| Project: Sharing the True Stories |
|
CRCAH Project No. CP35
Administering organisation
Charles Darwin University
Program
Manager
Barbara
Beacham
Project Leader
Isaac Brown
(Charles Darwin University)
Team members
Kerin Coulehan, Michael Christie, Gillian Gorham, Anne Lowell,
Betja Marrnganyin, Bhavini Patel
Contact details
Associate Professor Michael Christie
Tel: 08 8946 7338
Fax: 08 8946 6593
Email: michael.christie@cdu.edu.au
Funding sources
CRC for Aboriginal Health, Amgen
In-kind contributors: Charles Darwin University, Royal Darwin
Hospital
Partners involved
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Project summary
Sharing the True Stories (STTS) is a five-year research project
that ran from 2001 to 2005 and focused on identifying and
addressing barriers to effective communication between Aboriginal
client groups and health staff in renal and hospital services in
the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia. All the Aboriginal
clients involved in the research program were Yolngu speakers from
north-east Arnhem Land.
Summary of outcomes
The STTS research project has:
1.
Contributed strategies and resources for building capacity in the
Aboriginal health workforce and Aboriginal interpreter workforce in
health towards more effective communicative and educative practices
between healthcare providers and Aboriginal client and community
groups.
2.
Benefited participating Yolngu patients and family and
community members by instituting more effective communication,
better understanding and more control in decision making in renal
care, particularly at Nightcliff Renal Unit.
Summary of project implementation
STTS, a longitudinal participatory action research project, was
conducted in two stages.
- Stage One involved an ongoing interview process, using the
skills of Aboriginal interpreters, to identify key strategies for
the constructive stage.
- Stage Two involved evaluating these strategies to improve
communication between health staff and their Indigenous
clients.
Timeline: The original
project milestones are as follows:
Stage
1 January to August 2001
Stage 2 September 2002 to
June 2005
Alan Cass, Anne Lowell, Michael Christie, Paul
Snelling, Melinda Flack, Betty Marrnganyin and Isaac Brown, 2002,
‘Sharing the True Stories: Improving communication between
Aboriginal patients and health care workers’, Medical
Journal of Australia, vol. 176, no. 20,
466–70
Related links
http://www.sharingtruestories.com/
Sharing the True
Stories information on research transfer
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