Richardson Alison, Thomas Veronica Nicky, Richardson Ann
Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, King's College London, 5th Floor Franklin Wilkins Building, 150 Stamford Street, London SE1 9NH, UK.
Eur J Oncol Nurs. 2006 Apr;10(2):93-101; discussion 102-5. doi: 10.1016/j.ejon.2005.05.002. Epub 2005 Jul 12.
Despite growing research in the UK suggesting that patients from black and ethnic minority groups feel that they do not always receive the best treatment and care, little is known about how care professionals themselves respond to working with this group. The study, involving focus groups with health and social care staff, was undertaken to learn about their views and experiences. The principal finding was the extent to which staff experience difficulties in caring for patients from black and ethnic minority groups. Entailing serious challenges to their own professional practice, these were found to arise at all stages of patients' experience of cancer, including at diagnosis, during treatment and at the palliative phase. Staff were concerned that their inability to communicate with some patients meant that they were not able to provide them a good service, as they could not develop an easy relationship and talk around issues. Yet it could be difficult to work with interpreters, as well as family members, both of who could be reluctant to translate important information. They were also conscious of not being fully sensitive to patients' differing cultures, while noting the importance of not making assumptions about particular beliefs or behaviour. Staff would welcome training to help them to explore their attitudes and assumptions in working with black and ethnic minority patients, but did not seek induction into the detailed practices of different cultures. Some staff felt they would benefit from training in working with interpreters.
尽管英国越来越多的研究表明，黑人和少数族裔患者觉得他们并不总是能得到最好的治疗和护理，但对于护理专业人员自身如何应对与这一群体合作的情况却知之甚少。这项研究通过与卫生和社会护理人员进行焦点小组访谈，来了解他们的看法和经历。主要发现是，工作人员在照顾黑人和少数族裔患者时遇到困难的程度。这些困难给他们自己的专业实践带来了严峻挑战，在患者患癌经历的各个阶段都有出现，包括诊断、治疗期间和姑息治疗阶段。工作人员担心他们无法与一些患者沟通意味着他们无法为患者提供良好的服务，因为他们无法建立轻松的关系并围绕问题进行交流。然而，与口译员以及家庭成员合作可能会很困难，他们都可能不愿意翻译重要信息。他们也意识到没有对患者不同的文化充分敏感，同时指出不要对特定的信仰或行为妄加猜测的重要性。工作人员欢迎培训，以帮助他们在与黑人和少数族裔患者合作时探索自己的态度和假设，但并不寻求深入了解不同文化的具体做法。一些工作人员觉得他们会从与口译员合作的培训中受益。
