NURS11145 Indigenous and Cross Cultural Health Care

Health professionals in Australia come from diverse cultural backgrounds and deliver care to a multi-cultural client group, including Indigenous and migrant Australians. The health care system however, both structurally and in its processes, is predominately white and western and middle class. To enable the health professional to practice effectively they must understand their own cultural perspective and the impact that this has on health seeking behaviour and lifestyle choice. This course leads the student through cultural awareness to cultural sensitivity in preparation for culturally safe care delivery. By examining ones own cultural orientation and integrating the nursing profession's values the practitioner can better appreciate the cultural needs of clients. The integration of this understanding with professional values will assist students to prepare for health practice across cultures. Culture embodies individual differences such as age, gender, ability and appearance; environmental factors such as location, climate and infrastructure; socio-economic dimensions such as employment, class, occupation, and support networks and educational factors. The contextual nature of culture also embodies communication patterns, history, art, religion and space/time perspectives. Particular attention will be paid throughout the module to the cultural needs of Indigenous and migrant Australians. It is a requirement of this course to have access to the CQU website and Internet.