'Sometime they run away, that's how scared they feel': The paediatric hospitalisation experiences of Indigenous families from remote areas of Australia
Laura Tanner
Clinical Nurse Researcher and Registered Nurse, Women's and Children's Hospital, Adelaide SA
Kendall Agius
Client Services Officer, Department of Health, Adelaide SA
Philip Darbyshire
Philip Darbyshire Consulting Pty Ltd, Adelaide SA; University of Western Sydney, Sydney NSW; School of Health Science, University of Swansea, Swansea; Bournemouth University, Poole, United Kingdom
PP: 003 - 017
Abstract
Hospitalisation can be a traumatic experience for any child and family but the experience can be significantly more so for Indigenous parents and children from remote areas of Australia. Despite the importance of this issue for child and family health and for Indigenous health, the hospitalisation experiences of Indigenous families and children have received almost no research attention.
This paper describes selected findings from a recently completed Honours research study which used the participatory and collaborative Indigenous research approach of Dadirri to explore this question.
Following a brief description of the methodology of Dadirri, the paper presents the participating families' depictions of their experiences of 'Coming Down' and 'Being in Hospital', where they revealed the extent and effects of marked culture shock. The significant cultural differences between staff and Indigenous families contributed to the parents' sense of fear, powerlessness and isolation from their child, home community and culture. For these families this isolation was not merely geographic but intricately linked to their health and wellbeing.
Keywords
hospitalisation; Indigenous children; remote Australia; cultural safety; Dadirri; nurse-family interaction
Article Text
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