Sharing the True Stories - about the project

Stage 1 of Sharing the True Stories was a six-month project was funded by the Co-operative Research Centre for Aboriginal and Tropical Health.

The goals of Stage 1 of the project were:

• to increase our understanding of intercultural communication issues from the perspectives of both health staff and their Aboriginal patients.
• to find ways to improve communication between health staff and Aboriginal patients.
  

Stage 1 focused on one health care context and one language group (Yol\u i.e. Aboriginal people from Northeast Arnhemland), drawing on multiple perspectives to explore:

• the extent and sources of miscommunication
• the effectiveness of communication strategies currently used
• the cultural, linguistic and other factors impacting on achievement of key communication goals
• possible strategies for improving communication

The findings of Stage 1 have informed the development of a proposal for Stage 2 to implement and evaluate strategies.
Click here to download a document summary of the Stage 2 project.

The project methods were qualitative and data-driven (drawing on range of methodologies including ethnography, phenomenology, participatory action research and grounded theory).

Case studies of five interactions in renal care were developed, integrating information from:

• interviews with participating staff, patients and their families
• analysis of videotaped interactions between participating staff and clients through a collaborative process involving participants and researchers

Triangulated data from all sources was also integrated through a thematic analysis to explore features of communication across the interactions (assisted by NVivo qualitative data management program).

Ongoing discussions about progress and emerging ideas occurred regularly with participants (research team and advisory group) and the research plan was modified as necessary.

Click here to download a document explaining how the project was done