SPECIAL SESSION: Caring within Context of Culture

Description/Overview: This will be a two part presentation regarding caring in context. The first part will review a study in self care and compassion fatigue conducted in 5 countries, but will focus on Israel and Ireland. The second part will focus on a study conducted in the USA and Chile and examines caring from a Christian world view. Israel is an epicenter for the major religions of the world and Ireland has a tremendous influx of immigrants. Self care was proposed to be important for nurses in both countries but for different reasons that relate to context. Findings from each country will be considered within the context of culture and contemporary dynamics occurring within each country. Results revealed a negative relationship between self-care and compassion fatigue, similar to the original study that was being replicated. However, the relationship was only statistically significant in Israel. Findings will be contrasted to existing literature and how this study adds to what is known about self-care and burnout in both contexts. The second study includes examined caring from a Christian world view. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were applied. Qualitative results will review what the source of caring is, as perceived by nurses who hold Christian world view. Quantitative results will examine to what extent nurses held to religious practices espoused by Christianity, such as tithing, attending Church, and praying. Finally, qualitative data will be examined at each end of the extremes for religious practices, to understand if the source and behaviors are different for nurses who adhere strictly to religious practices versus who do not practice Christianity in the strict sense.