SOSC 2010
SOSC 2010: Cultural Safety in Midwifery Practice
CREDITS 2
COURSE PURPOSE & OVERVIEW
In SOSC 1010, Cultural Competency in Midwifery Care: Understanding Difference, Power, & Privilege—you were introduced to the foundational concepts of cultural competency and humility in midwifery care, and engaged in critical learning of how difference, power, and privilege intersect to produce documented disparities in maternal-child health outcomes and practices in the United States. You began by exploring systems of privilege and oppression among intersecting cultural identities, then moved into the manifestations of systematic oppression in perinatal health for marginalized communities, and ended by engaging tools and exemplary models for enacting cultural humility and health equity during care and in our midwifery profession. Now, in SOSC 2010—Cultural Safety in Midwifery Practice—you will draw upon the foundation you built in SOSC 1010 as you dive further into exploring varying cultural identities as well as systematic oppression within midwifery, with the ultimate goal of enacting cultural safety as a Midwife of Excellence.
In Cultural Safety: What Does It Mean for our Work Practice, Robyn Williams describes cultural safety as: “more or less - an environment, which is safe for people; where there is no assault, challenge or denial of their identity, of who they are and what, they need. It is about shared respect, shared meaning, shared knowledge and experience, of learning together with dignity, and truly listening” (Williams, 1998).
In SOSC 2010: Cultural Safety in Midwifery Practice we will continue to explore the disparities in maternal and infant mortality for marginalized populations. We will blend together the lived experience of individuals with evidence-informed practices to discover how to best serve our clients. We will use the guiding principles of this course to inform our learning. We will continue to uncover our biases and learn how to respectfully engage without otherizing. We will explore systemic oppression in midwifery politics and policies. We will ask ourselves: what can we do to create a safe, just and affirming world for our clients?
Guiding Principles for this Course:
1. Cultural safety is client-centered.
2. Cultural safety is focused on assuring safety for the client through learning together with dignity and truly listening.
3. Cultural safety is being dedicated to never imposing your own beliefs onto the client.
4. The client is the expert of their own life.
5. The care provider should never make assumptions about the needs of the client based on their knowledge or perception of the client’s cultural identity.
a. Ask. Never assume.
6. Each client has an array of intersecting cultural experiences and identities that make them unique.
a. No two clients, regardless of their cultural similarities, are exactly alike.
b. Honor the client’s cultural identity when they share their experience, beliefs, or viewpoint.
c. Avoid reacting from a place of judgment.
7. The client should never be asked or invited to speak on behalf of their entire cultural group.
8. All questions should be focused on the needs of the client, not for the purpose of fulfilling the curiosity of the midwife or care team.
9. Providing cultural safety in midwifery care requires a dedication to self-awareness, self-exploration, personal responsibility when we err, quieting our assumptions and personal/professional beliefs, and really listening to the client.
SPECIFIC LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the completion of this course, the students will be able to demonstrate knowledge and skills in the following areas:
Have the foundational tools and skills necessary to enact culturally safe, respectful, client-centered care to all clients.
Critically evaluate systemic oppression and inequities within midwifery politics and policies.
Critically evaluate systemic oppression and inequities in perinatal care.
Analyze disparities in maternal and infant mortality rates for marginalized populations.
Summarize factors associated with marginalization and oppression that lead to disparities in healthcare.
Summarize the impact of intersecting cultural identities on the individual.
Recognize internal biases that may pose a risk to clients.
Recognize microaggressions and develop strategies for addressing them.
Demonstrate a commitment to self-evaluation.
Demonstrate a commitment to listening to the client.
Enact the guiding principles of the course, as outlined above.