The Significance of Subject Wellbeing and How It Is Connected to Social-Economic Determinants of Health.
Introduction
I decided to talk about the subject wellbeing of the Indigenous people on Palm Island and the relationship it has to the social-economic determinants of health which evidently is linked to their general health. Even though I did use Palm Island as an example (the reason is that I expected low social-economic determinants of health) the relationship of subject wellbeing may well be applied to any other population whether Indigenous or not. In the end, I had 2 minutes to answer the questions from the panel and the floor.
Overall, I had a lot of fun learning about this topic and felt that I have improved on my public speaking and the delivery of quality and researched material to academic staff and medical students.
As a group of students, we really enjoyed each other’s presentation as the variety of topics was broad and the research was especially well done. I would gladly do this again!
About my presentation
I presented about the relationship of subject wellbeing, a scientific word for happiness, and the health of individuals. I then researched how high or low their subject wellbeing was and compared to their social-economic determinants which were very interesting and new to me. Health is essentially connected to happiness and it is very important! When you come to think about it you may say “well of course, it is obvious” but to me, I did not think how much it influences your health. That is not to say everybody needs to walk around with enormous smiles on their faces and fake the sensation of happiness as it is much, much deeper than that.
By looking at the subject wellbeing (happiness) and the social-economic determinants of health of individuals, a comparison could be made between each factor and how much they influence each other. These relationships are intricately connected to an individual’s health. For my presentation, I had to look for a rural or remote Indigenous town in Australia. I decided to use Palm Island since it was a perfect example of having low social-economic determinants which meant low subject wellbeing and hence poor overall health. What I discovered was very interesting and I learned a lot about subject wellbeing and its relationship to social-economic determinants of health!
It is important to note that having low social-economic determinants of health is strongly associated with low subject wellbeing across all type of population whether Indigenous or not. I just happen to choose an Indigenous group in Australia as they were isolated, demonstrated a third world country population graph and demography, and had overall poor social-economic determinants of health. What was interesting is that I used data from the Victorian Happiness Report which is from the Victoria State Government. I still believe it is reliable and accurate data, however, it would be very interesting to have data on rural and remote Indigenous population as culture may have an influence on the description of happiness, its meaning and how a certain population deal with it such as: socially, spiritually, culturally, philosophically and so on.
All references are at the end.
Reference
Allyson Horn. Welcome sign at Palm Island. ABC NEWS. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-04/welcome-sign-at-palm-island-off-townsville-in-north-queensland/6670306. Published 2015. Accessed April 2, 2019.
Ansari Z, CarspnNJ, AcklandMJ, Vaughan L, SerraglioA. A public health model of the social determinants of health. Social Prev Med. 2003;48(4):242-251. https://link-springer-com.elibrary.jcu.edu.au/article/10.1007%2Fs00038-003-2052-4. Accessed August 16, 2019.
Australian Government Federal Registry Legislation. Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Regulations 1983. Australian Government website. https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2017C00960. Published 1983. Accessed April 2, 2019.
Australian Bureau Statistics. Palm Island (S) (LGA) (35790). Australian Bureau Statistics website. https://itt.abs.gov.au/itt/r.jsp?RegionSummary®ion=35790&dataset=ABS_REGIONAL_LGA&geoconcept=REGION&datasetASGS=ABS_REGIONAL_ASGS&datasetLGA=ABS_NRP9_LGA®ionLGA=REGION®ionASGS=REGION. Updated March 31, 2017. Accessed April 2, 2019.
Australian Bureau Statistics. 2016 CensusQuickStats. Australian Bureau Statistics website. https://quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/LGA35790#cultural. Updated October 23, 2017. Accessed April 2, 2019.
Australian Early Development Census. Hinchinbrook community. Australian Early Development Census website. https://www.aedc.gov.au/data/data-explorer?id=138343. Published 2018. Accessed April 2, 2019.
Australian Government Department of Health. ASGS remoteness areas (2016). DoctorConnect. http://www.doctorconnect.gov.au/internet/otd/publishing.nsf/Content/locator. Published 2016. Accessed April 2, 2019.
Australian Government Department of Health. Modified Monash Model (2015). DoctorConnect. http://www.doctorconnect.gov.au/internet/otd/publishing.nsf/Content/locator. Published 2015. Accessed April 2, 2019.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework (HPF) report. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Website. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/indigenous-health-welfare/health-performance-framework/contents/tier-1-health-status-and-outcomes/1-15-ear-health. Updated December 2018. Accessed April, 2019.
Burrow S, Ride K. Review of diabetes among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Australian Indigenous Health Info Net. https://healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/healthinfonet/getContent.php?linkid=590810&title=Review+of+diabetes+among+Aboriginal+and+Torres+Strait+Islander+people. Published March 17, 2016. Accessed April 3, 2019.
Griffith C. Syphilis endemic on island. Technology Journalist Australian website. http://www.chrisgriffith.com/1990s/1995/syph1.html?fbclid=IwAR0x6WOuV4-3wHt132DsTHE0jNamtFMDKQ9QeocmerUYBEDHeRQySe5sUT0. Published 1995. Accessed April 13, 2019.
Harris MF, ZwarNA. Care of patients with chronic disease: the challenge for general practice. Med J Aust. 2007;187(2):104-107. https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2007/187/2/care-patients-chronic-disease-challenge-general-practice. Accessed April 13, 2019.
Humphreys JS, McGrail MR, Joyce CM, Scott A, KalbG. Who should receive recruitment and retention incentives? Improved targeting of rural doctors using medical workforce data. AustJ Rural Health. 2012;20(1):3-10. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1584.2011.01252.x.
JensKorff. Aboriginal suicide rates. Creative spirits. https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/people/aboriginal-suicide-rates. Published March 25, 2019. Accessed August 17, 2019.
Joanne Watson. Palm Island. Queensland Historical Atlas website. http://www.qhatlas.com.au/content/palm-island. Published 2012. Accessed April 2, 2019.
Kidney Health Australia. Kidney Fast Facts. Kidney Health Australia. https://kidney.org.au/cms_uploads/docs/kidney-health-australia-kidney-fast-facts-fact-sheet.pdf. Updated March 2018. Accessed April 2, 2019.
Morris PS, Leach AJ. Acute and chronic otitis media. Pediatr Clin North Am. 2009;56(6):1383-99. doi: 10.1016/j.pcl.2009.09.007.
NACCHO Aboriginal Health News Alerts. Aboriginal sexual health commitment and Investment needed to address syphilis epidemic. NACCHO website. https://nacchocommunique.com/tag/syphilis/. Published 2018. Accessed April 3, 2019.
Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Council. Palm Island Health Action Plan, Health for the People, Health by the People, the Palm Island Way, 2010-2015. Brisbane: State of Queensland; 2011.
Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Council. About Palm Island. Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Council website. http://www.palmcouncil.qld.gov.au/about-palm-island. Updated January 10, 2018. Accessed April 2, 2019.
PHIDU Torrens University Australia. Social Health Atlas, Primary Health Networks (incl. Local Government Areas). PHIDU Torrens University Australia website. http://phidu.torrens.edu.au/current/maps/sha-aust/phn_lga_single_map/atlas.html. Published 2019. Accessed April 2, 2019.
Primary Health Northern Queensland. Health Snapshot Palm Island Aboriginal Shire 2016. Primary Health Northern Queensland website. https://www.primaryhealth.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Palm-Island-Aboriginal-Shire-Council.pdf. Published 2016. Accessed April 3, 2019.
Queensland Government. Life expectancy at birth (years) by sex, Queensland and Australia, 1881–1890 to 2015–2017. Queensland Government website. http://www.qgso.qld.gov.au/products/tables/life-expectancy-birth-years-sex-qld/index.php. Updated October 30, 2017. Accessed April 3, 2019.
Queensland Health. Closing the Gap: Performance Report 2016. Queensland Health website. https://cabinet.qld.gov.au/documents/2017/Mar/ClGapHealth/Attachments/Report.pdf. Published 2016. Accessed April 14, 2019.
Queensland Health. North Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sexually transmissible infections action plan 2016-2021. Brisbane: state of Queensland (Queensland Health); 2016.
Queensland Historical Atlas. Palm Island Dancers, 1930. Queensland Historical Atlas website. https://www.qhatlas.com.au/photograph/palm-island-dancers-1930. Published 2014. Accessed April 2, 2019.
Queensland State School Reporting (2017). BwgcolmanCommunitySchool Annual Report 2017. [online] Department of Education, pp.3, 11. Available at: https://bwgcolmancs.eq.edu.au/Supportandresources/Formsanddocuments/Annual%20reports/Bwgcolman%20Community%20School%20Annual%20Report%202017.pdf. Accessed 22 Mar, 2019.
Robertson, J. and Clough, A. (2011). Evaluation of Yarrabah and Palm Island Money Management Programs. [online] Cairns: Indigenous Consumer Assistance Network. Available at: https://financialcapability.gov.au/files/research-moneymanagementprograms-evaluationreport-2011.pdf. Accessed April 2, 2019.
Victoria State Government. The Victorian happiness report. Victoria State Government website. https://www2.health.vic.gov.au/about/publications/ResearchAndReports/victorian-happiness-report. Published 2015. Accessed April 17th, 2019.
Wilson P. Crime Morality & Justice. Australia: Australian Institute of Criminology; 1992.
YoungDeadlyFree. Infographics – Syphilis. YoungDeadlyFreewebsite. http://youngdeadlyfree.org.au/resources/infographics/. Published 2018. Accessed April 13, 2019.