Legislation for Aboriginal Cultural Safety

1. Identify a piece of legislation in the context of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander cultural safety in your State/Territory. Describe the key objectives/objects outlined in the identified Act in relation to Aboriginal cultural safety.

The Torres Strait Islander Cultural Heritage Act 2003 binds all people including those from the state, the Parliament’s legislative power, the commonwealth as well as other states. The main objective or purpose of the act is to provide recognition, conservation and protection effectively to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage (Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships (Queensland Government), 2017).

The key principles or objectives are:

1. Providing recognition, conservation and protection of the cultural heritage through respect of knowledge, customary practices and culture of the Torres Strait Islander people.
2. The people of the Torres Strait Island should be considered as primary guardians, knowledge holders and keepers of their cultural heritage.
3. Provide respect, preservation and maintenance of knowledge, practices and innovations of the inhabitants of the Torres Strait Island. Promoting understanding of their cultural heritage.
4. Promotion of activities directed towards recognition, conservation and protection of the cultural heritage as it will help to reaffirm the obligations of the Torres Strait Islander people to their customs.
5. Establishment of effective and timely processes for handling activities that harm the cultural heritage of the Torres Strait Islander people.

2. Describe in your own words, the following concepts of diversity of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander cultures (in 30-50 words each).

The kinship system enables the Aboriginal people to understand the relationship they have with one another, the roles and the responsibilities they have to take in raising their children. Modelling of positive behaviours like sharing and caring, helping to build good behaviour, identity and self-confidence of the children are some of the important features. Grandparents play an important role in passing down family traditions and cultural knowledge to their grandchildren. It helps to build both family and community strength. The Aboriginal culture acts as a protective force for their children (Parker and Milroy 2014).

Dreaming is multilayered, holistic framework or approach that combines the physical, spiritual and personal dimension of the aboriginal culture along with their past, present and as well as their future lives. The Aboriginal communities who carry out traditional culture practices remain relevant to with the spiritual connection in association with their dreaming.  Spiritual connection to the dreaming enables the Aboriginal communities to raise their children and impart values of group adhesion, community loyalty and interdependence (McRae-Williams, E. and Guenther 2012).

In the past, more than 100 different languages were spoken by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Presently, only 50 languages exist with only 20 languages spoken as the first language by the Torres Strait Island inhabitants. The Torres Strait Islan community consist of two main traditional languages. These are the Meriam Mir and Kala Lagaw Ya (Hamacher et al. 2016). The language of the eastern islands is Meriam Mir, while the traditional language of the central and western islands is Kala Lagaw Ya. Meriam Mir consists of two dialects: Mer and Erub, while Kala Lagaw Ya has four dialects: Mabuyag, Kalaw Kawaw Ya, Kawrareg and Kulkalgau Ya.

Diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures

The Aboriginal people had a set of laws set out by them and termed as the traditional law. It includes the features associated with unacceptable and acceptable behaviours in their community. These traditional laws were very important as it helped them to maintain a safe society without any misdeeds like theft, adultery, insults, homicide, abduction, physical assault, among others. Moreover, not sharing the food with someone was also considered an offence under the traditional law. The traditional law was handled by the elders in the Aboriginal community (Connors 2012).

3. Briefly describe the impact of European settlement on the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people and communities in relation to loss of land and culture

European settlement had a severe impact which was highly devastating for the indigenous people of Australia. This resulted in dispossession of their land and loss of culture. The European settlers sold off the land of the natives. The settlers established many industries in the lands of the native people. As the settlers encroached more into the lands of the native people, it resulted in loss of indigenous food supplies, loss of sacred sites and hunting practices. This resulted in the death of a number of indigenous people due to shortage of food supply and eventual malnourishment. The loss of access to food and clean water resulted in a number of fatal diseases affecting these people. They were also forced to live in churches and government reserves. They were also prohibited from speaking their language and following their social or cultural practices. They had to adapt the European language, dressing styles, cultural values and religion (Nadew 2012).

4. Briefly describe the impact of racism and discrimination on Aboriginal Australians (in 50-70 words).

The impacts associated with racism and discrimination on Aboriginal people was: poor access to resources and services. This resulted in poor living and housing conditions, lack of utilities and poor access to healthcare facilities. Psychological stress affected the emotional and social well-being of the people. This resulted in tobacco and alcohol consumption eventually affecting the safety of the community. The natives suffered various mental illnesses like depression, anxiety and also used drugs. Various health risks were also involved like cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, among others (Durey, Thompson and Wood 2012).

5. Provide 1 (one) example each of how power relationships and power gradients have been manifest in recent and in early colonial times.

Impact of European Settlement on land and culture

In Ethiopia, power relations are learnt at a young age through family structures where men are considered superior to women and elders are considered superior in every aspect from the younger generation. These power relations learnt in the family structure are also embodied in the political sphere and this hierarchical structure affects the flow of democratic governance in the country. The low socio-economic status of the Ethiopian women and disempowerment led to their poor health. Men are more privileged in getting primary education compared to the women of the society (Molla 2013).

Political and various social dynamics, along with the colonial rule caused the development of inequality among the Africans. During the British colonial rule, this inequality resulted in unequal distribution of land. In Zimbabwe, land is a very important source of resource and power relations caused poor access to land from the middle of the sixteenth century till the 1950s. This resulted in poverty, poor development, lack of education, food shortage, and unemployment among others (Lund and Boone 2013).

6. Identify and describe 3 (three) factors that disproportionally affects Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in terms of health.

Environmental health factors involve the biological, physical and the chemical factors of the surroundings. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are affected by various diseases as a result of their remote settlements which are far away from resources, hygienic conditions and healthcare facilities. They have poor infrastructure, lacks maintenance and contact with tradesmen (Knibbs and Sly 2014).

Infrastructure and housing play a very important role in maintaining the health and overall well-being of the people. Overcrowding and lack of proper infrastructures including access to sewage, electricity and water supplies play an important role in terms of declining health of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inhabitants.

Poor nutrition is another factor that affects the health of the natives. Socio-economic, social, environmental and geographical disadvantages are the root cause of poor nutrition giving rise to obesity, malnutrition, cardiovascular diseases, tooth decay and type 2 diabetes. Poor consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables; while consuming large amounts of sweetened beverages and sugar rich foods led to the poor nutrition status of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

7. Briefly describe the impact of trauma on a personal ability for the following:

Decision making involves a series of complex processes like determining alternatives, various probabilities and identifying consequences. However, the mental state of an individual plays a very important role in their decision making process. Posttraumatic stress disorders can affect various features that constitute the decision-making capability of a person. These are attention, cognition, memory and problem solving capabilities. All these are altered in a person suffering from trauma (Aupperle 2012).

Impact of Racism and Discrimination

There are different ways in which trauma can impact the communication skills of an individual. These include: the inability of the individual to connect to the outer world (sense of disconnect), unable to create good rapport with others, suffering from helplessness, shock, lacking the ability to assert their own decisions.

People with trauma suffer from a poor sense of understanding about themselves and of their surroundings. They lack self-confidence and this contributes them to be unsure about their surroundings leading to poor development in workplace and in society.

Individuals suffering from trauma has difficulty to retain their information, which are obtained from verbal sources. It affects their ability to generate new memories. This is caused generally due to the lack of attention resulting from impairment in the brain. This mainly affects a child ability to learn as lack of attention results in inability in retaining and retrieving information (Aas et al. 2014).

8. Identify and describe 3 (three) ways to involve Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people in the planning and delivery of services and programs.

Inhabitants of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island can be involved in various programs and services.

Promotion of healthcare services, including the aboriginal elders and the government will ensure identifying indigenous problems and finding out solutions.

Indigenous volunteers can participate in providing a trusting environment that will enable in proper interpretation of highly sensitive cultural issues.

Another way is to hire native Aboriginal people in healthcare services that will enable to provide a lasting therapeutic relationship to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander patients.

9. Many aged Aboriginal people have a major role in raising their grandchildren and great grandchildren. Briefly describe how this cultural factor may impact on the service delivery to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander clients in an aged care context.

The Aboriginal grandparents spend a lot of time in raising their grandchildren. The grandparents take the role of parents in raising their grandchildren. They provide them with education, care and impart cultural values. The grandparents can acquire the authority to care for their grandchildren through various federal courts, through the NSW child protection act, in a semiformal manner or in an informal manner. However, there are a number of grandparents who raise their grandchildren without any legal recognition. The legal nature of the grandparents is essential because it enables the grandchildren to return and arrange for health services for their aged grandparents. They are unable to sign consent forms, which causes barriers in obtaining aged care services for the elderly grandparents (du Preez, Richmond and Marquis 2017).

Power Relationships in Colonial and Recent Times

10. Identify 2 (two) critical issues that may influence building therapeutic relationship with an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander client.

As the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people live in remote areas, they lack proper healthcare facilities. However, even in the urban areas they are unable to build a lasting therapeutic relationship with healthcare providers. One reason could be the high turnover of staff in the healthcare facilities.

The nurses and the healthcare providers may not be culturally competent to communicate with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The healthcare providers should keep in mind the social and cultural customs of these people.

Other issues could be racist behaviour and discrimination meted out to these Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by the healthcare providers. Moreover, absence of any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff in the healthcare facilities could also impact in building therapeutic relationships. Unaffordable costs of healthcare facilities could also add to the problem. 

11. Identify 2 (two) critical issues that may influence communication with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people.

Language may be an issue that can affect communication in association with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Most of them do not speak English and some of them speak English in dialects like Aboriginal English, Kriol and Torres Strait Creole (Koch and Nordlinger 2014).

Another issue is time. In the western culture, there is a high regard for timely communications. However, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have more value for community relationships and family responsibilities than for time. They require time to understand properly and require consultation times which are flexible.

12. Describe 2 (two) strategies you could implement to overcome the consent issues for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients (in 40-60 words).

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people follow a kinship system, where the elders of the family take the major decisions. So, it is necessary to contact the right person in making critical decisions related to a family members health. Presence of Aboriginal staff also provides a sense of faith and understanding that enables the patient to give consents for addressing critical issues.

Language also plays a very important role in giving consents for healthcare matters. Learning the native language or hiring interpreters helps in better communication that helps to overcome the consent issues for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients (Demaio, Drysdale and de Courten 2012).

13.Provide 3 (three) examples of strategies you could implement in your nursing practice in order to support the development of effective partnerships between staff, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people and their communities. 

One effective strategy in nursing practices that helps in developing effective partnerships is cultural competence. Culturally competent nursing practices enable better communication, enhanced knowledge about culture differences and identification of social practices (Heffernan et al. 2012).

Development of respectful relationships also helps to establish an effective partnership between nursing staff and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Carrying out nursing practices that are accepted by the social norms of the indigenous society.

Language plays an important role in developing and maintaining partnerships. Learning the indigenous language helps to communicate better and helps to develop a trusting relationship that is the root for developing an effective partnership.

14. Identify 3 (three) resources you could utilise to promote partnerships in promoting Aboriginal cultural safety.

Strategies that can be utilised for promotion cultural safety of the inhabitants of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island include:

1. Hiring the aboriginal youth and elders to promote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural knowledge and social practices.
2. Development of school programs that provide information about Aboriginal culture practices and customs.
3. Promotion of aboriginal language in schools and healthcare facilities.   

Reference List

Aas, M., Dazzan, P., Mondelli, V., Melle, I., Murray, R.M. and Pariante, C.M., 2014. A systematic review of cognitive function in first-episode psychosis, including a discussion on childhood trauma, stress, and inflammation. Frontiers in psychiatry, 4, p.182.

Aupperle, R.L., Melrose, A.J., Stein, M.B. and Paulus, M.P., 2012. Executive function and PTSD: Disengaging from trauma. Neuropharmacology, 62(2), pp.686-694.

Connors, L., 2012. Women, children and violence in aboriginal law: some perspectives from the southeast Queensland frontier. Past Law, Present Histories, p.125.

Demaio, A., Drysdale, M. and de Courten, M., 2012. Appropriate health promotion for Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities: crucial for closing the gap. Global Health Promotion, 19(2), pp.58-62.Hamacher, D.W., Tapim, A., Passi, S. and Barsa, J., 2016. ” Dancing with the stars”-astronomy and music in the Torres Strait. arXiv preprint arXiv:1605.08507.

Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships (Queensland Government). (2017). Legislation. [online] Available at: https://www.datsip.qld.gov.au/about-us/legislation [Accessed 16 Oct. 2017].

du Preez, J., Richmond, J. and Marquis, R., 2017. Issues affecting Australian grandparents who are primary caregivers of grandchildren: a review. Journal of Family Studies, 23(1), pp.142-159.

Durey, A., Thompson, S.C. and Wood, M., 2012. Time to bring down the twin towers in poor Aboriginal hospital care: addressing institutional racism and misunderstandings in communication. Internal medicine journal, 42(1), pp.17-22.

Heffernan, E.B., Andersen, K.C., Dev, A. and Kinner, S., 2012. Prevalence of mental illness among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Queensland prisons. Medical Journal of Australia, 197(1), p.37.

Knibbs, L.D. and Sly, P.D., 2014. Indigenous health and environmental risk factors: an Australian problem with global analogues?. Global health action, 7(1), p.23766.

Koch, H. and Nordlinger, R. eds., 2014. The Languages and Linguistics of Australia: A comprehensive guide (Vol. 3). Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.

Lund, C. and Boone, C., 2013. Introduction: land politics in Africa–constituting authority over territory, property and persons. Africa: The Journal of the International African Institute, 83(1), pp.1-13.

McRae-Williams, E. and Guenther, J., 2012. Pathways: following the highway, taking the scenic route or journeying through the dreaming. In 15th AVETRA Conference Proceedings: The Value and Voice of VET Research for individuals, industry, community and the nation (pp. 1-13). Australian Vocational Education and Training Research Association.

Molla, T., 2013. Higher education policy reform in Ethiopia: The representation of the problem of gender inequality. Higher Education Policy, 26(2), pp.193-215.

Nadew, G.T., 2012. Exposure to traumatic events, prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder and alcohol abuse in Aboriginal communities. Rural and remote health, 12(4), p.1667.

Parker, R. and Milroy, H., 2014. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health: an overview. Working together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and wellbeing principles and practice, 2, pp.25-38.