Reflective Journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Reflective Journal - Essay Example The introductory parts of this lesson was important in the sense that it provides some insight into some of the common factors that affect the access to good healthcare by minority groups. Cultural factors, disparities in resource distribution, and low income status are some of the issues that afflict the lives of these groups. Culture is a broad term that affects the lives of people. It determines actions, systems, and priorities of people (Stidsen, 2006). Matters of diet and hygiene are conditioned by cultural beliefs. As a result people tend to lead lives in the way that is conditioned by cultural values. The diet practices of the indigenous communities, for instance will determine the kind of health that they will attain. As a result it becomes important for the nursing profession to consider cultural issues in light of the many issues that relate to the beliefs and values of individuals, groups, communities and nations. The introduction to the subject of indigenous people attrac ted a lot of my interest because I have always been fascinated by the broad subject of this people as relates to original populations. Particularly, a closer exploration of the conditions and issues related to the aboriginal populations of Australia is one that engages my interest at different levels. In this week’s lesson, we examined on some of the similarities and differences of various indigenous populations around the globe. One of the issues that require specific attention is that these groups’ exhibit similar characteristics in terms of world view but may have their unique needs and requirements when it comes to some specific details of matters of healthcare and community organization. Although the aborigines of Australia are among the oldest civilizations that still exist in modern history, there still exist multiple challenges on issues of healthcare which require closer attention from modern medical scholars. Generally, systematic negligence, discrimination, and poor policies are some of the issues that have been explored in terms of the inequalities that affect the status of healthcare for the aboriginal populations. However, further studies must examine the place of tradition, culture and custom as important attendant issues that affect the health of the aboriginal community. Effective nursing requires a deeper connection with the cultural challenges of populations in order to develop methods and strategies that are aimed at addressing these issues. I have always desired to gain a deeper insight into the lifestyles and challenges of the aboriginal community as they relate with the wider Australian community. I am also aware of multiple literatures, which has been developed to attend to the same subject. In this week’s lesson, one of the important issues that the professor trained his focus on is the matter of health. In many indigenous populations, policies of health have always elicited multiple issues because populations are, by their very nature, conditioned by cultural factors. Week 2 Reflective Journal I would contend that the explanation on culture as provided by Dr Marion Kickett and Mr. Kim Scott was an eye opener into an alternative understanding of the concept of culture. After the lesson, I can now appreciate the cultural life of indigenous people from a very informative perspective. At the same time,