INDH1006: Critical Reflection Part A on Indigenous Cultures & Health

This report presents a critical reflection on key aspects of Indigenous Cultures and Health Behaviours, addressing topics such as working with Aboriginal families, clinical yarning, the impact of historical government policies, and people-centered care. The student analyzes Bessarab's recommendations for engaging with Aboriginal families, emphasizing the importance of cultural understanding and inclusive practices. The report explores the benefits of clinical yarning as a patient-centered approach to improve communication and health outcomes. Furthermore, it delves into the adverse effects of the reconciliation or economic rationalism policy on Indigenous well-being, highlighting the need for governmental acknowledgment of past injustices. Finally, the assignment discusses the implementation of people-centered care, emphasizing the importance of commitment, effective communication, and patient involvement in healthcare delivery.

Running head: CRITICAL REFLECTION 1
Title: Critical Reflection Part A
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Unit: INDH 1006 Indigenous Cultures and Health Behaviours
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CRITICAL REFLECTION 2
Working with Aboriginal Families
Working with Aboriginal community as a health practitioner, Bessarab proposes that
the best approach that can be emulated with these communities is employing the Aboriginal
terms of reference for purposes of participating in reconciliation action and recognizing the
impact of colonization. The book also recognizes the significance of understanding the
community through interacting with various government agencies. Bessarab suggest that
there has to be inclusiveness where these families are made to interact and share various
aspects in the community (Bessarab, 2000).
This is a significant approach of meeting their health outcomes. Being a health
practitioner I must be in a position to develop an approach that makes me question various
aspects in order to deduce meaningful impacts (Lessard, Caine & Clandinin, 2015). I have to
be able to understand that the culture of this community lack knowledge of a typical system
that is used in other areas. In my career as a health practitioner, I must be in a capacity to
entertain the fact that the Aboriginal communities have their own way of thinking, working
and reflecting on knowledge.
This information will play a critical role in enabling me to learn their ways of doing
things in order to be able to show them that they can use other techniques that are more
effective thus influencing their ways. Besides, I must be able to provide therapy using their
own approach in order for me to create interest so that they can be comfortable working with
me as a practitioner of health. I must be in a capacity to understand that colonization played a
critical role in Aboriginal people which led to various unspeakable activities.
The Aboriginal people were made to appear inferior and dispossessed their land. In
my practice as a health professional I must be able to note these events and use them in a
positive way so that they are able to view themselves as deserving in order to create an

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interest in accepting my practice (Wieland, 2014). Furthermore, I must be able to
acknowledge that legislative history that discriminated and encouraged atrocities to be
committed on the Aboriginal communities. In order to provide healthcare services, the
Aboriginal people must be able to understand that they are not being targeted by the system
that committed despicable acts but one that is interested in integrating them to the society so
that they can be able to improve their ways of living.
It is my duty as a health professional to make the community understand that the ills
committed by the system would never be revised. Therefore, in order for me to provide health
services, I must be able to ensure that their rightful place in the society is acknowledged so
that I can be able to employ culturally appropriate methods when offering these services.
Clinical yarning
According to Ivan Lin, clinical consultation and communication with the Aboriginal
and Torres Islanders is a challenging situation and most common barrier to deliver healthcare
services to these communities. Ivan Lin suggests that clinical yarning is a patient centred
approach that maximizes the Aboriginal ways of doing things and understanding of health
and disease can play a significant role in reducing the barrier (Zubrzycki, Shipp & Jones,
2017). The article suggest that clinical yarning constitutes key element which include social
yarn, management yarn and diagnostic yarn.
Social yarn implies that I must be able as a health professional to show interest in
patients. I can achieve this by communicating with them about their families and other
matters that are not necessarily related to health. However, these communications have to be
concerned with the things that they value most so that they get to be interested (Mittinty et al,
2018). I must also be able to develop relationship with my patients by finding a common
ground that connects us. I can be able to achieve this by participating in their activities such

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as cooking and traditional practices so that they are able to be comfortable (Lin, Green &
Bessarab, 2016). Besides, I can be in position to eat their meals and also bring them some of
my cooking in order to show them the need to interact together to form a strong bond for
collaborating.
With respect to management yarn, it is my duty to ensure that I am in a position to
provide direct information with respect to their health, I must also be able to integrate stories
and metaphors in their culture to explain about conditions which will help them internalize
and get motivated. In delivering healthcare services, I must be able to develop a shared
approach on how best to deliver the services (Munns, et al, 2016). Besides, when conducting
diagnostic yarn, I should be in a position to listen to patient’s health stories, use an open-
ended approach, allow silences and interpret their stories though a medical lens and paint to
them a picture of how I can be able to provide better services that completely cure some of
the ailments that they lack better medication.
These clinical yarning approaches can be used to ensure that there is a reliable form of
relationship between the patients and health providers thus making future practitioners to be
in a position to offer better healthcare services to the Aboriginal people without experiencing
numerous bias. Therefore, it is important to note that practitioners have to take time in
learning the culture of the Aboriginal and Torres Islanders people in order to be able to use
their cultural approaches in providing better services (Stuart, May, & Hammond, 2015).
Through this approach of clinical yarning, it is my view that health professional will have
made a significant stride in delivering better healthcare.
Inquiry into the stolen generation
The reconciliation or economic rationalism policy of 1996-2007 played a significant
role in adversely affecting the well-being and health status of the indigenous people

CRITICAL REFLECTION 5
(Zubrzycki, Shipp & Jones, 2017). This policy failed in acknowledging the stolen generation
as a result of colonization. In the end, it forced the two communities to experience anger
which later made them to rely on community-based support groups (Baydala, Ruttan &
Starkes, 2015).
It is my understanding that if the system had acknowledged the vices committed on
these people, then there would be a better approach that would have made the communities
not to seclude themselves from the system. The Aboriginal people have suffered in the hands
of the government that they are expected to trust in providing healthcare services. This is the
bone of contention between these communities and the government of Australia.
The government is taking hard stance from accepting the atrocities that various policy
imposed on the Aboriginal and the Torres Islanders (McKenna et al, 2015). On the flip side,
the communities feel that there is no special relationship that can warrant the government to
start providing support for their health and wellbeing when it is responsible for the
circumstances that they have found themselves. In order for the government to be able to
provide health care services among other benefits, it ought to admit that they failed as a state
in alleviating the community instead of finding a better approach on how they would be
integrated into the system.
There will be no progress in terms of health care services among these people because
there is no good will that is supposed to encourage the Aboriginal people and Torres
Islanders to form allegiances with the rest of the population (Eckermann, Dowd & Chong,
2010). It is my opinion that the government should own up for the mistakes that were
committed since they are irreversible. After which, the government can be in a position start
offering better health care among other services to the communities.

CRITICAL REFLECTION 6
My understanding of this policy greatly impacts my future healthcare profession. This
is because I might be assigned to work with Aboriginal patients and Torres islanders who will
not be welcoming because I am going to be viewed as part of the same system. This will
force me to own up the mistakes on behalf of my government in order to be able to discharge
my duties to the two communities. Besides, it is not possible to justify that these communities
are going to accept my reasoning based on the current attitude towards the perpetrators of the
vices committed on their people (Green et al, 2017). Therefore, it is upon the government to
ensure that immediate measures are considered in order to bring everyone to the table for the
benefit of the economy.
People-centred care
According to the chapter, for me to be able to deliver people- centred care, I am
required to be committed to my profession, education and develop enthusiasm which can be
reflected on both the patient and the community. In doing this, I must ensure that I get
everyone on board in my profession to understand the benefits of people-centred care. I can
be able to achieve this objective through communicating commitment to people-centred care
to various groups such as leadership, patients, families and staff members (Eckermann, Dowd
& Chong, 2010). Besides, I must be able to set clear expectation and share these expectation
with all the stakeholders.
Also, I should be able to offer opportunities to various stakeholders to offer insight
and ideas for purposes of improving healthcare services. In doing so, I will be able to expect
high quality talent and improvement in providing healthcare services. Another way to
implement people-centred care is to ask the patients, families and community their needs.
This will encourage me to invite the patients and families for purposes of sharing
experiences, develop a patient and family group as well as including the sick and loved ones
as teams and committees for consultation (Green, 2017).

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This approach will be significant in offering the patients with the foundation to guide
healthcare professionalism. Besides, I should be able to communicate effectively with
patients and their immediate loved ones. This will assist me to encourage patients to raise
concerns related to their safety, encourage patients to ask questions by structuring questions
whenever caregivers are occupied and establish a system to assist patients who are delivering
the care that they need.
With this approach, I can be able to receive feedback from patients for continuous
improvement of their health. I can be able to create dialogue to ensure that the patients
concerns are addressed and also build stronger relationship between the patients and the
health provider. Additionally, I can be able to offer care options for a diverse group
(Richardson & Stanbrook, 2015). To realize this objective I am required to provide food that
suits the diet preferences of the patients, offer space for patients to pray including meeting
with religious leaders and develop care to accommodate patients personal schedules.
Furthermore, I should be able to involve patients in their care through inviting
families to participate in taking care of the patients. I should also be able to establish a
process of providing information (Teng et al, 2015). Among other approaches that I can
employ to offer people-cantered care is providing patients with ample and understandable
access to their health status, create a conducive and welcoming environment that offers
patients comfort, show care for patients’ families and their loved ones as well as caregivers
and the community.
References

CRITICAL REFLECTION 8
Baydala, L., Ruttan, L., & Starkes, J. (2015). Community-based participatory research with
Aboriginal children and their communities: Research principles, practice and the
social determinants of health. First Peoples Child & Family Review, 10(2).
Bessarab, D. (2000). Working with Aboriginal families: A cultural approach. W Weeks & M
Quinn (eds).
Eckermann, A. K., Dowd, T., & Chong, E. (2010). Binan Goonj: bridging cultures in
Aboriginal health. Elsevier Australia.
Green, M., Cunningham, J., O’Connell, D., & Garvey, G. (2017). Improving outcomes for
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with cancer requires a systematic
approach to understanding patients’ experiences of care. Australian Health
Review, 41(2), 231-233.
Green, S. (2017). Aboriginal people and caring within a colonised society. In Critical Ethics
of Care in Social Work (pp. 139-147). Routledge.
Lessard, S., Caine, V., & Clandinin, D. J. (2015). A narrative inquiry into familial and school
curriculum making: Attending to multiple worlds of Aboriginal youth and
families. Journal of Youth Studies, 18(2), 197-214.
Lin, I., Green, C., & Bessarab, D. (2016). ‘Yarn with me’: applying clinical yarning to
improve clinician–patient communication in Aboriginal health care. Australian
Journal of Primary Health, 22(5), 377-382.
McKenna, B., Fernbacher, S., Furness, T., & Hannon, M. (2015). “Cultural brokerage” and
beyond: piloting the role of an urban Aboriginal Mental Health Liaison Officer. BMC
Public Health, 15(1), 881.

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Mittinty, M. M., McNeil, D. W., & Jamieson, L. M. (2018). Limited evidence to measure the
impact of chronic pain on health outcomes of Indigenous people. Journal of
psychosomatic research, 107, 53.
Munns, A., Toye, C., Hegney, D., Kickett, M., Marriott, R., & Walker, R. (2016). The
emerging role of the urban-based aboriginal peer support worker: A Western
Australian study. Collegian, 23(4), 355-361.
Richardson, L., & Stanbrook, M. B. (2015). Caring for Aboriginal patients requires trust and
respect, not courtrooms.
Stuart, G., May, C., & Hammond, C. (2015). Engaging aboriginal fathers. Developing
Practice: the Child, Youth and Family Work Journal, (42), 4.
Teng, T. H. K., Hung, J., Judith, M., Bessarab, D. C., & Thompson, S. C. (2015). Better
prevention and management of heart failure in Aboriginal Australians. Age, 11(6.2),
5-0.
Wieland, L. (2014) My journey into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health. Australian
Family Physician, Vol. 43, No. 1/2,: 12-14.
Zubrzycki, J., Shipp, R., & Jones, V. (2017). Knowing, being, and doing: Aboriginal and
non-Aboriginal collaboration in cancer services. Qualitative health research, 27(9),
1316-1329.