Given the current emphasis on health promotion and the importance of comfort to the process of healing, comfort is an indispensable element of holistic, culturally congruent human care.

Although nursing research literature in the area of patient education is rich in number, methodologies used have limited generalizability and cohesiveness. Previous theoretical work has suggested an enablement framework for patient education across content areas. This study approaches patient education from the participant's view and engages the recipients in describing their goals for the process. Seven primiparous women taking childbirth education were asked about their reasons/goals for attending, anticipated roles and tasks during the birth process, and whether or not the educational experience assisted them in meeting their self goals. Semi-structured interviews were used, with each woman being interviewed three times, allowing comparison of data across time, and pre- and post-birth. Content categories were identified, and found to be consistent across time. Implications for practice and research are provided.

Patient education is an activity that nurses engage in on a regular basis, yet in the literature it is seldom examined as a patient-centered process. The desire to describe the process of patient education in terms that were not content-driven was the guiding force for an examination of the concept of enablement. The purpose of this article is to describe an analysis that resulted in a definition of enablement and the identification of three components: means, abilities, and opportunities. Model, related, and contrary cases are provided. The findings of this examination are used to propose a potential framework for designing, implementing, and evaluating patient education across content areas.

No abstract

Currently, there is limited literature demonstrating awareness of how contemporary Aboriginal Peoples understand and define health, address their health concerns, and perceive barriers to obtaining optimal health. This knowledge is an important and essential first step in program planning for delivering effective health care for all aspects of health. An additional challenge is to effectively address and meet these needs in a timely manner which is critical to overall Indigenous wellness. The primary researcher, who is Indigenous (Plains Cree), wondered whether the social determinants of health were reflective and an appropriate framework to address the existing health disparities between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Peoples of Canada, and more specifically, the Plains Cree people from Thunderchild First Nation. This paper examines the results from a qualitative descriptive research study completed in Thunderchild First Nation, Saskatchewan. There were four predominant themes that were derived from the data: health was consistently described in relation to physical, mental (intellectual), emotional, and spiritual wellness; value of health; factors related to the environment; and factors related to economics. Collectively, there does appear to be a holistic perception of health, similar to the teachings from the Medicine Wheel. Pursuing and maintaining health included a combination of information and practices from both the western and Traditional Indigenous world. This data supports that the determinants of health may be an appropriate framework to address the health needs of Indigenous Peoples, and an appropriate frame for federal, provincial and local policy makers to implement structural changes necessary to decrease the health disparities between the Indigenous Peoples and the rest of Canada.