Socio-cultural Factors And Health: The Impact On Depression Among Aboriginal Women, Essay.

Depression burden on aboriginal Women

Discuss about the Socio-cultural factors and health.

Depression can be described as a very common mental health issue that a huge number of people are suffering from, nearly half of which are not diagnosed or identified. Assuming with that it has to be mentioned that depression is a mental health issue that has the most influential interconnection with the socio-cultural factors. Especially, for fresher based target populations, the impact of the determinants is also characteristically more accentuated (Smylie & Firestone, 2016). This assignment will attempt to explore the burden of depression of a minority target population of aboriginal women living in Australian territory and the impact of socio-cultural determinants of health of the burden of depression concluding with a promotional model to improve the present condition.

Along with other related socioeconomic factors associated with the scenario, gender related factors can be considered as the most impactful. In this case as well, the access to mental health services and even the awareness in the aboriginal women regarding the construct optimal psychological health or the acute impact of the lack of it on life is ghastly inequal. According to the most of the research the depression statistics is the most higher for the aboriginal women in the postpartum stage. Post partum depression is a very common type of depression among women and researchers are of the opinion that it is the primary contributing factor to prolonged psychotic disorders and mental health concerns among the aboriginal women (Greenwood et al., 2015).

Apart from these major contributor to depression in the target population of aboriginal women, another very important contributors to the depression found in these women include poor socio-economic standards, lower living standards, discrimination and social isolation, and lack of awareness to warning signs of depression can loosely be considered as the facilitator of deterioration of mental health among these women. According to the report by the statistical surveys, the percentage of Australian women suffering from depression in comparison to the men of the ethnic communities a great imparity can be observed (Hammen, 2017). According to the most recent survey reports, close to 70% of aboriginal adults have been reported to be having low to moderate levels of psychological distress, and close to 20% have been reported to having high to very high levels. On a more elaborative note, it has to be mentioned that according to the data points shared by the Healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au, (2018), close to one third of the total aboriginal populations over the age of 15 years have been reported to be depressed. Along with that, the review reports also reveal that the stressors leading to depression in the aboriginals have been more frequently found in the aboriginal women than in the aboriginal men. Consequentially, the suicide rates have also spiked up significantly, and the considerable hike is associated significantly with the shift in their socio-economic status post the colonization phase.

Socio-economic determinants

The Socio economic or cultural factors have a huge effect on the living condition of a community. However, when mental health is concerned the impact of these interlinked determinants is far more accentuated. In this case, the prevailing and alarming higher rate of depression observed in the aboriginal women, there are a number of interconnected determinants of health playing a pivotal role (Hamdullahpur, Jacobs & Gill, 2017). Exploring the underlying social behavioral and cultural determinants, it has to be mentioned that the aboriginals in the Australia have been more or less a marginalized population; subjected to a large number of different discriminations and rejection. Considering the social status and the impact of this factor as a determinant it has to be mentioned, post the colonization phase, the onset of diseases, violence, death and the loss of land has been considered to have a significant impact on the behaviors and psyche of the aboriginals. However, according to the article by the authors, the impact of the trauma has been far more devastating for the women and resulted in a long term psychological disadvantage (Roy, 2017).

Elaborating more in the behavioral determinants affecting the mental health of the target population, the discriminating social treatment is alarmingly worse for the aboriginal women when compared to the men. Apart from the violence and disrespect directed at them, the socio-cultural discrimination also results in the ethnic women being denied basic education and employment rights also contributes to higher depression rates among the aboriginal women, which has contributed to changing their perception and behavior towards mental health and sanity. Along with that, it cannot be neglected in this case that the Lion’s share of the depression statistics in the aboriginal women is contributed by the postpartum depression. In this case, the lack of proper health care access and maternal and child health support provided to the aboriginal women post giving birth is a significant factor contributing to the scenario. On the other few acquired traits in the aboriginal women such as the learned helplessness, trauma, bereavement, lower income and education, lack of social support, social position and their lack of worth (Cuijpers et al., 2015).

Considering the impact of the gender issues in this context, it has to be mentioned that according to WHO, the construct of gender has been discovered to be a socially constructed characteristic division of women and men that defines the set of norms, roles and relationships performed by the both of the groups (www.who.int, 2018). According to their report, since birth, men and women are taught how they must interaction and behave, and this has been contributing to the gender role oriented stigma over centuries which continue to impact the society. Although, the rest of the mainstream society has been able to outshine the concepts of gender roles and discrimination, the ethnic communities are still socially and technologically backward. Hence, the gender based gap in health access and outcomes among men and women are also gaping wide in the Australian indigenous communities. The greatest concern in this case is the lack of acknowledgement in the aboriginal societies regarding mental health issues faced by the women (www.abc.net.au, 2018). Along with that, the gender based violence discrimination faced both in personal and social setting by the aboriginal women is the conspicuous example of the dwindling respect for their human rights. Hence, along with racial discrimination, the aboriginal women have to fight gender discrimination as well for basic human rights as well. Researchers are of the opinion that the learned helplessness and the lack of self worth or of basic mental health is intricately associated with the racial and gender oriented discrimination and violence, which has restricted the indigenous women from even seeking out mental health care; and as a result the depression rates in this population have increased drastically for decades (Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet., 2018).

Promotional model

As per the above mentioned data, the depression in the aboriginal women are acutely socio-economically determined with emphasis of gender issues and human rights violation. Hence the promotional model used for the prevention, screening and management of the rising depression rate in the aboriginal women will also has to be based on a socio-ecological model, addressing the different determinants prevalent in the scenario. For this scenario the promotional model will have to focus on preventing the disease and managing it. The chosen health model for the assignment is the social ecological model which will help in explaining the effects of the potential preventions strategies chosen (The Social-Ecological Model, 2018).

The first initiative to be opted for the health promotion will be to screen the level of depression in the aboriginal women. In this particular strategy, the government sponsored mental health care facilities with the assistance of not-for-profit organizations to conduct interview surveys in hospital maternal and child health units, community care centers, social support groups and local gatherings. According to the social ecological model, considering the individual or personal factors will help in discovering the patterns of depression and the care needs of the groups.

The second initiative will be to sort and recognize among the group of aboriginal women, whether they are at risk for the depression or are already suffering from depression to better address the mental health care needs. This initiative is associated with relationship step of the model such as violence, isolation, and gender discrimination to identify the risk factor for the depression and assess the severity of the depression across different groups (Greenwood et al., 2015).

The third initiative will be awareness workshops to enhance the awareness of the target population regarding optimal mental health, the characteristic symptoms of depression, and how to overcome it. In order to ensure optimal inclusion, culturally diverse health and social acre workers will be included and the workshops will be made and culturally competent as possible with cultural liaison officers and language interpreters. Here an awareness pamphlets will be prepared and given to the aboriginal women with moderate to high risk of depression, and it will be prepared in easy to understand manner using aboriginal language and symbols. This strategy is associated with the community factor, where the community based health care groups and social support network will come together with prevention strategies that will impact not only the life of the depressed but also the environment.

The next initiative will be treatment policy specifically designed for the aboriginal women suffering from depression or other psychotic disorders. This policy will include culturally diverse mental health care providers and counselors so that they can understand the individual issues faced by the aboriginal women and are able to address the unique impact of socio-cultural determinants leading to the condition. This step will involve government and nongovernment stakeholders like policy makers, healthcare centres, community centres, GP practices, therapists, and social care groups. Lastly, this is a social initiative taken by the external and internal stakeholders to improve the mental health outcomes of the target population by means of a policy that can change the climate of mental health among the target population (Hamdullahpur, Jacobs & Gill, 2017).

Conclusion:

Health can be considered as an aspect of life that is associated with many other external and internal factors. The culmination of Socio economic status, cultural norms and ethnicity, racial and gender based discrimination, and other such determinants can have a significant impact on the psychological and physical healing of an individual. However it has to be mentioned here that the impact of the above mentioned sinful cultural fractured are more influential on the overall status of health rather than physical health. On a more elaborative note, emotional, psychological and spiritual health is far more extremely affected by the socio-cultural determinants of health, and a quintessential example of the same can be the depression. This essay outlined the socio-cultural, behavioral, and gender issues o the depression faced by aboriginal women with a promotional and preventative strategy targeted for depression with respect to socio-ecological models.

References:

Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet. (2018). Depression and other mood disorders - Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet. [online] Available at: https://healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/learn/health-topics/social-and-emotional-wellbeing/depression-and-other-mood-disorders/ [Accessed 3 May 2018].

Cuijpers, P., Weitz, E., Karyotaki, E., Garber, J., & Andersson, G. (2015). The effects of psychological treatment of maternal depression on children and parental functioning: a meta-analysis. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 24(2), 237-245.

For Aboriginal women, International Women's Day is not a celebration. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-09/international-womens-day-aboriginal-women-no-celebration/8338282

Gender. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.who.int/gender-equity-rights/understanding/gender-definition/en/

Greenwood, M., De Leeuw, S., Lindsay, N. M., & Reading, C. (Eds.). (2015). Determinants of Indigenous Peoples' Health. Canadian Scholars’ Press.

Hamdullahpur, K., Jacobs, K. W. J., & Gill, K. J. (2017). A comparison of socioeconomic status and mental health among inner-city Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women. International journal of circumpolar health, 76(1), 1340693.

Hammen, C. L. (2017). Maternal Depression and the Intergenerational Transmission of Depression. Public Health Perspectives on Depressive Disorders, 147.

Markwick, A., Ansari, Z., Sullivan, M., Parsons, L., & McNeil, J. (2014). Inequalities in the social determinants of health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People: a cross-sectional population-based study in the Australian state of Victoria. International journal for equity in health, 13(1), 91.

Roy, A. (2017). Understanding Depression Among Pregnant Aboriginal Women (Doctoral dissertation, University of Calgary).

Shen, Y. T., Radford, K., Daylight, G., Cumming, R., Broe, T. G., & Draper, B. (2018). Depression, suicidal behaviour, and mental disorders in older Aboriginal Australians. International journal of environmental research and public health, 15(3), 447.

Smylie, J., & Firestone, M. (2016). The health of indigenous peoples. D. Raphael (3rd ed.) Social determinants of health: Canadian perspective, 434-469.

The Social-Ecological Model: A Framework for Prevention|Violence Prevention|Injury Center|CDC. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/overview/social-ecologicalmodel.htm