Family resilience processes among guardians caring for children and youths with leukemia

Based on Walsh's concept of family resilience, this study aims to explain the processes and factors related to family resilience of guardians caring for children and youths with leukemia (GCYL) at a university-affiliated hospital in central Thailand. An explanatory case study is conducted. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 21 guardians from 15 families caring for children and youths with leukemia (CYL). The interviews were recorded and transcribed for content analysis. The researcher categorized and coded the data to summarize, interpret, and validate the key study results of family resilience. This study found that families undergo three phases when facing the situation: pre-family resilience, family resilience, and post-family resilience. In each phase, these families face changes in emotions, perspectives, and behaviors related to the factors promoting family resilience. The results of this study will benefit multidisciplinary teams providing care for families with CYL by applying the information about family resilience processes to provide services that cultivate behavioral, physical, psychological, and social growth for the families and enable them to maintain peace in family life.

Development of the Spirituality in Palliative Care Scale for nursing students in the context of Thai culture

BACKGROUND

Nursing students form part of the healthcare team who care for patients who are living with a terminal illness and facing physical and spiritual suffering. However, there is a lack of suitable indicators to measure a nurse's spirituality when they are providing palliative care.

AIM

To develop a way of measuring the spirituality of nurses who provide palliative care.

METHOD

The participants consisted of 312 third-and fourth-year nursing students of two nursing colleges from southern and central Thailand.

FINDING

The 12-item Spirituality in Palliative Care Scale had the reliability of .804. The measurement model was consistent with the empirical data and had unidimensional quality (X2=50.94, df=45, p-value=0.25, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA)=0.044, Single Resolution Mechanism Regulation (SRMR)=0.044, Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index (AGFI)=0.95, Corporate Finance Institute (CFI)=0.97, goodness of fit (GFI)=0.97). The items' factor loadings were in between .48 and .84.

CONCLUSION

The spirituality in palliative care scale can measure nursing students' spirituality in palliative care and nursing educators can use the measurement to support nursing students to develop greater awareness of spirituality in palliative care.

Psychometric Properties of the Thai Version Psychological Well-Being Scale and the Factors Related to among Thai Patients with Major Depressive Disorder

BACKGROUND

The assessment to provide care and support to patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) currently focuses on the recovery from the disease, but it is still lacking in measuring and developing psychological well-being among Thai patients with MDD. Therefore, this research is aimed at studying the psychometric properties of the Thai version psychological well-being scale and study factors related to among patients with MDD.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The Thai version psychological well-being scale, an 8-point Likert-type scale, was translated by our research team and used to examine psychometric properties as well as to identify the factors related to psychological well-being in a cross-sectional study among samples of 111 patients diagnosed with MDD from Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Medical Center in Nakhon Nayok Province, Thailand.

RESULTS

Cronbach's alpha for the Thai version psychological well-being scale was .91, unidimensionality was examined with exploratory factor analysis, and the structural validity was assessed with confirmatory factor analysis. The convergent validity was found using the correlation coefficients of the Thai version psychological well-being scale with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-6). However, none of the social factors were significantly correlated with Thai patients' psychological well-being with MDD.

CONCLUSION

The Thai version psychological well-being scale is a brief and concise scale with high reliability to evaluate Thai patients with MDD which can support and improve their well-being.

An integrative counselling program to promote active ageing for older people in Thai nursing homes: an intervention mixed methods design

BACKGROUND

Active ageing has been a rapidly developing field of study in light of the growing population of older people. Acknowledgement of the lack of a counselling program to promote active ageing for the older people in nursing homes led to the development of this study which aims to investigate active ageing of the Thai elderly in a nursing home in addition to promoting active ageing for them through integrative counselling.

METHODS

The study was conducted in a nursing home in Samut Prakan province, Thailand. The integrative counselling program referred to appropriate literature along with implementation of the Satir Model and Motivational Interviewing techniques. An intervention mixed methods design was applied in the study, which consisted of two phases. Phase 1 involved an investigation of the concept of active ageing, based on the context of older people in nursing homes by way of in-depth interviews, involving 5 participants. Phase 2 comprised of an investigation of the effects of an integrative counselling program to promote active ageing for older people in the same nursing home. There was a total of 16 participants in phase 2 which were divided equally into experimental and control groups respectively.

RESULTS

Phase 1 of the study showcased qualitative results of the progress of active ageing development in older people that resulted in 4 sub-themes (Health development, spiritual development, active engagement and psychosocial support). Two parameters were used to analyze the results in phase 2. The quantitative results showed that the active ageing score of participants in the experimental arm increased significantly after enrollment (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the experimental group had a higher overall active ageing score in comparison to the control group. Qualitative results of phase 2 elicited factors promoting active ageing in the elderly which included activities, group facilitator and group atmosphere. Both quantitative and qualitative results of phase 2 proved to be significant, showing that the program managed to develop active ageing in participants.

CONCLUSION

Psychologists and multidisciplinary teams looking after older people in nursing homes are able to use this integrative counselling program for development of active ageing in the elderly population.

Spiritual dimension in palliative care from the perspective of Thai palliative caregivers

Background:

In Thailand, most terminally ill patients die in hospital and are looked after by health professionals. Terminally ill patients tend to receive physical care only, while in the main, spiritual care is neglected. This study aimed to explore spirituality in palliative care health professionals and spiritual leaders in the Thai Buddhist context.

Method:

In this qualitative case study, seven experienced palliative caregivers took part in in-depth interviews. Thematic analysis and a trustworthiness process were used to analyse the data.

Findings:

Three themes emerged: (1) the ability for self-awareness and faith; (2) acceptance and compassion for others; and (3) spiritual behaviour while nursing.

Conclusion:

The results revealed the meaning of spirituality and the necessary characteristics for spirituality in palliative care for the participants, which could serve as a basis for further development.

Life narrative to substance use: voices from LGBTQ people

Purpose

While there is a growing amount of literature showing that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ people) are more at risk to use substances compared to non-LGBTQ people, there is a gap in knowledge about the exploration of the life narrative, before and the turning point of substance use. The purpose of this paper is to discuss life narrative, before and the turning point of substance use.

Design/methodology/approach

Ten participants from diverse sexual orientation/gender were invited to join this study including queer, lesbian, transgender, gay, tomboy and bisexuals who were diagnosed with a substance use disorder. The narrative qualitative research was used as the research methodology. Each of the participants had in-depth interviews with the research team once or twice, with each time lasting from 30 to 120 min until the saturation of the data. Thematic analysis and the trustworthiness process were used to analyze the data.

Findings

Three themes emerged from this study including the following: life before substance use; life turning point; and motivation to stop using substances. Each theme had several categories to define the theme.

Originality/value

The results of this study can help counseling psychologists and clinicians who work with LGBTQ addicts to become aware that there is not only psychological treatment available for LGBTQ addicts needed for recovery, but also a social movement that promotes equality among LGBTQ people, such as advocacy against oppression with regard to family, school, community and the public.

Experience of Spiritual Coaching for Peer Educators

BACKGROUND: To protect against burnout syndrome and enhance the work capacity of peer educators who work with those who inject drugs under “A project to end AIDS, reduce new HIV infections and decrease tuberculosis in vulnerable populations of People Who Inject Drugs (PWID)”. This research aimed to study the process of the spiritual development of peer educators through exposure to spiritual coaching. The spiritual coaching in this study incorporated theoretical techniques of counseling psychology as well as an effective coaching approach.METHODS: This study was a qualitative research using the narrative approach. The data were collected from five in-depth interviews of peer educators who received spiritual coaching. The data were then analyzed by using thematic analysis.RESULTS: Three focus areas of the spiritual development of peer educators were found to be important/central: 1) knowledge and understanding, 2) enhancing experience and practice, and 3) belief in the spiritual to help with the field work.CONCLUSION: Base on the interaction between the counseling psychology theories and other related theories, the results of this study supported the benefits arising from improvements in the spiritual identity of the peer educators. This was reflected in the enhanced mental energy and work strategies. The latter finding can be applied to other peer educators who work with those who inject drugs in other settings.