Empathy, the ability to communicate an understanding of a client's world, is said to be a crucial component of all helping relationships. The first part of this paper focuses on the failure of measures of empathy to reflect clients' views about the ability to offer empathy. It is argued that, if clients are able to perceive the amount of empathy in helping relationships, they are able to advise professionals about how to offer empathy. The second part of this paper examines the inconclusive research evidence that existing courses have enabled professionals to offer empathy, and the disagreement about how empathy is best taught. The literature reviewed in this paper substantiates these observations.
As recruitment has implications for the trustworthiness and dependability of research, researchers need to consider a wide range of recruitment strategies and include a formal evaluation of their recruitment strategies when reporting on their research.
In September 1997, the most northerly labouring and birthing pool in Scotland was installed at Raigmore Maternity Unit. The decision to install the pool was made in response to local demand, and this raised a number of professional issues, the most important of which concerned the use of the pool in labour suite and the demand for water birth. An audit of the first two years of the use of the pool indicates variable use, influenced perhaps by conventional baths and obstetricians who do not support water birth. Eighty seven women used the pool in labour and two women gave birth to their babies in the pool. Of these, twenty women had their labours induced. The most common reason for women leaving the pool was to obtain further analgesia. Eighty two per cent of women and 79 per cent of midwives rated the pool very highly.
A ‘human rights defender’ is a term used to describe people who, individually or with others, act to promote or protect human rights ( United Nations General Assembly, 1999 ). The right to health is a human right. Although predating the Declaration of Human Rights and the right to health, the statutory framework of supervision can easily be aligned to the right to health. Supervisors of Midwives (SoMs) are specifically appointed to protect women and babies, ensure maternity services respond to the needs of women, and ensure that midwives provide a high standard of care. Therefore, in the area of childbirth SoMs perform a role similar to that of a human rights defender.
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