Culture and Health Essay

This essay explores the connection between culture and health, focusing on indigenous perspectives in Australia. It analyzes the impact of racism and discrimination on the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and examines the author's own cultural identity and its influence on their beliefs about health and well-being.

Culture and Health

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
PART A...........................................................................................................................................1
1. Identifying Traditional Custodians.........................................................................................1
2. Definition of health from indigenous perspective...................................................................1
PART B............................................................................................................................................2
1. Impact of Racism and discrimination on health and well-being of indigenous Australians ..2
Part C...............................................................................................................................................2
1. Identifying and describing own cultural identity....................................................................2
2. Influence of cultural identity on beliefs about health and well being and choice of
healthcare....................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................3

INTRODUCTION
One of the important determining factor in healthcare preferences and practices is culture.
From the public health and well-being point of view, culture with its customs, attitudes, norms
and institutions have a strong impact on behaviour and has a straightforward effect on health and
welfare (Singer, 2012). This report discusses the indigenous understanding of wellness and
analyses influence of cultural determinants on health and well-being of native Australians.
MAIN BODY
PART A
1. Identifying Traditional Custodians
Epping in Whittlesea Council is a suburb of Sydney, in the Australian state of New South
Wales, 18 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district. Traditional owners of
this suburban area is the RAP corporation. There are around 52 clans identified in Whittlesea
Council with numerous language groups from Queensland. The residents speak both English and
Aboriginal language (Labelle and et.al., 2010). Aboriginal English is used in the community so
that assistance may be required for complaints, victims, witnesses and offenders who come
before the courts. The social indicators from 2016 Census for Woorabinda community includes:
 16.2% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over had
completed 12 or equivalent.
 52.9% of dependent children in families with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
people were from jobless families.
2. Definition of health from indigenous perspective
The present priority of Australian Government is indigenous well-being. It is a
conception of health that is actually holistic understanding of well-being. The National
Aboriginal Health Strategy (NAHS) defines health as:
Health is not just the physical well-being of an individual but it is also the social,
emotional and cultural wellness of whole community in which each person is able to achieve
their full potential as a human being thereby, bringing the total welfare of people.
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The social and emotional well-being is an important part of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people's health (Eisler and Hersen, 2012). Their concept of health is holistic, cultural,
spiritual, extensive mental and physical health.
PART B
1. Impact of Racism and discrimination on health and well-being of indigenous Australians
The health and welfare of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is influenced by
several social and cultural determinants of health. Racism is the oppression which is an
organised system that is based on inferiority that labels some ethnic or racial groups as inferior to
others and differently allocate desirable societal resources to the superior group. Three out of
four Australians experience racism and discrimination in their everyday lives that contribute to
serious effects on personal health and well-being. It affects the mental health by causing
depression, anxiety and other psychological or psychiatric disorders. A 2001 survey found that
around 30% of indigenous people in Australia are faced by racism and discrimination due to
ethnic origin. In Australia, around 58-79% people have reported self-reported racism and
discrimination that also cause them with severe health, social and mental problems (Dressler,
2012). Some of the impact of racism and discrimination on health and well-being of indigenous
Australians and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are:
 Physical injuries due to racially motivated assaults
 Engagement in unhealthy activities (smoking, alcohol and use of drugs) due to stress,
tension and depression
 Reduced access to resources required for health (education, employment, housing,
etc.)
 Stress and negative emotion reactions that cause mental ill-health as well as affecting
immunity, endocrine and cardiovascular systems.
Part C
1. Identifying and describing own cultural identity
I belong to Hinduism culture and I reside in Epping in Whittlesea Council suburb or town
located Sydney, in the Australian state of New South Wales. We follow heritage and cultural
history that is distinct from Aboriginal traditions. The diversity wheel helps to represent internal
dimension which are permanent and visible. The combination of these dimensions has an impact
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on beliefs, experiences, values and expectation. The language which I speak is Macedonian
language. There is a great diversity among the several indigenous communities and societies in
Australia where each community has their own mixtures, culture and customs (Vue, Wolff and
Goto, 2011). The diversity wheel will be that centre that is representing its internal. Dimension
that are most commonly the permanent part that is visible and the outer part will be determining
all changes that are required to acquired to over course of lifetime. There are three dimensions of
diversity that are ethnicity, age, gender, race, sexual orientation and physical abilities.
2. Influence of cultural identity on beliefs about health and wellbeing and choice of healthcare
Hinduism peoples like me participates in health risk behaviour more often than non-
indigenous counterparts which has a substantial impact on health outcomes. Hindus believes that
all illnesses, whether physical or mental, have a biological, psychological and spiritual element.
Social networks, culture, racism, socio economic disadvantage and psychological distress affect
health behaviour in different manner. Our desire to retain cultural identity may have positive and
negative influence on health and well-being. Traditional healing, spiritual issues, health practices
and care seeking behaviour are all culturally bound. Culture and religion of person will be
playing influential role in their choice of health and well being like my religion Hinduism is
having. My religion will be having certain beliefs and ethics under Hinduism health means that
the best possible way of maintaining human body like that of normal and sometimes the
environment conditions. The Hindu religious teaching on healthy living and that of spiritual
objectives will be following the injunctions contained within the system should be followed.
CONCLUSION
From the report on culture and health it can be concluded that the underlying beliefs must
be addressed to develop appropriate educational and disease treatment to facilitate better
engagement of indigenous people and Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander in Australia. The
report also discussed several impacts of racism and discrimination on health and wellbeing of
indigenous people.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Dressler, W.W., 2012. Cultural consonance: Linking culture, the individual and
health. Preventive Medicine, 55(5), p.390.
Eisler, R.M. and Hersen, M., 2012. Handbook of gender, culture, and health. Psychology Press.
Labelle and et.al., 2010. A comparison of culture-positive and culture-negative health-care-
associated pneumonia. Chest, 137(5), pp.1130-1137.
Singer, M.K., 2012. Applying the concept of culture to reduce health disparities through health
behavior research. Preventive medicine, 55(5), pp.356-361.
Vue, W., Wolff, C. and Goto, K., 2011. Hmong food helps us remember who we are:
perspectives of food culture and health among Hmong women with young
children. Journal of nutrition education and behavior, 43(3), pp.199-204.
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