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Introduction: Almost one third of people affected by leprosy in Colombia suffer from disability, which often results from delayed diagnosis and treatment. We aimed to explore the experience of people affected by leprosy during the process of diagnosis and treatment and if and how this experience was influenced by peers. Methods: A qualitative study using body map stories was conducted from October 2019 to February 2020 in Colombia. Adult people affected by leprosy were recruited through patient associations in different cities. We conducted three sessions with an average duration of 2–3 h per participant, during which the participants created a painted map of their body and chose symbols to represent their experience, while being engaged in an informal interview. The sessions were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed thematically by an interdisciplinary team, consisting of physicians, social workers and a person affected by leprosy. Results: The 17 study participants (11 female) were aged 20 to 70 years. Leprosy-related manifestations ranged from no to advanced disability. Some participants were active members of associations for people affected by leprosy. Three main themes were identified during analysis: (1) A long pathway to diagnosis, (2) Therapy as a double-edged sword and (3) The influence of other people affected by leprosy. The participants described an often years-long process until being diagnosed, which was marked by insecurities, repeated misdiagnosis, and worsening mental and physical health. Delayed diagnosis was related to late health care seeking, but also to inadequate health communication, lack of leprosy-related knowledge and negligence among health care workers. A high desire to cure motivated the participants to take their medication rigorously, despite the high treatment burden. Support from peers, either within the own social environment or provided from associations, contributed to a faster diagnosis and increased therapy adherence. Peers helped to recognize the symptoms, urged patients to seek care, recommended physicians with leprosy-related knowledge and provided a realistic example of both disease severity and curability. Conclusion: People affected by leprosy experience a significant burden during the process of diagnosis and treatment. Involving well-trained peers could foster early diagnosis, treatment compliance and prevention of disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Ciencias de la Salud is the property of Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Senora del Rosario and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Introduction: comfort, a quality of life component, seeks the preservation and recovery of health. Objective: was to understand the meaning of comfort in patients with chronic disease hospitalized in Medellin-Colombia. Material and methods: particularistic ethnographic research, with 14 participants, through semi-structured interviews and observation. Analysis was carried out with grounded theory tools, reading and rereading, data coding, and categories/subcategories were generated until theoretical saturation through theoretical sampling. Results: Categories: Interacting with others: The partner on the side and The death of another. Interacting with the health care team: Attributes of care; and Between comfort and discomfort with caregivers. Elements: communication and information. Discussion: comfort is given in part by the interaction that patients have with the health care team, especially with nursing. It was also understood what generates comfort and discomfort in patients. Personal attributes such as empathy, professional skills and the use of appropriate language are the most frequently mentioned. Likewise, information and communication are vital in the perception of comfort. Conclusions: the meaning that patients attribute to comfort is given by the interaction with the healthcare team, their personal attributes and the information provided about their health status and evolution as well as the effects of their treatment. Among those that cause discomfort: not being listened to, the negative attitude of the nursing staff, not attending to their call in a timely manner and witnessing the death of a partner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The intensive care unit (ICU) stay generates feelings of lack of control, uncertainty, and anxiety in the patient and their families related to a lack of information and communication about the health-disease process experienced and the treatment. Objective: to describe the characteristics of communication in the ethnos between the nurse and the family member of the hospitalized patient. Method: a qualitative study with a micro ethnographic approach that used Bardin's proposal for the analysis. The participants were 12 relatives of patients hospitalized in the adult ICU in Bucaramanga and Floridablanca (Colombia) during 2016. A semi-structured interview was conducted with five questions about communication with the nurse practitioner. Results: most of the participants were women, university students, and daughters from cities other than the place of the interview. The main theme that emerges was communication: an honest, direct, and authentic relationship between human beings, made up of four categories: information as the central axis of communication in ICU; communication that is not expressed in words, which is even more important in the relationship; communication does not flow if there is no time, disposition, and conditions to establish the relationship; and communication generates positive feelings and satisfaction. Conclusion: communication as a social process framed in the ICU as a particular ethnos demand from the nurse practitioners’ qualities such as kindness, cordiality, empathy, recognition, and understandable language, as well as feedback and willingness to establish and maintain this vital process for human relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article attempts to perform a communicational mapping of enforced disappearances in Colombia. We do this by studying maternities that proliferate their meaning, feelings and pains as a consequence of the stresses and forces triggered by such happenings. These painful events are always reenacted by words, by social performances and in life itself. This article originates in an investigation performed about the social movement "Asociación Caminos de Esperanza Madres de la Candelaria". This organization is mostly integrated by peasant women from the Antioquia Department, who have lost their beloved ones as a result of the Colombian armed conflict. We study the role of expressive collective agency in empowering a transformation of female or feminized subjects- either collective or individual-, through the accounts of five women who confronted violence before and after the enforced disappearance episode. Data was gathered through in-depth Interview and workshops. Personal conversations permeated the whole process and allowed to secure close communication with the participants. Rather than searching for answers, it was possible instead to formulate new questions about trajectories, connections, cuts, linkages and disjunctions among subjects. We were able to identify women who managed to successfully use the process as a way of further developing their subjectivity, which, in turn, led them to transform their lives and increase their autonomy and public prominence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Avances en Enfermería is the property of Editorial Universidad Nacional de Colombia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study aimed at describing the meanings that a group of hospitalized pregnant attributed to the experience of having preeclampsia. It is a qualitative research of ethno nursing type. To collect the information the Observation-participation-reflection guide, given by Leininger was taken into account. Open interviews were conducted to eight pregnant women as key informants and five nurses as general informants. The sample was obtained by saturation of information. During data analysis, the four phases proposed by Leininger were applied: data collection, identification and categorization of descriptors and components, analysis of context and patterns and establishment of central themes. The results of this research provide theoretical knowledge to give culturally coherent care to pregnant women with preeclampsia and thus be a complement to their comprehensive care. Women require the health care team that serves them to inform them clearly and comprehensively about their health situation, that of their unborn child and the care they need. Women know about signs and alarming symptoms of preeclampsia, but do not perceive them. The emotional, social and spiritual changes produced in women by their illness and hospitalization need to be considered for nursing care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study with a descriptive and interpretive approach aims to characterize the pedagogical communication in teacher-student interaction in a group of students from first, second and sixth semesters of an undergraduate program at a private university in the city of Bogota. The pedagogical communication is characterized by affective, regulating and socializing functions, where dialogue is one of the forms of communication. Intrinsic and extrinsic factors favor the interaction in a scenario in which different cultures are intertwined with ways of being and acting that promote educational practice, involving the teacher as mediator, model and friend of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite Britain, Colombia, and some Mexican states sharing a health exception within their abortion laws, access to abortion under the health exception varies widely. This study examines factors that result in heterogeneous application of similar health exception laws and consequences for access to legal abortion. Our research adds to previous literature by comparing implementation of similar abortion laws across countries to identify strategies for full implementation of the health exception. Methods: We conducted a cross-country comparative descriptive study synthesizing data from document and literature review, official abortion statistics, and interviews with key informants. We gathered information on the use and interpretation of the health exception in the three countries from peer-reviewed literature, court documents, and grey literature. We next extracted public and private abortion statistics to understand the application of the law in each setting. We used a matrix to synthesize information and identify key factors in the use of the law. We conducted in-depth interviews with doctors and experts familiar with the health exception laws in each country and analyzed the qualitative data based on the previously identified factors. Results: The health exception is used broadly in Britain, somewhat in Colombia, and very rarely in Mexican states. We identified five factors as particularly salient to application of the health exception in each setting: 1) comprehensiveness of the law including explicit mention of mental health, 2) a strong public health sector that funds abortion, 3) knowledge of and attitudes toward the health exception law, including guidelines for physicians in providing abortion, 4) dissemination of information about the health exception law, and 5) a history of court cases that protect women and clarify the health exception law. Conclusions: The health exception is a valuable tool for expanding access to legal abortion. Differences in the use of the health exception as an indication for legal abortion result in wide access for women in Britain to nearly no access in Mexican states. Our findings highlight the difference between theoretical and real access to legal abortion. The interpretation and application of the health exception law are pivotal to expanding real access to abortion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]