Discussion
Mental image refers to the representation of the outside world in the mind of a person, an experience that signifies any object or a person that are not present to the senses. However, at times the mental images created through stereotypes lead to wrong perceptions of the objects or people.
The present paper discusses personal biases that influence the mental image of individuals. The specific focus of the paper will be on one Aboriginal man chosen for the purpose. Further, the paper will try to understand the reasons behind the personal biases influenced by worldview, prior experiences and societal influences. The consequences of personal bias on providing culturally safe nursing care to Aboriginal people will also be discussed
The Aboriginal man’s name is Antony. He is 176 centimeters in height and has a slim built. He has black eyes with curly hairs. Antony has facial hair as well and has a brown complexion. He wore a white short with jeans and blue shoes. These physical characteristics reveal that Antony is a normal Aboriginal man with no unique features that are usually stereotypical of Aboriginal men.
Antony lives in his own house in Sydney with two children and Sofe, his life partner and he is an engineer by profession. Apart from his usual work, Antony likes to do yoga in open places during free time and in weekends; he visits his family and plays with the kids. Rice and curry is his favorite dish.
An unfortunate incident happened to Antony when he met with a car accident while on his way to visit his home. He was rushed to a nearby hospital and admitted to the Emergency Department.
Prior to meeting Antony, the mental image of Aboriginal people was remarkably different and biased as well. The usual image of an Aboriginal man is that of a tribal man with long beards and piercings on his nose and ears, uneducated and dangerous. Such a biased mental image creates an environment where the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal people are risked because their problems and issues are not understood. As Rix et al. (2013) observe, the Aboriginal people experience a higher rate of psychological distress due to the absence of complete knowledge about the community. The authors further state that because the Indigenous Australians are culturally distinct, there definition of physical and mental health and wellbeing is also different thus causing problems for health practitioners to find appropriate measures for health treatment.
Conclusion
While gathering information about Antony, it was revealed that the Aboriginal people living in Australia have a lot in common with the white Australians. They have similar lifestyle compared to any average Australian and have higher educational qualification as well. However, a health practitioner caring for Antony might not know this and might fail to provide a congenial environment where Antony could recover fully.
Prior to meeting Antony, the common perception about the Aboriginal people was highly influenced by the way the textbooks described them, the art and literature portrayed them. The social structure of Australia created a picture that depicted the Indigenous community to be outsiders staying in the country while the white Australians are the actual habitants (Funston, 2013). Government policies and laws also made it clear that the Indigenous population was neglected and prejudiced against. These long and on-going policies and practices created a mental image that resulted in personal bias against this community.
As opposed to the popular perception, Aboriginal people have diverse cultures and traditions and a healthy lifestyle as well. Their views regarding health and wellbeing, family, traditions and laws are distinct from the major population.
When personal biases occur, these obstruct the health practitioners from providing a respectful nursing care for Aboriginal people. Due to personal bias, health practitioners fail to understand and acknowledge the cultural differences of Aboriginal people (Brown et al., 2016). As for example, to an Aboriginal man, consent of the family is vital before seeking any medical treatment in a mainstream Australian hospital. Therefore, in order to provide a healthy nursing care to the Aboriginal patient, it is important to inform the family members and seek their permission. When it does not happen, it leads to a culturally unsafe environment for the patient. In a study conducted by Einsiedel et al. (2013), it was revealed that a majority of Aboriginal patients self-discharge themselves from mainstream Australian hospitals due to lack of culturally safe environment.
Further, personal biases that involve lack of knowledge of Indigenous history could prove to be detrimental for the Aboriginal patients. It is because the healthcare provider will not be able to understand the reasons behind a patient’s reluctance to certain things. Absence of knowledge of the history of Indigenous Australians also results in poor health care interactions, which is a vital step in providing nursing care to the patients. As Freeman et al. (2015) observe, apart from individual biases, organizational culture also influences nursing care for Aboriginal people. The authors state that drawbacks in organizational culture, support, health services accessibility and “awareness of colonization” result in poor healthcare communication and hence, poor nursing care (Freeman et al., 2015).
It has also been found that most Australian hospitals do not have any Aboriginal employee in its staff. According to Stout and Downey (2016), having Aboriginal employees within the healthcare organization would ensure improved healthcare communication and a culturally safe environment for these patients. However, without such employees, other healthcare professionals would not be able to understand the exact needs and requirements of the patients because of the personal biases they might possess.
Personal biases of the healthcare providers also result in health disparities amongst Aboriginal patients. These health disparities when become consistently visible, makes Aboriginal patients reluctant to seek treatment and it thus results in decreased life expectancy of the population. Antony is an Aboriginal man who has been admitted to a mainstream Australian hospital and if the healthcare providers fall prey to their personal biases, the consequences could be severe for Antony. Hall et al. (2015) state that overemphasizing culture while providing nursing care to Aboriginal patients could be detrimental. The personal biases against the culture, tradition and beliefs of Indigenous people also result in restricting the ability of healthcare providers to ensure equity to the Aboriginal patients.
Conclusion
To conclude, it has to be stated that the ability of health professional to provide a culturally safe and respectful nursing care for Aboriginal patients depends on the way they shed away their personal biases. The essay tried to provide a thorough analysis of the issue by creating the mental image of an Aboriginal man and then explaining his physical feature and lifestyle. The exercise helped reveal that health professionals need to overcome their personal biases and ensure a better healthcare environment for the Aboriginal people.
References:
Brown, A.E., Middleton, P.F., Fereday, J.A. and Pincombe, J.I., 2016. ‘Cultural safety and midwifery care for Aboriginal women–A phenomenological study’, Women and Birth, vol. 29, no. 2, pp.196-202.
Einsiedel, L.J., van Iersel, E., Macnamara, R., Spelman, T., Heffernan, M., Bray, L., Morris, H., Porter, B. & Davis, A., 2013, ‘Self-discharge by adult Aboriginal patients at Alice Springs Hospital, Central Australia: insights from a prospective cohort study’. Australian Health Review, vol. 37, no. 2, pp.239-245.
Freeman, T., Edwards, T., Baum, F., Lawless, A., Jolley, G., Javanparast, S. and Francis, T., 2014. Cultural respect strategies in Australian Aboriginal primary health care services: beyond education and training of practitioners. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, vol. 38, no. 4, pp.355-361.
Funston, L., 2013, ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander worldviews and cultural safety transforming sexual assault service provision for children and young people’, International journal of environmental research and public health, vol. 10, no. 9, pp.3818-3833.
Hall, W.J., Chapman, M.V., Lee, K.M., Merino, Y.M., Thomas, T.W., Payne, B.K., Eng, E., Day, S.H. and Coyne-Beasley, T., 2015. Implicit racial/ethnic bias among health care professionals and its influence on health care outcomes: a systematic review. American journal of public health, vol. 105, no. 12, pp.e60-e76.
Rix, E.F., Barclay, L., Wilson, S., Stirling, J. and Tong, A., 2013. Service providers’ perspectives, attitudes and beliefs on health services delivery for Aboriginal people receiving haemodialysis in rural Australia: a qualitative study. BMJ open, vol. 3, no.10, p.e003581.
Stout, M.D. and Downey, B., 2016. Epilogue: Nursing, Indigenous peoples and cultural safety: So what? Now what?. Contemporary Nurse, vol. 22, no. 2, pp.327-332.
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