The Experience of Pregnancy and Childbirth Overshadowed by Obstetric Violence and Structural Barriers of the Israeli Health System from the Perspective of Arab and Jewish Women.

The aim of this study was to give a voice to Arab and Jewish women in Israel who had suffered obstetric violence during various stages of fertility treatments, pregnancy, and childbirth and also to learn from the women about their experiences of obstetric violence subject to the barriers of the Israeli health system, and their recommendations of possible solutions. The study underlines the unique gender, social, and cultural context in Israel concerning pregnancy and childbirth, and was based on the feminist approach that strives to promote human rights, and eradicate phenomena of gender-related, patriarchal, and social structures. The study used a qualitative-constructivist methodology. Twenty semi-structured interviews with ten Arab women and ten Jewish women were thematically analyzed, and five main themes emerged: first, the women's experience of becoming pregnant and pregnancy overshadowed by physical and emotional barriers from caregivers and the close environment; second, the women's awareness of their bodies and needs during pregnancy dominated by the challenges of the health services; third, the women's awareness of their bodies and needs during childbirth alongside incompatible expectations and nonattentive medical staff; fourth, the women's descriptions of experiences and types of obstetric violence; and fifth, the women's recommendations to eradicate obstetric violence.

How to enhance nursing students' intention to use information technology: the first step before integrating it in nursing curriculum.

Today, in the 21st century, information technology has an important and critical role in the healthcare delivery system. Nursing educators already know and understand that they should integrate nursing informatics into the nursing curriculum to prepare future nurses for the new world of information technology. However, as of now, the core program of nursing studies in Israel does not put an emphasis on the skills required to properly use nursing informatics. The present research is the first step toward achieving this target by recognizing the importance of the human factor. The main goal is to examine the correlation between nursing students' attitudes and a number of variables: self-efficacy, threat, challenge, and innovativeness. This quantitative study used a convenience sample of nursing students in a bachelor's degree program at a large academic center in central Israel. Results show significant positive correlations between nursing students' attitudes to computer use and self-efficacy, a sense of challenge in using a computer, a sense of threat in using a computer, and previous experience with computers. The insights of these results will benefit nursing educators by helping them find creative ways to expose the students to the world of information technology and to improve the quality of future nurses.

Intentions of nurses and nursing students to tell the whole truth to patients and family members.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To investigate the intentions of nurses and nursing students to telling the truth to patients and families, based on the Theory of Planned Behavior which examines intention to perform behaviours. BACKGROUND: In recent decades, the perception that patients have a moral and legal right to truthful and reliable information has become dominant. However, the study of telling the truth to non-oncology patients has received scant attention and little is known about the intention of nurses and nursing students to tell the truth. DESIGN: A cross-sectional design. METHODS: We used a scenario-based questionnaire, illustrating eight different situations in which nurses/nursing students are asked to tell the truth to a patient or family member regarding a devastating disease with which the patient is afflicted. Data were analysed using the Mann-Whitney U-test and ridge regression. RESULTS: The sample included 150 participants, 110 registered nurses and 40 third year nursing students, with a response rate of 87%. The results show that nurses and nursing students intend to tell the whole truth even if this is not easy for them. Nurses more than students think that it is important to tell the whole truth and intend to do so. Head nurses tend to tell the truth more than staff nurses. For nurses, the components of the Theory of Planned Behaviour predicted intention to tell the truth, whereas among students subjective norms were the only predictor of intention. CONCLUSION: The Theory of Planned Behaviour is a powerful predictor of nurse intention to tell the whole truth to patients and their families. Students perceive social pressure as the most important incentive of their intention to tell the truth. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Nurses and nursing students should receive additional training in dealing with various situations involving truth telling.

Does the level of emotional intelligence affect the degree of success in nursing studies?

BACKGROUND: Emotional intelligence (EI) reflects the general capacity to comprehend emotions (in ourselves and in others), to regulate emotions, and to cope effectively with emotional situations. The study program in nursing is varied, and includes theoretical and practical aspects, but teaching EI is not part of the core curriculum. We argue that teaching EI should not only be included in the curriculum, but that EI tests should be included in the admissions process. OBJECTIVE: This study reviews the relationship between EI level and the degree of success in nursing studies, and its importance. PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample of 110 academic nursing students was examined. METHODS: Three data collection methods were employed: 1) A socio-demographic questionnaire; 2) Schutte Self-Report Inventory (SSRI); 3) Psychometric scores and grade transcripts. RESULTS: A positive correlation between the level of EI and the degree of success in nursing studies among nursing students was found. EI levels improved during the second year of learning. Among nursing students, the annual average grade was related to emotional intelligence rather than psychometric scores at the time of admission. CONCLUSION: There is a need to increase the importance of EI in the terms of nursing student's admission and basic nursing curriculums.

Nursing students' stress and satisfaction in clinical practice along different stages: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Research in the field of nursing students' stress shifted internationally in recent decades from Western to Eastern countries with an emphasis on Middle East and Far East countries. The clinical experience has always been at the heart of nursing education cross-culturally and is a major source of stress and attrition. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the perceptions of stress and satisfaction of undergraduate nursing students during three stages of clinical learning experiences: preclinical, clinical and advanced clinical. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. SETTINGS: Three Bachelor's in Nursing programs in three higher educational institutions in Israel. PARTICIPANTS: Nursing undergraduate students in their second, third and fourth year of study (n = 892). METHODS: The Nursing Students Stress Scale and the Nursing Students Professional Satisfaction questionnaires were used for data collection. Descriptive statistics used to analyze the data included: Pearson correlation, Cronbach's alpha, one way ANOVA, t-test, Kruskal Wallis and Mann Whitney U tests. RESULTS: Overall mean level of stress was mild-moderate (2.67) and overall satisfaction moderate-high (3.57). Year of study and gender were the most significant predictors of nursing students' stress. The level of stress and satisfaction of second year students in the preclinical stage was significantly higher compared to peers in their third and fourth year. Female students experienced significantly higher levels of stress and satisfaction. The top most stressful situations for second year students were related to inadequate preparation to cope with knowledge and skill demands, whereas for third and fourth year students they were conflicts between professional beliefs and the reality in hospital practice. CONCLUSIONS: Nurse Educators are challenged to tailor stress reduction interventions according to the students' perceptions of stress. It is not only critical for their wellbeing and attrition, but also important in developing nursing professionals who will provide better care and caring for patients.

The Impact of Nursing Students' Cultural Diversity on the Intention and Attitudes Towards the Use of Information Technology (IT).

This research highlights the challenge for nursing educators in understanding, developing awareness, and preparing strategies to manage the impact of nursing students' cultural diversity on the relationship between the intention to use computer and attitudes, self-efficacy, innovativeness, and threat and challenge.

The Impact of Nursing Students' Cultural Diversity on the Intention and Attitudes Toward the Use of Information Technology.

This research highlights the evidences that: The greater the threat, the lower the attitude toward information technology is, and the greater the sense of challenge, the greater self-efficacy is. Innovativeness was found to be a behavioral intention predictor in two groups, secular Jews and Arabs. This study provides nurses and nurse educators with some valuable insights about how culture, religion, and education may influence nursing students' attitudes toward information technology.