Are We Teaching Nurses to Be Racist towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples? A Critical Race Document Analysis of Discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Courses

Background: Racism is responsible for health inequity and the harm perpetrated upon Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples by white institutions, building on attitudes and beliefs dominated by assumptions of white superiority. The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Curriculum Framework ‘Curriculum Framework’, released in 2014, was introduced to provide a framework for nursing programs and included the introduction of discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health courses to draw attention to the relationship between racism health outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples within health care settings. 

Methods: Using an Indigenist research paradigm with Colonial Critical Race Theory as the methodology and framework, this study presents a document analysis of discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health courses taught in undergraduate nursing programs at 31 Australian Universities. 

Results: This work draws on the collective activism of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nurses in challenging the systemic racism embedded in the Australian nursing curriculum. We demonstrate the utility of the Racial Segregation Audit Tool (RSAT), as an innovative approach to identify and respond to racism embedded in course learning outcomes. 

Conclusions: This study explores and uncovers how the learning outcomes assert the social construction of race as a tool of oppressive segregation.