ABOR1370 Working with Aboriginal Communities

Introduction

The Aboriginal people in Australia have faced discrimination for a very long time since their colonization. The Council of the Australian Governments (COAG) had pledged to close the key gaps in the year, 2007 in December and in the year, March 2008, the government along with the non-government delegated to National Indigenous Health Equality Summit which was signed in the statement of the intent. In the year, 2008, the government has established National Indigenous Health Equality Council and approved National Indigenous Reform Agreement that had led out targets in terms of closing the gap which were, closing the life expectancy, reduce the mortality are for Indigenous children, access to education for small children, reduce the gap of the indigenous students, writing, numeracy and reading achievements for the children and lastly overcome the gap in terms of the employment rate (Aph.gov.au., 2013).  

Aboriginal people face issues due to the gap that has been created in terms of their health which has led to low quality of life, decrease in the rate of life expectancy and suffering from various diseases both physical as well as mental health. Closing the gap is the initiative or the strategy which focuses highly on improving life expectancy of the Aboriginal people in a higher rate and to make significant progress in the primary healthcare system which will help in ensuring that the gap is closed in an effective manner (Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet., 2021). This paper will focus on the programs incorporated, analyse the program and provide recommendations to enhance the programs.

Discussion

The two programs that has been introduced and have been completed in order to help in closing the gap in terms of health for the Aboriginal people which will be discussed are the following:

• Attracting More People to Work in Indigenous Health (Health Heroes Campaign) (Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet., 2021).
• Identification of Cultural Safety Training for the Australian Health Workforce Project
  
  

Success of the programs 

In order to attract more people to work in the Indigenous healthcare, the Health Heroes Campaign was introduced. This campaign had focused on encouraging the secondary students in order to pursue their career in health in various jobs like doctor, radiographer, dental assistant or midwife (Indigenous.gov.au., 2021). The approach of the campaign was to recognize the fact that he more people belonging from the Aboriginal culture works in the healthcare system, the more the health services will become culturally aware which will help in increasing the access to healthcare. Smith, (2016) states that the Health Heroes campaign had become a huge success as it had been successfully been able to spread awareness about the importance of the existent of Aboriginal people in the healthcare system and was encouraging many young Aboriginal students on attaining education and take the necessary training which would help them in entering the field of healthcare and also helped in the Aboriginal people have access to employment which was one of the primary reasons that this campaign is often labelled to be a success. This campaign has spent a lot of money on their advertising and marketing in schools and through various different methods which helped in many students interested in the campaign and work hard towards getting employed in the healthcare system. The success of the program is that it not only spread awareness but it also helped in enhancing the health system and provide Aboriginal students with employment opportunities later in life for a secured future (Health.gov.au., 2013).

The other program which had been introduced in order to help in closing the health gap for the Aboriginal people was Cultural Awareness Training Requirements of the Indigenous Practice Incentive 2010. This project had included development of a cultural safety training activity online for the GP’s which was titled as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Awareness in General Practice. It has been seen that the RACGP highly recognises the cultural training and education programs as they are described in different ways which include cultural security and cultural competence training.

 The primary aim of this online program activity was to extend the knowledge about the culture and the history of the Aboriginal people, explore the fact that how the values and the attitudes can help in influencing assumptions, behaviours, perception in a health or clinical setting, address the major issues that the practice team along with the Aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islander face. According to scholars, one of the major issues in healthcare is the lack of cultural competence among the healthcare workers as they do not have an idea about the Aboriginal people and do not understand their perspective which does not provide quality care to the patients. This helped in enhancing the knowledge and the skills of the practitioners and people willing to work in the healthcare sector so that they can provide quality care to the Aboriginal people and help them overcome health issues both physically as well as mentally.

Identify problems of the programs 

Despite of both the programs that were initiated by the government quite successful in addressing the gaps in the healthcare system and providing quality care to the Aboriginal people in the society, there were some issues and problems with the program which can be identified.

The Health Heroes campaign was quite helpful and aimed at increasing more Aboriginal people to join the healthcare system and encourage them to study in this field. The students were attracted towards the campaign and this employment opportunity in the future was one of the major reasons which may have attracted many students to study medical sciences or take up nursing courses and many more. However, this campaign or program had a problem as all the children may not want to enter the field of healthcare and may have different aims in life so that they can grow and develop themselves as well as follow their dreams. However, the discrimination in the society because of employment is an issue which may make many students focus on healthcare for their own development that can lead to the rise in professionals who do not have proper skills in the field which could have made the program a complete failure. However, the campaign did help many students to be influenced and study different aspects in the healthcare so that there is an increase in the amount of Aboriginal people in the healthcare sector. Research suggests that one of the major issues which the healthcare system in Australia is facing is the lack of staff that has been hindering the quality of care (Winata et al, 2020). It can be seen that despite of the attempt of the campaign to increase more Aboriginal people in the healthcare system, still they have not been able to successfully achieve their aim which has led to the Aboriginal people still facing issues in terms of healthcare.

The aim of the other program which has been discussed is the Cultural Awareness Training Requirements of the Indigenous Practice Incentive 2010 which aimed at training the staff and other people wanting to join the healthcare system with proper and effective training which would help them in making culturally competent so that they could provide necessary care to the Aboriginal people which the traditional methods failed to do. However, despite of the positive aims and some amount of success, this program had a problem. One of the major issues was the fact that the training was provided online which led to very few people taking the training which were mostly the non-aboriginal or indigenous people in the society (Hedges et al, 2021). This is somewhat discriminatory as most of the Aboriginal people especially living in rural areas do not have access to technology as they are unaffordable which is why they are unable to do the online training. This program somewhat comes as discriminatory which has led to the program not be as successful as it had aimed to be. It can be seen that many health professionals do not get the time amidst their huge responsibilities to take the online classes. Though the program has been a bit effective as it has helped many employees or professionals understand the requirements to take care of Aboriginal people however, it has not been very helpful in closing the gap and eradicating racism in the healthcare sector but has helped in improve the healthcare provided to the people.

Solutions and their evaluation

One of the first issues that have been identified in the Health Heroes program is the fact that they aim on encouraging Aboriginal students to participate in the healthcare sector so that they can increase the ratio of Aboriginal people working in the healthcare sector in order to help in eradicating the healthcare issues and focusing on closing the gap. The aim of the program was to ensure that more Aboriginal people work in the healthcare sector so that they can take care of the Aboriginal patients in an effective manner. However, the issue is the fact that every student can have different aspiration and not want to get into the medical field. It is important for the Health Heroes program to focus on students in the medical colleges and who want to study nursing and other subjects related to healthcare by providing them with scholarships so that they can study the subject they want to excel in. This will be a feasible option rather than encouraging students to study at an early level as this will help in influencing the students at the correct age where they will know in which domain, they would like to build their career in.

The advantage of this solution is the fact that this will encourage more Aboriginal students to enrol themselves in courses so that they can study efficiently and work in the healthcare sector. According to scholars, most of the Aboriginal students cannot afford education because of their financial issues which leads to many students drop out and give up on their career development (Hollinsworth, Raciti & Carter, 2021). Thus, this will ensure that the gap is closed in two ways in terms of education as well as healthcare. This will ensure that more and more students interested in the healthcare sector to study efficiently so that they can participate in the healthcare sector and there is an increase in Aboriginal people in the healthcare sector. This will ensure that Aboriginal people are treated with care and are understood, share their issues efficiently which will help in closing the gap.

One disadvantage of this solution is the fact that it may increase the cost or the budget of the government as they may have to provide scholarships to many Aboriginal students.

The other issue that has been identified with the other program which is Cultural Awareness Training Requirements of the Indigenous Practice Incentive 2010 is the fact that it provided online training to the students and the people interested. This may have helped in training non-Aboriginal people and students however did create an issue for the Aboriginal students or people due to the lack of affordability to have the necessary technology so that they had access to the online training. The training focused on people being culturally more aware and competent however it also provided the training in terms of safety and helped in building other skills which the Aboriginal students did not have access to.

The solution which could help this problem effectively and efficiently is that training would be provided physically in certain institutions for people who did not have access to the online classes. The advantage of this would be the fact that more students who were talented could participate and would provide equal opportunity in terms of gaining knowledge and the training that would help in enhancing the training and the knowledge learnt. However, the disadvantage would be that the government or the organisations supporting the campaign would have to invest more in terms of getting a place where the training will be provided, hire professors and many more. However, this solution is viable and would help the people efficiently.

Discussion and Conclusion

From the paper, it has been seen that both the programs that had been initiated by the government in order to close the gap in terms of healthcare which were the Health Heroes Campaign and Cultural Awareness Training Requirements of the Indigenous Practice Incentive 2010 were both beneficial to some extent however did have some problems which has led to the country still focusing and coming up with new initiatives that will help in closing the gap. The Health Heroes campaign aim was right however the approach was not very effective which made the campaign unsuccessful in terms of closing the gap as they had estimated. Thus, it is important for the government to provide scholarships and ensure that they provide fair opportunities to the Aboriginal students who would like to get into the healthcare sector and gain a degree but are unable to do it because of the lack of affordability. This will help in making sure that the government is successful in terms of closing the gap not only in terms of healthcare but also in terms of education and employment. The degree received will be a great opportunity to ensure that the Aboriginal people get jobs in the healthcare sector. This will help in ensuring that effective care is provided to the Aboriginal people which will help in overcoming issues of low mortality rates and many more.

The Cultural Awareness Training Requirements of the Indigenous Practice Incentive 2010 also focused on making the healthcare professionals and others willing to join the healthcare department culturally competent so that they could provide effective and quality care to the Aboriginal people to ensure they would close the gap in terms of healthcare. However, the online training did not ensure that everyone had the proper access to the classes which led to the issue. Thus, it is important for the government to ensure that they come up with initiatives so that everyone can have access to these training which are essential and has the potential to enhance the service delivery in the healthcare system for the aboriginal people in Australia.

Recommendation

It is important for the government to incorporate the recommendations provided below to help in closing the gap in the healthcare system in Australia and ensure improving the health status of the Aboriginal people.

• The government should spread awareness about healthcare among the Aboriginal people with the help of NGO’s
• Scholarships needs to be provided to Aboriginal students who are talented and would like to pursue their career in the health industry
• The government needs to provide cultural training programs in all the hospitals so that all the professionals are culturally competent and enhance their service delivery which will help in eradicating the issue of closing the gap in the society and benefit the Aboriginals in the country.
  
  

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