Teaching person-centered practice to pre-registration physiotherapy students: a qualitative study.

INTRODUCTION: There has been a call for healthcare to consider more explicitly the needs of the individual patient by adopting a person-centered approach to practice. Consideration needs to be given to how this is taught to pre-registration physiotherapy students. PURPOSE: To understand how first-year pre-registration physiotherapy students envision their philosophy of practice and how person-centered aspects of that philosophy might be implemented in a clinical setting. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 10 first-year physiotherapy students. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Five themes were identified: 1) understanding the person and their direction of travel; 2) contextual factors that impact on the delivery of person-centered practice; 3) awareness of personality traits; 4) doing the small things; and 5) the person-centered learning curve. CONCLUSION: Understanding the person and knowing what is important to them is central to the participant's philosophy of practice. They drew on specific personality traits such as listening, being patient, or using small talk to develop rapport to better understand the person they were working with. Despite the challenge of high-pressured, under resourced healthcare contexts, student physiotherapists would strive to do the small things for each person they were working with. Practice-based learning settings presented a steep learning curve and appeared to be important in developing person-centered skills which were introduced in the university setting.

Transcultural aspects of eating disorders and body image disturbance‡.

BACKGROUND: Unlike the majority of 'culture-bound syndromes', eating disorders are one of the few mental disorders initially conceptualized as 'culture-bound' to North America/Europe. Social norms vary massively within cultures-class, ethnicity and gender. Over time there have been substantial changes in body shape preferences. AIM: To describe some key areas in the transcultural aspects of eating disorders (ED) and body image disturbance (BID). METHOD: This lecture describes a different and complementary manner of understanding eating disorders, specifically anorexia nervosa (AN), from a cultural, social and psychoanalytic perspective. RESULTS: Social norms vary massively within cultures, social strata, ethnicity and gender. Social norms also vary over time leading to substantial changes in body shape preferences and the epidemiology of eating disorders. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding eating disorders requires integration of psychological factors into a cultural and epidemiological context.

'No entry', an invitation to intrude, or both? Reflections on a group of anorexic patients.

This paper describes the twice-weekly psychoanalytic psychotherapy of a young woman who had undergone major bowel surgery in her early 20s, with no clear medical indication for the surgery. Whilst the concept of 'No Entry' described by Williams (, b) aptly describes many features of more 'typical' anorexic patients, this paper describes a particular group of anorexic patients, referred by their physicians for multiple medical procedures; and proposes there is a group of anorexic patients, repeatedly referred for medical investigations, into whom particular types of entries occur. These are entries into the body 'legitimized' as medical, with a trajectory towards multiple procedures, examinations and surgical operations. Other entries (outside the medical setting) may occur in a state of altered consciousness, under the influence of alcohol or drugs, such that any wish for intrusion is disowned and denied. In both sets of events, intrusion is both invited, and consciously denied. The case example illuminates some of these features, and aspects of the countertransference are also described. Attention is drawn to relevant research focusing on surgical intrusion. Finally, there is an exploration as to how such patients may invite intrusions into the body through surgery and medical procedures.

A dangerous combination of binge and purge.

We present a 36-year-old female diagnosed with Crohn's disease at the age of 11 years. In 2001, she underwent a total colectomy and further small bowel resection as a result of active Crohn's. Her residual anatomy consisted of 150 cm of small bowel to an end jejunostomy. Subsequently, she developed short bowel syndrome with recurrent episodes of hypomagnesaemia, hypocalcaemia, and hypokalaemia. Dietetic assessment revealed her to be severely underweight at 37 kg with a bodymass index (BMI) of 14.4 kg/m(2) . During her admission, our patient underwent psychiatric assessment and was established on home parenteral nutrition (HPN). At the time of discharge, 1 month later, her weight had increased to 44 kg (BMI = 17.7 kg/m(2) ). Over the following 12-month period, she lost weight (BMI, 15.4 mg/m(2) ; weight, 39.5 kg) and she described a high stoma output (up to 17 L) and dehydration. Assessment of her oral intake found she was consuming an estimated 14,000 kcal and 600 g protein per day. At this time, the possibility of a new form of eating disorder was discussed with the patient and she agreed that her behavior i.e., using her stoma as a purging device, fulfilled the criteria for a diagnosis of bulimia nervosa and she was referred to a specialist eating disorder unit.

Using therapeutic groups to support women with faecal incontinence.

In this paper, the authors describe the use of facilitated patient groups, in the management of women with faecal incontinence (FI). Two types of groups are discussed--a psychoeducational group and a psychotherapy group. Detailed descriptions of some of the themes which emerged in these groups are provided. The effectiveness of such groups is described, with regard to both psychological and physical functioning. Further investigation into the use of groups for this patient population is recommended.

Every person matters: enabling spirituality education for nurses.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: This paper aims to identify how the statutory requirements relating to spirituality in nurse education can be supported in preservice and in-service education, in the context of inter-professional working implied by every child matters (Department for Education and Skills (DfES) Every Child Matters: Change for Children. DfES, Nottingham DfES 2004a; Every Child Matters: Change for Children in Health Services. Department of Health, London 2004). BACKGROUND: The basis for this paper is an exploration of the current requirements relating to spirituality in nursing and the consequent requirements for training and education clarified in part through a consideration of parallel policies on spirituality in school education. Inter-professional work, for example, across health, social care and education professions, has a long history in nursing and the changes brought about by the every child matters policy initiative have given such inter-professional work a considerable boost. That policy change has encouraged consideration, in this article, of some common issues arising in nursing and school education professions. METHOD: This paper consists of a critical review of current and in-coming statutory requirements related to spirituality, nursing and nurse education, and a synthetic review of definitions of and approaches to meeting spiritual needs. CONCLUSION: The emergent relational framework for considering spirituality in nurse education acknowledges the ambiguity of spirituality and treats that ambiguity as in some ways enabling rather than constraining. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: It is not simply that nurse practice will be likely to change with respect to children. Every person will, in the terminology of the policy, 'matter': there is significant urgency to consideration of effective education and training provision.

Home parenteral nutrition and the psyche: Psychological challenges for patient and family.

The paper discusses the case histories of three patients who have faced the emotional implications of being initiated onto long-term parenteral nutrition (PN). In each case the patient's personal and family history, relationship to their illness and the presence or relative absence of resentments and grievances have influenced their ability to tolerate the training and the transition to home PN (HPN). In addition, the emotional importance of food and feeding from a developmental and social perspective is explored, together with the numerous psychological and social 'losses' experienced by all patients on PN and the adaptations required within the family setting. The 'meaning' of PN to the individual and the need for both internal and external support are identified and, based on clinical experience, a number of features are described that may be indicative of the relative abilities of different patients to cope with HPN. Finally, the role of a dedicated Psychological Medicine Unit closely allied to a nutrition service is discussed.

Anorexia nervosa in gastrointestinal practice.

OBJECTIVES: To characterize the demographic, psychosocial and prognostic features of patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) presenting to a gastroenterology service, and to compare them with patients presenting to an eating disorders unit. METHODS: A retrospective study set in two centres providing a local and tertiary service for gastroenterology and eating disorders. The notes of 20 consecutive patients with AN from each centre were compared. Comparison was made with a control group of 20 consecutive patients with slow transit constipation presenting to a gastroenterology service. RESULTS: Patients with AN who presented to a gastroenterology service were significantly older, had often seen a large number of hospital specialists, had a spectrum of gastrointestinal complaints, suffered a substantial delay in being diagnosed, and had undergone a significantly greater number of investigations and hospital admissions than AN patients attending an eating disorders unit. The parents of AN patients presenting to a gastroenterology clinic had a greater burden of physical and psychiatric illness than the parents in either of the other groups, and also tended to have separated when the patients were under the age of 10 years. Adverse prognostic factors among AN patients presenting to a gastroenterology clinic included older age at presentation, long history, unemployment, early parental separation and a body mass index less than 17. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with AN presenting to a gastroenterology service have profound psychosocial morbidity in excess of those presenting to a specialist eating disorders unit. Their diagnosis is often delayed. Early recognition and prompt referral to a specialist eating disorder unit should form the basis of management.

A psychoanalytic psychotherapist working within psychiatry: covert and overt functions.

Within psychiatric practice, psychotherapy occupies a unique role. Not only is it a mode of treatment for some patients, it is also an explanatory model; not only is the psychotherapist called upon to fulfil numerous overt functions within the institution, there are also all sorts of other functions which a psychotherapist may be called upon or expected to fulfil, some more welcome and appropriate than others. Within medicine the choice of becoming a psychiatrist is often seen as feminine, unscientific, perhaps unsafe and slightly illicit. The same applies within psychiatry, to the choice of psychotherapy, and the decision to leave behind dopamine and clozapine for immeasurable, bizarre, unconscious objects. This paper will describe some of the overt and covert roles in the life of a consultant psychotherapist within the National Health Service (NHS) and then in more detail elucidate these roles with two examples from clinical practice.