International study on nurses' views and experiences of compassion

BACKGROUND: Compassion is considered the cornerstone of nursing practice. However, the recent failures in delivering high-quality compassionate nursing care in the UK's National Health Service have brought the topic of compassion to the attention of the public, service providers, policy makers and academics. AIM: The aim of this study was to explore the nurses' views and experiences of a number of compassion-related issues in nursing and describe similarities and differences at an international level as well as from the different nursing roles of the participating nurses. METHODS: An exploratory, cross-sectional descriptive study, using the International Online Compassion Questionnaire. A total of 1323 nurses from 15 countries completed the questionnaire. RESULTS: The majority of participants (59.5%) defined compassion as "Deep awareness of the suffering of others and wish to alleviate it" but definitions of compassion varied by country. Of participants, 69.6% thought compassion was very important in nursing and more than half (59.6%) of them argued that compassion could be taught. However, only 26.8% reported that the correct amount and level of teaching is provided. The majority of the participants (82.6%) stated that their patients prefer knowledgeable nurses with good interpersonal skills. Only 4.3% noted that they are receiving compassion from their managers. A significant relationship was found between nurses' experiences of compassion and their views about teaching of compassion. CONCLUSION: Our study is unique in identifying the views and experiences of nurses from 15 different countries worldwide. The findings reveal that compassion is neither addressed adequately in nursing education nor supported in the practice environment by managers. LIMITATIONS: Self-report bias was inherent to our survey study design. Furthermore, the individual cultural differences and similarities in the findings are difficult to extrapolate owing to the fact that our analysis was at country level, as well as at the level of the participating nurses. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING POLICY: Understanding the influence of culture on nurses' views about compassion is critical in the current multicultural healthcare environment and merits further research. This will potentially drive changes in nursing education (ensuring that compassion is taught to nurses) and in the way healthcare leaders and managers foster a compassionate culture within their organizations (e.g. by leading by example and compassionate to their staff). © 2016 International Council of Nurses

Obstacles to compassion-giving among nursing and midwifery managers: an international study

Aim: To explore nursing and midwifery managers’ views regarding obstacles to compassion-giving across country cultures. Background: The benefit of compassionate leadership is being advocated, but despite the fact that healthcare is invariably conducted within culturally diverse workplaces, the interconnection of culture, compassion and leadership is rarely addressed. Furthermore, evidence on how cultural factors hinder the expression of compassion among nursing and midwifery managers is lacking. Methods: Cross-sectional, exploratory, international online survey involving 1 217 participants from 17 countries. Managers’ responses on open-ended questions related to barriers for providing compassion were entered and thematically analysed through NVivo. Results: Three key themes related to compassion-giving obstacles emerged across countries: 1. related to the managers’ personal characteristics and experiences; 2. system-related; 3. staff-related. Conclusions: Obstacles to compassion-giving among managers vary across countries. An understanding of the variations across countries and cultures of what impedes compassion to flourish in healthcare is important. Implications for nursing practice and policy: Nursing mangers should wisely use their power by adopting leadership styles that promote culturally competent and compassionate workplaces with respect for human rights. Policymakers should identify training and mentoring needs to enable the development of managers’ practical wisdom. Appropriate national and international policies should facilitate the establishment of standards and guidelines for compassionate leadership, in the face of distorted organisational cultures and system-related obstacles to compassion-giving

Enactment of compassionate leadership by nursing and midwifery managers: results from an international online survey

Aim To explore the views of an international sample of nursing and midwifery managers concerning attributes that they associate with compassionate management. Method A cross- sectional online survey. Using a snowballing sampling method, 1217 responses were collected from nursing and midwifery managers in 17 countries. A total of complete 933 responses to a question related to which actions and behaviours indicated that a manager was exercising compassionate leadership were analysed for this paper. First, content analysis of the responses was conducted, and second, a relative distribution of the identified themes for the overall sample and for each participating country was calculated. Results Six main themes were identified describing the attributes of a compassionate leader: (1) Virtuous support, (2) Communication, (3) Personal virtues of the manager, (4) Participatory communication, (5) Growth/flourishing/ nurturing and (6) Team cohesion. The first three themes mentioned above collectively accounted for 63% of the responses, and can therefore be considered to be the most important characteristics of compassionate management behaviour. Conclusion The key indicators of compassionate management in nursing and midwifery which were identified emphasise approachability, active and sensitive listening, sympathetic responses to staff members’ difficulties (especially concerning child and other caring responsibilities), active support of and advocacy for the staff team and active problem solving and conflict resolution. While there were differences between the countries’ views on compassionate healthcare management, some themes were widely represented among different countries’ responses, which suggest key indicators of compassionate management that apply across culture

The importance of being a compassionate leader: the views of nursing and midwifery managers from around the world

Introduction: Despite the importance of compassionate leadership in health care, many of the existing publications do not account for the effect of culture. The aim of this study is to explore the views of nursing and midwifery managers from different countries in relation to the definition, advantages, and importance of compassion. Methodology: A cross-sectional, descriptive, exploratory online survey was conducted across 17 countries, containing both closed and open-ended questions. Data from N = 1,217 respondents were analyzed using a directed hybrid approach focusing only on qualitative questions related to compassion-giving. Results: Four overarching themes capture the study’s results: (1) definition of compassion, (2) advantages and importance of compassion for managers, (3) advantages and importance of compassion for staff and the workplace, and (4) culturally competent and compassionate leadership. Discussion: Innovative research agendas should pursue further local qualitative empirical research to inform models of culturally competent and compassionate leadership helping mangers navigate multiple pressures and be able to transculturally resonate with their staff and patients

Obstacles to compassion-giving among nursing and midwifery managers: an international study

Aim: To explore nursing and midwifery managers’ views regarding obstacles to compassion-giving across country cultures. Background: The benefit of compassionate leadership is being advocated, but despite the fact that health care is invariably conducted within culturally diverse workplaces, the interconnection of culture, compassion and leadership is rarely addressed. Furthermore, evidence on how cultural factors hinder the expression of compassion among nursing and midwifery managers is lacking. Methods: Cross-sectional, exploratory, international online survey involving 1 217 participants from 17 countries. Managers’ responses on open-ended questions related to barriers for providing compassion were entered and thematically analysed through NVivo. Results: Three key themes related to compassion-giving obstacles emerged across countries: 1. related to the managers’ personal characteristics and experiences; 2. system-related; and 3. staff-related. Conclusions: Obstacles to compassion-giving among managers vary across countries. An understanding of the variations across countries and cultures of what impedes compassion to flourish in health care is important. Implications for nursing practice and policy: Nursing mangers should wisely use their power by adopting leadership styles that promote culturally competent and compassionate workplaces with respect for human rights. Policymakers should identify training and mentoring needs to enable the development of managers’ practical wisdom. Appropriate national and international policies should facilitate the establishment of standards and guidelines for compassionate leadership, in the face of distorted organizational cultures and system-related obstacles to compassion-giving

On a certain method of selection of domain for finite element modelling of the layered elastic half-space in the static analysis of flexible pavement

In the flexible road pavement design a mechanistic model of a multilayered half-space with linear elastic or viscoelastic layers is usually used for the pavement analysis. This paper describes a domain selection for the purpose of a FE model creating of the linear elastic layered half-space and boundary conditions on borders of that domain. This FE model should guarantee that the key components of displacements, stresses and strains obtained using ABAQUS program would be in particular identical with those ones obtained by analytical method using VEROAD program. It to achieve matching results with both methods is relatively easy for stresses and strains. However, for displacements, using FEM to obtain correct results is (understandably) highly problematic due to infinity of half-space. This paper proposes an original method of overcoming these difficulties

On a Certain Method of Selection of Domain for Finite Element Modelling of the Layered Elastic Half-Space in the Static Analysis of Flexible Pavement

In the flexible road pavement design a mechanistic model of a multilayered half-space with linear elastic or viscoelastic layers is usually used for the pavement analysis

Homogeneous elastic half-space and this type half-space with additional upper elastic layer as the mechanistic models of road pavement

W artykule przedstawiono wyniki obliczeń porównawczych przemieszczeń i odkształceń na podstawie różnych modeli mechanicznych nawierzchni drogowych podatnych: półprzestrzeni sprężystej wielowarstwowej odzwierciedlającej warstwy konstrukcyjne nawierzchni i jej podłoże gruntowe, dwóch wariantów modeli uproszczonych w postaci sprężystej półprzestrzeni jednorodnej z dodatkową sprężystą warstwą wierzchnią odzwierciedlającą wszystkie warstwy konstrukcyjne (w wariancie pierwszym) lub tylko warstwy asfaltowe (w wariancie drugim) oraz modelu zastępczego (uśrednionego) w postaci jednorodnej półprzestrzeni sprężystej.The paper presents the results of comparative calculations of deformations and strains on the basis of different mechanistic models of road pavement: multi-layer elastic half-space that reflects the structure and subsoil, two variants of simplified models in the form of a homogeneous elastic halfspace with an additional elastic cover layer that reflects all the construction layers (in the first variant) or only asphalt layers (in the second variant) and a homogenized model (averaged) in the form of a homogeneous elastic half-space

On the influence of the size of certain weakness of foundation in the Westergaard problem

We wcześniejszej pracy autorów [3] zbadano wpływ pewnego typu osłabień podłoża pod płytą nawierzchni drogowej sztywnej w zagadnieniu Westergaarda [1,2], tj. określeniu maksymalnych ugięć i maksymalnych naprężeń w płycie prostokątnej sprężystej spoczywającej na podłożu Winklera w przypadku obciążenia kołem pojazdu w trzech położeniach: w narożu, na środku i przy krawędzi płyty. Jako osłabienie podłoża przyjęto jego brak na powierzchni prostokątnej równej 1/9 powierzchni płyty - w różnych położeniach względem płyty. Dla każdego z obciążeń określono najniekorzystniejsze położenia osłabienia podłoża. W tym artykule przedstawiono wyniki badania wrażliwości maksymalnych ugięć i maksymalnych naprężeń rozciągających na wielkość osłabienia podłoża w zdefiniowanych w pracy [3] najniekorzystniejszych położeniach. Analizowano jaki wpływ ma wielkość ubytku podłoża na rozważane wielkości. Przedstawiono plany warstwicowe maksymalnych naprężeń rozciągających w różnych wariantach zadania oraz wykresy zależności maksymalnych naprężeń i przemieszczeń w funkcji wielkości ubytku podłoża. Określono, przy jakich rozmiarach osłabienia podłoża może mieć ono istotny wpływ na wytrzymałość płyty. Przeprowadzone obliczenia wykonano z wykorzystaniem metody elementów skończonych, na bazie wcześniejszych doświadczeń modelowania.In the previous paper of the authors [3] the analysis of some regular weakness of the foundation in the Werstergaard problem was discussed. Maximum displacements and maximum stresses were considered. The weakness was 1/9 of the plate area in various positions. The most dangerous situations were defined. The present paper is an extension of previous considerations for the analysis of sensitivity of the results for the size of weakness. The results are presented in the form of maximal stress maps (for qualitative analysis) as well as the tables and graphs (for quantitative analysis). The plate was modeled with the use of the finite element method

Effect of contact surface of truck wheel with the road flexible pavement on its deformation and durability. Application of FEM with use of ABAQUS software

W artykule przedstawiono wpływ na deformację sprężystą i trwałość nawierzchni drogowej podatnej kształtu powierzchni kontaktu koła pojazdu z nawierzchnią, na przykładzie powierzchni zbliżonej kształtem do eliptycznego i na przykładzie typowego (reprezentatywnego) układu warstw nawierzchni. Założono, że modelem mechanistycznym nawierzchni jest wielowarstwowa półprzestrzeń liniowo sprężysta, a obciążenie wynikające z oddziaływania koła na nawierzchnię jest statyczne, prostopadłe do nawierzchni i rozłożone równomiernie na wspomnianej powierzchni oraz – do celów porównawczych – na powierzchni kołowej (o tym samym polu powierzchni). Przyjęto także wariant „powierzchni podwójnej” wynikający z oddziaływania na nawierzchnię koła podwójnego. W tym celu zastosowano MES i wykonano obliczenia z wykorzystaniem programu ABAQUS.The effect of the contact surface of standard truck wheel (in the shape of area close to an elliptical one) with the road pavement (of a typical, representative set of layers) on the elastic deformation and durability of the pavement is shown in the paper. It was assumed that the pavement model is multi-layered linear elastic half-space and the load resulting from the impact of the wheel on the pavement is static, perpendicular to the pavement surface and uniformly distributed on the undertaken surface, and – for comparison purposes – on being frequently in use circular surface (of the same surface area). Also the variant of "double surface" due to the impact of dual wheel is taken into account. For this aim Finite Element Method was applied and ABAQUS software was used