Strategies for Indigenous Sexual Health Services Report

This report delves into the critical aspects of reproductive and sexual health services for Indigenous populations, focusing on the unique challenges and barriers they face. It explores strategies for delivering culturally appropriate healthcare, emphasizing the importance of cultural awareness, effective communication, and the involvement of Indigenous people in healthcare provision. The report analyzes barriers to seeking sexual healthcare, including shame, lack of knowledge, and previous negative experiences, and proposes solutions such as the "Closing the Gap" framework and national anti-racism strategies. It highlights the roles of key stakeholders, including local health districts, Aboriginal medical services, and healthcare professionals, in promoting health equity and reducing health disparities. The report underscores the significance of addressing racism as a key social determinant of health and emphasizes the need for comprehensive, culturally sensitive approaches to improve health outcomes and achieve quality of life for Aboriginal people.

Running head: REPRODUCTIVE AND SEXUAL HEALTH
Reproductive and sexual health
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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REPRODUCTIVE AND SEXUAL HEALTH
Question 1:
Strategies for better delivery of health services amongst indigenous people:
1) Cultural awareness:
Culturally inappropriate health services contribute to poor health and well being. Non-
indigenous health workers also acknowledged the cultural gap between the indigenous and
non-indigenous individual and therefore lack of cultural knowledge contributed to poor
health services (Wand et al. 2017). Since health workers have a negative impact on that
individual, it is crucial to provide sound knowledge about the cultural differences to every
professional in order to address the health issues (Justo et al. 2017).
2) Effective verbal communication in a clinical setting:
Poor communication with the health professionals has been a fundamental factor that
contributed to a health crisis of aboriginal individuals. Therefore, effective verbal
communication is a crucial step to reduce the barrier of communication (Smallwood, 2015).
Positive verbal communication with respecting the dignity of the individual is beneficial for
reducing the health crisis amongst aboriginal women since it helps to gain the trust from
them. Acknowledging their presence, prioritizing their decision related to health helps to
develop a healthy professional relationship and reduce the mortality rate.
3) Involving them as healthcare profession:
In clinical premises, involving indigenous people in providing the health services and
working with them helps health professionals in understanding their community.
Consequently, it reduces the cultural gap, dissolve racism and promote well being of the
individual. Furthermore, collaboration with them enhances interpersonal communication,
sense of maturity and respect which in turn reduce the health crisis (Smallwood, 2015).

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References :
Wand, H., Bryant, J., Pitts, M., Delaney-Thiele, D., Kaldor, J. M., Worth, H., and Ward, J.
2017.Development of a Risk Algorithm to Better Target STI Testing and Treatment Among
Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People. Archives of sexual behavior, 46(7),
2145-2156.
Justo, E.R., Reeves, B.M., Ware, R.S., Johnson, J.C., Karl, T.R., Alphonso, N.D. and Justo,
R.N., 2017. Comparison of outcomes in Australian indigenous and non-indigenous children
and adolescents undergoing cardiac surgery. Cardiology in the Young, 27(9), pp.1694-1700
Smallwood, G. (2015). Indigenist critical realism: Human rights and first Australians’
wellbeing. Routledge

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Question 2:
Seeking sexual healthcare, feeling protected, feeling empowered along with culturally
safe is crucial for aboriginal individuals to reduce the health crisis, it is more relevant within
the younger people as compared to the older individuals. However, there are certain barriers
that hinder the sexual health care services. Consequently, it exponentially increases the
mortality gap. For managing the reproductive and sexual health services, certain factors need
to consider for designing an appropriate plan of health care. Shame is considered as one the
powerful barrier which is associated with embarrassment and disempowerment (Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander adolescent sexual health guideline, 2018). They are not capable of
talking about their concern to health care providers and it increases the health crisis. Lack of
knowledge and understanding of the sexually transmitted disease and serious consequence of
it increases the health issues (Palmer, 2016). Uninformed and unsupportive family members
are another important factor need to consider for the making the appropriate plan. Old beliefs
such as symptoms are self-treating are the crucial barrier which needs to consider during
making the plans (Henrickson and Fouché,2017 ).. Other factors that need to consider such
as previous bad experiences, culturally unresponsive health professionals, and shame of
examination, cost and location of the health services, fear of treatment or administration of
certain drugs (Henrickson and Fouché,2017 ). In order to design the appropriate plan for
these factors need to eliminate otherwise, it will contribute to poor health status.
Question3:
Seeking sexual healthcare and closing the gap between cultures to reduce the
incidence of sexually transmitted disease amongst Aboriginal people. There are many
frameworks and strategies that influence the reproductive and sexual health care services to
work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Closing the gap framework is

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effective one that can influence the way of service. Closing gap framework takes actions
across the crucial social determinant such as health, house, education and employment
(Anthony, Bartels and Hopkins, 2015). It also supports the innovative local programs that
create the opportunity for effective collaboration between local services from different
sectors for addressing the area of concern and inequality of genders. It closes the gap by
generation and in between people (Wright et al. 2018). Therefore, aboriginal people are able
to seek the help of the health services without feeling offended or disrespected (Palmer,
2016). Moreover, it will also help each health professionals to work in collaboration and it
ensures confidentiality and privacy by creating the appropriate environment for patients or
victims of sexual assaults. National anti-racism strategy 2010-2020 is one of the most
relevant strategies which significantly enhance the cultural competency of health care
services (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adolescent sexual health guideline, 2018).
Experience of racism is compounded by traumatic legacy which contributed to the poor
sexual health especially in younger people (Henrickson and Fouché,2017 ).. Therefore, this
framework helps the health workers to address the issue, promote and build evidence-based
practices to prevent racism so that the health issues related to the sexual assault can be
controlled.
Question4:
Racism is a key social determinant of health for Aboriginal people and can deprive
them for achieving quality life by debilitating confidence and self-worth. This, in turn, leads
to poorer health outcomes (Richmond and Cook, 2016). Accumulated evidence suggested
that racism in the health care contributes to the low level of access to the health services and
increases the mortality rate. Therefore, National anti-racism strategy 2010-2020 is effective

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for supporting the health services (Smith, 2018). The key stakeholders are local health
district, Aboriginal medical services, primary health network, and health professionals. Local
health district ensures the effective clinical and corporate governance framework for
supportive patient-centric care and helps to approve this framework (Smallwood, 2015).
Aboriginal medical health services provide the wide range of services without medical
practitioner which only rely upon the other health staffs for managing the sexual issues.
Primary health network promotes the awareness related to the sexual health and provides
knowledge to manage the issues, especially within a younger individual (Justo et al.
2017).Health professional such as medical practitioner have involved themselves in the wide
range of care by respecting their dignity and effective communication with people (Palmer,
2016). Nurses provide services with empathy and compassion to reduce the cultural gap so
that individuals can talk about their sexual experiences and seek help from health services.
The midwife also involves themselves in providing the comfort and support for gaining their
trust so that they are able to share their experiences and talk about the crisis (Palmer, 2016). It
enhances the treatment procedure and reduces the health crisis, promotes well being.

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References :
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adolescent sexual health guideline, 2018. [online]
Available at:
https://www.health.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/161541/adolescent_sexual_health
_guideline.pdf [Accessed 4 Oct. 2018].
Anthony, T., Bartels, L. and Hopkins, A., 2015. Lessons lost in sentencing: Welding
individualised justice to Indigenous justice. Melb. UL Rev., 39, p.47.
Henrickson, M. and Fouché, C., 2017. Vulnerability and Marginality in Human Services.
Routledge.
.
Palmer, D., 2016. ‘We got to look at our old people, use a different school’: Bringing Out
Stories Across Generations in the Kimberley. In Learning and Mobilising for Community
Development (pp. 65-77). Routledge.
Richmond, C.A. and Cook, C., 2016. Creating conditions for Canadian aboriginal health
equity: the promise of healthy public policy. Public health reviews, 37(1), p.2.
Smallwood, G. (2015). Indigenist critical realism: Human rights and first Australians’
wellbeing. Routledge.
Smith, D.E., 2018. Aboriginal expenditure patterns: an analysis of empirical data and its
policy implications.
Wright, A., Lovett, R., Roe, Y. and Richardson, A., 2018. Enhancing national data to align
with policy objectives: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander smoking prevalence at finer
geographic levels. Australian Health Review, 42(3), pp.348-355.

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Wand, H., Bryant, J., Pitts, M., Delaney-Thiele, D., Kaldor, J. M., Worth, H., and Ward, J.
2017.Development of a Risk Algorithm to Better Target STI Testing and Treatment Among
Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People. Archives of sexual behavior, 46(7),
2145-2156.
Justo, E.R., Reeves, B.M., Ware, R.S., Johnson, J.C., Karl, T.R., Alphonso, N.D. and Justo,
R.N., 2017. Comparison of outcomes in Australian indigenous and non-indigenous children
and adolescents undergoing cardiac surgery. Cardiology in the Young, 27(9), pp.1694-1700