European refugee crisis: psychological trauma of refugees and care givers

Purpose – In recent years, the number of refugees and migrants entering Europe has increased dramatically. Such trauma may affect not only refugees themselves, but also care givers and rescue workers. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the intensity and psychological impact of the refugee crisis, with a view to suggesting ways of moving forward. Design/methodology/approach – Based on recent literature, this paper briefly looks at the importance of attention to health and social issues, before discussing the psychological trauma of refugees and potential emotional trauma of those involved in rescue operations. Findings – The provision of psychological support which is both compassionate and culturally competent should be viewed as essential. Furthermore, the development of resources and tools to assist with the current refugee crisis could enable care givers, rescue workers, and healthcare professionals to provide psychological support to migrants and refugees. Such resources could also encourage, and support, frontline responders in caring for their own personal psychological well-being. Originality/value – The content of this paper could help to encourage further research in this field, including research into the emotional trauma of rescue workers. Furthermore, it is intended that this paper could contribute to an on-line knowledge base when considering the development of tools and resources to assist with the current refugee crisis. Keywords Crisis, Refugee, Psychological, Care-givers Paper type General revie

Socially assistive robots in health and social care: Acceptance and cultural factors. Results from an exploratory international online survey

Artículo escrito por un elevado número de autores, solo se referencian el que aparece en primer lugar, el nombre del grupo de colaboración, si lo hubiere, y los autores pertenecientes a la UAMThis study explored the views of an international sample of registered nurses and midwives working in health and social care concerning socially assistive robots (SARs), and the relationship between dimensions of culture and rejection of the idea that SARs had benefits in these settings. Methods: An online survey was used to obtain rankings of (among other topics) the extent to which SARs have benefits for health and social care. It also asked for free text responses regarding any concerns about SARs. Results: Most respondents were overwhelmingly positive about SARs' benefits. A small minority strongly rejected this idea, and qualitative analysis of the objections raised by them revealed three major themes: things might go wrong, depersonalization, and patient-related concerns. However, many participants who were highly accepting of the benefits of SARs expressed similar objections. Cultural dimensions of long-term orientation and uncertainty avoidance feature prominently in technology acceptance research. Therefore, the relationship between the proportion of respondents from each country who felt that SARs had no benefits and each country's ratings on long-term orientation and uncertainty avoidance were also examined. A significant positive correlation was found for long-term orientation, but not for uncertainty avoidance. Conclusion: Most respondents were positive about the benefits of SARs, and similar concerns about their use were expressed both by those who strongly accepted the idea that they had benefits and those who did not. Some evidence was found to suggest that cultural factors were related to rejecting the idea that SARs had benefit

Exploring compassion in U.S. nurses: results from an international research study

Nurses in the United States value their role in providing compassionate care to their patients, the family and community. This article discusses an international survey that explored key issues of compassion in nursing, specifically qualitative findings from a sample of nurses from the United States of America. Fifteen countries participated in this survey, with a total of 1,323 completed questionnaires. The article presents the background; study methods and analysis; and results and discussion. Qualitative data from the United States nurses revealed the following findings: compassion was defined caring with listening, developing a relationship, alleviating suffering, touch, and going beyond the normal role of the nurse.Findings of this study provide some understanding of the ways in which nurses in the United States provide compassionate care

The health needs of the Greek Cypriot people living in two London boroughs

This study aimed to identify the health needs of the Greek Cypriots living in London by investigating their health and health behaviours and by comparing them with those of the indigenous population. The study also sought to discover whether health workers we able to meet these needs in a culturally sensitive and competent manner by assessing the level of information in their possession and their understanding of the Greek Cypriot culture and lifestyle, and its impact on health. The study used both qualitative and quantitative methodologies for the collection and analysis of data. The two main methods used were the face-to-face interviews and the survey. A total of 358 individuals took part in the study. The findings of the qualitative phase, provide a unique insight into the health beliefs, values and practices of the Greek Cypriots and indicate that culture is indeed an important influencing factor on health and lifestyles. The health and lifestyle survey provides statistical information which has not been available thus far, and whilst some of the findings should be viewed with caution, some are statistically significant and generalisable. Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of morbidity; over 40% of the sample population were overweight whilst 60% of the sample population led sedentary lives; the incidence of smoking is higher than in the rest of the population; stress levels are also very high. The survey revealed major inconsistencies between the respondents' knowledge about illness causation and their health behaviours. It also revealed that health workers, particularly GPs are failing to provide adequate and relevant health advice. The findings from the survey on the primary health needs of the Greek Cypriot women revealed the inability of health workers to provide culturally sensitive care and highlighted the problems faced by those who speak little or no English. The knowledge of the health purchasers and providers about the needs of the Greek Cypriots varied but it was generally far from being adequate. The study makes a number of recommendations for health policy, action and research. Policy makers and health providers need to compile a detail profile of the health, illness and lifestyles of the Greek Cypriot community which, in North London at least, forms one of the largest minority ethnic communities. There is no doubt that the Greek Cypriot community, needs to collaborate with the health purchasers and providers in the development and implementation of health promotion campaigns which must acknowledge the importance of culture and language. Some of the difficulties faced by the Greek Cypriot community may be alleviated if more members of the community entered the caring professions particularly nursing. A model for the promotion and provision of culturally competent care is suggested. Finally, it is recommended that more research is undertaken in some of the areas identified in the study particularly on the effects of culture on the first and subsequent generations of Greek Cypriots, on sensitive health issues such as mental health, sexual health, bereavement and loss, as well as the centrality of family as a force for health and illness

Embedding ethics in the design of culturally competent socially assistive robots

Research focusing on the development of socially assistive robots (SARs) that will promote the health, well-being and quality of life of older persons and of their caregivers has been growing in recent years. This growth has prompted a great deal of ethical reflection on the future of SARs in care, but there is an increasing awareness of the divide that often separates the settings in which ethics research and debate take place from those where technological innovation is practiced. Different frameworks have been proposed to handle the ethical dimension of technology from within the design and development process, including Value Sensitive Design (VSD). VSD has been defined as a theoretically grounded approach to the design of technology that accounts for human values in a principled and comprehensive manner throughout the design process. Inspired in part by VSD, we have developed a process geared towards embedding ethics at the core of CARESSES, an international multidisciplinary project that aims to design the first culturally competent SAR for the care of older adults. Here we describe that process, including how we utilized qualitative thematic analysis to extract key ethical concepts from relevant ethical guidelines (Alzheimer Europe's Guidelines and Position on the Ethical Use of Assistive Technologies for/by People with Dementia), and how we applied those concepts to the scenarios that describe how the CARESSES robot will interact with individuals belonging to different cultures and provide the grounding for its cultural competence. This straightforward approach highlights the ethical implications of the robot’s behavior during the design process and thus it enables researchers to identify and engage with ethical problems proactively, rather than restrict ethics to retrospective assessments. With suitable modifications, it may be usefully applied in other research projects involving SARs