International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare

Publisher:: Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Publication date:: 2021-02-01

ISBN:: 2056-4902

Issue Number

Latest documents

Editorial
Guest editorial
Sex Work, Health, and Human Rights: Global Inequities, Challenges, and Opportunities for Action
Guest editorial
Challenges facing hospital human resources during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study in Iran
Purpose: This study aims to identify health workforce challenges at Iranian hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: This was a conventional content analysis study conducted in 2020. The population consisted of the managers (heads of hospitals, managers and matrons) and staff (nurses, physicians, etc.) of eligible hospitals. The participants were selected using purposive sampling, and data saturation was achieved after 28 interviews. The data were analyzed in MAXQDA10. Findings: In total, 28 interviews were conducted with 10 women and 18 men. The challenges of hospital human resources were categorized into five main themes and 15 sub-themes. The main themes were the shortage of human resources, burnout, the need to acquire new knowledge and skills, the employees’ health and safety and the reward system. Originality/value: Identification of challenges faced by human resources is the first step toward preventing human force shortage and psychological problems in the personnel. Implementing the recommendations of the present study would assist the proper management of hospitals’ human resources.
COVID-19 crisis overshadowing the health workforces’ rights and resilience: a systematic review
Purpose: In the time of the COVID-19 crisis, many physical, psychological and spiritual difficulties are imposed on the front line staff and overshadow their rights, resilience and retention. In addition, the loss of this important organizational resource imposes huge costs on the system. The purpose of this study is systemic review of the influential factors, policies and strategies applied to defend the rights of health-care staff and improve the resilience and retention of health system human resources in the COVID-19 crisis. Design/methodology/approach: This systematic review was conducted in 2021. Data were collected by keyword search in Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Science Direct, Magiran, SID and Irandoc databases until December 2021. In addition, the quality of the studies was evaluated by three experts using the Strobe checklist. The analysis used in this study to categorize the results was thematic analysis. Findings: Factors that cause tension and injustice to employees and also strategies to overcome it and increase their resilience were classified into general categories according to their nature. Factors included factors related to safety, economic and financial, staff characteristics, crisis management characteristics, organizational climate and working conditions. Existing strategies also fall into four categories of physical, psychological and spiritual health promotion strategies; organizational climate and work environment; education and empowerment and economic and financial. Originality/value: This study is a systematic review of the factors that affect the health workforce rights and resilience of health-care personnel during the COVID-19 crisis. On the other hand, the policies and strategies used in different countries to overcome the difficulties and increase the resilience and retention of health workers have been summarized and can be used in other crises.
Guest editorial
COVID-19 responses, human rights and the cultural context of Global South
Purpose: This paper focuses on COVID-19 and human rights in the Global South. Controlling COVID-19 has become very challenging to the courtiers in the Global South and the Global North. Various restrictive measures, mainly lockdown, home quarantine, travel restrictions and social distancing have been taken in both Global North and South to control COVID-19. However, the lower-middle and poor class people of the Global South have suffered from these restrictive measures. Thus, this paper aims to explore the human rights issues of the Global South during COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach: This study is a qualitative research based on secondary materials. It includes relevant scholarly articles, news reports and various reports from different national and international organizations. It critically reviews the current literature related to the topic to develop a theoretical understanding of human rights and public health in general and human rights challenges in COVID-19 in the Global South in particular. Existing international human rights principles in the case of public health were reviewed and discussed to identify the links between human rights laws in public health perspectives. Contents analysis was carried out to identify the relevant themes on the issues of human rights in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings: This paper finds that universal guidelines to control COVID-19 challenged the human rights norms, which impacts the enjoyment of human rights in the Global South. The human rights of the people in the Global South were undermined in the response to the control of COVID-19. Originality/value: This paper is a significant study on the issues of human rights in public health emergencies. It addresses how the human rights of the vulnerable people in the Global South are undermined in the global pandemic response, which can be useful for the countries in the Global South for ensuring better human rights-based responses in the future.
Psychometric development and validation of personal growth initiative scale across male and female in early adulthood population in Pakistan: a comparative study
Purpose: The active and intentional involvement of a person in changing and developing as a person is a crucial and worth considering phenomenon that comes under the umbrella of positive psychology. There has been a previous study done on personal growth initiative (PGI) but that study did not explain whether this phenomenon exceeds in men or in women. Plus, previous studies were confined to college students only. This study aims to assess how gender influences PGI, to validate the psychometric properties of the PGI scale and to evaluate the relationship of PGI with mental well-being, career orientation and to examine whether this factor dominates in men or women and to critically validate at what age an individual starts initiating personal growth. The other main objective of the study is to work on the limitations and gaps left in previous studies on PGI by establishing a psychometrically reliable and valid scale/instrument. Design/methodology/approach: To develop a scale, first, focus group discussions were conducted with six groups. Through random sampling, a sample of 50 men and 50 women were taken for the pilot study and N = 449 (156 men and 293 women) for the main study with ages ranging from 18 to 35 years were taken (M = 42.30, SD = 12.61). The study consisted of focus group discussions followed by thematic analysis and item pool generation which further followed the main study analysis. For the development of the scale, a theoretical basis along with focus group discussion was conducted to establish an item pool of 123 items. Afterward, 7 experts in the surroundings examined those 123 items to perform subject expert matter to establish content validity. Mixed method was used as a research method in which exploratory sequential design was used. Focus groups were used as a data collection technique. Random sampling is used to collect participants for study/methodology/approach – the study consisted of focus group discussions followed by thematic analysis and item pool generation which further followed the main study analysis. A 19 item five-point Likert-type scale is constructed for public administration on a sample of N = 449 (men = 156 and women = 293). Alpha reliability of the scale (0.83), Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) (0.88) and Bartlett’s, psychometric properties of study variables skewness (0.47), kurtosis (−0.17). Inter item correlation matrix, item-total correlation, Scree plotting, t-test (t = −1.90) and (p = 0.05) and linear regression analysis are analyzed on the data and items. This scale is kept parsimonious so that it could be understood by the general population as well. Findings: A 19 item five-point Likert-type scale is constructed for public administration on a sample of N = 449 (men = 156 and women = 293). High Alpha reliability of the scale (a = 0.83), KMO (0.88) and Bartlett’s, psychometric properties of study variables skewness (0.47), kurtosis (−0.17). Inter item correlation matrix, Scree plotting, t-test (t = −1.90) and (p = 0.05) and linear regression analysis are analyzed on the data and items. Three factors i.e. effectiveness, shaping and aptitude were formed through exploratory factor analysis (EFA). KMO value of 0.88 suggests that the sample is sufficient to perform EFA. Regression analysis suggests that gender is positively predicting PGI as results are statistically. Research limitations/implications: Some of the limitations of this scale on which the future researchers can work are that the sample included participants above age 18 only, so for future researchers they could include participants below this age and find out the PGI factor in them. The sample also included mostly unmarried individuals so for future applications they can find out the extent to which being married can affect the PGI factor, as compared to being unmarried. Another thing that should be mentioned is that the main objective was to find out whether PGI differs among men and women and as the results show that it does differ on the basis of gender but for future studies, the researchers could work on if there is also a difference in men and women in the three subscales (formed during EFA). Practical implications: This scale is developed using a significant element of human personality called personal growth which is applicable to various categories and settings of the society to measure the aptitude and inclination toward PGI. This scale can be eligibly administered for research purposes for measuring the growth attitude as a reliable predictor in suitable combination with other expected variables like career development. Originality/value: The findings suggest the instrument to be psychometrically valid and reliable and can be helpful in many domains such as industrial organizations, career counseling areas and clinical and research settings. Also, the instrument can be beneficial for future studies in identifying other possible relationships with multiple variables. The current study is an original work to assess the level of PGI in men and women as the previous studies did not include participants below 25 and also they did not assess the inclination of PGI comparably in men and women.
Psychometric development and validation of victim gaslighting questionnaire (VGQ): across female sample from Pakistan
Purpose: Gaslighting a form of abusive manipulation both emotional and psychological is a growing phenomenon in recent times. However, as of yet, there is a scarcity of a valid and reliable instrument which can measure the severity of gaslighting in victims of interpersonal relationships abuse. The purpose of this study is the development of an instrument which can effectively measure gaslighting in victims and is psychometrically reliable and valid. Design/methodology/approach: Since the aim of the study was the development of a scale first a sample of eight women who were victims of domestic abuse was taken for the focus group. Afterwards using purposive sampling a sample of 20 women for the pilot study and a sample of 150 women for the main study was taken with age range 18–40 (M = 23.38, S.D = 4.03). For the development of scale theoretical basis along with a focus group was conducted to establish an item pool. Afterwards, subject matter experts helped in establishing contend validity followed by Velicer’s minimum average partial (MAP) method and maximum likelihood factor analysis (FA) was performed for the establishment of the factorial structure of the instrument. Findings: Velicer’s MAP method and Maximum Likelihood FA suggested two factor structures including peer disagreement and loss of self-trust. Instrument displayed high alpha reliability of α = 0.934, with α = 0.927 and α = 0.854, for the subscale, respectively. Research limitations/implications: Though all necessary steps were taken to minimize the limitations of the present study, however, some limitations do exist which needs to be addressed. The foremost limitation of the present scale is that it is being developed with only a female sample, however, the inclusion of a male sample in future studies can help in identifying whether men also are victims of gaslighting from peers and other family members or not. The second limitation is of validity though necessary validities have been established future studies should study on establishing further validities to further refine the instrument. Additionally, the scale has only been validated and tested on female samples future studies should be conducted on other specific groups or samples to develop norms. Moreover, testing the scale on other cultures could also help in establishing cross cultural validation of the instrument. Finally, though the scale assumes a higher level of scores suggests a higher level of victimization, a proper cutoff score can help in further identifying proper victims from the normal level of gaslighting. Practical implications: The present instrument has its applicability in several domains the most important being in the criminal justice system as gaslighting comes under gaslighting and even in the UK is considered as a criminal offense. This instrument can help in determining the severity of gaslighting in victims. Likewise, it can be used in clinical settings for psychologists to identify possible cases of gaslighting victims which can enable them to provide specific help and treatment for them. Moreover, researchers can also benefit from the instrument as it can enable them to explore gaslighting with other possible variables which can help them explore the concept of gaslighting even further. Originality/value: This paper is a novel study and has been completed with the purpose of evaluating the effects of gaslighting in victims of interpersonal relationships abuse as the earlier measures are either not psychometrically valid or cannot be generalized to a wider population. The present established scale is an effort to construct an instrument that can be used worldwide.