Communicating
Health with Young
Indigenous Australians

Here we bring together our findings from research with young Indigenous Australians.

It highlights and gives an understanding of the different cultural perspectives to be sensitive of when communicating health.

Key Tips

GENUINE REPRESENTATION - Indigenous Australians respond better to communication that features other Indigenous Australians and uses imagery and colours that represent their community. This shouldn’t be tokenistic but instead be the core elements.
FOCUS ON COMMUNITY - Use messaging, such as tips and advice, that is centred around the benefits to community, rather than the benefits to the individual.
VISUAL STORYTELLING - The telling of stories is a key part of the culture of Indigenous Australians. Consider the use of visual imagery, short video clips and other audiovisual elements to bring your communication to life.
BUILD TRUST - Trust & credibility is vital when communicating with Indigenous Australians. VACCHO has some great resources to help, such as this Cultural Safety review.
BE GENUINE - Your engagement with Indigenous Australians should be genuine. Engage the community, don’t just target them with communication.

Important factors when communicating with Indigenous Australians

As identified in our section about the Socio-Cultural Ecological Model, cultural influences can play a big role in how an individual considers their health. To make an impact, it is important for health professionals to be mindful of, and work with, cultural context.

Communicating Health research into health and wellbeing in young Indigenous Australians found some similarities but also some major differences in how young Indigenous Australians interact with health information on social media.

It identified three main themes that are important for health professionals to consider:

Family & Community connection are pivotal in health

Family and community have a role in constructing health beliefs especially diet, eating decisions and the amount of physical activity that an individual undertakes.

The balance between mental & physical health is important

Conversations with Indigenous Australians highlighted that it was important for individuals to find the right balance between mental health and wellbeing, and that discourse on social media was often too focused on the physical. Many believed that mental health needed more attention on social media and online spaces.

Close peers & social media influencers have an impact on health

In discussions with young Indigenous Australians they identified the benefits of some of the discourse on social media as it allowed them to learn about health and diet in new and interesting ways. However, they also identified that some social media influencers can have a negative impact by making healthy decisions more confusing and by creating a false sense of reality.

Social media overall was considered most appealing when it:

Contained Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content specifically
Utilised shorter video clips and illustrations to describe ideas

Desired future online health messages that were identified included more focus on:

Mental health
Utilising humour
Having strong visual elements
Focusing on self-empowerment in messages relating to the individual and their broader community

Where to next? - Finding Time to Communicate on Social Media or to helpful links below

Links & Resources

Communicating Health with Young Indigenous Australians