Impact of Social Determinants on Torres Strait Islander Health Report

This report examines the social determinants of health, focusing on the Torres Strait Islanders. It highlights the impact of cultural identity and social support on their physical and mental well-being. The report presents the current health status of the population, including high rates of hearing problems, mental illness, and chronic diseases. It analyzes how cultural identity, tied to land and cultural practices, and social support, particularly kinship, influence health outcomes. The intersectionality of these factors, compounded by colonization and governmental policies, intensifies health challenges. The discussion includes the impact of displacement, discrimination, and lack of financial and emotional support. The report concludes that understanding these social determinants is crucial for improving health outcomes, despite existing initiatives. The analysis emphasizes the need for culturally sensitive health services that address both the cultural and social needs of the Torres Strait Islander population.

Running head: SOCIAL DETERMINANT OF HEALTH: TORRES STRAIT ISLANDERS
Social Determinant of Health: Torres Strait Islanders
Name of the Student:
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Author Note:

1SOCIAL DETERMINANT OF HEALTH: TORRES STRAIT ISLANDERS
Chosen population group: The Torres Strait Islanders
Factors affecting health: cultural identity and social support
Introduction
The social determinants of health are factors that define the conditions of people’s life
span. The common social determinants of health are socioeconomic status, neighborhood and
physical environment, education, employment, social support and health acre accessibility
(Pössel et al., 2018). For aboriginal people, especially the Torres Strait Islanders, the social
determinants of health include cultural identity, spirituality, family and kinship, country,
country and access to land and freedom from racial discrimination. Among these, the factors
of social support and cultural identity are chosen as for discussion. This report explores the
current condition of health among the Torres Strait islanders. Additionally, it analyses the
two factors and how they impact aboriginal wellbeing. Finally, the report analyses the
intersectional impact of these factors on the health of the Torres Strait Islanders.
Discussion
Current health status of the Torres Strait islanders
The aboriginal population, mainly the Torres Strait Islanders are extremely vulnerable
populations when it comes to health. Around half the population are suffering from adverse
health conditions either physically or psychologically and sometimes both. A report of
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) shows that 47% of the northern territory
population still suffers from hearing problems. Moreover, the average median age for this
population group is 23 which is drastically less than the 28 of the non-aboriginal population

2SOCIAL DETERMINANT OF HEALTH: TORRES STRAIT ISLANDERS
(Indigenous Australians Overview - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Australian
Institute of Health and Welfare, 2020).
There is also high number of reported cases of mental illness or psychological distress
among the Torres Strait islanders as statistics says that 1 in 3 youths in the population are
vulnerable to psychological distress. The presence of both mental and physical illnesses
create burden of disease which increases their chance of being affected greatly (Macniven et
al., 2016). Apart from these, the ratio of heart disease, kidney diseases and diabetes are quite
common among this population. Mental illness is also one of the main concerns when it
comes to the Torres Strait Islanders. The reason behind all these issues are cultural identity
and social support.
Influence of the factors on health outcomes for the population
Identity is a pre-requisite for mental health. For aboriginals and Torres Strait
islanders, there are many factors that define their identity for them. Among them, cultural is
the most dominant factor as their uniqueness lies in their culture only (Adams et al., 2017).
The cultural identity of the Torres Strait islanders are closely knitted with their relationship to
land and being able to practice their cultural norms and rituals. Due to colonization and large
scale uprooting, the Torres Strait islanders have lost much of the cultural uniqueness and
have lost their ancestral lands which has caused distress among them. Apart from that, large
scale violence and governmental policies has affected the health of the population adversely
for generations. According to Kilcullen, Swinborne and Cadet-James (2018), spirituality,
empathy, respect and acceptance form much of their cultural identity and are important
factors of aboriginal wellbeing. This indicates that the oppression and loss of culture has
contributed to the reduced health statistics among the aboriginals.

3SOCIAL DETERMINANT OF HEALTH: TORRES STRAIT ISLANDERS
Social support is also one of the major social determinant of health for the Torres
Strait islander. According to Bernardes et al. (2019), social support reduce distress and worry
among the aboriginal and especially the Torres Strait islanders suffering from cancer. Cancer
creates large scale emotional stress and financial stress among the population. Thus, Torres
Strait islanders who are apart from their family and tribe, are relocated to cities and are living
at different locations without kinship connections, suffer large scale depression and mental
health issues. Mental health issues are also one of the most concerning factors for the Torres
Strait islanders and social support is necessary for aboriginal wellbeing. According to Calma,
Dudgeon and Bray (2017), the closing the gap initiative of the government also consider
social support and other social inclusion aspects as major determinants of aboriginal health.
Interaction of the factors and their combined impact on health outcome
Both the determinants of health, cultural identity and social support, interact with each
other and intensifies the impact that they have on the population. The colonization of the
aboriginals led to large scale uprootment and displacement for this population. Many of them
lost their ancestral home and their community. They had to relocate and live in poverty due to
lack of support from the government (Spurling, Felton-Busch & Larkins, 2018). The
systematic violence of the colonized government has led to loss of culture and cultural
identity as much of the younger generation of the population were forced to learn the western
culture which clashed with their ideology. The loss of land also led to further loss of cultural
identity as it is closely related to their worldview.
Displacement and distance form their community led to loss of social support and the
governmental oppressive policy also intensified that. Due to relocation, the population has
faced discrimination and social exclusion, increasing their vulnerability to health problems.
Furthermore, the people of this origin also require financial social support as they live in

4SOCIAL DETERMINANT OF HEALTH: TORRES STRAIT ISLANDERS
poverty for recovering from physical illness and emotional social support for recovering from
mental illness issues, which are unavailable to them. The intersectionality of these factors are
increasing their sufferings and a large section of the population has mental health issues like
depression, substance abuse and chronic physical illnesses that are affecting their health for
decades (Macedo et al., 2019). The closing the gap initiatives have included cultural support
and intervention to improve their health conditions, but have not been completely successful
till now. About half of the population are still facing lack of social support and loss of
cultural identity, thus creating further barrier for improvement of aboriginal health.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it becomes clear that, while less discussed, social support
and cultural identity both play crucial role in the physical and mental health conditions of the
Torres Strait Islanders. Due to the unique cultural aspect of the population and difference in
worldview, these two factors are important determinant of health for them. Despite much
planning and initiatives, the population still suffers from diseases like chronic kidney
dysfunction, diabetes, heart diseases and cancer along with all kinds of mental health issues.
Government departments of health need to understand and consider these aspects while
serving this population for best outcome.

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References
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Bernardes, C. M., Langbecker, D., Beesley, V., Garvey, G., & Valery, P. C. (2019). Does
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