Critical self-reflection
Mary-Claire Balnaves; Shelley Hopkins; and Yasmin Antwertinger
Throughout this Pressbook, we will invite you to practice Cultural Safety through critical self-reflection exercises.
What is critical self-reflection?
Self-reflection is an integral feature of culturally safe practice.
Critical self-reflection encourages you to:
- Be curious about the thoughts, feelings, ideas, emotions that arise to content, situation or experiences;
- Use these key pieces of information to reinforce, challenge, expand, or lead to further inquiry about your world views and lived experiences;
- Consider and scrutinise your values, attitudes and beliefs and their contributions to your learning, teaching or practice;
- Analyse dominant ways of knowing, being and doing to allow for people to consider other perspectives that may be different to their own;
- Identify any biases, assumptions, stereotypes, or prejudices. This process allows the identification and challenging of status quo or ‘group think’ that can occur;
- Deconstruct and reconstruct to make meaning after a situation has occurred that can lead to change including enhanced equity and new ways of working.
Critical self-reflection is approached differently by everyone, and personal responses may change as you continue your Cultural Safety journey.
How to practice critical self-reflection
Self-reflection is approached differently in and across disciplines. There are different modes or ways that people self-reflect. When undertaking the critical self-reflection exercises, these can be done:
- Individually. Use the critical self-reflection exercises to examine and acknowledge your thoughts and reflection.
- Collectively. The critical reflection exercises can be done through group discussions (in person or virtually) or through Teaching in Circles (TiC).
Teaching in Circles is based on the ‘Australian Indigenous practice of Yarning’ (Barlo et al., 2020; Dean, 2010).
Yarning is an ‘Indigenous mode of sharing and delivering knowledges and experiences that reflects and respects our world views and ways of knowing, being and doing business and reciprocity.’ (Sherwood & Mahomed 2020, as cited in Doran & Wrigley, 2022). It aligns with the principles of equal relationships, cooperation, respectful engagement, and support. It aims to create a safe space, to build connections, and enable conversations, particularly difficult ones around Cultural Safety and power sharing.
Yarning encourages active listening and accountability. People who participate in yarning respond in ways that are appropriate to them. This may be through sharing, listening, or just being present in the discussion. Meaning is created through yarning, however, a person does not have to speak to create meaning. Moments of meaning may not present immediately. Accountability requires self-reflection and, where mistakes are made, acknowledgement, apology and consideration of what could be done differently.
Teaching in Circles practice includes:
- A circular group formation, all participants can see each other;
- People can choose to contribute in their own way including speaking up, responding or listening;
- Principles of engagement which should be agreed on and include;
- Respect (e.g. create spaces for anyone who would like to share a perspective, respect the perspectives that are shared);
- Listening (e.g. do not interrupt, be present);
- Non-judgement (e.g. acknowledge your own biases);
- Accountability (e.g. encourage reflection for perspectives that may be discriminatory);
- Reflection;
- No barriers to discussion (e.g. note taking, devices, computers).
Critical Reflection Exercise 1
Choose one of the following articles to read:
- The power of talk and power in talk: a systematic review of Indigenous narratives of culturally safe health care communication. https://doi.org/10.1071/PY17082
- ‘The world is so white’: improving Cultural Safety in health care systems for Australian Indigenous people with rheumatic heart disease. https://doi.org/10.1111/1753-6405.13219
Reflect on the reading using the following questions.
- What was it like to read this article?
- What did it say about Cultural Safety, and what did you already know?
- What has been your experience of Cultural Safety? This could include your own experience of Cultural Safety, or your experience understanding Cultural Safety.
- What value do you see in developing your own Cultural Safety understanding and practices?
- What barriers do you see in developing your own Cultural Safety understanding and practices?
References
Barlo, S., Boyd, W., Hughes, M., Wilson, S., & Pelizzon, A. (2020). Yarning as protected space: Relational accountability in research. Alternative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 17(1), 40–48. https://doi.org/10.1177/1177180120986151
Dean, C. (2010). A yarning place in narrative histories. History of Education Review, 39(2), 6–13. https://doi.org/10.1108/08198691201000005
Doran, F. & Wrigley, B. (2022) Cultural Safety: teachers’ engagement with an Indigenous pedagogical method in undergraduate nursing education, Contemporary Nurse, 58(1), 58-70, https://doi.org/10.1080/10376178.2022.2044873
Jennings W., Bond C. & Hill P.S. (2018). The power of talk and power in talk: a systematic review of Indigenous narratives of culturally safe healthcare communication. Australian Journal of Primary Health, 24(2), 109-115. https://doi.org/10.1071/PY17082.
Mitchell, A., Wade, V., Haynes, E., Katzenellenbogen, J., & Bessarab, D. (2022). ‘The world is so white’: improving Cultural Safety in healthcare systems for Australian Indigenous people with rheumatic heart disease. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 46(5), 588-594. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/1753-6405.13219
Stereotyping is making an assumption, often based on a person's appearance, that they belong to a particular cultural group and that this group is homogenous. Therefore, it is assumed (wrongly) that the members of the group can all be expected to hold the same values, beliefs and attitudes and to behave in the same way. For example, stereotypes about Australians are that all easy-going (lazy), dress in shorts, singlets or swim wear all the time and swill large amounts of beer constantly.
