Social justice and social determinants of health: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, intersexed, and queer youth in Canada.

Topic: While nurses address lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, intersexed, and queer (henceforth LGBTIQ) patients' health needs, the professional nursing practice value of social justice provides a larger role for nurses in identifying and minimizing social barriers faced by LGBTIQ patients.

Purpose: This paper examines the social and health-related experiences of LGBTIQ youth in Canada, a country which has removed many of the social and legal barriers faced by LGBTIQ in countries such as the United States. An awareness of the Canadian LGBTIQ experience is instructive for nurses in different countries, as it reveals both the possibilities and limitations of social legislation that is more inclusive of LGBTIQ youth.

Lost in translation: bibliotherapy and evidence-based medicine.

Evidence-based medicine's (EBM) quantitative methodologies reflect medical science's long-standing mistrust of the imprecision and subjectivity of ordinary descriptive language. However, EBM's attempts to replace subjectivity with precise empirical methods are problematic when clinicians must negotiate between scientific medicine and patients' experience. This problem is evident in the case of bibliotherapy (patient reading as treatment modality), a practice widespread despite its reliance on anecdotal evidence.

Clinicians and medical interpreters: negotiating culturally appropriate care for patients with limited English ability.

Medical interpreters provide a bridge across the language gap for patients and practitioners. Research suggests that practitioners and interpreters experience numerous difficulties in their collaboration that can negatively affect service to patients with limited English proficiency, many of whom are immigrants. Using qualitative evidence from interviews with medical interpreters, I argue that many of these difficulties result from the fact that interpreter practice is based on a theoretical understanding of communication that does not adequately describe the problems faced by interpreters in negotiating between immigrant and practitioner groups.

Communication models, professionalization, and the work of medical interpreters.

A growing number of health institutions are employing medical interpreters, bilingual individuals who facilitate communication between health care providers and patients. Organizations working to establish the professional status of medical interpreting have articulated codes of ethics that prescribe a number of different roles for interpreters in their clinical work. Interviews obtained from 17 medical interpreters support the observation that the code of ethics, based primarily on a conduit model of interpreter communication, does not provide consistent guidance in clinical practice.

Falungong: recent developments in Chinese notions of healing.

Transcultural nursing literature provides a rich picture of prominent Chinese health-related beliefs derived from the traditions of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. However, these traditional beliefs are being challenged and modified in response to public discussion of a new spiritual movement, Falungong (also spelled Falun Gong). This movement calling for personal and social renewal has arisen in reaction to significant political and economic upheavals in Chinese society.

Client narratives: a theoretical perspective.

The role of subjective client narratives in health care represents a clinical and therapeutic tool, useful in complementing objective, scientific data. Of particular interest to mental health practitioners is the role narratives play as a therapeutic tool to guide clinical practice. This paper lays a foundation for understanding the importance of narrative in the psychotherapeutic process.

Critique of transcultural practices in end-of-life clinical nursing practice.

Topic: Transcultural nursing practices for terminally ill patients.

Purpose: To examine several criticisms of transcultural nursing theory in end-of-life care.

Sources: Published literature and interviews with nurses.