There is no health without cultural safety: why cultural safety matters
Background: Nurses and midwives predominately work in western-centric health care settings, which may not align with Indigenous perspectives of health and wellbeing. Nurses and midwives will also view care through their own cultural lens. Culturally inappropriate health care can reduce access and en...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/87746 |
| _version_ | 1848764936123056128 |
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| author | McGough, Shirley Wynaden, Dianne Gower, Shelley Duggan, Ravani Wilson, R. |
| author_facet | McGough, Shirley Wynaden, Dianne Gower, Shelley Duggan, Ravani Wilson, R. |
| author_sort | McGough, Shirley |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Background: Nurses and midwives predominately work in western-centric health care settings, which may not align with Indigenous perspectives of health and wellbeing. Nurses and midwives will also view care through their own cultural lens. Culturally inappropriate health care can reduce access and engagement in services and contribute to reduced health outcomes for Indigenous peoples. Australian codes of conduct for nurses and midwives now advocate for care that is holistic, free of bias and racism, challenges beliefs based on assumption, and is culturally safe for Indigenous peoples. However, there are varying understandings of cultural care, what it looks like, and how to best achieve it.
Aim: To highlight the importance of cultural safety in health care and discuss the integration into nursing and midwifery practice.
Design: Discussion paper.
Discussion: Cultural safety has emerged in Australia as the framework to improve the access and quality of health care for Indigenous people and to improve disparities in health care outcomes. However, the application of these principles for nurses and midwives has not been widely explored. Misconceptions around the concept remain despite the inclusion in national standards and practice frameworks.
Conclusion: Evaluation and research that contributes to evidence-based knowledge specifically on the integration of cultural safety in nursing and midwifery practice is required. Impact Statement: This paper provides an overview of the importance of cultural safety in nursing and midwifery practice. Although cultural safety is now embedded in professional codes and standards, there is limited evidence of how this is translated to clinical care. Research and evaluation are needed to evaluate the application of cultural safety principles by nurses and midwives. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:27:16Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-87746 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:27:16Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-877462022-03-03T04:11:32Z There is no health without cultural safety: why cultural safety matters McGough, Shirley Wynaden, Dianne Gower, Shelley Duggan, Ravani Wilson, R. Australia Indigenous peoples culturally competent care quality of health care racisim Background: Nurses and midwives predominately work in western-centric health care settings, which may not align with Indigenous perspectives of health and wellbeing. Nurses and midwives will also view care through their own cultural lens. Culturally inappropriate health care can reduce access and engagement in services and contribute to reduced health outcomes for Indigenous peoples. Australian codes of conduct for nurses and midwives now advocate for care that is holistic, free of bias and racism, challenges beliefs based on assumption, and is culturally safe for Indigenous peoples. However, there are varying understandings of cultural care, what it looks like, and how to best achieve it. Aim: To highlight the importance of cultural safety in health care and discuss the integration into nursing and midwifery practice. Design: Discussion paper. Discussion: Cultural safety has emerged in Australia as the framework to improve the access and quality of health care for Indigenous people and to improve disparities in health care outcomes. However, the application of these principles for nurses and midwives has not been widely explored. Misconceptions around the concept remain despite the inclusion in national standards and practice frameworks. Conclusion: Evaluation and research that contributes to evidence-based knowledge specifically on the integration of cultural safety in nursing and midwifery practice is required. Impact Statement: This paper provides an overview of the importance of cultural safety in nursing and midwifery practice. Although cultural safety is now embedded in professional codes and standards, there is limited evidence of how this is translated to clinical care. Research and evaluation are needed to evaluate the application of cultural safety principles by nurses and midwives. 2022 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/87746 10.1080/10376178.2022.2027254 eng restricted |
| spellingShingle | Australia Indigenous peoples culturally competent care quality of health care racisim McGough, Shirley Wynaden, Dianne Gower, Shelley Duggan, Ravani Wilson, R. There is no health without cultural safety: why cultural safety matters |
| title | There is no health without cultural safety: why cultural safety matters |
| title_full | There is no health without cultural safety: why cultural safety matters |
| title_fullStr | There is no health without cultural safety: why cultural safety matters |
| title_full_unstemmed | There is no health without cultural safety: why cultural safety matters |
| title_short | There is no health without cultural safety: why cultural safety matters |
| title_sort | there is no health without cultural safety: why cultural safety matters |
| topic | Australia Indigenous peoples culturally competent care quality of health care racisim |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/87746 |