Investigating preferences for support with life after stroke: a discrete choice experiment.

Background: There is little evidence of service user preferences to guide the commissioning and improvement of services that support life after stroke. We report the first investigation of patients' and family carers' preferences for community services after stroke using a discrete choice experiment (DCE).

Methods: Two workshops with patients and family carers (n = 8) explored stroke experiences, identifying attributes important in shaping views about service design, and piloted data collection strategies.

Implementing the evidence for language-appropriate health care systems: The Welsh context.

Like Canada, Wales, UK is a bilingual nation: the Welsh language is an important part of its national identity and legislative framework. This has implications for the delivery of public sector services, particularly in the context of health and social care, where responding to the language needs of service users is fundamental to quality health care provision. Nevertheless, despite the strengthening policy commitment for a whole-system approach towards enhancing Welsh language services, there is a paucity of evidence to guide best practice in organizational planning in health care settings.

Enhancing rigour in the validation of patient reported outcome measures (PROMs): bridging linguistic and psychometric testing.

Background: A strong consensus exists for a systematic approach to linguistic validation of patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) and discrete methods for assessing their psychometric properties. Despite the need for robust evidence of the appropriateness of measures, transition from linguistic to psychometric validation is poorly documented or evidenced. This paper demonstrates the importance of linking linguistic and psychometric testing through a purposeful stage which bridges the gap between translation and large-scale validation.

The role of midwives and health visitors in promoting intergenerational language maintenance in the bilingual setting: perceptions of parents and health professionals.

Aims And Objectives: The increasing status and regard of indigenous minority languages across Europe, means the advantages of bilingualism for individuals and communities are now well established. We set out to elicit parents' and health professionals' views of the role of health visitors and midwives in promoting bilingualism in the family and to consider whether health professionals acknowledge the contribution that bilingualism makes to public health.

Background: A three-year study was completed to measure the impact of a language transmission initiative which depends on the input of midwives and health visitors with new parents and how its effect could be improved.

Exploring decision making in intellectual disability nursing practice: a qualitative study.

Due to the dearth of relevant research, intellectual disability nurses may have difficulty identifying sources of evidence on which they can base their clinical decisions. The aim of the present research was to explore how intellectual disability nurses make decisions and how their decisions are influenced by evidence. The method was guided by interpretative phenomenology and the analysis adopted an idiographic approach.

Identifying priorities for establishing bilingual provision in nurse education: a scoping study.

Research evidence demonstrates that offering language choice to patients enhances the quality of healthcare provision. This has implications for the preparation of nurses for practice in bilingual settings, where legislation often leads to demands for health services in both languages and bilingual competence amongst healthcare providers. This paper reports on a scoping study of bilingual provision in nurse education in the bilingual context of Wales, UK, as a means of informing the evidence base for national strategic planning.

Using cluster analysis to explore survey data.

Llinos Haf Spencer reports on the use of the cluster analysis statistical technique in nursing research and uses data from the Welsh Language Awareness in Healthcare Provision in Wales survey as an exemplar She concludes that cluster analysis is a valuable tool to tease out patterns in data that are not initially evident in bivariate analyses and thus should be considered as a viable option for nursing research.

Using the critical incident technique to explore student nurses' perceptions of language awareness.

Current evidence demonstrates that language awareness in nursing contributes to high quality patient care. Although language awareness amongst qualified nurses has been considered, there is a dearth of literature that examines how student nurses respond to language sensitivity in the healthcare setting. The critical incident technique was used to elicit the perceptions of student nurses regarding language awareness.

Language awareness in the bilingual healthcare setting: a national survey.

Background: The significance of effective interpersonal communication in healthcare is well established, as is the importance of overcoming language barriers. This has a particular bearing for minority language speakers, where denying language choice can compromise the quality of healthcare provision. Nevertheless, there is limited empirical research exploring language awareness in healthcare and the factors that influence language choice for minority language speakers.

Communicative sensitivity in the bilingual healthcare setting: a qualitative study of language awareness.

Aim: This paper reports on the second phase of a national study in Wales. The research aimed to assess the level of Welsh language awareness amongst healthcare professionals across Wales, and to identify the factors that enhance language choice within service delivery.

Background: The literature suggests that language sensitive healthcare practice is central to ensuring high quality care.

Describing chronic pain: towards bilingual practice.

This paper reports on the findings of a pilot study that collated and categorised a range of Welsh-medium chronic pain descriptors and their conceptually equivalent English translations in order to provide a preliminary basis for chronic pain assessment amongst patients in the bilingual community of North West Wales. The results demonstrate the unique and complex nature of individual pain experiences and the challenges of meaningful interpretation, particularly when patient and practitioner do not share a common preferred language. Detailed analysis of the descriptors provided valuable insight into the patient's world, revealing cultural patterns of beliefs and behaviours as well as the suffering associated with chronic pain.