Yorta Traditional Values

Unique traditions, language, beliefs and values all comprise Indigenous culture. It is critical that a meaningful appreciation of their culture

Health literacy has been demarcated as the measurement of the individual’s capacity to obtain, understand and process simple health information. It is needed to make satisfactory health decisions and determine services needed to treat or prevent illness. Health literacy requires knowledge from many topics, comprising the patient’s own body, appropriate conducts towards healthy results and the difficulties to understand the health system. It is influenced by many conditions such as our communication skills, age, socio-economic status, and cultural background, past experiences, educational level and mental health status (U.S. Department of

The inequalities in today’s indigenous communities are still strongly evident. Heard, Khoo & Birrell (2009), argued that while there has been an attempt in narrowing the gap between Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians, a barrier still exists in appropriate health care reaching indigenous people. The Indigenous people believe, health is more than the individual, it is

Many Alaskan Natives and Native Indians, also known as American Indians, share the same or similar views on health and medicine. Their definition of “traditional medicine” incorporates medicine and religion, various chants and rituals, and being one with Earth (Broome, B., Broome, R., 2007). “In the United States we are challenged to think about health care from our tradition as a cultural melting pot. Therefore, we must address the large range of individual health care needs from populations living the inner-city and suburbia to those in rural environments.” (O 'Brien, Anslow, Begay, Pereira, & Sullivan, 2002). It is important for healthcare workers to understand the views of American Indians in order to integrate their traditional medicine as well as western medicine. Examining areas such as common health conditions, treatments, and attitudes towards health, natural and alternative health will lead to a better capability of providing culturally competent care.

Healthcare is an ever changing entity with an ever changing population of clients. In current day 2016, the United Sates has become a melting pot of many different cultural backgrounds, which has led to changes within the system to accommodate the patient base. Unfortunately, not all changes have been able to effectively reach any and all persons from every background. We still see language and cultural barriers that have direct correlation to the inability to seek healthcare and or the ability to change cultural perspectives to ensure healthy lifestyles. Within this paper, the health of American Indian and Alaskan Native populations will be discussed along with the barriers to care and the

Nurses have a perfect role in influencing, and in the distinctive position to encourage health for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (Brascoupe, 2009). Thus, culturally safe care is a vital component in improving the health of the Indigenous population (Durey & Thompson, 2012). Likewise, the existence of an Aboriginal health worker (AHW) in partnership with non-Indigenous health providers especially in the primary health care settings carries matching skills to improve the health care and wellbeing of the Indigenous Australians (Abott, Gordon & Davison, 2008). The AHW are the main health professionals, valued and equal members of the health care team, they have an incomparable clinical skills in health promotion, education and leadership roles which has a great involvement in closing the gap between the non-indigenous and Indigenous Australian (Abott, Gordon & Davison, 2008). The strategy of employing Indigenous health professionals and health workers to encourage culturally safe care delivery works in addressing cultural competence, acceptability and appropriateness (Ware, 2013). Therefore, acceptable health care services works from cultural safety and respect, and allowing clients to maintain their cultural practices (Ware,

There is a growing number of non-Aboriginals who have begun to blend traditional First Nation healing process and herbal medicines into their understanding of health and healing. Although, other than these few practices, Aboriginals in Canada are often forced to conform and adopt to the Canadian Health system, a system which is causing them harm (Douglas,

Causative considerations are multifactorial regarding the development of low health literacy rates in Aboriginals, inclusive of socio-economical disadvantages, geographical considerations, and social/environmental influences (Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet, 2015). Differing conceptualisations of reality or ‘worldview’ are present within Aboriginal culture, which vary from westernised civilisation. Indigenous history lacks a biomedical background, and encompasses differing views of disease/illness, which may be associated with personal actions/behaviours, social order, and spiritual health. As an example, disease may be viewed as the consequence of sorcery/voodoo (Vass, Mitchell, & Dhurrkay, 2011). Other factors may stem from mistrust of westernised medicine/civilisation due to ‘The Stolen Generation’ or ‘social engineering’ and previous cultural genocide (Shahid, Finn, & Thompson, 2009), English as a second language, and lack of connection/engagement with westernised pedagogy frameworks for health teaching (Yunkaporta, 2009). Other considerations may correlate to

The indigenous group of whom I am researching have a certain connection with their land. The land has meaning and it is a path of spiritual, physical, social, and cultural connection. The care of the land is an important part for the Aboriginal health and it also provides jobs for them. The artwork of the Aboriginals gives

Health literacy approach to health equity tackles the understanding of health care system from the angle of the health care provider and the health care beneficiary. This approach curbs poorer health outcomes and higher health care cost in the populace seeking health treatment. Infact, it is a knowledge enhancer for patients, caregivers and the public. However, systemic factors impede health literacy within the society particularly within the indigenous diversity. The systemic factors may include: culture, medical terminologies and communication skills, knowledge of medical professions, health care and health system expectations as well as contextual situation of the patient.

The values and beliefs of different cultures in the healthcare setting are fundamental in providing adequate patient care. Knowing the specifics of your patient’s culture is necessary when completing the nursing process. It is important for the healthcare provider to understand the Indian culture, how they communicate, their spiritual beliefs, specific nutritional preferences, and health risks they face.

Earlier this week, I took the liberty of interviewing a few close friends of mine in order to receive an insight on their different cultural backgrounds. Being a nurse, I work in a very diverse community so the results I received were very normal. The first family I interviewed was Filipino and I was very interested to find out how they dealt with health and illness, culturally speaking. During our interview, I quickly learned that in the Philippines many people believe that certain illnesses are believed to have a natural origin. This did not come as abnormal. The Philippine tradition has been influenced by Indians, Chinese, Arabians, Spanish, Mexicans and American belief systems (Poces & Poces, 2004). In addition, it is a common belief that illness is caused by spiritual as well as moral imbalances. In order to combat these diseases, their custom called for the use of three types of healing: faith healing through prayer, herbal medicines and massaging the body. Additionally, food is an important aspect as well. “Every night, I would prepare garlic and onion soup for my grandparents in order to make sure their blood pressure was under control” (M. Sampaga, personal communication, August 16, 2011). As you can see, with different cultures comes different customs and there is no exception for health traditions.

Although this concept of health literacy as been around since 1988, there is very little know about the healthy literacy of patients accessing healthcare in the Western Cape.

People who believe that their cultural heritage has value and practice the traditions of their culture will be able to enhance their quality of life further than people who do not value and practice it. For example, Indigenous people are known to be in touch with their culture. Over multiple generations, Indigenous people have gained a rich mindset about “the natural world, health, technologies and techniques, rites, and rituals and other cultural expressions” (United Nations, 2017). This has greatly impacted their identity, the way they view new experiences, the way they live, and their understanding of their cultural ideologies. Also, “Culture plays a key role in supporting the health, well-being, and healing of individuals and communities” (Ministry of Tourism, Culture & Sport, 2016). This enhances peoples

In order to further understand the value of nature within our everyday lives both the passages of Leanne Simpson, David Chambers and Helen Watson address the importance of perspectives and the ways in which different knowledge is viewed within the world. In Land As Pedagogy: Nishnaabeg Intelligence and Rebellious Transformation written by Leanne Simpson she highlights the importance of indigenous traditions and knowledge as a way to obtain decolonization through sharing Nishnaabeg stories. She allows the reader to understand that indigenous traditions and knowledge such as the Nishnaabeg intelligence view the land as pedagogy and offer processes such as “coming to know” (2014, p. 7). For instance, Simpson (2014) explains this process as “