International clinical placements provide undergraduate students with a unique and complex clinical learning environment, to explore cultural awareness, experience different health care settings and ...achieve clinical competencies. Higher education institutions need to consider how to structure these placements to ensure appropriate and achievable aims and learning outcomes.
In this study we described the structure, aims and learning outcomes associated with international clinical placement opportunities currently undertaken by Australian undergraduate nursing students in the Asia region.
Forty eight percent (n = 18) of the institutions invited responded. Eight institutions met the inclusion criteria, one of which offered three placements in the region, resulting in 10 international placements for which data were provided.
An online survey tool was used to collect data during August and September 2015 on international clinical placements conducted by the participating universities. Descriptive data on type and numbers of placements is presented, along with results from the content analysis conducted to explore data from open ended questions on learning aims and outcomes.
One hundred students undertook 10 International Clinical Placements offered in the Asian region by eight universities. Variations across placements were found in the length of placement, the number of students participating, facilitator to student ratios and assessment techniques used. Five categories related to the aims of the programs were identified: ‘becoming culturally aware through immersion’, ‘working with the community to promote health’, ‘understanding the role of nursing within the health care setting’, ‘translating theory into professional clinical practice’, and ‘developing relationships in international learning environments’. Four categories related to learning outcomes were identified: ‘understanding healthcare and determinants of health’, ‘managing challenges’, ‘understanding the role of culture within healthcare’ and ‘demonstrating professional knowledge, skills and behaviour’.
International clinical placements in the Asia region appear to vary greatly from one education institution to the next with no clear consensus from either this study's findings or the literature on which structure, support and assessments lead to greater student learning.
A description of intervention strategies used in recent implementation research in nursing. An analysis and discussion of issues involved in the evaluation of complex interventions for implementing ...evidence-based practice. Copyright Elsevier Ltd.
Objectives
Despite the high prevalence of depression among older Korean Americans (KAs), there has been very little research on depression literacy among older KAs. This study identified specific ...areas of improvement in depression literacy to address mental health promotion among KAs. Twenty-two items on the depression literacy scale were grouped under five key themes: incidence and prognosis, differential symptoms, symptom recognition, non-pharmacological effectiveness, and pharmacological knowledge. This study aimed to assess the level of understanding depression literacy based on five domains and identify factors associated with depression literacy and its domains among older KAs.
Methods
A cross-sectional study with 178 KAs aged 60 years and older was conducted in the Washington DC Metro area. Interviewer and self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to identify factors associated with depression literacy and its domains. Statistical significance was set at
p
< .05 for analyses.
Results
Knowledge pertaining to all 5 depression literacy domains was low, particularly on pharmacological treatment and differential symptoms were noticeably low. The majority of participants had misconceptions about antidepressants. 86% believed that antidepressants can have a rapid effect on symptoms, 82.6% believed people with depression should stop taking antidepressants as soon as they feel better, and 66.3% believed antidepressants were addictive.
Conclusion
Misperception about depression and antidepressants may be associated with poor mental health outcomes among older KAs. Culturally-tailored education for older KAs with limited English proficiency could be beneficial in promoting depression literacy and reducing stigma or misconceptions regarding depression and treatments.
When a theoretical framework (and its components) is not clearly linked to research methods, researchers risk designing flawed studies, wherein the stated research question is inconsistent with the ...research design. Explicitly identifying one's theoretical orientation can provide an orderly schematic for linking observations from separate investigations (i.e. qualitative, quantitative) thereby facilitating understandings and guiding research designs particularly in fields of social and health sciences where complex phenomena are an aspect of the subject of inquiry. Although this has been established, how researchers might position their research theoretically to guide mixed methods research is less clear. In this paper, we propose the Before Design Theoretical Placement as a general guide for specifying and locating studies in a broader theoretical grounding, and discuss how it may inform overall study considerations. We then use this approach to illustrate how theories and methods can work together to facilitate professional knowledge development from a relational perspective.
The care home workforce (over half a million people in the UK) has a pivotal role in the quality of care provided to the residents. Much care in this setting is inadequate, lacks a person-centred ...focus and neglects the dignity of residents. A combination of factors leads to burnout in nurses working in nursing homes, contributing to poor quality care. Recent reports have indicated that cultures of care need to be addressed through training, improved workforce support and supervision and that improving the quality of care for people with dementia can be achieved by the development of leadership in nursing and clarifying professional values. Addressing burnout through an educational intervention should improve quality of care and nurses' experiences.
The study aimed to explore the training needs of nurses working with people with dementia in nursing homes with a view to developing an educational intervention to reduce nurses' burnout and improve person-centred care.
Four focus groups were conducted with 11 qualified nurses working in nursing homes; data was analysed using thematic analysis.
Four themes emerged through the analysis of the transcripts. Participants reported that their work responsibilities revolved mainly around directing others, day to day care, paper work and supporting family carers. Nurses identified the importance of person-centred ways of being, communication and clinical skills when working in nursing home setting. They expressed their frustrations associated with managing staff levels, responding to behaviour that challenges and lack of time.
The barriers to learning, experience of previous training and gaps in knowledge identified could inform the design of future training and support programmes.
•Focus groups were conducted with nurses working in nursing homes with people with dementia•Effective approaches for future training were explored•For training to be effective it should incorporate interactive practical sessions with relevant content
Autism is a highly stigmatized developmental disability in many societies, and the media are major contributors to such stigma. Presented here is the first systematic analysis of Chinese newspapers' ...coverage of autism for stigma-causing content. More specifically, this analysis examines the age of autistic people reported, the image of autistic people, and the use of stigma cues (in terms of peril, mark, and shame) and challenge cues (in terms of personification, hope, and fight) in five leading newspapers in China between 2003 and 2012. It finds that while the reportage of autism increases over time, which might contribute to the public's heightened awareness of the condition, such reportage is often biased. The most common stereotypes about autism in Chinese newspapers are autistic people as children, as patients, or as savants. The most often-used challenge cues are personification and hope, but their uses significantly decrease in percentage from 2003 to 2012. The most often used stigma cues are peril and mark. The use of the shame cue is relatively less frequent, but it increases significantly over the 10-year period. Theoretically, this article provides an application of stigma communication theory in a non-Western context. Practically, it not only contributes to the current knowledge about media representation of autism in China, but also suggests that it is important for media agencies and health care professionals to promote media guidelines and train health journalists for reporting disability issues in a nonstigmatizing way.
The purpose of this paper is to share our experiences—as academics and professionals—in coproducing knowledge to improve urban development outcomes in the global South. The focus of the paper is on ...urban research and practice, a field in which academic work influences policy and programming, and professional knowledge (validated and certified by academic institutions) forms the basis for urban planning and management. Collaborative research coproduced with social movement activities highlights that four issues need to be addressed to establish more equitable relations. First, alternative theories of change about how research leads to social transformation must be recognised, even if they cannot be reconciled. Second, the contribution of social movement leaders to university teaching needs to be institutionalised. Third, the relative status of academics vis-à-vis non-academics must be interrogated and better understood. Fourth, the accountabilities of the researchers to the marginalised need to be established. We argue that academics are insufficiently self-critical about the power dynamics involved in knowledge production with social movements. And that long-term relations enable understandings to be built and some of these tensions to be alleviated. Our conclusion highlights the unequal power relations that under-pin these challenges and suggests some steps to address these inequalities and their negative consequences.
Nurses' awareness and acceptance of their professional responsibilities across the full breadth of safety and quality‐related practices and behaviors are critical for high quality healthcare ...delivery. The purpose of this study was to develop and psychometrically test a new instrument to measure nurses' perceptions of their responsibilities related to healthcare quality. Participants were registered nurses, enrolled in a postgraduate program at an Australian university, who completed the Likert scale instrument with items developed from nurses' professional practice standards. Steps of pilot testing, item reduction, and confirmatory factor analysis resulted in a five‐subscale, 55‐item instrument with acceptable goodness‐of‐fit indices and good internal consistency reliability. Test–retest reliability demonstrated acceptable temporal stability. The Nurses Responsibilities in Healthcare Quality Questionnaire demonstrated acceptable validity and reliability. The instrument may assist education providers and health service managers to identify gaps between nurses' beliefs and professional role expectations, and evaluate the impact of educational and clinical initiatives designed to develop nurses' knowledge, skills, and attitudes related to healthcare quality.
Previous studies have shown that nursing students' perceptions of nursing change over time. Little research has been undertaken in the Netherlands of students entering nursing programmes and of how ...they progress.
The aims of this study were to explore whether nursing students' orientation and attitudes towards nursing changed over time, when these changes occurred, and what factors influenced the changes. We also aimed to identify the factors which prompted them to consider leaving their programmes, and what factors affected their motivation to stay.
The study used a longitudinal quantitative design.
Questionnaires were administered to all students enrolled in a Bachelor's of Nursing programme at four nursing universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands (n=1414). The data for this study were collected during the first two years of the programme, from September 2011 to June 2013. A total of 123 respondents completed the survey each year and this group was used to examine changes over time.
At four time intervals respondents completed a survey consisting of 1) the Nursing Orientation Tool, 2) the Nursing Attitude Questionnaire and 3) background characteristics. Non-parametric tests were used to explore changes in factor scores over time.
The results showed an improvement in the students' orientation and attitudes towards knowledge, skills and the professional roles of nurses, while empathic behaviour decreased over time. Although the changes showed non-linear patterns over time, the results showed clear effects between the different time points. The reasons for attrition (24%) proved to be related both to problems with the educational programme and to personal problems. An important motivator for students to stay in the course was their passionate desire to become nurses, suggesting that the positive aspects of a nursing career dominated the problems they encountered.
Tutors and mentors should pay more attention to the individual perceptions and problems of first and second-year students, both in the classroom and during clinical placements. Knowledge of the students' perceptions from the very beginning could be vital to study success.
•Nursing students' orientation and attitudes towards nursing change over time.•Idealistic views change to a more professional view with the focus on knowledge.•Students' changing perceptions may be predictive of withdrawal from the programme.•The first 2years of education are decisive for students' completion of their studies.
Rationale
Healthcare providers’ beliefs, attitudes, experiences and knowledge, which guide the care they deliver, are the key factors influencing the quality of palliative care. Education and ...coaching innovation are needed to translate research outcomes and adopt evidence‐based nursing care into practice.
Objectives
To evaluate the impact of an advanced educational and coaching programme in a family systems’ nursing approach for palliative care nurses in a home‐care setting.
Methods
A quasi‐experimental study using qualitative data from open‐ended questions to augment the quantitative outcome study that included a single‐group, pre‐ and post‐test design. A total population sample of nurses was recruited from a specialised palliative home care unit at a university hospital. The study utilised two self‐reported questionnaires.
Results
There was a statistically significant increase in the nurses’ critical appraisal of clinical nursing practice related to family nursing after participation in the educational programme than before. No statistical difference was found in items related to nurses’ experience of the interaction and reciprocity in the nurse–family relationship after participation in the programme than compared to before or in nurses’ cancer‐related beliefs. However, there was an overall significant positive change found in attitudes towards families in the total score of the Family Practice Scale. Nurses were also more positive about the further development of their knowledge and skills in advanced family nursing evident in the qualitative data.
Conclusion
An advanced educational intervention programme was successful in improving the nurses’ knowledge, skills, satisfaction and confidence in relation to applied family nursing approach within the context of caring for families affected by advanced/final stage cancer. However, further refinement of the implementation process is needed to enhance family care improvement and the nurses’ professional development in advanced family nursing in specialised palliative care.
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