Missed opportunities in educating Aboriginal Australians about bowel cancer screening: Whose job is it anyway?

BACKGROUND: A culturally relevant educational flipchart targeting Aboriginal people was distributed across Western Australia to support education on bowel cancer screening and encourage participation in the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program.

METHODS: Respondents sampled from the flipchart distribution list were surveyed on the appropriateness, usefulness, and the extent to and manner in which they used the flipchart for educating Aboriginal clients.

RESULTS: Despite praising the resource, few respondents used the flipchart as intended for various reasons, including the view that Aboriginal health education was the responsibility of Aboriginal health workers.

CONCLUSIONS: Greater recognition by all health service providers is needed of their potential role in Aboriginal health education. Promoting a national health program of under-appreciated importance for a marginalised population is challenging. Effective utilisation of an educational tool is predicated on factors beyond its production quality and wide dissemination. Intended users require awareness of the underlying problem, and adequate time for and specific training in implementation of the tool.