Occupational therapy curriculum and the cultural interface

Introduction: Occupational therapy education must take responsibility for the crucial role it plays in the future of culturally safe occupational therapy practice. Development of teaching and learning that is sufficiently nuanced to authentically reflect the complexity, fluidity, and strengths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples must be prioritised. Objectives: To develop critical reflexivity in occupationaltherapy faculty to address the design and content of curriculum materials concerning Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health. Methods: Program philosophy, learning objectives, and content were mapped by the occupational therapy faculty and critically examined and discussed through a series of meetings with the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Indigenous Education and Strategy. Particular attention was paid to the binaries and subjectivities present within course design and the impact of these on both education and practice. Results: Reflections of course design and content shed light on unintended yet unhelpful subjectivities created concerning Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Many of these subjectivities did not reflect the complexity of the cultural interface that exists between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and Westernised health systems. Conclusion: The cultural safety of the profession is strongly guided by occupational therapy education. An authentic, collaborative approach with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples is crucial for necessary changes to occur. Occupational therapy faculty needs to take responsibility in creating a culturally safe environment for this engagement to occur. One critical step in this is through a critically reflexive analysis of curriculum philosophy, architecture, and content under the guidance of Indigenous academic leadership