FormalPara Key Points

  • Our Mob and Cancer is a national website designed to provide a central hub of culturally appropriate, evidence- and strengths-based information about cancer for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their health professionals.

  • Developed by and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, Our Mob and Cancer is a first-of-its-kind, culturally safe space for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people affected by cancer, their communities, and their health professionals.

  • To guide and design the project from inception, Cancer Australia incorporated the voices and experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people impacted by cancer, their communities, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Expert Reference Group, and Cancer Australia’s Leadership Group on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cancer Control.

Although Australia’s cancer survival rates are among the best in the world, cancer is the leading cause of death for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and the gap in cancer mortality rates between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous Australians is widening [1]. Cancer places a heavy burden not only on those diagnosed with the disease but also on their families, carers, Elders, and community. The impact of a cancer diagnosis and death can have specific cultural and spiritual implications.

The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cancer Framework 2015 (the Framework) notes that “… a widespread lack of knowledge about cancer, its causes and symptoms, treatments and likely survivability is a significant barrier to improving the cancer outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people” [2]. We identified that improving knowledge, attitudes, and understanding of cancer by individuals, families, carers, and community members (across the continuum) was a key priority of the Framework. Enablers of this priority include:

  • Ensure that information is available and accessible to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across the cancer continuum, in formats and languages that are culturally appropriate.

  • Recognize that gender-specific strategies may be needed, depending on local context [2].

Why We Need a Dedicated Website About Cancer for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People

As Australia’s national cancer control agency, Cancer Australia aims to reduce the impact of cancer, address disparities, and improve cancer outcomes for all Australians. From a review of the existing website and online information hubs dedicated to cancer in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (state-based and national), we identified a need for a national website that provides a central source of current information about cancer that is relevant to and resonates with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with cancer and their health professionals.

To fill this important gap in culturally appropriate information, Cancer Australia embarked on the development of a new, national, co-designed website that would provide a central hub of culturally informed, evidence- and strengths-based information about cancer for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their health professionals. The dedicated cancer information hub would need to provide a wide range of culturally respectful and safe information for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people; be culturally appropriate in look, feel, and imagery; and incorporate the voices and experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people affected by cancer and their communities.

Co-designing the Website

An end-to-end, co-design approach was undertaken by establishing and collaborating with an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Expert Reference Group, Cancer Australia’s Leadership Group on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cancer Control, stakeholders, and advisors, with input and feedback from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members. This ensured that grassroots community voices were heard and embedded across all levels of development and design. Diverse representations from communities located across the country were included while always privileging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s ways of knowing, being, and doing.

Expert Guidance and Advice

To support the website co-design from its earliest development, Cancer Australia brought together an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Expert Reference Group with national representation. The membership included Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cancer survivors and communications professionals, clinicians working in Aboriginal healthcare, representatives from Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research Groups. The group met on five occasions between 2020 and 2022.

Cancer Australia’s Leadership Group on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cancer Control provided strategic overview and monitored the website’s development.

Suppliers

As agreed by the Expert Reference Group, all contractors engaged to develop, design, build, and write content for the dedicated website were certified and registered Indigenous Australian-owned and Indigenous Australian-operated businesses from Supply Nation [3] to ensure the website was culturally appropriate and safe, strengths-based, respectful, engaging, and consumer-friendly for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people affected by cancer and their communities and people with cancer.

Audience Testing

Website development was guided by multiple rounds of user experience and focus-group testing nationally with members of Aboriginal and Torres Strait communities. All content was culturally reviewed and focus-group tested during website development and prior to its launch.

Artwork

To ensure the design of the website was culturally welcoming, visually engaging, and positive, Indigenous artist and graphic designer Riki Salam (Mualgal, Yalanji, Ngai Tahu) created the website artwork Hope and Healing for Country (Fig. 21.1). The design aims to allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to feel connected and experience a sense of safety, belonging, hope, and healing throughout the website.

Fig. 21.1
A painting of an artwork has multiple mandala designs in a multilayered wavy background which is similar to sky, greeneries, land, and water.

Hope and Healing for Country. (Artist: Riki Salam—Mualgal, Yalanji, Ngai Tahu)

Full size image

Launching the Our Mob and Cancer Website

Our Mob and Cancer, which was launched in October 2022, is Australia’s first national comprehensive cancer website developed by and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people [4].

Our Mob and Cancer contains critical information about how cancer affects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, ways to protect against cancer, types of cancer diagnosis, treatment, living with cancer, how cancer spreads, and where to get help and support. The website also includes information about the culturally sensitive topics of Sorry Business,Footnote 1 Men’sFootnote 2 and Women’s Business,Footnote 3 and Shame,Footnote 4 and how these relate to cancer and associated health outcomes.

Following Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stakeholder recommendations and audience research, we produced a suite of videos featuring cancer survivors, Elders, and health professionals covering themes of early detection and screening, diagnosis and treatment, and Shame and Sorry Business. These were embedded throughout the website.

The Health Professionals section of the website includes guidance for health professionals on providing culturally appropriate optimal cancer care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cancer patients and explains the importance of this in supporting the best cancer outcomes possible.

Other user features of the website include:

  • A clickable body map that illustrates the organ or body part concerned and links to common cancer-type information, designed to be culturally appropriate with respect to Men’s and Women’s Business.

  • A glossary of technical terms called What does this word mean?

  • Culturally relevant lifestyle and technical illustrations to provide cultural context and support medical information.

  • Improved intuitive navigation, including accordion drop-downs for denser areas of text and easy access to key information.

  • Read speaker functionality, allowing the text on the website to be read aloud for accessibility.

  • Helpful links on where to find further help, support, and services.

  • Print-friendly format, providing users with the ability to print and/or save the content as a PDF document.

Cancer Australia extends sincere thanks and recognition to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Expert Reference Group and Cancer Australia’s Leadership Group on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cancer Control, which provided expert advice and guidance to Our Mob and Cancer, and to Riki Salam who created the Our Mob and Cancer artwork. We also thank the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people affected by cancer and communities across Australia who contributed to Our Mob and Cancer.