Iraqi culture by

Domain 1- Culturally Responsive Clinical Practice

ashleeproperjohn20 — 2025-08-27 04:59:59 UTC

I have developed my understanding of Domain 1.4 and the importance of family and community, and its impact on consent, treatment, and follow-up for Iraqi migrants and refugees (Culturally Responsive Clinical Practice, 2019, p. 12). Having analysed the competency standards, I now realise that as a nurse I must navigate family relationships when planning care and support their involvement in shared decision-making. (Culturally Responsive Clinical Practice, 2019, p. 14). This understanding will be essential to me in the workplace because I will be able to apply it through building trust, showing respect and asking non-leading questions to gain an understanding of the patient’s family dynamic. Throughout reading this framework and resources, I have felt that my knowledge of family and community has allowed a deeper understanding of Iraqi culture, amplifying my commitment to cultural humility.

references:

Culturally Responsive Clinical Practice: Working with People from Migrant and Refugee Backgrounds competency standards framework for clinicians, January 2019.

WHO Social Determinants

ashleeproperjohn20 — 2025-08-27 06:19:01 UTC

Social inclusion and non-discrimination hold great significance for refugees arriving in Australia and their overall health upon resettling.

According to the findings of The Trajectories of Psychological Distress and Social Integration in Newly Resettled Refugees (P. Nguyen et al., 2023), the 5-year follow-up for refugees shows that high levels of psychological distress increased due to social integration factors such as discrimination and lower English proficiency. This same article reports that women of Middle Eastern backgrounds show higher levels of distress due to these social factors of inclusion. Another study from Frontiers in Psychiatry: Determinants of mental illness among humanitarian migrants (Cooper et al., 2019) states that high reports of mental illness, such as PTSD, remained prevalent over 3 years of resettlement, especially among people of Middle Eastern background, increasing outcomes of chronic health conditions and poor-rated health.

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00545/full

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00127-023-02528-7

Common Health Issues: Iraqi Refugees

ashleeproperjohn20 — 2025-09-01 01:51:52 UTC

As stated by the community profiles for healthcare providers- Iraqi profile, Refugees from Iraq are linked to having chronic health conditions, such as latent tuberculosis infection (P. 2 QLD Health).

Having analysed the Australian Refugee Health Practice Guide under Common Health Concerns, Tuberculosis is acknowledged as a common concern for refugees. According to this guide, LTBI is mostly asymptomatic and non-infectious unless active (History and Examination, J. Denholm et al., 2025).

Managing Tuberculosis should start with referring the patient to a clinician with experience in Tuberculosis to determine if the infection is current or dormant. Following the guide, patients should be prescribed isoniazid for 6-9 months. (Management and Referral J. Denholm et al., 2025). Other, shorter treatments such as rifamycins are also sufficient.

Noted in this Practice guide under Management and referral is the importance of clinicians to provide language and or visual information on treatment, and reassurance that their Asylum status will not change if they choose to start treatment.

https://refugeehealthguide.org.au/tuberculosis-tb/

https://refugeehealthguide.org.au/

Traditional health Beliefs of Iraqis

ashleeproperjohn20 — 2025-09-01 03:32:38 UTC

An article from Traditional Medicine of Karen, Nepali and Iraqi Refugees reports that the traditional beliefs of Muslim people are highly religious, and since the Iraq-Iran war, the country has lost many physicians (P. 3, J. Huang 2011).

There are said to be many practices used in their medicine, such as cumin and egg yolk heated in water, dipped into a rag and placed on the forehead to treat a fever. (P. 3, J. Huang 2011).

Another treatment used particularly for burns uses barley and butter mixed together and placed on the skin as a dressing for 48 hours. (P. 3, J. Huang 2011).

Another source from eCALD on Iraqi culture explores the spiritual beliefs of health in Iraq, one being an evil spirit known as "Jinn" who is said to cause illnesses associated with mental Health (P. 4).

https://med.virginia.edu/family-medicine/wp-content/uploads/sites/285/2017/01/Joseph-Huang-Traditional-Medicine-Karen-Nepali-Iraqi_Web.pdf

https://www.ecald.com/assets/Resources/Assets/C3-P1-S2-Iraqi-Culture.pdf