Investigating the potential role of Katitjin Mindamarra (knowledge through healing hands) Aboriginal Perinatal Navigators to improve birth outcomes for Aboriginal Women in Western Australia

Janinne Gliddon

doi:10.60867/00000102

Background: Aboriginal women used traditional birthing methods and medicines to care for women during their birthing and postpartum journey. Globally, colonisation, the imposition of Western models of care, and dispossession of traditional Aboriginal birthing knowledges have resulted in the loss of cultural birthing practices, self-determination and languages (Kelly et al., 2014). Although most Aboriginal women have healthy pregnancies and positive pregnancy outcomes, a small proportion of women have adverse outcomes, including perinatal deaths, preterm births and low birthweight (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), 2021). In Australia, Aboriginal women experience a significant disadvantage in antenatal, birthing, and postnatal outcomes compared with their non-Aboriginal counterparts and are often required to birth in hospital settings away from their Country/Homelands. Aim: This study aims to 1) Know what barriers affect women’s access to maternal health services in the Perth metropolitan location (including women from rural, regional and remote communities); 2) Understand how maternity services might be made more effective and women focused; 3) Demonstrate ‘how we can co-design and implement a culturally appropriate curriculum for Katitjin Mindamarra Aboriginal Perinatal Navigators/Doulas for Aboriginal women and their families across the metropolitan area of Perth, WA; and 4) Provide an outline for a trauma-informed, culturally safe Aboriginal Perinatal Navigator/Doula education program at Certificate IV level that meets the needs of Aboriginal women using Aboriginal ways of conducting research. Methods: Utilising an Indigenous qualitative research approach, in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 Aboriginal women across the Perth metropolitan area. Consultations with maternity service networks, stakeholders and the WA Health Department and a review of existing doula/birth navigator programs was conducted. Results: My overall thesis findings based on interviews, a curriculum audit and literature review demonstrated the need for an accredited doula program to help navigate an Aboriginal woman’s journey with the potential to greatly improve maternal and infant outcomes. Conclusions: Evidence confirmed that support for community self-determination, sustainability and empowerment, and culturally safe delivery of babies was urgently required for Aboriginal women birthing in hospital settings away from their Country/homelands. The consultation and review findings identified the core components to develop a culturally specific Katitjin Mindamarra Aboriginal Birth Navigator educational program to be developed through Ngangk Yira Institute for Change at Murdoch University in 2026.

Investigating the potential role of Katitjin Mindamarra (knowledge through healing hands) Aboriginal Perinatal Navigators to improve birth outcomes for Aboriginal Women in Western Australia

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