Established tools that assess cultural competency in the health workforce could contribute to providing culturally safe care to First Nations peoples. Using a rapid review approach, we searched several databases to evaluate the characteristics of self-assessment tools used to assess cultural competency and ascertain the context and outcomes of their use. Out of 529 documents, six articles fitted the study’s inclusion criteria. The main capabilities assessed by self-assessment tools ranged from knowledge, interest, and familiarity with First peoples’ history and culture to providing cultural support, application, and behaviour. Data were limited on outcomes of cultural competency and safety as determined by the health care recipient. Overall, the tools showed significant variability in characteristics and how cultural competency and culturally safe practice was assessed. However, data were lacking to confirm whether the enhanced cultural competency and culturally safe practice demonstrated using these self-assessment tools improved health outcomes for First Nations peoples.
BrumptonK.GuptaT. S.EvansR.WardR. (2022). Assessment of cultural safety in a post-Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) era. Australian Journal of General Practice, 51(1/2), 90–93.
13.
BurnetteL.KickettM. (2009a). Dislocation and dialysis in Aboriginal patients with renal failure. Aboriginal and Islander Health Worker Journal, 33(4), 10–13.
14.
BurnetteL.KickettM. (2009b). “You are just a puppet”: Australian Aboriginal people’s experience of disempowerment when undergoing treatment for end-stage renal disease. Renal Society of Australasia Journal, 5(3), 113–118.
15.
CalmaT.DickD. (2007, April29–30). Social determinants and the health of Indigenous peoples in Australia—A human rights-based approach [Paper presentation]. International Symposium on the Social Determinants of Indigenous Health, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
16.
CanalesM. (2000). Othering: Toward an understanding of difference. Advances in Nursing Science, 22(4), 16–31.
17.
ChapmanR.MartinC.SmithT. (2014). Evaluation of staff cultural awareness before and after attending cultural awareness training in an Australian emergency department. International Emergency Nursing, 22(4), 179–184.
CrossT.BazronB.DennisK.IsaacsM. (1989). Towards a culturally competency system of care: A monograph on effective services for minority children who are severely emotionally disturbed. Georgetown University Child Development Centre. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED330171.pdf
21.
CurtisE.JonesR.Tipene-LeachD.WalkerC.LoringB.PaineS. J.ReidP. (2019). Why cultural safety rather than cultural competency is required to achieve health equity: A literature review and recommended definition. International Journal for Equity in Health, 18(1), 1–17.
22.
EcheverriM.BrookoverC.KennedyK. (2010). Nine constructs of cultural competence for curriculum development. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 74(10), 181.
FlemingT.CreedyD. K.WestR. (2017). Impact of a continuing professional development intervention on midwifery academics’ awareness of cultural safety. Women and Birth, 30(3), 245–252.
25.
FreemanT.EdwardsT.BaumF.LawlessA.JolleyG.JavanparastS.FrancisT. (2014). Cultural respect strategies in Australian Aboriginal primary health care services: Beyond education and training of practitioners. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 38(4), 355–361.
26.
GozuA.BeachM. C.PriceE. G.GaryT. L.RobinsonK.PalacioA.SmarthC.JenckesM.FeuersteinC.BassE. B.PoweN. R. (2007). Self-administered instruments to measure cultural competence of health professionals: A systematic review. Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 19(2), 180–190.
27.
GrenierM. (2020). Cultural competency and the reproduction of White supremacy in occupational therapy education. Health Education Journal, 79(6), 633–644.
28.
JongenC.McCalmanJ.BainbridgeR. (2018). Health workforce cultural competency interventions: A systematic scoping review. BMC Health Services Research, 18(1), 1–15.
29.
KumagaiA.LypsonM. (2009). Beyond cultural competence: Critical consciousness, social justice, and multicultural education. Academic Medicine, 84(6), 782–787.
30.
LavertyM.McDermottD. R.CalmaT. (2017). Embedding cultural safety in Australia’s main health care standards. The Medical Journal of Australia, 207(1), 15–16.
31.
LiJ. L. (2017). Cultural barriers lead to inequitable healthcare access for aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders. Chinese Nursing Research, 4(4), 207–210.
32.
LiawS. T.HasanI.WadeV.CanaleseR.KelaherM.LauP.HarrisM. (2015). Improving cultural respect to improve Aboriginal health in general practice: A multi-methods and multiperspective pragmatic study. Australian Family Physician, 44(6), 387–392.
33.
LiawS. T.WadeV.FurlerJ. S.HasanI.LauP.KelaherM.XuanW.HarrisM. F. (2019). Cultural respect in general practice: A cluster randomised controlled trial. Medical Journal of Australia, 210(6), 263–268.
34.
MarshallI.MarshallR.WallaceB.BrasseyJ.ThomasJ. (2019). Rapid reviews may produce different results to systematic reviews: A meta-epidemiological study. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 109, 30–41.
National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Council. (2004). National strategic framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health, 2003–2013: Framework for action by governments.
39.
ReathJ.CareyM. (2008). Breast and cervical cancer in Indigenous women: Overcoming barriers to early detection. Australian Family Physician, 37(3), 178–182.
40.
RichmondC. A.CookC. (2016). Creating conditions for Canadian aboriginal health equity: The promise of healthy public policy. Public Health Reviews, 37(1), 1–16.
41.
RyderC.MackeanT.UllahS.BurtonH.HallsH.McDermottD.EdmondsonW. (2019). Development and validation of a questionnaire to measure attitude change in health professionals after completion of an Aboriginal health and cultural safety training Programme. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 48(1), 24–38.
42.
SarcheM.SpicerP. (2008). Poverty and health disparities for American Indian and Alaska Native children: Current knowledge and future prospects. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1136, 126–136.
43.
StenovV.WindG.SkinnerT.ReventlowS.HemplerN. F. (2017). The potential of a self-assessment tool to identify healthcare professionals’ strengths and areas in need of professional development to aid effective facilitation of group-based, person-centered diabetes education. BMC Medical Education, 17(1), 1–11.
44.
TeM.BlackstockF.FryerC.GardnerP.GearyL.KuysS.McPhersonK.NahonI.TangC.TaylorL.Van KesselG. (2019). Predictors of self-perceived cultural responsiveness in entry-level physiotherapy students in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. BMC Medical Education, 19(1), 1–10.
45.
TriccoA. C.AntonyJ.ZarinW.StriflerL.GhassemiM.IvoryJ.PerrierL.HuttonB.MoherD.StrausS. E. (2015). A scoping review of rapid review methods. BMC Medicine, 13(1), 1–15.
46.
WestR.MillsK.RowlandD.CreedyD. K. (2018). Validation of the first peoples cultural capability measurement tool with undergraduate health students: A descriptive cohort study. Nurse Education Today, 64, 166–171.
47.
WestR.WrigleyS.MillsK.TaylorK.RowlandD.CreedyD. K. (2017). Development of a First Peoples-led cultural capability measurement tool: A pilot study with midwifery students. Women and Birth, 30(3), 236–244.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
