Selkirk Belle, Dudgeon Pat, Gibson Chontel, Alexi Joanna
Australian Indigenous Psychology Education Project, School of Indigenous Studies, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia.
Indigenous Futures Centre (NT/WA Node), University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia.
Aust J Psychol. 2025 Mar 24;77(1):2478083. doi: 10.1080/00049530.2025.2478083. eCollection 2025.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, including psychologists, are actively leading and decolonising psychology. The focus of decolonising psychology is on epistemic justice for Indigenous knowledges and delivering culturally responsive services. Indigenous psychologists play a vital role in the decolonising process. Despite recommendations and initiatives aimed at decolonising psychology tertiary programs, such as increasing the representation of Indigenous peoples' completing psychology tertiary education programs, completion rates remain below parity. This study explores the current strategies and initiatives within Australian psychology tertiary programs, which support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander psychology students.
Aboriginal Participatory Action Research was foundational in this qualitative research, which included an online survey. Eighteen representatives from Australian psychology higher education providers participated in an online survey. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis.
Four key themes emerged: policies and structural support, partnerships with Indigenous communities, research and placement support and processes supporting cultural safety.
Findings emphasise the need for multipronged and layered initiatives to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander psychology students. Implementing these strategies can enhance the recruitment, retention and graduation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander psychology students, contributing to a more culturally responsive psychology workforce.
包括心理学家在内的原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民正积极引领心理学的去殖民化进程。心理学去殖民化的重点在于实现对本土知识的认知公正,并提供具有文化适应性的服务。本土心理学家在去殖民化过程中发挥着至关重要的作用。尽管有旨在使心理学高等教育课程去殖民化的建议和举措,比如提高完成心理学高等教育课程的原住民的比例,但完成率仍未达到平等水平。本研究探讨了澳大利亚心理学高等教育课程中当前支持原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民心理学学生的策略和举措。
原住民参与式行动研究是这项定性研究的基础,其中包括一项在线调查。来自澳大利亚心理学高等教育机构的18名代表参与了在线调查。使用定性内容分析法对数据进行了分析。
出现了四个关键主题:政策与结构支持、与原住民社区的伙伴关系、研究与实习支持以及支持文化安全的过程。
研究结果强调需要采取多管齐下、分层的举措来支持原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民心理学学生。实施这些策略可以提高原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民心理学学生的招生、留校率和毕业率,有助于打造一支更具文化适应性的心理学专业队伍。