Lived Experiences of African Migrants Crossing the Strait of Gibraltar to Europe: A Cross-Cultural Approach to Healthcare from a Qualitative Methodology.

BACKGROUND: The migratory flow from the African continent to Europe is intense and the European countries should apply a humanitarian, health and social response to this emerging problem. Migrants coming from Africa to Europe are a very vulnerable population. Healthcare professionals should be prepared for answering their needs from a transcultural approach, which requires a better understanding of this phenomenon. Thus, the aim of this study was to improve nursing and healthcare professionals' awareness and better understanding of migrant life experiences during the migration journey. An exploratory descriptive qualitative research was conducted. In-depth interviews were conducted involving four key informants and content analysis were performed with the transcriptions. RESULTS: Three themes merged: life situations in their countries of origin; motivations that led them to undertake the migratory journey; and experiences they lived during the migratory journey. The results described the dramatic experience and motivations for crossing the strait of Gibraltar from Africa to Europe, including feelings, fears, hopes and lived experiences. The determination of immigrants to fight for a better life opportunity and the physical damage and psychological consequences they suffer were revealed. CONCLUSIONS: This study would help healthcare professionals to better understand this complex reality and deliver culturally adapted care. Knowledge of the starting reality of these populations can help health professionals to incorporate a cross-cultural approach that improves the relational, ethical and affective competences to provide quality care to the migrant population, as well as the development of health measures to fight against inequalities suffered by these population groups.

Systematic Review of the Relationship between Couple Dyadic Adjustment and Family Health.

The importance of family functioning in the development of child and adult psychopathology has been widely studied. However, the relationship between partners' adjustment and family health is less studied. This paper aims to describe and summarize research that analyzes the relationship between partners' adjustment and family health. A systematic review was conducted in the PubMed, PsycINFO, Scopus, Lilacs, Psicodoc, Cinahl, and Jstor databases. Inclusion criteria were as follows: articles published from 2012 to 2019 in English, Spanish, or Portuguese. Data were extracted and organized according to the family health model: family climate, integrity, functioning, and coping. Initially, 835 references were identified, and 24 articles were assessed for quality appraisal. Finally, 20 publications were selected. Results showed that couple adjustment was an important factor that triggered the emotional climate of the family, was positively intercorrelated to parenting alliance or coparenting, and contributed to family efficacy and help when facing stressful life events. Findings revealed a consensus about the relationship between couple dyadic adjustment and family health. The results could orientate interventions to promote well-being and to increase quality of life and family strength. Health professionals should thoroughly study couple relationships to identify risk factors, assess family skills, and promote family health.

The Relationship between Mindfulness and Emotional Intelligence as a Protective Factor for Healthcare Professionals: Systematic Review.

Emotional intelligence is an essential trait and skill for healthcare professionals. Mindfulness meditation has proved to be effective in increasing the wellbeing of those who practice it, leading to better mental health, self-care and job satisfaction. This paper aims to identify the recent evidence on the relationship between mindfulness and emotional intelligence among healthcare professionals and students. A systematic review was conducted including the databases PubMed, Cinhal, PsycINFO and Web of Science. The main variables were emotional intelligence skills and mindfulness practice. Data were extracted according to the following outcomes: authors, year of publication, country, study design, participants, mindfulness training intervention, tools used in data collection and main results. The following inclusion criteria were applied: peer-reviewed articles; published in English or Spanish; published between 2010 and 2020; quantitative methodology; a study population of healthcare professionals or students; the relationship with the aim of the study. The Joanna Briggs Institute criteria were followed for assessing the methodological quality of the selected studies. Three researchers were involved in the review. After the selection process, 10 studies were selected out of the 197 references initially identified. These studies revealed a positive relationship between mindfulness and emotional intelligence, particularly the capacity to regulate emotions. Furthermore, mindfulness is negatively related to emotional exhaustion. Training interventions based on mindfulness have proved to be useful in promoting emotional balance, emotional awareness, emotional acceptance, emotion recognition, expressive suppression and a reduction in emotional exhaustion. This study could serve as a basis for further research on the benefits of emotional intelligence and practicing mindfulness for the bio-psycho-social welfare of healthcare professionals.

Factors related to dyadic adjustment in couples with children of pediatric age. / Factores relacionados con el ajuste diádico conyugal en parejas con hijos en edad pediátrica.

AIM: To identify a relationship between social support, family life cycle, family transition and stressful events; and the dyadic adjustment among couples from Seville with children of pediatric age. METHOD: Descriptive, observational and cross-sectional study. Ninety-five Sevillian couples were recruited following a consecutive stratified sampling by quotas. They filled in a questionnaire with the study variables and the Dyadic Adjustment and Social Support scales. Data collection was carried out in 2015. The project was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Seville. Mann-Whitney U and Kruskall-Wallis non-parametric tests were used for statistical analysis, and Spearman test for correlation between variables. Significance was stated for P<.05. RESULTS: The couples were mostly marriages with good dyadic adjustment and social support. A percentage of 26.3 had infant and 73.7% children of school age. No relationship between the life cycle nor the family transition and the dyadic adjustment were identified. The beginning-end of schooling was related to spousal cohesion and there were positive correlations between dyadic adjustment and social support; and negative correlations between the number of children and social support, consensus and satisfaction of the couple. CONCLUSIONS: Social support and the number of children are identified as the main conditioning factors of dyadic adjustment. In this sense, it is essential to know the resources available to each couple to face the difficulties where social support and the union between the spouses can help them face the challenges.

[Reasons for deciding to die in hospital or at home. The vision of professionals]. / Razones para decidir morir en el hospital o en el domicilio. Visión de los/las profesionales.

OBJECTIVE: To discover the reasons for deciding to die in hospital or at home, from the perspective of professionals involved. METHOD: Qualitative phenomenological study. Intentional sample. Four multidisciplinary focus groups were held, two in hospitals and two in primary care centres in Seville (Spain). Twenty-nine professionals with at least two years experience in the care of people with a terminal disease participated, following the theoretical saturation of information criterion. RESULTS: Responses from the first script were gathered in three core categories: patient and the family, professionals and care process. Patients are generally not asked about their preferences as to where they wish to die, and if their family is not aware of their preference, it is not possible to carry out advanced planning of care. Families tend to choose the hospital because of the possibility of monitoring and resources in primary care. Professionals are trained in how to approach death, but they do not feel sufficiently prepared and focus on the clinical and administrative issues. The care process favours oncology patients because it is easier to identify their illness as terminal. Resources are not equal and interlevel communication needs to be improved. The family's involvement in the process is not facilitated, which impedes their decision-making. CONCLUSIONS: Advance care planning and use of the advance directive should be promoted, as well as, interlevel communication and coordination, supply resources, especially in primary care, and professionals should receive training on how to approach death.. The patient's family should be involved in the care process and provided the necessary support.