Abstract
Non-contagious, chronic disease has been identified as a global health risk. Poor lifestyle choices, such as smoking, alcohol, drug and solvent abuse, physical inactivity, and unhealthy diet have been identified as important factors affecting the increasing incidence of chronic disease. The following focuses on the circumstance affecting the lifestyle or behavioral choices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in remote-/very remote Australia. Poor behavioral choices are the result of endogenous characteristics that are influenced by a range of stressful exogenous variables making up the psychosocial determinants including social disenfranchisement, cultural loss, insurmountable tasks, the loss of volitional control and resource constraints. It is shown that poor behavioral choices can be economically rational; especially under highly stressful conditions. Stressful circumstances erode individual capacity to commit to long-term positive health alternatives such as self-investment in education. Policies directed at removing the impediments and providing incentives to behaviors involving better health choices can lead to reductions in smoking and alcohol consumption and improved health outcomes. Multijurisdictional culturally acceptable policies directed at distal variables relating to the psychosocial determinants of health and personal mastery and control can be cost effective. While the content of this paper is focused on the conditions of colonized peoples, it has broader relevance.
Highlights
Non-contagious, chronic disease has been identified as a global health risk [1]
Poor lifestyle choices are the result of endogenous choice, individual endogenous status does not occur in isolation, but is impacted by exogenous factors
The aim in this paper is to demonstrate the likely economic rationality of what are referred to as bad behavioral choices and how exogenous factors can influence an individual’s endogenous capacity in their choosing between alternative choices
Summary
Non-contagious, chronic disease has been identified as a global health risk [1]. Poor lifestyle choices, such as smoking, alcohol, drug and solvent abuse, physical inactivity, and unhealthy diet have been identified as important factors affecting the increasing incidence of chronic disease [2]. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people suffer higher levels of chronic disease relative to the rest of the Australian population. The level of disadvantage for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in remote Australia is further demonstrated in school attendance rates, which are less than two thirds of the rest of the remote Australian population [5]. While attendance rates relate to individual choice, many of the schools attended by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are under-serviced [6]. While this material more closely relates to the conditions of colonised Indigenous peoples, broader based implications remain. Acceptable policies directed at distal exogenous variables relating to the psychosocial determinants of health, involving improve personal mastery and control resulting in improved cost effectiveness, is discussed
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
