MDWF13007 - Midwifery Practice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Families

General Information

Unit Synopsis

In this unit, you will examine the elements of cultural capability required to practice culturally safe and inclusive midwifery care. You will have the opportunity to develop an understanding of cultural safety through self-reflexivity for culturally safe midwifery care that is free of racism and bias. You will be introduced to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' history and post-colonial experiences to gain an insight into the implications of this for midwifery care, population health, and health care practice. You will gain an understanding of the importance of equitable partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, health professionals, organisations, and the community to provide respectful midwifery practice that is underpinned by cultural safety. Specifically, you will focus on historical and current issues in relation to 'Women's Business', birthing on country, motherhood, and the models of midwifery care available to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 3
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 1
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Pre-requisites: MDWF12006 Midwifery Practice 2, MDWF12005 Foundations of Midwifery 2 and MDWF12004 Critical Inquiry and Midwifery Practice


Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2024

Term 3 - 2024 Profile
Online
Term 3 - 2025 Profile
Online

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Group Discussion 20%
2. Written Assessment 40%
3. Case Study 40%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 3 - 2023 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 66.67% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 11.11% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: SUTE data
Feedback
More compulsory online sessions would be beneficial. I enjoyed the content overall.
Recommendation
The students were strongly encouraged to attend a single, non-assessed, online experiential learning session. The unit coordinator will consider implementing a second session in the next offering.
Action Taken
The same experiential learning session was hosted for the 2023 offering of this course. Verbal and written feedback from the students was very positive. Students are provided with a weekly opportunity to attend a Zoom drop-in session with the unit coordinator. Enforcing compulsory attendance is not possible for these sessions.
Source: SUTE data
Feedback
I was disappointed with this subject. The assessments kept asking for the same information.
Recommendation
The unit coordinator will request peer review from all members of the midwifery academic team to ensure that the assessment tasks are not too similar.
Action Taken
The assessment tasks for this unit were peer-reviewed within the midwifery academic team prior to review by the DDLT.
Source: SUTE data
Feedback
I really enjoyed being able to view the video Djakamirr: Caretaker of Pregnancy and Birth. I gained a lot of knowledge and understanding about culture and practice from this and feel that for future students that this would be beneficial to their learning.
Recommendation
This was a valuable resource for the delivery of the unit and will continue to be incorporated into the unit in future offerings.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE data
Feedback
My marker did not appear to be in tune with what the assessment Zoom said. Marks were very wrong and needed a re-check. I was not happy with this marker. I gained nearly 20 marks for things that were already there. New markers not already a lecturer for the Bachelor of Midwifery need to understand and provide clearer and better marking in line with the unit's expectations and information given to us in lectures please.
Recommendation
The unit coordinator and the marker had engaged in multiple conversations about the assessments and expectations for the students. The marker engaged with the Zoom recording which outlined the expectations to the students. The unit coordinator informally reviewed a range of the marked submissions and deemed them to be appropriate. Whilst three students in this unit requested an informal review of grade for their assessment tasks, none was awarded an additional 20 marks as a result. Each of these three students was awarded additional marks, but none received more than 5 additional marks. The unit coordinator will continue to engage with students and address their concerns regarding marking as per the CQUniversity policies.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Examine and discuss different forms of racism, the concept of white privilege, one's own positioning in terms of white privilege, and the social determinants of health
  2. Explore the history and ongoing impact of colonisation and post colonisation experiences upon the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in relation to midwifery practice
  3. Explore culturally appropriate midwifery practice that integrates respect and equitable partnerships and which promotes contemporary models of midwifery care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their families
  4. Identify and explore the barriers to equity and equality in healthcare for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and explain the impact of culturally safe midwifery care and advocacy on these barriers
  5. Explore the cultural beliefs and practices that are important to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and their families and integrate these into culturally safe and appropriate midwifery care.

Draft ANMAC Midwifery Education Standards (2020).

Standard 1: Safety of the public.

Standard 3: Program of study.

Standard 5: Student assessment.

The Nursing and Midwifery Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Curriculum Framework (2017).

The NMBA Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Strategy.

The NMBA Midwife Standards for Practice (2018).

Standard 1: Promotes health and wellbeing through evidence-based midwifery practice.

Standard 2: Engages in professional relationships and respectful partnerships.

Standard 5: Develops a plan for midwifery practice.

Standard 6: Provides safety and quality in midwifery practice.

The NMBA Code of Conduct for Midwives (2018).

Principle 1: Legal compliance.

Principle 2: Woman-centred practice.

Principle 3: Cultural practice and respectful relationships.

Principle 4: Professional behaviour.

Principle 6: Research in health.

The ICM Code of Ethics (2014).

1. Midwifery relationships.

2. Practice of midwifery.

3. Professional responsibilities of midwives.

4. Advancing midwifery knowledge and practice.

National Safety and Quality Health Care Standards (2017).

Partnering with consumers.

Comprehensive care.

Communicating for safety.

Clinical governance.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Group Discussion • • • • •
2 - Written Assessment • • • • •
3 - Case Study • • • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Communication • • • • •
2 - Problem Solving • • •
3 - Critical Thinking • • • •
4 - Information Literacy • • • •
5 - Team Work • •
6 - Information Technology Competence • • •
7 - Cross Cultural Competence • • • • •
8 - Ethical practice • • • • •
9 - Social Innovation • • • • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 - Group Discussion • • • • • • • •
2 - Written Assessment • • • • • • •
3 - Case Study • • • • • • • •