The Health of a Migrant Population: A Phenomenological Study of the Experience of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in a Multicultural Context.

Refugees and asylum seekers bring with them a plurality of cultures, traditions, and values that could prove crucial in influencing perceived health needs, requests for intervention, or willingness to undergo specific health treatments. Although studies have focused on the health consequences of forced migration, in recent years, there has been a lack of information on how refugees and asylum seekers represent their experiences of perceived health needs and elements that influence well-being, in a community context. This study aims to explore the experience of refugees and asylum seekers in an Italian multicultural community about perceived health needs. A qualitative phenomenological study was conducted with an interpretive approach. The data were collected using a semi-structured face-to-face interview. The interviews were transcribed, read thoroughly, and analyzed. Nineteen refugees and asylum seekers were interviewed. Three main themes were extracted: (1) the centrality of the family to feel healthy; (2) feeling part of a community; and (3) stability and security. The results confirm that health needs, experiences, and different cultural representations of health and illness should be read and addressed with a culturally competent vision. This study was not registered.

Living in a multicultural context: Health and integration from the perspective of undocumented Mediterranean migrants, residents, and stakeholders in Italy. A qualitative-multimethod study.

AIM: To catch a representative view of a multicultural population's needs. DESIGN: Qualitative study. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted from July 2022 to January 2023 with the project's stakeholders, migrants, and residents. Data analysis was performed using a multimethod textual analysis technique. FINDINGS: Territorial barriers, lack of social network, and specific professionals' training emerged as healthcare delivery obstacles. For migrants, language improvement emerged as a health priority. A deep relationship with migrants emerged as a deficiency for residents. CONCLUSION: A welcoming project equipped with solid leadership and the right resources can be fundamental in mediating health promotion and integration. In this process, the involvement of the resident population is essential. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION AND/OR PATIENT CARE: Analysing the migrants' needs and the strengths and limitations of a reception system could help identify the challenges for professionals in delivering culturally competent care. In this context, the nurse's role becomes relevant, being responsible for taking charge and caring for the population and the link between professionals and the population. WHAT PROBLEM DID THE STUDY ADDRESS?: The study addressed the problem of improving the overall health of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, mainly focusing on reception and integration into a new society process. WHAT WERE THE MAIN FINDINGS?: Worse health was identified with adaptation, integration, and family problems. Territorial barriers emerged, hindering good health. WHERE AND ON WHOM WILL THE RESEARCH HAVE AN IMPACT?: These research findings can be valuable for health professionals who want to improve the reception process and enhance a care model integrated with residents. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: No patient or public contribution. REPORTING METHOD: To describe the research report, we referred to the COREQ checklist (Tong et al., 2007).

New frontiers for qualitative textual data analysis: a multimethod statistical approach.

In recent years, the increase in textual data production has meant that researchers require faster text analysis techniques and software to reliably produce knowledge for the scientific-nursing community. Automatic text data analysis opens the frontiers to a new research area combining the depth of analysis typical of qualitative research and the stability of measurements required for quantitative studies. Thanks to the statistical-computational approach, it proposes to study more or less extensive written texts produced in natural language to reveal lexical and linguistic worlds and extract useful and meaningful information for researchers. This article aims to provide an overview of this methodology, which has been rarely used in the nursing community to date.

Designing and conducting qualitative research across countries and cultures: challenges for inclusiveness and rigour.

Qualitative research is fundamental to understanding the nature and complexity of human phenomena. While cultural and psychometric validations exist for quantitative tools, the same cannot be said of qualitative ones. There are other many challenges when conducting a multinational qualitative study, which includes different cultural and linguistic 'biases'. This paper presents some key issues that researchers may encounter when designing and developing multinational and multicultural qualitative studies, and also provides some strategies to overcome difficulties and ensure rigour.

[The perception of time in hospice patients: qualitative study.] / La percezione del tempo nei pazienti in hospice: studio qualitativo.

BACKGROUND: Temporal dimension in hospice has an essential role, because the perception of time by the patients is influenced by the perspective of death. There are few international scientific studies and even fewer Italian studies about the perception of time by the patients, especially in palliative care. Therefore it's important to implement studies in this area with the purpose of giving more respectful and appropriate caring. AIM: This study aimed to explore the perception of time by hospice patients and the implications that the perception of time has on the quality of life, and propose a time reading model. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Qualitative approach was used. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 25 hospice patients, enrolled with purposeful sampling. Data analysis was conducted using Qualitative Content Analysis. RESULTS: The perception of time by patients in palliative care was described through three main themes: "time has quality and value", "time can be governed by people or dominate the person", "time has a present dimension that passes quickly or slowly and a future dimension made up of expectation and hopes". Was proposed a time reading model about connection between Aiòn, Chronos and Kairòs. CONCLUSIONS: Through interviews was explored perception of time by patient obtaining useful elements for nursing care. This study suggests possible future directions for research about further elements that influence the experience of time and about the healthcare professional perspective about this theme.

[When medicine is respectful.] / Quando la medicina è rispettosa.

There is a relevant gap between the medicine learned on books and the clinical practice made of suffering humans facing us. Guidelines recommendations don't usually cover this aspect. The Slow Medicine movement, born in 2011, stands as a model a sober respectful and right healthcare. Everyone is entitled to express himself freely: a respectful medicine receives worths, choices and tendencies of the patient in every moment of his life. The keystone of slow decisions is to respect patient's freedom and autonomy, and to recognize his ability to make decisions even if he is elderly and frail. Listening to a patient's biography and welcoming his personal needs and expectations allows the physician to spread comfort, trust and gratification.

Lived experiences of frontline nurses and physicians infected by COVID-19 during their activities: A phenomenological study.

We analyzed the lived experiences of frontline nurses and physicians who were affected by COVID-19 through a phenomenological approach, using Cohen's methodology with interview data. The participants were enrolled in the study in May 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. The inclusion criteria were (i) being a nurse or physician employed full time caring for COVID-19 patients before falling ill; (ii) contracting SARS-CoV-2 between February 2020 to May 2020; (iii) having recovered before enrollment; and (iv) providing informed consent to participate. Sixteen participants (60% nurses) with an average age of 45 years were included. The following main themes were extrapolated from our data analysis: "fear of diagnosis," "loneliness (as isolation)," "touch of nurses," and "feeling guilty of abandonment." Several aspects emerging from our study highlight the strong emotional impact of COVID on nurses and physicians infected during their activities, such as feelings of fear and loneliness on the one hand, and of impotence and guilt for not being able to help on the other.

Anxiety, sleep disorders and self-efficacy among nurses during COVID-19 pandemic: A large cross-sectional study.

AIM AND OBJECTIVES: To assess the prevalence of anxiety, sleep disorders and self-efficacy and their predicting factors among nurses facing COVID-19. BACKGROUND: The spread of COVID-19 throughout the world determined a series of modifications of several National Health Service organisations, with a potential series of psychological consequences among nurses, who were particularly afflicted by this situation of changes and precariousness. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study was carried out from February-April 2020. METHODS: A total of 1,005 nurses employed in different Italian hospital wards, during the COVID-19 pandemic, were recruited. Analyses were based on descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression. The STROBE checklist for cross-sectional studies was used in this study. RESULTS: The prevalence of sleep disturbances, moderate anxiety and low self-efficacy was 71.4%, 33.23% and 50.65%, respectively. We found a positive correlation between anxiety and sleep quality (0.408; p < .0001) and negative correlations between self-efficacy and anxiety (-0.217; p < .0001) and sleep quality and self-efficacy (-0.134; p < .0001). The factor independently associated with all variables was gender. Females were more prone to sleep disturbances, anxiety and low levels of self-efficacy than males (p < .05). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of anxiety, sleep disorders and low self-efficacy among Italian nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic was high. Healthcare managers should recognise and consider these results to reduce the risk of the onset of major mental problems that could result in post-traumatic stress disorder. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Nurses facing major incidents as COVID-19 pandemic are among healthcare personnel exposed to a high risk to develop psychological disturbance that should be assessed and recognised, in order to find helpful coping strategies to inform support services and avoid to hesitate in post-traumatic stress disorders.

Nursing during the COVID-19 outbreak: A phenomenological study.

AIM: The aim of this study was to explore the experience of Italian nurses engaged in caring for patients with COVID-19. BACKGROUND: COVID-19 found the health care world unprepared to face an emergency of such magnitude. Italy was one of the most affected European countries, with more than 250,000 cases. Understanding the impact of events of this magnitude on nurses provides a framework of knowledge on which educational training could be based to face similar situations in the future to prevent further breakdown. METHODS: The hermeneutic approach by Cohen was used. Semi-structured interviews were conducted using a voice-over Internet protocol. Interviews were transcribed, read in depth and analysed. RESULTS: Twenty nurses were interviewed. Four themes were extracted: uncertainty and fear, alteration of perceptions of time and space, change in the meaning of 'to care' and changes in roles and relationships. CONCLUSIONS: Psychological support in association with emergency training prevents stress and helps tackle compassion fatigue. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Policies to improve nursing science should be developed to ensure better quality of care, a higher number of professionals and, consequently, an increase in the safety of patients.

[Palliative care and end-of-life care: nurse, what are you looking for?] / Cure palliative e di fine vita: infermiere, cosa cerchi?

Palliative care and end-of-life (EOL) care are highly requested in hospital, especially in the Internal Medicine wards, exposed, as they are, to receive elderly, frail patients affected by multiple chronic diseases and limited life expectancy. Within the medical staff, the nurses are specifically responsible to guarantee an appropriate and non-futile standard of care for this kind of patients, oriented to their real requirements and primarily to the relief their symptoms, without disregarding their spiritual needs. The competence in EOL-care should be equally distributed and shared among physicians and nurses in all clinical settings, because every single component should be able to plan its own intervention according to the comfort care concept, and, in the meanwhile, should be able to share decisions in an interdisciplinary manner. This is the only way for clinical pathways to result efficacious as they should be.«Astieniti nelle ultime fasi di vita della persona assistita da procedure invasive, seleziona gli interventi da attuare a garanzia della sua dignità, della sua qualità di vita e della gestione di sintomi, in modo particolare del controllo del dolore¼.

[The wind makes its rounds.] / Il vento fa il suo giro.

The encounter between a patient and the caregiver is always the encounter between two human beings. The commentary tells the story of the relationship between a 30-year-old man suffering from AIDS and a nurse who first accepts him at the hospital and then takes care of him, guaranteeing home care, even beyond the time strictly necessary for therapy, until the death of the patient. This relationship of care is renewed in the surprising encounter between the woman and the son of the patient who has become a man, a medical student.

[Et d'allhora in poi, mai si sentì più bene: a historical survey to find nursing origins in post-tridentine whitchcraft lawsuits in County of Bormio (1596-1630)]. / Et d'allhora in poi, mai si sentì più bene: un'indagine storica alla ricerca delle origini dell'assistenza infermieristica nei processi per stregoneria del Contado di Bormio nel periodo post-tridentino (1596-1630).

INTRODUCTION: The phenomenon of witch-hunting in the post-tridentine period is a crucial moment for the history of nursing care. Modern historiography tells that women accused of witchcraft were custodian of female knowledge, both in domestic and small communities. PURPOSE: To investigate the witchcraft phenomenon in specific context of Bormio country- side, in order to identify proper nursing acts in gestures of women accused of witchcraft or sorcery. METHODS: Process for witchcraft - sorcery against 7 women in Bormio, between 1590 and 1631, were reviewed through a historical research methodology: sources retrieval, description and documentary analysis characterization, interpretation. RESULTS: In nearly all legal proceedings analyzed an indictment due to a healthcare expertise was found in terms of touch, feed, nearness, word. By multiple daily acts of women, intention to help and to express solidarity was clear, in a scenario of disease and suffering, solidarity is shown by acts of care. CONCLUSIONS: As a result of this study, we can resume that the period of the witches, so hard for women , was an age of repression for history of nursing itself. Mankind lifestyle, assistance, aid are ontological and anthropological foundations of nursing. Therefore, a past research of the traces of those foundations could mean rebuilding the own sense of nursing act: we tried to get an approach to that sense also "listening to" the gestures of women in Bormio.