How Is Cultural Safety Developed In The 1980s

Cultural safety is a framework that was developed in the 1980s, to create an environment that was both welcoming and appropriate and free from implicit and explicit racism, within the healthcare system (Curtis et al., 2019). Cultural safety is a tool that can educate healthcare providers on the racial inequity and discrimination that can be experienced by ethnic minority groups, and can describe the low quality of healthcare and health disparities both at an individual and organizational level (Hassen et al., 2021). According to Garneau and Pepin (2015), the definition of cultural safety is dependent on various concepts of cultural competence among health care providers, as well as diverse perspectives. Garneau and Pepin (2015) discuss three

In Truong’s et al. (2014) systematic review, cultural safety refers to the measurement of one’s level of cultural knowledge and perspective, and one’s skill of self reflection. Truong’s et al. (2014) established that self-reflection is a significant element of cultural safety and relies on the relationship between the provider and client. Cultural safety aims to identify and equalise any power imbalances between the healthcare provider and client, to ensure respectful and safe healthcare delivery (Truong et al., 2014). To determine the efficacy of cultural safety, Truong’s et al. (2014) critically reviewed nineteen published reviews between the years of 2000 and 2012, utilising various study designs. The reviews targeted multiple healthcare environments and examined provider and client outcomes and health access outcomes (Truong et al., 2014). The systematic review accumulated these outcomes at various different levels, including individual, organisational and systemic, to gain an insight into what would improve cultural safety (Truong et al., 2014). The review utilised surveys to measure the outcomes at an individual level, institutional programs at an organizational level and policies at a systematic level (Truong et al., 2014). The

Despite cultural safety having a variety of terminology, internationally, all terms are identified as part of the same framework, and were developed as a new model to prevent racism and mistreatment of ethnic minority groups, within the healthcare system (Hassen et al., 2021). Despite suggested limitations, recent studies have shown that cultural safety is a significant element in addressing power imbalances and the prior history of any marginalised community’s healthcare outcomes (Hassen et al., 2021). In Hassen’s et al. (2021) review, it was believed that cultural safety works as a tool to slowly repair any misunderstandings or mistrust that occurred between cultures due to both implicit and explicit racism, and allows institutions and healthcare professionals to self-reflect on their policies and how they may benefit minority groups at an individual, organisational and systemic