How is cultural safety translated into midwifery practice? A review of the literature

Background Providing culturally safe maternity care for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Australians is a key element of midwifery practice and in recent years this has been recognised in the professional codes and standards. The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC) Midwifery Education Standards (ANMAC, 2021), the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) Code of Ethics (ICM, 2014) and the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) Code of Conduct for Midwives (NMBA 2018a) and the Midwife Standards for Practice (NMBA, 2018b) each identify that the provision of culturally safe care is integral to the midwifes role. Whilst research to date has explored midwifery academics awareness of cultural safety (Fleming et al., 2017), and how cultural safety is taught within midwifery education programs (Biles et al., 2021), it is important to understand how this knowledge, once registered, is understood, and translated into midwifery practice. Aim To identify and map the literature that has explored midwives understanding of cultural safety and how this translates into practice. Methods A scoping review of the literature was undertaken. Pre-determined electronic databases were searched, and the data extracted from the included articles was thematically analysed. Findings and Conclusions The findings have identified that there is limited research about how midwives translate cultural safety into the care of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander women and their families.