Nursing Assignment: Reflection of Health Status of Aboriginal People in Australia

Question

Task: Write a nursing assignmentreflecting on the following 2 statements:
1. Aboriginal people, due to their own cultural beliefs and values, have the poorest health status in Australia
2. We practice equity in the provision of healthcare by treating Aboriginal people the same as all other clients
Describe and explain your response (agree or disagree or remain neutral) to these statements and consider how the unit content so far has influenced your response. Consider an alternative view and the reasons why other people may have given a different response to you. The focus on your reflection should be how this new knowledge about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ health and wellness has or will impact on how you deliver care in your career.

You also need to support your reflection using journal articles, books or audio-visual sources (professional documentaries by credible sources) that are not in the unit content but they must be able to be located via an active weblink and properly referenced. You do not need to use Gibbs reflective cycle or other frameworks for your writing but it will help you if you consider the “What, So what, now what” framework

Answer

Answer 1 Own cultural values and status of aboriginal people
It is evident in the present context of nursing assignment that cultural values and status have a significant impact on the health condition of Aboriginal people in Australia. Social and cultural determination has a deep influence on the individual health of Aboriginal people. The World Health Organization (WHO) formed the National Aboriginal Community Control Health Organization (NACCHO), to provide health benefits to the aboriginals and Torres Strait Islander people. The difference in outcomes of health between native Australian population and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islands are related to health risks, social determination (Cairney et al., 2017). The Aboriginal people of Australia do not feel comfortable with healthcare professionals. If they do not feel comfortable, Aboriginal people hesitate to explore their problems.
I think Aboriginal people are more conscious of their culture and value. The traits of culture are very important to them. Based on my opinion, as based on the course content studied, there are many health risks associated with their cultural norms and values, since their values and beliefs prohibit them from availing any medicinal help from modern-day doctors unless it complies with their values. Thus, I strongly agree that cultural belief and values have a strong connection for the poor health status of the Aboriginal people. It is recommended for Aboriginal people to explore their health issues for a cure.
As cited by HealthInfoNet (2020), the government of Australia produced health plans for Aboriginal people so that they could enjoy the same health status as other Australian people. As could be inferred from the course content, to achieve the health goal, the government of Australia has undertaken some essential aspects such as analyzing risk factors and investing in making a health system, which is supposed to improve the health outcomes among the population. However, it has been evaluated that health professionals often face difficulties in providing care to Aboriginal people due to cultural distance, owing to the health belief system of the Aboriginal people, thus aiding me to conclude that the cultural beliefs and value systems of the Aboriginals are solely responsible for their poor health status within Australia.

I think the traditional beliefs of Aboriginal people have adopted different changing circumstances. To take advantage of the government, Aboriginal people must explore their health issues and difficulties in the healthcare industry. I have found various types of traditional health belief in Aboriginal people. Lack of materials describes the health beliefs of Aboriginal people (McGough, Wynaden, and Wright, 2018). Traditional health belief works as social control. In Aboriginal culture, there is a clear division between men and women (Wilson, Heaslip and Jackson, 2018). According to me, this traditional division is a major issue of the poorest health issues of Aboriginal people in Australia. In a specific group, there is a specific culture. Based on their culture, the government produced significant approaches so that people could experience a better life. I agree to the fact that every patient has the right to be treated in the way that they want; thus, I will try to inculcate such habits and knowledge about different cultures as well as values and beliefs, so that it helps me to attend to the medical needs of diverse cultures while respecting their cultural values and beliefs. I have experienced the impact of values and cultural belief on health status as well as the necessity of striking a perfect balance between the two; I will try to maintain the same in my professional career.

Answer 2 Equity in the provision of healthcare by treating Aboriginal people in the same way as other people
The inequity of healthcare of Aboriginal people is well-documented in Australia. For instance, Aboriginal people are suffering from a burden of disease compared to non- Aboriginal Australian. The key factors of inequity of healthcare include discriminatory policies, racism. As cited by Browne et al., (2016) health of Aboriginal Australians are affected by various factors. I strongly agree that inequity is a common factor for the health of Aboriginal people in Australia. It is necessary to focus on equity in healthcare for treating Aboriginal people. In this perspective, the intercultural space has been described. According to me, it is necessary to address those factors associated with health inequity. The purpose of this stage is to identify the factors to provide equity in the equity of provision (Coombs, 2019). Equity in healthcare refers to the chance that all individuals receive, to regain their lost health potential to the maximum possible extent, without any discrimination of any sort. Since treating the Aboriginals in the same way as that of other patients hampers regaining their lost health potential, since they do not feel comfortable in receiving the treatment or abiding by the same, so I believe that by treating all the individuals equally, we do not perform equity in healthcare. In addressing intercultural space, healthcare relation with Aboriginal clients will involve healthcare interaction with non-Aboriginal clients. However, the intercultural space is not necessary for the healthcare professionals in Australia, for maintaining equity. It is essential to integrate a well-trained workforce for treating all the patients in the same manner, irrespective of their cultural background. According to me, a different level of understanding is required to maintain equity in the healthcare sector for Aboriginal people. The healthcare professional should understand their cultural norms at the time of treatment (Wilson et al., 2016). In terms of communication, healthcare professionals must show interest in them for creating a better connection. To maintain equity, I think the local history of Aboriginal people must be known to healthcare professionals.

In terms of healthcare experience, racism and stigmatization must be identified at the forefront of Aboriginal people (Goodman et al., 2017). It has a negative assumption on systematic racism on Aboriginal people. On the other hand, optional opinion is available on inequity in the healthcare industry for Aboriginal people’ treatment. They argued that inequity is happening due to negative cultural belief and values. This is because social factors are typically examined.

I think health equity should relate to leader driven priority. It is essential to develop structure and process to support equity in the healthcare industry. Healthcare industry must confront racism. I will recommend that you stay committed to assisting non-English speaking patients and Aboriginal people. I think research, analytics are essential to reduce inequity in the healthcare industry. A good relation with Aboriginal people needs to be maintained in terms of equity. From the above stage, I have learned many aspects of equity in the healthcare industry. Moreover, the necessity of equity in the healthcare industry will help me to make a balance with important areas of my career.

References
Browne, A.J., Varcoe, C., Lavoie, J., Smye, V., Wong, S.T., Krause, M., Tu, D., Godwin, O., Khan, K. and Fridkin, A., (2016).Enhancing health care equity with Indigenous populations: evidence-based strategies from an ethnographic study.BMC Health Services Research, 16(1), p.544.

Cairney, S., Abbott, T., Quinn, S., Yamaguchi, J., Wilson, B. and Wakerman, J., (2017). Interplay wellbeing framework: a collaborative methodology ‘bringing together stories and numbers’ to quantify Aboriginal cultural values in remote Australia. International Journal for Equity in Health, 16(1), p.68.

Coombs, D., (2019). Fighting for health equity: Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services in a challenging policy context.

Goodman, A., Fleming, K., Markwick, N., Morrison, T., Lagimodiere, L., Kerr, T. and Society, W.A.H.R., (2017). “They treated me like crap and I know it was because I was Native”: The healthcare experiences of Aboriginal peoples living in Vancouver's inner city.Nursing

assignmentSocial Science & Medicine, 178, pp.87-94.
HealthInfoNet, A.I., Jane, B., Drew, N., Elwell, M., FitzGerald, V., Hoareau, J., Potter, C., Poynton, M., Swann, T. and Trzesinski, A., (2020).Overview of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health status 2019.
McGough, S., Wynaden, D. and Wright, M., (2018). Experience of providing cultural safety in mental health to Aboriginal patients: A grounded theory study. International journal of mental health nursing, 27(1), pp.204-213.
Wilson, A.M., Kelly, J., Magarey, A., Jones, M. and Mackean, T., (2016). Working at the interface in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health: focussing on the individual health professional and their organisation as a means to address health equity. International journal for equity in health, 15(1), p.187.

Wilson, D., Heaslip, V. and Jackson, D., (2018). Improving equity and cultural responsiveness with marginalised communities: understanding competing worldviews. Journal of clinical nursing, 27(19-20), pp.3810-3819.