Rethinking cultural safety while waiting to do fieldwork: methodological implications for nursing research

Area of Science:

• Sociology of Health & Illness
• Medical Anthropology
• Public Health Policy

Background:

• Traditional healthcare models often treat culture as static and binary, overlooking power dynamics.
• This approach perpetuates exclusion based on race, ethnicity, class, and gender.
• There's a need for interpretive frameworks that acknowledge culture's complexity and negotiation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically examine the concept of culture in healthcare settings.
• To explore theoretical frameworks, particularly cultural safety, for understanding patient experiences.
• To prepare for fieldwork investigating hospitalization and help-seeking among diverse ethnocultural populations.

Main Methods:

• Theoretical exploration of culture and power relations in healthcare.
• Focus on the concept of cultural safety as an interpretive lens.
• Methodological considerations for studying diverse ethnocultural patient experiences.

Main Results:

• Critique of reified, binary conceptualizations of culture in health scholarship.
• Identification of cultural safety as a framework to address power imbalances.
• Development of theoretical and methodological approaches for inclusive research.

Conclusions:

• Rethinking culture as dynamic and embedded in power relations is crucial for health equity.
• Cultural safety offers a valuable framework for understanding and improving diverse patient care.
• Further research is needed to explore hospitalization and help-seeking experiences through this lens.