The tertiary text, , recently received a prestigious from the
It took out the Tertiary (Wholly Australian) Teaching and Learning Resource category of this year’s EPA held in Melbourne in September particularly because it filled a gap in Indigenous-led educational literature.
The text, written by Professor Bronwyn Fredericks from and Dr Odette Best of the , was created to teach a broad audience of Australian nursing and midwifery students about Indigenous health from an Indigenous perspective.
"We were conscious of a clear gap in the nursing education literature: a lack of legitimate, current information that addresses the needs of nurses and midwives who work with and care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples," said Prof Bronwyn Fredericks, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Engagement) and Chair in Indigenous Engagement.
All the text’s contributors are Indigenous Australians who, collectively, have over 100 years of clinical practice.
We were conscious of a clear gap in the nursing education literature: a lack of legitimate, current information that addresses the needs of nurses and midwives who work with and care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The authors have a diversity of experiences and include: Mick Adams, Odette Best, Ali Drummond, Bronwyn Fredericks, Lynore Geia, Deannne Hellsten, Machelle Kosiak, Ray Lovett, Nicole Ramsamy, Juanita Sherwood and Raelene Ward.
Prof Fredericks said it was important that the contributors were Indigenous because nurses, midwives and other health professionals needed to understand the health issues facing Indigenous peoples from an Indigenous perspective to provide appropriate and respectful health services for their Indigenous clients.
"The award is recognition for not just Dr Odette Best and I but all of the contributors,” she said.
“The belief in us by, nursing scholars who supported the development of our work and it also reflects the need the book has within Australia.”
The title of the book was gifted to the authors from Rockhampton-based Aboriginal Elder Ivy Molly Booth. Yatdjuligin is from the dialect of the Wakgun Clan group of the Gurreng Gurreng Nation. It translates to ‘talking in a good way’.
For Wakgun people, the process of Yatdjuligin is deeply embedded in learning. It belongs to a two-part process in the traditional knowledge transfer about country, its resources and the resources’ uses.
"As editors of the book, we speak on behalf of the authors to invite you to embrace the content of this book, accept its voice and incorporate it into your practice in the spirit of Yatdjuligin,” said Prof Fredericks.
The health resource won the award over four other shortlisted academic texts focusing on biology, law, business and finance.
