Summary: Statistics show that newborn and maternal deaths in South African are higher than most middle income countries. Hamish Holewa, for IPP-SHR podcasts, spoke with Dr Debra Jackson about the factors that impact the utilisation of maternal health services. Discussed were the issue of gaps in service coverage and quality, which, if improved, could prevent most of the causes of maternal and newborn deaths. Also talked about was the methodology used within the study of obtaining information on how women utilised ante-natal and post-natal care, and what factors resulted in a higher or lower level of utilisation. As the main cause of death is AIDS, understanding, encouragement and more focus on saving the mother's life, as well as the baby's, can drastically improve the situation. First broadcast: 23 May, 2008

Interviewee: Dr Debra Jackson, Associate Professor, School of Public Health, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa

Article: Tlebere, P., Jackson, D., Loveday, M., Matizirofa, L., Mbombo, N., Doherty, T., Wigton, A., Treger, L., Chopra, M. (2007) Community-based situation analysis of maternal and neonatal care in South Africa to explore factors that impact utilization of maternal health services. Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health, 52(4): 342-50.

ippshr podcast 026: factors impacting utilisation of Sth African maternal health services

Summary: Literature suggests that nurses' ethical approach is driven by good moral sense and rarely by principles. Michael Bouwman spoke to Dr Seiko Izumi, for the next series of IPP-SHR podcasts. Seiko discussed her multi-national collaborated study on what defines a 'good nurse' and the ethical standpoint of Asian countries was looked at in comparison with the strong influence from western theories. The outcomes of the study found that most ethical acts of nurses were driven by a deep moral virtue rather than following predefined principles. Patients felt a good nurse is a good person, interested in the patient, with professional competence. The use of the Japanese Kanji character of the person (hito) symbolises the relationship between a good nurse and patient. A patient not only wants to be treated as a person, but also be treated by a person. First broadcast: 30 May, 2008

Interviewee: Dr Shigeko Izumi, Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Nursing, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR USA

Article: Izumi, S., Konishi, E., Yahiro, M., Kodama, M. (2006) Japanese patients' descriptions of 'the good nurse' personal involvement and professionalism. ANS Advances in Nursing Science, 29(2):E14-26

ippshr podcast 027: Japanese patients' descriptions of 'The Good Nurse'

Summary: Children's pain management represents a challenge for health professionals and caring institutions worldwide. For IPP-SHR podcasts, Hamish Holewa spoke to Paula Forgeron, about this problem and the fact that in developing countries - the focus being on Jordan - government regulations, lack of training and not enough health professionals result in paediatric pain management either being ignored or under treated. Paula discussed that through her study, the opposite occurred to what previous literature had stated: parents in Jordan wanted their child's pain managed, that mothers wanted to make decisions about care and no concerns were raised about addiction. This study challenged the religious assumptions that had been placed on the parents and revealed that almost all the parents felt that their worst pain experience was to see their child in pain. First broadcast: 6 June, 2008

Interviewee: Paula Forgeron, Clinical Nurse Specialist, IWK Health Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Article: Forgeron, P., Finley, A., & Arnout, M. (2006) Pediatric pain prevalence and parents' attitudes at a cancer hospital in Jordan. Journal of Pain & Symptom Management, 31(5):440-8

ippshr podcast 028: parents attitudes on pediatric pain management

Summary: Despite popular opinion, 70% of orphans in Ethiopia are non-AIDS orphans, with most orphaned due to famine, war, disease and abandonment mainly due to poverty. For this week's podcast, Michael Bouwman spoke to Dr Tatek Abebe about the complexities of orphan care in Ethiopia. Tatek emphasised the importance of not viewing orphans as victims, as this fails to capture the burden of care shouldered by orphans, their families and communities. Also discussed were factors that influence the quality of care that orphans receive, the influences that surround who a family will provide care for, and how these orphans view themselves as 'resources' to the families that care for them. The outcomes of this study show the need for higher government involvement in care, intervention strategies need to involve disadvantaged children, in general, and to listen to the views of orphans and acknowledge their contributions to the family. First broadcast: 13 June, 2008

Interviewee: Dr Tatek Abebe, Post-doctoral Fellow, Norwegian Centre for Child Research, Norwegian University of Sciences and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

Article: Abebe, T., Aase, A. (2007) Children, AIDS and the politics of orphan care in Ethiopia: the extended family revisited. Social Science & Medicine, 64(10): 2058-69


ippshr podcast 029: the politics of orphanhood - an Ethiopian study

Summary: Intensive Care Units (ICU) can be alien and frightening environments for relatives caring for those close to them. Hamish Holewa, talked to Research Nurse, Anne Agard about her study exploring the experiences of relatives of patients in ICU. Anne explained that the presence of high-tech equipment, differing and numerous sounds, and ICU policies and rules act to increase the uncertainty. It was reported that ICU staff's ongoing exposure to the ICU environment can have a desensitising effect which can negatively impact upon the effective assessment of relatives' needs. Anne discussed three dominant coping strategies that relatives employ, including: enduring uncertainty, putting self aside and forming personal cues. Such strategies must be understood by health professionals involved within the critical care process to decrease further negative sequelae of the experience of relatives caring for loved ones in ICU.  First broadcast: 20 June, 2008.

Interviewee: Anne Sophie Agard, Research Nurse, Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark

Article: Agard, AS., Harder, I. (2007) Relatives' experiences in intensive care - finding a place in a world of uncertainty. Intensive & Critical Care Nursing, 23(3): 170-7


ippshr podcast 030: relatives' experiences in intensive care

Summary: Fear of assault was found to be the top fear for social workers, followed by fear of death, losing control and being disapproved of respectively. For IPP-SHR Podcasts Michael Bouwman spoke with Dr Martin Smith about the fears social workers face every day in their working lives. Discussed was the notion that the perceived threat is just as serious as an attack; the building up of the expectation of the threat, and the consequences of being over-fearful and emphasising the threat can be greater than the threat itself. Martin noted that in such cases, an ordinary exchange can impinge on a worker's confidence and can be a catalyst for the onset of extreme fear, reducing the person into a non-person. Good supervision and support can help workers identify the fear spectrum and act before it impacts negatively on them. First broadcast: 11 July, 2008

Interviewee: Dr Martin Smith, Team Manager, Buckinghamshire Social Services Emergency Duty Team, Bucks, UK

Article: Smith, M. (2007) Smoke without fire? Social workers' fears of threats and accusations. Journal of Social Work Practice, 21(3):323-35

ippshr podcast 031: smoke without fire: social workers' fears of threats

Summary: According to the 2000 US census approximately 4.5 million children were living in a grandparent household. To discuss this growing social phenomenon IPP-SHR podcast host, Hamish Holewa spoke with Dr Catherine Tompkins about her study exploring the relationship between grandparents and the grandchildren in which the grandparent is the primary care giver. Discussed was the social situations that result in grandparents taking on the care of their grandchildren and the personal responsibility that grandparents feel towards taking on the care of their grandchildren. Further discussed were the form of grandparent/grandchild relationships and the circumstances that resulted in the grandchildren then becoming care providers of the grandparents. First broadcast: 18 July, 2008

Interviewee: C Tompkins, Assistant Professor, Director, Undergraduate Social Work Program, George Mason University, Dept. of Social Work, Fairfax, VA, USA

Article: Tompkins, C. (2007) Who will care for the grandparents? Exploring relationships between grandparents and grandchildren. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing & Mental Health Services, 45(5): 19-22.


ippshr podcast 032: "Grand Families" changing roles in non-parent headed households

Summary: The prevalence of computer decision support programs can improve cardiovascular risk assessment and management. For this week's IPP-SHR podcast, Michael Bouwman spoke to Dr Anne Wilson about the role of decision support programs in reducing the odds of the risk of cardiovascular disease occurring, and General Practitioners' views on working with this software. The discussion was set in the context of the new decision support software: EMPOWER. A distinction between EMPOWER and other decision support software is the EMPOWER'S ability to incorporate educational material and advocate for shared decision making between health professionals and patients. Practice and policy implications of software utilisation were also discussed, including: workflow and routine impact, shared information access and data entry glitches. Overall software decision making programs were generally welcomed by patients within a cardio-vascular risk management framework. First broadcast: 25 July, 2008.

Interviewee: Dr Anne Wilson, Lecturer, Discipline of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Adelaide, SA, Australia

Article: Wilson, A., Duszynski, A., Turnbull, D., Beilby, J. (2007) Investigating patients' and general practitioners' views of computerized decision support software for the assessment and management of cardiovascular risk. Informatics in Primary Care, 15(1):33-44.

ippshr podcast 033: assessing cardiovascular risk using computerised support software

Summary: Michael Bouwman recently spoke with Dr Marina Clarke as part of the IPP-SHR podcasts. Discussion involved the implementation and evaluation of a community outreach health care approach, undertaken by primary health care nurses in the South African agricultural sector. Also discussed where problems associated with changes to legislation, high incidence of alcohol abuse and the degradation of workers living conditions, have made it more difficult to provide health care. Marina and Michael also talked about the intervention itself, the use of trained volunteers who were lay health workers and the feedback Marina received from these health workers about being involved. The podcasts focuses on the practical implications of identifying and training people to support and train lay health workers and talking about what has been learned from this approach, Marina indicated that successful integration of lay health workers requires a community development approach, one that requires education of local politicians, policy makers and health care members. First broadcast 2 May, 2008

Interviewee: Dr Marina Clarke, Lecturer, Faculty of Health and Wellness, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa.

Article: Dick, J., Clarke, M., van Zyl, H., Daniels, K. (2007) Primary health care nurses implement and evaluate a community outreach approach to health care in the South African agricultural sector. International Nursing Review, 54(4): 383-90

ippshr podcast 023: lay health care workers & community health care outreach programs Sth Africa

No Time for Potential Troubles: Breast Cancer Screening for Russian Immigrant Women in Israel

Summary: Russian immigrant women in Israel place their own preventative health care at a very low level in their lives. To explore such reasons, Hamish Holewa spoke with Dr Larissa Remennick to discuss why women, who immigrated from the former Soviet Union, which had strong emphasis on preventive health, proceeded to neglect their preventative health checks once they were in Israel. Main factors that resulted in this neglect of health concerns included: the lowering of socio-economic status and inadequate occupation opportunities; the lack of culturally and linguistically appropriate information given to the women; former paternalistic responsibilities to one's own health; and the older aged women's attitudes towards the risk of breast cancer. Findings from the study extend to all countries that have a significant immigration program and highlight the need for special culturally appropriate programs specifically designed to encourage the use of health services for immigrants. First broadcast: 1 August, 2008.

Interviewee: Dr Larissa Remennick, Professor of Sociology, Chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Bar-Ilan University, Israel

Article: Remennick, L. (2003) "I Have No Time for Potential Troubles": Russian Immigrant Women and Breast Cancer Screening in Israel. Journal of Immigrant Health, 5(4):153-63.

ippshr podcast 034: breast cancer screening for Russian immigrant women in Israel

"IPP-SHR Podcasts" are an exploration of psycho-social health research topics with leading researchers from around the globe.

"Research Notes" is a complementary podcast which explores the practicalities, issues and methodology associated with conducting psycho-social health research.



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