Racialization in Health, Healthcare & Nursing Education PDF

# Race, Racialization in Health, Healthcare and Nursing Education ## Scientific Objectivity - Facts and truths can be identified and quantified - Everyone should be treated equally - "Leave your bias at the door" - Assumes race and differences don't exist - BUT ... ## They do!! - Therefore the eff...

# Race, Racialization in Health, Healthcare and Nursing Education ## Scientific Objectivity - Facts and truths can be identified and quantified - Everyone should be treated equally - "Leave your bias at the door" - Assumes race and differences don't exist - BUT ... ## They do!! - Therefore the effect of prejudice, discrimination not captured - Biased research, teaching and policies, due to development in the dominant culture - These biases occur during assessment and intervention for healthcare workers ## Race - Any group of people who share same physical characteristics such as skin tone, facial feature etc - It is an artificial socially constructed way to categorize people - Could use any factor ie foot size, or resistance to disease - Truth is there is only 0.1% variation in human genome - When you use race as a category, it perpetuates discrimination and oppression ## Racialization - Using race as the primary means of categorization - Group of people defined by their race - Ex. People of African descent are fast runners - Usually negative, usually based on skin colour or physical attribute - "Racialized" ## Racial Profiling - Create an inaccurate profile/description about members of a group - Healthcare providers contribute to racial profiling, and are also profiled themselves ## Structural Racism - Culture informs political, economic, and social structures - If their policies and practices are rooted in racism, it leads to suffering and health inequalities - Environmental Racism - toxic dumps and landfills disproportionately located near racialized communities ## Trauma - Hurt and adverse experiences, deeply embedded in soul and psyche - Intergenerational trauma - adverse effect is passed on - Ex Indian Residential School Survivors - Trauma and racism cause chronic state of stress. Health concerns??? ## When using race as a predictor for health outcomes... - Increased referral times for diagnostic testing and treatment - Lower survival rates - Premature death - Indigenous peoples cancer rates increased ## How do nurses/health care workers perpetuate racism in healthcare??? ## Unearned Privilege - Given to members of higher social class, heterosexual, males, white, or Christian faith ## White Privilege - "Set of unearned advantages, opportunities based solely on having white skin, lead to lifelong increased access to the goods and services of society" ## Cycle of Oppression - Page 21 ## Class Activity #2 ## Nursing Education - Historical contributions, faculty - Cultural competency - Barriers for Racialized Nursing Students - microaggression, discrimination, racism, financial difficulty, visible minority, cultural alienation, lack of support, socially isolated, academic barriers, lack of computer skills and technology ## Class Activity #1 ## Social Change - What can we do??? ## Allyship - Those who experience privilege strive to recognize their privilege and work within and anti-oppressive stance ## The Legacy of Colonization for the Health and Wellbeing of Indigenous People ## Nursing Collaboration p 65 - "All registered nurses, who are graduates from the nursing programs in Canada should understand the unique relationships between the First Nations, Inuit and Metis and the Government of Canada. It is imperative that graduates from the nursing programs in Canada comprehend the historical and contemporary context of the Aboriginal peoples." - Page 65 Box 5.1 Indigenous Terminology ## First People of Canada - Very diverse - 634 First Nations in Canada - Tragic historical and colonial relationship with settlers in Canada ## Class Activity #3 ## Colonialism - Settlement of territory, exploitation of its resources and the attempt to govern the Indigenous people in occupied lands ## Key Phases - A) Cooperation among Nations - B) Colonization - C) Its Effect on the Indigenous People ## Indian Act 1876 - 1) Erosion of protected status of reserve lands - 2) Undermining of traditional political processes used by Indigenous communities - 3) Suppression of traditions and values of Indigenous people ## Residential School - Church captured and socialized children - Tragic dislocation and loss to families and communities - Cumulative, intergenerational effects ## Hospitals - 18 specific institutions - Indigenous people were contracting TB at 10 times the rate settlers were - due to overcrowded schools - subject to medical experimentation ## Indigenous Health - Settlers brought disease ex. Smallpox, TB - Fertility rates decreased - Increased grief, depression - Decreased community size, went from trappers to traders ## Miyupimaatissium - "Being alive well" - Interdependent relationship people have with he natural world and keeping one's spirit strong ## Nursing Involvement - Nurses integral to establishing healthcare in indigenous communities - Nursing stations - Nurse visitor programs - Primary healthcare - Currently 75 nursing stations, 195 health centres in the north ## Indian Health Policy - Greater participation by First Nations in planning and delivering their own health services - By 2010 most First Nations (greater than 85%) were in charge of their health - Tensions remain regarding who pays, breaking treaty etc. ## Barriers to Indigenous Health and Well Being - 1) Recruiting and Retaining Nursing Staff - 2) Jurisdictional Roles and Responsibilities - 3) Emphasis on Curative services and physical health ## Social Determinants of Health - Class Activity #4 ## Social Determinants of Health - Reports of concern regarding: Clean drinking water, uncontaminated food, reliable sanitation, comfortable housing and workplaces, adequate employment, poverty, marginalization, poor education, lack of support, inadequate resources, alien values, racism, colonization..... ## Cultural Resurgence - Indian Act was revised in 1951 - Previously indigenous people were banned from organizing themselves - Began to develop political organizations - With old rules from the act, tensions developed ## Reconciliation - Accounting historic and current colonial attitudes and discrimination toward Indigenous people - Recognizing the intergenerational and present day effects of these behaviors - Settlers need to learn about historical relationship and current realities for Indigenous peoples - "Massive truth telling about Canada's past and present relationship with original inhabitants of this land" ## How can we do it??? - Truth sharing, apology, education, dialogue and action - More inclusive society - Close the gaps that exist between Aboriginals and Non-Aboriginal Canadians ## Self Determination - Indigenous communities develop and direct health and well being services to meet their self identified needs. ## References - McIntyre, M., & McDonald, C. (2019). _Realities of Canadian Nursing: Professional, practice and power issues_ (5th ed). Philadelphia, PA: Walters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins