Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic: Safety practices and insights from Aboriginal elders, organisations and communities

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia highlighted the strengths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and organisation However, it also exposed significant challenges relating to equity, equality, and ethical decision-making, underscoring the need for Aboriginal community-based research to gain a better understanding of the pandemic's impact. Using Indigenous Standpoint Theory and Complex Adaptive Systems Theory as philosophical lens and Aboriginal Participatory Action Research as methodology, our team of Aboriginal and ally researchers conducted ten yarning and validation yarning circles with 52 participants in the southwest regions of Western Australia. We theoretically sampled urban and rural Aboriginal Elders, community members and organisations, and explored their experiences and perspectives about COVID-19. Our thematic analysis of the yarning circles revealed that an interaction of individual and contextual factors and processes significantly influenced perception of safety, coping strategies, and decision-making across individual, community, and organisational levels. Although many participants experienced resilience and adaptability resulting from Indigenous ways of being, knowing and doing and sharing ways for circumventing negative and inequitable experiences, these individual and system level interactions also led to many participants experiencing fear in response to the pandemic exacerbating disruptions to services and basic needs. The findings indicate that the complexities of Australia's historical and contemporary colonial practices share similar characteristics with COVID-19 restrictions, evoking traumatic memories from the past. The findings suggest a need for crisis response to be co-created, co-implemented and co-evaluated with local Aboriginal communities to be evaluative, culturally informed, and inclusive of diverse Aboriginal voices, knowledges, and practices.