Understanding and responding to racism and the provision of culturally safe care by interdisciplinary health professionals in the aged care sector in regional, rural and remote areas: a scoping review

• Published in: Rural and Remote Health
• Main Authors: Deborah Magee, Marguerite Bramble, Holly Randell-Moon, Jola Stewart-Bugg, Julian Grant
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: James Cook University 2024
• Subjects: aged care; allied health; community aged care; cultural safety; interdisciplinary team; nursing; Special situations and conditions; RC952-1245; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; First Nations
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.22605/RRH8045; https://doaj.org/article/ef0ab5bfcb934578ad27d816db46f359

Introduction: This scoping review was undertaken to obtain conceptual clarification about how racism and cultural safety are understood by interdisciplinary health professionals globally in the aged care sector in regional, rural and remote areas. There is evidence in Australia and internationally that racism is a factor impacting significantly on the health of First Peoples and other racialised minorities. Recent policy changes in Australia have required health professionals to integrate cultural safety into their practice to mitigate racism and improve the health of older First Nations Australians and older people from diverse ethnic and cultural groups. Methods: This review consisted of literature published in English from 1990, including published primary studies; systematic, integrative and narrative reviews; meta-analyses; theses; policy documents; guidelines; position statements; and government literature. Ovid (MEDLINE), CINAHL Plus with Full Text, Scopus, Proquest Nursing and Allied Health Database, and Informit were used in the full search. The most recent search of all databases was undertaken on 9 May 2022. Ten papers were included in the review, following the exclusion of 376 papers. A title and abstract search of the reference lists of papers included in the review identified no additional papers. Results: Ten papers were included in the review from Australia, Canada, the US, Norway and England. The literature reviewed suggests that health professionals in the aged care sector in regional, rural and remote areas in Australia, Canada, the US, Norway and England use alternative terms to 'racism' and 'racist', such as 'institutional marginalisation'. Discussion: The absence of explicit reference to racism aligns with critical race research that argues implicit bias and institutional racism are often separated from an individualised understanding of racism. That is, practitioners may understand racism as something that is perpetrated by individuals in an otherwise 'neutral' health setting. There is ...