Fiona Timmins
Using videoed workshops in interdisciplinary research with people who have disabilities
Background Internationally, interdisciplinary research is advocated in healthcare. Such research receives great respect, particularly from funding bodies, which expect innovations in healthcare to emerge from a whole team rather than a single discipline. However, little guidance exists about the process and structures for such research. Aim To explore and explain the use of videoed workshops and mixed-media artefacts to collect data, and explore the benefits and challenges for interdisciplinary healthcare research. Data sources Videoed workshops were used to ascertain the preferences of eight people who have disabilities concerning assistive technology. These workshops are used to demonstrate the method’s benefits and related challenges for interdisciplinary healthcare research. Discussion This method of collecting data has important potential benefits for healthcare research. Future research in healthcare must not only be interdisciplinary, it should also involve a range of research designs that are adaptive and responsive to service users’ needs and use innovative methods of collecting data. Conclusion The use of video and photography in interdisciplinary research for healthcare technology is an exciting possibility, but it poses ethical and practical considerations. Implications for research Videos and photography area a useful aid in interdisciplinary research and can be a valuable means of non-verbal data collection, especially with participants affected by disabilities, and can support research methods, such as the use of questionnaires.
Recognising and responding to care erosion: part 2
This article is the second in a two-part series discussing a gradual decline in standards of care, termed ‘care erosion’. The first part of this article used cognitive dissonance theory to discuss the psychosocial mechanisms involved in care erosion and focused on the nurse’s role in identifying and preventing declining standards in care. This article, part two, explores the wider involvement of individuals, organisations and nurse education in preventing care erosion, with a particular focus on reflection; mastery of nursing skills and care; supporting nursing values; and addressing denial and trivialisation of, and justifications for, substandard care.
Recognising and responding to care erosion: part 1
This article is the first in a two-part series discussing declining standards of care. Many healthcare organisations, particularly hospitals, are under increased pressure to maintain standards of care while experiencing funding and staff shortages, and increasing patient numbers and demand for services. One of the main risks associated with these competing demands is a gradual decline in care standards, described as ‘care erosion’ in this article. Understanding the psychosocial mechanisms that can lead to care erosion is important in preventing its occurrence. This article uses the theory of cognitive dissonance to explain how nurses reflect on, and maintain, quality of care. If practice is suboptimal or substandard and inconsistent with nursing values, standards or regulations, nurses are likely to experience inner conflict or ‘dissonance discomfort’ and will usually attempt to reduce this feeling by enhancing the quality of care they provide. Conversely, nurses may defend, deny, trivialise or ignore substandard care. The authors suggest that this is the mechanism that leads to care erosion. This article uses three scenarios to explore the nurse’s role in care erosion. Part two of this article discusses the wider involvement of individuals, organisations and nurse education in preventing care erosion.
Implementing spiritual care interventions
This article, the third and final in a series of three, discusses the implementation of spiritual care interventions by nurses. It describes how nurses can use clinical reasoning and the nursing process to implement appropriate spiritual care for patients, and outlines the competencies necessary to identify spiritual distress and meet the spiritual needs of patients. Spiritual care interventions are discussed as part of a multidisciplinary team approach to the provision of holistic care.
Assessing the spiritual needs of patients
Assessing spirituality and the spiritual needs of patients is fundamental to providing effective spiritual care. This article, the second in a series of three, discusses the assessment of patients’ spirituality and spiritual needs in healthcare settings. Several formal spiritual assessment tools are available to assist nurses to identify patients’ spiritual needs and to determine whether they are experiencing spiritual distress. However, it may be more appropriate to assess patients’ spirituality informally, by asking open questions about their spiritual beliefs and needs. It is important for nurses to be aware of the limits of their competence in undertaking spiritual assessment and providing spiritual care, and to refer patients to the healthcare chaplain or other spiritual support personnel where necessary. The third and final article in this series will discuss spiritual care nursing interventions.
Promoting healthy lifestyle behaviours and well-being among nursing students
Eating well and exercising can be challenging at university but a practical approach can help
Understanding spirituality and spiritual care in nursing
Spirituality is a complex concept that has different meanings for different people. Spiritual care is a fundamental aspect of nursing and attending to the spiritual needs of patients may improve their health outcomes. This article, the first in a series of three, explores various definitions of spirituality, and the importance of spirituality and spiritual care in healthcare settings. The second article of this series provides an in-depth exploration of the assessment of patients’ spiritual care needs, and the third and final article in this short series discusses spiritual care nursing interventions.
The extent to which core nursing textbooks inform holistic spiritual care
National and international professional health and nursing guidelines recommend that attention should be given to the spiritual and religious needs of patients. This suggests that spiritual care is an important aspect of holistic patient care that needs to be considered and supported, if relevant, in a healthcare context. However, many nurses lack knowledge and awareness of the subject, and it is unclear to what extent core textbooks provide the information they need. This article reports on a study that explored the extent to which contemporary core nursing textbooks support and advocate the provision of spiritual care by nurses. Its findings suggest there is a lack of consistency in the inclusion of spirituality in these texts, and few refer specifically to the need for spiritual assessment tools or referral to chaplains. As more attention is given to patients’ spiritual needs, the guidance given by nursing textbooks needs to be more substantive and consistent.
Disseminating nursing research
This article discusses the issues associated with disseminating research findings in nursing. It addresses dissemination methods in academic nursing, barriers to the use of research in practice and ways to overcome these. The researcher needs to be motivated and support from local managers and professional bodies are required to complete the dissemination cycle in nursing research. Attention should be focused on undertaking research that can be applied to, and is meaningful for, nursing practice. This should reduce the hiatus between academic nursing research and effective clinical research.
Surveys and questionnaires in nursing research
Surveys and questionnaires are often used in nursing research to elicit the views of large groups of people to develop the nursing knowledge base. This article provides an overview of survey and questionnaire use in nursing research, clarifies the place of the questionnaire as a data collection tool in quantitative research design and provides information and advice about best practice in the development of quantitative surveys and questionnaires.
Spiritual care for healthcare professionals
THIS BOOK reflects on clinical practice and offers an outline of approaches to spiritual care. Thirteen chapters are divided into subsections dealing with: the art of spiritual care, assessing and responding to spiritual needs, working with the complexities of spiritual care, the personal impact of spiritual care and the role of the chaplain.
Designing and managing your research project
THIS TEXT book is aimed at providing new researchers in health and social care with a general introduction to the fundamental elements of managing a research project. It offers 14 detailed chapters that examine a range of issues that apply to conducting research, including software skills, developing research objectives, writing proposals, doing literature reviews, working with colleagues and supervisors. While appropriate theoretical insights are provided the emphasis is on practical application and the book is particularly useful in this regard.
Exploring Orem’s self-care model in learning disability nursing: Practical application...
The development of nursing knowledge has been a theme in general nursing literature...