The Biological and Sociological Models of Health of Indigenous Australians - Case Study Example

Running Header: Analysis Case Study Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Introduction Indigenous Australians have for a long time now been disadvantaged in most aspects of their lives. The modern day Australian society in regard to indigenous Australians has been influenced directly and indirectly by numerous historical events. As a result of colonization, the indigenous Australians were greatly disempowered and they lost their cultural identity. The early colonists hardly understood the richness and complexity of the Aboriginal cultures. This has been the reason as to why the indigenous Australians have always been disadvantaged and they still continue to be disadvantaged today in many different sectors. The interests and welfare of Aboriginal Australians were grossly sidelined by the government policies and legislation of the colonial days. There were several numerous common clashes between the indigenous people and colonial settlers. Colonization brought about several negative effects such as racism, poverty and in this context, decline in indigenous health. This essay discusses the indigenous dispossession and culture clashes during colonial times and why they are important in understanding various aspects such as stereotyping, culture clash and contemporary health issues in regard to indigenous health. The paper analytically describes the biological and sociological models of health as well as the transcultural theory in regard to health. It finally applies these models and theory to the issues in the case study provided. 1.0 Colonization has had a great impact on indigenous health and issues of culture. This has caused a decline in the health status of the indigenous people. Indigenous health has a long political, socio-cultural and economic history that traces back to the colonial days and the effects of this history are experienced up to date. Since the colonial days, institutional systems, legislation and policies have discriminated against the indigenous groups. The modern indigenous people have been influenced and affected by this discrimination that dates back to the colonial days (Anderson, 2003). The colonization experience has had numerous impacts on indigenous health. At the moment, it is hard to believe that the indigenous people living in a country like Australia, which is very much developed, face similar health problems to people living in third world countries. All these health problems faced by the indigenous groups stemmed from the colonial days. In regard to culture clash, the indigenous people were originally hunter-gatherers who had isolated themselves from other people for thousands of years. Some of their cultures during the traditional days included gathering, trapping and hunting indigenous foods which were high in complex carbohydrates and fibre but low in sugar, salt, fat and energy. They obtained just sufficient water and food that would enable them to survive. When the European colonizers came to the country, they described the indigenous people as being ‘slim-built featherweights’. At this time, the indigenous groups were free from chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Upon impact with the Europeans, their cultures seemed to be very different. The Europeans coerced the indigenous groups into following their cultures and ways of life. The indigenous groups now started getting communicable diseases such as venereal diseases, small-pox, typhoid, influenza, whooping cough, measles, pneumonia and tuberculosis. A good example is the Eora people from the foreshores of the harbor at Sydney who died of small-pox, a disease that was very foreign to them (Gracey, 2007). In regard to stereotyping, the European colonizers had already branded the indigenous people as being slim-built featherweights. The colonizers viewed themselves as being better than the indigenous groups of people in every way. They despised them and looked down upon them because they already had misinformed opinions about these indigenous people. When the colonizers came to the country, they fleeced the indigenous people of the little they had. They took over most of their property, which mostly included land. The lifestyles of the indigenous people included free access to land and all its resources. These resources included traditional medicines that made it possible for the indigenous people to maintain a well nourished and fairly healthy lifestyle. As a result of the dispossession of the Aboriginal land by the colonizers, the indigenous people soon became the sickest and poorest minority group in Australia. Their economic spheres were consequently destroyed and a range of foreign diseases was introduced to them. This led to the rapid deterioration of their health and consequently the severe decrease in their population as a result of deaths caused by these diseases (Hewitt, 2006). Most of the European colonizers were usually Christians. They brought their Christian doctrines and Western way to the indigenous people. The colonizers and the indigenous people had differing views concerning the health of people. To the European colonizers, health was usually confined to mean the physical well-being of the individual. The indigenous people believed that the meaning of health encompassed all aspects of living for the entire society. To them, health was not just about the physical well-being of a particular individual. Health to the indigenous people was understood as the social, emotional and cultural well-being of an entire community or society. They used the whole-of-life view of health. The contact with the colonizers therefore led to the decline of indigenous health and also to the emotional and mental pain that they underwent. It also led to the destruction of their rich culture, which was part of their well-being for both the individuals and the entire community. When the colonizers brought in Western medical practices, they were not embraced by the indigenous people because they were foreign to them. In fact, the indigenous people did not even believe in hospitals because they saw hospitals as places to die. They did not subscribe to the principles and beliefs of Western medical practitioners. For this reason, they did not believe in going to hospitals, seeing the doctors or taking medicine. All these were foreign practices to them. They would instead go to their trusted community healers and make their own medicine (Leninger, 2002). Contemporary indigenous health has been influenced by these historical events. The poor health of indigenous groups in Australia today is attributed to the invasion by the European colonizers. The indigenous people have not acculturated themselves to the European medical systems. Their health issues are as a result of the diseases brought to them by the European colonizers. This is the sole reason as to why the health of the indigenous people is in its sorry state today. Before the European invasion, the indigenous groups were totally fine. They did not experience such diseases that are troubling them today. Their cultures were their source of strength and as long as their communities were fine, they had no problem with the rest of the world. The European colonizers came and destroyed their cultural ties, dispossessed them of their land and exposed them to numerous chronic diseases (Trewin, 2005). 2.0 The biomedical model of health involves the use of medical resources in the treatment of ill health. According to the biomedical model, illness and bad health are described as the presence of symptoms of disease or the disease itself which are caused by physical causes such as exposure to infections or injury. This model proposes that good health is about being free from defects, pain or disease. This model does not focus on individual subjectivity or social factors that are responsible for causing poor health. It purely focuses on physical processes such as physiology, biochemistry and pathology of a particular disease and how to treat it. This model dates back to the mid nineteenth century when physicians began using it predominantly to diagnose diseases. It does not take the society into account. This model concentrates on the individual and how their health is affected. A good example here is when an individual goes to a doctor when sick so that he or she can be treated using medicines such as antibiotics. The sociological model of health on the other hand tends to focus on analyzing social lifestyles so as to establish the cause of a disease. This model places emphasis on economic, environmental and social issues that could cause disease. Unlike the biomedical model that focuses on only the biological aspects that cause disease, the sociological model explores how our everyday well-being and health is affected by social, economic and environmental factors such as poverty, pollution, poor housing, income, diet and social class. This model considers an individual’s social state and social well-being. It is also concerned with disease prevention and health promotion as opposed to the biomedical model which focuses entirely on treatment of diseases. Transcultural theory of medicine or nursing involves the provision of care and disease prevention measures that are in line with or respect an individual’s or a groups’ cultural values, practices and beliefs. The theory was formulated by a professional pioneer nurse, Madeleine Leininger, who is also a global nursing consultant. The theory involves a comparative study of different cultures so as to understand their similarities and differences and be in a position to deal with them in a way that does not contravene their cultures. In the health profession, this theory recognizes the fact that all aspects of human life are influenced by culture, health being no exception. The theory therefore requires the medical practitioners to respect the different cultures and take them into consideration when providing health care services. Patients are normally from diverse cultures and it is the duty of professional medical practitioners to respect these cultures and carry out medical practices that are in line with the different cultures of patients. Adequate knowledge of culture is therefore a crucial prerequisite for any health practitioner. In regard to the biomedical model of health, Rodney’s condition could have been caused by a number of reasons. First, he was overweight and had just come from playing a very strenuous game. When taken to hospital, he was found to have high blood sugar and was very sweaty. The results of his quick scan by the doctors also showed ST elevation. This basically means that the symptoms of these conditions had been right there with Rodney. They had simply been overlooked and no action had been taken to stop them or reduce their impact. According to the principles of the biomedical model, Rodney should have sought treatment by going to the hospital after having certain symptoms such as being overweight. In regard to the sociological model of health, Rodney’s condition could also have been caused by a number of economic and social issues. It is evident that Rodney’s family is not financially stable because they could not even afford to visit him at the hospital when he was admitted. His lifestyle might also be a cause of his condition since he was overweight. His weight brought in other complications that he had not been aware of. The people who passed by and ignored him because they felt he was drunk can also be explained using the sociological model. These individuals were not concerned about the social and physical well-being of Rodney. The fact that he was also an Aborigine made his condition worse at the hospital because he felt out of place. In regard to the transcultural theory, the health workers in this case study had an impact on the health of Rodney in a number of ways. Being an Aborigine, Rodney had never been to that particular region before. Just like other Aborigines, he is used to feeling discriminated against and sidelined. With his condition, this must have got worse. The health workers were culture sensitive and they took the right action by calling the Aboriginal Liaison Officer to visit Rodney at the hospital. Rodney would recover faster because he was now at peace. The officer would make Rodney feel comfortable because he knew he was one of his people. This had a great impact on the health and recovery of Rodney since his family could not come and visit him. This is one of the principles of the transcultural theory whereby health worker are supposed to be culture sensitive so as to understand their patients better and help them to recover better. It is recommendable that the indigenous groups be left to their own doctrines, cultures and beliefs if they feel that it will help them to live healthy lives. Health workers should also respect the cultures of the Aborigines and let them be free to exercise their health practices. The biomedical model and sociological model should be made to work together. They should supplement and complement each other instead of working in isolation. They will be more effective by doing this. The discrimination against the indigenous people should be brought to an immediate end so that their social and cultural well-being can be promoted. In conclusion, indigenous health has been influenced greatly by the invasion from European colonizers. Contemporary indigenous health has greatly been influenced by the colonization of the Aborigines by the Europeans. References Anderson, I. & Grossman, M. (2003). Blacklines: Contemporary Critical Writing by Indigenous Australians. Melbourne: Melbourne University Publishing Gracey, M. S. (2007). Nutrition-related disorders in Indigenous Australians: how things have changed. The Medical Journal of Australia 2007; 186 (1): 15-17. Hewitt. M. (2006) The process of colonisation upon Indigenous Australians. Australia: University of Western Australia Press. Leninger, M. M. (2002). Transcultural Nursing: Concepts, Theory, Research, and Practice 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional. Trewin, D. & Madden, R. (2005). The health and welfare of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics. Read More