Reakeeta Smallwood

Aim and Design: Indigenous knowledge systems offer enduring, relational and strengths‐based frameworks for health and wellbeing. This theory and framework paper critically analyses how colonial legacies embedded in nursing curricula marginalise Indigenous knowledges and perpetuate inequities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. We argue that current approaches, often fragmented, tokenistic and additive in nature, fail to address the structural and pedagogical roots of unsafe cultural practices and institutional racism in nursing education. Results: In response, we present the Integrated Indigenous and Person‐centred Practice Theory (IIPPT) and the associated Curriculum Framework (IIPCF) as a transformative, decolonising and Indigenising approach to nursing education. Methods: The IIPPT and IIPCF were developed through sustained collaborative critical inquiry between Indigenous and non‐Indigenous academics with a focus on developing an integrated curriculum, supported by institutional structures and processes and community‐accountable practice, rather than solely abstract theorising. Grounded in Indigenous Standpoint Theory, Freirean pedagogy, Ramsden's theory of Cultural Safety and person‐centred theory, the IIPPT situates relational accountability, cultural humility and Indigenous self‐determination at the heart of nursing professional identity formation. The IIPCF operationalises these principles across curriculum design, pedagogy, faculty responsibilities and systems‐level governance. Drawing on decolonising pedagogy, this work reconstitutes McCormack and McCance's Person‐centred Practice Framework through Indigenous self‐determination, Cultural Safety and relational accountability. It repositions nursing as a culturally and politically situated discipline, and nursing education as a key site through which Indigenous self‐determination, person‐centred practice and culturally safe care can be enacted. Conclusion: We conclude by calling for Indigenous leadership and governance and a radical re‐imagining of nursing education accountable to Country, community and historical truths. This paper offers a theoretical and pedagogical blueprint for nursing curriculum reform that advances education and health equity and the right to self‐determined education by and with First Nations peoples.

Tokenism has become an increasingly visible feature of contemporary research and scholarship, particularly in contexts where expectations of diversity and inclusion are institutionally embedded. While often presented as evidence of progress, tokenism raises critical questions about power, participation and the conditions under which knowledge is produced. Tokenism is more than simply a failure of inclusion, it is a functional feature of contemporary research systems, enabling the appearance of equity while preserving existing distributions of power. This paper examines tokenism as a form of inclusion that is more symbolic than substantive, projecting an image of progress while leaving existing hierarchies intact. We argue that tokenism in nursing research is not simply a problem of representation, but a form of epistemic injustice that shapes who participates, whose contributions are recognised and what knowledge is legitimised. In doing so, tokenism can obscure expertise, distort perceptions of competence and position individuals as representatives of identity rather than as authoritative contributors. These dynamics have ethical and epistemic consequences, including the reproduction of marginalisation, the generation of partial knowledge and the erosion of trust. Addressing tokenism requires a reorientation towards collaborative and justice‐oriented practices in which participation and epistemic authority is shared.

Background/Objective: The quality of care afforded to rural, remote, and First Nations Peoples is dependent on access to a health workforce with the capacity to contextualize healthcare and practice to the needs and expectations of these populations. In Australia, the lack of representation of rural health in undergraduate and post graduate health professional education undermines this preparedness and consideration of rural practice uptake and longevity, compounding the inequities confronted by 7 million Australians residing in these locations. Urgent educational reforms are required to address this omission, the deficit discourses used to characterize rural healthcare, and the persistent health workforce shortages experienced. This paper presents the Anabranch Framework for the Ruralization of Health Professional Education, a high-level strategy to transform rural healthcare provision, professional practice, and health workforce outcomes. Methods: The framework was developed through an iterative process involving a series of systematic steps. The process included the following: individual and group critical dialogues with internal academic educators, external health service leaders, metropolitan academic allies, and leaders of other rural health academic departments; an internal review of empirical studies of relevance to the ruralization of health professional education and practice; the visualization of a place-based framework; the academic conceptualization of the framework; and further critical dialogues to test the framework’s face validity. Results: The Anabranch Framework comprises four inter-related rural domains: theories, pedagogies, practices, and connectivity; four constructs: knowledge acquisition and generation, immersion in rural curriculum, knowledge translation and sharing, and relational practice; and two structural elements: spiraled and scaffolded curriculum and duration and the quality of rural placement and practice. Conclusions: The Anabranch Framework is a high-level strategy to ruralize health professional worldviews, advance rural person-centered practice, enable a deeper understanding of rural places and the development of an equity-orientated, sustainable and rural-literate health workforce.

Colonization is understood as a determinant of health for Indigenous people globally. Understanding colonization through a lens of historical trauma offers new insights into the field of Aboriginal young peoples’ health and wellbeing. Grounded in the Indigenous research paradigm, this study conducted interviews with 15 Aboriginal young people living on Gamilaroi Country, New South Wales, Australia. Three stories are presented to explain how Aboriginal young people understand their resilience, strength and resistance as an integral component of historical trauma. Aboriginal young people identified the need to connect and to continue to draw strength from their ancestors and to be cognizant of the hope and strengths they have as Aboriginal people and describe how this strength can ensure Aboriginal culture is sustained for generations to come.

On Country, Aboriginal young people yarned with an Aboriginal woman about historical trauma as a result of colonisation. Data analysis was achieved through place-based meaning using a Gamilaroi (an Aboriginal nation located in the north-western plains of New South Wales) practice called winanga-li (to listen, to hear, to know, and to remember). Where this was strengthened by the use of an abductive analysis from a standpoint that is reflective of Country and relationality. Aboriginal young people expressed historical trauma through their understandings of how it has impacted their identity. Young peoples’ experiences of identity are varied, fluid, ever-changing, and highly dependent on their experiences within various spaces. These experiences potentially strengthened or unsettled young peoples’ identities, creating both strength and disruption socially. This article emphasises young peoples’ insights, offering hope and a way forward for future generations guided from within and by connection to Country, culture, Elders, and community.

Background: The continued use of a deficit discourse when researching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples of Australia is problematic. Understanding and challenging the researchers position and the power of the words they use is important. It will ensure we do not persist in framing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People as a problem to be solved.Design: Indigenist review of the evidence of Aboriginal young people's health and well‐being.Methods: This review was conducted using an Indigenist approach to identify texts which amplified the voices of Aboriginal young people of Australia and presents a narrative summary of their accounts. This review is reported in line with the PRISMA‐ScR reporting guidelines.Results: Culture and connection are critical components of Aboriginal young people's health and well‐being. Aboriginal young people describe feeling of powerlessness to influence health and well‐being of their community, and they understood the risks they and their communities faced. Young people identified the importance of connection to culture, community and Elders as crucial to their social and emotional well‐being.Conclusion: By harnessing an Indigenous analysis, we were able to reveal a strong counter narrative of strength and resilience within their historical, social, and political contexts through the storied accounts of Aboriginal young people.Relevance to clinical practice: Most of the currently available evidence about Aboriginal health and well‐being is immersed in deficit discourse. Literature reviews being the foundation of research and informing nursing practice, we call for a purposeful shift towards the adoption of an Indigenist strength‐based approach which emphasises the strength and resilience of Aboriginal young people.

Introduction Chronic conditions impact Indigenous Peoples of Australia at a much higher rate than non-Indigenous Australians. Attendance at the Medicare Benefits Scheme (MBS) supported Indigenous health checks are crucial to improve prevention and management of chronic health conditions. However, in conjunction with lifestyle and environmental factors, attendance rates at primary healthcare services for screening and treatment have fallen in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to explore the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on preventive health behaviours of Indigenous Australians and the associated barriers to, and enablers of, engagement with health services to formulate a targeted intervention strategy. Methods and analysis A concurrent mixed-methods study (comprising quantitative and qualitative data collection methods) will be employed. Descriptive analysis of MBS data about the characteristics of Indigenous Peoples of Australia claiming health assessment services will be performed. Generalised estimating equation regression models will be used to examine the use of health assessment services over time. Qualitative interviews informed by Indigenous research methods will be conducted. Interviews will investigate barriers to, and enablers of, engagement with health services. Thematic approach guided by the principles of indigenist praxis, storytelling and collaborative research will be used to analyse the interview data. The project commenced in July 2020 and will be completed by July 2022. Ethics and dissemination The project received ethics approval from the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council of New South Wales and the University of New England Human Research Ethics Committee. Findings will be disseminated via peer-reviewed journal articles, conferences, government and relevant stakeholder reports, and infographics.