Psychosocial Perspectives Of Health Care

Question: Discuss about the Psychosocial Perspectives Of Health Care. Answer: The case study reveals the fact that Kevin Johnson belonged to a low middle class family with an aboriginal background. The health of the aboriginal people is determined by a variety of factors that are considered as the social determinants of health such as the culture and the socioeconomic status, fooding, infrastructure and social inclusion. The choice of question for this case would be the cultural identity (Currie et al. 2014). “How does cultural identity be considered as a social determinant of health and how does it impact on diabetes?” It is to be remembered that culture plays a large role while discussing about the health of the aboriginal adolescents like Kevin. Most of their health beliefs and the treatment are related to the bush medicines or concepts of traditional beliefs. According to Olson and Anderson (2013) the chronic care of diabetes underscores the importance of the self management of diabetes. The aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islanders are four times more likely to have diabetes. It is evident from the case study that Kevin’s come of a lower middle class aboriginal family where the income is tight and hence it became impossible to get nutritious food due to their low socioeconomic status, Kevin probably have to feed on high calorigenic cheap food which can exacerbate his diabetic status . Previously the traditional lifestyle of the aboriginal people were much active including the eating of the healthy foods but nowadays the life style have changed (Beatriz, Sherry and Alexandra, 2011). The current food habits of the aboriginals are mainly glycaemic and attribute to diabetes. Aboriginal children now greatly depend upon the fatty or calorigenic food (O’Dea and Dibley 2014). Kevin and his mother often visit the food park where they get exposed to heavy calorigenic food as it always not possible for them to adhere to a proper nutrition regimen owing to the their low economic background. Furthermore access to a proper health care service is also a crucial factor in the management of diabetes (Bourke et al. 2012). Kevin stays in South Australia which can pose a real problem while accessing the health care benefits. Although, Kevin and his mother’s perception regarding the westernized health care treatment cannot be understood from this case study, yet in general, duty their history of colonization aboriginals has less dependency on the westernized treatment (Canuto et al. 2011). It can be known from an instance that there was a deep cut with purulent discharge in Kevin’s feet. Wound healing can be difficult in patients suffering from diabetes and requires immediate care, but people belonging to an aboriginal background might not believe in serious pharmacological treatment for just a mere cut and mainly depends on the herbal medicines. This may be due to the lack of cultural competency among the health care professionals (Liaw et al. 2011).The lower health literacy among the aboriginal population can be another factor that can cause barrier to the management of diabetes. Hence, it can be said that culture of a person determines the diabetic management. Discuss about the role of the culture as the social determinants of health. For the majority of the history of the modern medical science health was viewed primarily as the absence of any disease or any defect (Bourke et al. 2012). There are two fundamental values of the aboriginal people that us the balance and the respect and these form the cornerstone of the world views of a person. It can be seen from the case study that Kevin is an aboriginal boy whose tradition, culture, ethnicity and even the food habits are different from that of the non indigenous Australians. While reflecting on the aboriginal population there is few things that have to be taken in mind, such as the history of colonization, the aboriginal health care beliefs and their reliance to aboriginal mode of treatment. As per the aboriginal culture and tradition health is not considered as a separated identity and is generally considered a separate entity and hence is interconnected with the individual family and the community (McBain?Rigg and Veitch 2011). As per their belief the ailment is determined as the disruption of the balance of the system which can be related to the ancient health beliefs of the ancient physicians (Kant et al. 2011). According to their belief a person is not only comprised of the physical being alone but also the mental and the spiritual aspects have to be considered. Moreover culture is considered as greater determinants of health. Most of their traditional healing methods involves the non medical interventions like the healing circles, prayer, song or story telling or mainly depends upon the morally based traditional medicines (Kant et al. 2011). Hence the westernized way of treatment such as the nutritional and pharmacological management of diabetes might not be acceptable to the aboriginal population (Beatriz, Sherry and Alexandra, 2011). In general the indigenous people are associated with the low income status and hence cannot afford the cost of specialized treatment. The case study reveals the fact that Kevin is worried of their tight income and hence doesn’t want to ask for more money for his treatment. References Beatriz, C.B., Sherry, S. and Alexandra, M., 2011. ‘You get the quickest and the cheapest stuff you can’: food security issues among low-income earners living with diabetes. The Australasian medical journal, 4(12), p.683. Bourke, L., Humphreys, J.S., Wakerman, J. and Taylor, J., 2012. Understanding rural and remote health: a framework for analysis in Australia. Health & Place, 18(3), pp.496-503. Canuto, K.J., McDermott, R.A., Cargo, M. and Esterman, A.J., 2011. Study protocol: a pragmatic randomised controlled trial of a 12-week physical activity and nutritional education program for overweight Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. BMC public health, 11(1), p.655. Currie, C., Zanotti, C., Morgan, A., Currie, D., de Looze, M., Roberts, C., Samdal, O., Smith, O.R. and Barnekow, V., 2009. Social determinants of health and well-being among young people. Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study: international report from the, 2010, p.271. Kant, S., Vertinsky, I., Zheng, B. and Smith, P.M., 2013. Social, cultural, and land use determinants of the health and well-being of Aboriginal peoples of Canada: A path analysis. Journal of public health policy, 34(3), pp.462-476. Liaw, S.T., Lau, P., Pyett, P., Furler, J., Burchill, M., Rowley, K. and Kelaher, M., 2011. Successful chronic disease care for Aboriginal Australians requires cultural competence. Australian and New Zealand journal of public health, 35(3), pp.238-248. Louie, J.C.Y., Buyken, A.E., Heyer, K. and Flood, V.M., 2011. Dietary glycaemic index and glycaemic load among Australian children and adolescents. British journal of nutrition, 106(8), pp.1273-1282. McBain?Rigg, K.E. and Veitch, C., 2011. Cultural barriers to health care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Mount Isa. Australian Journal of Rural Health, 19(2), pp.70-74. O’Dea, J.A. and Dibley, M.J., 2014. Prevalence of obesity, overweight and thinness in Australian children and adolescents by socioeconomic status and ethnic/cultural group in 2006 and 2012. International journal of public health, 59(5), pp.819-828. Olson, S. and Anderson, K.M. eds., 2013. Leveraging culture to address health inequalities: examples from Native communities: workshop summary. National Academies Press.

Psychosocial Perspectives Of Health Care

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