A Cultural Safety Approach to Health Psychology

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxv

   PDF

2. Introduction and Terminology

   • Pauline B. Thompson, Kerry Taylor

   Pages 1-24

3. Culture-Focused Frameworks for Service Delivery

   • Pauline B. Thompson, Kerry Taylor

   Pages 25-43

4. Cultural Safety

   • Pauline B. Thompson, Kerry Taylor

   Pages 45-64

5. Models of Health and Well-Being

   • Pauline B. Thompson, Kerry Taylor

   Pages 65-88

6. History Taking

   • Pauline B. Thompson, Kerry Taylor

   Pages 89-112

7. Consuming Research

   • Pauline B. Thompson, Kerry Taylor

   Pages 113-135

8. Determinants of Health

   • Pauline B. Thompson, Kerry Taylor

   Pages 137-164

9. Stats and Maps

   • Pauline B. Thompson, Kerry Taylor

   Pages 165-189

10. Special Interest and Priority Areas

    • Pauline B. Thompson, Kerry Taylor

    Pages 191-216

11. Capacity and Resilience

    • Pauline B. Thompson, Kerry Taylor

    Pages 217-238

12. Intercultural Communication

    • Pauline B. Thompson, Kerry Taylor

    Pages 239-260

13. Comparable Contexts

    • Pauline B. Thompson, Kerry Taylor

    Pages 261-285

14. Reflection as a Tool of Culturally Safe Practice

    • Pauline B. Thompson, Kerry Taylor

    Pages 287-306

15. Back Matter

    Pages 307-310

    PDF

This book applies the concept of cultural safety to the field of health psychology in a US context as a means to achieve health equity. First developed in New Zealand by Māori midwives, cultural safety can be understood as both a philosophy and a way of working within a social model of health as an alternative approach to understanding health and illness. Health, social, and human service professionals are at the forefront of interactions with a range of people who often experience disparities in health and social outcomes. 


In thirteen chapters, the authors explore the social determinants of health; the practices and pitfalls of intercultural communication; and community capacity, resilience, and strengths as correctives to discourses of deficiency. The book concludes with a comparative look at cultural safety in different national contexts, and a discussion of the value of critical reflective practice. Complete with chapter objectives, scenarios, suggested readings and films, and questions for critical thinking, this book is an invaluable resource for students and practitioners alike in health psychology and related fields, and a vital contribution to the literature on cultural safety. 

• health psychology
• social model of health
• health care
• Cultural safety
• nursing practice
• cultural identity
• Sustainable Development Goal 3

“This book is an invaluable resource for psychology students that puts cultural safety at the forefront of physical and mental health and facilitates thinking beyond the biomedical model. The authors incorporate a broad range of effective teaching methods in their chapters. Even more importantly, the book does not shy away from uncomfortable discussions, challenging us all to think beyond the colonial lens through which the health and psychology fields have historically operated.”

–  Dr. Mary Cwik, Center for American Indian Health, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, USA

"This is a landmark publication. The lack of cultural safety is one of our biggest challenges in the US health care system. We need to centralize the experience of diverse voices and communities, especially the hidden/marginalized, if we are to achieve health equity. Cultural safety is the most comprehensive approach to cultural discourse in health care. Training a workforce that has the ability work safely with cultural difference and to address the persistent inequities in the history and system of health and health care should be our #1 priority. I dream that someday we can require cultural safety throughout our health care system. This book provides the necessary introduction to cultural safety for health care in the United States."

— Prof. Nathaniel Mohatt, School of Medicine, University of Colorado, USA 

• Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, Media, USA

  Pauline B. Thompson

• College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia

  Kerry Taylor

Pauline B. Thompson is Professor of Psychology at the Pennsylvania State University Brandywine Campus, USA. A veteran of the U.S. Navy, she has held academic appointments at Flinders University and the University of South Australia in Australia and Waikato University in New Zealand.

Kerry Taylor is Associate Professor at Flinders University in South Australia. She has worked and taught in Indigenous health and education, including cultural awareness/safety teaching, for over 30 years. 

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