A BRIEF OVERVIEW

CULTURAL SAFETY INITIATIVES IN HEALTH CARE: A BRIEF OVERVIEW

Many efforts are underway to embed cultural safety in health care delivery across Canada, Australia, Aotearoa, and the United States. In some cases, the focus has been on exploring how culturally safe practices can be embedded in specific health disciplines, such as arthritis, cancer, diabetes, oral health, palliative care, or substance use (Crowshoe et al., 2018; Forsyth et al., 2017; Goodman et al., 2017; Shahid et al., 2018; Taylor et al., 2018; Thurston et al., 2014). Although less frequent, there have also been efforts to implement cultural safety at organizational, regional, or national levels, taking into account practices across the health care system (Anderson & Hansson, 2016; Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council, n.d.; Greenwood, 2019; Muise, 2019). The most common approach appears to be the design and implementation of a specific type of cultural safety intervention, particularly education and training for health care professionals (Coombe et al., 2019; Hojjati et al., 2018; Kerrigan et al., 2020; Vogel, 2018).

Efforts are also frequently focused on the recruitment and retention of Indigenous health care workers and liaisons (Gwynne & Lincoln, 2017; Huria et al., 2014; Lai et al., 2018; McKenna et al., 2015). Other initiatives include building relationships with Indigenous Peoples and facilitating Indigenous involvement in the design and delivery of health services, as well as developing communications and resources that are culturally appropriate for Indigenous clients (Anderson & Hansson, 2016; Banna & Bersamin, 2018; Mitchell et al., 2019; Williams et al., 2018).

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