Curriculum Resources for Indigenous Health

The CDAMS Indigenous Health Curriculum Framework identified 8 core subject areas key to the learning about the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

These core subject areas are: History; Culture, self and identity; Indigenous societies, cultures and medicines; Population health; Models of health service delivery; Clinical presentation and disease; Communication skills and Working with Indigenous peoples, ethics, protocols and research.

Each of these 8 core subject areas have key student learning attributes and outcomes.

To help you achieve the key student attributes and outcomes, aid your teahing and enrich your curriculum we have created a list of curriculum resources based on the key subject areas.

We are seeking additional resources, so if you have any publications, audio visual materials or websites that you recommend and would like to add to this list please email us using the contact us form.

More information about the Indigenous medical workforce is available.

Books

History: Books

  • Atkinson, J. 2002, Trauma Trails, Recreating Song Lines: The Transgenerational Effects of Trauma in Indigenous Effects of Trauma in Indigenous Australia, Spinifex Press: North Melbourne. This book details the trauma suffered by Australia's Indigenous people and the resultant "trauma trails" spread throughout the country.
  • Burgmann,V. 2003, The Aboriginal Movement in Power, Profit and Protest: Australian social movements and globalisation, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
  • Langton, M; Tehan, M; Palmer, L and Shain, K (eds). 2004, Honour Among Nations? Treaties and Agreements with Indigenous People, Carlton South, Australia: Melbourne University Press.
  • McGarty, C and Bluic, A. 2003, Refining the Meaning of " Collective" on Collective Guilt: Harm, Guilt and Apology in Australia, Australia National Univeristy: Canberra (unpublished manuscript).
  • Phillips, J and Lampert, J. 2005. Introductory Indigenous Studies in Education: The Importance of Knowing, Pearson Education Australia, Sydney.
  • Trudgen, R. 2000, Why Warriors Lie Down and Die, Aboriginal Resource and Development Services, Parap Northern Territory. 

Culture, Self and Diversity: Books

  • Grossman, M (ed), 2004. Blacklines: An Anthology of Critical Writing by Indigenous Australians, Carlton South, Australia: Melbourne Univeristy Press.
  • Kowal, E. 2006, 'Moving Towards the Mean: Dilemmas of Assimilation and Improvement', in T. Lea, E. Kowal & G. Cowlishaw (eds), Moving Anthropology: Critical Indigenous Studies, Charles Darwin University Press, Darwin, pp. 65–78.
  • Lock, M. & Gordon, D. (eds), 1988,  Biomedicine Examined, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston.
  • Said, E W. 1995, 'Orientalism' in B, Ashcroft., G, Griffiths. & H, Tiffin. (eds.) The Post-Colonial Studies Reader, Routledge, London, pp. 87 - 91.

Indigenous Societies, Cultures and Medicines: Books

  • Anderson, I. 1993. Towards a Koori Healing Practice,  Voices from the Land: The 1993 Boyer Lectures, ABC Books, Sydney.
  • Crawford, F. 1989. Jalinardi Ways: Whitefellas Working in Aboriginal Communities, Centre for Aboriginal Studies and the School of Social Work, Curtin University of Technology, Perth.
  • Eckermann, A K., Dowd, T., Chong, E., Nixon, L., Gray, R. & Johnson, S. 2005.  Binan Goonj: Bridging Cultures in Aboriginal Health (2nd Ed.), Churchill Livingstone, Sydney.
  • Franks, C. & Curr, B. 1996. Keeping Company. An Intercultural Conversation, Centre for Indigenous Development Education and Research, University of Wollongong, Wollongong.
  • Genat, W. 2006. Aboriginal Healthworkers: Primary Health Care at the Margins, University of Western Australia Press, Perth.
  • Ngannyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Women's Council Aboirginal Corporation. 2003. Ngangkari Work- Anangu Way Traditional Healers of Central Australia, Everbest Printing Company, China.

Models of Health Service Delivery: Books

  • Anderson, I. 1988. Koorie Health In Koorie Hands, Koorie Health Unit, Health Department Victoria, Melbourne.
  • Genat, W. 2006. 'Grassroots Healthworker Practice' in  Aboriginal Healthworkers: Primary Health Care at the Margins, University of Western Australia Press, Perth, pp 14-84.

Communication Skills: Books

  • Genat, W. 2006. Working Alongside Healthworkers' in Aboriginal Healthworkers: Primary Health Care at the Margins, University of Western Australia Press, Perth, pp 85-138.

Working with Indigenous Peoples - Ethics, Protocols and Research: Books

  • Clarke, A ., Andrews, S. & Austin, N. 2000. Lookin After Our Own, Royal Childrens Hospital, Melbourne.
  • Stringer, E. & Genat, W. 2004. Action Research in Health, Upper Saddle Creek, Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.
  • Waples-Crowe, P. & Pyett, P. 2005. The Making of a Great Relationship: a Review of a Healthy Partnership between Mainstream and Indigenous Organisations, Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, Melbourne.
  • Community Development in Health. 1988. Community Development in Health: A Resources Collection, Community Development in Health Project, Melbourne. Altman, J. & Hinkson, J. (eds). 2007. [ PDF 49Kb ]
  • Coercive Reconciliation. Stabilise, Normalise, Exit Aboriginal Australia (2007), Arena Publications Association, Melbourne.
    The Howard government has declared a national emergency and mobilised a coalition of police, army and others in what they suggest will be the ‘first phase’ of a program to tackle child sexual abuse in remote Aboriginal Australia. This book inlcludes the view of a wide range of authors contextualise the crisis facing remote Aboriginal communities and the government’s most recent response in light of the history of and wider policy towards Aboriginal Australia.

Population Health: Books

  • Anderson, W. 2002. The Cultivation of Whiteness: Science, Health and Racial Destiny in Australia, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne.
  • Carson, B., Dunbar, T., Chenall, R. & Bailie, R. 2007, Social Determinants of Indigenous Health, Allen & Unwin, NSW, Sydney.
  • Thomas, D P. 2004. Reading Doctors' Writing: Race, Politics and Power in Indigenous Health Research, 1870-1969', Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra. Reports

Journals

Indigenous Medical Workforce: Journals

  • Lawson, K., Armstrong, R. & Van Der Weyden, M. 2007, 'Training Indigenous doctrs for Australia: shooting for goal'. The Medical Journal of Australia, Vol 186, No. 10, pp.547-550. [ PDF 119Kb ]
  • MacKean, T. Mokak, R., Carmichael, A., Phillips, G., Prideaux, D. & Walters, T. 2007, ' Reform in Australia medical schools: a colloboratice approach to realising Indigenous health potential'.  The Medical Journal of Australia, Vol 186, No. 10, pp.544-546. [ PDF 234Kb ]

History: Journals

Culture, Self and Diversity: Journals

  • Croteau, JM. 1999, 'One Struggle through Individualism: Toward an Antiracist White Racial Identity'. Journal of Counseling & Development, Vol. 77, Issue 1, pp. 30-32.
  • Good, B. & Good, MJ. 1981, 'The Semantics of Medical Discourse', Sciences and Cultures, Sociology of the Sciences, vol. 5, pp.177- 212.
  • Holt, L. 1999, 'Pssst ... I Wannabe White' in McKay, B. (ed.), Unmasking Whiteness: Race Relations and Reconciliation, The Queensland Study Centre, Griffith University, pp. 39-44.
  • Indigenous Health Special Issue. 2003, British Medical Journal, Vol.327, no.7412.
  • Indigenous Health Special Issue. 2007, The Medical Journal of Australia, Vol.186, no.10.
  • Kleinman, A.,  Eisenberg, L.  & Good, B. 2006, 'Culture, Illness, and Care: Clinical Lessons From Anthropologic and Cross-Cultural Research', Focus, Vol 4, pp. 140-149.
  • Kowal, E and Paradies, Y, 2005. Ambivalent Helpers and Unhealthy Choices: Public Health Practitioners' Narratives of Indigenous Ill-health, Social Science & Medicine, pp. 1347-1357.
  • McIntosh, P. 1990,  'White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack', Independent School, Winter Issue,  pp. 31-36.
  • Walker, R., McPhee, R. & Osborne, R. 2000, 'Critical Reflections in Cross-Cultural Contexts' in Dudgeon, P., Garvey, S. & Pickett, H. (eds.),  Working with Indigenous Australians: a Handbook for Psychologists, Gunada Press, Perth, pp 311 – 323.

Indigenous Societies, Cultures and Medicines: Journals

Models of Health Service Delivery: Journals

  • Rowley,  KG., Su, Q., Cincotta, M., Skinner, M., Skinner, K., Pindan, B., White, GA. & O’Dea, K. 2001. 'Improvements in Circulating Cholesterol, Antioxidants and Homocysteine after Dietary Intervention in an Australian Aboriginal Community',  American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 74, pp. 442-448.
  • Rowley, KG., Daniel. M., Skinner, K., Skinner, M., White, GA. & O'Dea, K. 2000. 'Effectiveness of a Community-directed “Healthy Lifestyle” Programme in a Remote Australian Aboriginal Community', Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, Vol. 24, pp. 136-144.
  • Indigenous Health Special Issue. 2003, British Medical Journal, Vol.327, no.7412.
  • Indigenous Health Special Issue. 2007, The Medical Journal of Australia, Vol.186, no.10.
  • The Heart Health Project Steering Committee. 2007. 'A Collaborative Cardiovascular Health Program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in the Goulburn-Murray Region: Development and Risk Factor Screening at Indigenous Community Organisations', Australian Journal of Primary Health, Vol 13, No.1, pp. 9-17.

Clinical Presentation of Disease: Journals

Communication Skills: Journals

Working with Indigenous Peoples - Ethics, Protocols and Research: Journals

  • Couzos, S., Lea, T., Murray, R. & Culbong, M. 2005.'We are Not Just Participants - We are in Charge: The NACCHO Ear Trial and the Process for Aboriginal Community-controlled Health Research', Ethnicity & Health, Vol. 10, Issue 2, pp. 91-111.
  • Kowal, E., Anderson, I. & Bailie, R. 2005. 'Moving Beyond Good Intentions: Indigenous Participation in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research', Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, Vol. 29, pp.468-70.
  • Indigenous Health Special Issue. 2003, British Medical Journal, Vol.327, no.7412.
  • Indigenous Health Special Issue. 2007, The Medical Journal of Australia, Vol.186, no.10.
  • Humphery, K. 2001. 'Dirty Questions: Indigenous Health and 'Western research', Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, Vol.25, No.3, pp.197-202.
  • Reilly, R., Doyle, J. & Rowley, K. 2007.'Koori Community-directed Health Promotion in the Goulburn Valley', Australian Community Psychologist, Vol.19, pp.39-46. [ PDF 49Kb ]
  • Waples-Crowe, P. & Pyett, P. 2006. 'Learning from a Successful Partnership between Mainstream and Indigenous Organisations', Aboriginal and Islander Health Worker Journal, Vol. 30,(2), 4-5, 33

Population Health: Journals

  • Brough, MA. 2001. 'Healthy Imaginations: A Social History of the Epidemiology of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health', Medical Anthropology, Vol.20, pp.65-90.
  • Hunter, E. 1991. 'Stains on the Caring Mantle: Doctors in Aboriginal Australia have a History', Medical Journal of Australia,Vol. 155, 11-12, 2-16, pp.779-783.
  • Indigenous Health Special Issue. 2003, British Medical Journal, Vol.327, no.7412.
  • Indigenous Health Special Issue. 2007, The Medical Journal of Australia, Vol.186, no.10.
  • McDermott, R., O'Dea, K., Rowley, K., Knight, S., Burgess, P. 1998. 'Beneficial Impact of the Homelands Movement on Health outcomes in Central Australian Aborigines', Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health,Vol.22, pp. 653-658.
  • Rowley, K G., Gault, A., McDermott, R., Knight, S., McLeay, T. & O’Dea, K. 2000. 'Reduced Prevalence of Impaired Glucose Tolerance and no Change in Prevalence of Diabetes Despite Increasing BMI among Aboriginal People from a Group of Remote Homeland Communities, Diabetes Care, vol. 23, pp.898-904.

Reports

Indigenous Societies, Cultures and Medicines: Reports

  • VicHealth Koori Health Research and Community Development Unit. 2000, We Don't Like Research... but in Koori Hands it Could Make a Difference, VicHealth Koori Health Research and Community Development Unit, Melbourne. [ PDF 2Mb ]

Communication Skills: Reports

  • Lowell, A., Brown, I., Marrnanyin, B., Flack, M., Christie, M., Snelling, P. & Cass, A., 2005. Sharing the True Stories:Improving Communication between Staff and Aboriginal Patients: Stage 1 Interim Project Report, Cooperative Research Centre for Aboirginal Health, Darwin.
  • Coulehan, K., Brown, I., Christie, M., Gorham, G., Lowell, A., Marrnanyin. & Patel, B. 2005. Sharing True Stories: Improving Communication between Health Staff and Indigenous Clients: Final Project Report, Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health, Darwin.

Working with Indigenous Peoples - Ethics, Protocols and Research: Reports

  • National Health and Medical Research Coucil (NHMRC). 2003. Values and Ethics: Guidelines for Ethical Conduct in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra.

Population Health: Reports

  • Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. 2007, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework, 2006 Report: Detailed Analyses, Canberra. [ PDF 210Kb ]
  • Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2005, The Health and Welfare of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, Canberra.[ PDF 5.29Mb ]
  • Cooperative Research for Aboriginal Health prepared by Bentley, M. 2004. Social Determinants of Aboriginal Health Workshop: Summary Report, South Australia Community Health Reseach. [ PDF 230 Kb ]
  • SCRGSP (Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision). 2007, Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2007, Productivity Commission, Canberra. [ PDF 4Mb ]
  • Trewin, D. & Madden, R. 2005. The Health and Welfare of Australian's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, Australian Beureau of Statistics, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra.

Papers

History: Papers

Indigenous Societies, Cultures and Medicines: Papers

Audio visual 

History: Audio Visual

  • Video Education Australasia.  1999,  'White Australia has a Black History', Exploring Indigenous Australia Series,  Australia.
  • Don Featherstone. 1986, 'Babakieueria ("Barbecue Area")' Australian Broadcast Comssion, Australia.
    The film 'Babakiueria' shows how Aboriginals are represented in society through taking a sarcastic look at racial stereotypes. Rare Indigenous Comedy.
  • Pat Laughren. 1999, 'The Fair Go: Winning the 1967 Referendum', Australian Broadcast Commission, Open Learning AUstralia, AUstralia.
    The film 'The Fair Go' is the story of the ten year campaign to change the Australian constitution so that Indigenous people were counted in the census. Provides an insight into the recent history of Australia and it's effect on Indigenous peoples.

Models of Health Service Delivery: Audio Visual

  • Gherardi, J. 2002. Birthrites, Jag Films Pty Ltd, Australia and Canada.
  • Sherwood, C. and Franklin, R. 1992, 'Who Killed Malcolm Smith?', Film Australia, Australia.
    An intimate and sensitive an portrayal of the true story of Malcolm Charles Smith's life and death told through his friends and family. Malcolm was an Aboriginal prisoner in a Sydney gaol, when he was discovered in a toilet cubicle, the handle of an artist's paintbrush driven through his left eye.

Clinical Presentation of Disease: Audio Visual

  • Harrison, K. 2005. 'Crossing the Line', Ronin Films, Australian Film Commission and New South Wales Television Office, Link Enterprises and Change Focus Media.

Communication Skills: Audio Visual

  • Harrison, K. 2005. 'Crossing the Line', Ronin Films, Australian Film Comission and New South Wales Televsion Office, Link Enterpises and Change Focus Media.

Working with Indigenous Peoples - Ethics, Protocols and Research: Audio Visual

  • Harrison, K. 2005. 'Crossing the Line', Ronin Films, Australian Film Comission and New South Wales Televsion Office, Link Enterpises and Change Focus Media.
  • Sherwood, C. and Franklin, R. 1992, 'Who Killed Malcolm Smith?', Film Australia, Australia.
    An intimate and sensitive an portrayal of the true story of Malcolm Charles Smith's life and death told through his friends and family. Malcolm was an Aboriginal prisoner in a Sydney gaol, when he was discovered in a toilet cubicle, the handle of an artist's paintbrush driven through his left eye.

Teaching Kits

Clinical Presentation of Disease: Kits 

  • Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol Council of SA Inc. 2000, Petrol Sniffing and Other Solvents - A Resource kit for Aboriginal Communities, South Australian Department of Human Services Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care, Canberra.
  • The National Pallative Care Program. 2004, Providing Culturally Approriate Pallative Care to Indigenous Australians: A Resouce Kit, Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, Canberra.
  • Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Services. 1998, Management of Diabetes in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Populations, Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services, Canberra.

Websites

History: Websites

Culture, Self and Diversity: Websites

Indigenous Societies, Cultures and Medicines: Websites

Models of Health Service Delivery: Websites

Clinical Presentation of Disease: Websites

Communication Skills: Websites

Working with Indigenous Peoples - Ethics, Protocols and Research: Websites

Population Health: Websites