Overview
In this unit, you will examine the elements of cultural capability required to practice culturally safe and inclusive midwifery care. You will have the opportunity to develop an understanding of cultural safety through self-reflexivity for culturally safe midwifery care that is free of racism and bias. You will be introduced to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' history and post-colonial experiences to gain an insight into the implications of this for midwifery care, population health, and health care practice. You will gain an understanding of the importance of equitable partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, health professionals, organisations, and the community to provide respectful midwifery practice that is underpinned by cultural safety. Specifically, you will focus on historical and current issues in relation to 'Women's Business', birthing on country, motherhood, and the models of midwifery care available to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Pre-requisites: MDWF12006 Midwifery Practice 2, MDWF12005 Foundations of Midwifery 2 and MDWF12004 Critical Inquiry and Midwifery Practice
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 3 - 2026
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from SUTE Data
The assignments felt extremely repetitive. The amount of the assignments (including the group discussions) felt overwhelming. It felt like there was always an assignment to do.
It is recommended that the assessment structure be reviewed to ensure clarity, reduce perceived overlap, and improve the balance of workload across the term, while maintaining alignment with learning outcomes and academic standards.
Feedback from SUTE Data
A lot of doubling up of information in association with other units, very repetitive. For the amount of cultural practice we do, this feels over-educated.
Clarifying the role of this unit as a foundational component of the program and explaining how cultural safety knowledge and skills are scaffolded across the midwifery curriculum may help address student perceptions regarding assessment relevance and expectations. This recommendation has been addressed through explicit explanation of each assessment task, including its purpose within the unit and its alignment with learning outcomes. Teaching and unit materials clearly articulate how the assessment supports the development of culturally safe midwifery practice and how these skills and understandings are scaffolded across the broader program and applied in future clinical contexts. This explicit framing supports student understanding of the relevance of the assessment and its importance to professional midwifery practice.