Co-designing a culturally informed digital onboarding platform for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with chronic conditions

Opportunity

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples experience some of the highest rates of chronic illness in Australia, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and kidney disease. Despite the promise of digital health, many existing tools fail to engage because they are not designed with cultural safety, trust, or usability in mind.

This project addresses that gap by co-designing a culturally informed digital onboarding process within the iyarn platform. From the first interaction, patients will encounter features that reflect Indigenous knowledge systems, include plain-language consent, and embed role-based data access aligned with Indigenous Data Sovereignty. This project will work closely with the Heart Research Institute – Djuarli Centre and Indigenous-owned digital agency NGNY to ensure cultural integrity, technical excellence, and community trust.

By creating a trusted entry point to digital health, the project will support greater use of patient-reported outcomes and experiences (PROMs and PREMs) and provide clinicians with more meaningful insights to inform personalised care.

Project Objective

• Improve digital health equity – Deliver a culturally governed onboarding model that increases Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation in digital health.
• Embed patient-reported data – Integrate PROMs and PREMs into the onboarding process to strengthen feedback loops between patients and clinicians.
• Strengthen cultural governance – Ensure all design and evaluation activities are led with Indigenous leadership and community engagement.
• Evaluate real-world impact – Pilot the model in Aboriginal Medical Services and NSLHD, measuring usability, trust and patient outcomes