Overview

Edited by Debra Jackson (University of Technology, Sydney), Michelle Cleary (Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore) and Sharon Andrew (Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford)

Health care provision is an area in which constant innovation and improvement is needed, with nurses and others involved in service planning and delivery being called upon to do more with less, and to meet the needs of individuals and communities facing ever more complex health challenges and disease processes. Delivered within a culture of increasing performativity, accountability and demand for evidence, effective health care creates a need for innovation in service design and delivery as well as for focused and considered dissemination of such innovations and how they are applied, through stories of practice - reflective and contextualised accounts of what has worked well, what has not worked so well, where improvements have been made and where further improvements are necessary.

When working with families and communities there are various persuasive cultural and social imperatives that will exert a strong, even decisive influence on openness and adherence to education, intervention and treatment. Ignoring these factors possibly accounts, at least in part, for the poorer health status of some minority community groups.

In establishing trusting and respectful relationships with patients, clients and families, there is much that can be learned. This special issue presents a range of papers that portray perspectives from consumers,covering diverse issues which contribute insights informing practice and services to make them appropriate and sensitive to a wider range of health consumers.

Table of Contents

Editorial: Telling our stories: writing for publication to enhance reflective and contextualised family and community practice
Debra Jackson, Sharon Andrew, Michelle Cleary

Literature review: The diagnostic journey of ovarian cancer: A review of the literature and suggestions for practice
Victoria Jayde, Maureen Boughton, Karen Alexander, Penny Blomfield

What factors impact upon the quality of life of elderly women with chronic illnesses: Three New Zealand women's perspectives
Pauline Lowe, Karen McBride-Henry

Becoming a mother: The meaning of childbirth for African Canadian Women
Josephine Bassey Etowa

Muslim persons' experiences of diabetes during Ramadan: Information for health professionals
Sarah Peterson, Robyn Nayda, Pauline Hill

Editorial: Stigma in mental illness: a continuing concern
Michelle Cleary, Maureen Deacon, Debra Jackson, Sharon Andrew, Sally Wai-chi Chan

Caught in the tapestry of tobacco: Why I smoke
Debbie Treloar, Jennie Gunn

The decision making processes adopted by rurally located mandated professionals when child abuse or neglect is suspected
Karen Francis, Ysanne Chapman, Kenneth Sellick, Ainsley James, Maureen Miles, Janet Jones, Julie Grant

Perceived learning needs of patients with heart failure in China : A cross-sectional questionnaire survey
Mingming Yu, Sek Ying Chair, Carmen WH Chan, Xiaomei Li, Kai Chow Choi

Factors influencing the successful aging of older Korean adults
Nam Hyun Cha, Eun Ju Seo, Sohyune R Sok

Editorial: Promoting health and preventing illness: promoting mental health in community nursing practice
Brenda Happell, Michelle Cleary

Supporting depressed mothers at home: their views on an innovative relationship-based intervention
Chris Rossiter, Cathrine Fowler, Catherine McMahon, Nick Kowalenko

Carers' perspectives of respite care in Australia: An evaluative study
Beverly O Connell, Mary T Hawkins, Joan Ostaszkiewicz, Lynne Millar

Negotiating: Experiences of community nurses when contracting with clients
Trudie Ottilie Duiveman, Ann Bonner

Transgenerational attachment in Manisa, Turkey
Selma Şen, Oya Kavlak

Discussion paper: Expanding the role of practice nurses in Australia
Eamon Merrick, Christine Duffield, Richard Baldwin, Margaret Fry

Practice protocol: Transition to community nursing practice revisited
Irene Ellis, Keri Chater