Peek Amanda, Hamilton Sharynne, Atchan Marjorie, Jojo Natasha, Northam Holly
University of Canberra, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
Birth. 2025 Sep;52(3):448-456. doi: 10.1111/birt.12852. Epub 2024 Aug 16.
Before colonization, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities had nurturing, holistic, and communitarian approaches that promoted extended and healthy lives for their children. Colonization, marked by policies of genocide and assimilation, has resulted in an alarming overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children under the care of child protection agencies, resulting in compromised health outcomes and reduced life expectancies. We are conducting a study designed to enhance positive developmental outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children by articulating and enabling the rights of mothers and children to breastfeed in the context of a child protection intervention and child removal. To understand and address this problem, it is critical to implement culturally safe, de-colonized, emancipatory research that is guided by and benefits Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. This article presents an emancipatory framework that we are applying to our study using an Aboriginal participatory action research approach, that serves as a guide for non-Indigenous researchers seeking to conduct research with Indigenous communities. We emphasize the importance of incorporating an Aboriginal participatory action research framework, using community consultation and codesign; culturally secure data collection methods, and paying attention to Indigenous data sovereignty. Developing trusting respectful relationships is conducive to knowledge acquisition, exchange, and use, when research approaches deeply rooted in community involvement are applied. A call to action by the critical midwifery studies collective, urges non-Indigenous researchers to become accountable allies that demonstrates respect for community leadership while actively striving to ensure research does not perpetuate further harm, and produces effective change. This article provides an overview of ways to conduct ethical emancipatory research with Indigenous participants, that is, of benefit to midwifery practitioners and is applicable to many areas of research, policy, and practice.
在殖民化之前，原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民社区拥有培育性、整体性和社群主义的方法，这些方法促进了他们孩子的长寿和健康生活。以种族灭绝和同化政策为特征的殖民化导致了原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民儿童在儿童保护机构照料下的比例惊人地过高，从而导致健康结果受损和预期寿命降低。我们正在进行一项研究，旨在通过在儿童保护干预和儿童被带走的背景下阐明并赋予母亲和儿童母乳喂养的权利，来提高原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民儿童的积极发展成果。为了理解和解决这个问题，实施以原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民社区为导向并使其受益的文化安全、去殖民化、解放性研究至关重要。本文提出了一个解放性框架，我们正在使用原住民参与式行动研究方法将其应用于我们的研究，该框架为寻求与原住民社区开展研究的非原住民研究人员提供了指导。我们强调纳入原住民参与式行动研究框架、采用社区协商和共同设计的重要性；文化安全的数据收集方法，并关注原住民数据主权。当应用深深扎根于社区参与的研究方法时，建立信任和尊重的关系有利于知识的获取、交流和使用。批判性助产研究集体发出的行动呼吁敦促非原住民研究人员成为负责任的盟友，既要尊重社区领导，又要积极努力确保研究不会造成进一步伤害，并产生有效的变革。本文概述了与原住民参与者进行符合伦理的解放性研究的方法，这对助产从业者有益，并且适用于许多研究、政策和实践领域。
