Care providers’ needs and perspectives on suffering and care in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Cambodia

Abstract

This exploratory study aimed to obtain insight into field-level care providers' views on suffering and healing as well as existing obstacles and needs related to providing care to their clients. This research provides a "snapshot" for a better understanding of existing care systems in two post-conflict settings. By identifying existing approaches to care and the needs of the care provider community, this research might be useful in guiding psychosocial assistance programming in post-conflict settings. Utilizing a semi-structured questionnaire, 45 care providers were interviewed, including local health care practitioners, traditional/ spiritual healers, and humanitarian relief workers, in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Cambodia. This study found that the majority of care providers in both settings perceived poverty and violence as significant causes and consequences of human suffering and, at the same time, felt ill-equipped in addressing these issues and related problems. Other issues that hindered these healers in providing care included: limited government/institutional support; lack of training; material resources and funding. Study findings point to a new framework for developing effective interventions and the need for further emphasis on supporting care providers in their work, and most specifically, in identifying and responding to poverty and violence.

Assessment of attitudes and targeted educational needs for refugee care providers in a Ugandan hospital

“… 7 Additionally, resettlement country studies have largely reported on health care provider populations which are culturally distinct from the refugee population. 18 In contrast, this study demonstrates that 28% of the medical trainees were themselves from the same countries as refugees, including Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, and South Sudan. Educational needs around cultural competency may, therefore, be different in this setting.…”

“…To our knowledge, only one study in the field of trauma-informed care by McDonald and colleagues has reported on provider perspectives in host countries. 18 …”

Encountering suffering in digital care: a qualitative study of providers’ experiences in telemental health care

“…Suffering may be attributed to physical or psychological distress, experienced or anticipated [ 4 ]. It may also be due to personal or social consequences of illness or disorders, or it may be embodied within social problems encountered in society, such as subjugation, violence, or poverty [ 2 , 6 ]. Suffering is highly subjective [ 7 ] and individual to each patient [ 8 ].…”