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This case study research, informed by an Indigenous Research Paradigm, sought to ascertain the impact of a university's decentralised health faculty Aboriginal engagement program. It involved analysis of health faculty and other faculties' 2016-2020 student commencement, enrolment, completion, and retention data. The health faculty was more likely to have Aboriginal commencements in 2017 and 2018 due to a more equitable student selection process focused on applicant success factors and inclusive of Aboriginal epistemology. Other faculties' Aboriginal commencement improved when a similar process was adopted. Excepting 2018, the health faculty was more likely to have Aboriginal completions and from 2017 onwards, Aboriginal enrolments. An increasing faculty retention pattern existed likely relating to earlier student engagement and planning. The decentralised model, led by Aboriginal people and supported by faculty and university, also provided processes for Aboriginal students, to crucially be, belong, and further grow as, Aboriginal people. With this presumably better positioning of graduates' standpoints as Aboriginal health professionals to engage with healthcare cultural safety. This is important as health professions education is predominantly conceived by colonial paradigms which can promote assimilation. Despite improvements, inequities remained. Higher education should aim to graduate as many Aboriginal health professional graduates as possible to address healthcare inequities.

Internationally many health professions courses require the inclusion of Indigenous health curricula and skilled educators are vital to achieving this. In this Australian qualitative study, 20 non-Indigenous nursing and allied health educators teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's health were interviewed on perspectives of teaching Indigenous health. Inductive thematic analysis identified three areas relating to perceptions of what to teach, how to teach and student experiences. Educators described teaching mostly novice-level knowledge concepts with a greater focus on Indigenous cultures rather than understanding power, race and settler colonial processes. Teaching was often informed by educators' personal and professional experiences. However, there was little critical reflexivity about whether these experiences may have modelled culturally unsafe practices or privileged settler colonial paradigms. Hence, despite good intentions of educators, teaching sometimes promoted paternalism, assimilation, stereotyping and ill-informed assumptions about Indigenous labour. Study findings indicate an imperative for theory-informed educator strengthening to understand recommended teaching approaches, impacts of settler colonialism and strategies for disrupting settler colonial cycles in education. Until institutional structures decentre colonial norms and implement cultural safety in learning and teaching practice, efforts to improve Aboriginal health equity will fall short.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Curriculum Framework (2014) identifies the need for Australian higher education providers to develop health professional students' cultural capabilities. This study investigated whether integrating the Framework's learning outcomes into undergraduate nutrition curricula changed higher education students' self-rated cultural capability learning. A sample of 105 Bachelor of Nutrition Science students were eligible. Students were invited to complete a survey prior to and after receiving Aboriginal health curriculum integrated across four of six units of first-year study. The survey included five questions on student characteristics and prior experiences relating to Aboriginal peoples and a Cultural Capability Measurement Tool (CCMT) that has 11 items on knowledge, nine on attitude, three on confidence and two on commitment. An additional 'nutrition importance for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health score' determined attitudes towards learning about Aboriginal health. Baseline and follow up surveys were completed by 53 students (50% of the baseline cohort) and 35 students (39% of 90 students enrolled at follow up) respectively. Matched data were available for 22 students. An increase in students' total CCMT scores (sum of 25 items) occurred from baseline [median (IQR) = 83.36 (76.14,91.38)] to follow up [median (IQR) = 95.85 (84.16,103.62)], p = .001 together with an increase in students' nutrition importance for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health scores from baseline [median (IQR) = 4.25 (3.5,5.00)] to follow up [median (IQR) = 4.93 (4.02,5.00)], p = .020. Baseline total CCMT scores were higher in students who received Indigenous education at school [median (IQR) = 85.12 (77.87,95.26)] compared to those who did not [median (IQR) = 77.68 (68.50,86.47)], p = 0.020. Educators should recognise that students commence university with varying baseline knowledge. This study showed students had some self-rated learning in relation to the learning domains of the Framework. Further research is warranted to measure multiple levels of demonstrated learning using a greater variety of methods.

Introduction: Emergency clinical research has played an important role in improving outcomes for acutely ill patients. This is due in part to regulatory measures that allow Exception From Informed Consent (EFIC) trials. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires sponsor-investigators to engage in community consultation and public disclosure activities prior to initiating an Exception From Informed Consent trial. Various approaches to community consultation and public disclosure have been described and adapted to local contexts and Institutional Review Board (IRB) interpretations. The COVID-19 pandemic has precluded the ability to engage local communities through direct, in-person public venues, requiring research teams to find alternative ways to inform communities about emergency research. Methods: The PreVent and PreVent 2 studies were two Exception From Informed Consent trials of emergency endotracheal intubation, conducted in one geographic location for the PreVent Study and in two geographic locations for the PreVent 2 Study. During the period of the two studies, there was a substantial shift in the methodological approach spanning across the periods before and after the pandemic from telephone, to in-person, to virtual settings. Results: During the 10 years of implementation of Exception From Informed Consent activities for the two PreVent trials, there was overall favorable public support for the concept of Exception From Informed Consent trials and for the importance of emergency clinical research. Community concerns were few and also did not differ much by method of contact. Attendance was higher with the implementation of virtual technology to reach members of the community, and overall feedback was more positive compared with telephone contacts or in-person events. However, the proportion of survey responses received after completion of the remote, live event was substantially lower, with a greater proportion of respondents having higher education levels. This suggests less active engagement after completion of the synchronous activity and potentially higher selection bias among respondents. Importantly, we found that engagement with local community leaders was a key component to develop appropriate plans to connect with the public. Conclusion: The PreVent experience illustrated operational advantages and disadvantages to community consultation conducted primarily by telephone, in-person events, or online activities. Approaches to enhance community acceptance included partnering with community leaders to optimize the communication strategies and trust building with the involvement of Institutional Review Board representatives during community meetings. Researchers might need to pivot from in-person planning to virtual techniques while maintaining the ability to engage with the public with two-way communication approaches. Due to less active engagement, and potential for selection bias in the responders, further research is needed to address the costs and benefits of virtual community consultation and public disclosure activities compared to in-person events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unburned yucca (Yucca) quids with wild tobacco (Nicotiana) contents have been preserved within Antelope Cave in northwestern Arizona. Although the cave was visited during the Archaic, Southern Paiute, and Euro-American periods, material culture remains and radiocarbon dates indicate the heaviest use by the Virgin Anasazi (A.D. 1-1000). Quids are wads of fiber twisted or knotted into a ball for insertion into the mouth. Ten of the quids examined were clearly made from the fibers of Yucca plants, based on 6-7 base pairs identified via analysis of DNA sequences near the trnL gene of chloroplastic DNA. Twenty-seven of thirty quids examined were wrapped around a range of wild tobacco (Nicotiana) plant parts (e.g., capsule, seed, calyx, pedicel, main stem, leaf). Quids have been interpreted as serving various needs (food, ceremonial/ritual, other). The inclusion of tobacco and the diverse recovery contexts suggest the Antelope Cave quids provided occupants with a personal stimulant experience.