About resources for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients

We have produced a number of resources to help immunisation providers have supportive, culturally appropriate vaccination conversations with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families. While there is a focus on influenza vaccination, the principles can be applied to other vaccinations.

Last updated on 21 February 2024.

Information

Resource type: Overview

Resource Format: On-screen text

SKAI Topic: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

How were these resources developed?

Health providers have an important role in making strong recommendations to vaccinate and offering relevant vaccinations to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people at any medical appointment.

However, in our earlier research with providers who provide vaccinations in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, we learned that:

many mainstream providers need guidance on how to be culturally safe
many providers need guidance on how to have a supportive yarn with families who may have concerns and be hesitant about vaccination
many families would like information about vaccination that is clear, short, and designed in partnership with communities.

The resources available through the Sharing Knowledge About Immunisation (SKAI) website address these needs. They have been designed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers and health providers, in collaboration with the NCIRS Social Science Team, and are informed by research with immunisation providers working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families.¹

These resources have been produced as part of the SKAI initiative and have been presented at provider and community workshops and trainings led and delivered by the Hunter New England Public Health Aboriginal team. The ‘Example of a supportive flu vaccine yarn’ resource has been adapted by that team to support the needs of health service providers and communities and enable better conversations around vaccination.

We hope these resources will be shared, adapted and used widely.

Why is it important to talk with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families about vaccinating against influenza?

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are more likely to experience severe influenza disease² that could be prevented with vaccination. In Australia, seasonal influenza is the most common vaccine-preventable disease contributing to hospitalisation, aside from COVID-19.

Since 2019, influenza vaccination has been funded for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people over six months of age, but Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families are under-vaccinated.^3,4

You can view the most up-to-date influenza vaccination coverage data for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people here.

Providers have an important role in strongly recommending and opportunistically offering influenza vaccination to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people over six months of age.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people value receiving a clear message and strong recommendation to vaccinate from their health provider.

However, recent studies indicate some providers may not be aware of the risk of influenza complications for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of all ages, and the importance of strongly recommending vaccination. As a result, some may not be opportunistically offering and strongly recommending influenza vaccination to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.^1,5,6

As an immunisation provider, how can you have better conversations with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families about influenza vaccination?

Access the SKAI conversation guide ’Talking about vaccination with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families’

You can use this guide to help you create a culturally safe space to build rapport to then enable better vaccination conversations with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and families of all ages. It’s designed to support providers to feel comfortable to have these conversations and strongly recommend vaccination.
The guide contains a list of topics with accompanying short explanations. Examples include:
- why and how to ask patients about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status
- how to build rapport with families and make your service more welcoming
- how to offer vaccination opportunistically
- how to make it easier for families to access the service and vaccination.
We recommend that you share this guide with the whole service, not just clinical staff members – for example, the receptionist who is the first point of contact with patients who may be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.

Access the SKAI resource ‘Example of a supportive flu vaccine yarn’

Once you have built rapport with families, you can use this example of an actual flu vaccination conversation with an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person when talking with families about vaccination.
You can use this example for ideas about what to say and how to say it – in particular, when talking with individuals and families who have questions or are unsure about vaccinating.
This resource is not meant to be prescriptive; feel free to adapt it.

Access the SKAI resource ‘Flu vaccine information sheet for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’

This resource helps answer key questions Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families may have about influenza vaccination.
You can print this resource and give it to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families when you start your influenza vaccination conversation.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people value having a conversation with their health provider, so use this resource as a conversation starter (rather than leaving it in the waiting room or handing it to the patient without having a conversation).

If you are looking for further resources, access and read the ‘Summary of flu and COVID-19 vaccination communication resources’

This resource summarises influenza and COVID-19 vaccination information tools and communication resources featured on key Australian health websites designed (with or without input from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people) either for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities or for immunisation providers working with them.
Scan the summary to find relevant resources to support you and/or your Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients. The ACI ‘Yarning to make health decisions together’ shared decision-making tool (see the second row of the summary table) and the NACCHO and NCIRS’ ‘Information about COVID-19 vaccines for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’ resource (see the third row of the table) may be particularly useful for immunisation providers.

References

1 Bolsewicz KT, Steffens MS, Karpish L, et al. ‘Every interaction you have … should be an opportunity to discuss and offer influenza vaccination’. Health service perspectives on influenza vaccination promotion and delivery to Aboriginal families living in New South Wales, Australia. Vaccine 2022;40:5814-20

2 Pathel C, Dey A., Wang H et al. Summary of National Surveillance Data on Vaccine Preventable Disease in Australia, 2016–2018 Final Report. Communicable Diseases Intelligence 2022; 46. doi:10.33321/cdi.2022.46.28

3 Hull B, Hendry A, Dey A, et al. Annual Immunisation Coverage Report 2020. Sydney: National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance; 2021.

4 National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance. Influenza vaccination coverage data. Available from: https://www.ncirs.org.au/influenza-vaccination-coverage-data.

5 O’Grady KA, Dunbar M, Medlin L, et al. Uptake of influenza vaccination in pregnancy amongst Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women: a mixed-methods pilot study. BMC Research Notes 2015;8:169.

6 Menzies R, Aqel J, Abdi I, et al. Why is influenza vaccine uptake so low among Aboriginal adults? Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health 2020;44:279-83.