Australian physiotherapists' experiences of culturally safe practice and health promotion among Indigenous people - A qualitative study
(2018)Human Movement: health and rehabilitation
- Abstract
- Background
The colonisation of Australia led to a lot of suffering and sorrow for an uncountable amount of Indigenous people. Due to the forced change of lifestyle and diet during and after the colonisation, conditions like obesity and type 2 diabetes became commonly occurring. Still today there is a higher burden of these conditions, but also of depression and anxiety, in this group of people. Furthermore, the mortality rate is higher in the Indigenous population compared to the total population of Australia, and the life expectancy is about ten years lower. These facts combined with the lack of access to culturally safe health care services which are in a reasonable geographic distance is ominous. It is not unusual that Indigenous... (More) - Background
The colonisation of Australia led to a lot of suffering and sorrow for an uncountable amount of Indigenous people. Due to the forced change of lifestyle and diet during and after the colonisation, conditions like obesity and type 2 diabetes became commonly occurring. Still today there is a higher burden of these conditions, but also of depression and anxiety, in this group of people. Furthermore, the mortality rate is higher in the Indigenous population compared to the total population of Australia, and the life expectancy is about ten years lower. These facts combined with the lack of access to culturally safe health care services which are in a reasonable geographic distance is ominous. It is not unusual that Indigenous people experience prejudice and discrimination in the Australian health care services. Therefore, the health care workers possess a significant responsibility to reflect upon their cultural values and actions in order to provide culturally safe health care that is accessible for everyone. Since a lot of the current research in this area is focusing on health care professionals in general, or on nurses, this study focuses on the perspectives of physiotherapists. Physiotherapists have a big role in preventing and treating diseases, and it is of great importance to evaluate how they can aid in a more appropriate way. The study aims to explore Australian physiotherapists’ experiences of culturally safe practice and health promotion among Indigenous people.
Method
Qualitative interviews were chosen as the best suited method in order to capture the experiences of the participants. Content analysis was selected for analysing the data. Ten face-to-face interviews with eleven Australian physiotherapists were conducted. All participants had experience of working with people from the Indigenous population of Australia. One of the authors conducted all interviews using a semi-structured interview guide. The interviews were audio recorded and then transcribed. The authors completed the data analysis individually, and then agreed upon it together. Categories, subcategories and aspects were identified.
Results
Four main categories were identified: Cultural awareness, Barriers in physiotherapy, Facilitators in physiotherapy and Culturally safe physiotherapy. Each category consisted of elaborated subcategories and multiple aspects – all presented through text and quotes from the transcriptions.
Discussion
The discussion is divided into four parts corresponding to the categories presented in the results. Within the category Cultural awareness historical factors is discussed, as well as understandings of health due to a person’s background and culture. Also, different cultural sensitivities and cultural values are discussed. Barriers in physiotherapy regarding access and other barriers at an institutional level is mentioned. Interprofessional collaboration, consistency and authenticity is penetrated under the third category about facilitators. Finally, discussion about culturally safe physiotherapy is presented. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8973837
- author
- Glawe, Anna ; Moding, Karolina and Österblad, Kajsa
- supervisor
- organization
- year
- 2018
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Indigenous health, cultural safety, culturally safe health care, Australia, Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, physiotherapy
- language
- English
- id
- 8973837
- date added to LUP
- 2019-04-01 14:37:14
- date last changed
- 2019-04-01 14:37:14
@misc{8973837,
abstract = {{Background
The colonisation of Australia led to a lot of suffering and sorrow for an uncountable amount of Indigenous people. Due to the forced change of lifestyle and diet during and after the colonisation, conditions like obesity and type 2 diabetes became commonly occurring. Still today there is a higher burden of these conditions, but also of depression and anxiety, in this group of people. Furthermore, the mortality rate is higher in the Indigenous population compared to the total population of Australia, and the life expectancy is about ten years lower. These facts combined with the lack of access to culturally safe health care services which are in a reasonable geographic distance is ominous. It is not unusual that Indigenous people experience prejudice and discrimination in the Australian health care services. Therefore, the health care workers possess a significant responsibility to reflect upon their cultural values and actions in order to provide culturally safe health care that is accessible for everyone. Since a lot of the current research in this area is focusing on health care professionals in general, or on nurses, this study focuses on the perspectives of physiotherapists. Physiotherapists have a big role in preventing and treating diseases, and it is of great importance to evaluate how they can aid in a more appropriate way. The study aims to explore Australian physiotherapists’ experiences of culturally safe practice and health promotion among Indigenous people.
Method
Qualitative interviews were chosen as the best suited method in order to capture the experiences of the participants. Content analysis was selected for analysing the data. Ten face-to-face interviews with eleven Australian physiotherapists were conducted. All participants had experience of working with people from the Indigenous population of Australia. One of the authors conducted all interviews using a semi-structured interview guide. The interviews were audio recorded and then transcribed. The authors completed the data analysis individually, and then agreed upon it together. Categories, subcategories and aspects were identified.
Results
Four main categories were identified: Cultural awareness, Barriers in physiotherapy, Facilitators in physiotherapy and Culturally safe physiotherapy. Each category consisted of elaborated subcategories and multiple aspects – all presented through text and quotes from the transcriptions.
Discussion
The discussion is divided into four parts corresponding to the categories presented in the results. Within the category Cultural awareness historical factors is discussed, as well as understandings of health due to a person’s background and culture. Also, different cultural sensitivities and cultural values are discussed. Barriers in physiotherapy regarding access and other barriers at an institutional level is mentioned. Interprofessional collaboration, consistency and authenticity is penetrated under the third category about facilitators. Finally, discussion about culturally safe physiotherapy is presented.}},
author = {{Glawe, Anna and Moding, Karolina and Österblad, Kajsa}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Australian physiotherapists' experiences of culturally safe practice and health promotion among Indigenous people - A qualitative study}},
year = {{2018}},
}