HLSC120: Indigenous Health and Culture – Assessment Task 3: Written Project

Studying Indigenous health at Australian Catholic University provides essential insights into cultural safety, historical impacts, and strategies like Closing the Gap for nursing and health professionals. This unit prepares students to deliver culturally competent care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. ACU’s HLSC120 assignment guidelines focus on real-world application of socio-political contexts in Indigenous Australian health.

Assessment Information

Assessment Title: Assessment 3: Project (Written Assessment)

Purpose: This task allows students to demonstrate their application of knowledge about the socio-historical-political context of Indigenous health, cross-cultural communication, and principles of cultural safety. Students analyze a provided cultural scenario in the context of the Australian government’s Closing the Gap policy framework.

Weighting: 45%

Length: 1500 words +/- 10% (word count excludes reference list and in-text citations where these are not part of the narrative)

Due Date: As specified in the unit outline (typically end of semester)

Submission: Via the Canvas dropbox under the “Assessments” tile.

Task Instructions

Students receive a cultural scenario involving an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander individual or community interacting with health services. Using this scenario:

1. Analyze the socio-historical and political factors that have influenced the health experiences depicted.
2. Discuss barriers to cross-cultural communication and potential misunderstandings.
3. Apply principles of cultural safety to recommend actions that health professionals could take.
4. Link the analysis to the Closing the Gap initiatives, explaining how improved cultural safety and empowerment could contribute to closing health outcome gaps.
5. Provide one specific example of how better access to information and services empowers Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in decision-making.

The response must be written in formal academic style, in third person, supported by evidence from peer-reviewed sources and policy documents. No introduction or conclusion is required if it duplicates content; focus on direct analysis.

Formatting Requirements

• Font: 12-point Arial or Calibri
• Spacing: Double-spaced
• Margins: 2.54 cm all sides
• Referencing: APA 7th edition
• Reference list: Centred, bold heading “References”; alphabetical order; hanging indent

Marking Criteria (Rubric Summary)

Marks are allocated across:

• Depth of analysis of socio-historical-political context (30%)
• Application of cultural safety principles (25%)
• Understanding of cross-cultural communication (20%)
• Linkage to Closing the Gap and empowerment examples (15%)
• Academic writing, structure, and referencing (10%)

References

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2023) *Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework*. AIHW, Canberra. Available at: https://www.indigenoushpf.gov.au/ (Accessed: 26 December 2025).

Dudgeon, P. et al. (2022) ‘The social and emotional wellbeing of Indigenous peoples’, in *Handbook of Indigenous Wellbeing*. Springer, pp. 45–67. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-92728-8_4.

Parter, C. et al. (2021) ‘Cultural safety in Australian health care: Implementation and progress’, *The Lancet Regional Health – Western Pacific*, 14, p. 100234. doi: 10.1016/j.lanwpc.2021.100234.

Ramsden, I. (2019) ‘Cultural safety and nursing education in Aotearoa and Australia’, *Nursing Inquiry*, 26(3), e12293. (Reprint of foundational work with updates). doi: 10.1111/nin.12293.

Gee, G. et al. (2019) *Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing and mental health*. Australian Government Department of Health, Canberra. Available at: https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-social-and-emotional-wellbeing.