Question

What is Cultural Safety? Answer within 250 WORDS

Answer 1

Cultural safety is the effective nursing practice of a person or family from another culture that is determined by that person or family.It was developed in New Zealand, and its origins are in nursing education. An unsafe cultural practice is defined as an action which demeans the cultural identity of a particular person or family. Cultural safety has four different principles. The first is to improve health status and well-being, the second improves the delivery of health services, the third focuses on the differences among the people who are being treated and accepting those differences, and the fourth principle focuses on understanding the power of health services and how health care impacts individuals and families.Cultural Safety has its origins in the field of nursing education.The concept originated at a nursing leadership hui in 1989 after concerns were raised by Māori nursing students about the safety of Māori students in monocultural nursing schools and of Maori intellectual property when taught by tauiwi.
Cultural safety is met through actions which recognise, respect, and nurture the unique cultural identity of a patient. Effective practice for a person from another culture is determined by that person or family. Culture includes, but is not restricted to, age or generation; gender; sexual orientation; occupation and socioeconomic status; ethnic origin or migrant experience; religious or spiritual beliefs; and/or ability. Unsafe cultural practice comprises any action which diminishes, demeans or disempowers the cultural identity and wellbeing of an individual.Cultural safety aims to improve the health status and wellbeing of New Zealanders and applies to all relationships through: 1) an emphasis on health gains and positive health and wellbeing outcomes; 2) acknowledging the beliefs and practices of those who differ from them. For example, this may be by: age or generation, gender, sexual orientation, occupation and socioeconomic status, ethnic origin or migrant experience, religious or spiritual belief, disability.

Cultural safety aims to enhance the delivery of health services through a culturally safe workforce by: 1) identifying the power relationship between the service provider and the people who use the service. The health care provider accepts and works alongside others after undergoing a careful process of institutional and personal analysis of power relationships; 2) empowering the users of the service. People should be able to express degrees of perceived risk or safety. For example, someone who feels unsafe may not be able to take full advantage of a service offered and may subsequently require more intrusive and serious intervention; 3) preparing health care providers to understand the diversity within their own cultural reality and the impact of that on any person who differs in any way from themselves; 4) applying social science concepts that underpin the practice of health care. Health care practice is more than carrying out tasks. It is about relating and responding effectively to people with diverse needs and strengths in a way that the people who use the service can define as safe.

Cultural safety is broad in its application: 1) recognising inequalities within health care, education, employment and societal interactions that represent the microcosm of inequalities in health, education, employment and society that have prevailed within our nation; 2) addressing the cause and effect relationship of history, political, social, and employment status, housing, education, gender and personal experience upon people who use psychological services; 3) accepting the legitimacy of difference and diversity in human behaviour and social structure; 4) accepting that the attitudes and beliefs, policies and practices of psychological service providers can act as barriers to service access; 5) concerning quality improvement in service delivery and consumer rights.

Cultural safety has a close focus on: 1) understanding the impact of the health care provided as a bearer of his/her own culture, history, attitudes and life experiences and the response other people make to these factors; 2) challenging health care providers to examine their practice carefully, recognising the power relationship in health care institutions is biased toward the provider of the service; 3) balancing the power relationships in the practices of health care so that every consumer receives an effective service; 4) preparing health care providers to resolve any tension between the culture of the health care institution, the culture on which health care theory and practice has traditionally been based, and the people using the services; 5) understanding that such power imbalances can be examined, negotiated and changed to provide equitable, effective, efficient and acceptable service delivery, which minimises risk to people who might otherwise be alienated from the service; 6) an understanding of self, the rights of others and legitimacy of difference should provide the psychologists with the skills to work with all people who are different from them.