‘The Elephant on the Table’: Religious and Ethnic Diversity in Home Health Services

Abstract

Healthcare services are increasingly being provided in the home. At the same time, these home contexts are changing as global migration has brought unprecedented diversity both in the recipients of care, and home health workers. In this paper, we present findings of a Canadian study that examined the negotiation of religious and ethnic plurality in home health. Qualitative analysis of the data from interviews and observations with participants-clients, administrators, home healthcare workers-revealed how religion is expressed and 'managed' in home health services

Spirituality and Religious Diversity in Nursing: A Scoping Review

“…Islam was rarely cited [ 13 ]. As reported in Table 1 , the included studies assessed nurses’ perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care in association with socio-demographic characteristics [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 13 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ], various hospital settings [ 6 , 7 , 12 , 22 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 ], acute care [ 6 , 24 , 37 , 44 ], home care [ 45 ], and their involvement in spiritual care practices [ 6 , 7 , 13 , 22 , 24 , 40 , 42 , 44 , 45 ]. Many of the studies used validated tools to explore the spiritual observations of the nurses [ 7 , 13 , 29 , 43 ].…”

“…Heterogeneous samples of nurses from different ethnic and religious backgrounds considered spirituality from different points of view [ 6 , 7 , 12 , 13 , 22 , 24 , 41 , 45 , 46 , 47 ]. Nurses, caregivers, patients, family members, administrators, and other practitioners were included in only three qualitative investigations [ 22 , 39 , 45 ]. In one 4-year study, religious diversity was considered through the concept of shared sacred space [ 39 ].…”

“…Based on the findings of most of the studies, nurses consider spirituality to be pivotal in nursing [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 13 , 22 , 24 , 28 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 ] and attribute various meanings to spirituality and spiritual care, most of which are centered on their religious beliefs [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 13 , 22 , 24 , 28 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 45 , 46 ]. However, there was some confusion regarding the meanings of spirituality and spiritual care [ 6 , 7 , 12 ].…”

“…Generally, spiritual care was influenced by the individual’s religious identity [ 7 , 12 , 22 , 28 , 45 ], the specific healthcare organization [ 7 , 12 , 24 , 28 , 39 , 42 , 44 ], and the reference environment [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 12 , 22 , 39 , 42 , 45 ]. There seemed to be broad agreement that spirituality and spiritual care education had to be integrated into university teaching programs and continuing education [ 41 , 43 , 44 ].…”

Socialising of nursing students into homecare practice in Denmark: a Berger and Luckmann-inspired interview study

“…Considering nurses' global migration 15,16 and the cultural diversity among nursing students, [17][18][19] it is of interest to understand whether and how students' cultural upbringings and backgrounds affect their understanding of homecare encounters. While several studies focus on encounters between healthcare professionals and patients with different cultural backgrounds in homecare, [20][21][22] there are fewer studies focusing on professionals with different cultural backgrounds from the patients. Both appreciative 23,24 and discriminative 22,25 relationships are seen between patients and nurses with immigrant backgrounds, and studies show that nursing students display positive attitudes towards immigrant patients.…”