Amish older adults represent a growing and understudied population whose current health practices, interactions with health care systems outside of their community, and care needs are unknown. Limited research exists on why, when, and how Amish older adults and their caregivers experience health care services outside of their family and community. The purpose of the current study was to describe and explore the perspectives of Amish caregivers caring for older adults and their experiences with health care services outside of their community. A qualitative phenomenological research design was used in combination with a community-based participatory framework with caregivers in a small, rural Amish settlement. Amish caregiving of older adults is a complex phenomenon that is influenced by cultural characteristics. Caregivers place significant cultural value on home caregiving, emphasize the experience as a blessing, and relate misunderstandings between themselves and outside health care providers as significant concerns. [Res Gerontol Nurs. 2018; 11(1):29-38.].
Covert medication administration is the purposeful hiding of medications from patients, and the topic receives little attention. Awareness and research regarding this practice is limited to a handful of studies outside of the United States. These studies suggest a larger prevalence than reported and identify significant ethical and legal implications for bedside nurses. A review of the literature, discussion of prevalence, contributing factors, and potential consequences of this practice build the foundation for practice recommendations and suggestions for future research. In addition to recommendations for nurses regarding covert medication administration, additional research and exploration of this issue in the United States are proposed.
People who identify as members of religious communities, such as the Amish and Low German Mennonites, face challenges obtaining quality health care and engagement in research due in part to stereotypes that are conveyed through media and popular discourses. There is also a growing concern that even when these groups are engaged in research, the guiding frameworks of the research fail to consider the sociocultural or historical relations of power, further skewing power imbalances inherent in the research relationship. This paper aims at discussing the uses of cultural safety in the context of health research and knowledge translation with groups of people that are associated with a specific religion. Research with the Amish and Low German Mennonites is provided as examples to illustrate the use of cultural safety in this context. From these examples, we discuss how the use of cultural safety, grounded in critical theoretical perspectives, offers new insight into health research with populations that are traditionally labeled as minority, vulnerable, or marginalized, especially when a dominant characteristic is a unique religious perspective.
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