Focussed Reflection

Focused Reflection

Part 1a

My attitude towards the mentally ill and disabled has always been quite positive in a sense as I understand their condition and familiar with different type of mental disabilities through my education and my knowledge base which is built upon my personal experiences with such people in my country, relatives and family. Australia is a country of people belonging to multicultural backgrounds and more than a million of first generation of Australia has face one or the other type of mental or behavioral problem at some point in their lives. One of my cousins was also mentally handicapped and was not able to do anything on his own. This encounter with a mentally ill person at a personal level has definitely increased my familiarity with the mentally ill patients and I am more comfortable in dealing with them through my past experience. Additionally mental illness is more common in my community and country as immigrant and aborigines has faced history of never ending racism, housing, schooling, healthcare, support, transportation and communication issues that has affected the mental health of overall Australian population (Commonwealth of Australia, 2009). According to Bootzin et.al attitude has been defined as an attraction or aversion towards any object in relation to the past experience and is correlated with the present and future behavior of the person (Rameela, 2004). My personal attitude has also been devise due to my personal experience with other people in the community. My peers, friends and media in the community have always been open towards such issues and problems which have helped in shaping up my positive attitude towards mentally ill patients. The culture that I have been living in promotes for the feeling or relatedness, community, country, spirituality and culture.

Part 1b

Through my knowledge and experience in relation to the mentally handicapped people, I understand that my culture and social setting has a great effect in shaping up the beliefs of the person but I also realized and was able to distinguish between the myths of my culture and the truth. This was based on my learning and knowledge of the topic and my professional education. Since there are people from different backgrounds working under one roof, it is very important to understand different cultures and their effects on the treatment of the patient. This will help in providing the patient with culturally safe and healthy environment for their healing and recovery. It is of utmost importance to also understand the cultural background of the patient in order to provide him correct treatment in suitable setting that are favorable and are in accordance to his cultural beliefs and norms. Language of the nurse is the most important factor and is affected by the cultural background. Additionally it is also very important to acquire required education, skills and practice in the respective field to gain expertise. It is also very important to eliminate communication barriers to understand the content and material of education for correct learning of procedures and methodologies ...