This article presents findings from the multi-sited ethnography of mental health nursing practice as it relates to the care of Indigenous users of public mental health services in Australia. It provides an analysis of mental health nurses beliefs and ideas about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people encountered over the course of this research. The Indigenous service user was positioned as Other to the non-Indigenous mental health nurse, and to non-Indigenous service users. Cultural difference and the legacy of colonization, including its impact on the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, contributed to these beliefs of alterity. Despite emphasizing the differences with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in mental health services, nurses did not clearly relate this to Indigenous ways of understanding ill health. While cultural differences were recognized, what they meant for the nurses or their nursing practice was interpreted in different ways. In these circumstances, approaches towards care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people varied between nurses.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	Aboriginal Australians, Australia, culture, Indigenous peoples, mental health, nursing
Research Division:	Health Sciences
Research Group:	Health services and systems
Research Field:	Health services and systems not elsewhere classified
Objective Division:	Indigenous
Objective Group:	Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health
Objective Field:	Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health system performance
UTAS Author:	Walker, K (Professor Kim Walker)
UTAS Author:	Lees, D (Dr David Lees)
ID Code:	133925
Year Published:	2019
Web of Science® Times Cited:	2
Deposited By:	Nursing
Deposited On:	2019-07-16
Last Modified:	2020-08-06
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