Cultural Awareness

Without cultural awareness, healthcare professionals can unintentionally make assumptions or miss what a patient really needs.This can affect communication, trust, decision-making and overall care.

Cultural and religious beliefs may influence:

• Expectations around pregnancy and birth
• Preferences for pain relief, modesty, and family involvement
• Dietary choices and fasting practices
• Postnatal traditions and rituals

Building cultural competence helps midwives:

• Recognise the beliefs, values and practices that shape someone’s pregnancy and birth experience
• Avoid bias and reduce misunderstandings
• Create space for open conversations
• Adapt care to reflect what matters to each family

When staff take time to ask, listen and respond without judgement, patients are more likely to feel:

• Respected
• Understood
• Safe
• Supported throughout their maternity journey

The Raham Project

Supporting maternity care for Muslim families. Resources include guidance on modesty, fasting, prayer, and family involvement.

Tommy’s Pre-Pregnancy Planning Tool

A trusted tool for families planning pregnancy, offering health information that can be adapted to different cultural contexts.

Birthrights

Supports respectful and rights-based maternity care. Offers accessible information on basic birth rights with materials translated into 20 different languages.

Cultural Competence and Cultural Safety – e-Learning for Healthcare (ELFH)

A free online training programme made up of three 20-30 minute learning sessions. Aiming to support clinicians in the NHS to gain knowledge and understanding of the issues around culture and health.

Baby Lifeline Training:

Offers a wide range of training programmes for medical and health professionals, including:

• Building informed care to support migrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking women
• Train-the-trainer workshops on cultural curiosity and safety
• Working effectively with language barriers in healthcare

Culture, Spirituality and Religion: Migrant Health Guide (GOV.UK)

Guidance on how cultural, spiritual and religious beliefs influence health behaviours, access to services and decision-making. Includes practical advice on cross-cultural communication. Useful when supporting migrant or newly arrived women and families in maternity settings.

NHS Providers – Bold Action: Tackling Inequalities in Maternity Care

This resource explores race equality, cultural competency and workforce practices in maternity care. Support organisations to reflect on policy, training, and service design to reduce inequities.

Open-ended questions encourage families to express their values and preferences, helping midwives provide respectful, individualised care. Examples include:

• Are there any cultural, spiritual, or religious practices that are important to you during your care?
• What does a positive pregnancy and birth experience look like for you and your family?
• Do you have any specific preferences for diet, fasting, or other health practices we should know about?
• Who are the key people you’d like to be involved in your care and decision-making?
• Are there traditions or rituals after birth that you’d like us to respect or support?

To support parents in making informed and culturally appropriate decisions, we encourage the use of personalised care plans.

Download the care plan here

This tool helps parents outline their preferences and enables staff to provide care that aligns with their cultural, religious, and personal values.