The Role Cultural Competencies Play for a Nurse Caring For Aboriginal Clients

Running Head: PROFFESIONAL COMMUNICATION 1
The Role Cultural Competencies Play for a Nurse Caring For Aboriginal Clients
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Institutional Affiliation

PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION 2
Introduction
Question 1
According to WHO, Palliative care refers to the improved care and management of the
quality of life patients approaching end of life, and also providing psychological support to the
families throughout the course of illness into bereavement (Land, et al 2016). Nurses are
increasingly becoming involved in the palliative care and are source of significant information
and much needed support for families and patients at the end of life. Health professionals
responsible for patients with terminal illness should develop skills that enable effective
communication with patients, and their respective families.
Different communities of Aboriginal people have different and unique languages, beliefs,
healing cultural practices(Mobula et al. 2015). It is noted that all patients are distinctively unique
and cultural differences do arise while providing terminally ill aboriginal patients palliative care.
Some of these patients value individual respect and involvement of family and their community
during important decision making processes. The Aboriginal cultures usually have distinct
approaches to revealing bad information to the patients, and also a way of encouraging the
family members.
Culture refers to the lifestyles, learned and commonly shared beliefs and values, learned
knowledge, customized symbols, rules and regulations that guide behavior and create shared
meanings within a given group of people (Driscoll, 2017). Vast cultural differences exist
between the aboriginal patients and healthcare givers. Different presumptions and expectations
on how communications should occur, who can participate, and the measures to be taken during
decision making processes are some of the differences that are more apparent.

PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION 3
Some aboriginal patient values indirect communication, speechlessness, and sharing of critical
information and decision making with the family members.According to Alesi et al, (2011),
terminally ill patients and their family members face difficult challenges when medical
caregivers come from different cultural background as the patient. Difficulty on communication
and decision making becomes a big challenge.
Question 2
The policy instrument of the residential system during the colonization process
contributed to the poor state of the health sector in the aboriginal communities. Before
colonization, the indigenous population was organized into groups of hunting and gathering
communities with less inactivity and diseases were uncommon. Colonization process and
establishments of residential schools lead to mistrust and trauma in medical practices among the
indigenous people. The health of the aboriginals declined after contact with colonizers where
there was an increase on the transmission of new diseases, loss of traditional lifestyle, change to
a less nutritious diet, and depletion of natural food resource due to overhunting, fishing and also
confinement of the reserve system and development of the residential schools (Pilcher, Charles&
Lancaster, 2008). There is need to integrate the aboriginals way of life into the medical practices
to make it safe for the aboriginal people to access medical care. It will enhance the
communication and acceptance of the medical services among the aboriginal people.
Question 3
Catalanotto et al. (2017) describe cultural competence as the process of accepting and
respecting differences and not letting one’s personal beliefs have an undue influence on those
with a different beliefs, values, and lifestyles as of one’s own. To the health care givers such as
nurses, cultural competency involves having general cultural-specific information about other

PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION 4
cultures and knowing what kind of questions to ask to avoid discomfort by the aboriginal
patients. For nurses caring for aboriginal patients, achieving cultural competency is essential in
helping handling different types of cultural barriers they might face. Cultural competency means
learning, assessing, sharing, communicating and demonstrate skills within and outside one’s
culture is a key strength (Pilcher, Charles& Lancaster, 2008). Through cultural awareness and
sensitivity, nurses began to learn differences incultures leading to cultural safety which predicts
the understanding of the power differentials deep-rooted in health services delivery and
redressing the inequalities through the process of education.
Failure to understand and appreciate the different cultural practices of Aboriginal people
leads to inappropriate and poor health care service. Communication between the nurses and the
aboriginals would improve if the nurses/caregivers are keenlistening to aboriginals and the
healthcare givers let the communication shape their perceptions. Both the nurses and aboriginals
needs to recognize that their cultural understandings come from their own individual
backgrounds and therefore are saturated in their own beliefs and values development.
Collaboration also plays a crucial role in building the cultural competency between the
aboriginal and the nurses during the palliative and end of life care services received and
delivered during terminal illnesses. Collaboration is not only expected from the aboriginals and
nurses, but also from their families, health workers, interpreters and other staff members. It is
vital in building up the trust between the parties involved. It is vital in planning and
implementing strategies for change to produce optimum outcomes.
Table 1: The core competencies of culture in the biomedical field
Core Competency Key Concepts Role of the competency