Moving Forward Together in Aboriginal Women's Health: - Theses ...

Moving Forward TogetherJanet KellyThis research also identified the need for Aboriginal women’s knowledge to beheard and acknowledged in health care and in Australian society generally.While policy documents highlighted the importance of Aboriginal communityconsultation and inclusion in decision making, this was not the experience ofthe Aboriginal community and health professional women involved in thisresearch. We undertook specific strategies to counter this trend, such as cowritingand co-presenting our findings at conferences and workshops involvingpolicy makers and primary health care managers and professionals. Thisprocess took time and care to nurture and develop, but the resultingpresentations were a vast improvement on what I would have done alone. Inorder to gain from collaborative processes, care and time does need to betaken.However, not everyone is interested in, or in the position to share knowledge.Professional and cultural boundaries, egos, previous experiences of violationand abuse of shared knowledge and underlying colonising beliefs can allprevent knowledge sharing from occurring in health care settings.Collaborative models such as PAR and comprehensive primary health care relyon some degree of knowledge sharing. The extent to which people are wilingto engage with knowledge sharing will to a large extent determine the level ofcollaboration can take place. This research has found that even some degree ofnegotiation and power sharing can lead to positive changes. For example,while some managers were unsure about the collaborative program at GillesPlains, we were able to provide enough evidence of its benefit for them tosupport it. If all workers were supported to engage in knowledge sharing, andif the health system was seen to be a safe place in which to do so (horizontallyand vertically) then knowledge sharing within and between health and otherservices would increase as has been evident during times when comprehensiveprimary heath care has been well supported. Ideally knowledge sharing wouldtake place between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal health professionals,Aboriginal community women, managers, policy makers, funding bodies andother allied services as is shown in Figure 11.2 .334