Interviewing Aboriginal Australians: Cultural Sensitivity Report

This report provides a critical analysis of an interview conducted with a 65-year-old Aboriginal Australian, focusing on cultural competence in healthcare. The interview explores the interviewee's understanding of health from a holistic perspective, encompassing physical, social, spiritual, emotional, and cultural well-being, and delves into the concept of dreamtime and ancestral spirits. It also examines the interviewee's traumatic experiences as a member of the stolen generation, the impact of forced removal from family, and the resulting loss of identity and distrust of the government. Furthermore, the report addresses the social needs of the Aboriginal community, including education, employment, housing, and healthcare, and highlights the importance of culturally safe worker-client relationships, emphasizing the need for strong rapport, respect for cultural norms, and awareness of historical and ongoing discrimination. The report concludes by acknowledging the positive impact of initiatives like AMS Redfern and Healing Foundations in supporting Aboriginal health and well-being.

Running head: INTERVIEWING AN ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIAN
INTERVIEWING AN ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIAN
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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INTERVIEWING AN ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIAN
Introduction:
Being a nursing professional, it is important for an individual to provide skilled patient
care which aligns with the cultural preferences and expectations of every service users. Cultural
competence can be defined as the ability of the healthcare professionals to deliver healthcare
services that meet the social, cultural as well as the linguistic needs of the patients. In the present
days, nurses are seen to work with patients from different cultural backgrounds (Clifford et al.,
2015). Nurses are expected to understand the differences of the patients in their demographics,
beliefs, practices as well as norms and desires for medical care and also take the perspectives of
patients into account while caring for them. Nurses need to overcome their cultural biasness and
need to develop cultural knowledge so that they can provide quality care to patients that satisfy
them (Goldman & Trimmer, 2019). This assignment would mainly be covering a critical analysis
of the interview session conducted with an aboriginal individual of 65 years old. This would help
in understanding the cultural preferences of the interviewee and would help the professionals to
modify their care preferences accordingly.
Description of the interviewee in relation to different cultural aspects:
The consideration of the term “health” is not restricted to only living a life free from any
disorder according to people with aboriginal origin. On questioning the Mr. Wullong about his
consideration of good health, his answers were quite vivid and broad. Health is a traditionally
holistic approach that encompasses the physical, social, spiritual as well as emotional and
cultural well-being of the individual and also of the whole community. A “whole of life view” of
the aboriginal was noticed while interviewing the individual and this also included the concept of
life-death-life. It has been found that most of the traditional Aboriginal people still retain their

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traditional beliefs about the concept of life and death although such traditional cultures and
beliefs have been now challenged and influenced by many different factors out which
colonization and Christianity were the most dominant (Hunt et al., 2015). Another important
observation was their belief on the concept of dreamtime or dreaming which is quite different in
its principles from that of Christianity. This is a concept that is found among many clans of the
Aboriginal people and is a concept which is not usually understood by the non-indigenous
people. According to the concept, there are no afterlives in the Aboriginal religions without any
preferences of the heaven or hell. This aspect is found to make them separate from the rest of the
world religions. Studies have ventured into the concept and have stated that it is a source of life
philosophy as well as morality and that it is intertwined with the Aboriginal stories of creation
and explains that it is a constant state where both the past and present are seen to exist together.
The elderly aboriginal was found to be quite excited when he was explaining how their ancestral
spirits were originated from the earth and also down from the sky for walking the land (Power et
al., 2018). They had shaped and created the land formations, rivers, mountains, forests and
deserts. They also created people, animals and vegetables and combined with them when they
traveled, hunted and fought. They believe that the ancestral spirits actually gave their codes of
conduct and customs and they were the main source of songs, dances, designs, languages, and
rituals that are the basic of Aboriginal religious expression. After the creation of the world, they
were found to get back into earth, the sky and into the animals, land formation, and rivers.
Therefore, they are of the opinion that ancestor beings are still alive in the spirit of the
Aboriginal individuals (West et al., 2019). This differences from the beliefs of the Christianity
can help nurses to be well aware about their beliefs and hence refrain themselves from ant
actions that affect their cultural and religious beliefs

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Exploration of the life experiences of the interviewee:
The interviewee had gone through pathetic and traumatic life experiences which had
impacted his entire life and he was of the opinion that he was still suffering now because of the
events. He referred to the scenarios of the stolen generation where he had been also a sufferer as
a child who was forcibly removed from his family with the aim of providing him a better future
by the colonizers. Between the years of 1910 and 1970, many of the Aboriginal children were
forcibly removed from their families because of the government policies that were introduced by
the colonizers (Mills et al., 2018). The generations of the children who were removed under
these policies came to be called as the stolen generations and our interviewee was one of the
unfortunate victims to these policies. These policies of child removal had left a legacy of trauma
and loss that continued to affect the indigenous communities, families and even the individuals.
This forcible removal of the children from their families was a part of the Assimilation project
which was actually based on the assumption that the Aboriginals were of the black inferiority to
that of white inferiority of the colonizers. It proposed that Aboriginal children should be either
allowed to “die out” through a procedure of natural elimination or where possible should be
assimilated in the white community. The interviewee was seen to become quite emotional during
discussion of his life experiences where he stated that the colonizers used to force him to reject
his indigenous heritage and was also forced to adopt their white culture. He revealed that his
name was also changed and that he was forbidden to speak their traditional languages. He told
that he saw many children adopted by white families and rests of the chilsren were placed in the
institutions where they were abused and neglected. He also clearly revealed how these policies
shad affected his entire life making him altogether a different person emotionally. His parents

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were supportive of him when he came back but many other children were unable to bodn with
the family after these policies were abolished. The reunions turned into another perceived hurt
and rejection episodes when they could not bond with their parents or their parents did not accept
them (Hart et al., 2015). He stated that he was 30 when he met his mother and he could never
make the connection that exists between son and mothers. They could not connect to their
aboriginal communities and often find themselves in a strange situation with missed cultures and
traditions. Managing relationships became difficult in the families by such children (Isaacs et al.,
2016). The interviewee revealed he suffered from low self-esteem, loss of identity and
loneliness. However, his family mainly his father and grandfather supported him a lot, helping
him to consume the Aboriginal customs gradually. His tone of speaking clearly revealed these
factors as the main causes of deep distrust and hopelessness on the government.
Exploration of the social needs of the interviewee:
Some of the concerns that were noticed in the answers provided by the interviewee is the
lack of various opportunities which are present among the non-indigenous people but not among
the Aboriginal people. The interview revealed that very few people in their community get the
scope of educating themselves to higher levels. This might be because they are forced to work
for their families to overcome poverty or they could not face the pay the fees required for higher
education (Sargeant et al., 2016). However, his casual approach helped me to understand that the
importance of education is not known by them and how it can help them in getting better job
opportunities. Moreover, he complained of living in small overcrowded houses as well and was
seen to state that the government is not fulfilling their promises of providing better living
accommodations. Another important issue that was also noticed in his discussion is his anger
against the non-indigenous people. Not only because of more opportunities that the non-

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indigenous people get but because of the severe discrimination and stigmatization they had to
face from those people. He stated that during the time of his employment in the urban regions, he
had faced huge number of discrimination because he was from the indigenous origin where he
was not either given jobs or was severely humiliated by co-workers because of his color (Jongen
et al., 2018). This had resulted him to leave his attempts of trying for jobs in Australian firms and
started working in his villages which did not provide him and his families with financial
securities. He also fears of not visiting the healthcare centers with western mode of healthcare
believing that he or his family members would be also discriminated and disrespected.
Therefore, from this interview, it was found that social needs required for well-being like good
education, proper employment, appropriate healthcare facilities, social inclusion and others were
all disrupted in his life.
Social support available to them:
The patient seemed somewhat satisfied how the present day government is trying to
develop types of healthcare services where the forms of care and the communication procedures
align with the culture needs and expectations of the interviewee. He had been found to be
particularly happy about the initiative of AMS Redfern or the Aboriginal Medical Service
Redfern. This is the first community controlled health service in the nation which had since then
tried to improve the health standards in the different Aboriginal communities across Australia
(Durey et al., 2017). He is also happy about the NACCHO also called the National Aboriginal
Community Controlled Health Organization (NACCHO). He was satisfied who the State and
Territory peak Aboriginal Community Controlled Health bodies were working collaboratively
with that of the aboriginal communities for addressing their shared concerns on a national basis.
He stated that his son had now admitted him in Healing Foundations where he is counseled in

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daily basis. This is actually an independent and national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
organization and helps in family and community healing from the effects of intergenerational
trauma.
Cultural factors required for the establishment of respectful, culturally safe worker-client
relationships
While interacting with the aboriginal Australian, I noticed a number of aspects that I need
to consider while developing my communications style and caring manners with the patients of
the indigenous backgrounds. Some of the important culture factors that I should take in
consideration while developing my care plan is the fear and distrust of the mainstream health
services and buildings by the Aboriginals as these can be threatening and alienating. They also
feel a perception of extreme imbalance of power because of their history and disadvantage along
with the feelings of vulnerability, shame and disempowerment. There are also cultural
misunderstandings along with severe stereotyping and disrespects that are experienced by the
native people (Biles, 2018). They also suffer from financial burdens and accommodation
difficulties. All these aspects need to be taken in consideration while planning for developing
care plans and communicating with them. The first important aspect that I should be taking in
consideration is the development of strong rapport with patients through informal discussions at
first and gradually getting more involved when the patients feel comfortable. They are not
comfortable to involve in direct discussion about their health with strangers and hence
developing rapport is important. I also should keep in mind of not maintaining eye contacts with
them. Unlike westerners, indigenous people do not prefer eye contacts as they believe that is

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displays disrespect. Moreover, such people prefer silence in between their conversations unlike
westerners and this should be also respected. They are not comfortable with touch and hence this
gesture should be avoided. Moreover, kinship, family obligations as well as responsibilities tend
to be of greater importance than their personal health and hence all these aspects need to be kept
in mind while interacting and planning care with them (McGough et al., 2018).

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References:
Biles, J. (2018). The development of Indigenous Australian cultural competence in
nursing. Australian Nursing and Midwifery Journal, 26(4), 40.
https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=909207223084928;res=IELHEA
Clifford, A., McCalman, J., Bainbridge, R., & Tsey, K. (2015). Interventions to improve cultural
competency in health care for Indigenous peoples of Australia, New Zealand, Canada and
the USA: a systematic review. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 27(2),
89-98. https://doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/mzv010
Durey, A., Halkett, G., Berg, M., Lester, L., & Kickett, M. (2017). Does one workshop on
respecting cultural differences increase health professionals’ confidence to improve the
care of Australian Aboriginal patients with cancer? An evaluation. BMC health services
research, 17(1), 660. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-017-2599-z
Goldman, N., & Trimmer, K. (2019). Towards a Culturally Inclusive Model of Care: Quality
Practice and Care Through the Lens of a Practising Nurse. In Ensuring Quality in
Professional Education Volume I (pp. 123-149). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-01096-6_6
Hart, B., Cavanagh, M., & Douglas, D. (2015). The “Strengthening Nursing Culture Project”–an
exploratory evaluation study of nursing students’ placements within Aboriginal Medical
Services. Contemporary nurse, 51(2-3), 245-256.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10376178.2016.1150190

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Hunt, L., Ramjan, L., McDonald, G., Koch, J., Baird, D., & Salamonson, Y. (2015). Nursing
students' perspectives of the health and healthcare issues of Australian Indigenous
people. Nurse education today, 35(3), 461-467.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2014.11.019
Isaacs, A. N., Raymond, A., Jacob, E., Jones, J., McGrail, M., & Drysdale, M. (2016). Cultural
desire need not improve with cultural knowledge: a cross-sectional study of student
nurses. Nurse education in practice, 19, 91-96.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2016.05.009
Jongen, C., McCalman, J., Bainbridge, R., & Clifford, A. (2018). Health Organisation and System Cultural
Competence Interventions. In Cultural Competence in Health (pp. 99-113). Springer, Singapore.
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-10-5293-4_7
McGough, S., Wynaden, D., & Wright, M. (2018). Experience of providing cultural safety in
mental health to Aboriginal patients: A grounded theory study. International journal of
mental health nursing, 27(1), 204-213. https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.12310
Mills, K., Creedy, D. K., & West, R. (2018). Experiences and outcomes of health professional
students undertaking education on Indigenous health: A systematic integrative literature
review. Nurse education today. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2018.07.014
Power, T., Virdun, C., Gorman, E., Doab, A., Smith, R., Phillips, A., & Gray, J. (2018). Ensuring
Indigenous cultural respect in Australian undergraduate nursing students. Higher
Education Research & Development, 37(4), 837-851.
https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2018.1440537

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Power, T., Virdun, C., Sherwood, J., Parker, N., Van Balen, J., Gray, J., & Jackson, D. (2016).
REM: A collaborative framework for building indigenous cultural competence. Journal
of Transcultural Nursing, 27(5), 439-446. https://doi.org/10.1177/1043659615587589
Sargeant, S., Smith, J. D., & Springer, S. (2016). Enhancing cultural awareness education for
undergraduate medical students: Initial findings from a unique cultural immersion
activity. Australasian Medical Journal (Online), 9(7), 224.
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origsite=gscholar&cbl=54991
West, R., Mills, K., Rowland, D., & Creedy, D. (2019). Impact of a discrete First Peoples health
course on students’ experience and development of cultural capabilities. Higher
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West, R., Mills, K., Rowland, D., & Creedy, D. K. (2018). Validation of the first peoples cultural
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Appendix:
1. Please tell us how you would explain your health beliefs?
2. What are important aspects of the source of your religion that would believe that western
professionals should need to know?
3. Since you have intricately worked with different people from the non-indigenous
backgrounds as well, what are the important variances that you have found between
Christianity and Aboriginal religions?
4. What are some of the life experiences that changed you as a person
5. Have you gone through any traumas that had reshaped your life in a different ways
6. What are the various impacts that the childhood trauma you have faced had impacted
your childhood and also your adult age?
7. How have your family accepted you after your return? Do you face any issues with them?
8. Please describe your social experiences with other people in the nation apart from your
own communities? How have you felt then?
9. Why do you think that there exists a health gap between the native and non-native people
in the nation
10. Would you please mention some of the social opportunities that you have got or you felt
deprived of?
11. How would you describe the different social supports available to you and your
community
12. What would you like to change about the healthcare system in the present era? Would
you like more aboriginal health care workers in the remote healthcare systems

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13. Do you feel that the government is trying to help the native people now having realized
the impact of exploitation on them though several years
14. Did you even feel discriminated and stigmatized? What do you believe about such
prejudices affecting the lives of the native people?
15. What do you feel about the western healthcare systems?
16. What are the specific suggestions you would want to give to the western healthcare
professionals to provide more efficient care that aligns with you cultural expectations
17. What are the specific social support needs that have satisfied you?