Cultural adaptation and validation of the caring behaviors assessment tool into Spanish

BACKGROUND

The aim of the research was to translate, culturally adapt and validate the Caring Behaviors Assessment (CBA) tool in Spain, ensuring its appropriateness in the Spanish cultural context.

METHODS

Three-phase cross-cultural adaptation and validation study. Phase 1 involved the transculturation process, which included translation of the CBA tool from English to Spanish, back-translation, and refinement of the translated tool based on pilot testing and linguistic and cultural adjustments. Phase 2 involved training research assistants to ensure standardized administration of the instrument. Phase 3 involved administering the transculturally-adapted tool to a non-probabilistic sample of 402 adults who had been hospitalized within the previous 6 months. Statistical analyses were conducted to assess the consistency of the item-scale, demographic differences, validity of the tool, and the importance of various caring behaviors within the Spanish cultural context. R statistical software version 4.3.3 and psych package version 2.4.1 were used for statistical analyses.

RESULTS

The overall internal consistency of the CBA tool was high, indicating its reliability for assessing caring behaviors. The subscales within the instrument also demonstrated high internal consistency. Descriptive analysis revealed that Spanish participants prioritized technical and cognitive aspects of care over emotional and existential dimensions.

CONCLUSIONS

The new version of the tool proved to be valid, reliable and culturally situated, which will facilitate the provision of objective and reliable data on patients beliefs about what is essential in terms of care behaviors in Spain.

Nursing is not like organised crime: A theoretically informed commentary

AIM

This article aims to contest misrepresentations and distortions of sociological writings on the nursing profession.

BACKGROUND

During the latest ICN congress in Montreal, it has been suggested that professions, and the nursing profession for that matter, are thought of by sociologists in a similar way as organised crime, meaning that it is like a 'money sponge' sucking resources out of society, without however giving anything in return. Allegedly, there would be a distinct branch of sociology depicting the professions in this light.

DISCUSSION

By sketching out relevant sociological ideas, including the sociology of nursing, I explain that there is no tradition portraying the professions as mafias. I demonstrate that while both the professions and organised crime are socially organised, they are radically different in legitimacy. The caring professions are themselves different in ethos from the classic professions, all the more so from criminal organisations. A distinct stream of research in sociology has been devoted to nursing, without however suggesting such an analogy.

CONCLUSION

I lament that attendees to the ICN congress were indeed given an inaccurate representation of sociological thinking. Sociologists addressing nursing as a profession tend to highlight processes of emancipation, autonomy, vindication and social justice, as care work is essential to the broader socioeconomic order.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING POLICY

While nursing as a profession is socially organised, the power devices and tactics it deploys in the sociopolitical arena are characterised by their legitimacy. Unlike organised crime, nursing policymaking is situated within a framework of lawfulness, fairness and transparency.

Twenty years of management of care in Chile: what we know, what we do not know, what is yet to come. An analysis of arguments

For over 20 years, the notion of 'management of care' has been foregrounded as key in the jurisdiction of the nursing profession, with the aim of detaching itself from the wider medical umbrella. A number of voices have advocated such centrality. These include juridical, academic and occupational perspectives. Critical stances, although peripheral, have also been voiced. These have been received, at best, with a 'polite silence' in mainstream circles.By looking at the arguments surrounding the 'management of care' circulated in these two decades, this article reports the various forms of discursive practice that participate in the political process of autonomy building. Particularly, we focus on the validity of the arguments as well as the cohesion across arguments within the knowledge system. In doing so, we evaluate its main premises and foundations, the reach of the conceptualisation and its disjointed, differing and incomplete bases. Similarly, we used an inferential technique for the reconstruction of omitted and unexpressed assertions.The article introduces an approach of the humanities that is seldom seen in healthcare. It also proposes a research agenda in regard to management of care for the upcoming decades.

Cold Interests, Hot Conflicts: How a Professional Association Responded to a Change in Political Regimes

In South America, the 1970s began with ardent sociopolitical crises leading to a wave of repressive military regimes. In Chile, most professional bodies suffered profound structural and functional modifications resulting from internal political polarization as well as state intervention. Nurses saw the same fate befall them, which created both a historical blackout and abrupt changes in power dynamics. Given the prominence of this process in the reconfiguration of modern nursing's identity, this article traces the association's political process during the short-lived 1970s Marxist-inspired government and the response of nurses collectively to the rapid shift into a repressive regime leading to a profound internal crisis and an identity break-up within nursing. By using archival sources and oral testimonies¹ of 1970s and 1980s nurses, we reconstruct a historical account of a key period in the history of the country that for the nurses meant a progression of discord and division along with a self-imposed silence on the past. In so doing, the article adds to a growing literature on the participation of women in political life.

Dusting off the looking-glass: A historical analysis of the development of a nursing identity in Chile

Histories of nursing that disregard their linkage to broader historical movements often lead to historically detached versions of nursing identity that omit the perspective of their sources and the ideas of their time. Drawing on materials retrieved through a multilayered research strategy comprising internal and external sources, this article examines the development of a nursing identity in Chile during the period starting in the 1950s through the early 2000s. We analysed the sociopolitical contexts in which the nursing profession grew, the changing direction of its role and how the nursing identity transformed itself. Through the use of historical sources and oral testimonies, we aim to give a nuanced account of how the history of public health and that of the country more broadly changed the object of identification of nurses, creating only relatively recently a sense of nursing community. Processes of identification, fragmentation and integration are highlighted, which challenge usual notions of history as a linear process.

Let's talk about society: A Critical Discourse Analysis of sociology courses in pre-registration nursing

BACKGROUND

The discussion of teaching and learning in nursing has been prolific. Whereas most of the debate tends to focus on core contents of nursing programmes, little has been discussed about the teaching in 'supporting subjects' with relevance to both nursing education and nursing practice. This article offers a perspective on sociology scholarship for applied professions by using the case of nursing programmes.

METHODOLOGY

Syllabus is a rich source of data, and in its representational capacity it becomes both a discursive construction and a vehicle of ideology. Accordingly, we present a Critical Discourse Analysis of syllabi of nursing schools in Chile as to identify core contents and ideologies, and implied challenges for nursing education.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

We argue that while the syllabus as a discourse discloses a significant cleavage, the biggest challenge is precisely to challenge the ideologies constructed by and embedded in the syllabi. Our reflection thus points to a better interdisciplinary dialogue as to enhance the actual contribution of sociology to nursing.

Blessed art thou among women: male nursing students and gender inequalities in Chile

BACKGROUND

The evolution of nursing education into an academic curriculum and the growing interest of men in nursing have been significant landmarks in the development of a 'female' occupation. Chilean nursing is considered as the leading example of nursing education in Latin America, demanding a five-year training on a full-time university programme. The consequences of education, however, are assumed as more egalitarian opportunities, disregarding the latent replication of structures that perpetuate inequalities.

OBJECTIVE

To comprehend the socialisation of male nursing students and its relation with their masculine identity and the construction of inequalities in nursing education.

METHODS

We draw upon interviews undertaken with beginner and advanced nursing students from a Chilean university. Approval was obtained from the relevant Ethics Committee. The data were organised to allow the development of concepts by using the Grounded Theory approach.

RESULTS

The analysis uncovers paradoxical results of nursing education and its ineffectiveness in preventing gender-based inequalities. The interest in empowering nursing politically may lead to favour an increasing number of men entering nursing in ways that facilitate male students' progress. Furthermore, there exist discourses of compassion that feed consideration for male students, engendering in the process the prospect of professional success and the gravitation into strategic positions in the employment market. These are mechanisms that reproduce earlier gender-based inequalities in nursing.

CONCLUSIONS

In the light of the social reproduction theory, the academisation of Chilean nursing seems to be built upon historical gender asymmetries. Although the interest of men in embracing a career in nursing may have a meaningful resonance with the transformation of contemporary society, this process needs a judicious examination in order to protect academic integrity and, ultimately, prevent the reproduction of those inequalities in question. This analysis offers a perspective for understanding social patterns embedded in the practice of nursing education in Chile and elsewhere.

Hyperkalemic periodic paralysis with cardiac dysrhythmia: a novel sodium channel mutation?

A patient is presented with hyperkalemic periodic paralysis (HyperPP) and a cardiac dysrhythmia. An amino acid substitution (Val783Ile) in the adult skeletal muscle sodium channel gene was detected. Although lack of available family members precluded rigorous genetic tests, the sodium channel change may be responsible for HyperPP in this patient and could also be responsible for the associated cardiac dysrhythmia.