Analysis of Media Material on Cultural Safety in Health Issues - Term Paper Example

Analysis of Media Material on Cultural Safety in health Issues Name Date Analysis of Media Material on Cultural Safety in health Issues Health equality is a core aspect of healthcare quality. Unfortunately, however, a purely balanced system where quality healthcare is equally accessible across all population, which would result into a balanced health status, has not yet been achieved at least in Australia. There is sufficient data showing significant health disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultures with the former being grossly disadvantaged (Durey & Thompson, 2012). Extensive research has been done aiming at closing the gap in health outcomes between different cultures. Culturally competent care has been shown to address health gaps leading to improved health equality (Noe et al., 2014). The primary goal of culturally congruent, patient-centered care is to improve health outcomes through increasing patients’ trust of the health system and thereby enhancing care acceptability. Cultural competence is the ability of the health system, which encompasses healthcare organisations and providers, to deliver healthcare that meets linguistic, cultural, and social needs of the patient (Wilson, Ward & Fischer, 2013). It is a primary aspect of delivering patient-centered care. According to Baker and Giles (2012), culturally competent healthcare improves care outcomes by eliminating racial, social, and ethnic health disparities. A fundamental element of culturally competent care is knowledge of the respective culture. Indeed, as Tseng and Streltzer (2008) note, being a member of a given culture does is not a guarantee that one is able to provide culturally competent care for members of the community. Instead, what matters most is knowledge of the given culture, which in turn helps a health professional to link health concepts with cultural elements, communicate effectively with patients, and show respect when giving care. In Australia, providing culturally competent care to the Indigenous population has been identified as one way of closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous population on matters of health as reported in the media. This paper analysis media articles on the Indigenous’ mental health especially focusing on the provision of culturally appropriate care to deal with the health issue. Analysis of Media Material Article 1: Indigenous mental health care at heart of new, popular Curtin University course, by Wynne (2016) Key Points Mental health is a serious health issue facing the Indigenous people. In the effort to provide long-term solution to the matter, Ms Trish Hill-Wall, an associate professor at Cutin University created a new course for the Indigenous people. The “three-year Indigenous clinical mental health practitioner course” will produce healthcare professionals who will provide culturally competent mental healthcare to the Indigenous people. The course will combine child development, psychology, behavioural science, and clinical registration so that graduates will be able to provide counseling and dispense medicine to the Indigenous people (Wynne, 2016). Link to models, approaches, and current debate Every culture has its values and practices that determine their health and consumption of health services. Any attempt to disassociate patients with their culture will result to their lack of trust and consequent rejection of health services. The approach that Ms. Hill-Wall is using seeks to improve cultural safety by developing healthcare providers who clearly understand the Indigenous culture. cultural safety is defined as a healthcare environment that consumers consider safe, where care providers treat patients with dignity and respect their cultural values, and where healthcare is tailored to meet patients’ needs (but not clients being forced to take what providers deem best for the former) (Best, 2014). However, it is impractical to learn all the specifics of different cultures considering that the modern world is becoming increasingly diverse, which means that contemporary healthcare organisations are serving people from several different cultures. However, the health of the Indigenous people is crucial to the Australian healthcare system. Therefore, there is a dire need to understand the Indigenous people better in order to provide culturally appropriate care. As Durey and Thompson (2012) argues, there is an urgent need to bridge the gap between traditional (Indigenous) and Western healthcare strategies in order to address the mental health problem facing the Indigenous people. Hill-Wall’s new program will surely close this bridge by creating healthcare practitioners who will link cultural practices with western medicine. Article Two: Regional NSW initiatives support Aboriginal people with mental illness, by Handley (2015) Main Issues The article from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) shows how healthcare professionals and organisations are balancing modern medicine with Indigenous culture to address the rising problem of mental illness among the Aboriginal people. Ms. Donna Stanley has been in the forefront in addressing mental health problems among the Aboriginal people in NSW. According to Ms. Stanley, providing culturally safe mental health services is the focal point in addressing the rising health issue (Handley, 2015). The complexity of mental health demands approaching the issue from different angles; different people have different needs, which means that mental health services must be tailored to specific needs. A key problem faced is stereotyping the Indigenous with mental illness whereby the problem is considered part of the culture (Handley, 2015). Doing so has only intensified the problem. Programs have been designed and implemented that provide the Aboriginal with mental health education while encouraging them talk about it. While considerable improvement has been noted upon their implementation, much more is needed especially in reaching people in remote areas where mental health services are in shortage. Training Indigenous people to provide such services to their people will make them more accessible (Handley, 2015). Link to models, approaches, and current debate The programs mentioned in this article are well in line with Campinha-Bacote’s (2007) cultural competence model (Libesman, 2014). According to the model, healthcare providers should not consider themselves as being culturally competent. Instead, they should view themselves as becoming culturally competent (Libesman, 2014). In the media material, Ms. Stanley is hopeful that will increased understanding of the complexity of Indigenous people’s mental illness and their culture, the rising cases of mental health problems will be fully addressed. According to Walker, Schultz, and Sonn (2014), delivering culturally competence care should not be a definite goal for healthcare providers. Rather, they should always strive to improve their cultural skill, knowledge, awareness, and encounters and consequently integrate them together with modern medication to improve care outcomes (Walker, Schultz, & Sonn, 2014). Having more media materials like this one will motivate the health system to work harder. Article Three: Aboriginal campaigner and suicide survivor shines light on mental health issues, by Turner, 2016 Key issues This article features Ingrid Cuming, a 32-year-old university graduate, comedian and director of Cultural Connection Code. At her tender age, a relative and community elder sexually abused her, which traumatised her (Turner, 2016). She abused drugs and alcohol and even ran away from her home in the effort to run away from her troubles. After struggling so much with the mental problem and without anybody to tell her story, she attempted suicide, but her friend saved her just on time. She now empowers other Indigenous people to seek help as a way of fighting the increasingly worrying rates of suicide among the Indigenous (Turner, 2016). Being a member of the Noongar community, Ms. Cuming might be having some idea about the mental health issue facing the Indigenous community. Unfortunately, she concedes that it is more complex than she can understand; no one understands why these people are committing suicide (Turner, 2016). Nevertheless, she notes that current strategies to address the issue are not culturally appropriate and hence failing to contain the problem (Turner, 2016). Ms. Cuming advocates for a reform into a system that combine western practice with the Noongar culture. Neither of the system is defunct nor is any of them less efficient that the other. It is crucial to try to strike a balance, which according to Professor Dudgeon, will take time before significant changes can be documented. Whichever the case, change of the system is required (Turner, 2016). The indigenous people must be increasingly involved not only in program implementation, but more so in making decisions and designing programs meant for the Indigenous. Currently, they are more of forced to take what is thought to work for them as opposed to being given an opportunity to develop what works for them. Elements of the Noongar community that helped Ms. Cumming include art, yarning, and talking about sexual abuse within a safe place (Turner, 2016). Link to models, approaches, and current debate Cultural diversity is a core concept in nursing, which fundamentally determines healthcare quality. In the history of nursing, prominent people (researchers and professionals) have appreciated the importance of providing culturally congruent care in addressing a patient’s healthcare needs comprehensively. Madeleine Leininger had an immense contribution in promoting culturally appropriate care as evidenced by her theory, which serves as the first comprehensive guide for providing cultural care (Kersey-Matusiak, 2013). The theory, which is perfectly reflected in the above media article, argues that the provision of culturally congruent care is only possible if nurses learn, understand, and put into consideration healthcare beliefs and cultural values of the group to which the patient belongs (Kersey-Matusiak, 2013). As Leininger and McFarland (2006) argue, every culture in the world has its unique folk, indigenous, or naturalistic lay care system, many of which have not been exposed to professional care systems. Cultural care systems quite often disagree with professional care systems but they can be combined to provide culturally meaningful healthcare. Disregarding any or both would result into health deterioration. Ms. Cumming reiterates this concept in the article noting that the Indigenous people have continued to suffer poor mental health because their cultural values and practices are not embedded into healthcare systems being offered. On the issue of mental health, Cooper (2011) notes that the Australian Indigenous culture perceives mental health as a healthy spirit. This realisation shows that western medication and healthcare cannot work effectively on Indigenous people if it is not integrated with cultural practice. For instance, since mental illness is perceived a healthy spirit, a mentally ill person will be considered to being haunted by living spirits. Therefore, a traditional healer might be required. An in-depth understanding of the view of mental health will help health professionals and the government to understand the rising mental health problem in the Indigenous community. As Ms. Cumming states, she was afraid of disclosing sexual abuse because her abuser was a community elder. She believed that in doing so, bad spirits would haunt her, and that people would not believe her. This statement is well in line with Cooper’s realisation that mental illness is considered a living spirit and core aspect of one’s health (Cooper, 2011). Therefore, the Indigenous culture might develop so much fear about mental health or even consider it to be untreatable, which could explain why so many of them are living with the problem without seeking help. As Ms. Cumming and other people in the article argue, which is in line with Leininger’s theory, it is only after nurses understand Indigenous culture concerning mental health that they will provide culturally appropriate and acceptable care to members of the community. Involving Indigenous people in decision making when designing mental health programs for the community will surely ensure that these initiatives are culturally appropriate. Now that the concept of culturally competence care is considered a core element of care quality, there are high hopes that the health gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people will close. Indeed, statistics show narrowing of the gap. Article 4: Bad news: negative Indigenous health coverage reinforces stigma, by Stoneham (2014) Key Issues In this article, Stoneham believes that there is too much negative portrayal of the Indigenous people in the mainstream media whose effect is to fuel racism while instilling hopelessness amongst the Indigenous people. It is worrying that if an article is about the Aboriginal, there is a 0.74 probability of it highlighting the negative side of the community such as high suicidal rates, child abuse, drug and substance abuse, violence, deaths, petrol sniffing, and escalating mental health problem (Stoneham, 2014). Link to models, approaches, and current debate Media’s role in Indigenous health is a highly debatable issue. Sweet (2009) is of the view that the media should show some fairness by balancing positive and negative news. Too much negative reporting internalises stereotyping and makes the Indigenous people shameful of themselves to the extent of developing self-hate. Instead of tackling problems facing them, the sense of hopelessness only makes things worse because the Indigenous people will try to run away from their problems. After all, media has already depicted them as being worthless and meaningless and that there are no hopes of their condition getting better. A perfect example of a media article that would instill hopelessness among the Indigenous people is apparent suicide of 10-year-old Indigenous girl shocks remote WA community, by Parke (2016). In this article, Gerry Georgatos blatantly indicates that in 2016, suicidal rates are projected to be higher than annual average (Parke, 2016). While media plays a pivotal role in advocating for change, Stoneham (2014) is on the view that there is a dire need to balance between the positives and negatives of the Indigenous people through responsible journalism. As much as reporting accurate figures is necessary, it is important for media organisations and journalists to report development in the community as way of instilling hope and reducing racial profiling in the society. Personal Reflection It is true that there is a huge gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous health. Nevertheless, efforts are underway to close this gap and improvements are evident. The first three articles presented show that there is hope especially so because enlightened Indigenous people have taken responsibility to help their own address mental health issues. Although the three media articles show that mental health is a serious problem facing the community, they are instilling hope by assuring the Indigenous people that healthcare systems will work. They are further challenging the government and policy makers to involve the Indigenous people in decision-making, which will result in culturally appropriate systems. Current programs being run by Indigenous people are showing improvement, and they will act as case studies for larger systems. The last article has a remarkable contribution to the debate on mainstream’s media in improving Indigenous health. It is true that there is gap that must be reported as a way of advocating for Indigenous health. However, constant reporting of the negative side only exacerbates the problem by fueling stereotyping while instilling hopelessness among the Indigenous people. Indeed, mental illness will be viewed synonymous to Indigenous people, which will only traumatise members of the community. They will fear presenting their problems, which means that their health will deteriorate. There is a dire need for journalists and media houses to be made aware of this impact so that they can increase on reporting the positive side of the Indigenous community. Conclusion There is hope that the gap between Indigenous and non-indigenous people will eventually close if healthcare professionals and policy makers focus on delivering culturally congruent care. Indigenous people who have benefited from integrated health systems that combine western care with cultural practices support for such an integration noting that neither of the two systems can work effectively for the Indigenous people. It is the highest time that the media helps the Indigenous people to develop confidence in themselves while reducing racial profiling and discrimination by reporting positive side of the community. In doing so, the Indigenous people will develop hope knowing that they play a crucial part in the larger society. References Baker, A. C., & Giles, A. R. (2012). Cultural safety: a framework for interactions between Aboriginal patients and Canadian family medicine practitioners. Journal of Aboriginal Health, 9(1), 15-22. Best, O. (2014) The cultural safety journey: an Australian nursing context. In O. Best & B. Fredericks(Eds) Yatdjuligin: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nursing and Midwifery Care.(pp 51-73). Melbourne, Cambridge University Press. Cooper, D. B. (2011). Care in mental health-substance use. London, UK: Radcliffe Publishing Ltd. Durey, A. & Thompson, S. C. (2012). Reducing the health disparities of Indigenous Australians: time to change focus. BMC Health Services Research 12, 151-161. Handley, K. (2015). Regional NSW initiatives support Aboriginal people with mental illness. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2015/10/08/4327274.htm Kersey-Matusiak, G. (2013). Delivering culturally competent nursing care. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company, LLC. Leininger, M. M. & McFarland, M. R. (2006). Culture care diversity & universality: A worldwide nursing theory. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Libesman, T. (2014). Decolonising Indigenous child welfare: Comparative perspectives. New York, NY: Routledge. Noe, T. D., Kaufman, C. E., Kaufman, J., Brooks, E., & Shore, J. H. (2014). Providing culturally competent services for American Indian and Alaska Native Veterans to reduce health care disparities. American Journal of Public Health, 104(S4), S548-54. Parke, E. (2016). Apparent suicide of 10-year-old Indigenous girl shocks remote WA community. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-08/suicide-of-10-year-old-indigenous-girl-shocks-wa-community/7231052 Stoneham, M. (2014). Bad news: negative Indigenous health coverage reinforces stigma. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/bad-news-negative-indigenous-health-coverage-reinforces-stigma-24851 Turner, R. (2016). Aboriginal campaigner and suicide survivor shines light on mental health issues. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-12/suicide-survivor-shines-light-on-mental-health-issues/7241740 Walker, R., Schultz, C., & Sonn, C. (2014). Extending competence through critical praxis. In Dudgeon. P., Milroy. H, & Walker, R. (Eds.) Working Together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Wellbeing Principles and Practice (2nd ed.). 195 -220. ACT, Commonwealth of Australia. Wilson, J., Ward, C., & Fischer, R. (2013). Beyond culture learning theory: what can personality tell us about cultural competence? Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 44 (6), 900-927. Wynne, E. (2016). Indigenous mental health care at heart of new, popular Curtin University course. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-24/curtin-university-creates-indigenous-mental-health-degree/7272094 Read More