Factors Influencing Nurses’ Attitudes towards Patients in Jordanian Addiction Rehabilitation Centres: a Qualitative Study

A Qualitative Study Into the Relative Stigmatization of Mental Illness by Mental Health Professionals

Mental health professionals stigmatize mental illness, which has significant ramifications for public health and policy. Within this domain, there is a lack of comprehensive research on relative stigma, emotions, and behaviors and an absence of literature that can guide research on these topics. The current study sought to address these limitations. Unstructured interviews were conducted with 22 mental health professionals, and data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach. The current study identified a collection of mental disorders (e.g., borderline personality disorder), stereotypes (e.g., dangerousness), emotion-related responses (e.g., fear), and behaviors (e.g., helping) as being key to the relative stigmatization of mental illness by mental health professionals. The results also suggested that professional context and familiarity with mental illness decrease the stigmatization of mental illness by mental health professionals. These variables and constructs were combined to form a grounded theory of mental health professionals stigmatizing mental illness. The current study has implications for the direction of future research on the stigmatization of mental illness by mental health professionals and interventions that strive to mitigate this type of stigmatization.

Evaluating gender awareness, gender-related health knowledge and patient pain legitimation among nursing students: A quasi-experimental study

The aim of the study was to measure the associations between and the evolution of gender awareness, gender-related health knowledge and patient pain legitimation among nursing students.

BACKGROUND

Evidence indicates that gender equity skills are still lacking among nurses. Indeed, several studies report gender-biased patient assessment and care, arguing that greater attention should be paid to the gender perspective at university, in order to train nurses who are sensitive to this issue. Recently, certain gender perspective measurement scales have been adapted to the nursing population, offering new opportunities for the educational field.

DESIGN

A quasi-experimental study was used for this study.

METHODS

This study was conducted in the second semester of the first year of the Nursing Degree run by the University of the Basque Country. A sample of 103 students enrolled in the Anthropology, Ethics and Legislation module completed the Nijmegen Gender Awareness in Medicine Scale, the Pain Legitimation Scale and the Gender Perspective Health Knowledge Scale before and after the second semester, during which part of the syllabus focused on developing gender equity skills. Data were collected between January - April 2022.

RESULTS

We found positive correlations between gender-related health knowledge and pain legitimation at post-test, and between said knowledge and gender sensitivity at both pre- and post-test (p < 0.05). The repeated measures indicated that traditional expositive teaching did not increase overall scores for gender awareness, gender-related health knowledge or pain legitimation.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest that gender-related health knowledge may be a key modifiable factor that leads to enhanced gender awareness in dealings with patients. However, traditional expositive lectures were not enough to produce a robust increase in gender awareness, pain legitimation or gender-related health knowledge levels. The effectiveness of active teaching methodologies should be tested, in order to help nursing students strengthen their resistance to clinical gender stereotypes and become active assets in the move from inequality to equity.

Nurses' Perception of Caring for Patients With Substance Use Disorder

ABSTRACT

The objective of this research was to explore the perceptions of nurses regarding patients with substance use disorder (SUD), healthcare provided, and desired resources to care for this population properly. This study used a cross-sectional, descriptive design. Data were collected via an anonymous 12-item survey and three open-ended questions. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and conventional content analysis. Nurses with less than 1 year of experience reported more significant challenges when caring for patients with SUD. These challenges included difficulties in managing pain, implementing alternative pain management techniques, and knowing who to contact when problems occur. The study revealed many needs of nurses to provide compassionate care for patients with SUD. Findings indicate a need for education for nurses, especially novice nurses, who care for patients with SUD.

Gender awareness is also nurses' business: Measuring sensitivity and role ideology towards patients

AIM

This study aims to validate the Nijmegen Gender Awareness in Medicine Scale, which assesses gender sensitivity and gender-role ideology towards patients in the Spanish language for use among physicians and nurses.

BACKGROUND

Women are more likely to suffer pain, delays and health consequences related to low therapeutic effort. Health professionals' gender awareness may minimize such bias; however, the only instrument to assess such awareness is limited to physicians and lacks a Spanish version.

METHODS

After using the back-translation method, a sample of 167 Spanish nurses and nursing students completed the instrument. In order to obtain additional validity evidence, 98 health professionals filled in gender sensitivity and gender-role ideology towards patients' subscales and the short versions of the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory.

RESULTS

Gender-role ideology towards patients correlated strongly with sexist attitudes, demonstrating convergent validity, and Cronbach's alpha coefficients showed an adequate internal consistency.

CONCLUSIONS

Nijmegen Gender Awareness in Medicine Scale perfectly applies to nurse population, and this adaptation also broadens its use for Spanish professionals.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

Nurse managers and educators can use this applicable tool to treat low gender awareness levels as a modifiable risk factor and promote a gender-sensitive caring culture.

Nurses' Practices With Persons Experiencing Opioid Use Disorder: A Narrative Literature Review

ABSTRACT

Millions of persons globally use opioids, and more than two million persons in the United States report having opioid use disorder (OUD). Increases in overdose deaths associated with opioids have led to a declaration of an opioid epidemic in the United States. Many healthcare professionals are involved in the treatment of persons experiencing OUD; several discipline-specific (e.g., medicine and public health) interventions are available. Nurses comprise large portions of the global and national healthcare workforces; therefore, investigating their unique, disciplinary contributions for addressing the opioid epidemic is warranted. This narrative literature review was undertaken to understand nurses' actions, practices, and work with persons with OUD. Using several databases and keywords, 21 research studies met the inclusion criteria. Most studies used qualitative designs; most quantitative studies were nonexperimental. The studies were conducted mostly in Europe and North America. Descriptions of nurses' practices with people with OUD varied in their levels of specificity and aligned well with the scopes of practice outlined by the American Nurses Association and the International Nurses Society on Addictions. The absence of theories (specifically nursing theories) used in the studies was notable. Theoretically informed studies that move beyond descriptions of nurses' practices are needed to advance discipline-specific knowledge and to showcase the unique contributions of nurses who make significant contributions to lessening adverse outcomes associated with OUD.

Clinical nurses' awareness and caring experiences for patients with cervical cancer: A qualitative study

To determine the degree to which nurses are aware of cervical cancer and to describe nurses' experiences of caring for patients with cervical cancer. To promote quality of nursing care of cervical cancer, we need to explore their perceptions and nursing experience in doing cervical-cancer care. This study was a qualitative descriptive design. Interviews were conducted with 14 registered nurses. The interviews were audiotaped, transcribed and analyzed. Content analysis was performed. Fourteen nurses who had been working at wards and cancer education centers were recruited in this study. Nine key themes emerged from three categories such as nurses' awareness of cervical cancer, awareness of cervical cancer patient and caring experience. Nurses expressed fear of cervical cancer and helplessness in the face of a life-threatening prognosis. Nurses stated that they might have prejudice about cervical cancer, since it is caused by a sexually transmitted disease. They also recalled that patients with cervical cancer were more sensitive and demanding. Our findings provide a comprehensive and in-depth perspective in understanding the experience of caring for cervical cancer patients. Clinical nurses showed complex emotional reactions to cervical cancer, and expressed prejudice against the sex life of cervical-cancer patients. More education is required to ensure that clinical nurses can provide a nurse-led intervention with patients by managing nurses' fear, prejudice, and the care burden.

Undergraduate nursing students' experiences and attitudes towards working with patients with opioid use disorder in the clinical setting: A qualitative content analysis

BACKGROUND

With the US facing an opioid epidemic, undergraduate nursing students are increasingly encountering patients with opioid use disorder in the clinical setting. Yet, nursing curriculums have not adapted to meet this need. Previous research indicates students are exposed to negative messages that might influence their views about patients with opioid use disorder.

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this study was to examine nursing students' experiences encountering patients with opioid use disorder in the clinical setting, their attitudes about their encounters, and their perceptions of their educational preparedness to care for this population.

METHOD

Purposive sampling was used to identify participants. Semi-structured interviews were conducted until saturation. Krippendorff's method for qualitative content analysis was used to cluster units within the data to identify emergent themes.

PARTICIPANTS

Eleven senior nursing students from a public university in New England participated.

RESULTS

Analysis revealed six themes, including: navigating ethical dilemmas, gaining comfort with time and experience, avoiding the "elephant in the room," learning from real-world scenarios, witnessing discriminatory care, and recognizing bias and stigma.

CONCLUSIONS

Students were most likely to experience bias and internal conflict in maternity clinical rotations. Education should include practical communication strategies to reduce avoidance behaviors among nursing students as well as techniques to manage difficult situations and reduce moral distress. Nurses must be mindful of their power to influence students and should model non-judgmental language and behavior. Students ultimately expressed a desire to provide informed and empathetic care.

'Half a woman, half a man; that is how they make me feel': a qualitative study of rural Jordanian women's experience of infertility

Infertility is a health problem encompassing physical, psychological and social consequences that may threaten women's quality of life. Few studies have been conducted in Jordan examining rural women's experiences of infertility. This study aimed to explore responses to infertility and its consequences in the Jordanian rural sociocultural context. Using a descriptive qualitative design, data were collected between April and September 2016 from a fertility clinic in a military hospital in Northern Jordan. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 purposively selected Jordanian women. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings revealing women's responses to infertility included: submission and docility, self-isolation, internalisation and persistence in getting pregnant by seeking modern and traditional methods of treatment. The impact of infertility complicated women's everyday living through their experiences of violence, kinship and patriarchal interference, stigma, negative perceptions of the infertile woman, and other's surveillance of their sexuality. Women living in rural areas of Jordan have negative experiences of infertility that are ingrained in sociocultural beliefs about fertility and reproduction. Healthcare professionals are encouraged to raise public awareness about infertility's adverse consequences and to help families by enhancing positive responses to infertility.