Search

Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is a harmful cultural practice with significant health consequences for affected women and girls. Due to migration and human mobility, an increasing number of women with FGM/C are presenting to healthcare facilities of western countries (including Australia) where the practice is non-prevalent. Despite this increase in presentation, the experiences of primary healthcare providers in Australia engaging and caring for women/girls with FGM/C are yet to be explored. The aim of this research was to report on the Australian primary healthcare providers' experiences of caring for women living with FGM/C. A qualitative interpretative phenomenological approach was utilised and convenience sampling was used to recruit 19 participants. Australian primary healthcare providers were engaged in face-to-face or telephone interviews, which were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed. Three major themes emerged, which were: exploring knowledge of FGM/C and training needs, understanding participants' experience of caring for women living with FGM/C, and mapping the best practice in working with women. The study shows that primary healthcare professionals had basic knowledge of FGM/C with little or no experience with the management, support, and care of affected women in Australia. This impacted their attitude and confidence to promote, protect, and restore the target population's overall FGM/C-related health and wellbeing issues. Hence, this study highlights the importance of primary healthcare practitioners being skilled and well-equipped with information and knowledge to care for girls and women living with FGM/C in Australia.

Background: Participation of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) women from migrant and refugee backgrounds in cervical screening is crucial to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem within the next 20 years. However, CALD women report low participation in cervical screening. Barriers to participation can be addressed with culturally tailored, community-based programs. There is a need for research to explore the process, feasibility, acceptability and barriers to cultural tailoring in the delivery and evaluation of cervical screening health education., Methods: CALD community health workers took part in a 2 day training program then co-designed, culturally tailored and co-facilitated cervical screening health promotion forums within their communities. Forums were delivered to a total of seven groups, involving 12 sessions and 71 CALD women. The forums were evaluated for feasibility, acceptability, implementation and effectiveness using a survey, interviews and observations. Data were collected from CALD women, facilitators and researchers., Results: The co-design and co-delivery of cervical screening health promotion forums was time and resource intensive however allowed for deeper cultural tailoring resulting in engagement with 'hard to reach' CALD women, improved health literacy and intention to screen. Flexibility in the intervention implementation was crucial to ensure forums were responsive to community interests and needs. Online delivery of the forums in response to the COVID-19 pandemic was acceptable to most groups., Conclusions: Co-designed, culturally tailored cervical screening health promotion forums are feasible and acceptable to CALD women, in both face-to-face and online formats. Adjustments to the intervention protocol were recommended to improve future implementation., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Using the transformational learning theory and action research method, this study captured the experiences of students from health-related disciplines in the cultural immersion program From the World to Western. A total of nine students participated in the pilot program with four host families from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds, and four cultural facilitators who connected the host families and students. The findings of this research showed that it was beneficial for students in health-related disciplines to engage in the cultural immersion program to further prepare them for culturally competent care in their future roles as healthcare professionals. In addition, the students indicated the need for the cultural immersion program to be part of the curriculum for future students to develop cultural skills, awareness and encounters with diverse populations.