Western Australian Centre for Rural Health, The University of Western Australia, 167 Fitzgerald Street, Geraldton, WA 6530, Australia.
Centre for Aboriginal Studies, Curtin University, Kent Street, Perth, WA 6102, Australia.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018 Apr 11;15(4):717. doi: 10.3390/ijerph15040717.
Indigenous Australians continue to experience significantly poorer outcomes from cancer than non-Indigenous Australians. Despite the importance of culturally appropriate cancer services in improving outcomes, there is a lack of awareness of current programs and initiatives that are aimed at meeting the needs of Indigenous patients. Telephone interviews were used to identify and describe the Indigenous-specific programs and initiatives that are implemented in a subset of the services that participated in a larger national online survey of cancer treatment services. Fourteen services located across Australia participated in the interviews. Participants identified a number of factors that were seen as critical to delivering culturally appropriate treatment and support, including having a trained workforce with effective cross-cultural communication skills, providing best practice care, and improving the knowledge, attitudes, and understanding of cancer by Indigenous people. However, over a third of participants were not sure how their service compared with others, indicating that they were not aware of how other services are doing in this field. There are currently many Indigenous-specific programs and initiatives that are aimed at providing culturally appropriate treatment and supporting Indigenous people affected by cancer across Australia. However, details of these initiatives are not widely known and barriers to information sharing exist. Further research in this area is needed to evaluate programs and initiatives and showcase the effective approaches to Indigenous cancer care.
澳大利亚原住民在癌症治疗方面的结局仍明显差于非原住民。尽管提供文化适宜的癌症服务对于改善结局至关重要，但人们对旨在满足原住民患者需求的现有项目和举措缺乏认识。我们采用电话访谈的方式，在参与全国性癌症治疗服务在线大调查的部分服务机构中，确定并描述了专门针对原住民的项目和举措。澳大利亚各地的 14 家服务机构参与了访谈。参与者确定了一些被认为对提供文化适宜的治疗和支持至关重要的因素，包括拥有具备有效跨文化沟通技能的训练有素的员工、提供最佳实践护理，以及提高原住民对癌症的认识、态度和理解。然而，超过三分之一的参与者不确定其服务与其他服务的比较情况，这表明他们不知道其他服务在这方面的表现如何。目前，澳大利亚有许多针对原住民的项目和举措，旨在提供文化适宜的治疗，并为受癌症影响的原住民提供支持。然而，这些举措的细节并不广为人知，信息共享存在障碍。需要在这一领域开展进一步研究，以评估项目和举措，并展示针对原住民癌症护理的有效方法。
