Culturally Safe Practice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Population

Running head: NURSING
Nursing
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1
NURSING
Introduction
According to Australian Institute of Health and Welfare [AIHW] (2016), the
population of Australian that is recognising themselves as aboriginals or the Torres Strait
Islanders are increasing. During 2011 to 2017, there is an increase in the 17% of the
aboriginals and the Torres Strait Islander population. Torres Strait Islanders must not be
confused with the aboriginal population of Australia. Torres Strait Islanders are indigenous
population residing in parts of Queensland. The following essay aims to highlight my own
perceptions and strategies of providing culturally safe practice to a client from Aboriginals
and Torres Strait Islander population. The essay will initiate with introduction of the target
group followed by health issues affecting the target group. At the end, the essay will discuss
theoretical frameworks to analyse the cultural factors and social determinants of health that
might affect my client from Aboriginal population. I will also discuss the resources and
practice that I will follow in order to procure culturally safe care. Overall the essay will
discuss the importance of culturally safe practice for improving health equality.
Selection of Client form the Cultural Group
According to Australian Institute of Health and Welfare [AIHW] (2016), the
population of Australian that is recognising themselves as aboriginals or the Torres Strait
Islanders are increasing. During 2011 to 2017, there is an increase in the 17% of the
aboriginals and the Torres Strait Islander population. Torres Strait Islanders must not be
confused with the aboriginal population of Australia. Torres Strait Islanders are indigenous
population residing in parts of Queensland. Markwick et al. (2014) are of the opinion that
there is a significant health inequality prevalent among the indigenous and the non-
indigenous population in Australia. In spite of the government’s constant in initiatives to
“close the gap”, the indigenous population in Australia like the aboriginals experiences poor

2
NURSING
health conditions and the main reason attributed for this poor socio-economic determinants of
health (SDH). According to the study conducted by Jamieson et al. (2016), the Aboriginals
adults who reside in remote regions of Australia are victims of the poor hygiene and
sanitation, lack of proper employment and denial of care. All these ill-treatment and poor
SDH are the reasons behind high rate of occurrence of chronic diseases among the
aboriginals, leading to health inequalities.
The prevailing health inequalities for the Aboriginal adults in the remote areas make
me feel for them. Thus during my nursing practice I will leave an extra room for attention in
providing care and treatment to the Aboriginals adult clients as I feel every human have
equal rights to lead to healthy life.
Health Issues and Impact of Chosen Client
Through the concepts and knowledge and gained through the course, I have identified
that the main health issues that impact the adult Aboriginal population residing in the remote
areas of Australia are cardiovascular disease, diabetes and kidney disease. According to the
reports published by AIHW (2015), the cardiovascular disease (CVD) burden among the
Aboriginal adults is 8 times higher in comparison to the non-aboriginal population residing in
Australia. AIHW (2015) also remotes the Aboriginals are more likely (18% probability) to
develop type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in the later part of their life than non-aboriginals.
The occurrence of the renal disease is 38% high among the Aboriginals (AIHW, 2015). The
detailed analysis of the health related quality of the life of the Aboriginals in the remote areas
of Australia highlighted that modifiable risk factors are the main reason behind the increased
probability of the occurrence of his non-communicable diseases. Mitrou et al. (2014) are of
the opinion that lack of employment or job not only restrict their financial independence to
access healthcare, but also increases a sense of depression. The depression is further

3
NURSING
aggravated as a result of social isolation and bullying. In order to cope with depression they
indulge in substance abuse (alcohol and smoking). Aboriginals are also marked with
unhealthy eating patterns and lack of physical activity leading to uncontrolled gain in weight
(Whelan & Wright, 2013). This unhealthy diet (less consumption of fruits and vegetables),
substance abuse, lack of physical activity along with poor mental health condition is the
reason behind the high rate of occurrence of renal disease, CVD and T2DM among
Aboriginals, leading towards health inequalities.
Arena et al. (2015) stated that proper diet, healthy life style (no smoking and drinking)
along with lack of physical activities is the modifiable risk factors behind the development of
non-communicable chronic diseases. I personally feel that giving medication and doing
health-checkups are not comprehensive in improving the health-related quality of life of the
older adults. As I can see that majority of the causes leading to the development of non-
communicable diseases among the Aboriginals are modifiable, process heath education and
generation of the health-related awareness will help to reduce the chance of getting affected
with this chronic diseases in the first chance. I Aboriginals residing in rural areas are unable
to enjoy culturally competent care due to lack of proper trained nurses in the rural areas. So in
order to increase their access to healthcare, we the healthcare professionals must come up
with patient-centred care plan targeted towards the clinical needs of the Aboriginals. My
thought process is mainly guided by the Australian health policy for the Aboriginals naming
closing the gap. According to this policy, in order to close the health related gap among the
indigenous population in Australia apart from increase in the healthcare access, the
improvement in the SDHs must be done along with proper heath education and procuring
care in a patient-centred manner. This will help to increase life-expectancy of the aboriginals
by reducing the rate of occurrence of the non-communicable diseases (Australian Human
Right Commissions, 2019).