A strengths based approach to Australian Aboriginal childrearing practices is the answer to better outcomes in Aboriginal family and child health

2011 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 99-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynore K. Geia ◽  
Barbara Hayes ◽  
Kim Usher
2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 420-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lyndon Reilly ◽  
Susan Rees

Traditional Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander societies value men’s role as parents; however, the importance of promoting fatherhood as a key social determinant of men’s well-being has not been fully appreciated in Western medicine. To strengthen the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander male parenting role, it is vital to examine current barriers and opportunities. The first author (a male Aboriginal health project officer) conducted yarning sessions in three remote Australian communities, two being Aboriginal, the other having a high Aboriginal population. An expert sample of 25 Aboriginal and 6 non-Aboriginal stakeholders, including maternal and child health workers and men’s group facilitators, considered barriers and opportunities to improve men’s parenting knowledge and role, with an aim to inform services and practices intended to support men’s parenting. A specific aim was to shape an existing men’s group program known as Strong Fathers, Strong Families. A thematic analysis of data from the project identified barriers and opportunities to support men’s role as parents. Challenges included the transition from traditional to contemporary parenting practices and low level of cultural and male gender sensitivity in maternal and child health services. Services need to better understand and focus on men’s psychological empowerment and to address shame and lack of confidence around parenting. Poor literacy and numeracy are viewed as contributing to disempowerment. Communities need to champion Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander male father role models. Biases and barriers should be addressed to improve service delivery and better enable men to become empowered and confident fathers.


2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold Alan Pincus ◽  
Stephen B. Thomas ◽  
Donna J. Keyser ◽  
Nicholas Castle ◽  
Jacob W. Dembosky ◽  
...  

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi Kane ◽  
Erin T. Tobin ◽  
Daniel J. Saleh ◽  
Sylvie Naar-King ◽  
Wayne Pierantoni ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  

The issue that underlies a worrying question of maternal and child health in Côte d'Ivoire is that of social logic. Social logic is perceived as "cultural constructions of actors with regard to morbidity that cause to adopt reproductive health care". Based on this understanding, the concept of social logic in reproductive health is similar to a paradigm that highlights the various factors that structure and organise sociological resistance to mothers' openness to healthy reproductive behaviours; that is, openness to change for sustainable reproductive health. Far from becoming and remaining a prisoner of blind culturalism with the social logic that generates the health of mothers, new-borns and children, practically-relevant questions are raised. Issues of "bad governance", socio-cultural representations and behaviours in conflict with modern epidemiological standards are addressed in a culturally-sensitive manner, an important issue for the provision of care focused on the needs of mothers seeking answers to health problems. Developing these original community characteristics helps to orient a reading list in a socioanthropological perspective with a view to explaining and understanding different problems encountered, experiences acquired by social actors during the implementation of antenatal, postnatal and family planning care. This context of building logic with regard to reproductive health care is key to identifying real bottlenecks in maternity services and achieving efficient management of maternal, new-born and child health care for the benefit of populations and actors in the public health sector.


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