Barriers and facilitators for leading nursing homes through the COVID-19 pandemic: A focus group study in Norway.

BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic, nursing home leaders implemented infection control to protect residents and staff. AIM: To understand the barriers and facilitators for leading nursing homes through the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: We invited 34 nursing homes to participate, and 20 leaders (59%) attended focus group interviews. The COM-B model and the theoretical domains framework were used in design and analysis of the study. RESULTS: The barriers for infection control were organisational unpreparedness, high volumes of information, lack of clinical skills, protective equipment, and testing capacity, the nursing home's architectural design, health authorities' low priority of nursing homes, staff's fear, and mental pressure on the leaders over time. The facilitators were having a customised corona plan, change of routines, certification of new skills, access to the municipal quality system, the ability for crisis leadership, loyalty to the nursing home, and support from the environment. The number of part-time positions and the opportunity to outsource parts of the services were also important determinants for infection control. CONCLUSIONS: The results identify several barriers and facilitators for nursing home leaders' behaviour for infection control. The results confirm the importance of supporting the leaders' resilience and crisis leadership while working in the pressurised environment of a pandemic. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The study provides important insights into barriers and facilitators for leading nursing homes through the COVID-19 pandemic, which could help to inform future strategies for infection control. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: No patient or public contribution.

Immigrants' Experiences and Perceptions of COVID-19 Information in Norway.

When the COVID-19 virus hit the world, immigrants were overrepresented among those infected. In Norway, throughout the pandemic, there were far higher infection rates in people of Somali and Pakistani descent than in the rest of the population. The first aim of this study is to explore the experiences and perceptions of immigrants from Somalia and Pakistan living in Oslo regarding the different sources of COVID-19 information that they referred to at the beginning of the pandemic. The second aim is to suggest and discuss measures to improve practice in the event of a new pandemic. Four semi-structured focus-group interviews were conducted with a total of 27 first-generation immigrants from Somalia and Pakistan. The results showed that the immigrants found various COVID-19 information sources to be important. These sources are further presented in three categories: (1) COVID-19 information from the authorities through mass communication; (2) family, friends, and local environments as sources of information; (3) information from religious communities and volunteer resource personnel. We conclude that the participants were active users of available information from different sources and channels. Stigmatization made a negative contribution and religion made a positive contribution to coping and to trust in the authorities.

Socially assistive robots in health and social care: Acceptance and cultural factors. Results from an exploratory international online survey.

AIM: This study explored the views of an international sample of registered nurses and midwives working in health and social care concerning socially assistive robots (SARs), and the relationship between dimensions of culture and rejection of the idea that SARs had benefits in these settings. METHODS: An online survey was used to obtain rankings of (among other topics) the extent to which SARs have benefits for health and social care. It also asked for free text responses regarding any concerns about SARs. RESULTS: Most respondents were overwhelmingly positive about SARs' benefits. A small minority strongly rejected this idea, and qualitative analysis of the objections raised by them revealed three major themes: things might go wrong, depersonalization, and patient-related concerns. However, many participants who were highly accepting of the benefits of SARs expressed similar objections. Cultural dimensions of long-term orientation and uncertainty avoidance feature prominently in technology acceptance research. Therefore, the relationship between the proportion of respondents from each country who felt that SARs had no benefits and each country's ratings on long-term orientation and uncertainty avoidance were also examined. A significant positive correlation was found for long-term orientation, but not for uncertainty avoidance. CONCLUSION: Most respondents were positive about the benefits of SARs, and similar concerns about their use were expressed both by those who strongly accepted the idea that they had benefits and those who did not. Some evidence was found to suggest that cultural factors were related to rejecting the idea that SARs had benefits.

Enactment of compassionate leadership by nursing and midwifery managers: results from an international online survey.

AIM: To explore the views of an international sample of nursing and midwifery managers concerning attributes that they associate with compassionate management. METHOD: A cross-sectional online survey. Using a snowballing sampling method, 1217 responses were collected from nursing and midwifery managers in 17 countries. A total of complete 933 responses to a question related to which actions and behaviours indicated that a manager was exercising compassionate leadership were analysed for this paper. First, content analysis of the responses was conducted, and second, a relative distribution of the identified themes for the overall sample and for each participating country was calculated. RESULTS: Six main themes were identified describing the attributes of a compassionate leader: (1) Virtuous support, (2) Communication, (3) Personal virtues of the manager, (4) Participatory communication, (5) Growth/flourishing/ nurturing and (6) Team cohesion. The first three themes mentioned above collectively accounted for 63% of the responses, and can therefore be considered to be the most important characteristics of compassionate management behaviour. CONCLUSION: The key indicators of compassionate management in nursing and midwifery which were identified emphasise approachability, active and sensitive listening, sympathetic responses to staff members' difficulties (especially concerning child and other caring responsibilities), active support of and advocacy for the staff team and active problem solving and conflict resolution. While there were differences between the countries' views on compassionate healthcare management, some themes were widely represented among different countries' responses, which suggest key indicators of compassionate management that apply across cultures.

The Importance of Being a Compassionate Leader: The Views of Nursing and Midwifery Managers From Around the World.

INTRODUCTION: Despite the importance of compassionate leadership in health care, many of the existing publications do not account for the effect of culture. The aim of this study is to explore the views of nursing and midwifery managers from different countries in relation to the definition, advantages, and importance of compassion. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional, descriptive, exploratory online survey was conducted across 17 countries, containing both closed and open-ended questions. Data from N = 1,217 respondents were analyzed using a directed hybrid approach focusing only on qualitative questions related to compassion-giving. RESULTS: Four overarching themes capture the study's results: (1) definition of compassion, (2) advantages and importance of compassion for managers, (3) advantages and importance of compassion for staff and the workplace, and (4) culturally competent and compassionate leadership. DISCUSSION: Innovative research agendas should pursue further local qualitative empirical research to inform models of culturally competent and compassionate leadership helping mangers navigate multiple pressures and be able to transculturally resonate with their staff and patients.

Hospital food: When nurses' and ethnic minority patients' understanding of Islamic dietary needs differ.

AIM: The aim of this study was to investigate how medical unit nurses assess their knowledge about Muslim patients' dietary preferences and needs and Muslim patients' needs regarding food. DESIGN: Mixed-method design. METHODS: Two-part study. Part 1: Two focus group interviews and a survey answered by medical unit nurses. Part 2: In-depth interviews with ten immigrant patients (eight Asians and two Africans). Hermeneutic analysis of qualitative data and SPSS were used for descriptive analysis of the quantitative data. RESULTS: The nurses' knowledge about acceptable and prohibited food within Islam appears to be simplistic and Muslim patients tended to be perceived as a homogenous group. Patients' distrust about the preparation and content of the food served may result in insufficient nutritional intake. Serving food that is acceptable to individual patients requires insight and is an essential part of culturally sensitive nursing care.

Distrust and patients in intercultural healthcare: A qualitative interview study.

BACKGROUND: The importance of trust between patients and healthcare personnel is emphasised in nurses' and physicians' ethical codes. Trust is crucial for an effective healthcare personnel-patient relationship and thus for treatment and treatment outcomes. Cultural and linguistic differences may make building a trusting and positive relationship with ethnic minority patients particularly challenging. Although there is a great deal of research on cultural competence, there is a conspicuous lack of focus on the concepts of trust and distrust concerning ethnic minority patients, particularly in relation to the concept of 'othering'. AIM: To study which factors help build trust or create distrust in encounters between healthcare professionals and hospitalised ethnic minority patients, as well as study the dynamic complexities inherent within the process of 'othering'. RESEARCH DESIGN: Qualitative design, in-depth interviews and hermeneutic analysis. Participants and research context: The interviewees were 10 immigrant patients (six women and four men - eight Asians, two Africans - ages 32-85 years) recruited from a south-eastern Norwegian hospital. Ethical considerations: Study approval was obtained from the hospital's Privacy Ombudsman for Research and the hospital's leadership. Participation was voluntary and participants signed an informed consent form. CONCLUSION: Distrust and othering may be caused by differences in belief systems, values, perceptions, expectations, and style of expression and behaviour. Othering is a reciprocal phenomenon in minority ethnic patient-healthcare personnel encounters, and it influences trust building negatively. Besides demonstrating general professional skill and competence, healthcare personnel require cultural competence to create trust.

Exploring Nurses' Meaning and Experiences of Compassion: An International Online Survey Involving 15 Countries.

PURPOSE: In recent years, there has been much focus on compassion in nursing care, and concern has been raised in a number of reports and media stories regarding decreased compassion. The aim of this study was to explore similarities and differences in the understanding and demonstration of compassion in nursing practice across 15 countries. DESIGN: A total of 1,323 nurses from 15 countries responded to questions in relation to compassion, via an international online survey. RESULTS: The data revealed the impact of sociopolitical influences on perceptions of compassion, and the conscious and intentional nature of compassion. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The study demonstrated shared understandings of the importance of compassion as well as some common perceptions of the attributes of compassionate care. The differences reported were not as significant as had been expected. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Further research is needed to explore the country and culture differences in the enactment of compassion.

Caring for ethnic minority patients: a mixed method study of nurses' self-assessment of cultural competency.

BACKGROUND: Research shows that nurses tend to be lacking cultural competence, which may influence treatment and care for ethnic minority patients negatively. PURPOSE: To investigate how Medical Unit nurses and Psychiatric Unit nurses assess their own competency concerning patients with minority backgrounds. The topics covered are: intercultural knowledge, knowledge of medical traditions and differences in illness etiology, symptom assessment, and in-service education and availability of advice. These topics are seen in relation to the nurses' years of work experience. METHODS: Three focus group interviews were conducted before the development of a Likert-type questionnaire containing six topics and a total of 35 statements. 145 Medical Unit nurses (90%) and 100 Psychiatric Unit nurses (81%) returned the questionnaire. SPSS was used to analyze the quantitative data; hermeneutic thematic analysis was used for the qualitative data. RESULTS: Both the Medical Unit nurses and the Psychiatric Unit nurses indicated that knowledge about illness and treatment philosophies other than Western biomedicine was inadequate. The respondents also found symptom assessment difficult, and they were offered little, if any, in-service education. Work experience added little substantive knowledge. CONCLUSION: Experience alone does not equip nurses with adequate knowledge for intercultural symptom assessment and culturally competent treatment and care. Formal education, in-service classes, courses, feedback and access to relevant information are needed together with reflection upon clinical practice.

Experiences of inner strength in critically ill patients--a hermeneutical approach.

UNLABELLED: Becoming critically ill and in need of ventilator treatment is a considerable burden. Fear and anxiety are natural reactions and it is not uncommon for patients to experience hopelessness, withdrawal and depression. In situations like these the possession of inner strength can be of vital importance. OBJECTIVES: To gain knowledge on what factors contribute to inner strength in critically ill patients cared for in an intensive care unit. The depth interviews were conducted with six former ventilator-treated patients aged 60-72years. SETTING: The informants were recruited through the ICU at an urban hospital in Norway. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY/DESIGN: The study has an exploratory and descriptive design. A hermeneutic approach was used to interpret the data, in which Kvale's self-perception, critical common sense and theoretical levels were applied. RESULTS: The study clearly demonstrates that there are certain factors that promote the inner strength of patients undergoing ventilator treatment. These are: "To have the support of next of kin", "The wish to go on living", "To be seen" and "Signs of progress". Amongst these patients it appears that the presence of one's next of kin has prime significance in promoting inner strength.

Utilitarian and common-sense morality discussions in intercultural nursing practice.

Two areas of ethical conflict in intercultural nursing - who needs single rooms more, and how far should nurses go to comply with ethnic minority patients' wishes? - are discussed from a utilitarian and common-sense morality point of view. These theories may mirror nurses' way of thinking better than principled ethics, and both philosophies play a significant role in shaping nurses' decision making. Questions concerning room allocation, noisy behaviour, and demands that nurses are unprepared or unequipped for may be hard to cope with owing to physical restrictions and other patients' needs. Unsolvable problems may cause stress and a bad conscience as no solution is 'right' for all the patients concerned. Nurses experience a moral state of disequilibrium, which occurs when they feel responsible for the outcomes of their actions in situations that have no clear-cut solution.