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- All Subjects: Nursing
- Creators: Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation
- Creators: Reifsnider, Elizabeth G.
Muslim Arab immigrants are a fast-growing, under-studied, and underserved minority population in the United States. Little is known about breastfeeding practices and challenges facing this vulnerable population. Immigrant Muslim Arab mothers encounter breastfeeding challenges related to religion, language, different cultural beliefs, levels of acculturation, difficulties understanding health care information, and navigating the health care system.
A cross-sectional descriptive study was used to describe infant feeding practices, and identify contributors and barriers to adequate breastfeeding using the social ecological model of health promotion. A convenience sample of 116 immigrant Muslim Arab women with at least one child, 5 years or younger was recruited from a large metropolitan area in the Southwestern United States. The results indicated that immigrant Muslim Arab mothers demonstrate high breastfeeding initiation rates (99.2%), and lengthy breastfeeding duration (M=11.86), but low rates of exclusive breastfeeding at 6 months (21.6%). Facilitators to breastfeeding within the sample were high intentions to breastfeed, positive breastfeeding knowledge and beliefs related to the benefits of breastfeeding, religious teachings promoting breastfeeding, and encouragement to breastfeed from the mothers’ social support system. Several barriers to successful breastfeeding were related to lacking the specific knowledge of the benefits of breastfeeding, and discomfort with breastfeeding in public, and in front of strangers. High income and religious teachings encouraging breastfeeding were significantly associated with exclusive breastfeeding at six months. Greater maternal age and comfort with breastfeeding in public were associated with longer breastfeeding durations.
The socio-cultural context for support of breastfeeding is an important consideration by healthcare providers caring for Muslim Arab women. An ecological perspective needs to be applied to interventions targeting breastfeeding promotion to facilitate effectiveness in this population. Culturally tailored intervention to the specific breastfeeding concerns and needs of Muslim immigrant women could promote optimal breastfeeding in this population.
This study utilized a Convergent Mixed Methods design to identify different expressions of resilience in response to a health/familial problem. The research aimed to determine which specific expressions of resilience were significantly associated with higher levels of resilience. The findings revealed two significant effects related to social support and persistence as expressions of resilience. The High Resilience group exhibited a higher proportion of individuals mentioning persistence and social support in their coping strategies. The study concluded that social support seeking is a major coping strategy among individuals with high resilience and suggested that healthcare providers, particularly nurses, should recommend and provide resources for clients to seek social support. Furthermore, the role of persistence highlights the importance of encouraging clients to set achievable goals, develop a plan, and monitor their progress to remain motivated in resolving their difficult health-related problem.
The aim of this thesis is to provide prelicensure nursing faculty at Arizona State University with a supplemental resource and presentation on inclusivity, with specific respect to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual, Queer (LGBTQ+) demographic. Background research posits that prelicensure nursing faculty possess limited information about how to teach students to provide inclusive care and communicate respectfully with patients in the LGBTQ+ population group. This project synthesizes current research pertaining to health inequities within this demographic, and summarizes reported patient care experiences to illustrate a need for prelicensure faculty education in this area. Information from this research was extrapolated, and a supplemental resource regarding inclusivity created, which was presented to prelicensure nursing faculty at a staff meeting using an in-person modality. A survey was conducted at the conclusion of this educational presentation, gathering anonymous demographic data, as well as opinions as to the usefulness of the presentation in the setting of prelicensure nursing education. Results were then analyzed thematically, with 70% of those surveyed currently incorporating some form of LGBTQ+ education within their curriculum. These results suggest the majority of surveyed prelicensure faculty found the educational presentation and accompanying resource both useful and informative, and intend to apply information learned to their future practice as a nursing educator. These findings provide justification for continuing education and additional learning experiences in this area.
This study focused on measuring levels of empathy within Arizona Nurses, and conducting statistical tests to determine whether age, education, and area of employment, affected a nurse's levels of empathy.