Living and dying between cultural traditions in African & Caribbean Heritage families: a constructivist grounded theory.

Background: Ethnic differences influence end-of-life health behaviours and use of palliative care services. Use of formal Advance care planning is not common in minority ethnic heritage communities. Older adults expect and trust their children to be their decision makers at the end of life.

The importance and meaning of prayer rituals at the end of life.

Death rituals, such as the ritual of prayer, can offer cultural comfort to people who are grieving the loss of their own life or that of another. This article explores the meaning of ritual, how rituals are structured and how prayer rituals are used at the end of life from a cross-cultural perspective. Facing death can be a challenge to a person's sense of identity and their understanding of their world around them, beginning a process of spiritual suffering.

Perspectives of elders and their adult children of Black and minority ethnic heritage on end-of-life conversations: A meta-ethnography.

Background: People of Black and minority ethnic heritage are more likely to die receiving life supporting measures and less likely to die at home. End-of-life care decision making often involves adult children as advance care planning is uncommon in these communities. Physicians report family distress as being a major factor in continuing with futile care.

Using family sculpting as an experiential learning technique to develop supportive care in nursing. A contemporary issue paper.

This article explores the use of family sculpting as an educative tool to achieve a better I-thou awareness of the patient's support needs from a family and social system approach. Ensuring we provide appropriate and effective opportunities for nurses to develop compassion when caring for patients facing ill health is a complex challenge that faces nurse education at all levels. The piece explores a sculpting exercise developed in nurse education which engages students' awareness of the complicated nature of peoples' social networks and through attitudinal learning, helps nurses to provide compassionate care that integrates family support.

Disenfranchised grief following a non-fatal road traffic incident: a case study exploring a mother's experience.

This case study explores a scenario that was observed by a final year nursing student on placement in a paediatric emergency department, in a busy London teaching hospital. A mother appeared distressed following the news that her son who had survived a road traffic incident with minimal impact to his cognitive and physical abilities, was stable enough to be transferred to the children's medical ward. Whilst this appeared to be positive for supporting figures in her life and the emergency practitioners involved, observation and discussion with the mother revealed that her distress was related to her experience of losses that were undetected by those around her.

Influence of heparin or the presence of cumulus cells during fertilization on the in vitro production of goat embryos.

Considerable research has been focused on in vitro production (IVP) of goat embryos to improve its efficiency. In Experiment 1, the effect of the cumulus cells by comparing slaughterhouse-oocytes denuded on purpose (DOP) prior to IVF to intact COC, and the effect of heparin during IVF were assessed. In Experiment 2, oocytes that were already denuded at collection (DOC), DOP and intact COC were studied.