Muecke, Alyson, Lenthall, Sue, and Lindeman, Melissa A. (2011) Culture shock and healthcare workers in remote Indigenous communities of Australia: what do we know and how can we measure it? Rural and Remote Health, 11 (2). 1607.

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Abstract

Introduction: Culture shock or cultural adaptation is a significant issue confronting non-Indigenous health professionals working in remote Indigenous communities in Australia. This article is presented in two parts. The first part provides a thorough background in the theory of culture shock and cultural adaptation, and a comprehensive analysis of the consequences, causes, and current issues around the phenomenon in the remote Australian healthcare context. Second, the article presents the results of a comprehensive literature review undertaken to determine if existing studies provide tools which may measure the cultural adaptation of remote health professionals.

Methods: A comprehensive literature review was conducted utilising the meta-databases CINAHL and Ovid Medline.

Results: While there is a plethora of descriptive literature about culture shock and cultural adaptation, empirical evidence is lacking. In particular, no empirical evidence was found relating to the cultural adaptation of non-Indigenous health professionals working in Indigenous communities in Australia. In all, 15 international articles were found that provided empirical evidence to support the concept of culture shock. Of these, only 2 articles contained tools that met the pre-determined selection criteria to measure the stages of culture shock. The 2 instruments identified were the Culture Shock Profile (CSP) by Zapf and the Culture Shock Adaptation Inventory (CSAI) by Juffer.

Conclusions: There is sufficient evidence to determine that culture shock is a significant issue for non-Indigenous health professionals working in Indigenous communities in Australia. However, further research in this area is needed. The available empirical evidence indicates that a measurement tool is possible but needs further development to be suitable for use in remote Indigenous communities in Australia.

Item ID:	79934
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1445-6354
Keywords:	Australia, cultural adaptation, culture shock, Indigenous health, remote health, remote health professionals
Copyright Information:	© Alyson Muecke, Sue Lenthall, Melissa A Lindeman 2011 A licence to publish this material has been given to James Cook University, jcu.edu.au James Cook University administers the journal Rural and Remote Health. It is a condition of publication of an article in Rural and Remote Health that the authors of the article consent to the application of a Creative Commons CC-BY to the published article.
Date Deposited:	21 Aug 2023 05:47
FoR Codes:	42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4203 Health services and systems > 420321 Rural and remote health services @ 50% 42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4203 Health services and systems > 420319 Primary health care @ 30% 45 INDIGENOUS STUDIES > 4599 Other Indigenous studies > 459999 Other Indigenous studies not elsewhere classified @ 20%
SEO Codes:	20 HEALTH > 2005 Specific population health (excl. Indigenous health) > 200508 Rural and remote area health @ 70% 21 INDIGENOUS > 2103 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health > 210303 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health system performance @ 30%
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