From Feeling Broken to Looking Beyond Broken: Palestinian Mothers' Experiences of Having a Child With Spina Bifida

The family caregiving; A Rogerian concept analysis of Muslim perspective & Islamic sources

Despite the numerous concepts of caregiving discussed in the literature, there is still no agreed definition and concept of family caregiving from the perspective of Islam. This study aims to comprehensively define family caregiving from Islamic religious and Muslim cultural perspectives. Rodger's evolutionary model was used to generate content by analyzing and redefining concepts. A thorough examination of the relevant literature using Scopus, PubMed, Medline, and CINAHL databases also trusted sources offered a total of 52 articles and 8 books to be reviewed. Our study reveals that family caregiving is viewed as God's gift as important as an essential religious and cultural obligation in Islam, where humans are expected to deliver care for their families although they are unprepared. This can be motivated by aspirations for respect, love, responsibility, and a desire to recompense parents, as well as the belief that by doing so they will be rewarded in the hereafter. The provision of family caregiving leads to positive consequences such as living with hope, gaining rewards and achievement, but at the same time, it also causes devastated life. This research contributes to a new discourse on family caregiving based on Islamic literature which helps in the comprehension of the practices of Muslim communities worldwide.

Attitudes promoting coping with death anxiety among parents of children with disabilities

We investigated death anxiety among parents of children with disabilities and its associations with coping attitudes and psycho-demographic factors. Surveys were administered to 382 parents of children who possess a severe disability and data were analyzed via descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings revealed that parents experienced high levels of death anxiety; the level of death anxiety changed according to some psycho-demographic factors, such as external support, type of disability, and death-related beliefs; and death anxiety was significantly explained by demographic variables, death-related thoughts, and experiences, and adaptive and maladaptive coping attitudes.

Seeking tirelessly for better health and life conditions for the child with myelomeningocele

OBJECTIVE

to understand the experience of families in the care of children with myelomeningocele.

METHOD

a qualitative research study, which adopted Symbolic Interactionism and Grounded Theory as its theoretical and methodological framework, and the semi-structured interview as a data collection instrument. Twenty-eight participants from thirteen families living in a municipality in the inland of São Paulo took part in the study.

RESULTS

the family tirelessly seeks better health and life conditions for the child with myelomeningocele; aiming at the child's autonomy, it is mobilized to the necessary treatments, to learn the care, to adapt the routine, as well as to supply for all the child's needs so that it reaches potential development, looking for a less dependent future with inclusion and social ascension.

CONCLUSION

family nursing shows potential support in the face of myelomeningocele, due to its ability to apprehend the family system, evaluate it and enable intervention proposals in the care process. In this study, rehabilitation nursing was also emphasized, since it goes together with the child and the family who experience myelomeningocele.

Occupation, settlement, and the social determinants of health for West Bank Palestinians

A contentious issue in the Israel-Palestine conflict is the ongoing construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank along with its related policies, both of which have had impacts on the lives of resident Palestinians. These impacts have been documented by various UN and non-governmental agencies yet have been insufficiently studied in the academic literature. This article aims to review the literature on the social determinants of health for West Bank Palestinians and understand how settlement construction and policy influence these determinants. To accomplish these aims, the article first includes an analysis of how military infrastructure, resource allocation, land appropriation and house demolition related to the settlements influence the lives of West Bank Palestinians. The article then proceeds to review available literature on the social determinants of health in the West Bank, most notably: access to healthcare, exposure to political violence, economic conditions and water contamination, with the goal of understanding how settlement-related policies are related to these social determinants of health.

Palestinian children's narratives about living with spina bifida: Stigma, vulnerability, and social exclusion

BACKGROUND

Living with spina bifida in Palestine is a critical issue that might influence various aspects of the individual's life. It is a challenge for children, their families, and health care providers because it requires lifelong treatment and follow-up of care provision. However, little focus has been placed on these children's perceptions about their daily life experiences with spina bifida.

PURPOSE

To illuminate the lived experience of children with spina bifida in the West Bank, Palestine.

METHODS

A qualitative study was conducted using the phenomenological hermeneutical method to interpret the meaning of being a child with spina bifida in Palestine. Ten children with spina bifida, aged 7-18 years, were interviewed. The two local authors independently analyzed the Arabic transcriptions, whereas the two Swedish authors analyzed the transcriptions after translation to English. Finally, the four authors discussed their analysis and reached agreement about the themes.

RESULTS

Studying the children's experience with spina bifida helped us highlight their feelings, needs, and challenges. The findings were formulated into one main theme, Vulnerability and suffering due to social exclusion and stigma, which was grounded in three themes: Experiencing negative self-concept, Experiencing vulnerability, and Obtaining a sense of security. These three themes were in turn derived from subthemes.

CONCLUSION

The Palestinian children in this study faced physical, emotional, and psychosocial challenges, which negatively influenced their health and development. They were vulnerable and stigmatized, and they lived with a negative self-concept. The findings could help health professionals, families, and caregivers to achieve a deeper understanding of what being a child with disabilities entails, and the findings may also serve as a platform for interventions that seek to promote these children's development and to enable them to experience childhood as a meaningful and positive process.