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Background: Nurses and midwives predominately work in western-centric health care settings, which may not align with Indigenous perspectives of health and wellbeing. Nurses and midwives will also view care through their own cultural lens. Culturally inappropriate health care can reduce access and engagement in services and contribute to reduced health outcomes for Indigenous peoples. Australian codes of conduct for nurses and midwives now advocate for care that is holistic, free of bias and racism, challenges beliefs based on assumption, and is culturally safe for Indigenous peoples. However, there are varying understandings of cultural care, what it looks like, and how to best achieve it. Aim: To highlight the importance of cultural safety in health care and discuss the integration into nursing and midwifery practice. Design: Discussion paper. Discussion: Cultural safety has emerged in Australia as the framework to improve the access and quality of health care for Indigenous people and to improve disparities in health care outcomes. However, the application of these principles for nurses and midwives has not been widely explored. Misconceptions around the concept remain despite the inclusion in national standards and practice frameworks. Conclusion: Evaluation and research that contributes to evidence-based knowledge specifically on the integration of cultural safety in nursing and midwifery practice is required. Impact Statement: This paper provides an overview of the importance of cultural safety in nursing and midwifery practice. Although cultural safety is now embedded in professional codes and standards, there is limited evidence of how this is translated to clinical care. Research and evaluation are needed to evaluate the application of cultural safety principles by nurses and midwives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the author discusses the health issues facing Indigenous Australians. She notes that an important factor to consider is equity, stating that the failure to create equitable conditions for Indigenous people to be healthy and receive proper treatment is a tragedy. The author argues that a key problem in improving Indigenous people's health is the way in which the problems are framed. The Australian government's policies, particularly the "Closing the Gap" policy, is also discussed.

Over the past several decades, nurses have been increasingly theorizing about the relationships between culture, health, and nursing practice. This culture theorizing has changed over time and has recently been subject to much critical examination. The purpose of this paper is to identify the challenges impeding nurses' ability to build theory about the relationships between culture and health. Through a historical overview, I argue that continued support for the essentialist view of culture can maintain a limited view of complex race relations. I also argue that attempts to apply culture theory, without knowledge of important historical, political, and economic factors, has often resulted in oversimplified versions of what was originally intended. Furthermore, I argue that individual-level interventions alone will be insufficient to address health inequities related to culture. Despite new critical conceptualizations of culture and the uptake of cultural safety, nursing scholars must better address the broader organizational, population, and political interventions needed to address inequities in health. I conclude with suggestions for how nurses might proceed with culture theorizing given these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Royal College of Nursing, Australia has supported the development and growth of transcultural nursing in Australia for well over a decade. The College's leadership role has been evident on a number of fronts with events, publications and national networking opportunities for nurses who share a passion for furthering the principles and practice of transcultural nursing. This paper traces the journey of transcultural nursing in Australia from the perspective of the College, beginning with its role in forming the Transcultural Nursing Society in the 1990s. Achievements are highlighted, as well as continuing work over the intervening years, demonstrating the involvement and leadership of the College in Australia, in this important area of nursing practice. With increasing complexity in the ethnic profile of Australia's society, it is of ongoing relevance for the College to promote transcultural nursing as a discipline of study, research, practice and management in this country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is amazing what some women and men dare to do with their ideas in many places in the world. Creative thinking and actions are what the world needs most. Transcultural nursing has been an example of these attributes. While taking new actions may be troublesome to some people, yet new actions and new ideas can lead to a wealth of new knowledge and new ways to serve people. Transcultural nurses have taken such actions and are transforming nursing and health care in many places in the world. Leininger (2007: 1) Derived from Latin roots leadership refers to the act of guiding the course or direction; preceding or introducing something by going first. During the past six decades, transcultural nursing's foundress, United States-born nurse-anthropologist Dr Madeleine M Leininger and other transcultural nursing leaders from Australia and elsewhere in the world have provided leadership in establishing transcultural nursing as a formal area of academic study and practice around the world. Since its initial conception in the 1950s to its formal creation as a specialty and new discipline within the nursing profession in subsequent years, a substantial and important body of transcultural knowledge, theory, and research has been generated by nurse scholars not only from Australia but on every continent. ... continues ... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to discuss issues surrounding the development of a new Bachelor of Nursing course for the University of Notre Dame, Sydney, Australia. In particular, the focus of the discussion is on the factors that influenced the development of learning outcomes that would enable student nurses the opportunity to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to advance both personally and professionally a cultural awareness of self and others appropriate for the Australian context and delivery of culturally congruent and safe nursing care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite an emphasis on mammographic screening in Australia, Chinese Australian women have low participation rates. This qualitative study investigated how concepts of health and health promotion influence Chinese Australian women's decisions to participate in cancer screening, which is an important issue for nurses who work with multicultural populations. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 Chinese Australian women. Using thematic data analysis, the findings showed that health and illness are taken-for-granted experiences of everyday life. When they were asymptomatic, most informants saw no reason to suspect that they may have diseases. Consistent with these health beliefs, the women focused on preserving and promoting health and overall well-being in everyday life rather than attempting to detect hidden disease by screening. These ideas and practices influenced behavior in relation to cancer diagnosis and in particular toward mammography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Descriptions of the refugee experience, together with an analysis of access, use, and appropriateness of mental and physical health services as perceived by members of the Afghan immigrant or refugee community living in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, are reported in this article. Using focus groups and semistructured interviews in a variety of settings, the study included 13 key informants and 25 general informants, together with health care agencies providing services to the Afghans and organizations providing resources. Analysis of interviews with Afghan people revealed a number of themes. These include emotional responses to trauma, migration, and resettlement experiences; culture-specific health maintenance strategies; barriers impeding access to and appropriateness of Australian health care services; and informant-suggested strategies to enhance accessibility and the appropriateness of health care and community services. These findings are significant and have relevance for improving the quality of culture-specific health care for the Afghan community in NSW Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on the challenges of providing transcultural nursing services for indigenous people in Australia. Effects of the lack of information on indigenous issues in schools' nursing curricula; Racism, prejudice and discriminatory practices in the health care system in general.

The authors reflect on the theory of transcultural nursing in Australia. They stress that transcultural nurses strive to make a difference to the health and well being of people and transcultural nurse researchers have continued to be engaged in the production of knowledge. They suggest that transcultural nursing insights has a greater contribution in making people realize to contribute to the elimination of health inequalities.

The authors reflect on the studies on global transcultural nursing leadership and the progress in fostering cultural competence through transcultural nursing education in Australia. They cite the launch of Transcultural Nursing Society (TCNS) International's certification process for nurses worldwide. They suggest the need to continue the pioneering efforts to expand leadership in creative ways. They argue that the future of health care depends on the work of those in every cultural context.

Presents the abstract application form for the 26th Annual Transcultural Nursing Conference to be held from October 4 to 6, 2000 in Australia.

Announces the 26th Annual Transcultural Nursing Conference which will be held from October 4 to 6, 2000 in Brisbane, Australia. Objective; Themes.