How prepared is Australian occupational therapy to decolonise its practice?

Being culturally secure, respectful and responsive can mean occupational therapists can contribute to improving the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. New culturally responsive accreditation and competency standards provide an opportunity to decolonise the profession to enhance the cultural capabilities of graduates. The purpose of this study was to explore how well-prepared Australian occupational therapy courses are to implement the new standards.

The principles of participatory action research were applied. An initial survey with occupational therapy academic staff was used to inform questions for semi-structured interviews. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 occupational therapy academics and occupational therapy accreditors. Interview data were thematically analysed.

The four themes identified from the interviews were: occupational therapy profession drivers, effective leadership, community and Elder involvement, and course design and delivery.

The new accreditation and competency standards are a promising step forward for the profession. However, the profession needs to be better prepared to decolonise Australian occupational therapy. A positive and culturally secure way forward is to engage Elders and other community members in learning experiences to build student, academic and practicing occupational therapist's cultural capability. Non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership at all levels of the profession and within universities is crucial to establishing trusting, reciprocal relationships to support deep knowledge exchange. These relationships lay the foundation to build cultural capabilities and decolonise processes in the profession.