A snapshot review of culturally competent compassion as addressed in selected mental health textbooks for undergraduate nursing students

Papadopoulos, Irena ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6291-4332 and Pezzella, Alfonso ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2000-5760 (2015) A snapshot review of culturally competent compassion as addressed in selected mental health textbooks for undergraduate nursing students. Journal of Compassionate Health Care, 2 (3) . pp. 1-7. [Article] (doi:10.1186/s40639-015-0012-5)

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Abstract

Background
The recent scandals involving poor healthcare put nurses under the spotlight in an attempt to understand how compassionate they are towards their patients.

The aim of this article is to investigate how compassion is embedded in the textbooks of the undergraduate mental health nursing degree.

Methods
A snapshot review of key textbooks used, was conducted through the distribution of a list of textbooks and search terms to a panel of mental health teachers in four United Kingdom (UK) universities. They were asked to comment on the list’s completeness, and the terms’ suitability, comprehensiveness and sensitivity regarding culturally competent and compassionate care.

Relevant data were extracted independently by each author followed by meetings to compare and discuss their findings and engage in deeper levels of analysis.

Results
The review found that despite the fact that few textbooks touched on a number of the search terms none of them directly addressed the issue of compassion or culturally competent compassion. This means that mental health undergraduate nurses may not be adequately prepared to provide culturally competent compassion.

Conclusions
Culturally competent compassion is not something we are born with. Imaginative teaching methods, good textbooks, good role models and opportunities to practice what one learns under supervision is required to nurture compassion in order to re-establish itself as the essence of nursing. Key textbooks need to be revised to reflect the virtue of culturally competent compassion.

Item Type:	Article
Research Areas:	A. > School of Health and Education > Mental Health, Social Work and Interprofessional Learning
Item ID:	16658
Notes on copyright:	Copyright Authors of articles published in Journal of Compassionate Health Care retain the copyright of their articles and are free to reproduce and disseminate their work (for further details, see the BioMed Central copyright policy and license agreement). For further information about the advantages of publishing in a journal from BioMed Central, please click here.
Useful Links:	Publisher Middlesex University Expert Profile Middlesex University Expert Profile Publisher
Depositing User:	Rena Papadopoulos
Date Deposited:	29 May 2015 16:31
Last Modified:	29 Nov 2022 22:48
URI:	https://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/id/eprint/16658

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