Injuries among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

Answer

Injuries among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

Part One

Introduction

 Failure to take substantial steps to reduce some of these health priorities among ATSI peoples means they will continue to experience poor healthcare and increased mortality rate. A steady approach can be applied to improve the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. One way of achieving this is by reducing the social gap between ATSI individuals and other Australians. This paper has identified injuries as one of the national health priority Aboriginal, and Torres Strait Islander peoples have faced for a long time. It outlines how injuries have impacted on ATSI peoples' poor health.  Further, the paper discusses how factors such as education, income, and others have contributed to more injuries. Nonetheless, the paper also presents a health promotion program for injuries among ATSI communities.

Injuries among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

By definition, an injury refers to intentional and unintentional harm that is caused to the body. The harm can result from being in contact with persons or substances.  It can also originate from excessive energies or the sudden absence of essential fundamentals like oxygen. Research indicates that the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples that suffer from injuries is twice as compared to other Australians (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2016). Further, research indicates that older ATSIs populations suffer from injuries as compared to the young. The same research outlines that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children suffer and die from injuries as compared to other Australian children. This is a clear indicator that injuries are among the major health problems experienced among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations.

Leading Causes of Injuries among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

There are several causes of injuries among the ATSIs. This section discusses some of the significant causes of injuries that lead to poor health among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Violence

Violence is a common cause of injuries among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Individuals. Most of the ATSI individuals obtained injuries due to assault. Other groups assault many ATSI individuals. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are vulnerable groups. Many people take advantage of them. The common forms of assaults faced by Aboriginals include physical assaults and sexual assaults.   Other causes of violence include family hardships, trauma resulting from colonization, separation from culture, psychological problems, high consumption of drugs, and alcohol.  Although Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures do not support any form of violence, the psychological problems that they go through make them engage in violence (Menzies, 2019). Violence is common among the youths, and a significant number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups’ youths suffer injuries due to violence.

Falls

Falls are a significant cause of injuries, especially among the old. Fractures are the most common types of injuries that individuals suffer from due to falls.  Many Aboriginals, especially the old, are hospitalized after suffering from fall injuries. In most cases, older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people suffer from falls due to loss of independence and reduced mobility (George et al., 2018). Older Aboriginals lack the financial muscle to purchase essential equipment that can aid their movement. As a result, they acquire injuries that interfere with day to day activities. 

Transport Injuries

Transport injuries are those injuries that originate from accidental activities. These injuries do not include intentional self-harm and assault. Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islander people use different modes of transports for movement. Among the modes of transportation, accidents from land transport are the most common type of transport injuries. Transport is one of the fourth leading causes of injuries, followed by violence ( Romanus, 2019). Apart from land associated injuries, some ASTI individuals sustain injuries from water and air transport.

Suicide and Self-harm

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a long history of suffering. Most of these individuals lost their lands, forcefully to the government and other groups. As a result, they undergo a lot of psychological distress and emotional instability. This makes some of them lose their lives through suicides, or obtain injuries through self-harm.

The Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) in Australia

 The poor health status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is well understood. Ranging from injuries and other healthcare problems, there exists a big social gap between Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islander individuals and other Australian groups. Although the governments have made persuasions to change the health status of the indigenous population, there are a lot of challenges resulting from the social gap. Addressing the injury issue has proved to be challenging because of the disadvantages that ATSI faces as a result of the social gap. Some of the common social determinants are discussed below.

Income and Social Status

Many studies outline that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders experience both economic and social disadvantages making them have more injuries than non-indigenous populations (Moller et al., 2016). For example, research indicates that Aboriginal people have a lower rate of seatbelt use. This is directly related to their lower socioeconomic status. Many Aboriginal people have low incomes. They cannot acquire essential injury prevention treatments exposing them to more risks. Further, due to low incomes and social status, Aboriginals have low vehicle ownership (George, A. et al., 2018). Many people overcrowd vehicles during transportation without using seatbelts. Lower seatbelt use indicates a high probability of injuries in case of accidents.

Education and Illiteracy

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have less education as compared to non-indigenous groups. A large population is not informed about their safety. For instance, some are not aware of the road safety rules. They use the roads anyhow, increasing their chances of being knocked by road used, leading to injuries. Lack of adequate and persisting low-income level make the Indigenous people fail to understand the importance of using seatbelts during transportation (Knibbs, 2014). Further research indicates that a high level of illiteracy combined with a lack of resources makes the Aboriginals lag getting informed about road safety promotion messages. Today, road safety promotion messages can be obtained through the internet. However, a population that cannot get access to the internet remain uniformed about changes and safety about road use. Therefore, they are exposed to more injuries daily.

Unemployment and Poor Working Conditions

A large population of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is unemployed. They get low income to purchase safety gadgets such as headgears. Hence, they cannot protect themselves when an accident occurs. Nonetheless, unemployment is a social stressor. People who live in poverty are emotionally imbalanced and psychologically stressed (Richards, & Skarin, 2013). As a result, they undergo frustrations that result in violence and self-harm. The few who are employed to work under harsh conditions. Poor working conditions, such as poor office ergonomics can cause accidents and other forms of injuries (Menzies, 2019). For example, sitting on broken chairs and tables can results in body breakages in body parts. Unemployment and low income make Aboriginals live in areas with poor infrastructures. For example, lack of access to proper roads or unworthy driving vehicles leads to accidents that cause injuries.

Social Environment

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a long history of racism and other forms of discrimination in their social environment. This is a minority group faced with racism in various places, such as healthcare centers, schools, and leadership. Reduced access to better healthcare, associated with an extended period of psychological stress, mental instability, substance abuse, and alcohol computation leads to violent incidences (Richards, & Skarin, 2013). This increases the rate of assault, resulting in injuries.

Physical Environment

The majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders live in remote areas. Unlike the non-indigenous people who live in cities with good infrastructure, Aboriginals live in low-class houses and areas. Further, the outlying areas have limited access to healthcare and rehabilitation centers (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2019). Notably, poor environmental conditions, such as sloppy and rocky environments, expose these individuals to injury risk factors

Healthy Child Development

Whereas Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are brought up in a culturally strict environment, they face many healthy development challenges. Due to their economic status, most Aboriginals rarely visit healthcare facilities for the injury prevention treatment and lack of screening services. Further, Aboriginal children are brought up in a poor physical environment. Many live in poor houses that expose children to many injuries. In short, Aboriginal children do not undergo healthy child development like non-Aboriginals. Therefore, they are exposed to a lot of injuries.

Part Two.  Alcohol Management as a Health Promotion Program Aimed at Reducing Injuries among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People

Health promotion involves a series of processes and activities aimed at protecting a population from risk factor associated with a particular condition. One of the health promotion programs that has been commonly used by the Australian government is an alcohol management plan (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2019). Whereas alcohol consumption is also a significant cause of injuries for non-Aboriginals, over 80% of Torres Strait Islander People consume alcohol at high risk, making it a significant cause of falls, violence, transport injuries, and suicide. In response to reducing the injuries, the government developed a comprehensive program in 1992 dubbed, Living With Alcohol (LWA) ( Clapham, 2011). This program was funded with a special Northern Territory tax and has contributed to significant injury reduction. Alcohol management programs involve a series of activities such as providing alcohol education, controlling alcohol access, treatments and expanding rehabilitation services for alcohol addicts.

Many Aboriginals involved in alcohol consumption engaged in violent activities such as assaults and physical fights. A massive percentage of Torres Strait Islander People have gone through bad experiences in life. As a result, they engaged in alcohol consumption as a way of reducing stress. However, research indicates that the impact of alcohol on physical and mental health is worse. Instead of living a stress-free life, the Aboriginals who consumed alcohol experienced more cases of emotional and psychological instability (Möller et al., 2017). Hence, many took actions that led to self-harm or suicide, increasing the chances of injuries. Wherever Aboriginals drunk alcohol to reduce stress, they stagger and cross roads anyhow without proper observation of road safety rules, exposing many people to road accidents. Further, alcohol increases ignorance. A massive percentage of drunkards tend to ignore essential transport and safety standards in their physical environment. For example, drunkards can choose to walk along paths with dip holes due to impaired judgment, exposing them to more injuries (Clapham, 2011). Since consumption of alcohol is attached to most of the injury risk factors, developing an alcohol management plan as a health promotion program is a proper way of dealing with injuries among the Torres Strait Islander People.

Programs such as controlling access to alcohol reduce the chances of Torres Strait Islander People engaging in drinking. Notably, the provision of alcohol education creates awareness, informs, and empowers people to avoid consuming alcohol. Offering treatment and rehabilitation services for alcohol addicts enable individuals to recover from the bad influence of alcohol (Clapham, 2011). An alcohol management plan is a better intervention program for reducing alcohol-associated injuries Torres Strait Islander People.

An effective alcohol management program reduces the health inequalities among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in various ways. First, a lot of money is wasted on purchasing alcohol. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are economically disadvantaged. Hence, any program that minimizes wastages on alcohol provides them with a better opportunity to save and use their income effectively towards improving their social status. Further, alcohol leads to school dropouts. However, alcohol management programs such as treatment, controlling access, and rehabilitation help the youths to recover from alcohol influence or minimize its impact (Clapham, 2011). As a result, they get an adequate chance to go to school for education and increase literacy levels. Alcohol is a significant cause of retrenchment and unemployment. However, controlled access to alcohol and education provides the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with ample opportunities to search for employment and give adequate attention to their jobs. An alcohol free-environment is an excellent social environment for both children and adults' development. Alcohol impairs judgment, limiting the chances of living a healthy life. However, in an alcohol-free environment, children develop proper health discipline. Further, parents who do not consume alcohol provide better health care and a social environment. Finally, people who do not drink alcohol know the dangers of their physical environment. They become careful with the physical settings in their environment, avoiding places that can harm their lives (Franklin & Sleet, 2018). In short, alcohol management programs reduce many health risk factors among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, giving them an opportunity for healthy living.

Conclusion

Compared to non-Aboriginals, the indigenous people's injury problems result from social-economic inequalities. While other groups enjoy a good life, Aboriginals are exposed to injury risk factors such as accidents, violence, self-harm, suicide, and falls. Whereas injury problems have been common among ATSI communities, the significant causes are the socioeconomic gap. If problems such as unemployment, racial discrimination, illiteracy, and poverty can be reduced, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities can live a life free of careless injuries. However, the key to living an injury reduced life lies reduced alcohol consumption. Alcohol is associated with many of the injuries' risk factors. However, alcohol management programs such as providing alcohol education, controlling alcohol access, treatments, and expansion of rehabilitation services among the Aboriginals are better ways to reduce health inequalities and ensure good health.