Cultural Safety in Aotearoa New Zealand

Introduction

The common catch-phrase ‘Culture! We don’t have a culture!’ is often the reply to the question: ‘What is your culture?’ when it is posed to New Zealanders today. Since the implementation of cultural safety in the schools of nursing andmidwifery, students have been introduced to concepts that were not as evident in most programmes prior to the early 1990s. Topics such as culture and the dynamics of power are now commonplace within these programmes. Similarly, with the movement towards ‘doing with’ as opposed to ‘doing for’ the client, students are required to possess an awareness of their values, beliefs, biases and prejudices. The first step towards cultural safety, therefore, is for a person to have sufficient awareness of their own culture.

So, for many students who ascribe to the dominant culture and values in Aoteroa New Zealand, they may well ask the question: ‘Why do I need to learn about my culture?’ This is particularly difi cult for students to reflect on if they believe that they are just ‘normal’ and culture is something Maˉ ori or immigrants possess. The short answer is that once there is clarity about people’s own values and beliefs (which are key components of culture) and how they affect their living, then they are in a better position to appreciate that other people do things differently. Nurses and midwives work with people from a range of cultures and circumstances. To be effective, therefore, they must become aware of their own culture and the impact this has on their practice. Nurses and midwives can unknowingly place other people’s cultural perspectives at risk. This is exhibited when people avoid going to a health service because they perceive the health professional to be disrespectful of their cultural practices and traditions.