Culture, Diversity and Health in Australia: Towards Culturally Safe Health Care

Australia is a multicultural and diverse society, and tertiary-educated students must be culturally safe in their health care practices. This text explores key themes and concepts, including social determinants of health and cultural models of health and health care, and examines culturally safe health care practice with diverse populations. It is a sensitive, rich, and comprehensive guide to effective health practice in Australia today and is a key reference text for students, professionals, and policy administrators.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 300 pages
Publication date: 31 May 2021
Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Australia is increasingly recognized as a multicultural and diverse society, with all accrediting bodies for allied health, nursing, midwifery, and medical professions requiring tertiary educated students to be culturally safe with regards to cultural and social diversity. This text, drawing on experts from a range of disciplines, including public health, nursing, and sociology, shows how the theory and practice of cultural safety can inform effective health care practices with all kinds of diverse populations.

Part 1 explores key themes and concepts, including social determinants of health and cultural models of health and health care. There is a particular focus on how different models of health, including the biomedical and Indigenous perspectives, intersect in Australia today. Part 2 looks at culturally safe health care practice, focusing on principles and practice as well as policy and advocacy. The authors consider the practices that can be most effective, including meaningful communication skills and cultural responsiveness.

Part 3 examines the practice issues in working with diverse populations, including Indigenous Australians, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Australians, Australians with disabilities, Australians of diverse sexual orientation and gender identity, and ageing Australians. Part 4 combines all learnings from Parts 1–3 into practical learning activities, assessments, and feedback for learners engaging with this textbook.

Culture, Diversity, and Health in Australia is a sensitive, richly nuanced, and comprehensive guide to effective health practice in Australia today and is a key reference text for either undergraduate or postgraduate students studying health care. It will also be of interest to professional health care practitioners and policy makers.

Weight: 584g
Dimension: 174 x 244 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781760527389