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Reflection paper on indigenous health
Reflection paper on indigenous health
Health that impacts aboriginals essay
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The gap in health status between Australia’s first nation people and non-indigenous Australians is a result of numerous pivotal moments in Australia’s somewhat recent history. European colonization is the foremost cause for most, if not all of the socio-economic challenges that most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people would be confronted with in contemporary society. Understanding that the historical events, political policies and acts shaped our society into what it is today is key in trying to address the inequalities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ health status. The Cultural and social challenges that modern Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people may be confronted with due to the nature of the discrimination is prevalent in modern society and can be outlined in the ‘social detriments of health’ model. History plays a key role in modeling the backbone of modern society. Life of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people prior to European colonization was rich in essence of environmental sustainability, cultural balance, and spirituality and subsequently their overall health status was admirable. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples hunter-gatherer lifestyle was sustainable and effective. For the most part, acquiring the nutrients they needed to survive was met from this lifestyle. Indigenous people had immense knowledge for what the land had to offer and how it could benefit their communities, while still maintaining a sustainable balance with Mother Nature. (Saggers, S., & Gray, D. (1991). Their spiritual connection with the land in which they occupied was in my opinion, one of the main reasons for the success of their community. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had r... ... middle of paper ... ...ears. London: Vintage. HREOC. (1997). Bringing them Home: Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families Lowell, A., Maypilama, E. & Biritjalawuy, D. (2003) Indigenous Health and Education: Exploring the connections. CRCATH, Darwin McDonald, J. (2010). Health Equity and the Social Determinants of Health in Australia. Social Alternatives. Vol.29 No.2.pp.34-40. Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families April 1997 https://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/bringing-them-home-chapter-10 (Saggers, S., & Gray, D. (1991). Traditional patterns of health and disease. In Aboriginal health and society : the traditional and contemporary Aboriginal struggle for better health (pp. 19-48). North Sydney : Allen & Unwin. )pg26-27)
http://www.humanrights.gov.au/racial_discrimination/consultations/consultations.html. Martin, B (1981) A sociology of contemporary cultural change, Basil Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, England. McGuire T, Houston S, Rohwedder E, Montague G. (1998) Identifying Aboriginal person care in hospitals and Medicare documentation, Health Department of Western Australia, Perth.
Residential schools undoubtedly created detrimental inter-generational consequences. The dark legacy of residential schools has had enduring impact, reaching into each new generation, and has led to countless problems within Aboriginal families including: chemical dependence, a cycle of abuse in families, dysfunctional families, crime and incarceration, depression, grief, suicide, and cultural identity issues (McFarlan, 2000, p. 13). Therefore, the inter-generational consequence...
National health and medical research council NHMRC (1996, cited in Thompson 2014), noted that the ‘Australian aborigine view health as not just the physical well-being of the individual but also the social, emotional, spiritual and cultural well-being of the whole community.
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.
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...
Hampton, R. & Toombs, M. (2013). Indigenous Australians and health. Oxford University Press, South Melbourne.
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).
In addition there needs to be an understanding to the relationships towards the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders health and well-being. These include the historical context and legacy which lies within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders history and the future uncertainty the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders face towards the unresolved issues that have contributed to the decline in health and well-being of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. (Dudgeon et al.)
The Stolen Generation has left devastating impacts upon the Aboriginal culture and heritage, Australian history and the presence of equality experienced today. The ‘Stolen Generation’ refers to the children of Aboriginal descent being forcefully abducted by government officials of Australia and placed within institutions and catholic orphanages, being forced to assimilate into ‘white society’. These dehumanising acts placed these stolen children to experience desecration of culture, loss of identity and the extinction of their race. The destructive consequences that followed were effects of corruption including attempted suicide, depression and drug and alcohol abuse. The indigenous peoples affected by this have endured solitude for many years, this has only been expressed to the public recently and a proper apology has been issued, for the years of ignorance to the implementation of destruction of culture. The Stolen Generation has dramatically shaped Australian history and culture.
1) First topic chosen was wellness which is “a conscious, self-directed and evolving process of achieving full potential.” (The National Wellness Institute, para 3) What wellness means to me is being with my family, surrounding myself with your loved ones, or even being with the environment. To Indigenous people it is the exact same with their wellness with each other, or the wellness with their environment. Mental wellness in Indigenous is living a journey along the way being fulfilled in good health. This changed my thoughts because sometimes I don’t always see the good or surround myself in happiness which can create bad health for me.
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...
The article mentions about the struggle for social justice by the indigenous Australians that have constituted challenges to the Australian state, including its welfare and community development practices. The Mabo judgement and resultant Native Title Act 1993 (Stephenson and Ratnapala, 1993; Goot and Rowse, 1994; Brennan, 1995) can be read as marking the success of indigenous groups in obtaining special status as a people within Australian constitutional and administrative systems. This paper briefly portrays the historical emergence of a prejudiced welfare state in Australia as well as more recent histories of community development within Aboriginal people. The early attempts to “civilise and Christianise” were unsuccessful as the indigenous
Mainstream services need to take into account gender, beliefs, local languages, and kinship systems, thus improving service delivery settings and making them more acceptable to the Indigenous community. There are many factors which can improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander access to mainstream services such as energetic indigenous leadership. I believe we need more indigenous, culturally aware people working in health services and undertaking leadership roles within health and community services to make these settings more culturally appropriate, to accommodate the indigenous community and to encourage people to access these services. (Australia,
Poor living conditions are a major health determinant throughout the indigenous population. Most Indigenous Australians are known to live in rural parts of Australia which are commonly not close to major cities and services. People living in these areas generally have poorer health than others living in the cities and other parts of Australia. These individuals do not have as much access to health services and good quality housing. In 2006 roughly 14% of indigenous households in Australia were overcrowded unlike 5% of other households (AIHW, 2009a). Overcrowded and poor quality houses are commonly associated with poor physical and mental health between the people living in them. The indigenous are n...
...tions for feelings of self-worth and belonging, and this has a major impact on health in regards to Aboriginal women. A study conducted with Aboriginal women in Manitoba by the Prairie Women's Health Centre of Excellence in 2004 found that Aboriginal women endorsed important links between health and wellness and their cultural identities. Cultural identities to Aboriginal people are inseparable from their family, history, community, place, and spirituality and all of these elements are integrated into a broad and holistic understanding of health and well-being. The women in the study acknowledged that many factors shaped their health and well-being including poverty, housing, violence, and addictive behaviours, however, loss of cultural identity served as a potential anchor to unhealthy, unsafe conduct that leads to sickness and disease .