How Health Services Can Provide Culturally Safe Care

Kildea (2006) says that maternity care based on principles of Western models of health care have not been able to improve maternal or perinatal outcomes and Molly Wardaguga, an Aboriginal health worker and respected elder, states that inappropriate maternity care is responsible for the social dysfunction and loss of culture often seen in Indigenous communities (Kildea, 2006). Until this day Indigenous women have not had their voices heard or their knowledge recognised (Kildea, 2006). In order to improve maternal and perinatal health outcomes for Indigenous Australians holistic components from the Indigenous definition of health must be incorporated into maternity care and connection to country must be respected (Kildea, 2006). Maternity†¦show more content†¦Durey and Thompson (2012) explain that the act of balancing quality care and organisation efficiency means that minimal resources are allocated to providing and improving appropriate Indigenous health care. Unfortunate ly, this is a factor in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women avoiding culturally unsafe care and aggravates the vicious cycle that leads to poor maternal and perinatal outcomes (Kruske, Kildea Barclay, 2006). One of the recommendations made by the ‘Close the Gap’ campaign involves increasing the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health care workers (Kelly et al., 2014). It is thought that doing this will encourage more Indigenous Australians to attend health care services and also promote cultural safety therefore improving health outcomes for the Indigenous population (Kelly et al., 2014; Kildea, Kruske, Barclay Tracy, 2010). Increasing the number of trained Indigenous health care professionals will require the support of institutions such as universities, health services and organisations responsible for the distribution of scholarship funds (Kelly et al., 2014; Sherwood, 2013; Kildea, Kruske, Barclay Tracy, 2010). Specifically, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women must be encouraged and supported by universities to gain midwifery degrees