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Essay on health and culture
Cultural considerations in health care
Indigenous people health disparities
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Hampton, R., & Toombs, M. (2013). Chapter 4: Indigenous Australian concepts of health and well-being. In Indigenous Australians and Health: The Wombat in the Room. (pp. 73-90). Oxford University Press: South Melbourne. The authors describe Indigenous perspectives on health and well-being based on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s historical and cultural backgrounds. In the Indigenous culture, health comprises not just physical and mental health, but emotional well-being, social and environmental factors as well. Moreover, this holistic approach to health is most associated with their cultural and spiritual dimension. For instance, it is important to maintain their physical and cultural connection to traditional lands as well …show more content…
Through showing the different definitions of health, the authors explain how those different understandings affect patterns of behavior on health depend on different cultures. In addition, an analysis of the models of health demonstrates even western medical approaches to health have different cognitions, same as the Indigenous health beliefs. The most remarkable aspect is a balance, a corresponding core element in most cultures which is an important consideration in Indigenous health as well. From an Indigenous perspective, health is considered as being linked, and keeping the connection is a priority to preserve their health. Consequently, health is a very much culturally determined. Health practitioners should anticipate and respect the cultural differences when they encounter a patient from various cultures. In particular, this article is good to understand why the Indigenous health beliefs are not that different than western medicine views using appropriate examples and comparative composition, even though the implementation the authors indicated is a bit abstract, not …show more content…
Mentioning a diversity of culture and language in Australia with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Australians, the fact sheet indicates that these cultural differences may impact on the practitioner-client relationship and on the delivery of services. Therefore, in order to achieve good practice and health outcomes, physiotherapist should effort to understand the cultural needs and contexts of different patients. To be specific, practitioners need to be aware that some patients or clients have additional needs and modify their approach appropriately. For example, the Code of conduct strongly recommends becoming familiar with and using qualified language interpreters or cultural interpreters to help meet the communication needs of patients. Besides, it also includes more detailed information about Indigenous Australians. It stipulates significant disparities in the health status of Indigenous Australians result from the socio-economic inequities. Lastly, it is also comprised Aboriginal people’s preference of consultation or treatment by a same gender practitioner because of their traditional
Kirmayer, Sehdev, Whitley, Dandeneau, & Isaac (2009), suggested that a culture-centered approach to resilience is better as a community process, rather than an individual struggle. In this article, the focus is on the Aboriginal people and resilience. The authors warned that resilience should not be used as an all-inclusive term to fix everything, but instead be used as a component of overall wellness in a community. A key strength of the wellness framework is that it is “culturally relative” and each person can define his or her pathway (Newman & Newman, 2012). The road to wellness and resilience is challenging due to the many factors influencing success. External influences can affect how an individual copes with certain situations and it can be detrimental if they have no external support. However, when excellent support is offered, it is more likely that an individual or community can effectively cope. Nevid & Rathus (2010) define acculturative stress as the feelings of tensions and anxiety that comes with trying to adapt to the dominant culture. This can lead to feelings of ambiguity in personal identity and can lead to further
Native Americans have a long history of using native plants, berries, herbs, and trees for a wide variety of medicinal purposes. Native Americans have been using these methods for thousands of years.
Advanced knowledge of Aboriginal Health policy and issues at the level and national level including understanding successful measures around Closing the Gap in Aboriginal Health inequality. My desire to work in the aboriginal field begins since I was very young. That is why at 16 years of my age I started to be even more interested in understanding all the issues related to the aborigines of this country. Over time, I looked that all my knowledge be trained at health level basis to help to improve the Aboriginal quality of life standards.
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.
The 1967 referendum resulted in the change of the Constitution on August 10 of that year, initiating the start of great change for the lives of indigenous people in Australia. The referendum sought to change Sections 51 and 127 of the Constitution. Section 51 stated the Federal Government could make laws for anyone in the nation except aborigines, leaving state governments in charge (Creative Spirits – 1967 Referendum, online, 14/8/15). Section 127 specified that when the population of the Commonwealth was counted, indigenous people were not included (Creative Spirits – 1967 Referendum, online, 14/8/15). According to Faith Bandler, an indigenous civil rights activist, it was important to force the Commonwealth to be responsible for the aborigines
The aim of healing was to reconnect social and emotional harmony to the unwell, identifying the importance of interconnectedness amongst all people, animals, and plants Living in harmony with their environment, family and community is a central concept of health and healing for Indigenous Australians. Ill health is recognized as a manifestation of many factors including, spiritual and emotional alienation from the land, family, and community. The Dreamtime expressed by song, rituals, and art communicate the purpose of life, the spiritual connection of all humans, places, animals and plants and the necessity of balance Wholeness of body, mind, spirit and the living in harmony with nature were key concepts behind the Native Northern American healing philosophy.
According to Australian indigenous website, healthinfoNet, in 2010-2012 life expectancy of indigenous people were 69 years which is 11 years less than the 80 years expected for the non- indigenous men and women. Moreover, the life expectancy for native women was 73 years, during 2010-2012, which is 9.5 years less than the expectation of 83 years for non-Indigenous women. The reason for decreased health can be due to deficiencies in water supply, sanitation and lack of proper medical services.
The period termed the “cultural transition” that happened soon after Aboriginal peoples made contact with the colonizers, was when they were initially stripped of their cultural authority and social power. Once Aboriginal peoples realized they had minimal control over the devastating events, they began to display behavioural patterns of helplessness and giving up (Wesley-Esquimaux & Smolewski, 2004). These behaviours of helplessness led to many of the Aboriginal peoples choosing to withdraw socially, reduce their cultural and spiritual activities, and engage in repetitive cycles of conflict. The continued acts of conflict in turn led to profound psychological problems (drug addiction, sexual abuse, alcoho...
Secondly, the customary health beliefs of the aboriginal populace are interrelated with numerous characteristics of their customs such as kinship obligations, land policies, and religion (Boulton-Lewis, Pillay, Wilss, & Lewis, 2002). The socio-medical structure of health beliefs, which the aboriginal people...
0.8% of the overall Federal health expenditure in 2009 which was spent on Aboriginal health. The overall wellbeing of an individual is more than just being free from disease. It is about their social, emotional, spiritual, physiological as well as the physical prosperity. Indigenous health issues are all around us, but we don’t recognise because it doesn’t affect us, but this issue is a concern to Indigenous Australia and also to modern day Catholics in Australia The statistics relating to Indigenous health is inexcusable, life expectancy is at an all time low, higher hospilatisation for avoidable diseases, alerting rates of deaths from diabetes and kidney disease. This issue is bigger than we all think, for example 13% of Indigenous homes
Nurses playing an important role in communication with the patient. ”communication is a life long learning process for nurse.’’(P & P). Nurses are working with patients and their families from their birth to death. It is mandatory to the nurse to maintain or create a therapeutic relationship, communication throughout their caring process. For effective communication the nurse should understand their cultural belief, and values, etc. One person’s personal beliefs, traditions and values can influence their recognition of their health and wellness. Based on that they will choose their medical care and treatment. (Nadline Caron). Aboriginal people are the original inhabitants of the Canadian land. Aboriginal peoples are living with their
A health education tool that is explicit, practical, positive, non-fear inducing and oppressive, acknowledges cultural and traditional practices, the social determinants of health, and the diversity of cultures within a population will increase the success of the health education intervention. It will also promote autonomy, usability, sustainability, self-determination, empowerment, and motivation for behavior change in the Indigenous
In order to understand the impact of colonisation on Aboriginal health; it is important to recognize their worldview or set of beliefs on health (Tilburt, 2010). They practice a “holistic” approach unlike the Western Biomedical model where health is centred on biological functioning (Lock, 2007). According to this model the essence of being healthy relies on the mental, spiritual and social well-being rather than the absence of an illness (Hampton & Toombs, 2013). It is closely linked to spiritual and environmental factors; the heart of which is country, tradition and kinship. Land is a source of identity and spirituality for indigenous people (Hampton & Toombs, 2013). Kinship manages connection to land as well as ceremonial obligations and interpersonal relationships (Hampton & Toombs, 2013). For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders a healthy person consists of physical and spiritual elements. It’s evident that colonisation eroded the structures upon which Indige...
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
6). We have to examine ourselves and become aware of our cultural beliefs, values and perception view of life. Each cultural is different and what may be acceptable in one culture, may be considered disrespectful in another culture. As a health care professional, we must research our patient cultural belief and practice. We can determine the patient eating habits, communication methods and health beliefs. Being aware of the patient customs and beliefs can help aid with the effectiveness of care rendered to the patient. In the end, the patient will have a better response and improved outcome regarding their