Forsyth Cathryn, Irving Michelle, Short Stephanie, Tennant Marc, Gilroy John
The University of Sydney School of Dentistry, Westmead, New South Wales, Australia.
Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.
Eur J Dent Educ. 2019 Feb;23(1):e37-e44. doi: 10.1111/eje.12398. Epub 2018 Oct 11.
Indigenous Australians continue to experience significant oral health disparities, despite numerous closing-the-gap initiatives. Higher education institutions and accrediting bodies recognise the need to incorporate Indigenous culture more widely into dentistry curricula to address these inequalities. This study aimed to define and explore current Indigenous cultural competence curricula, identify enablers and barriers for integration of Indigenous cultural competence curricula and ascertain innovative strategies to aid students in becoming culturally competent upon graduation, from academics' perspectives.
Academics from the Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) and Bachelor of Oral Health (BOH) programmes at the University of Sydney, School of Dentistry participated in semi-structured interviews to define and explore current and future curricula practices to enable students to become competent in Indigenous culture. Thematic analysis was conducted to synthesise academics' responses.
Thirteen School of Dentistry academics participated in interviews. Following analysis of the data, six key themes emerged: Theme One: Transfer of Indigenous cultural knowledge, Theme Two: Barriers to developing Indigenous cultural curriculum. Theme Three: Importance of cultural immersion, Theme Four: Resources required for Indigenous cultural education, Theme Five: Proposed Indigenous cultural content, Theme Six: Strategies to incorporate Indigenous culture into curricula.
Improving Indigenous cultural competence amongst dentistry academics and students requires an educational and philosophical shift, incorporating the social determinants of health whilst maintaining the strengths of the biomedical foundations of dental care. It requires the inclusion of an informed history of Indigenous Australians, immersion within Indigenous communities and reflection upon these experiences, to facilitate culturally appropriate ways to improve the provision of dentistry and oral health for Indigenous peoples.
尽管有众多缩小差距的举措，但澳大利亚原住民在口腔健康方面仍存在显著差异。高等教育机构和认证机构认识到有必要将原住民文化更广泛地纳入牙科课程，以解决这些不平等问题。本研究旨在从学者的角度界定和探索当前的原住民文化能力课程，确定原住民文化能力课程整合的促进因素和障碍，并确定有助于学生毕业后具备文化能力的创新策略。
悉尼大学牙科学院牙医学博士（DMD）和口腔健康学士（BOH）项目的学者参加了半结构化访谈，以界定和探索当前及未来的课程实践，使学生能够胜任原住民文化相关内容。采用主题分析法对学者的回答进行综合分析。
牙科学院的13位学者参与了访谈。数据分析后出现了六个关键主题：主题一：原住民文化知识的传授；主题二：发展原住民文化课程的障碍；主题三：文化沉浸的重要性；主题四：原住民文化教育所需的资源；主题五：提议的原住民文化内容；主题六：将原住民文化纳入课程的策略。
提高牙科专业学者和学生的原住民文化能力需要教育和理念的转变，在保持牙科护理生物医学基础优势的同时，纳入健康的社会决定因素。这需要纳入澳大利亚原住民的详实历史，深入原住民社区并反思这些经历，以促进以文化适宜的方式改善为原住民提供的牙科和口腔健康服务。
