Strengths-based Approaches A strengths-based approach centres the People and relationships of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, highlighting their history, positionality, and dynamic cultures as sources of resilience and success, rather than focusing on projects, policies or comparisons to the dominant culture. This contrasts with a deficit approach, which frames Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identity and health negatively, as a burden, where being Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander becomes the problem focus, a source of failure and inferiority. This overlooks historical, political, and structural issues and reinforces commonly held attitudes, beliefs and stereotypes. It is emerging that persistent deficit discourse also has a negative impact on the health of First Nations Peoples similarly to racism, discrimination and colonising methodologies. The RACGP will prioritise a strengths-based approach which asserts the humanity, strength, and resilience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. This includes actively identifying deficit and negative narratives or approaches that reinforce problematic stereotypes. A strengths-based practice requires a reconfiguring of relationships of power, of attending to structure over stereotypes, and privileging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, being and doing. (Askew et al, 2020). Racism, Discrimination and Privilege Ongoing colonising processes and marginalisation perpetuate all levels of racism including intrapersonal, interpersonal, and institutional racism profoundly impacting the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Medical education has historically been complicit in these inequitable structures, requiring a critical examination of its culture to address embedded racism, discrimination and privilege. By embedding this guiding principle, the RACGP reinforces its zero tolerance on racism stance and will strive to eliminate racism in education and training at all levels, including identified system review. Equity The World Health Organisation defines health equity as: “…the absence of unfair and avoidable or remediable differences in health among population groups defined socially, economically, demographically, geographically, or otherwise. Some dimensions of identity that individuals or groups are categorised by include race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, employment and socioeconomic status, disability, immigration status, geography, and more.” This Framework and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander governance underpinning it aim to achieve equitable outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples across health, education, and research within the RACGP, benefiting patients, registrars, and GP Fellows. Recognising that the health system is profoundly shaped by a hierarchical western biomedical model, it is essential to address cultural bias in medical education to achieve these equitable outcomes (Naidu and Abimola, 2022). The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural and Health Training Framework 25
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