PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore how traditional ritual practices are incorporated into the context of contemporary healthcare. METHODS: An ethnographic study was conducted, using observations and interviews with 27 first-time mothers and 3 nurses at a postpartum nursing center in Taipei, Taiwan. RESULTS: Nursing routines, policies and care provision at the center affected the way traditional ritual practices were conducted. New mothers in this study constructed their everyday activities at the center by incorporating and modifying the ritual practices inside and outside the postpartum nursing center setting. CONCLUSIONS: Social changes have an influence on traditional postpartum ritual practices so a postpartum nursing center becomes a choice for postpartum women. Thus, health care professionals should value their own functions and roles at the postpartum nursing center since the new mothers regard them as the primary support resource to help them recover from giving birth. Therefore, they need to re-examine their practices from the postpartum women's perspective to provide better support and sensitive care to postpartum women and their families.
Adult ; Ambulatory Care Facilities/trends ; Attitude of Health Personnel ; Education, Nonprofessional ; Female ; Humans ; Length of Stay ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional/trends ; Mothers/education/psychology ; Nurse's Role ; Nursing Process ; Obstetric Nursing/*trends ; Postnatal Care/*trends ; Postpartum Period/*ethnology ; Taiwan/ethnology

PURPOSE: The purposes of this methodologic paper are to (1) describe theoretical background in conducting research across different cultures; (2) address measurement issues related to instrument administration; and (3) provide strategies to deal with measurement issues. METHODS: A thorough review of the literature was conducted. A theoretical background is provided, and examples of administering instrument in studies are described. RESULTS: When applying an instrument to different cultures, both equivalence and bias need to be established. Three levels of equivalence, i.e., construct equivalence, measurement unit equivalence, and full score comparability, need to be explained to maintain the same concept being measured. In this paper, sources of bias in construct, method, and item are discussed. Issues related to instrument administration in a cross-cultural study are described. CONCLUSION: Researchers need to acknowledge various group differences in concept and/or language that include a specific set of symbols and norms. There is a need to question the philosophical and conceptual appropriateness of an assessment measure that has been conceptualized and operationalized in a different culture. Additionally, testing different response formats such as narrowing response range can be considered to reduce bias.
Attitude of Health Personnel/ethnology ; Attitude to Health/ethnology ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; Communication Barriers ; *Cross-Cultural Comparison ; Data Collection/*methods/standards ; Humans ; Interviews as Topic/methods/standards ; Nursing Assessment ; Nursing Research/*methods/standards ; Philosophy, Nursing ; Psychometrics ; Reproducibility of Results ; Research Design/standards ; Researcher-Subject Relations/psychology ; Transcultural Nursing/*methods/standards ; Translating

PURPOSE: Professional nursing ethics is a living, dynamic set of standards for nurses'professional moral behavior. Furthermore, in daily clinical nursing training, nursing students are constantly confronted with decisionmaking that is moral in nature. The aim of this study was to identify the perceived ethical attitudes in the clinical training process of senior nursing students using Q-methodology to offer basic strategies for nursing ethics education and thereby improve patients'care. METHODS: Q-methodology provides a scientific method for identifying perception structures that exist within certain individuals or groups. Thirty-seven participants in a university rated 38 selected Q-statements on a scale of 1-9. The collected data were analyzed using pc-QUNAL software. RESULTS: Principal component analysis identified 3 types of ethical attitudes in nursing students in Korea. The categories were labeled Sacred-life, Science-realistic and Humane-life. Sacred-life individuals think that a life belongs to an absolute power (God), not a man, and a human life is a high and noble thing. Science-realistic individuals disagreed that allowing an induced abortion or embryo (human) duplication is unethical behavior that provokes a trend, which takes the value of a life lightly; most of them took a utilitarian position with respect to ethical decisions. Humane-life individuals exhibit a tendency toward human-centered thought with respect to ethical attitudes. CONCLUSION: This study will be of interest to educators of students of nursing and hospital nursing administrators. Also, the findings may provide the basis for the development of more appropriate strategies to improve nursing ethics education programs.
Adaptation, Psychological ; Analysis of Variance ; *Attitude of Health Personnel/ethnology ; Clinical Competence/standards ; Decision Making ; *Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate/ethics/standards ; *Ethics, Nursing/education ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humanism ; Humans ; Interprofessional Relations/ethics ; Korea ; Morals ; Needs Assessment ; Nursing Methodology Research/methods ; Patient Rights/ethics ; Philosophy, Nursing ; *Q-Sort ; Religion and Psychology ; Students, Nursing/*psychology ; Value of Life

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to identify the role adaptation process experienced by head nurses. METHODS: Data were collected from 10 head nurses with in-depth interviews about their actual experiences. All the interviews were recorded and transcribed. The collected data were analyzed by the grounded theory methodology of Strauss and Corbin. RESULTS: The core category was identified as "weighing and balancing," and the role adaptation process was divided into six stages by time sequence: inquiring, approaching to others, bringing people into their fold, working with conviction, avoiding conflicts, and settling. CONCLUSION: The results of this study yield useful information for top mangers of nursing to identify, by stages, the demands of the head nurses in their role adaptation process. The findings of this study contributes to developing programs that facilitates the head nurses' role adaptation.
*Adaptation, Psychological ; Adult ; *Attitude of Health Personnel/ethnology ; Avoidance Learning ; Conflict (Psychology) ; Female ; *Hospitals, General/organization & administration ; Humans ; Interprofessional Relations ; Korea ; Leadership ; Models, Nursing ; Models, Psychological ; Needs Assessment ; Nurse Administrators/education/organization & administration/*psychology ; *Nurse's Role ; Nursing Methodology Research ; Nursing Staff, Hospital/organization & administration/psychology ; Nursing, Supervisory/organization & administration ; Philosophy, Nursing ; Power (Psychology) ; Professional Competence/standards ; Qualitative Research ; Questionnaires ; Self Efficacy