Breast Cancer Screening Assignment Assessing Screening Facilities And Technologies For Australian Residents

Question

Task: Can Breast Cancer Screening assignment research strategies be used to establish the nature and type of breast cancer screening facilities in Australia?

Answer

Part A
Overview and Characteristics of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community
This Breast Cancer Screening assignment will evaluated health issues affecting the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) of Australia. The Australian community in focus is the people belonging to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) community. The people pertaining to the ATSI population are identified to be the first settlers in the Australian region. Archaeological evidence suggests that the ATSI civilisation accounts to be one of the oldest civilisations on earth dating back to around 65,000 years. The pioneers of the ATSI community migrated over to Australia from different regions like Africa and the Indian sub-continent. The ATSI community is not constituted by a single homogeneous group. Rather the community is constituted by people pertaining to diverse nations and also clans belonging to such nations(World Vision Australia , 2022). The aboriginal tribes are known as Torres Strait Islanders in that they hailed from the islands belonging to the Torres Strait. The islanders belonged to the Melanesian origin and differ based on cultural and historical parameters. Currently the people belonging to the ATSI community tend to comprise around 3.3 percent of the total human population dwelling in Australia. The people belonging to the ATSI community are also known as the First Nations people. It is estimated that around 53 percent of the ATSI population are young in nature such that they tend to be aged below 25 years. Around one-third of the First Nations population of Australia dwell along urban settlements while those dwelling along remote quarters face considerable number of disadvantages that affect the quality of their living standards (World Vision Australia, 2022).

It is observed on this Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) that in 2021, the total number of people belonging to the ATSI community in Australia amounted to a figure of 881,600. By 2031, the total number of people belonging to the ATSI community is taken to amount to 1.1 million. As mentioned earlier that the age structure of the ATSI community in Australia accounts to be quite younger compared to other communities. The median age for the ATSI population accounted to be 23 years during 2016 as that of 37.8 years for the non-aboriginals in Australia(Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2022). During 2021, around 32 percent of the ATSI community people belonged to the age group of below 15 years while only a meagre 5.4 percent of the ATSI population aged around 65 years or more than that. Around 38 percent of the ATSI population in Australia dwell along major urban centres while around 44 percent of the ATSI population dwell along interior regions. Only 18 percent of the ATSI population live in remote regions. The knowledge regarding their own culture, traditions and ceremonies are passed on from one generation to the other in the ATSI community based on the use of storytelling practices. The ATSI community people speak in over 150 different languages (Australia Institute of Health and Welfare, 2022).

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) Rationale for Selecting the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community
It is observed that the people belonging to the First Nation community of Australia tend to suffer owing to bad health related outcomes regarding breast cancer. The breast cancer happens to be most common cancer that is diagnosed among the women population of the First Nation community compared to other Australian women. Further, estimates reveal that the likelihood of the First Nations women in Australia to be diagnosed of breast cancer amounts to be 0.9 times while the fatality rate of the First Nations women in breast cancer cases is 1.2 times. The estimates are made in comparison to the overall women population in Australia. Likewise, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) observedthe rate at which the First Nations women population tend to participate in breast cancer screening programs is also accounted to be quite lower than the overall participation rates of the Australian women in such programs(National Breast Cancer Foundation, 2022). The same accounts for such low rates of diagnosis regarding breast cancer cases and eventually leads to death. Around 20.6 percent of the ATSI women population under the age of 50 years are diagnosed with breast cancer which tends to be at the advanced stage or in where the women have developed large tumours. In that the ATSI women suffer from large tumours or also from advanced stages of breast cancer that they are needed to face the mastectomy surgical procedure. The factors like lower levels of participation in cancer screening programs, socio-economic inequalities compared to non-aboriginal women, existence of additional diseases and also other cultural and lifestyle barriers happen to affect the survival rates of the women folks pertaining to the First Nations community in Australia (National Breast Cancer Foundation, 2022). Research made in the above direction however reflects that the aspect of aboriginality has nothing to do with the poor outcomes and fatality associated with breast cancer. Rather, the First National women population of Australia tends to suffer from lack of effective exposure to breast cancer screening programs for which early diagnosis of the problem fails to be carried out with needed precision. Again, the women staying in remote locations fail to gain effective access to systematic therapies and treatment that are offered to cases of breast cancer that amounts to the generation of poor outcomes. Thus, effective care is needed to be undertaken for enhancing the equitable distribution of cancer diagnosis and care services such that the same helps in providing both early detection and also in generating quality treatment to the breast cancer patients. Moreover, the rendering of culturally approved breast cancer intervention programs potentially help in increasing the survival rates of women suffering from breast cancer in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community (Tapia et al., 2021).

Part B
Manner in which Nurses can work in Partnerships
The aspect of partnership is often dealt with regards to healthcare practices and operations. However, in most of the cases the term is used regards to working in an inter-professional manner or in reflecting collaboration between two or more healthcare firms. From the viewpoint of individual or groups involved in healthcare the aspect of partnership ideally reflects a manner of working in a respectful and negotiated way that empowers the parameters of choice, equity and participation. It also reflects on the existence of a trusted and honest work-based relationship that fosters on the pillars of empathy, reciprocity and needed support. Partnership gains needed success owing to the incorporation of effective interpersonal and communication skills. The use of partnership in healthcare gains ground wherein both the healthcare workers like the nurses and the patient communities are required to work in a collaborative manner for selecting investigations, treatment patterns and also regards to providing of healthcare services based on the needs of the patients. The above activities need to be carried out based on information oriented preferences wherein the patient communities need to be armed with needed knowledge regarding the healthcare interventions that they need to be subjected to(Kain & Mannix, 2018). For nurses the aspect of partnership is taken to be an ongoing process regarding the generation of day-to-day care services to the patients and in getting involved with the patient parties. The nurses are also required to work in partnerships with the healthcare service providers at a macro-level for developing new service standards and processes. The practice of partnership in healthcare in a person-centred manner can be executed like where the nurse serving a breast cancer patient can effectively design a plan in collaboration with the patient and the family members for best improving the fluid intake practices orally. Likewise, the nurse also need to partner with the patient and their family members in deciding the type of fluid they are interested in taking and also the frequency at which they will intake the fluid and assistance needed if any. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) also observes the breast cancer cases amount to be quite fatal and thereby need the breast removal surgery to be carried out effective partnership is needed to be carried out between the nurse and the patient in deciding on the care aspects both prior and post-surgery cases(Clendon & Munns, 2018). Likewise, at the community level the nursing population can steadily work in generating needed awareness about the existence and benefits of breast cancer screening to the women population pertaining to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. The generation of needed awareness about breast cancer screening programs to the suffering communities, along with partnering with service operators at the macro-level for creation of cancer screening centres at the vicinity of the suffering population, can help in both enhancing accessibility of the screening centres to the target population and also in encouraging them to visit the centres for early diagnosis and solution(Clendon & Munns, 2018).

Application of Strength-Based Approach
The Strengths-Based Approach in healthcare accounts studied on this Breast Cancer Screening assignment involves the total person, the aspects that are currently in operation and are functioning in a well manner while bringing out the best of every person and evaluating the different resources that has helped the individual to cope with emerging challenges regarding life and healthcare. In the ambit of healthcare the Strengths-Based Approach to care focuses on understanding the manner based on which the nurses can potentially support that which is potentially working to assist the patients, family members of the patients and the communities at large to gain needed growth and development and thereby to effective thrive in the challenging situations by bringing about a transformation. Herein, the nurses are required to take care of an individual in a holistic manner by reflecting on humanity as a whole(Gottlieb & Gottlieb, 2012). The nurses encourage the patients to observe the manner they are unique to one another rather than only focusing on the pain and suffering they are getting owing to the health problems. The approach requires the nurses in working in a collaborative manner with the patients and their family members for taking of quality decisions regarding healthcare that serve the interests of the patients and the community. The Strengths-Based Approach in healthcare also accounts to be a person or patient-centred approach where the healthcare professionals like nurses are required to act in a sensitive and responsive manner. Moreover, the nurses are also required to empower the community members for thinking about their own betterment. A healthcare promotion based culture needs to be cultivated by the nurses by providing education to the community members about their healthcare needs, benefits emanating from meeting such needs and also the availability of resources and infrastructure for helping them in getting quality healthcare(Gottlieb & Gottlieb, 2012).

The application of Strength-Based Approach used on this Breast Cancer Screening assignmentbelonging to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community reflects the following advantages. The patients and the family members earn the benefit in terms of receiving effective information about breast cancer and the treatment options available. The information is rendered to them in the form of providing recorded audio-tapes that serve the consultation needs and other fact sheets containing hospital information. Further, the nurses are also required to inform the community members about the clinical trials and breast cancer screening programs and empower them to take decisions regarding participating in such. Likewise, the Strength-Based approach also require the nurses in understanding the emotional needs of the breast cancer patients and thereby take effective action in reducing their anxiety and depression levels by providing psychiatric support in terms of acting as liaison between the patient and the psychologist(Bulut, 2018). Psychological counselling is of utmost need for patients’ undergone procedures like chemotherapy and mastectomy. Likewise, the Strength-Based Approach also requires the nurses for providing resource based consultations to the aboriginal community members for helping them gain access to financial and infrastructural resources for addressing their health needs. Further, based on the Strength-Based Approach the nurses are also required to understand and honour the spiritual needs of the ATSI breast cancer patients and arrange for pastoral care if need arises. In overall, the nurses are required to spend greater quality time while dealing with patients suffering from malignancy compared to the time they tend to spend with other non-malignant patients. The Breast Cancer Screening assignment observes nurses are also required to promote the growth of awareness among the women of the ATSI community to take effective care of their breast health by attending cancer screening programs and also in seeking of prompt medical intervention if need arises(Bulut, 2018).

References
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2022. Indigenous Australians. [Online] Available at: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports-data/population-groups/indigenous-australians/about [Accessed 24 May 2022].
Bulut, N., 2018. Breast Cancer and Surgery. London : IntechOpen Limited.Breast Cancer Screening assignment
Clendon, J. & Munns, A., 2018. Community Health and Wellness: Principles of Primary Health Care. United Kingdom : Elsevier Health Sciences.
Gottlieb, L.N. & Gottlieb, B., 2012. Strengths-Based Nursing Care. United Kingdom : Springer Publications.
Kain, V. & Mannix, T., 2018. Neonatal Nursing in Australia and New Zealand: Principles for Practice. United Kingdom : Elsevier Health Sciences.
National Breast Cancer Foundation, 2022. BREAST CANCER AND ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLES. [Online] Available at: https://nbcf.org.au/about-breast-cancer/further-information-on-breast-cancer
breast-cancer-in-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples/ [Accessed 24 May 2022].
Tapia, K.A., Garvey, G., Rickard, M. & Brennan, P., 2021. Breast Cancer in Australian Indigenous Women: Incidence, Mortality, and Risk Factors. Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention, 18(4), pp.873-84.
World Vision Australia , 2022. 8 interesting facts about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.Breast Cancer Screening assignment [Online] Available at: https://www.worldvision.com.au/global-issues/work-we-do/supporting-indigenous-australia/8-interesting-facts-about-indigenous-australia [Accessed 24 May 2022].