Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, Victoria Heart Foundation of Australia, Victoria Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, Victoria Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Monash University, Victoria.
Aust N Z J Public Health. 2013 Oct;37(5):457-62. doi: 10.1111/1753-6405.12118.
Effective partnerships between Aboriginal Health Workers and non-Aboriginal health professionals are essential to achieve Aboriginal health outcomes. This study aimed to evaluate a mentoring workforce development strategy for Aboriginal Health Workers and non-Aboriginal allied health professionals.
Thirty-four Aboriginal Health Workers and non-Aboriginal health professionals were recruited to the mentoring program where they were paired and established a learning relationship for approximately six months. A qualitative evaluation with thirty of the participants was undertaken involving in-depth interviews at the completion of the program.
A total of 18 mentoring partnerships were formed across Victoria. The data revealed three key themes in relation to the evaluation of the program: (1) The mentoring program facilitated two-way learning, (2) The Aboriginal Health Workers and non-Aboriginal health professional participants reported being able to meet their identified learning needs through the partnership, (3) The capacity to improve practice was facilitated through readiness to learn and change practice and personal attributes of the participants, as well as organisation and management support.
Peer mentoring between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal health workforce was found to be a powerful mechanism to promote two-way learning that has the capacity to meet learning needs and promote practice improvement.
Peer mentoring may be part of a multi-strategy approach to the development of the Aboriginal health workforce.
在实现原住民健康成果方面，原住民卫生工作者与非原住民卫生专业人员之间的有效伙伴关系至关重要。本研究旨在评估针对原住民卫生工作者和非原住民辅助卫生专业人员的导师劳动力发展策略。
招募了 34 名原住民卫生工作者和非原住民卫生专业人员参加导师计划，他们配对并建立了大约六个月的学习关系。在计划结束时，对其中的 30 名参与者进行了定性评估，包括深入访谈。
在维多利亚州共形成了 18 对导师伙伴关系。数据揭示了与计划评估相关的三个关键主题：（1）导师计划促进了双向学习，（2）原住民卫生工作者和非原住民卫生专业人员报告说，通过伙伴关系能够满足他们确定的学习需求，（3）通过学习和改变实践的意愿以及参与者的个人特质以及组织和管理支持，促进了实践改进的能力。
发现原住民和非原住民卫生工作者之间的同行导师关系是促进双向学习的有力机制，这种机制有能力满足学习需求并促进实践改进。
同行导师制可能是原住民卫生工作者发展的多策略方法的一部分。
