Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following resource may contain images and voices of people who have died.

These competencies include recognition of the critical interdependence between the roles of the SCN, other health professionals and organisations and the establishment of partnerships with people affected by cancer to maximise outcomes.

The resource contains three sections:

Section one: Epidemiology provides an overview of the epidemiology of cancer in Indigenous populations, looks at cultural factors affecting cancer control in Indigenous communities, and discusses health and health policy for Indigenous Australians.

Section two: Constructs of cultural safety presents information on cultural safety and respect, effective communication, and describes a number of characteristics unique to Indigenous cultures. It reviews factors contributing to the inequalities of cancer outcomes for Indigenous people and provides a cultural appraisal framework.

Section three: Nursing care for Indigenous people with cancer examines the ability of the Specialist Cancer Nurse (SCN) to recognise factors that influence Indigenous peoples' attitudes toward cancer, and use cancer prevention programs and other resources developed for Indigenous people. It examines nursing interventions to meet the health needs of Indigenous people affected by cancer.

Published in 1996, this was the first report summarising all of the available information about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and breast cancer on an Australian basis.

Information is included about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and breast cancer regarding:

• demographic characteristics and risk profile;
• incidence of, and mortality from, breast cancer;
• the early detection of breast cancer;
• knowledge, attitudes, and perceived needs in relation to breast cancer; and,
• conclusions and recommendations. 

The Cancer Council NSW has developed a resource to train Aboriginal Health Workers in the causes, treatment and support of Aboriginal people with cancer.

Developed in consultation with Aboriginal Health Workers across NSW, the package is a comprehensive training resource for Aboriginal Health Workers to plan and facilitate workshops for their colleagues.

Written in plain language, the package is based on successful workshops held across NSW in recent years.

The resource includes a facilitator‘s manual, which contains all the instructions and information for delivering the workshop, and a CD-ROM, which contains a Powerpoint slide show presentation and a master copy of the course workbook for participants.

The Cancer Care Course for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Care Workers is a skills and information course about cancer.

The bi-annual course aims:

• to provide education and skills training:
• to increase cancer-related knowledge of participants by providing information about cancer, cancer treatment and the impact of cancer;
• to improve the care of Indigenous people with cancer in Queensland;
• to develop a statewide network among Indigenous health care workers caring for people with cancer.

Any Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health worker who cares for people with cancer and their families can apply to attend the course.

Entry to the course is by successful written application (download from website).

Cultural safety training (CST) aims to improve the quality of service delivered by health care providers to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the experience of service for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Ultimately cultural safety training should lead to better health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Five CST modules have been developed covering a range of topics relating to cultural safety with which health care professionals working in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health should be familiar.

The modules and Facilitator Manual were produced with the supervision and involvement of a local advisory group and a National Cultural Safety Training Reference Group.

The modules are:

• Module One: Introduction to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health - Designed to help health professionals understand the historical and cultural context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health care
• Module Two: Better Consultations - Designed to help health professionals improve their communication with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the context of the consultation, including activities around Identification methods
• Module Three: Prevention and Health Checks - Designed to focus on prevention, Medicare items for preventative health checks and addressing the challenge of the burden of chronic disease in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
• Module Four: Linking with other Service Providers - Designed to help health professionals adopt a comprehensive primary health care approach to the care of Aboriginal people
• Module Five: Leadership in Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health- Designed to help health professionals gain the skills and motivation to get involved in partnerships for better primary health care of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Lesson plans including learning outcomes, can be downloaded from the site.

Registered participants must complete a pre-workshop learning needs assessment form before their workshop and complete pre-workshop reading before attending CST.

Modules have been designed with suggested session activities but the package is a framework that requires workshop facilitators to supplement locally designed learning activities to tailor a workshop to the needs of the participants as addressed in their Pre-Workshop Needs Assessment.

The modules have been adjudicated under the RACGP‘s QA&CPD Program as an Active Learning Module and accrue 40 Category 1 points for the completion of 2 modules.

The Cancer Council Victoria works closely with Aboriginal organisations, health workers, government and businesses to target cancer prevention messages to Victorian Aboriginal communities.

Activities include:

• Education programs to reduce the risk of cancer;
• Research to reduce the burden of cancer on future generations; Information and support for cancer patients, their families, carers, and health professionals; 
• Creating culturally appropriate resources through community consultation and using local artists.

A number of brochures and web resources are available for download targeted at Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander health from: http://www.cancervic.org.au/preventing-cancer/aboriginal-health/useful_links_aboriginal_resources/

In partnership with Royal College of Nursing Australia (RCNA) and Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education, the Australian General Practice Network have released a new professional development elearning module for practice nurses and registered Aboriginal Health Workers on the RCNA professional development site, 3LP, the e-Learning Training Package for Medicare Item 10997. Medicare Item 10997 relates to the provision of monitoring and support to people with a chronic disease care plan, by a practice nurse or registered Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Worker on behalf of a general practitioner.

The elearning package is designed to enhance the role of practice nurses and Aboriginal Health Workers providing this service to patients with a chronic disease, including indigenous patients with cancer, to support GPs to provide quality care to patients and to assist general practitioners to feel confident that practice nurses and registered Aboriginal Health Workers who successfully undertake the e-learning package are appropriately qualified and trained to provide monitoring and support for patients with a chronic disease care plan.

The National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre (NBOCC) is committed to working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to provide women with important information about breast cancer awareness, early detection as well as breast cancer treatment and care.

Information is provided specifically for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women regarding:

• Looking after your breasts - includes a short video of breast cancer symptoms, a brochure about breast awareness and early detection, and information to reduce the risk of breast cancer. 
• Women with Breast Cancer 
• Well Women's Workshops and summits

A downloadable booklet that has been developed by the CanNET NT project about the cancer journey for use in Aboriginal communities, produced in 5 indigenous languages as well as English.

A DVD that reflects the content of the booklet is also available.

Hard copy booklets and DVDs can be ordered from Northern Territory Department of Health and Families: http://www.health.nt.gov.au/Contacts/index.aspx?id=963

The Aboriginal & Islander Health Worker Journal is the only national publication written by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers. The Journal is distributed nationally and internationally and has been in circulation since 1977. It is published six times a year and has broad range of readership.

Each issue covers a range of topics including primary health care, community profiles, health promotion, best practice models and workforce issues. 

The principle aims of the Journal are:

• To provide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers up to date and accurate health information in a form that is both relevant and accessible
• To provide a link and contact for health workers throughout Australia
• To provide a vehicle for health workers to discuss health issues and programs from a community perspective
• To promote and highlight the valuable work health workers are carrying out at the community level
• To provide a cross-cultural resource for non-Indigenous readers who work with and provide services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Resources have been developed at BreastScreen WA for two audiences: workers in the health area and community women.

The messages emphasised on the resources are

• Beat Breast Cancer - Have a Free X-ray
• Stay Strong and Healthy For You and Your Family
• Regular Breast X-rays save lives.

BreastScreen WA produces a range of free printed materials to inform women about the importance of screening mammography.

Some resources can be downloaded from the website, or to order any of these resources, contact BreastScreen WA.

The NSW Cervical Screening Program and BreastScreen NSW have worked with Aboriginal stakeholders to develop the Live Strong and Healthy resources and A Message to Aboriginal Women.

Thess resources provides information about Pap tests and issues related to Cervical Screening and offers ways in which workers can introduce the subject of the Pap test to Aboriginal women in a culturally appropriate way. It aims to encourage Aboriginal women to have two yearly Pap tests by providing information about:

• The parts of the body that involved in a Pap test
• What a Pap test is and how it is done
• Who should have a Pap test, and how often
• Getting Pap test results
• What happens if a Pap test is abnormal
• Treatment options
• The importance of follow up treatment

The resource has been designed as a small group discussion activity and consists of facilitator notes, a set of overheads and a booklet for women. Booklets can be downloaded from the website.

Please call the Program on 131 556 if you would like more information about this resource and the way it is intended to be used.

This web resource aims to increase the access of people involved in addressing the development and impact of cancer among Indigenous peoples to accurate, up-to-date information and resources.

In aiming to provide access to good quality knowledge, information and resources for people involved in addressing cancer among Indigenous peoples, this web resource includes:

• reviews
• guidelines
• resources
• programs, projects and lessons
• policies and strategies
• publications
• links

It also includes information about research activity, organisations, agencies and individuals working in the field.

The 'Let‘s talk about living with cancer' brochure and poster have been developed specifically for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

DVD resource and booklet for health professionals featuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women sharing their experiences of breast cancer.

The Aboriginal Interpreter Service helps to alleviate the language barriers faced by Indigenous persons throughout the Northern Territory particularly in relation to health and legal issues.

The Service was established in April 2000 and maintains and utilises a register of Aboriginal interpreters and languages in the Northern Territory. It provides an Aboriginal Language Interpreter Service for government and non-government agencies that require on-site Aboriginal language interpreters.

The Aboriginal Interpreter Service provides a 24 hours 7 days a week.

There is a central booking service: Darwin Tel: (08) 8999 8353;

Alice Springs Tel: (08) 8951 5576

The Well Women‘s Cancer Screening (previously Women‘s Cancer Prevention Program) was established in 1994 to implement the National Cervical Screening Program and BreastScreen Australia in the NT. The program has adopted a holistic approach to women‘s screening which incorporates the cervical and breast screening programs into a well women‘s screening model.

This model is particularly appropriate for the expressed needs of Aboriginal women in the NT who are the major target group for the Cervical Screening Program.

Resources are available to order via the website.

Aboriginal Cancer Journeys: Our stories of kinship, hope and survival is a book of stories from Aboriginal people affected by cancer. It includes personal insights and words of wisdom so Aboriginal people can get an insight into other people’s experience of cancer. Eight fact sheets with easy-to-read information about cancer, its treatment and side effects are also available.

A professional organisation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander medical students and graduates.

The Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses (CATSIN) was founded to formally represent Indigenous nurses, with a commitment to the implementation of the recommendations regarding the public and private sectors, the higher education sector and primary, secondary and tertiary health delivery mechanisms made at The National Forum for Development of Strategies to Increase the Numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in Nursing, held in August 1997.

CATSIN is a strong and highly credible voice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses within the general health community.

CATSIN advocates for:

• recognition of the unique contributions and commitment of indigenous nurses in the area of health
• acknowledgment of cultural expertise/knowledge that indigenous nurses contribute to the health industry and nursing profession
• the promotion and implementation of indigenous nurse employment strategies, with particular attention given to culturally safe interview and selection procedures
• funding opportunities to progress the aims and objectives of CATSIN to ministers of health, state and federal health authorities, nursing bodies, universities and NACCHO
• promotion of the professional issues raised by member nurses to appropriate professional bodies
• encouragement and support of indigenous nurses' participation in nursing research, thus promoting indigenous perspectives
• continued promotion of the status of the indigenous nurse.

CATSIN runs conferences and events and offers bursaries and educational opportunities.

An online forum is available for members.

The Indigenous Allied Health Australia (IAHA) is the peak body for indigenous allied health professionals. The website is for Indigenous allied health professionals and students wishing to network together, share information and ideas and join in planning the establishment of an Indigenous allied health professionals association.

Once established this association will provide representation, advocacy, advice and support for Indigenous allied health professionals and students in the Indigenous health sector and be the representative body for Indigenous allied health professionals and students.

This Indigenous lead website is also for non-Indigenous allied health professionals who wish to be better informed about Indigenous Australians' culture, society and requirements of health services and who wish to contribute to strategies to improve Indigenous health in Australia.

The National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) is the national peak Aboriginal health body representing Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services throughout Australia. NACCHO represents local Aboriginal community control at a national level to ensure that Aboriginal people have greater access to effective health care across Australia.

Their work focuses on:

• Promoting, developing and expanding the provision of health and well being services through local ACCHSs/AMSs
• Liaison with organisations and Governments within both the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal community on health and wellbeing policy and planning issues
• Representation and advocacy relating to health service delivery, health information, research, public health, health financing, health programs, etc
• Fostering cooperative partnerships and working relationships with agencies that respect Aboriginal community control and holistic concepts of health and well being.

Links to State affiliates are available on the website.