Applying cultural safety beyond Indigenous contexts: Insights from health research with Amish and Low German Mennonites

Abstract

People who identify as members of religious communities, such as the Amish and Low German Mennonites, face challenges obtaining quality health care and engagement in research due in part to stereotypes that are conveyed through media and popular discourses. There is also a growing concern that even when these groups are engaged in research, the guiding frameworks of the research fail to consider the sociocultural or historical relations of power, further skewing power imbalances inherent in the research relationship. This paper aims at discussing the uses of cultural safety in the context of health research and knowledge translation with groups of people that are associated with a specific religion. Research with the Amish and Low German Mennonites is provided as examples to illustrate the use of cultural safety in this context. From these examples, we discuss how the use of cultural safety, grounded in critical theoretical perspectives, offers new insight into health research with populations that are traditionally labeled as minority, vulnerable, or marginalized, especially when a dominant characteristic is a unique religious perspective.

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“…In other settings, where traditional health practices are not widespread, it might be necessary to provide cultural safety training based on other cultural characteristics. For example, there are cultural safety experiences reported in Canada with Amish and Low German Mennonites [ 61 ].…”

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“…Cultural safety applies to all relationships, focuses on understanding of self, the rights of others, and the legitimacy of difference, and aims to enhance service delivery through a culturally safe workforce. Cultural safety’s influence now extends beyond nursing in New Zealand, with acceptance across other research fields such as immigration, working with marginalised non-Indigenous groups and Australian Indigenous education (Baker, 2007; Bin-Sallik, 2003; Fernando & Bennett, 2019; Blanchet Garneau et al., 2018). The common ground for implementing cultural safety within other research fields focuses on equity and empowerment into marginalised communities.…”