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Aim: This study aimed to develop a model to help parents cope with decisional conflict. Background: Parents of children with congenital heart defect experience decisional conflict when they are uncertain about treatment decisions for their child, which may lead to delay in seeking care or distress over the decision made. Design: Correlational design with model building and data triangulation was used. Methods: Data were collected through surveys and interviews with a consecutive sample of 221 parent respondents from June to December 2018. Structural equation modelling and qualitative data analysis were used. Results: Lower decisional conflict was seen in parents with higher income, more nurse support and physician risk communication. Time delay for surgery was correlated with the child's age, social service coverage, and social support. Decisional conflict mediated the influence of income, nurse support and physician risk communication on satisfaction with decision. Based on model fit parameters, the emerging model is a good and parsimonious model of decisional conflict. The overall theme, 'Deciding for Surgery: What Matters Most', described the processes parents went through in making treatment decisions. Conclusion: Nurses may help parents feel more certain, less conflicted, and more satisfied with their decision by addressing factors including knowledge gaps, personal values, available support, and resource access. Summary statement: What is already known about this topic? Decisional conflict occurs when parents are uncertain of the best action for their child because treatment options entail risks for undesirable outcomes, value compromise, unclear prognosis, or anticipated regret over the decision.Professional support, information, and communication are vital to parents' decision‐making process.Child, parent, and support factors may influence parent treatment decisions in varied paediatric conditions. What this paper adds? Child's age at the time of decision‐making had an effect on the delay in surgery. However, assisting parents to weigh their options and focus on personal values allowed them to make their treatment decision.Low income, costly health services, and bureaucratic processes impeded the timely availment of surgery. Healthcare reforms that provide a system of government funding, streamlined health structure, and social insurance may be looked into.Family support weighed in on the parents' decision to delay surgery for fear of blame or guilt. Providing relevant information enabled parents to make a choice and stand by their decision regardless of the outcome. The implications of this paper: Modelling provides a framework to identify which factors are more important and how they interact to affect decision‐making. It may be used as an approach to find solutions to clinical problems for groups with different diagnoses.Though nursing support, information, and communication are essential, a more holistic family nursing care approach may be considered to assist parents to make appropriate treatment decisions for their child.Familiarity with the healthcare system may equip nurses to aid parents in processing available healthcare funding and dealing with financial uncertainty affecting decisions for their child's treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Summary: Social workers are expected to challenge the exclusion and oppression of marginalised populations which requires the critical interrogation of prejudicial views, discriminatory attitudes, and oppressive practices. In this regard, social work practitioners need to be vigilant of their own attitudes toward the people they serve. This is relevant to social work practice with sexual minorities. This paper presents the results of a mixed-methods study informed by a critical theoretical frame that explored Vietnamese social work practitioners' attitudes toward sexual minorities. The findings presented in this article were drawn from a survey of 292 social work practitioners based in Hanoi, Vietnam and 12 semi-structured interviews with volunteers recruited from the pool of survey participants. Findings: The findings suggest that practitioners who participated in this study held relatively positive attitudes toward people who identify as lesbian or gay. However, those who had what could be considered moderate to positive attitudes were not necessarily free from prejudicial and discriminatory views, particularly when it came to certain matters such as those relating to their own families and work with young children. Applications: The discussion of the findings illustrate the relevance of the broader social context to Vietnamese social work practitioners' attitudes toward sexual minorities. It highlights the potent influence of dominant ideologies in shaping prejudicial views and attitudes and points to the need for practice at a broader level targeting Vietnamese society and culture as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the quality of social relationships of older Filipino church members by determining their perceptions of support and non-support in their social network.Design/methodology/approach A qualitative research approach with semi-structured interviews was utilized. A purposive sample of six Filipino older adults (ages 60-89) were invited and agreed to participate in the study.Findings The themes found in the study confirmed the types of support outlined in social convoy theory. Several unique nuances in the types of support and non-support between the interactions of older adult Filipinos with people very close to them, somewhat close to them, and merely acquainted with them were identified. The themes of support include instrumental support, emotional care, social connectedness, and companionship during engagement in activities. Themes characterising lack of support include disrespect and lack of understanding, constraining one’s actions, helplessness in responding to the other’s needs, non-dependability and non-reliability, difficulty in maintaining social connections, making it difficult to play a desired or expected role.Research limitations/implications The study’s limitations are the small sample size, the quality of support explored only through nominating two members of each level of closeness in the older adults’ social convoy, sample size adequacy to reach data saturation, and the lack of data on support reciprocity that may influence the respondents’ perceptions of support and non-support.Practical implications The findings of the paper point to possible interventions to improve social support for the older population. The road map for those interested in developing interventions should also put some emphasis on older adults’ needs in their continued societal engagement. Interventions may involve facilitating role transitions and providing social support systems attuned to the needs of the elderly.Social implications The authors speculate that this lack of support experienced by the older adults relates to the loss of societal roles, especially as this relates to their identity, meaning, and changes in social interactions within their communities. It is therefore important that interventions be planned to provide structures for older adults’ transitions in their re-engagement in society and into the work-force, thereby reducing this sense of role ambiguity and providing them with more positive identities in their communities.Originality/value The results suggest another form of support distinct from the emotional and instrumental support elaborated in previous work. This support is identified as companionship from within the social network that allows older adults to sustain engagement in meaningful activities. The study’s results further suggest a lack of clarity in societal roles, i.e. a sense of role ambiguity, which older adults may experience in the transitioning from adulthood to later adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim To explore how and why mobile instant messaging applications are used by Filipino nurses as part of their work. Methods Guided by the uses and gratifications theory, in-depth interviews with 20 staff nurses working in 9 hospitals (ie, 4 private and 5 public hospitals) in the Philippines were conducted in July 2015. Interview data were analysed through a phenomenological perspective to thematic analysis. Results Results show that mobile instant messaging applications such as Facebook Messenger and Viber were mostly used by staff nurses and these were accessed using their own smartphones. Thematic analysis indicates that they were used to meet staff nurses' need for information exchange, socialization, and catharsis. Moreover, user interactions vary depending on members within a chat group. For instance, communication via mobile instant messaging applications are much formal when superiors are included in a chat group. Conclusion In general, the results show that mobile instant messaging applications are routinely used by Filipino staff nurses not only for clinical purposes (ie, information exchange) but also for non-clinical purposes (ie, socialization and catharsis). This paper ends with several practical and theoretical implications including future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusion of evidence-based practice (EBP) in entry-level physical therapy (PT) curricula is meant to develop the necessary competencies for better EBP uptake in clinical practice. This study aimed to: 1) determine the practice, knowledge, and values for EBP of the graduates of an entry-level PT curriculum with EBP education; 2) compare graduates' EBP practice profile to their EBP knowledge and values; and 3) explore their views on their EBP education and how EBP education influenced their practice. A convergent parallel design was used to gather quantitative and qualitative data. The Evidence-based Practice Profile - 2 (EBP2) questionnaire was used for quantitative data. Focus group discussions and open-ended questions in the EBP2 were sources for qualitative data. Seventy-seven completed the questionnaire and eight participated in focus group discussions. Participants scored highest for Relevance domain (standardized mean = 75.3) and lowest for Practice (standardized mean = 45.5). Three themes, 'Positive impact of EBP education,' 'Realities of PT clinical practice, and 'Strategies to improve EBP education' were derived. Data integration confirmed findings that graduates have good knowledge, value for, and confidence in doing EBP Findings suggest that early EBP education led to adequate knowledge, confidence, and positive attitudes, but practice barriers hinder EBP uptake. The medical model of service delivery was identified as a factor that influences EBP use. There is a need to revisit the EBP education program to complement real-world demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective tuberculosis (TB) treatment has existed for more than 50 years, but TB remains a leading cause of death worldwide and in the Philippines, in part because symptomatic individuals delay or avoid seeking care. Through qualitative interviews in Pampanga, Philippines, we investigated barriers to care-seeking using a behavioural science lens. We found barriers to TB care-seeking to be shaped by: (1) ambiguous symptoms; (2) association of TB risk with lifestyle and habits; (3) expectations of stigma, discrimination, and isolation; (4) short-term costs and long-term financial burden of TB; and (5) visibility of care in public sector facilities. Findings suggest that these barriers are deeply intertwined and that, typically, it is a combination of barriers that holds back a particular symptomatic individual from seeking care, as the barriers influence implicit trade-offs related to health, social, and financial consequences of having TB or another serious illness and of seeking care or not seeking care. The findings suggest avenues for more effectively reaching those with symptoms and their family members to encourage care-seeking by elevating the perceived benefits and putting perceived costs in proper perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Legal protections for people living with HIV (PLHIV) are important for protecting human rights, yet little research has examined how laws translate into awareness and understanding for key populations. The Philippines has recently revised their legal protections for PLHIV in response to its growing HIV epidemic, where HIV-positive gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men bear the majority of cases. We present findings from interviews with 21 HIV-positive gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men in Manila, Philippines regarding awareness, understanding, and needs regarding HIV-specific legal protections at the time just before new revisions to the omnibus HIV law were passed. Overall, there was no standardized way participants became aware of legal protections; few became aware through healthcare providers, while most learned through online resources, social media, and advocacy organizations. However, even after learning about HIV-specific legal protections, many found the law too complex to understand or did not understand how to use such protections. This led participants to preemptively take action to avoid HIV-related discrimination, even if they were protected by law. Participants demonstrated a strong desire for interventions and policies to improve legal awareness and understanding for PLHIV, government officials, and private businesses. This research demonstrates the value of increasing awareness and understanding in policy-specific interventions designed to improve quality of life for PLHIV. Interventions centered around legal protections are currently underdeveloped, providing a strong opportunity to integrate such interventions in existing practice or as stand-alone tools to decrease perceived stigmatization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the widespread utilization of residential care in the Philippines, little is known about the lives and circumstances of children living within these contexts. In response, this article presents an analysis of children and young people's experiences of living in residential care, specifically focusing on their social networks, relationships and the relationship‐based practices of their caregivers. Drawing on 50 qualitative interviews with children and young people currently or previously living in residential care, as well as a range of social workers and programme staff, this study identifies the highly relational lives of children and young people who cite extensive and close relationships with residential care staff, peers and family. Analysis reveals that children conceptualize 'family' as embodied in their residential care programme, drawing attention to the collective support and security offered, while also detailing the role of their spirituality as an important support. Relationship‐based practices are utilized by caregivers who offer long‐term, emotionally close and stable relationships with children to support their well‐being. These findings highlight the centrality of relationship‐based interventions and the maintenance of children's relational lives as a core practice, offering insights into the development of practice in these settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]