The Canadian population is composed of people with different cultural background that consist of different communities of immigrants and natives. The Aboriginal community is one of the native community living in Canada holding 4.3% of total population as per National Household Survey 2011 (Statistics Canada, 2011).The Aboriginal people are culturally diverse in Canada having unique historical, linguistic and social contexts. Distinct cultural background of the Aboriginal communities is one of the reason they are experiencing inequities and disparities in health status compared to the non-aboriginal people. In this regard, Canadian nurses are expected to learn about cultural diversity, knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide culturally …show more content…
Likewise, the death rate among Aboriginals infant is 4 times the rate of Canada as whole. Aboriginals preschoolers and teenagers death rate is 5 times and 3 times the national rate respectively. (Aboriginal Nurses Association Canada (A.N.A.C), 2009, p.8). Cultural discontinuity has been associated with higher rates of depression, alcoholism, suicide and violence which is greater on the Aboriginal youth (Kirmayer et al, 2000). According to Health Canada document on suicide prevention, suicides rate is highest in the world among Inuit youth. In Nunavut, 1989 to 1993 suicides rate was 79 cases in 10000, but in 1999 to 2003 the cases were risen to 119. (Aboriginal Nurses Association Canada (A.N.A.C, 2009, p.9). Furthermore, over the last 20 years, a number of studies have demonstrated the importance of culture to the health and health care of Aboriginal people. The limited understanding of Aboriginal cultures by some biomedical health care professionals can result in health conditions going unrecognized, or errors occurring in diagnosis and treatment. A study based on a comparative analysis of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal hospital psychiatric admissions in North western Ontario suggested that some Aboriginal people admitted for …show more content…
Similar to other organizations, NAHO has also released the fact sheets and position statements regarding aboriginal health issues. In 2008, NAHO published a guide "Cultural Competency and Safety: A Guide for Health Care Administrators, Providers, Educators". The focus of this guide is on the need for cultural safety in education programs and health care. In order to improve cultural safety, education, recognizing diversity of population, historical context, and understanding health care provider and patient relationship is essential. NAHO further focuses on how the cultural safety improve the health care quality of the aboriginal by integrating client 's health beliefs into medical treatment, determining communication techniques and decision making process.(Baba,L.2013, p 11). In addition, NAHO focuses on providing culturally safety education to student nurses which emphasizes on teaching students about history of colonization and its impact on health of indigenous people rather than on increasing the knowledge of values and beliefs about aboriginal in terms of
To begin with, once the policy of assimilation came into effect, Aboriginals were subject to a new environment, resulting in the loss of their culture. It is due to this, that the rates of suicide for First Na...
Definition: Mental health has become a pressing issue in Indigenous communities. Often, a combination of trauma, a lack of accessible health resources, substance abuse, violence, and socioeconomic situations lead to high rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidality in Indigenous Peoples. This crisis is especially apparent in Indigenous youth, where there is a growing suicide epidemic but little mental health support and resources are provided. The increase in stigmatized and untreated mental illness has continued as trauma and systemic injustices remain unaddressed. Indigenous groups, governmental parties, and health organizations are involved.
There are significant health disparities that exist between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians. Being an Indigenous Australian means the person is and identifies as an Indigenous Australian, acknowledges their Indigenous heritage and is accepted as such in the community they live in (Daly, Speedy, & Jackson, 2010). Compared with Non-Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal people die at much younger ages, have more disability and experience a reduced quality of life because of ill health. This difference in health status is why Indigenous Australians health is often described as “Third World health in a First World nation” (Carson, Dunbar, Chenhall, & Bailie, 2007, p.xxi). Aboriginal health care in the present and future should encompass a holistic approach which includes social, emotional, spiritual and cultural wellbeing in order to be culturally suitable to improve Indigenous Health. There are three dimensions of health- physical, social and mental- that all interrelate to determine an individual’s overall health. If one of these dimensions is compromised, it affects how the other two dimensions function, and overall affects an individual’s health status. The social determinants of health are conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age which includes education, economics, social gradient, stress, early life, social inclusion, employment, transport, food, and social supports (Gruis, 2014). The social determinants that are specifically negatively impacting on Indigenous Australians health include poverty, social class, racism, education, employment, country/land and housing (Isaacs, 2014). If these social determinants inequalities are remedied, Indigenous Australians will have the same opportunities as Non-Ind...
Walter, M. (2007). Aboriginality, poverty and health-exploring the connections. Beyond bandaids: exploring the underlying social determinants of aboriginal health. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.lowitja.org.au/sites/default/files/docs/Beyond-Bandaids-CH5.pdf/ [Accessed 10 Apr 2014]
... To provide Indigenous people with adequate health care, emphasis needs to be placed on understanding indigenous beliefs and the social detriments Indigenous communities are faced with. Applying a suitable model of health to each individual situation will provide the best outcome. This was evident in the case study discussed in the essay. Rodney’s experiences within the medical world ended with a positive and desirable result, but if the appropriate transcultural care was not given, that positive result would have created a negative outcome, which could have been detrimental to Rodney’s future health.
...fficient training for health workers, communication barriers, a general mistrust in the health care system and culture shock has contributed to issues in delivering services to many Indigenous communities. The reason to why these issues have emerged is a result of two main factors, the lack of health services that are needed to address the issue and the silence of Indigenous communities which leads to misunderstanding between the government and Indigenous communities. Indigenous Australian’s experience this major disadvantage and neglect in the Australian society due to the poor healthcare system and policies that haven’t had a positive effect on the issue. For the issue of Indigenous health to be resolved, the Government and social policies need to address and meet the need of Indigenous people to overcome the poor health conditions that these communities suffer.
Health care inequities can be elucidated by the research that identifies the social, economic and political ideologies that reflect aspects of cultural safety (Crandon, 1986; O’Neil, 1989 as cited in Browne & Fiske, 2001). There are various factors that affect the mistreatment of aboriginal peoples as they access health care in local health care facilities such as hospitals and clinics. Aboriginal women face many barriers and are discriminated against as a result based on their visible minority status such as race, gender and class (Gerber, 1990; Dion Stout, 1996; Voyageur, 1996 as cited in Browne & Fiske, 2001). A study done on Aboriginal peoples in Northern B.C. showed high rates of unemployment, underemployment and dependency on social welfare monies (Browne & Fiske, 2001). This continued political economic marginalisation of aboriginal peoples widens the gap between the colonizers and the colonized. The existence of racial profiling of aboriginal peoples by “Indian status” often fuels more stigmatization of these people because other Canadians who do not see the benefits of compensations received with having this status often can be resentful in what they may perceive is another compensation to aboriginal peoples. The re...
Puzan (2003, p. 197) discusses racial stratification being responsible for organizing social relations, meaning that through language and practice, nurses participate in the production and maintenance of patient identities. Nurses are vulnerable to interacting and responding to patients with unconscious biases, relying on embedded and accepted stereotypes. Racial health care inequality is a multidimensional problem, with barriers to health care involving the health care system, the patient, community, and health care providers themselves. A lack of awareness and education pertaining to issues of race, racism, and whiteness contribute to poor perceptions are being addressed within Australian nursing curriculum (Van Den Berg, 2010, p. 2). The relationship between health and racism has been found as the cause of persistent health differences by racial or ethnic classification and racism is identified as the root cause of the extreme socio-economic and health disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal Australians (Larson et al, 2007, p. 26). Possessing a diversity and cross cultural competency is important, as is paying attention to systemic policies and procedures that negatively impact a nurse’s ability to provide adequate care to people of all races.
One of the greatest issues that the world is currently facing right now is racism. In Canada’s society however, some of this racism affects the life of certain minority groups; the Aboriginal population. Though there is about 1% of the population of Quebec (Canada, 2010) that is Native American, the issue needs to be addressed to help further their life-span. There is not only Aboriginal people in Quebec but also throughout Canada, in total there is 11 different Aboriginal communities througho...
Since colonialism after the invasion, Australia indigenous peoples have experienced a great deal of loss of identity, loss, disempowerment, cultural alienation, grief. Many indigenous people's mental and physical health impaired. Suicide, family violence, drug abuse and unemployment rates is higher than the Australian average(Berry et al. 2012). That is complicated to contributing to develop and support sustainable mental health and social wellbeing for Australian aboriginals staying in rural areas ,related to much diversity involved in and between individuals and communities (Guerin & Guerin 2012).
Aboriginal people represent less than 3% of the total population in BC. Yet, they account for more than 9% of all suicides in BC (Chandler). The numbers of suicides amongst aboriginal youth are even more alarming – nearly one-fourth of all youth suicides in BC are committed by aboriginals and more than half of all aboriginal suicides are committed by youth (Chandler). The fact that indigenous communities in Canada have the highest rate of suicide of any culturally identifiable group in the world implies that these alarming statistics may not solely be a result of aboriginal communities belonging to a minority cultural group. I will attempt to build a speculative hypothesis behind the significantly high suicide rates amongst aboriginal youth in Canada. I will do so by turning to three factors that I think are most important amongst the several factors that may be coming together and playing a role in the high vulnerability to suicide amongst aboriginal youth. I believe this is important because the more accurately we identify causal factors that may be responsible for aboriginal suicide, the more specific suicide prevention programs can be made. This pool of factors must include those that are common to all suicidal behaviour, those that are responsible for suicidal behaviour in marginalized communities and those that might be specific to the history and context of aboriginals in Canada. In this commentary I have chosen one factor from each of these three pools of factors – one, the interpersonal-psychological theory to explain suicide in general; two, loss of self-identity, which could be a leading cause for aboriginal suicide worldwide; and three, the impact of residential schools on the psychological makeup of aboriginals of Ca...
Aboriginal health is majorly determined by several social factors that are related to their cultural beliefs. Health professionals regularly find it difficult to provide health care to aboriginal people due to the cultural disparity that exists between the conventional and aboriginal cultures, predominantly with regard to systems of health belief (Carson, Dunbar, & Chenhall, 2007). The discrepancy between the aboriginal culture and typical Western customs seems to amplify the difficulties experienced in every cross-cultural setting of health service delivery (Selin & Shapiro, 2003). Most of the social determinants of the aboriginal health are due to their strict belief in superstition and divine intervention.
Cultural competence is a skill essential to acquire for healthcare providers, especially nurses. Cooperating effectively and understanding individuals with different backgrounds and traditions enhances the quality of health care provided by hospitals and other medical facilities. One of the many cultures that nurses and other health care providers encounter is the American Indian or Native American culture. There are hundreds of different American Indian Tribes, but their beliefs and values only differ slightly. The culture itself embodies nature.
Therefore, providing culturally appropriate services for people has significant role for health professional; the main reasons of this is culturally appropriate services are linked inextricably with the health of the clients. According to Oda & Rameka (2012), in 1980s, Maori were experience racial discrimination and that is linked to higher rate of illness on Maori, such as mental illness, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, cancer, mortality, and health-risk behaviors such as tobacco and alcohol consumption. This is the results of unfair health service. During to the research (Oda & Rameka, 2012), people are more attempt not to see the doctor when they are experiencing discrimination and it makes their mortality higher than other non- Maori. Another factor could be Maori are not unable to access the health information and there was poor health literacy in that era and they were not able to understand different disease and lack of health education of living with a healthy lifestyle (Oda & Rameka, 2012). A classic example can be seen in the consumption of tobacco and alcohol, at the era, people did not know the repercussion of tobacco and alcohol use, but if they were able to access the information they would understand the
• Amnesty International: Australia- governments dismissal of UN criticism undermines hard earned credibility in human rights diplomacy.