tool, but with the help of all the participating communities and services it is challenge the project team will overcome.
