Inala Community Health Assessment

Part A

Table of Community Data Analysis and Inferences

1. Category of Data
2. Summary and Comparative Statement
3. Inference

Nationality

Inala has more percentages of populations from Vietnam (9.6%), New Zealand (5.1%), and Samoa (1.4%) than both Queensland and Australia

Greater diversity of the population may mean that Inala has a wider variety of diseases common to each nationality, which may lead to more challenges for the healthcare system.

Language

There are more different-language speaking residents in Inala, with Vietnamese (14%), Samoan (2.5%), Somali (1.1%), and Arabic (1.0%), compared to both the state and country.

More native speaking inhabitants in Inala means that the healthcare system is likely to be less efficient than both the state and country due to added stressor of language barriers.

Employment

11 % of the Inala’s population is unemployed, which is greater than Queensland (7.6%) and Australia (6.9) rates of unemployment.

A higher rate of unemployment in Inala may mean that the residents have limited access to healthcare systems, which may result in higher morbidity and mortality rates.

(Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016)

Part B

1. Introduction

The Inala community consists of a more diverse group of residents compared to the rest of Australia. The community has more foreigners than the rest of Australia. For instance, foreigners from Vietnam account for 9.6 per cent of the population, which is extremely high compared to the state (0.4%) and the country (0.9%) (ABS, 2016). Also, the community has a higher rate of unemployment (11%) compared to the state (7.6%) and country (6.9). These social determinants have various implications on the community’s healthcare system.

2. Social Determinants

The three social determinants under review are multinationalism, language diversity, and unemployment. The three social determinants may be responsible for inefficiency of the healthcare system, higher morbidity, and mortality rates in the Inala community. First, the community has greater percentages of foreigners who may be responsible for higher morbidity rates in the community. The reason is that higher percentages of foreigners indicate higher cases of foreign diseases. Therefore, I believe that the healthcare system in the community deals with health problems that are more complicated than the rest of the country.

The second social determinant that may have adverse effects on the community’s healthcare system is the diversity in languages. Inala has higher percentages of foreign-speaking populations. According to ABS (2016), the community has 14.7 per cent of Vietnamese-speaking people. This group represents a disproportionately higher percentage than the state (0.6%) and country (1.2%) levels. The trend is consistent with other foreign native-speaking groups in the community, i.e. Samoan, Somali, and Arabic languages. One of the major barriers to effective healthcare services in language barriers. Language barriers lead to higher chances of miscommunication between the patient and the healthcare provider, which can be life-threatening (Meuter et al., 2015).

Additionally, the Inala community has higher rates of unemployment. According to the ABS (2016), the unemployment rate in the community is 11 per cent. Higher unemployment rates in the community mean that the community is experiencing more financial constraints. However, financial constraints result in two negative impacts of the community’s health. First, financial stresses are a source of mental illness due to psychological distress. Secondly, financial constraints limit people’s capabilities in accessing proper healthcare. Therefore, the community may experience higher morbidity or even higher mortality rates.

3. Vulnerable Group

From the assessment above, I believe that the most vulnerable group in Inala community consists of native-speaking, unemployed, foreigners. According to the assessment, foreigners are at a higher risk of having complicated health conditions. Also, foreign-speaking individuals are less likely to get effective healthcare services due to language barriers with caregivers. Also, unemployment limits access to the healthcare system for these vulnerable group.

4. Health Problems/ Needs

One important health problem that may be relevant to native-speaking unemployed foreigners in Inala community is depressive symptoms. Being native-speaking unemployed immigrants in Inala will pose various risk factors for the minority group. First, the minority group experiences higher risk of ethnic discrimination. According to Missinne and Bracke (2010), immigrants are at a higher risk of experiencing ethnic discrimination compared natives of the community. Ethnic discrimination may cause this vulnerable group to experience feelings of unworthiness that may result in mental breakdowns.

The second risk factors associated with this minority group are socioeconomic risk factors. Missinne and Bracke (2010) also identified socioeconomic challenges as an important risk factor for causing psychological distress among immigrants. Socioeconomic issues include cultural discrimination, unemployment, poverty, religious discrimination, etc. Minority groups experience many problems in trying to adjust to new religious and cultural demands, with added financial pressures. Therefore, the uncertainty and demands of adapting to new settings may result in psychological distress.

Additionally, research has shown that self-perceived health among such vulnerable groups is poorer than majority groups, which may be an added psychological stressor. According to research on self-perceived health, Nielsen and Krasnik (2010) found out that ethnic minority groups experienced disadvantages despite controlling other risk factors, such as socioeconomic factors and gender. The vulnerable group in Inala community is more likely to have more complicated health issues compared to the rest. Therefore, this group may tend to feel weaker than the native community, which may result in psychological distress.

5. Health Promotion Intervention/ Program

One evidence-based community-health promotion intervention designed to address depression in vulnerable groups is the establishment of acute psychiatric care departments at healthcare centres. Earlier studies on psychological attitudes towards psychological therapy among minorities of African descent in the USA suggested that minority groups held a negative attitude towards seeking mental therapy (Obasi, & Leong, 2009). However, a recent study in the same issue has revealed that minorities of African descent are more likely to visit the psychiatrist compared to Latino and Whites in the USA (Cook et al., 2013). This research suggests that vulnerable groups are more likely to seek therapeutic assistance. Therefore, setting up acute psychiatric care departments in Inala could help address the psychological challenges of the vulnerable group.

The acute psychiatric care department should offer affordable counselling services to patients experiencing socioeconomic challenges. The services should be offered at the points of healthcare delivery. These services should target members of the vulnerable group through advertising and public education. The department should carry out regular educational programs to inform the vulnerable group concerning the need to seek psychiatric help. Also, the acute psychiatric care program should target members of the vulnerable group during their visits at the healthcare facility. A qualified psychiatrist should offer counselling services. In Cook et al.’s (2013) study, they evaluated the effectiveness of the acute psychiatric care department by recording the instances that Black, White, and Latino patients visited the psychiatrist.

6. Conclusion

An analysis of the Inala community statistics revealed that unemployed native-speaking foreigners are a vulnerable group in the community. Previous studies among similar vulnerable groups found out that depressive symptoms are the most common health challenges for these groups. However, other studies revealed that setting up acute psychiatric care departments at healthcare centres might help the vulnerable group. Therefore, the Inala healthcare department should consider employing specialized psychiatrists to help members of the vulnerable group deal with mental health problems.

References

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Brittian, A., Kim, S., Armenta, B., Lee, R., Umaña-Taylor, A., & Schwartz, S. et al. (2015). Do dimensions of ethnic identity mediate the association between perceived ethnic group discrimination and depressive symptoms?. Cultural Diversity And Ethnic Minority Psychology, 21(1), 41-53. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037531

Cook, B., Zuvekas, S., Carson, N., Wayne, G., Vesper, A., & McGuire, T. (2013). Assessing Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Treatment across Episodes of Mental Health Care. Health Services Research, 49(1), 206-229. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6773.12095

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Meuter, R., Gallois, C., Segalowitz, N., Ryder, A., & Hocking, J. (2015). Overcoming language barriers in healthcare. BMC Health Services Research, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-015-1024-8

Missinne, S., & Bracke, P. (2010). Depressive symptoms among immigrants and ethnic minorities. Social Psychiatry And Psychiatric Epidemiology, 41(1), 97-109. Retrieved 17 March 2020, from https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/1080770/file/6744315.pdf.

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