Nurturing yourself and each other: the value of emotional intelligence

Background: Emotional intelligence refers to the individual's capacity to identify, use, understand and respond appropriately to emotions in themselves and others. The nursing and midwifery literature recommends emotional intelligence as an important construct for enhancing well-being amongst nurses and midwives. Despite this, how nursing and midwifery students perceive emotional intelligence is not well understood. Emotional intelligence capabilities are seen as fundamental to the student nurse or midwifes ability to negotiate the emotional complexities of clinical practice as well as support their own emotional well-being. Objective: The study aimed to explore final year undergraduate nursing and midwifery students' perceptions of emotional intelligence. Method: Qualitative data were collected via face to face semi-structured interviews with final year Bachelor of Nursing and Bachelor of Nursing and Bachelor of Midwifery enrolled at Deakin University, Victoria. Interviews were digitally recorded with participants' written and informed consent and professionally transcribed. Data was analysed using thematic analysis. Key Findings: Emotional intelligence was valued as an important concept, yet the application of emotional intelligence to their undergraduate curriculum was not well-defined. Participants appeared to be caught between competing paradigms; their perceptions of emotional intelligence and the reality of the clinical environment. Participants acknowledged the emotional aspects of their classroom and clinical learning, but were ill equipped and/or were not supported in linking their coping strategies to emotional intelligence. Suppression or denial of emotions, or distancing themselves behind tasks and policies were some of the strategies employed by participants in their attempt to impose emotional control within the clinical environment. Conclusion: Explicitly nurturing emotional intelligence in their undergraduate years would convey to nursing and midwifery students the importance of emotional well-being and may better equip them to manage the emotional complexities of their professional life

Gender-based vulnerabilities for women during natural disasters in Bangladesh

IntroductionFactors that negatively impact women's disaster experiences include poor disaster preparedness, lack of access to a safe place, displacement worries, distance from shelters, risk of abuse in shelters, poverty, and low cultural position of women in rural Bangladesh. This study aimed to give voice to women who experienced gender-based vulnerabilities during natural disasters.MethodsThe research was conducted with women in the two disaster-prone areas utilizing a qualitative approach. Women, aged 18 years or above, who were permanent residents of the selected disaster-prone areas and have experienced one or more disasters, were invited to participate in the study. Twenty-four women volunteered to participate. Data were collected through semi-structured in-depth interview recordings containing questions on sociodemographic characteristics and open-ended questions to assess gender-based vulnerabilities during disasters; data were analyzed using thematic analysis techniques.ResultsOne main theme and six sub-themes emerged from the analysis. Women were often in the middle of making life choices between the risk of being abused and death in disasters. Shelters lacked privacy, heightened the risk of abuse, and women faced social stigma if displaced from their homes during a disaster. The women also experienced health risks because of inadequate hygiene and poor living arrangements such as a lack of adequate shelters, toilet facilities, and secure gender-segregated living arrangements if relocation was essential during a disaster.DiscussionFindings from this study provide guidance to policymakers and disaster aid organizations on disaster preparedness and post-disaster facilities to address the socio-cultural needs of rural women in disaster-prone areas of Bangladesh

Incorporating emotional intelligence in nursing and midwifery education

[Extract] Emotions permeate nursing and midwifery practice, understanding one's own emotions is the basis of understanding the emotions of others, a critical skill for healthcare professionals (Freshwater & Stickley, 2004). Historically, the emotional aspects of clinical practice were deemed far too perilous for the nursing and midwifery student which resulted in a task orientated approach to the delivery of care (Menzies, 1960)

Pre-registration student nurses' preconceptions, attitudes and experience regarding clinical placement in primary health care

Background: There is a renewed focus on the role of primary health care within health systems owing to an ageing population, increasing cost of acute health care services and an emphasis on developing healthier communities. Associated with this focus is the need for increasing the primary health care workforce capacity. However, primary health care is rarely prioritised within pre-registration nursing curricula. By understanding the perspectives and experiences of student nurses regarding clinical placement in primary health care, educators and industry will be better informed to support the student nurse within this setting.Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the preconceptions, attitudes and experience of pre-registration nursing students who were assigned clinical placement at a primary health care clinic.Method: Naturalistic inquiry and qualitative research methods were used in this study. Eight pre-registration student nurses who had attended clinical placement within a primary health care clinic were recruited and individually interviewed. Interview transcripts were thematically analysed, and findings were developed according to the Preconceptions and Learning Framework (Meheut, 2012).Findings: Three themes were modelled on the Preconceptions and Learning Framework. Theme one is preconceptions, which refers to the varying preconceived ideas the participants held towards primary health care. Theme two is learning and this theme relates to the way in which the clinical placement experience in primary health care altered some participants' preconceived ideas towards this setting. The third theme is knowledge, and it relates to the increased understanding the participants held towards primary health care, and the broader health care system, as a result of the clinical placement experience. Conclusions: To ensure pre-registration student nurses are properly prepared to enter the workforce, they need to be provided nursing education that acknowledges and values the role of primary health care within the healthcare system. Hence, primary health care needs to be integrated throughout pre-registration nursing curricula to ensure understanding and value, and such integration should include clinical placement within this setting

Women's health-related vulnerabilities in natural disasters: a systematic review protocol

Introduction: There is a paucity of evidence identifying both the physical and psychological health risks and underlying causes of women’s health-related vulnerabilities related to natural disasters. Therefore, this systematic review will be conducted to determine the impact of natural disasters on women’s health from a global perspective. Methods and analysis: Five electronic databases of health research, including ProQuest, ProQuest Health and Medicine, PubMed, PsycINFO and CINAHL, will be searched to retrieve relevant literature where Medical Subject Headings terms and keywords will be used depending on the search method of each database. Google Scholar will also be searched for preliminary information on the topic and to check for further evidence that may have been missed. Inclusion and exclusion criteria will be developed and refined by the research team. We will restrict our search for empirical full-text articles published in the English language peer-reviewed journals between July 2008 and June 2018 to ensure contemporary evidence is retrieved. Two authors will participate in each step in the process, including title, abstract and full-text screening against inclusion criteria, data extraction and quality appraisal. The quality of selected studies will be assessed using the Mixed Method Appraisal Tool. Data synthesis will follow a sequential explanatory approach. Finally, the quantitative and qualitative findings will be merged under themes and described using a narrative approach. Ethics and dissemination: Formal ethical approval is not required as primary data will not be collected. The results will be published in an international peer-reviewed journal and presented at national and international conferences