Health care curricula in multicultural societies

Lived experience of ethical challenges among undergraduate nursing students during their clinical learning

BACKGROUND

Undergraduate nursing students may experience several ethical challenges during their clinical learning placement that can lead to moral distress and intention to leave the profession. Ethical challenges are complex phenomena and ethical frameworks may help improve their understanding and provide actionable recommendations to enhance students' readiness for practice.

AIM

To explore undergraduate nursing students' ethical challenges experienced during their clinical learning and their suggestions for better ethics education; to illuminate students' experience against a foundational ethical framework.

RESEARCH DESIGN

Qualitative study based on interpretative phenomenology. Semi-structured, in-person or at distance, one-to-one interviews were performed, audio-recorded, and transcribed verbatim. The 'Dignity-enhancing care framework' was employed to frame the study findings.

PARTICIPANTS AND RESEARCH CONTEXT

Nineteen nursing graduands attending seven sites of one Northwestern Italian University were interviewed.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATION

The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Torino (number 0187646/2023). All participants provided written informed consent.

FINDINGS

Students experienced several ethical challenges concerning daily practice such as pain control or the decision to restrain patients, and reported deficient professional ethics with healthcare professionals who demonstrated poor caring attitudes and teamwork. Moreover, they perceived professionals poorly committed to their role of educators and complained of poor support in the learning process. When a supportive, dialogical, and relational context lacked, students experienced negative feelings about the profession and the healthcare system and reported the intention to leave the profession. Dialogue with peers, family members or significant others, nursing educators, and clinical nurse supervisors, as well as self-learning activities and discussion-based teaching methods grounded on real scenarios helped to overcome challenging situations.

CONCLUSION

While complying with normative standards, nursing education policies should encourage the adoption of dynamic teaching methods and sustain a regular, dialogical approach within and between the clinical and academic contexts to improve readiness for practice.

Capacity building in migration and health in higher education: lessons from five European countries

Capacity building in migration and health in higher education is key to better, sustainable, and equitable health care provision. However, developments so far have been patchy, non-structural, and often unsustainable. While training programs have been evaluated and competency standards developed, perspectives from individual teachers are hardly accessible. We present expert perspectives from five European countries to illustrate good examples in higher education and identify gaps to further the advancement of capacity building in migration and health. Based on these perspectives, we have identified thematic areas at four levels: conceptual evolution, policy and implementation, organization at the academic level and teaching materials and pedagogies. Finally, we propose creating spaces to share concrete educational practices and experiences for adaptation and replication. We summarize key recommendations for the advancement of capacity building in migration and health.

Health Professionals' Experiences with Treatment Engagement Among Immigrants with Co-occurring Substance Use- and Mental Health Disorders in Norway

Immigrants face barriers in seeking and accessing mental health and addiction services. Health professionals are crucial in providing and promoting healthcare and it is important to understand their experiences in order to enhance the access of mental healthcare. The aim of this paper is to explore and describe health professionals' experiences with treatment engagement among immigrants with co-occurring substance use disorders (SUD) and mental health disorders (MHD) in Norwegian mental health and addiction services. Within a collaborative approach, 3 focus group interviews were conducted with health professionals, who had provided various mental health and addiction care services to immigrants with co-occurring SUD and MHD. The focus group interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using systematic text condensation. The analysis resulted in 5 main categories: (1) difficulties due to language barriers, (2) difficulties due to lack of culturally competent services, (3) difficulties due to social factors, (4) being curious and flexible improves the user-provider relationship, and (5) increasing access to mental health and addiction services. This study provides an enhanced understanding of how health professionals' experienced treatment engagement among immigrants with co-occurring SUD and MHD in the Norwegian context. Implications of the findings for clinical practice and future research are discussed.

A qualitative study on the experiences of southern European immigrant parents navigating the Norwegian healthcare system

BACKGROUND

Patients' experiences with health providers and their diagnostic and treatment expectations are shaped by cultural health beliefs and previous experiences with healthcare services in home country. This study explores how Southern European immigrant parents navigate the Norwegian healthcare system, through its focus on how this group manage their expectations on diagnosis and treatment practices when these are unmet.

METHODS

The study had a qualitative research design. Fourteen in-depth interviews and two focus group discussions with 20 Southern European immigrant parents were conducted in 2017 in three Norwegian municipalities. With the help of NVivo software, data were transcribed verbatim and coded. Following a thematic analysis approach to identify patterns in immigrants' experiences with the Norwegian healthcare services, the codes were organized into two themes.

RESULTS

The first theme includes immigrants' expectations on diagnostic tests and medical treatment. Southern European immigrants expected more diagnostic tests and pharmacological treatment than what was deemed necessary by Norwegian health providers. Experiences with unmet expectations influenced how immigrants addressed their and their children's healthcare needs. The second theme comprises immigrants' experiences of seeking healthcare in Norway (attending medical consultations in the private sector, seeking immigrant healthcare providers, and navigating the healthcare through their Norwegian social networks). This category includes also the alternative solutions immigrants undertook when they were dissatisfied with the diagnosis and treatment practices they were offered in Norway (self-medication and seeking healthcare in home countries).

CONCLUSIONS

Cultural health beliefs and previous experiences with healthcare services from home country shaped immigrants' expectations on diagnosis and treatment practices. This had great implications for their navigation through the healthcare system and interactions with health providers in the host country. The study suggests that successful inclusion of immigrants into the Norwegian healthcare system requires an acknowledgement of the cultural factors that influence access and use of healthcare services. Exploring immigrants' perspectives and experiences offers important information to understand the challenges of cross-cultural healthcare and to improve communication and equitable access.

Cervical cancer screening among immigrant women in Norway- The healthcare providers' perspectives

OBJECTIVE

To explore health care providers' (HCPs) experiences regarding cervical cancer screening (CCS) among immigrant women, their strategies to facilitate these consultations and their need for further information.

DESIGN

Exploratory qualitative design.

SETTING

HCPs who perform CCS: general practitioners, midwives and private gynaecologists, working in Oslo, Norway.

SUBJECTS

We interviewed 26 general practitioners, 3 midwives and 3 gynaecologists.

METHOD

Both focus groups and personal in depth semi structured interviews. Interview transcripts were analysed using a thematic analysis approach.

RESULTS

Some of the HCPs' experiences related to CCS were common for all women regardless of their immigrant background, such as the understanding of routines and responsibilities for prevention. Aspects specific for immigrant women were mainly related to organization, language, health literacy levels, culture and gender. Several strategies targeting organizational (longer consultations), language (using interpreters), health literacy (using anatomy models to explain) and culture (dealing with the expression of pain) were reported. Most HCPs had not previously reflected upon specific challenges linked to CCS among immigrant women, thus the interviews were an eye-opener to some extent. HCPs acknowledged that they need more knowledge on immigrant women's' reproductive health.

CONCLUSION

HCPs' biases, stereotypes and assumptions could be a key provider-level barrier to low uptake of CCS test among immigrants if they remained unexplored and unchallenged. HCPs need more information on reproductive health of immigrant women in addition to cultural awareness. Key Points The participation rate of immigrant women to cervical cancer screening in Norway is low, compared to non-immigrants. This might be partly attributed to health care system and provider, and not only due to the women's preferences. Our focus groups and interviews among health care providers show, that in addition to cultural competence and awareness, they need knowledge on reproductive health of immigrants. We recommend an intervention targeting health care providers to close the gap in cervical cancer screening.

Circling the undefined-A grounded theory study of intercultural consultations in Swedish primary care

Well-functioning physician-patient communication is central to primary care consultations. An increasing demand on primary care in many countries to manage a culturally diverse population has highlighted the need for improved communication skills in intercultural consultations. In previous studies, intercultural consultations in primary care have often been described as complex for various reasons, but studies exploring physician-patient interactions contributing to the understanding of why they are complex are lacking. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore intercultural physician-patient communication in primary care consultations, generating a conceptual model of the interpersonal interactions as described by both the patients and the physicians. Using grounded theory methodology, 15 residents in family medicine and 30 foreign-born patients, the latter with Arabic and Somali as native languages, were interviewed. The analysis generated a conceptual model named circling the undefined, where a silent agreement on issues fundamental to the core of the consultation was inadequately presumed and the communicative behaviors used did not contribute to clarity. This could be a possible contributory cause of the perceived complexity of intercultural consultations. Identifying what takes place on an interpersonal level in intercultural consultations might be a first step towards building a common ground for increased mutual understanding, thereby bringing us one step closer to sharing, rather than circling the undefined.