Australian Cultural Diversity and Healthcare System: Reflective Essay

This reflective essay explores the complexities of Australian cultural diversity and its healthcare system. It begins with a personal reflection using the sociological imagination (SI) template, addressing the question of how the healthcare system meets the needs of a diverse population. The essay then delves into a deeper analysis, employing the SI template with historical, structural, cultural, and critical factors, supported by at least six academic sources. The analysis highlights the historical context of Australia's cultural diversity, including the impact of past policies and immigration patterns on healthcare access and delivery. It examines the cultural values and beliefs influencing healthcare needs and the structural factors affecting service provision. The essay discusses disparities in access, equality, and the diversification of services, emphasizing the need for improvements. Finally, it connects the research to the ACU graduate attribute of recognizing responsibility to the common good, the environment, and society, reflecting on the importance of equitable healthcare access for all Australians.

Running head: REFLECTIVE ESSAY 1
AUSTRALIAN CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND ITS HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
REFLECTIVE ESSAY
Student Name
Student ID
Date

REFLECTIVE ESSAY 2
Step one
`Carefully choose one topic from the Reflective Writing Topic 1 or 2 below to guide
your reflection. Write the topic chosen here`:
Australia is recognized as one of the most culturally diverse nations. Discuss the origins of
Australian cultural diversity and how the Australian health care system meets the needs of
such a diverse population base. Reflect on a significant health issue that is specific to a
cultural group of your choosing, address the discussion using the SI template as the guide.
Step two
Use the sociological imagination (SI) template to reflect on your feelings, thoughts, and
behaviours in response to knowledge, experiences, and observations about your chosen
question from step 1. (500 words)
The SI template is a framework of analysis that is employed in tackling topics that
require a sociological imagination input. It is widely applied by academicians, scholars, and
researchers in demystifying their topic of interest. The use of this template enables the user
to adequately exhaust all the relevant elements of the topic of discussion. As a result, the
issue of discussion is holistically and systematically addressed.
I concur that Australia is a nation with immense cultural diversities globally. This implies
that the country is made up of residents or citizens of many cultural backgrounds. That is,
they hold different value and belief systems, customs, arts, language and symbols and
attitudes among other traditional and cultural elements. For instance, such cultural groups
include people of Asian, European and Chinese origins just to mention a few.
My immediate thought when I read the topic was that the Australian health care system has
been and is still able to satisfactorily meet the health needs of the country`s increasingly
diverse culture. This was based on the nature of the development and complexity associated
with the Australian health care system. This implies that there are quite many players or
stakeholders within the health care system of the nation. Each of these players has a critical
role to play in the successful operation of the entire health care system.
The feeling was that a majority of the Australian people from the different cultural
backgrounds are adequately catered for by the present health care system. I felt that the
current health care system meets the health demands of such a culturally diversified
population. This was immensely grounded on the assumption that recent advancements in
technology in the medical and health sector in the country have translated into increase and
diversification of provision of health services. Additionally, I have also assumed that the
different cultural groups in Australia have easy and affordable access to the various health
care services provided throughout the nation.

REFLECTIVE ESSAY 3
However, based on several personal observations that I have made through interactions
with different health care providers, professionals, patients and colleagues, I believe that
more needs to be done. This is regarding ensuring equality and accessibility in providing
health care services to people from these diverse cultural backgrounds. For instance, during
one of my regular visits to my long-time friend, who is a community health worker stationed
at a health care center in my neighborhood, I observed that patients were not getting
efficacious diverse health care services.
This is because quite a number of them were turned away or referred to other health care
centers or hospitals, some of which are distant. Following a fairly comprehensive discussion
with my friend and several other health care practitioners, I discovered that this was partially
due to inadequate training provided to them on the various indispensable aspects of offering
diverse and satisfactory healthcare. Consequently, I believe that this disparity can be
addressed by providing proper training to such health practitioners to diversify their health
care service provision.
Step three
`Continue the reflective writing employing the SI template to answer the original
question you identified in step 1`, `using `Germov (2014)` and a minimum of at least six
other academic sources `(e.g., journal articles, research reports from the HLSC120
eModules`)` to support your answer`. `Locate these academic sources through your
information search`. `Analyse how these resources helped you to expand and deepen
your original reflections on this topic. (1000 words)`
SI template includes a sociological analysis of a given topic using four factors namely:
historical, structural, cultural and critical factors (Germov & Marylin, 2014). According to
them, historical factors capture how past events have impacted the present. Cultural factors
involve what influence cultural values, traditions and specific belief system have on our
conduct and social interactions. Structural factors capture how different forms of social
institutions and organizations influence our lives, and they vary over time and between
regions and countries. Finally, critical factors explain why things are as they are, how they
could be otherwise, what alternative futures are likely and how sociological insights associate
with our own life experiences. It was developed by an Australian Sociologist known as Evan
Willis (Levine, 2004).
This template is extensively employed because it provides a vivid framework to
sociologically analyze a topic that requires sociological imagination (Levine, 2004). This
means that it is widely applicable to questions or topics which need to be tacked from a
sociological imagination perspective. The analysis is holistic in that it adequately captures all
the relevant structural, historical, cultural and critical aspects of the topic of interest.
Following a thorough reading of the (Dunn, Forrest, Burnley, & McDonald, 2004), my
thoughts and feelings concerning the Australian health care diversity have quite shifted. This
journal article precisely pointed out the disparities within the present operations of the
diversified health care system in the country and the need to bridge those existent gaps for a

REFLECTIVE ESSAY 4
more equitable, accessible and diversified health care system. Previously I thought and felt
that the Australian health care system fully met the needs of the diverse cultural groups in the
country. However, I now believe that there exist gaps regarding accessibility, equality, and
diversification of the health services to the Australian population. A majority of the people
affiliated with the different cultural groups are unable to access the services either because of
affordability or geographical constraints. This implies that the cost of getting some of the
health care services is out of reach for many people who are in dire need of such services.
Additionally, there is a monumental absence of equality in providing the health care
services. This means that the services are not provided in equal measure regarding quality to
all the Australian population. This makes it hard to have a universally harmonious health
care service provision regarding quality in the country. It implies that some people get
exceptionally high-quality health care while others get poor quality health care. The journal
article stressed the need to diligently and progressively address some of these conspicuous
disparities. One of such measure that was unique to me was that of significantly subsidizing
the cost of accessing the services. I believe that this is a prudent move although a lot needs to
be executed within the sector to bring total sanity in it, increase universal accessibility and
enhance its diversity.
Australia comprises many cultural groups (Moran, 2011). This means that the nation has
different people from diverse cultural backgrounds regarding race and language among
others. Australia started as a white settlement within a land occupied by indigenous people
(Joppke, 2004). He adds that the clash between the white settlers and indigenous population
was hateful and cruel. The resistance was widespread and extended fighting between 1788
and the 1920s caused the killing of over 20,000 indigenous people and between 2000 and
2500 Europeans (Kelaher & Manderson, 2000).
Conflicts emerged between the Chinese and white miners in the 1850s (Beltman &
MacCallum, 2006). They add that however, the country interned nearly 7000 people during
WW1 Comprising of British nationals, Germans, Japanese and Italians. The abolition of
White Australian Policy in 1948 was also critical (Joppke, 2004). Currently, Australia has a
non-discriminatory global immigration intake founded on skills besides having a generous
refugee intake program of about 20,000 people annually (Moran, 2011).
During the precolonial and colonial periods, healthcare was primarily a private affair
(Kelaher & Manderson, 2000). According to them, the first public health units were
established in Australia in 1788 and the consequent initiation of first Board of Health in 1881.
They add that however, Medicare was established in 1984 to cover free universal treatment
access in public hospitals and subsidize medical services. The Health Service Act was
enforced in 1997 to consolidate a modern healthcare system with emphasis on health
promotion and education, community health services and diversification (Beltman &
MacCallum, 2006). This increased healthcare accessibility.

REFLECTIVE ESSAY 5
The White Australian Policy was a government policy used to mitigate past conflicts in
Australia (Moran, 2011). The conflicts were evident along religious lines, political and social
among others. The government used the policy to bring harmony between such conflicting
groups.
Culture depicts the customs, attitudes, belief and value systems of a given group of people
(Cunningham, 2002). The Australian culture is richly diverse since it is composed of
different cultural groups such as the Australians, Indigenous Australians, Torres Strait
Islanders, Italian Australians, and Anglo-Celtic Australians among others (Kelaher &
Manderson, 2000). Individuals from these diverse cultural backgrounds hold varied values
and attitudes regarding healthcare. For instance, the Indigenous Australians differ with
Italian Australians regarding health and illness concepts. Cardiovascular health illnesses are
rampant among the Torres Strait Islanders cultural group (Vos, Barker, Begg, Stanely, &
Lopez, 2009). It is caused by the lack of exercise, poor diet, heavy alcohol drinking and
obesity among others.
Primary healthcare describes the most basic healthcare that is universally accessible to
people (Starfied, Shi, & Macinko, 2005). They add that social healthcare model is the
framework that guides the provision of such services to the people. The most conspicuous
care models in the nation include social and biomedical models of health (Starfied, Shi, &
Macinko, 2005). The biomedical model has promoted the universal accessibility of
healthcare in Australia. It has remarkably aided in managing and or curing diseases (Cioffi,
2003). This is by providing Medicare, access to surgery, health insurance, healthy eating
information and chemotherapy among others.
The health system needs of the different Australian residents are greatly shaped by different
factors like age, gender, behaviour, location, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds
(AIHW, 2014). The Australian healthcare system has fairly provided culturally suitable care
to her people (Spector, 2002). The most appropriate care model to commendably offer
culturally diversified healthcare is the social model (Bandura, 2004). According to him, it is
more holistic since it involves biomedical and preventive elements. He adds that it goes
beyond just informing by enabling individuals to make healthy decisions and accessing
healthcare. Its principles include lowering social inequality, addressing all healthcare
determinants, empowering individuals and the community, healthcare accessibility and
sectorial collaboration.
Step four
`Finally, `explain `how answering this question has helped you to achieve one of the four
ACU graduate attributes`, `aligned with HLSC120 by reflecting and critically,`
analyzing your thoughts and feelings about the original question based on your
research`. (250 words)
According to me, Graduate Attribute 2 (Recognize their responsibility to the common good,
the environment, and society), has been immensely appropriate to this evaluation essay. I
have found extensive comprehension on the need to observe my responsibility to the common

REFLECTIVE ESSAY 6
benefit, the surrounding and society at large regarding equitable access to diversified health
care. The extensive information that I have collected on this topic has aided me in
appreciating the indispensable need to acknowledge the responsibility that everyone and I
have towards the common good, our surrounding and the society in general.
However, based on my research, I believe that some improvements and polishing needs to
be implemented to remarkably bridge some of the identified gaps in providing an
increasingly diverse health care to the Australian population. Such dominant disparities
include inequalities and accessibility to the diversified health care services. Essentially, it is
worthwhile to appreciate the milestones achieved this far in steering the Australian healthcare
towards meeting the diversified need of the different cultural groups in the country. This
should act as a motivation to achieving even more in the health care system.

REFLECTIVE ESSAY 7
References
AIHW. (2014). Australia`s health system. Retrieved from http://
www.aihw.gov.au/australias-heallth/2014/health-system/
Bandura, A. (2004). Health promotion by social cognitive means. Health education &
behaviuor, 143-164.
Beltman, S., & MacCallum, J. (2006). `Mentoring and the development of resilience: An
Australian perspective`. International Journal of mental health promotion, 21-36.
Cioffi, J. (2003). `Communicating with culturally and linguistically diverse patients in an
acute care setting: nurses` experiences`. International Journal of nursing studies, 299-
306.
Cunningham, S. (2002). `From cultural to creative industries: theory, industry and policy
implications`. Media International Australia incorporating Culture and policy, 54-65.
Dunn, M., Forrest, J., Burnley, I., & McDonald, A. (2004). Constructing racism in Australia.
Australian Journal of social issues, 409-430.
Germov, J., & Marylin, P. (2014). Public Sociology: An Introduction to Australian Society.
Allen & Unwin.
Joppke, C. (2004). `The retreat of multiculturalism in the liberal state: theory and policy`. The
British Journal of Sociology, 237-257.
Kelaher, M., & Manderson, L. (2000). `Migration and mainstreaming: matching health
services to immigrants` needs in Australia`. Health policy, 1-11.
Levine, F. (2004). `Enriching the sociological imagination: How radical sociology changed
the discipline`. Brill.
Moran, A. (2011). Multiculturalism as nation-building in Australia: Inclusive national
identity and the embrace of diversity. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2153-2172.
Spector, E. (2002). Cultural diversity in health and illness. Journal of Transcultural nursing,
197-199.
Starfied, B., Shi, L., & Macinko, J. (2005). `Contribution of primary care to health systems
and health. The Milbank quarterly`, 457-502.
Vos, T., Barker, B., Begg, S., Stanely, L., & Lopez, D. (2009). `The burden of disease and
injury in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples`: the indigenous health gap.
International journal of Epidemiology, 470-477.