RCT of Intensive, Brief, and Control Indigenous Cultural Safety Training Interventions for Health Care Providers

Plain-language summary

Despite Canada's relative global affluence, striking Indigenous/non-Indigenous health disparities persist. Following the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's Final Report, and the publication of the First Peoples, Second Class Treatment report, there has been a growing recognition that the Canadian healthcare system - and the healthcare professional (HCP) - Indigenous patient relationship in particular - is a critical, necessary, and promising juncture for intervention. There has been a significant increase in the number of Indigenous cultural safety trainings for HCP across Canada. However, these programs have yet to be systematically evaluated. This study will use a randomized parallel group design to understand and compare the effects of an intensive multi-modular Indigenous cultural safety training program (Arm 1); a brief, 2-hour, computer-based training session plus 2 follow-up emails (Arm 2); and primary care-related training program (Arm 3, control) for staff physicians, nurse practitioners, and resident physicians affiliated at large urban academic teaching hospitals in Toronto, Canada. 60 participants will be recruited and randomized into one of the three study arms. Participants will complete a series of surveys and questionnaires at baseline and 9-11 weeks post-intervention that include measures of explicit and implicit race bias. We predict that the educational intervention in Arm 1 will have the most positive effect, followed by Arm 2 and 3 respectively. We anticipate that the results of this study will help urban hospitals implement Indigenous cultural safety training programs that are beneficial to their staff and ultimately improve the quality of care provided to Indigenous patients across Canada.

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