...These six Aboriginal Rns would have two major issues to begin their new career. One initial problem would be there being ex-students and new to the professional field of nursing. Being ex-students’ becomes quite an issue for new RNs. Acceptance by more experienced staff in the field, still treated as students and not fully accepted as RNs. These newly qualified RNs have to prove themselves to other staff. A difficult burden to carry when attempting to learn the new system, get to know different staff as well as give an efficient and effective nursing service to patients. This occurs when they are acknowledged, their demonstrated skills, education, training and form professional relationships. Raises another issue in our study as the new RNs are of local Aboriginal network and culture, working in a Western based medical system. We are informed that the Indigenous groups were pleased with the concept of nursing being given by same culture nurses, in fact they were asked for rather than the non Indigenous patients. This of course would give some positive feedback and acceptance for the new RNs. It is likely that some non Indigenous staff would not appreciate this, it causing some envy and further thoughts and treatment of the Aboriginal groups as ‘other’ holding consequences for them. Whilst others may appreciate knowledge of the local indigenous population. Such non acceptance demonstrates that although they have joined the system they are officially ‘in’ they have not been accepted...
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...Tuesday, 12 August 2014 STRUCTUAL ! A lot of health services are not as accessible and user-friendly for Indigenous people as they are for non-Indigenous people, adding to higher levels of disadvantage. Sometimes this is because more Indigenous people than non-Indigenous live in remote locations and not all health services are offered outside of cities. Sometimes health services are not culturally appropriate (do not consider Indigenous culture and the specific needs of Indigenous people). Also, some Indigenous people may not be able to use some services because they are too expensive. (Slide show) Social and emotional wellbeing is a term used to talk about a person’s overall social, emotional, psychological (mental), spiritual, and cultural wellbeing. Factors that are important to social and emotional wellbeing include a person’s. (refer to slide show) Social and emotional wellbeing is often confused with mental health, but it is much broader: social and emotional wellbeing is concerned with the overall wellbeing of the person. On the other hand, mental health describes how a person thinks and feels, and how they cope with and take part in everyday life. It is often seen, incorrectly, as simply the absence of a mental illness. (Slide show) Important determinants of Indigenous health inequality in Australia include the lack of equal access to primary health care and the lower standard of health infrastructure in Indigenous communities (healthy housing, food, sanitation etc) compared...
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...1. Effective communication ensures safety and collaborative understanding of patient goals and direction for treatment, leading to an overall more satisfying health care experience for all involved in care. Non-verbal communication including body language and eye contact are just as, if not more important than the words you say. Effective verbal and non-verbal communication enable optimal participation in health care decision making. A Croatian lady I know was told that she needs a total knee replacement, but was given no real explanation of the procedure, steps involved and outcomes. Jelena spoke with other family members back in Croatia about this procedure and used the internet to find negative experiences and is now terrified of having...
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...ESSAY WRITING A MODEL ESSAY TOPIC Good health is the right of all Australians. How does the state of Aboriginal health care relate to that of non-Indigenous Australians? Why is this so and how can this situation be addressed so that there is parity across all segments of Australian society? Discuss. “Good health is not just the physical wellbeing of an individual, but the social, emotional, and cultural wellbeing of the whole community in which each individual is able to achieve their full potential as a human being thereby bringing about the total wellbeing of their community”. (Anderson, 2000, para. 6) If we take Anderson's view as the definition of good health, then the fact that an Indigenous baby raised in an Aboriginal community can expect to live 20 years less than other babies strongly indicates that the relative health status of Australia's Indigenous population is indeed much poorer than that of the rest of the Australian population (Merston, 1999, p.32). This is largely due to inadequate living conditions, lifestyle, lack of education and employment, and historical conditions. To improve the health status of Australia's Indigenous population, the government not only needs to allocate more funds to health services and the improvement of overall living conditions, but also to investigate ways in which health services can be offered to better reflect the cultural needs of this group. Indigenous Australians suffer a higher amount of illness and die at a...
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...perception of illness and health.” 1000 wrds There are many definitions for 'culture' with the anthropologist Sir Edward Tylor (1871) cited by Ravalico (2006) defining it to mean 'that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by a member of society.' Culture also influences how one perceives their health and the idea of what it means to have ‘good health.’ One community group whose culture strongly impacts on individual’s perception of illness and health is the Australian Aboriginal community. Aboriginal Australians have a shorter life expectancy than others (ABS 2008, Shaouli et al 2011) which threatens Aboriginal culture as ‘elders’are the transmitters of Aboriginal culture. Aboriginal people experience worse health and more disease with the latter being three times more than that for the total Australian population (NATSIS 2008 cited by ABS 2008). Culture is one of the many social determinants of health and affects health (Carson, Dunbar, Chenhall and Bailie, 2007). Some indigenous people are fatalistic about their health (Thackrah and Scott 2011) although most can access medical help when needed providing they trusted their medical practitioners (ABS 2008, DATSIPD 2009). Other obstacles include language, lack of public transport and telecommunications (Shaouli et al 2011). Therefore, the impact of culture on individuals’ health is crucial to investigate as Aboriginal culture impacts strongly...
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...18th Century Colonisation of Australia Colonisation decimates Aboriginal communities with diseases, alcohol, and dispossession. 19th Century Colonies develop own legislations Australian states/colonies develop individual legislative mechanisms concerning child protection for their jurisdictions. 19th/20th Century ‘Stolen Generation’ Forced separation of Aboriginal children from their families under policies of assimilation. 20th Century ‘Forgotten Australians’ State institutionalisation of children for a variety of paternalistic reasons. Late 20th Century Family Court of Australia States gradually devolve their powers in relation to ex-nuptial children to federal court. States maintain individual jurisdiction for child protection. 1987 Legislation in NSW Ascension of Children (Care and Protection) Act. (see hand out) Supporting Families Emergent view that it is better to support families and have children safely remain in the family unit than to remove the child. Late 20th Century Foster Care Growing body of evidence indicating foster care is preferred model of out of home care over residential care models. UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Development of convention. First developed by the League of Nations in 1924. Ratified by UN in 1990. Australia one of the first signatories. Mandatory Reporting The new legislation brings in mandatory reporting. That all professionals whose work is associated with children must report instances...
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...In this report, an aboriginal program will be analysed. Since most projects success are affected by how a project’s objectives is defined, planned and managed. Therefore, it is important that the project manager learn from their mistakes and seek for new strategies to manage the project and successfully complete the project. In the following analysis, an aboriginal project will be critically analysed of how the project objectives is defined, planned and managed (Morris 1990, p. 201). Also, the stakeholders will also be analysed of how their roles can affect the project outcome. Analysis will also include how the project is managed by the project manager and their efficiency and effectiveness. Finally, the outcome of the project is analysed whether they lead to a success or failure of the project (Morris 1990, p.198). 'Close the gap' Aboriginal program is a project that aim to provide more advantages for Indigenous with respect to their life expectancy, child mortality, access to early childhood education, educational achievement and employment outcomes. This program was induced by the Australian Government in 2008 and was targeted to focus on health, housing, early childhood, education, economic participation, and remote service delivery (Department of Health, Primary Health Care 2008). Aboriginal sexual health program is one of the current ‘Close the gap’ projects. The purpose of the Aboriginal sexual health is to enhance the sexual and reproductive health, wellbeing and safety...
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...The Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights (ACHR) was developed by Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care to provide a nationally agreed statement of the rights of the patient (Dunbar, 2009). According to ACHR (2008), everyone who is seeking or receiving the care in Australian Health has some rights regarding the nature of that care. The main objective of these rights is to make sure that care provided is of high quality and safety (Dunbar,2009). The Charter allows patients, consumers, families, carers, clinicians and services providing health care to share an understanding of the rights of people receiving care (Dunbar, 2009). The rights that are included in Charter are as follows: • Access: I have right to health care. • Safety: I have right to receive safe and high- quality care • Respect: I have right to be shown respect, dignity, and consideration. • Communication: I have right to be informed about the services, treatment, options and costs in clear and open way • Participation: I have right to be included in the decisions and choices about the care. • Privacy: I have the right to privacy and confidentiality of my personal information. • Comment: I have right to comment on my care and to have my concerns addressed (Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights, 2008) The purpose of this essay is to look at the evidence- based approaches to psychosocial intervention offer better respect and participation for a patient with Coronary Heart disease and...
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...Copyright © eContent Management Pty Ltd. Contemporary Nurse (2007) 24: 33–44. Telling stories: Nurses, politics and Aboriginal Australians, circa 1900–1980s ABSTRACT The focus of this paper is stories by, and about (mainly non-Aboriginal) Registered Nurses working in hospitals and clinics in remote areas of Australia from the early 1900s to the 1980s as they came into contact with, or cared for, Aboriginal people. Government policies that controlled and regulated Aboriginal Australians provide the context for these stories. Memoirs and other contemporary sources reveal the ways in which government policies in different eras influenced nurse’s attitudes and clinical practice in relation to Aboriginal people, and helped institutionalise racism in health care. Up until the 1970s, most nurses in this study unquestioningly accepted firstly segregation, then assimilation policies and their underlying paternalistic ideologies, and incorporated them into their practice. The quite marked politicisation of Aboriginal issues in the 1970s in Australia and the move towards selfdetermination for Aboriginal people politicised many – but not all – nurses. For the first time, many nurses engaged in a robust critique of government policies and what this meant for their practice and for Aboriginal health. Other nurses, however, continued as they had before – neither questioning prevailing policy nor its effects on their practice. It is argued that only by understanding and confronting the...
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...responsibility and its duty of care towards the Indigenous Australian people. Background Aboriginals Australians are technically the first people who lived in Australia. Australian Aboriginals were basically the hunters who used to eat the animals they caught and were also considered as gatherers of plants which could be eaten. Some of these groups then settled on the islands and are now called as Torres Strait Islander People. 1. Foundational Aspects of Indigenous Australian Cultures (the dreaming and economic organisation) The term dreaming is a spiritual or a regional perception which not only goes back to the creation of the events but it also grasps the present...
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...government benefits and services helped them. The other world was occupied by indigenous Australians whose ancestors had lived in Australia for more than 40 000 years. By the 1950s they lost their land and way of living, living on the edge of town rubbish dumps and sometimes earning money as fruit pickers. State laws didn’t give them any benefits, told where they were allowed to live, stole their children and also had control over who could they marry. Contact between the inhabitants of these worlds was little, the non-indigenous didn’t care or know about the sufferings of the minority. However, in the late 1950s, aboriginal disadvantages became aware in the eyes of some of the majority and what they could do to address it. They recognised the potential to form a grassroots reform movement to bring the rights and protection of Australian citizenship to the dispossessed aboriginal population. From the late 1950s, aboriginal and non-aboriginal activist came together to campaign for equal rights for indigenous Australians and to bring about the dismantle of laws which deprived the indigenous Australians of civil rights. The Australian civil rights movement held series of events before and after, which contributed to the indigenous and Torres Strait islanders achieving their rights. This includes the conditions before the movement, including protection, assimilation, segregation policies and the stolen generation. The inspiration of the us civil rights movement was also a huge encouragement...
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...Cultural barriers affecting the mental health of Indigenous people Cultural barriers certainly have a crucial impact in affecting the mental health of Indigenous people. This is evident as Indigenous people tend to have considerably high levels of stress and anxiety in their lives stemming from the consequences of trauma and grief of stolen generation and dispossession which is intricately linked to mental health and disorder (Craven, 2006).This common pattern of loss of culture, land, voice, family and dignity resulted in poor mental wellbeing for many Indigenous generations over the past century (Brown, 2001). However, problems still continue due to the inadequate research in the mental health of indigenous people. This results in mental illnesses being undiagnosed, undetected for Indigenous people, which makes them disadvantaged with from the rest of the population (Vukic, Gregory, Misener & Etowa, 2001). In addition, if they are diagnosed, they are assessed using Western mainstream methods, such as the DSM-IVclassification system, which does not suit their cultural differences and is culturally inappropriate (Craven, 2006).Also, being treated in the mainstream, it is evident that that their treatment will not be from an Indigenous perspective or worldview, and thus their underlying concerns will be ignored and overlooked (Valmae, Stephen, Melissa, Komla, 2007). There needs to be an understanding of Indigenous culture by healthcare professionals in the mainstream services...
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...Struggle of Aboriginals in Canada “We owe the aboriginal peoples a debt that is four centuries old. It is their turn to become full partners in developing an even greater Canada. And the reconciliation required may be less a matter of legal texts than of attitudes of the heart.” - Roméo LeBlanc Aboriginal people are called the people from “First Nations” in Canada who have rich historical, cultural and spiritual traditions. However, many of these traditions were altered or even taken away upon the arrival of British and French settlers in Canada. Since then, forcing colonial culture and values on Aboriginal societies, the dispossession of Aboriginal lands and the seclusion of Aboriginals from modern amenities created a sequence of social, physical and spiritual devastation of their culture. Effect of these is quite noticeable even today. This is mainly because the Federal Government is not taking enough responsibility for providing proper support to Aboriginals with growing problems in the reserves. The Government of Canada recognizes the inherent right of self-government as an existing Aboriginal right under section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 (AANDC). It recognizes that the inherent right may find expression in treaties, and in the context of the Crown's relationship with treaty First Nations. Recognition of the inherent right is based on the view that the Aboriginal peoples of Canada have the right to govern themselves in relation to matters that...
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...According to INAC, the term for Aboriginal peoples is defined as: “a collective name for the original peoples of North America and their descendants. The Canadian constitution recognizes three groups of Aboriginal people: Indians (commonly referred to as First Nations), Métis and Inuit. These are three distinct peoples with unique histories, languages, cultural practices and spiritual beliefs. More than one million people in Canada identify themselves as an Aboriginal person, according to the 2006 Census.” (Indigenous Nationhood) Although many Aboriginal peoples in Canada identify as being Aboriginal, many Aboriginal peoples struggle to maintain or gain a sense of cultural identity due to the Canadian Governments assimilation policies. Throughout this paper I will discuss how the Indian Act, the Canadian Residential School System, and the Sixties Scoop assimilated Aboriginal peoples into a European way of life, by attempting to integrate them into society by abolishing their Aboriginal identities. This assimilation process impacted Aboriginal peoples in negative ways throughout the generations socially, culturally, and economically. The negative impacts within child welfare system, educational institutions, and the socio-economic status of Aboriginal peoples today, prove assimilation and the total integration of Aboriginal peoples within mainstream society is unacceptable. Decolonization techniques should be applied within those areas in order combat the long lasting effects of...
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...Belonging This essay discusses defines belonging. It identifies some elements of belonging, and focuses on selected few. It discussed concept of belonging from my perspective and looks at the significant of that from Aboriginals perspective based on research. It gives a brief history of the cruel nature of colonisation, its impact on Aboriginals and how this colonial mentality is perpetuated through discrimination to the Indigenous Australian disadvantage. It states why the policy introduced by the government does not sound promising, what the Aboriginals wants and human rights implications in the issues facing the Aboriginals. Definition of belonging Belonging is the connection and relationship of individual with the world around him/her. (Jacques Dufresne….) Even though belonging has physical components, it can be felt individually, and develops to diverse stages with time and circumstances. This means that human state of belonging is not permanent. The status of belonging can be explicated by the choices that people make. The concept of belonging Analysing and reviewing sense of belonging I approached it by applying to my own being-that I belong to a family, my mother and fatherland, an ethnic/cultural group, a religious, professional and community groups. Within these groups I have forged good relations. The thrives that keep this profound affiliation going for me is the values we share, that include honesty, caring, sharing, participation, inclusion and respect...
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