Implementing cultural safety to enhance the care of mental health service users

Culture plays an important role at every level of healthcare and in every healthcare encounter. Cultural factors significantly affect the interactions between mental health nurses and service users, the experience of mental health service users and ultimately their health-related outcomes. The concept of cultural safety originates from the work of Maori nurse leaders in New Zealand. It builds on concepts such as transcultural nursing, intercultural competence, cultural congruence and cultural competence, enabling a deeper exploration of the underlying issues of inequality affecting people from minority groups. Implementing cultural safety in mental health nursing practice can enhance the quality of care by promoting culturally sensitive communication and prompting nurses to better accommodate the needs of service users.

This article discusses the concept and benefits of cultural safety in the context of mental health nursing and explains how mental health nurses can use cultural safety to enhance the experience and health-related outcomes of service users with diverse cultural backgrounds.