Remote Health Issues

Great Essays
The Impact of living in a Remote Area (Isolation) on the Health Outcomes of all Australian Adults

1.0 Introduction
The purpose of this assignment is to discuss the impacts of living in a remote area with relation to the physical and mental health of Australian adults. Although there are different types of remote areas such as the outback, rainforest areas, mining and coastal towns – the same quality they all possess is that they live far from any major city (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2012). Therefore the areas are known to have limited health services and harsher living environments. In 2009, roughly 31% of people lived outside major cities in Australia with more 45-80 year olds than those living in the cities (Australian
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When remoteness increases, the health outcome declines. This is due to the fact that people living in remote areas have a greater risk of exposing themselves to injuries, causing higher death rates than those in major cities. They are also more likely to partake in high-risk drinking and drug abuse which would increase the likely hood of road accidents or long-term health conditions. Remote residents may not be given proper health educations and therefore, are not warn of the consequences. Other factors are needed to be considered on why those living in remote areas would condone this type of behavior such as different cultural values, mate ship is stronger than those in urban areas (Miller, Coomber, Staiger, Zinkiewicz and Toumbourou, 2010). Limited activities and social venues may influence on the decision as …show more content…
Australian adults living in the remote areas are also known to be more independent and self-reliant as well. Therefore, tend to not seek treatment right away (Mccarthy et al,. 2012). With both factors in mind, there is a higher chance that the injury will not be fully examined or treated and may lead to long-term health conditions. This shows how lack of services can impact on the physical health of Australian adults (Jones & Curtin, 2010). Remote areas also have a higher risk of hospital admissions (Finch & Boufous, 2009). Lack of services can impact on how the injuries are treated, how regular the checkups would be and the attitude of people. Angus stated the fact that “the problem of accessing services is one thing, because I’ve got to travel two and half hours for cat scans, that sort of thing. Travelling to Melbourne to see a specialist means that you’ve got to find accommodation and things like that” (Jones & Curtin, 2010, p. 948). This amount of effort needed to be able to seek a health professional would put residents off in seeing

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