Impact of Colonization on Aboriginal Health

This reflective essay will reflect on the own views regarding the impact of colonization on health and well-being of Australian aboriginal, contribution of my own culture, beliefs and values in order to shape my future nursing practice while providing service to an aboriginal people and identify effective way to advocate for the health needs of the aboriginal population. According to NACCHO, health is not only defined as the physical well-being but also the social, cultural and emotional well-being of individual and the community in which they live and achieve their full potential as human being and contribute to maintain the overall well-being of their community (NACCHO 2018). It has been found that due to racism, social deprivation and social disadvantage most of the aboriginal people lack access to culturally safe health service (Hole et al. 2015). Hence it is important to understand the culture of the aboriginal people in order to shape the future nursing practice that will be easy to access and culturally safe as well (Miller, Irizarry and Bowden 2013).  In this reflection I will reflect on my personal views and how it could shape my future practice to provide adequate care and advocate for the health needs of the aboriginal people.

The history of colonization is sometimes nit considered to indicate the health status of a population such as aboriginals. However, as a health professional it is important for us to understand the history of the patient in-depth in order to identify the determinants that has contributed to the health issue of the patient. In this regards it is important to analyze the impact of colonization on the health and well-being of the aboriginal population (Douglas et al. 2014). During colonization, the Australian aboriginals have faced dramatic changes in the political, economic, social, cultural and environmental aspects (Griffiths et al. 2016). Before colonization the aboriginal people lived with their tribes according to their effective law, way of interaction in order to meet their needs. During colonization they have been removed from their land forcefully, their children have been taken away from them in order to teach them the culture and tradition of white people (Mohatt et al. 2014). They have been forced to settle down in new place. In this period the aboriginal population has been reduced by 90% due to infectious disease, loss of land and death due to direct fighting with the colonizers. Such changes impacted in an effective manner on the aboriginal life including health (Paradies 2016). The stress of loss of land, child, family and their traditional roles have impacted on their mental health to an extent. On the other hand the stress of settling in a new place and poor economic condition also affected their physical and mental health (Axelsson, Kukutai and Kippen 2016). In addition many people have faced difficulties in settling down in the new environment and suffer from various communicable disease which has affected their reproduction health as well. Further, they lack the adequate health service due to racism and social disadvantages. Such condition has led to the consequence of high suicide rate and mortality including the maternal and infant death due to high infectious disease (Sherwood 2013).

Cultural Safety in Nursing Practice

 The poor health status of the aboriginal population affect the overall health status of the Australian population. Thus, it is required to consider the condition of this people and introduce culturally safe health service which is easily accessible for them (Douglas et al. 2014). Hence I would like to shape my professional practice in a way which could help me to understand the concern of the aboriginal people and provide effective care to meet their health needs. Culturally safe nursing practice defined as the practice which include a clinical environment that is culturally, spiritually, socially emotionally and physically safe for both the service providers and consumers and where there is neither the denial of one’s identity nor the challenge of assault (Miller, Irizarry and Bowden 2013). In order to practice such nursing the cultural and social influence play an important role (Douglas et al. 2014). Similarly my culture has played a vital role in shaping my future practice. I belong to the culture of Nepal which has declared as the Indigenous nationality (Childs and Choedup 2014). As Australian aboriginal population the indigenous people in Nepal have been marginalized due to their culture, language and economic condition. I have resided in Nepal for 18 years, thus I understand the feeling of being restricted to access any social advantage due to racism. Such experience would help me to relate with the social condition of the Australian aboriginals. On the other hand the continuous controversy of reclassification of the indigenous community in Nepal impact on the cultural, economic and social condition which has helped me to relate with the consequence of colonization (Caplan 2013). Due to such similarity in experience I could understand the health needs of aboriginal while considering their cultural, spiritual and emotional needs as well. It would facilitate me to shape my future practice to provide high quality care to the aboriginal people and achieve positive health outcomes.

Advocacy is an essential concept and ethic of nursing practice. It is the way of promotion, protection and optimization of the health needs of the client. The nurse plays an important role in order to advocate behalf of the patient and advocacy power of a nurse is considered as the liaison between the doctors and the patients (Priest 2013). Effective advocacy of the nurses helps to provide adequate care, effective treatment, increase in access of health service and fulfil the health requirements. Hence, it is required to have adequate skills and ability to advocate logically and with flexibility in order to advocate for the patients and achieve desired outcomes (Kalaitzidis and Jewell 2015). However, some challenges may occur while advocating for the patient. For example, due to lack of communication, unable to understand the culture of the patient, fear of retaliation, lack of knowledge and lack of ability to understand the issue of the patient may lead to miscommunication, thus, cloud create adverse events (Priest 2013). Hence I would like to focus on such things while preparing strategies to advocate for the aboriginal patients. In this regards I would like to communicate with the patients effectively while providing respect to their dignity and culture which could help the patent to discuss their concern without hesitation. It would help me to understand the issue central issue of the patent and communicate with the doctor to introduce appropriate care approach. I would like to use the skill of emotional intelligence to relief the mental stress of the patient and make them believe that they are my central focus (Kalaitzidis and Jewell 2015). In addition I would like to use effective advocacy policy and communicate with the higher authority regarding the health needs of my patients in order to provide them adequate health resource to achieve successful outcome. Further I will educate my patients to help them to understand their condition and understand the way of accessing health service (Priest 2013). Such practice would help me to provide adequate care to the aboriginal people and meet their health needs in an effective manner.

In conclusion it can be said that, in order to provide adequate care which is culturally safe it is required to understand the history of the patient so that we can relate with the concern of the patient and introduce nursing interventions that are acceptable for them as well. Hence, the nursing professional need to consider the cultural and social background of the patients and allow their own culture, views and believes to shape their clinical practice in a way which could facilitate the process of providing care and achieve successful outcomes. Such practice would help to introduce culturally safe nursing approaches. In addition the nursing professional should have the ability to advocate for the patients in order to understand their concern and health needs and help them avail adequate resources in order to meet the health needs in an effective manner. It would help to improve the nursing practice and meet the patient satisfaction as well. 

References:

Axelsson, P., Kukutai, T. and Kippen, R., 2016. The field of Indigenous health and the role of colonisation and history. Journal of Population Research, 33(1), pp.1-7.

Caplan, L., 2013. Land and social change in east Nepal: a study of Hindu-tribal relations. Routledge. 1^st edition. pp. 3-256.

Childs, G. and Choedup, N., 2014. Indigenous management strategies and socioeconomic impacts of Yartsa Gunbu (Ophiocordyceps sinensis) harvesting in Nubri and Tsum, Nepal. HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies, 34(1), p.7.

Douglas, M.K., Rosenkoetter, M., Pacquiao, D.F., Callister, L.C., Hattar-Pollara, M., Lauderdale, J., Milstead, J., Nardi, D. and Purnell, L., 2014. Guidelines for implementing culturally competent nursing care. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 25(2), pp.109-121.

Griffiths, K., Coleman, C., Lee, V. and Madden, R., 2016. How colonisation determines social justice and Indigenous health—a review of the literature. Journal of Population Research, 33(1), pp.9-30.

Hole, R.D., Evans, M., Berg, L.D., Bottorff, J.L., Dingwall, C., Alexis, C., Nyberg, J. and Smith, M.L., 2015. Visibility and voice: Aboriginal people experience culturally safe and unsafe health care. Qualitative health research, 25(12), pp.1662-1674.

Kalaitzidis, E. and Jewell, P., 2015. The concept of advocacy in nursing: a critical analysis. The health care manager, 34(4), pp.308-315.

Miller, K., Irizarry, C. and Bowden, M., 2013. Providing culturally safe care in the best interests of unaccompanied humanitarian minors. Journal of Family Studies, 19(3), pp.276-284.