Health Literacy and Indigenous Australians

Discuss about the Health Literacy for Mental Health Conditions.

The term health literacy was pioneered in the year 1979 and is of extreme importance in the world of public health. It is involved with the abilities of the public to address complicated demands of the health care in this recent world (Sørensen et al., 2012). A health literate can be referred to as the factors responsible for a particular ill health, the predisposing factors behind the ill health and the ways of mitigating them. There is much distinction between health literacy and literacy in general. As per UNESCO, the word ‘literate’ is mostly familiar with the knowledge of literature or education (Sørensen et al., 2012).

This paper strives to focus on health literacy on the context of the indigenous people of Australia. The paper would begin by stating the purpose of health literacy, potential barriers to health literacy, relevant concept of effective communication and cultural safety to promote health literacy. The paper also discusses the possible strategies for spreading the importance of health literacy among indigenous Australians.

The realm of health literacy relies in handling words and medical jargons. A report from the Vass, Mitchel & Dhurrkay, (2018) indicates that almost half of the Australian population faces challenges in understanding the medical terms. However health literacy does not literally means that the health information will be only confined to the health care providers, but will also be disseminated to the general public such that they can control their health more properly.

Health literacy needs an intricate group of reading, listening, critical and decision making skills and also capability to implement the above skills in appropriate situations.

The burden of diseases experienced by the indigenous Australians is three times more than the non indigenous counterparts. The dominance of the chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and chronic obstructive diseases are found in the community. Mental health conditions and infectious diseases like skin infections and scabies are also widely prevalent among themselves (Place, 2012). This wide spread prevalence of disease provides the rationale for health literacy among the aboriginals.

The culturally and the linguistically diverse communities needs to access to the knowledge for accessing the advantages of the heath care facilities. It is the health literacy that influences their world views on health and community (Place, 2012). In order to impart fruitful health literacy the health care professionals needs to understand health on their perspective.

Barriers to Health Literacy

In order to promote health literacy to people belonging to a culturally diverse background, the health care service providers should be well aware of the responsibilities they have for identifying the health care obstruction and to support the clients to become increasingly health literate by the provision of intelligible information (Place, 2012). Communication is the crucial aspect of promoting health literacy. Dudgeon & Ugle, (2014) have emphasized on the communication gap amidst the health care professional and the aboriginal people. In order to bridge this communication gap, it is necessary to create a non hostile environment for these people.  The health information should be provided in English and in various formats to be understandable to the people, such as audio-visual aids can be used (Striley & Lawson, 2014). All the information should contain minimum jargon and should include schematic diagrams, symbols and pictures. Appropriate resources should be provided by the funding bodies for ensuring the source materials used for translation is of supreme quality (Dudgeon & Ugle, 2014).

All the public written materials in the clinical setting should be considered including the signage, maps and the directories while communicating with the people from non- English background (Striley & Lawson, 2014). Another main aspect of health literacy other than communication is cultural sensitivity and cultural awareness. The health care sectors and the multicare sectors have to be resources in such a manner that augments the cultural safety in heath care (Vass, Mitchel & Dhurrkay, 2018). This can be done via the partnership projects, knowledge sharing and by cross sectorial communication (Johnson, 2014). Culturally safe practices such as health literacy to the women of indigenous background can be provided by women health care professionals, which would empower the indigenous females to open up in front of the health care professionals. In a word a health care professional should gave a perception of his/her own culture for understanding the essence of other cultures.

Vass, Mitchel & Dhurrkay, (2018) has identified some key domains of health literacy- they are fundamental, scientific, community and cultural. It is to be noted that the fundamental health literacy of the Yolnu people in the North East Arnhem Land. One of the barriers in providing health literacy to these people is that the amount of the English speaking people in this community people is highly variable as a result most of the health promotion programs should involve pictorial messaged (Place, 2012). Scientific literacy is also important for the people for understanding the concepts of the microscopic world and the infection related to that (Woods-McConney et al., 2013). Health literacy enables these culturally diverse people to understand the reason for the infections, the probable hygiene maintenance, the possible modes of transmission and also precautions from the diseases. Health literacy is required to understand the dosages of the medicine prescribed by the doctors. Community health literacy is another factor that should be focused on while providing education to the indigenous people. Certain people living in the remotest regions of Australia do not have the concept of what a hospital or a clinic is (Vass, Mitchel & Dhurrkay, 2018). The main role of the health care professionals is to inform the people about the community services available for them and to make them aware of their rights. It becomes the duty of health care professionals understanding the traditions and the health care beliefs of the indigenous people in order to know the loop and the gaps. Each of the community should be served by a team of allied health care team members, community health care workers and education teams.

Effective Communication Strategies for Health Literacy

HIV and other sexually transmitted disease have long been linked with lack of health knowledge. Management of these deadly conditions involves proper screening, abiding by the safety measures and adhering to the safety protocols (Lambert et al., 2014). Proper health promoting campaigns can spread the awareness amongst the people. The most important step is to integrate the health literacy into education. This could be accomplished by population health programs, education strategies, school health education and marketing campaigns in social domains. It is necessary to mandate the health literacy in the system itself that can be done by developing and implementing policies at the organizational and the social level.

In conclusion it can be said that health literacy is the crucial knowledge required to respond to a particular illness or get access to the health care options. Health literacy among the indigenous Australians can be provided by effective communication strategies and by practicing a culturally safety while disseminating knowledge to the people. For the non indigenous health care professionals cultural literacy is still an area that requires continuous improvement. The health care literacy programs can not only enhance their way of response towards the diseases but would also improve their way of living. 

References 

Dudgeon, P., & Ugle, K. (2014). Communicating and engaging with diverse communities. In P. Dudgeon, H. Milroy, R. Walker, P. Dudgeon, H. Milroy, & R. Walker (Eds.), Working together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and wellbeing principles and practice (2nd ed.) pp. 257-267

Johnson, A. (2014). Health literacy, does it make a difference?. Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing, The, 31(3), 39.

Lambert, M., Luke, J., Downey, B., Crengle, S., Kelaher, M., Reid, S., & Smylie, J. (2014). Health literacy: health professionals’ understandings and their perceptions of barriers that Indigenous patients encounter. BMC health services research, 14(1), 614.

McCall, J., & Pauly, B. (2012). Providing a safe place: Adopting a cultural safety perspective in the care of Aboriginal women living with HIV/AIDS. CJNR (Canadian Journal of Nursing Research), 44(2), 130-145.

Osborne, M. E. (2012). Health Literacy from A to Z. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Place, J. (2012). The health of Aboriginal people residing in urban areas. Prince George, BC: National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health. Gerlach, A. J. (2012). A critical reflection on the concept of cultural safety. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 79(3), 151-158.

Sørensen, K., Van den Broucke, S., Fullam, J., Doyle, G., Pelikan, J., Slonska, Z., & Brand, H. (2012). Health literacy and public health: a systematic review and integration of definitions and models. BMC public health, 12(1), 80.

Striley, K. M., & Lawson, S. (2014). Theorizing communication orientations of privilege: How white discourses (De) construct Australian aboriginals. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 7(2), 170-191.

Vass, A., Mitchel, A., & Dhurrkay, Y. (2018). Health literacy and Australian Indigenous peoples: an analysis of the role of language and worldview. Retrieved 29 April 2018, from https://ards.com.au/uploads/Downloads/91/39-91.Health_Literacy_by_Vass_et_al.pdf

Woods-McConney, A., Oliver, M. C., McConney, A., Maor, D., & Schibeci, R. (2013). Science engagement and literacy: A retrospective analysis for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia. Research in Science Education, 43(1), 233-252.