Assessment Task 4: Critical Reflective Essay

Part A: Concept Map

            Part A: Concept Map

Assessment Task 4: Critical Reflective Essay

Part B

Racism is one of the impacts of colonisation which has influenced my reasoning regarding the health of First Peoples in Australia. Notably, with the gap in healthcare experienced in Australia between the Indigenous and the non-Indigenous peoples is mainly because of ethnicity. Racism influences health since it determines resources distribution based on ethnic position within the society. I was astonished by the fact that ethnicity influences health resources distribution. I wanted to understand more how ethnicity influenced factors such as education among the members of the aboriginal community. I felt this way because education is an important resource which should be allocated without any form of discrimination. Different influences have shaped my understanding of this worldview. For instance, the fact that the members of the Indigenous community are discriminated when it comes to resources distribution. My professional culture associated with mental health has affected my perception of this by providing an outline of the fact that the gap should be closed to ensure an equal resources distribution for an effective health among the members of the indigenous community in Australia.

Define

            From the concept map, it is evident that members of the Aboriginal community in Australia do not access the same quality care as the non-Aboriginal one in Australia. I would like to explore and understand further how education and literacy influence the health of the members of this community, especially on matters associated with mental health. The issue of the impact of education and health literacy on mental health is considered an important factor to be explored further since it will provide an insight into factors such as the existing gap under this concept and how it has contributed towards the increased cases of mental health recorded among the Indigenous communities. I also consider it effective to study this concept further since an inadequate level of education increases the potential that one will develop mental health conditions because of the lack of knowledge about how to implement self-management strategies to avoid the development of instances of mental illness. Studying this concept further will also be desirable since it will provide an insight into the primary factors which has contributed to the low levels of education and literacy among the Aboriginal communities. Education is considered an effective concept which is directly related with the health of the members of the community since people will lack knowledge about when to seek medical assistance to prevent the development of mental illness.

            Indigenous communities refer to the population of people living within geographically distinct habitats or ancestral territories (Lys, 2018). Social economic status provides an insight into the social standing which a person exists. Socioeconomic status reveals inequities associated with resources access as well as the control, power and privilege. In addition, socioeconomic status is a term associated with power, privilege and control.

Reflection

            Being a member of the non-Indigenous community, I understand that the education and education literacy are considered as primary concepts which influence health. However, this factor is further experienced in the cases where a gap exists between the distribution of resources between the members of the community and the non-Indigenous people. I understand that the origin of the inequality in wealth distribution has further influenced how the members of Indigenous community access basic resources and how this further influences mental health. It is assumed that the members of the Aboriginal community will not have an equal access of resources compared to the members of the non-Indigenous community. This has resulted to the increased health disparity noted among the members of the community as reflected through the increased instances of mental health cases reported among the members of the community.   My professional culture has also played a fundamental role in influencing my understanding of the concept of health disparity and its impact on mental health (Day & Francisco, 2013). For instance, working as a mental health professional has promoted my understanding that mental health will always be driven by environmental factors. Notably, as a mental health professional, I understand that stress and anxiety are the primary factors which can result to the increased development of mental health cases. According to Australian human Rights Commission (AHRC), (2015), the lack of equality in resources distribution is a primary factor which results to the increased levels of stress and anxiety experienced by the members of the ethnic minority groups in Australia. Subsequently, this factor plays an effective role in affecting the mental health stability of the affected persons. The Indigenous people, predominantly the Aboriginals, the Torres Strait Islanders communities, and the South Sea Islanders based in Australia are well thought out as a group maintaining the minority group status (Hunt, 2013). The Indigenous Australians provides an insight into the community members with a familial heritage to the groups of societies which lived in the community afore the colonization by the British. Therefore, they have been resided in Australia since time immemorial (RacismNoWay, 2020). 

            My professional culture has positively influenced the perception I hold about the First People. For instance, I understand that resources should be equally distributed so that the First People’s mental health state can be improved. Therefore, as I interact with the members of the community, I focus on encouraging the community members to maintain a positive health to avoid cases of stress among the members of the community. In turn, this will lead towards a better mental health.

Analysis

            Effective education and adequate health literacy are regarded as primary factors which results to an improved health outcome. People who have poor education or a reduced literacy level have a limited knowledge about the importance of engaging in health screenings and self-management (Rheault, Coyer, Jones & Bonner, 2019). Inadequate level of education as well as health literacy enhances the potential that a person will develop mental health diseases which are experienced because of the limited use of health servicers experienced because of the environmental stressors (Kutcher, Wei & Coniglio, 2016).

            The members of the Non-Indigenous population in Australia maintain a perspective that they are superior in comparison to the First People. This explains the unequal distribution of resources among the members of the community since the members of the Non-Indigenous group will be provided with a priority over the First People. On the other hand, the members of the First People community maintain a perspective that they are prone to mental health diseases because of the position they hold in the community (Day & Francisco, 2013). Notably, the First People are considered as less inferior to the Non-Indigenous population which has contributed to the mental health gap experienced in the community.

            Different policies have been established with a primary aim of closing the gap between First People and the non-Indigenous population in Australia (Batic-Mujanovic, Poric, Pranjic, Ramic, Alibasic & Karic, 2017). For instance, in 2008, the Australian government focused its efforts of closing the indigenous disadvantage gap (Australian Government Department of Health, 2013). The primary focus was on six targets within the field of healthcare, employment and education. The primary focus of this policy was to ensure that the existing gap noted when it comes to the distribution of resources was going to be addressed with the impact being recorded through a significant reduction in the cases of mental health recorded among the First People.

            By 2020, different targets had been made on the targets focused on ensuring that more people from the indigenous groups can access education. According to Reiss, Meyrose, Otto, Lampert, Klasen and Ravens-Sieberer (2019), by 2020, 95% of the children from the indigenous families already had the ability to participate in early childhood education because of the support of the government. Moreover, it is evident that the government is also focused on ensuring that the top officials allocated their efforts towards exceeding the set targets (Bostic & Bagnell, 2012). Policies have also been established to ensure that more resources are allocated towards closing the gap. Evidently, it is believed that if enough resources are allocated towards this initiative, closing the gap between the Indigenous and the non-Indigenous people is facilitated. Despite the fact that efforts are focused on ensuring that the members of the First People community access equal resources as the non-Indigenous people for an effective health, it is still evident that the existing gap is high which encourages the need for the establishment of further policies to ensure an effective outcome in closing the gap after the policy implementation (Heffernan, Andersen, Dev & Kinner, 2012).

Learning

            I have learnt several factors from the critical reflective process. For instance, I have masters that the gap between the Indigenous and the non-Indigenous people in Australia is high which has contributed towards the development of health disparities noted in the community. For instance, it is evident that the rates of mental health as recorded among the members of the community are high. Moreover, I also learned that one of the factors, which results to the increased health disparity, is the lack of proper education and health literacy among the members of the community. Evidently, through the lack of education and requisite health literacy information, the First People lack knowledge about the right self-management strategies which should be considered to prevent instances of mental illness development. Noticeably, persons with poor education and a limited health literacy level will have a partial knowledge connected with their health trepidations, how to effectually engage in self-management, comprehend the importance of health screenings, and have familiarity of required health promotion actions (Rheault, Coyer, Jones & Bonner, 2019).

            I also learned that culture is a fundamental factor which provides a definition of how the members of the community will access fundamental resources. For instance, being a member of a minority group will be associated with factors of discrimination. Since the members of the majority community are always favoured, there is need for the state and political leaders to develop desirable policies focused on closing the gap to ensure that the members of the community are provided with the right for an equal resources access. I found it desirable that the government already has effective policies in place which has ensured that children from the indigenous groups are finding their way into the educational institutions. However, more should still be done to ensure that the community members are not discriminated further to prevent the impact experienced on mental health.

Transform

            The future practice focused on promoting the health of First Peoples and Practice can be transformed through advocacy efforts and policy development. For instance, political leaders can undertake the initiative of drafting legislations focused on closing the existing gap between the indigenous and the non-indigenous communities. Notably, it is evident that the First People are exposed through a state of powerlessness which comes about mainly due to the needs of the members of the community. Therefore, with requisite legislations in place which advocates for the needs of the members of the community, it is evident that the state of powerlessness will be addressed by granting the cultural group with an equal chance to access the resources such as effective education and access to desirable care services. The proposal to implement patient education can be achieved through advocacy efforts. For instance, writing to the region’s state representative and informing him about the state of the problem is considered a move which should be considered to urge the government to consider coming up with more requisite and effective policies.

            The knowledge gained can be applied in the mental health professional practice through patient education. Evidently, if I focus on educating the people from the indigenous communities openly about self-management strategies, chances are higher that instances of reported mental health concerns will be reduced. For instance, ensuring that one-on-one patient education session are set up when interacting with patients and families from the members of the aboriginal community, the First People households will gain requisite knowledge about the importance of self-management to avoid cases of mental health concern development.