Dr Tosin Popoola

Aim: To summarise the qualitative evidence exploring the attitudes and experiences of undergraduate nursing students involving spiritual care. Background: Understanding patients' spiritual needs allows nurses to provide support and comfort during illness and recovery. However, no consensus exists on how to teach and deliver spiritual care in the undergraduate nursing curriculum. Design: A review of qualitative research Methods: Systematic database searches included CINAHL Plus with full text, EMBASE, PubMed and Medline. The review was reported following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. The reviewers independently conducted study selection, quality appraisal and data extraction. The included studies were appraised using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme tool. Thematic analysis guided by Thomas and Harden was used. Results: Twelve papers were included in this review. Thematic analysis revealed three overarching themes: (1) a complex understanding of spirituality and spiritual care, (2) a lack of comprehensive education on spirituality and spiritual care and (3) a quest to normalise spirituality and spiritual care among nursing students. Conclusions: This systematic review affirms the need to include the subject of spiritual care in the early stages of undergraduate nursing programs. More research is needed to examine how new nursing graduates incorporate spiritual care in their clinical practice and the barriers they face. Like other literature, there is a need for a clear definition of spirituality and spiritual care to allow student nurses to understand spirituality and spiritual care better and will enable them to integrate them into their future practice fully.

Higher education, as a centre for research and innovation in the era of transformative learning, is encouraged to conduct research and innovation that can lead to innovation and impact in the areas of health, economy, and sustainability. Innovation requires a framework that functions as an essential guide for development. However, limited innovation frameworks can be applied in nursing, including maternity nursing. This study discusses the M-Motion framework as an alternative framework for developing maternity nursing innovation research. M-Motion comprises of three steps of: preinnovation, innovation, and post-innovation and it is applied to the Ultralight Project. The project aims to improve pregnancy and fetal health by using the DetectMe device to integrate mothers' self-monitoring data into online health systems so that the condition of pregnant women and their babies is promptly and accurately monitored. The application of the M-Motion framework to the Ultralight Project is a step in the right direction as it helps in illustrating the sequence between research and innovation, especially as it relates to the acceleration of reducing maternal and fetal mortality rates.

High vaccination coverage plays an essential role in curbing epidemics and pandemics, making it important to have a country-specific valid and standardised instruments for assessing vaccination attitudes. This study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the Motors of COVID-19 Vaccination Acceptance Scale (MoVac-COVID19S) in New Zealand. A total of 413 participants completed an online survey in June and July 2022, which included the MoVac-COVID19S questions, demographic factors, and a single-item measure of COVID-19 vaccination willingness. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to examine the factor structures of the scale. Results indicated that the one-factor structure of the 9-item version best fitted the data compared to the one and four factor structures of the 12-item version, which showed acceptable fit indices after model modifications. All estimated fit indices were acceptable: CFI, GFI, and TLI > 0.95, RMSEA and SRMR < 0.08. The full scales of the MoVac-COVID19S demonstrated excellent reliability for both the 12-item (a = 0.91; ¿ = 0.91) and the 9-item (a = 0.94; ¿ = 0.95) versions. The bifactor model indicated a strong general factor, explaining 60¿90% of the Explained Common Variance (ECV) for most items, surpassing specific factors. The MoVac-COVID19S is a reliable and valid scale to measure COVID-19 vaccination attitudes. The 9-item version appeared as the best choice for a unidimensional assessment. Future vaccination programmes can benefit from an adapted version of the MoVac-COVID19S to assess public attitudes towards new vaccines. Further psychometric assessment, including Rasch analysis, is recommended to strengthen the reliability and validity of the MoVac-COVID19S.

Stillbirth commonly affects women in Nigeria, but their experiences of grief following stillbirth is under explored. This study aimed to describe Nigerian women's experiences of grief after stillbirth. Face-to-face, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 women in Nigeria who experienced stillbirth. The results from the thematic analysis suggest that mothers had an unmet need to see their stillborn baby, and they experienced communication challenges such as being blindsided/misled about the baby during their interactions with health personnel. The participants experienced emotional and psychological reactions to grief that manifested in the form of emotional pain, sadness, blame and shock, but having a sense of gratitude helped them cope. The findings of this study highlight gaps in bereavement care and suggest the need for basic bereavement training for health personnel.

Stillbirth, the loss of a baby during pregnancy or childbirth, is one of the most devastating losses a parent can experience. The experience of stillbirth is associated with trauma and intense grief, but mothers' belief systems can be protective against the impacts of grief. Women in Nigeria endure a high burden of stillbirth and the aim in this study was to describe the beliefs and strategies for coping with stillbirth. Twenty mothers bereaved by stillbirth in Nigeria were interviewed; seven of them also participated in a focus group. The findings of the study revealed that the experience of stillbirth was influenced by beliefs which originated from superstitions, religion, and social expectations. These beliefs played significant roles in how mothers coped with the loss, by providing them with a framework for sense-making and benefit-finding.

The loss of a baby to stillbirth is a traumatic experience and can lead to secondary losses, such as the loss of social relationships. In Nigeria, stillbirths are a common public health problem. However, limited attention has been given to the social ramifications of stillbirths. This study describes the social networks of women who have experienced a stillbirth and the factors influencing their social networks. Interviews and social network diagrams were used to collect data from 20 women about their social networks before and after stillbirth. Findings suggest that the experience of shame, unmet expectation of support, and a lack of trust led to relationship changes after stillbirth. Most participants met bereavement needs with their existing social networks before stillbirth, but many participants also experienced relationship losses (even among family networks). Information from social network analysis can reveal the risks and strengths inherent in social networks, which can be helpful for the provision of tailored/personalized bereavement care.

One impact of incurable HIV infection is the large number of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) who are affected by HIV. The age-based criteria used to determine support eligibility for HIV orphans, however, exclude older orphans (=18 years of age) from support. We conducted a literature survey in order to explore possible inclusion of older orphans (ages 18-24 years) in HIV orphanhood research. We found 17 studies conducted in eight countries that met the review inclusion criteria. Findings from the review revealed that older HIV orphans are underrepresented in the OVC literature. The emerging, but limited, evidence suggests that older orphans are at risk for poorer psychosocial and reproductive outcomes. We recommend increasing inclusion of older orphans in HIV orphan research because of their complex physical, reproductive, and psychosocial needs. This inclusion is necessary to allow their experiences and needs to become clearer.