IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v302y2022ics0277953622002908.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Building patient trust in health systems: A qualitative study of facework in the context of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Worker role in Queensland, Australia

Author

Listed:
  • Topp, Stephanie M.
  • Tully, Josslyn
  • Cummins, Rachel
  • Graham, Veronica
  • Yashadhana, Aryati
  • Elliott, Lana
  • Taylor, Sean

Abstract

Healthcare services in Australia are the primary responsibility of state and territory governments, which recruit and deploy health providers in hospital and primary-care services. Among the various health professional roles, that of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Worker (A&TSIHW) is one of only two positions that must be occupied by an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person, carrying unique responsibility for enacting cultural brokerage and promoting cultural safety at the facility-level. Implicit to these responsibilities is the assumption that A&TSIHW will use cultural capital to build clients' trust in themselves and ultimately the broader health system. Drawing on 82 in-depth interviews including 52 with A&TSIHWs, we applied Kroegar's Facework theory to explore the structures, processes and relationships that contribute to, or inhibit, A&TISHWs' capacity and willingness to build trust (beyond themselves) in government health services in Queensland, Australia. Analysis demonstrates that despite A&TSIHWs viewing and enacting interpersonal trust-building as central to their role, structural features of the health system inhibit the development of service-users' system-level trust. Findings re-establish that health systems are not ‘cultureless,’ but rather, shaped by a dominant culture that privileges certain actors, types of knowledge, and modes of communication and action, which in turn influence efforts to build trust. The study demonstrates a novel theory-driven approach to exploring the interactions between behavioural and structural factors that influence the production of systems-level trust. In the context of the Queensland public health service findings highlight a disconnect between the expectations of, and support provided to A&TISHWs to engage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service-users.

Suggested Citation

  • Topp, Stephanie M. & Tully, Josslyn & Cummins, Rachel & Graham, Veronica & Yashadhana, Aryati & Elliott, Lana & Taylor, Sean, 2022. "Building patient trust in health systems: A qualitative study of facework in the context of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Worker role in Queensland, Australia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 302(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:302:y:2022:i:c:s0277953622002908
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114984
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953622002908
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114984?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. van der Schee, Evelien & Braun, Bernard & Calnan, Michael & Schnee, Melanie & Groenewegen, Peter P., 2007. "Public trust in health care: A comparison of Germany, The Netherlands, and England and Wales," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 56-67, April.
    2. Ozawa, Sachiko & Sripad, Pooja, 2013. "How do you measure trust in the health system? A systematic review of the literature," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 10-14.
    3. Sara Bennett & Irene Akua Agyepong & Kabir Sheikh & Kara Hanson & Freddie Ssengooba & Lucy Gilson, 2011. "Building the Field of Health Policy and Systems Research: An Agenda for Action," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(8), pages 1-5, August.
    4. Gilson, Lucy & Palmer, Natasha & Schneider, Helen, 2005. "Trust and health worker performance: exploring a conceptual framework using South African evidence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(7), pages 1418-1429, October.
    5. Lucy Gilson & Kara Hanson & Kabir Sheikh & Irene Akua Agyepong & Freddie Ssengooba & Sara Bennett, 2011. "Building the Field of Health Policy and Systems Research: Social Science Matters," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(8), pages 1-6, August.
    6. Bloom, Gerald & Standing, Hilary & Lloyd, Robert, 2008. "Markets, information asymmetry and health care: Towards new social contracts," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 2076-2087, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Magrath, Priscilla & Nichter, Mark, 2012. "Paying for performance and the social relations of health care provision: An anthropological perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(10), pages 1778-1785.
    2. Hutchinson, Eleanor & Mundua, Sunday & Ochero, Lydia & Mbonye, Anthony & Clarke, Sian E., 2022. "Life in the buffer zone: Social relations and surplus health workers in Uganda's medicines retail sector," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 300(C).
    3. Stasiulis, Elaine & Gibson, Barbara E. & Webster, Fiona & Boydell, Katherine M., 2020. "Resisting governance and the production of trust in early psychosis intervention," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    4. Lenka Benova & Ann-Beth Moller & Allisyn C Moran, 2019. "“What gets measured better gets done better”: The landscape of validation of global maternal and newborn health indicators through key informant interviews," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(11), pages 1-16, November.
    5. Josephine Borghi & Garrett W. Brown, 2022. "Taking Systems Thinking to the Global Level: Using the WHO Building Blocks to Describe and Appraise the Global Health System in Relation to COVID‐19," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 13(2), pages 193-207, May.
    6. Bloom, Gerald & Wolcott, Sara, 2013. "Building institutions for health and health systems in contexts of rapid change," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 216-222.
    7. Groenewegen, Peter P. & Hansen, Johan & de Jong, Judith D., 2019. "Trust in times of health reform," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(3), pages 281-287.
    8. Taufique Joarder & Asha George & Syed Masud Ahmed & Sabina Faiz Rashid & Malabika Sarker, 2017. "What constitutes responsiveness of physicians: A qualitative study in rural Bangladesh," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(12), pages 1-19, December.
    9. Closser, Svea & Mendenhall, Emily & Brown, Peter & Neill, Rachel & Justice, Judith, 2022. "The anthropology of health systems: A history and review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 300(C).
    10. Taghreed Adam & Saad Ahmad & Maryam Bigdeli & Abdul Ghaffar & John-Arne Røttingen, 2011. "Trends in Health Policy and Systems Research over the Past Decade: Still Too Little Capacity in Low-Income Countries," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(11), pages 1-10, November.
    11. Colvin, Christopher J., 2022. "Understanding global health policy engagements with qualitative research: Qualitative evidence syntheses and the OptimizeMNH guidelines," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 300(C).
    12. Claudia Nieto-Sanchez & Benjamin R Bates & Darwin Guerrero & Sylvia Jimenez & Esteban G Baus & Koen Peeters Grietens & Mario J Grijalva, 2019. "Home improvement and system-based health promotion for sustainable prevention of Chagas disease: A qualitative study," PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(6), pages 1-24, June.
    13. Taghreed El Hajj & Stefanie Gregorius & Justin Pulford & Imelda Bates, 2020. "Strengthening capacity for natural sciences research: A qualitative assessment to identify good practices, capacity gaps and investment priorities in African research institutions," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(1), pages 1-21, January.
    14. Edwine W Barasa & Anthony M Manyara & Sassy Molyneux & Benjamin Tsofa, 2017. "Recentralization within decentralization: County hospital autonomy under devolution in Kenya," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(8), pages 1-18, August.
    15. Mladovsky, Philipa, 2020. "Fragmentation by design: Universal health coverage policies as governmentality in Senegal," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    16. Shilpa Surendran & Chuan De Foo & Chen Hee Tam & Elaine Qiao Ying Ho & David Bruce Matchar & Josip Car & Gerald Choon Huat Koh, 2021. "The Missed Opportunity of Patient-Centered Medical Homes to Thrive in an Asian Context," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-11, February.
    17. Kerry Scott & Asha S George & Steven A Harvey & Shinjini Mondal & Gupteswar Patel & Rajani Ved & Surekha Garimella & Kabir Sheikh, 2017. "Beyond form and functioning: Understanding how contextual factors influence village health committees in northern India," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(8), pages 1-17, August.
    18. Obinna Onwujekwe & Enyi Etiaba & Chinyere Mbachu & Ifeyinwa Arize & Chikezie Nwankwor & Uchenna Ezenwaka & Chinyere Okeke & Nkoli Ezumah & Benjamin Uzochukwu, 2020. "Does improving the skills of researchers and decision-makers in health policy and systems research lead to enhanced evidence-based decision making in Nigeria?—A short term evaluation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(9), pages 1-18, September.
    19. Das, Priya & Newton-Lewis, Tom & Khalil, Karima & Rajadhyaksha, Madhavi & Nagpal, Phalasha, 2022. "How performance targets can ingrain a culture of ‘performing out’: An ethnography of two Indian primary healthcare facilities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 300(C).
    20. Coburn, Josie & Yaqub, Ohid & Chataway, Joanna, 2022. "Targeting research to address societal needs: What can we learn from 30 years of targeting neglected diseases?," SocArXiv 65ws7, Center for Open Science.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:302:y:2022:i:c:s0277953622002908. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.