Literature review
Discuss about the Literature Review Of Healthcare For The Refugees Of Australian.
A refugee is someone who due to a well-founded fear of being persecuted due to reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion is outside the country of nationality and is unable to or owing to such fear is does not agree to avail himself of the protection of the country (Kirmaye et al., 2011). It is seen that refugees feel certain circumstances of defencelessness, marginalisation, poverty in addition to high amount of stress or displacement which seriously impacts the health of the populations. It has been noticed that the refugees have to face acute mental health problems and problems of trauma of which most significant are those of trauma and violation of human rights along with the migration experience (Silove, Austin & Steel, 2007). The aim of this research is to comprehend the conditions of the healthcare for the refugees of Australian context and also the ways in which these pose issues in order to be bettered.
There are several mental and physical traumas which the refugees have to face. Despite such conditions of the refugees and the high burdens of disease, the access to health care for the refugees is mostly restricted in the host countries with immense variation in the entitlements. There are several countries which differ in the principle of the medical health services which are being offered (Valtonen, 2016). There are also existent legal restrictions which hinder the access of the refugees to the host countries with extreme variation in entitlements. The practical barriers to the health care services include inadequate information and also the awareness regarding the availability of services, insufficient economic means, limited access to transport, insensible amount of care and also inadequate provision in terms of parameters (Elliott & Yusuf, 2014).
The refugees who settle in the western counties have to face several difficulties in accessing suitable health care. There have been several instances of documentation by the providers of health service. There are several problems which the refugees have to face in accessing the effective heath care and there are certain ways in which the health services can be responded to. There have been over 6 million refugees who have settled in Australia. There are very less people who receive humanitarian visas for migration or stay in Australia. Refugees and people of refugee like background are considered to be one of the most vulnerable groups in the society. They have certain needs of health-care which arise from the severe effects of conflict and also that of forced exile. The people also have requirements which help them in the maintenance of the impact of the effects of conflict and forced exile with certain experiences of persecution, psychological trauma, deprivation, environmental situations which are not conducive and the disrupted access to the health care services (Valtonen, 2016).
Some specialized services exist in order to meet the health requirements of the people of refugee background. There are counselling services for those people who have survived torture and have faced trauma in every state and territory in Australia. It is however seen that the majority of the healthcare for the refugees occurs with the mainstream services (Silove, 1999). There are certain barriers to the refugees who can access the adequate amount of care and these are similar to those which are experienced by the community of broader migrant community and other marginalized groups. There might be barriers to the existing services which include language cultural and economic barriers, the reduced ability to trust the providers of service and the negotiation regarding the health services and also the unavailability of the system of healthcare. For the refugees these barriers are increased by relevant experiences and the way in which the refugees have come to Australia.
Gaps in health service provision
Relevant studies with refugee populations in Australia have shown that language is a significant barrier to the refugees who access the health services. The language difficulties in general have been responsible for the refuges being turned away. The barriers can also lead to certain amount of miscommunication and the lack of suitable follow up of the services. There are certain fiscal constraints for the people who arrive in the country as humanitarian entrants and they are required to find employment. There can be situations where cost can impact the decisions to provide healthcare to the people who require it. There are charges which are applicable for the medical services. The limited trust of the health services can cause certain refugees to stop receiving suitable healthcare facilities (Major et al., 2013).
The people of refugee background often come from those countries who are from different health systems. The access to the healthcare for certain refugees is therefore hindered by the lack of familiarity with the services which are available (Silove, 1999).
The refugee patients who arrive newly might possess complex or multiple health problems. There can be inadequate reimbursement to the general practitioners for a certain time period which is additionally required to provide medical care for the patients with general needs. Effective healthcare might be impeded by means of those health professionals who have incomplete skills in order to detect and manage the unfamiliar diseases among the refugees. This might also occur by the staff members who fail to adopt the health care techniques which help in the accommodation of past trauma along with the violation of the human rights. The hospitalization or other interactions of health services which have not been conducted in a sensitive manner or where there is the utilization of clinical processes reminiscent of abuse, have the capability of re-traumatizing people who are to be given suitable amount of care. The issues of racism and discrimination have been shown to reduce access to the care in certain marginalised groups is extremely likely to affect the refugee groups in addition to it.
There have been health services which have tried to increase the utilization of the service by means of community utilization and outreach. There also has been the employment of bilingual workers who have different suitable functions. There are multi-cultural health services for promoting the access to the appropriate heath care for the refugees. The actual role of the primary health services in reduction the inequity of access and the quality of care has been described. There also have been noticed strategies in the heath care systems which need to be understood in a relevant manner (Hatoss, 2012).
The experiences of the refugees before they come to Australia noticeably impact their physical health along with their mental health. The refugees have been subjected to persecution and torture. They have also suffered from trauma as an effect of war and conflict and are much more vulnerable to the issues of health. There have been issues where the refugees have spend several years being displaced and in insecure conditions by means of moving between places and in refugee camps with very less amount of access to the health care services. The experiences and the conditions for the survival might mean that many refugees might have heath issues which might impact them in the future.
Health service responses
There are certain challenges which the employees face in looking after their health in the Australian country. The most important issue arises in case of the health services. This means that the services are not used as much as they should necessarily be used. There are several things which impact the use of the services which include those of age, gender, economic hardships, education, cultural beliefs and practices. The way in which the services are to be utilized are dependent on the way in which the services can be applicable. The sustainability and the competence of the services can also be utilized in a proper manner.
There is a challenge to the refugees in the sense that they hardly come with their family or friends and they often feel isolated in their new communities. There can be extremely serious mental health issues and another challenge is that several people have been separated for long periods of time, which are responsible for causing significant amount of distress (Hjern, Angel & Höjer, 1991). It is seen that enough mental health services for people in Australia which are responsible for making matters worse. A common experience is that the health care providers do not utilize making the interpreters enough which makes it difficult for the people to realise and access the services.
There have been many people who have come to Australia and many refugees have existed for several years with limited access to food stuff which causes poor nutrition. This can be a challenge for the refugees to understand about their choices of food and the impact of their choices in Australia. It is seen that the clients of refugee background might have encountered interrupted access to the health care before the time they have arrived for Australia. This might be due to the breakdown of health services in situations of war and conflict. The constraints on the access to health services are existent (Jerrell, 1998).
After their arrival in Australia the people from refugee backgrounds might experience difficulties in accessing and making the best use of health services. The negotiation of a new and unfamiliar health system might be an undertaking which is difficult and complex which is specifically for those people with multiple health needs that needs several investigations and appointments which needs suitable follow up (Hiegel, 1994). There are certain arrivals who are unfamiliar with the approaches of illness prevention and might be accustomed to the culture which characterises the relationships between healthcare users and the providers in the Australian context (Mollica, 1994).
It is seen that after refugees arrive in Australia, they are not forced to undergo more health checks. It is seen that ongoing concerns for health are found in case of many immigrants who come by several programs (Ingleby, 2004). The vulnerability due to a number of issues including that of leaving members behind, the facing of economic hardship and immediate family members in the centres of detention. There are several health consultations which are which are done without an interpreter or a friend or a family member with the performance of interpretation. There are developments which are being made in the health spheres in order to provide for the refugees who come to visit a particular place (George, 2012).
There is the need for the service providers in order to equipped, to provide the culturally sensitive and also responsive services which offer the best of practical and psychological assistance. There are potential referrers which include the health professionals and community leaders which for the facilitation of the access to the services. This is relevant in case there is a proper amount of training to recognise as well as address the barriers. The findings indicate that there is a potential content for the awareness raising initiatives for the young refugees regarding the mental health problems and suitable services (Steel et al., 2006).
Early restriction of access to the care and levels of care for the refugees is responsible for delayed care and an overall increase in the health experience of each person. There needs to be provision of preventive care which includes different sorts of urgent ailments and diseases.
Refugee children are the worst hit with respect to the health problems which they face in their host countries (Davidson et a., 2004). Access to the necessary health service for the refugees need to be considered as a fundamental right of the humans. The host countries need to address the exclusion of the refugees from health-care services and the health needs which have not been met. It needs to be the requirement of the donor countries to support the efforts for the improvement of access in order to secure essential health care services. Great efforts are essential for strengthening the resilience of the health systems for fostering equity and efficiency in the refugee health. The Global Community needs to move in the direction of the goal of dominance (Guerin et al., 2004).
The studied literature on the topic of refugees with respect to backdrop of Australia have shown that there might be several issues which might be faced at the time of dealing with refugees. There might be social, cultural, psychological and mental hazards due to the difference in the cultures from where the refugees come (Kirmayer et al., 2011). It has been seen that there are several barriers to the social and cultural backgrounds from which the refugees come (Miller, 2008). The needs and problems which are faced by the refugees from culturally diverse backgrounds are complex and difficult. It cannot be ignored that culture impacts every aspect of the lives of the refugees. It cannot be ignored that culture impacts every aspect of a person’s life more so the life of a refugee. Due to the problems the refugees already have to face their issues do not receive adequate amount of importance (Robinson, 2013).
My personal perspectives about life and orientations of the refugees might vary with their implications of work. This is because of the fact that people from diverse backgrounds perceive different situations differently. I feel that understanding their experiences and their opinions on the situations will be difficult for me. This is because of the fact that refugees do not always like to recount experiences from their past which might be problematic or traumatic (Steel et al., 2006). They feel that their experiences will not be accurately understood by their helpers or well-wishers. I feel it will be difficult for me to understand the problems which the refugees might have had to face in their respective lives. I might also not understand the significance of their problems due to which they had to shift to their present places or countries (Valtonen, 2016).
Social work practices with the refugees and immigrants of different backgrounds needs specialized knowledge of the specific populations (Hodes, 2002). There is also the requirement of specific adaptations and applications of the mainstream services and interventions. This is due to the fact that there are often confrontations with the cultural linguistic social economic and political barriers (Silove, 1999). It is seen from research that refugees are vulnerable to socio-economic practices.
One of the most important barriers in dealing with employees is that of communication. The employees come from different backgrounds and different languages (Alam & Imran, 2015). Therefore the barriers of language and interpretation of orders and responsibilities is a very important aspect. Language is a crucial barrier in communication. Refuges had to face several issues in their lives therefore giving them a normal life and ensuring that they can respond to the needs like other inhabitants is truly challenging (Robinson, 2013). There have been situations where the refugees have not been able to respond properly to their situations which have not been according to their needs. Thus it needs to be understood that making situations suitable for the refugees will take time and proper effort as well (Lloyd, 2014).
References:
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Valtonen, K. (2016). Social work and migration: Immigrant and refugee settlement and integration. Routledge.
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