Search

Refereed/Peer-reviewed Problem: While literature reports broadly on the experiences of international students of health professions in higher education, the experience of students undertaking an undergraduate midwifery program outside their country of origin has not previously been reported. Background: Midwifery studies incorporate distinct clinical practice and discipline-specific therapeutic relationships which can challenge students familiar with the health system, so it is necessary to understand their impact on the learning needs of international students, who contribute to the diversity of our workforce. Aim: To explore learning experiences of international students of an undergraduate midwifery program to identify their perceptions and personal strategies which impacted their participation in the program. Methods: A qualitative descriptive study, with a purposive sample of nine current international students and recent graduates of a midwifery program at a South Australian university. Participants attended a focus group or individual phone interview to explore their learning experiences, and data were thematically analysed. Findings: Five themes and sub-themes were identified, built around a core concept of the international midwifery student experience as agency in change: language and culture, teaching and learning, isolation and integration, services and support, and motivation and resilience. Studying abroad was associated with personal and professional growth. Continuity of care for women presented challenges and produced learnings unique to this cohort. Conclusion: Tailored support, such as specialized clinical facilitation and organized peer networking, is required for international midwifery students in Australia. Additionally, effective approaches to facilitate bilingualism to support language concordant care are needed.

Purpose: To investigate the successful strategies of health workers who support and regularly communicate with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people about cancer and its treatment. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted face-to face or via telephone and audio-recorded with twenty-three health professionals (medical and radiation oncologists, oncology nurses and Aboriginal Health Workers), 5 identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander in the Northern Territory and South Australia. When data saturation was reached, thematic analysis using a bottom up, essentialist/realist approach was used. Results: Six themes emerged. (1) Create a safe environment, engender trust and build rapport. This involves considering the physical environment and allowing time in interviews to establish a relationship. (2) Employ specific communication strategies to explain cancer, treatment and its side effects through language choices and employing visual aids such as drawings, metaphors and relatable analogies. (3) Obtain support from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff and patient escorts who can assist in communication. (4) Consider culture which involves collective decision making, strong connection to country and community, with cultural obligations and a unique understanding of cancer. (5) Anticipate the contextual complexities of conflicts between Western medicine and Aboriginal culture, practitioner bias and difficulty maintaining contact with patients. (6) Develop personal qualities of good communicators, including being patient-centred, showing respect, patience, empathy and honesty. Conclusion: These insights will help foster more positive interactions with the health system and promote optimal outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with cancer. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Globally, education continues to diversify, with a growing body of literature that describes the experiences of international higher education students. While the research includes representation from the health sciences, nursing and midwifery programs are underrepresented; understanding the experiences of international students therein may assist in determining whether discipline-specific teaching, learning and support is required. This review aims to summarise international nursing and midwifery students’ perceptions of challenge and enablement when undertaking an undergraduate or baccalaureate program. A total of 408 articles were identified and after duplicates were removed and inclusion/exclusion criteria applied, eight primary studies were included. No papers were identified that reported on the experiences of international midwifery students. For international nursing students, five themes emerged: language and culture, isolation and segregation, teaching and learning, services and support, and resilience and growth. This review concludes that the available data both affirms the existing body of knowledge around international students and illuminates unique challenges and opportunities for nursing students undertaking clinical placements. There is a need for increased language and peer support, socialisation and specially educated support staff. Research is required to identify best practice in teaching methodology for an increasingly diverse cohort and importantly, to provide a midwifery perspective Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Representations of Aboriginal youth in Australia are typically characterised by deficit discourses often in relation to normative, Eurocentric educational criteria. They are described as maladapted learners, living in disengaged communities, without identifiable or recognisable literacy or numeracy practices. This chapter argues that through sport Aboriginal youth are demonstrating alternative ways of being and belonging, which avoid facile Western-traditional binary classifications, and that bringing this emerging discourse into the classroom context valorises Aboriginal voices. In a novel pilot study, the on-field language of young Aboriginal players of Australian rules football was recorded and transcribed. Language mapping of the transcripts showed that the students and their coaches developed a cohesive team identity through the consistent use of specific interpersonal tokens of solidarity and leadership. Positive discourse analysis offers a forward-looking, constructive theoretical framework through which the voices, practices and context of Aboriginal youth can be described and valorised, casting them as agents of social change. The chapter proposes an alternative pedagogy which gives students a way into previously inaccessible academic literacies and teaches them how to use those literacies to create counter narratives which inform a sense of belonging in traditional classroom contexts and beyond.

The aim of this paper is to describe, analyse, and discuss the process of formulation in the specific context of mental health (MH). Formulation is a fundamental element of the work of psychiatrists and other MH clinicians that is expected to be mastered during training. The literature, however, shows that formulation is rarely explicitly addressed in the psychiatric curriculum; rather, it is implicitly developed through modelling, and/or clinical practice. This paper focuses on case formulation in one MH context in Australia. It tracks the iterative formulation of one patient in a hospital emergency department. The analysis uses resources from systemic functional linguistics (SFL) situated within a broader framework of discourse analysis. It highlights patterns of lexical relations and nominalisation as well as the range of conjunctions. These make explicit how the clinicians talk about the patient's illness and shape their developing understanding into a logical formulation. We see applications of this work for the training of mental health professionals. These data make explicit the ways in which the participating clinicians use language in the process of formulation. By bringing this process to the level of consciousness, it can be discussed and evaluated and become a pedagogic resource usc Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Refereed/Peer-reviewed