Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders’ Wellbeing

Running head: ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDERS’ WELLBEING 1
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Wellbeing
Name
Institution

ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDERS’ WELLBEING 2
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Wellbeing
Step 1
a. Personal racism is closely related to racial prejudice. According to Australian
Government (2013), personal racism occurs in instances where an individual develops the
relative sense of inferiority for other societal groups as well as the policies and regulatory
frameworks aimed at reinforcing group variations in the utilization of fundamental
services and resources such as health care, education and wealth. Middleton, Stephens,
and Mackay (2017) explain that individual racism could be expressed either covertly or
overtly. In some instances, individual racist practices are expressed as a way of fulfilling
a person’s desires and needs. Best and Fredericks (2017) explain that personal prejudice
is one of the primary indicators of preconceived intrapsychic conflicts.
On the other hand, institutional racism is defined by Middleton, Stephens, and
Mackay (2017) as the systematic distribution of power, amenities and resources in such a
way that they are beneficial to certain dominant groups (whites) while excluding the
minorities such as people of color, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. In the
Australian context, institutional racism is responsible for stratification of health care,
segregations and construction of internment camps to target the minority groups.
b. The power dynamics associated with the concept of “whiteness” include racial biases,
racial identity and racial privileges. According to Middleton, Stephens, and Mackay
(2017), the power dynamics and strength of whiteness as a racial identity are determined
by the size, discriminations and appearance of the group under consideration. Ideally, the
model of whiteness considers individuals who belong to a minority group to be less
powerful compared to their counterparts. As a consequence, the minorities are exposed to

ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDERS’ WELLBEING 3
higher levels of discrimination with minimal resemblances to the majority group. In
Australian nursing practice, whiteness is depicted by the prominence of selective amnesia
whenever the healthcare needs of the Indigenous people are ignored. According to Marrie
(2017), Indigenous Australians are demeaned from accessing proper medical services due
to the fact that most of the health care facilities are dominated by the White colonizers
who instill their discriminative traits. Dominance of the Whites in healthcare
administrative matrices demeans the Indigenous populaces from expressing their ideas in
this sector.
c. Cultural safety aims at fostering the efficacy of respecting difference through effective
comprehension of the power variations that dominate the healthcare delivery system.
Further, Zimmerman et al. (2018) explain that cultural safety addresses such power
differentials by exposing the underlying historical, social, economic and political
dimensions of health care. Middleton, Stephens, and Mackay (2017) explain that cultural
safety increases the health care provider’s ability to gain a proper understanding of the
limitations of culture by challenging the present unequal power relations while fostering
efficient transition through different layers of the system. A culturally safe working
environment in nursing inculcates inclusive policies and infrastructure for the Aboriginal
and non-Aboriginal workforces.
Comparatively, cultural competence aims at fostering proper inclusion of skills,
knowledge and attitudes to support effective delivery of health care services among
populaces drawn from a wider range of ethnic and cultural boundaries. Cultural
competence plays a role in influencing the ways through which healthcare providers
perceive illnesses. According to Brown et al. (2016), a culturally competent health care