Providing culturally appropriate care: A literature review

Objectives As part of a study that explored how midwives incorporate cultural sensitivity, into their practice, the literature was reviewed to ascertain how the concept of culture has been, defined and what recommendations have been made as to how to provide culturally appropriate care, to individuals from Indigenous and/or ethnic minority backgrounds Design A systematic review of the Met attire was undertaken Data sources Electronic databases including Medline. Cinahl, Socio-file and Expanded Academic Index, were accessed Review methods Several key search terms were used for example. midwife, midwives, midwifery. nurse. nurses. nursing, culture at cultural. diversity, sensitivity, competency and empowerment The. results relating to midwifery were few: therefore 'nursing' was included which increased the amount, of material References that were deemed useful from bibliographies of relevant texts and journal, articles were included The inclusion criteria were articles that provided information about culture, and/or the culturally appropriate care of individuals from Indigenous and/or ethnically, culturally and. linguistically diverse backgrounds Materials reviewed for this paper satisfied the inclusion criteria Results There ale two main approaches to culture, the first focuses on the cognitive aspects of culture, the 'values, beliefs and traditions' of a particular group. identified by language or location such as, 'Chinese women' or 'Arabic speaking women' This approach views culture as static and unchanging, and fails to account for diversity within groups The second approach incorporates culture within a wider, structural framework, focusing on social position to explain health status rather than on individual behaviours and beliefs It includes perspectives on the impact of the colonial process on the ongoing relationships of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and how this affects health and health care Conclusion Most of the literature focuses on the cognitive aspects of culture and recommends learning about the culture of specific groups which is presumed to apply to everyone This generic approach can, leach to stereotyping and a failure to identify the needs of the individual receiving care The concept of. cultural safety derived from the second approach to culture and practice has potential but evidence to show how it is being incorporated into practice is lacking and health professionals appeal to be unclear about its meaning Crown Copyright (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved