Primary Health Care

Introduction to Primary Health Care

Community profile helps in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of any community specified to their own surroundings (Sharifi, 2016). The profile can be inclusive of analyzing the current given situation of the community as well as the steps indicated to improve its overall well-being. This periodical evaluation of the community settings can be helpful in determining the grey areas of concerns that might need resolutions or prompt actions to be taken. Social determinants of health are a sound means of identifying the well-being of the community, which can be represented in the form of community report.

Concept of SDH (Social Determinants of Health)

Social determinants of health are comprised of the conditions in which an individual is born, lives and tend to work or learn new things and techniques (Taylor, 2018). These are vital to evaluate the healthcare outcomes as well as life expectancy of the community in terms of quality of afterlife for individuals residing in these settings. The components can be broadly divided into physical and social elements. The physical components include, schooling facilities, housing facilities, environmental conditions and so on. The social components are made of quality of education, job opportunities, accessibility to public facilities such as healthcare, entertainment etc.

SDH evaluation for any community can provide a good input into the negative and positive driving forces, that can be worked on. Data pertaining to these elements can be collected to help with improving the overall quality of life of the people residing in the community and the environment as a whole (Smith, 2018).

Physical Environment

Physical environment has been found to have a direct impact on the person’s mental health. People living in poor or insecure surroundings are generally subjected to trauma and violence. This can have a greater impact on their emotional well-being and can alter with their normal behaviors as well. Ecologically degrading surrounding can lead to the patient develop multiple diseases and infections, that can have a lifelong repercussion on the person. This can play a huge role in depreciating the quality of life of the person. This is observed more in indigenous communities where there is not only lack of resources but also lack of acceptance and knowledge amongst the community members. Organized and methodical approaches and programs are needed to enhance the overall quality of life in these community settings (Northwood, 2018).

Education and Literacy

In indigenous population there is a poor educational status as compared to the non-indigenous population. There is also a comparatively high school drop out rate observed in the indigenous communities. Even if there are good educational structures available, the attendance is not up to mark as well as the enrollment, for few institutions in place. In certain places the curriculum is not to the mark as required and thus, failing at providing the required educational standards (Fitzgerald, 2016). The cost for higher education is also high, posing it as a barrier for accessing higher educational degrees for many individuals. These lacks of chances are also imposing a restriction on these individuals to work towards their growth and development.

Social Environment

Few individuals are subjected to family related trauma or violence in their lifetime. Having seen such crimes and un-called-for situations, the person’s physical as well as mental well-being can be disbalanced. Few children are also subjected to domestic violence and the repercussions can be very negative for the person to bear. It can impede the social growth and interaction of the person, limiting their access to the outside world. Some people might also feel withdrawn from their surroundings and the same can impact on their future potential relationships (Kingsley, 2018). People who remain unguided during these difficult times might also resort to criminal activities, get involved in drugs, get caught up in teenage pregnancies or might even end up with certain irreversible damages, both physical as well as mental.

Economic Factors

Some of the communities are still underprivileged in terms of employment opportunities, poverty, housing provisions and so on. The indigenous population in Australia is shown to have a higher un-employment rate as compared to the non-indigenous population. Along with the lack of opportunities, there is also a lack of financial aids such as proper funding and sound organizational structure, that can help in smooth facilitation of these services, particularly in these communities (Isaacs, 2018). Due to lack of adequate support the overall health status can be deemed quite poor for these communities.

Healthcare Provisions

Due to lack of proper funding as well as lack of education, there are no profound models present in the indigenous communities, to support the healthcare sector. The situation is however, drastically upside down in the urban communities, where there are proper fundings and sound hierarchical structures to manage the ongoing health status of the community as a whole. Various aspects such as mental health and related issues, are left unspoken in few rural communities, due to cultural incompetencies, lack of funding or lack of healthcare workforce, required for providing the deemed healthcare and support services (Longden, 2018). There is a dire necessity of increasing the educational as well as funding sources, especially in rural communities to get them at par with their urban counterparts.

Conclusion on Primary Health Care

The place where a person takes birth as well as the place where he or she lives, define the impact on the person as well as the community as a whole. It can have a direct impact on the functioning of the community and thus, an indirect effect on the overall quality and outcomes of life. It is crucial to establish a direct link between the person’s health and his or her community settings. This model of Social determinants of health can be very fruitful in communities where there is a limitation of resources. The data can be collected in rural areas, by the means of this tool, as it covers for all of the important aspects, impacting on the growth and development of the individual residing in these communities. It is also important from the point of view of highlighting the sharp differences between the community settings and quality of life between urban and rural community dwellings.

References for Primary Health Care

Fitzgerald, T., & Knipe, S. (2016). Policy reform: Testing times for teacher education in Australia. Journal of Educational Administration and History48(4), 358-369. DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/00220620.2016.1210588

Isaacs, A. N., Enticott, J., Meadows, G., & Inder, B. (2018). Lower income levels in Australia are strongly associated with elevated psychological distress: Implications for healthcare and other policy areas. Frontiers in Psychiatry9, 536. DOI https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00536

Kingsley, J., Munro-Harrison, E., Jenkins, A., & Thorpe, A. (2018). “Here we are part of a living culture”: Understanding the cultural determinants of health in Aboriginal gathering places in Victoria, Australia. Health & Place54, 210-220. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2018.10.001

Longden, T., Wong, C. Y., Haywood, P., Hall, J., & van Gool, K. (2018). The prevalence of persistence and related health status: an analysis of persistently high healthcare costs in the short term and medium term. Social Science & Medicine211, 147-156. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.06.008

Northwood, M., Ploeg, J., Markle‐Reid, M., & Sherifali, D. (2018). Integrative review of the social determinants of health in older adults with multimorbidity. Journal of Advanced Nursing74(1), 45-60. DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.13408

Sharifi, A. (2016). A critical review of selected tools for assessing community resilience. Ecological Indicators69, 629-647. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.05.023

Smith, J., Griffiths, K., Judd, J., Crawford, G., D'Antoine, H., Fisher, M., ... & Harris, P. (2018). Ten years on from the World Health Organization Commission of Social Determinants of Health: progress or procrastination?. Health promotion journal of Australia: official journal of Australian Association of Health Promotion Professionals29(1), 3. DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/hpja.48

Taylor, J., & Haintz, G. L. (2018). Influence of the social determinants of health on access to healthcare services among refugees in Australia. Australian Journal of Primary Health24(1), 14-28. DOI https://doi.org/10.1071/PY16147

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