Borealis
Li, Jessie;
Min, Jason;
Leung, Larry
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2023-08-15
In response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action #23 and #24, health programs across Canada, including pharmacy, are integrating course content related to Indigenous Health and cultural safety. However, there is a paucity of literature on how to respectfully Indigenize health curricula. The purpose of this project was to develop a framework of better practices for both mandatory lecture-based and elective community-based courses.
A Two-Eyed Seeing Model, incorporating both Indigenous and Western methodologies, was utilized to ensure the framework created was Indigenous-driven, evidence-based, and reciprocal. This process involved respectful collaboration with Indigenous partners and employed two methods: 1) a comprehensive literature review on better practices around Indigenous health course design from health programs across Canada, the US, Australia, and New Zealand, and 2) engagement with an Indigenous Advisory Committee (IAC) for their unique perspectives on key standards for course design.
Based on the literature review and in-depth discussions with the IAC, 5 key pillars were identified for the framework: 1) Develop Indigenous community partnerships centered on mutual respect and trust, 2) Build learning objectives to increase student capacity to work effectively with Indigenous peoples, 3) Maintain community-university relationships by prioritizing reciprocity, 4) Align course activities with Indigenous pedagogies of teaching and learning, and 5) Pilot innovative assessment models for cultural safety learning.
This framework acts as the basis of Indigenous-driven and evidence-based curriculum design and can be used as a guide for health programs across Canada in building Indigenous health courses.