Determining health professional students' self-perceived cultural capability following participation in clinical placement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND

Collective evaluation of studies assessing students' self-perceived cultural capability following clinical placement is required to help inform future cultural capability training for both university and healthcare service environments. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review was to evaluate studies investigating health professional students' self-perceived cultural capability following participation in a clinical placement with First Nations Peoples.

METHODS

Electronic database searchers were conducted in MEDLINE, EMBASE, AMED, PsychINFO, Pubmed, CINAHL and Informit. Hand Searches of grey literature were conducted including Lowitja institute, Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet, Menzies School of Health Research, Services for Australian Rural and Remote Allied Health, and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Studies published in English that investigated health professional students' self-perceived cultural capability before and after clinical placement undertaken with First Nations people in Australia were eligible for inclusion. Two authors independently screened potentially eligible studies and performed quality appraisal and data extraction.

RESULTS

A total of 14 studies were included (n = 307 participants). Studies included undergraduate students from podiatry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and mixed health professions. The results of this systematic review suggest that clinical placements in health services or settings for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples that involve elements of co-design are effective in increasing aspects of health professional students' self-perceived cultural capability. This outcome was consistent across studies regardless of the location of clinical placements (urban or rural), type of clinical placement (health setting or Community), or length of placement.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings from this systematic review suggest that clinical placement in health services or settings for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples may contribute to increased self-perceived cultural capability in health professions graduates. However, the impact of the placements on the cultural safety of student-led care, from a First Nations perspective, remains to be established.