L3 - Cultural Psychology

Question 1

What is the 1836 “letters patent” and what does it say about Indigenous property rights?

Answer 1

The founding document of SA

Enshrined Indigenous property rights into the patent.

• However, after consecutive governors it was not honoured.

Question 2

Why did Indigenous populations get the right to vote before women in SA?

Answer 2

Because of the 1836 “letters patent”

Question 3

There were over 250 First Nations AUstralian language groups at the time of European settlement in 1788

How many are there today?

Answer 3

120

Question 4

What are the three worlds in the aboriginal dreamtime?

Answer 4

Human World

Physical World

Sacred World

Question 5

In the past, how were aboriginal people seen by the colonists?

Answer 5

Aboriginals were inferior and childlike

Question 6

What were the main Australian policy that impacted the aboriginal people from 1788 to 1990s?

Answer 6

Question 7

What policy had a great traumatic effect on aboriginal families and led to aboriginals becoming more proud about their culture?

Answer 7

Stolen Generation

Question 8

What are the 6 policies and practices developed by colonial and post-colonail governments that impact the health of indigenous australians

Answer 8

1. Policy Vacuum
2. Protection
3. Assimilation and Absorption
4. Integration
5. Self-determination / Aboriginal control over their own future
6. After self-determination

Question 9

What was the “Stolen Generation”?

Answer 9

When aboriginal families were taken from their families to “breed the blackness out of their skin”

they would take their hair despite the fact that it is spiritually meaningful to aboriginals

Question 10

What are the “bringing them home recommendations” to help heal the wound of the Indigenous people?

Answer 10

Question 11

Who is Dr Tracy Westerman?

What did she develop to help aboriginal youth?

Answer 11

Developed 4 unique psychometric tests which are a substantial contribution to Aboriginal youth suicide prevention

Question 12

Name the risk and protective factors for psychological distress in aboriginal peoples

Answer 12

Question 13

When working with Indigenous peoples, what is absolutely crucial that your treatments involve?

Answer 13

cultural competency

Question 14

Aboriginal people perceive health ______ (rather than split mind/body view)

Answer 14

holisticly

Question 15

Dr Tracy Westerman states that there are culture bound illnesses in Indigenous communities

What does this mean?

Answer 15

Everything relates back to culture

e.g. being sick for country - some symptoms disappear when returning to country

connection to land is very important - sometimes symptoms are reported to lessen when returning to country

Question 16

What does being sick for country mean?

What type of illness is this?

Answer 16

Some negative symptoms disappear when Indigenous people return to their land.

culture-bound illness

Question 17

Describe how Westerman (1997) suggests that we should build rapport using cultural competency

Answer 17

Question 18

Should we use empirical practices that work in non-aboriginal Australian’s to treat Indigenous populations?

Answer 18

Not necessarily

Practices need to be culturally competent

Question 19

What are 6 important things we need to make sure/account for when working with indigenous people.

Answer 19

Question 20

Define racism

Answer 20

Behaviours, practices, beliefs and prejudices that underlie avoidable and unfair inequalities across groups in society based on race, ethnicity, culture or religion

Question 21

What is the type of racism that exists in many institutions in Australia, including the media, the welfare system and aspects of the legal system.

Answer 21

Systematic racism

Question 22

What kind of health outcomes can happen to people who are targeted with racism?

Answer 22

poor physical and mental health

depression

unhealthy behaviours: e.g. substance misuse, dropping out of physical activity and community activities, smoking etc.

Question 23

What are the two types of “responses to racism” that victims of racism can have.

Answer 23

Inner-direction disempowered affective responses

• can be either active (e.g. shame, self-hatred, humiliation, axnxiety, fear) or passive (e.g. powerlessness, hopelessness, confusion, depression)

Outer-directed emotional responses

• Active and can be either in the empowered or disempowered mode

Question 24

What is the leading cause of death from external causes for indigenous males?

Answer 24

suicide

Question 25

What is the difference for the rates of suicide for aboriginal and non-aboriginal populations

Answer 25

Aboriginal suicide is 3x higher

Question 26

What external factors influence Indigenous mental health?

Answer 26

Poverty

Experiences of racism and oppression

Dislocation

Grief/bereavement (stolen generations)

Question 27

what % of indigenous adults report high or very high levels of psychological distress?

What is this in comparison to non-aboriginal?

according to the Australian Institute of Health and Wellbeing Report (2009)

Answer 27

over 1 quarter (27%)

2x as high as non-aboriginal

Question 28

What are the guidelines from the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists for working with Indigenous Australians?

Answer 28

Question 29

Why might interventions not be successful in indigenous communities?

Answer 29

1. Lack of appropriate services
2. Reluctance to seek help from mental health professionals if previous contact has been bad.

Question 30

Treatments/interventions must be _______ ______ or perhaps provided alongside more traditional interventions in order to work

Answer 30

culturally appropriate

e.g. recognizing spiritual understandings of symptoms

Question 31

What are some applicable interventions we can use with indigenous peoples?

Answer 31

Narrative therapy

‘Yarning’

Question 32

In our culture, we go to a health professional that we hardly know to get help

Will this work with Indigenous populations?

Why?

Answer 32

No

They need to know who the person is and where they came from

Mental health is related to spirituality, family, connectedness

Question 33

Where should you interview Indigenous people when assessing mental health?

Answer 33

More unstructured and flexible, what they feel comfortable in

Not necessarily in a clinic

Question 34

How might we make sure that the assessments we have made are valid?

Answer 34

Using applicable tests/ making sure that people understand what is being asked of them.