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South Asian patients’ perceptions and experiences of compassion in healthcare
- Source :
- Ethnicity & Health. 25:606-624
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- Informa UK Limited, 2020.
-
Abstract
- Background: South Asians are one of the fastest growing ethnic populations in Western countries. Accordingly, providing culturally sensitive healthcare to South Asians is becoming increasingly important. Compassion is a key component of quality healthcare and is central to bridging ethnic and cultural differences between patients and their healthcare providers (HCP).Objective: We aimed to identify and describe the perspectives, experiences, importance, and impact of compassion among South Asian patients.Methods: Straussian grounded theory was used to examine the perspectives of South Asians patients who had recent experience(s) with the Canadian healthcare system. A convenience sample of 19 South Asian participants underwent semi-structured audio-recorded interviews in either English, Hindi, or Punjabi. Transcribed interview data were analyzed using constant comparison.Results: Three categories were generated from the data: (1) South Asians' understandings of compassion, (2) HCPs' cultural sensitivity as an indicator of compassion, and (3) enhancing compassion: importance and patient recommendations for overcoming barriers to compassion. The first category included themes exploring South Asian patients' perspectives of compassion. The second category was divided into themes which examined how delivery and receipt of compassion can be influenced by ethnic and cultural differences between patients and HCPs. The third category consisted of themes highlighting participants' views on the importance of compassion, recommendations for overcoming language and cultural barriers to providing compassion, and the role of compassion in bridging language, culture and ethnic differences between patients and HCPs.Conclusion: Compassion was described as a universal concept that is interpreted through the cultural and ethnic background of the recipient and provider in the way it is perceived, enacted, and received. This information can aid HCP to modulate compassion to South Asian patients and may provide a foundation for future studies on compassion within other cultural groups.
- Subjects :
- Male
Cultural Studies
Canada
Asia
animal structures
Health Personnel
media_common.quotation_subject
Ethnic group
Compassion
Grounded theory
Interviews as Topic
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Asian People
Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
Nursing
Cultural diversity
Health care
Humans
030212 general & internal medicine
Qualitative Research
Quality of Health Care
media_common
Hindi
Receipt
030505 public health
business.industry
Cultural group selection
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Middle Aged
Culturally Competent Care
language.human_language
Grounded Theory
language
Female
Perception
Empathy
0305 other medical science
Psychology
business
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14653419 and 13557858
- Volume :
- 25
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Ethnicity & Health
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....88b7705e13688b412f56164512d98874