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DISCRIMINATION

Definition

This topic refers to whether respondents consider they were discriminated against when accessing health care and in general because they are of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin, including how they felt about being discriminated against because of their origin.

Population

Information was collected for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons aged 18 years or over who were present at the interview.

Methodology

Respondents were asked if they avoid seeking health care because they have been treated unfairly by doctors, nurses or other staff at hospitals or doctor surgeries.

Respondents are then asked if in the last 12 months they considered they were treated badly in any situation because they are an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person. If they answered yes to this question they were asked how they felt and what actions they take when they are treated badly.

Data items

Data items and related output categories for this topic will be available in Excel spreadsheet format from the Downloads page of this product.

Interpretation

Points to be considered when interpreting data for this topic include the following:

• Information is 'as reported' by respondents. Perceptions of concepts such as 'treated badly' may differ between respondents and hence influence the consistency of the data recorded.
• Although some respondents may have reported they were discriminated against because they were Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, there may also be a number of reasons for why they considered they had been discriminated against which did not relate to their Indigenous status. As such, these questions only deal with discrimination due to Indigenous status, and not discrimination in general.