Health and Social Issues among the Indigenous Women in Australia - Term Paper Example

Health and Social Issues Among The Indigenous Women In Australia Name of student Institution Instructor Date Introduction Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders' women, also known as indigenous women, have more health and social related issues/problems compared to other women in Australia (Burns et al., 2013). The health issues that are more prevalent among indigenous women include a high prevalence of preventable mortality, perinatal mental health, intimate partner violence, and lifestyle diseases among others. The disparity can be attributed to a variety of factors, which include poor access to health care, inadequate education, socioeconomic barriers and the inequitable relationship among others. Research has demonstrated that the nurses can intervene to prevent and eradicate the disparity health problems among Australian women (Bradley et al., 2015). This paper seeks to examine and discuss the role of the nurse in providing health care interventions to prevent and reduce health issues among Indigenous women in Australia. The paper will explore the two social determinants of poor health among Aboriginal women. The paper will also discuss the role of nurses in alleviating women health and issues concerning the two social determinants. Finally, the paper will provide a potential health program in a quest to empower the indigenous women to make better health choices. Social Determinants of Women Health and Social Issues Several social determinants have associated with women's health issues among Indigenous women in Australia. These determinants include culture, the level of education, socioeconomic barriers, access to health, and lifestyle among other factors (Passey et al., 2012). For the purpose of this paper, the discussion will focus on the level of education and access to health. Research has shown that women with the low-level education of education are more prone to health issues/problems as opposed to their educated counterparts (Burns et al., 2013). In Australia, the indigenous women are less likely to attend school compared to other women in Australia (Burns et al., 2013). Analysis of school records has also shown that the indigenous female has a lower school completion rates than the non-indigenous females (Burns et al., 2013). The completion rates were based on surveillance of student from admission through to the year 12. According to Burns et al. (2013), the post-school qualification for indigenous women stands at 20% compared 37% for other Australian women. The graduation level of indigenous females is also three times less compared to other Australian women. The certificate or diploma level is approximately 15% compared to 20% for non-indigenous females (Burns et al., 2013). Lower level of education is associated with increased number of unemployment and low income that culminate into financial difficulties (DeBourgh, 2012). Financial capabilities influence the way indigenous women seek health services, whereby financial difficulties are related to poor health seeking behaviors. According to Van der Heide et al. (2013), low level of education is associated with low level of health literacy leading to inappropriate health-related decision making that culminate to poor health status. Even though, Reavley, McCann and Jorm (2012) argues that low level does not necessarily imply low health literacy they concur that its influence the level of health literacy significantly. In this context, low level of education is an important social determinant of health among Indigenous women in Australia. Another social determinant of health that influences the health status of indigenous women is access to health. The indigenous women have low health seeking behaviors compared to other Australian women (AHMAC, 2012). Van der Sluijs et al. (2013) demonstrated that most of the indigenous women do not seek a solution for the effects of menopause from conventional medicine. Schemied et al. (2013) also found out that most indigenous women do not report their worries to health worker leading to exacerbation of perinatal stress. There are several barriers, which hinders the access of health services among Indigenous women that can be categorized as the health system, related or client related. Health related health access include physical availability, affordability, acceptability, and appropriateness of health services (Ware, 2013). Studies have shown that the availability of health care services among the indigenous population is hindered by inequality in the distribution of health workers and lack of transport to health care institutions. Most of the services offered in Australian hospitals are based on the analysis of non-indigenous women and thus not friendly (inappropriate) to indigenous women. Failure to involve indigenous women when developing policies for their services leads to lack of ownership (Ware, 2013). Language barriers, negative perception due to past injustices, and the health perspectives also hinder accessibility to health services (Ware, 2013). Nursing Role in Alleviating Indigenous Women Issues Nursing is a science and an art of assessing, diagnosing, treating, and preventing the responses of human illnesses and health. In this context, the nurses play a significant role in ensuring that indigenous women have optimal health status through enhancing health accessibility and improving health literacy. For the purpose of the paper, the nursing tasks discussed herein will concentrate on social determinants of health of access to health and level of education. The primary function of a nurse is to provide curative and preventive services to all individuals irrespective of their age, sex, tribe, race, religion, or any other affiliation (Aiken et al., 2012). In this context, the nurses are supposed to address women's health issues without discrimination against the indigenous women. This role is achieved through utilization of nursing knowledge, professionalism, ethics, clinical reasoning, and personal values in the provision of services (Aiken et al., 2012). However, research has shown that despite the use of these nursing competencies, the indigenous female has lower access to health services compared to other Australian women (AHMAC, 2012). This leads to the high prevalence of preventable diseases, increased mortality rates, and poor health status of Indigenous women compared to other Australian women. To meet the curative and preventive objectives the nurse should conduct a thorough assessment to identify the reason for the disparity of health status among Australian women. The assessment can be done by reviewing and analyzing health records, conducting community diagnosis and probing the patients (DeBourgh, 2012). When a nurse meets a client, they can gather a lot of information regarding culture, health-seeking behavior as well as the health perspective of the community. The nurse can also review the finding of the relevant scholarly article to assess the health status of a community or any special group (DeBourgh, 2012). Another important role of a nurse is promoting health and preventing health issues through health education and health promotion. Health education refers to individualized activities seeking to inform the clients of the cause, nature, and risk factors for a disease concerning lifestyle behaviors. The concept of health education is a valuable tool for addressing and preventing health issues. The nurses conduct health education with a view of increasing health literacy thus motivating individuals to change their lifestyle behaviors to achieve optimal health. According to Barnes et al. (2012), health education concept assumes that individuals need health related advice to make informed health decision. The nurse, on the other hand, is perceived to possess adequate health related information that is sought by the client. In this context the nurse, has a role in planning, implementing, and evaluating health education with a view to improving individualized health status. According to McMurray and Clendon (2011), women's health issues occur due to social, anatomical, and physiological factors. Therefore, health education targeting the health problems of the indigenous women should focus on enlightening women on the social, anatomical factor that leads to increased prevalence of health problems of indigenous females. The level of education does not warrant for the low level of health literacy since the mainstream schools do not necessarily teach health-related issues (Reavley, McCann & Jorm, 2012). In this context, health access barriers such language barriers should be considered when offering health education. The nursing profession’s code of conduct allows the nurse to find a translator to get or pass important health issues to the clients. Health promotion is also a valuable concept that a nurse should use to address the level of education as well as health access barriers. According to D’Abundo, Sidman and Heller (2014), health promotion refer to the process of empowering and transforming communities and individuals so that they can address or tackle their health issues. Health promotion is a political process ranging which assumes that individuals are powerless to address health issues individually. The strategy calls individuals to come together and advocate for the betterment of healthcare systems and structures to improve the health status of their community. The nurse plays a major role in enhancing health promotion (D’Abundo, Sidman & Heller, 2014). The concept of health promotion assumes that the health professional is an integral part of the community who has adequate knowledge to empower and support the community. The nurse supports the community by suggesting strategies, collaborating health activities between the community and other stakeholders by suggesting areas that need health intervention. The nurse can be able to address lower education levels and poor access to health through agenda setting, advocacy, political lobbying, and organizing and facilitating social health education. Proposed Strategy This section will propose a strategic plan to eradicate the disparity of health status between the indigenous women and other Australian women. The proposal aims at ensuring that indigenous women have increased level of health literacy to facilitate informed health care decisions through health education. The proposal will also seek to empower the nurses with knowledge to allow them offer culturally acceptable and appropriate health care planning thus enhancing health seeking behaviors. The paper also aims to use health promotion to lobby and advocate for equitable distribution of resources to enhance the level of education as well as healthcare accessibility. The first initiative of this paper is to ensure that indigenous women achieve improved health literacy. Research has shown that health literacy is mostly determined by the social and cultural perspective of health (Sharma & Romas, 2011). In this context, the nurse should conduct extensive health campaigns targeting to educate the indigenous women on the need to seek conventional medical assistance. Sharma and Romas (2011) noted that successful health campaign should involve local leaders to gain acceptance by the target communities. In this context, the paper recommends nurses should seek guidance from local leaders before commencing the campaigns and incorporate them when conducting the exercise. The awareness campaign should focus on health statistics of both non-indigenous women and indigenous women to demonstrate the extent of the problem. The awareness campaigns should also focus on the services offered in healthcare facilities to eradicate perceptions based on past injustices and allay unknown fear of hospital settings. The campaign should target the most common health issues affecting indigenous women such as intimate partner violence, perinatal stress, menopause and lifestyle diseases among others. The second initiative seeks to empower nurses so that they can offer culturally acceptable and appropriate services. Research has shown that the nurses play a major role in influencing the health perspectives of health and improving health literacy (Aiken et al., 2012). This is achieved through utilization of nursing knowledge, professional conduct, and collaborative practice. This paper proposes that all health institutions should conduct numerous continuous medical education programs and seminars to equip nurses with adequate knowledge. The medical education programs should focus on the cultural practices of indigenous women, common issues that affect indigenous women, causes of disparity and potential ways of preventing the disparities. The final initiative involves the use of health promotion to lobby and advocate for equitable distribution of resources. Distribution of natural resources is a political process that requires political lobbying and formulation of the legal framework (Kitson, Marshall, Bassett & Zeitz, 2013). In this context, this paper suggests that nurses should empower the communities to lobby for construction of more schools and hospitals in their locality. The community should also lobby for deployment of more staff in their region. The nurses, on the other hand, should lobby for the formulation of health care policies that are friendly to indigenous women. For instance, the nurses can lobby for more resources to conduct community awareness campaigns and employment of translators. In conclusion, indigenous women have poor health status compared to other Australian women characterized by high levels of preventable mortality and poor health seeking behaviors among others. The main determinants of the disparity are low health literacy and health accessibility barriers. However, health promotion and health education programs can curb determinant of health leading to improved health status among indigenous women. References AHMAC (Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council). ( 2012). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework 2012 report. Canberra: AHMAC. Retrieved 9 October, 2015 from www.health.gov.au/indigenous-hpf Aiken, L., Sermeus, W., Van den Heede, K., Sloane, D., Busse, R., McKee, M., Bruyneel, L., Rafferty, A., Griffiths, P., Moreno-Casbas, M., Tishelman, C., Scott, A., Brzostek, T., Kinnunen, J., Schwendimann, R., Heinen, M., Zikos, D., Sjetne, I., Smith, H. and Kutney-Lee, A. (2012). Patient safety, satisfaction, and quality of hospital care: cross sectional surveys of nurses and patients in 12 countries in Europe and the United States. BMJ, 344(mar20 2), pp.e1717-e1717. Barnes, M. D., Wykoff, R., King, L. 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