Moving Forward Together in Aboriginal Women's Health: - Theses ...

Moving Forward TogetherJanet Kellypartnership between a client and a nurse/midwife based on negotiation and thesharing of knowledge and power. It provides a framework for nurses to critiquetheir own practice, and consider how culturally safe their clients perceive thecare that they have received.A broader definition of Cultural Safety, adopted by the New Zealand NursingCouncil was;The effective nursing or midwifery practice of a person or family fromanother culture, and is determined by that person or family. Cultureincludes, but is not restricted to, age or generation, gender, sexualorientation, occupation and social status, ethnic origin or migrantexperience, religious or spiritual beliefs, and disability.The nurse or midwife delivering the nursing or midwifery service willhave undertaken a process of reflection on his or her own cultural identityand will recognise how the impact that his or her personal culture has onhis or her professional practice. Unsafe cultural practice comprises ofany action which diminishes, demeans or dis-empowers the culturalidentity and well-being of an individual. (Nursing Council of NewZealand - Te Kaunihera Tapuhi o Aotearoa 2002, p. 7)This definition maintains a critical focus on moving beyond cultural awarenessand cultural sensitivity, claiming that confining learning to rituals, customs andpractices of a group in a ‘checklist’ approach, does not alert a practitioner tothe complexity of human behaviours and social realities. Cultural safetyeducation remains focused on the knowledge and understanding of theindividual nurse or midwife rather than on attempts to learn accessible aspectsof different groups. This is based on the belief that a nurse or midwife who canunderstand their own culture and theory of power relations can be culturallysafe in any context (Nursing Council of New Zealand - Te Kaunihera Tapuhi oAotearoa 2002, p. 8). This is another example of enacting Ganma knowledgesharing.103