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I think when sharing my own perspective it is important to know me. I am a healthy 20-year-old uni student living in Australia. so when it comes to discussing health my personal experience has been that I've always been healthy and never struggled to have access to healthcare and have the option of free health care.

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Now we have discussed my experience with healthcare and my personal health considering my age and socioeconomic status, it is time to answer the question:

What is Health to ME?

Health to me as an individual is making sure I'm living a balanced lifestyle. Engels biopsychosocial model resonates with my view of health and how it is multifaceted. The maslows hireachy of needs is also a good model for how the factors have different level of significance depending on a patients current social economic status.

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When looking at cultural competency in the workplace as a nursing student I resonate with the competency standard
"Clinicians develop and maintain an awareness of their own culture, beliefs, values, and biases, and their impact on the clinician’s interactions in healthcare settings.". In my experience of working in a clinical setting, it is imperative for me to reflect on my own understanding of culture to make sure I am not unintentionally inflicting any bias onto patients. I love the saying just ask because it is that simple when working with different cultures if you are unsure about anything.

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Many factors contribute to a decline in mental health when looking at the perspective of refugees you have to consider the massive change in lifestyle and displacement from an individual's environment. Post Trauma, relocation puts migrants and refugees coming to Australia at an increased risk of emotional health issues and psychological stress (Tomasi, A.-M., Slewa-Younan, S., Narchal, R., & Rioseco, P. (2022). The Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS)outlines how community-based barriers, communication issues, and Trauma can lead to serious mental health issues related to relocation. The AIFS has many programs listed to help the integration of refugees into Australia and support services related to mental health decline including the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and AMES Australia.

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When I had a toothache when I was younger it was one of the most excruciating pains I have ever felt I could not imagine not having the ability to seek accessible treatment for my pain, at the time I was very lucky I had access to Medicare to take of it. In Australia, we have the public health system Medicare which helps cover the cost of basic and essential medical services to the Australian population. However, Medicare does not include dental coverage. Since Medicare does not cover the cost of dental this makes receiving dental care in Australia expensive. Which makes access to dental services very difficult for immigrants and refugees. Victoria Health outlines the need for support to refugees and established The Refugee Health Program (RHP) began in 2005 (VIC Health, 2022), with the aim to combat poor health and the development of preventable health issues. I believe the RHP is a great representation of the great focus the Australian culture has on access to healthcare.

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When reflecting on the world around me living in a developed country where most vaccinations are free it is uncommon to come across an individual who is not vaccinated. Obviously, it does happen however in Australia, and in my experience, the national immunization scheme gives free vaccinations as we grow up to increase vaccination rates. This also helps develop herd immunity while preventing communicable diseases. In Australia, this has worked very well getting immunization rates up to 90% in young children (Health. (2023, February 7). I could imagine as a refugee if you were seeking refuge from a developing country an individual or group likely wouldn’t find immunisation as accessible as here in Australia. Furthermore, young children coming into Australia who aren’t covered by Medicare also have limited access to immunization. Overall this makes the refugee population more susceptible to communicable diseases, and with limited access to health care or lack of health education can develop into more serious health complications and further spread preventable diseases. Refugee health program allows access to vaccination to refugees which would help tackle the issue of low vaccination rates and potential illness.

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When looking at factors that could affect the health of refugees around me I have decided to discuss the impact of: mental health, under immunisation and poor dental health.

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Early childhood development sets up an individual for the rest of their life. The lifestyle that they were brought up with impacts every choice in a person's life, especially health. This can come from basic hygiene they're access to health care growing up and education about health. When looking at refugees trauma that they have been a part of the integration process can cause children to become socially challenged and distant from their environment. when looking at school English as a second language physically distance students in classrooms. so on top of this communication barrier, there is also segregation. I think that also acknowledging that being disconnected from your culture from such a young age can create a distorted sense of self. Personally, I do understand this as I am indigenous I often feel a disconnect from a culture living in a confused world.

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World Bank considers how an adequate supply of food does not mean food security. While reading it is discussed that the use of food is a large contributor to adequate nutrition in a household (World bank,2022). For refugees in Australia, this is important to consider as refugees come from different cultural backgrounds with different food. When given what we think are everyday items here in Australia they have never seen before and therefore would have limited if not no knowledge of how to cook and prepare local produce. Thankfully there are programs such as Food Bank in Australia that are a charity that provides food to those in need which can be very help to migrants struggling with food insecurity.

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Income and job security have a direct impact on people's access to healthcare if they do not have access to free healthcare. If an individual has to pay in order to look after themselves they will often put shelter, food, and other physiological needs before their access to health care in not emergency situations, which can be seen in the Maslow hierarchy of needs.
This rules out preventative care and early diagnosis for people who can not afford it leaving people often getting into emergency situations as they let illness progress undiagnosed or untreated.
The WHO also shows how increased hours of work increase the burden of injury and disease.
These combined factors can put refugees and immigrants at increased risk of serious illness or injury (WHO, 2022). In Australia we have a large emphasis on Work-life Balance however access to jobs and a secure salary can lead to working unhealthy hours for migrants and refugees.

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UNHCR. (2022, October 27). Refugee Statistics. UNHCR. https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/

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The World Bank. (2022). What is food security? World Bank. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/agriculture/brief/food-security-update/what-is-food-security

Tomasi, A.-M., Slewa-Younan, S., Narchal, R., & Rioseco, P. (2022). Understanding the mental health and help-seeking behaviours of refugees. Aifs.gov.au. https://aifs.gov.au/resources/short-articles/understanding-mental-health-and-help-seeking-behaviours-refugees

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Health. (2023, February 7). Immunisation. Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care. https://www.health.gov.au/topics/immunisation?language=und

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