Evaluation of Culturally Safe, Trauma-Informed Care Training for Service Providers Working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples

Background/objectives: Hospital settings can be unsafe for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, creating healthcare access barriers and perpetuating cycles of inequity. Healthcare service providers play a critical role in improving health equity. The Healing the Past by Nurturing the Future project (HPNF) delivered a training programme that aimed to improve service providers’ awareness, skills, and confidence in providing culturally safe, trauma-informed care. Methods: A mixed-methods evaluation assessed the acceptability and changes in self-reported knowledge, attitudes and practice (KAP) of one-day, face-to-face training sessions delivered at a large tertiary hospital in regional Victoria, Australia, from November 2023 to December 2024. Self-reported knowledge, attitudes, and practices were measured on a five-point Likert scale pre-training, post-training, and three months post-training. Participant perspectives were collected through evaluation forms and analysed using an inductive framework approach. Results: A total of 547 service providers participated in one of 38 training sessions. Responses to a KAP survey designed for this study showed positive changes in self-reported knowledge, attitudes and practice immediately after training that remained after three months among the smaller number of people that completed the survey. Participants expressed a need and desire for the training. Many highlighted new learning relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, Australian history, colonisation, and the neurobiology of trauma. Conclusions: Aboriginal co-designed face-to-face culturally safe trauma-informed training is highly acceptable for service providers. The HPNF training was followed by positive changes in service providers’ self-reported knowledge, attitudes, and practices in working in a safe and sensitive manner with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Such training may contribute to changes in health service providers’ capability to provide culturally responsive and trauma informed care. This may reduce healthcare access barriers and contribute to closing the gap in health and wellbeing outcomes and improve health equity.