Confirmation of Candidature - Candidate : Kimberley Hitchens

Nursing literature in Australia focuses on applying Cultural Safety to improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and well-being (Best et al., 2022; Doran et al., 2019; Doran et al., 2022). Australian nursing educators have been found to lack confidence in their skills and abilities to teach Cultural Safety as an educational and theoretical framework (Best et al., 2022; Doran et al., 2019; Doran et al., 2022).The proposed study aims to explore academic nursing educators' understanding and experience of teaching and embedding Cultural Safety within the curricula of pre-registration nursing programs in Australia. The following inquiry questions will guide the research study:

• How is Cultural Safety conceptualized by Indigenous and non-Indigenous nursing academics teaching pre-entry accredited nursing programs in Australia? 
• What are Indigenous and non-Indigenous nursing academics' experiences of Cultural Safety within pre-entry accredited nursing programs in Australia?
• How do Indigenous and non-Indigenous nurse academics' understandings of Cultural Safety influence teaching, learning, and curriculum practices? 

This research aims to capture the stories of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous nurse academics and, therefore, requires a nuanced framework. Critical race theory and emancipatory theoretical frameworks will be utilized. The qualitative and Indigenous research methods of yarning will be utilized. A convenience purposive sample of 12 nursing academics teaching in accredited nursing programs in Australia will sought. The sample will consist of Indigenous and Non-Indigenous academics, aiming to obtain an even sample of both population groups to obtain multiple perspectives. This approach respects intersectionality as it acknowledges that nursing academics' perspective of Cultural Safety will be influenced by various dimensions of their cultural identity and the fluidity of their social positions (Crenshaw, 1991). Braun & Clarke's approach to thematic analysis will be used to identify and describe critical themes within the data set (Braun & Clarke, 2021). Thematic analysis will provide insight and a deeper understanding of people's experience of Cultural Safety within Australia's nursing higher education system (Braun & Clarke, 2021).  Research findings will assist nursing academics to prepare better undergraduate nursing students to deliver Culturally Safe nursing care to all people. Actionable recommendations for improving Cultural Safety within higher education will be developed. This is essential given the significant risk of harm to students when Indigenous knowledges are taught in a Culturally unsafe way (Geia et al., 2020; Gorman, 2017).

For more information, please contact the Graduate Research School.