Walking together in friendship: Learning about cultural safety in mainstream mental health services through Aboriginal Participatory Action Research

Objective: Culturally safe service provision is essential to improving social and emotional wellbeing among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and to eliminating health inequities. Cultural safety is about ensuring that all people have a safe and healing journey through services, reg...

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Published in:Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry 2024-06, Vol.58 (6), p.498-505
Main Authors: Milroy, Helen, Kashyap, Shraddha, Collova, Jemma, Mitchell, Michael, Ryder, Angela, Cox, Zacharia, Coleman, Mat, Taran, Michael, Cuesta Briand, Beatriz, Gee, Graham
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Community-Based Participatory Research
Cultural Competency
Culturally Competent Care - ethnology
Female
Focus Groups
Health Services Research
Health Services, Indigenous - organization & administration
Humans
Male
Mental Health Services
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander - ethnology
Qualitative Research
Western Australia
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Summary:Objective: Culturally safe service provision is essential to improving social and emotional wellbeing among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and to eliminating health inequities. Cultural safety is about ensuring that all people have a safe and healing journey through services, regardless of their cultural background. In this project, we aim to (1) understand how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples conceptualise cultural safety, and (2) co-design a qualitative interview for the next phase of this project, where we plan to learn about experiences of cultural safety within mental health services. Methods: We conducted six focus groups (in one metro and two regional areas, Western Australia). Following an Aboriginal Participatory Action Research methodology, we yarned with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health service users, carers, community members, mental health professionals and Cultural Healers about cultural safety. Results: Participants described a culturally safe service as one where Aboriginal cultural knowledges, life experiences, issues and protocols are understood and acknowledged, and reported that mainstream mental health services are not currently culturally safe. Participants emphasised the importance of building trust, rapport, reciprocity and following appropriate relational processes when designing a qualitative interview for the next phase. Conclusions: A lack of cultural safety in mental health services is likely to contribute to the disparity in outcomes between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous Australians. Embedding cultural safety into research design allows for authentic community engagement and facilitates knowledge sharing around ways to improve cultural safety in mental health services.
ISSN:0004-8674
1440-1614
DOI:10.1177/00048674241246444