Preventive Care in Nursing & Midwifery Journal
Volume:4 Issue: 1, 2014

Several studies have shown that sucrose intake results in pain relief during painful procedures among neonates. The effect of sucrose intake on intramuscular injection pain have less been studied. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of oral sucrose 30% on pain relief of Hepatitis B vaccine injection in full-term infants. In this triple-blinded clinical trial, 61 infants were selected and randomly allocated into two intervention and control groups. Two minutes before intramuscular injection of Hepatitis B vaccine, infants in the intervention group received 2 ml of oral sucrose 30%. Infants in the control group received the same amount of sterile distilled water orally. Before the injection, immediately, and five minutes after the injection, infants’ pain was assessed using the Neonatal Infant Pain Scale. Finding showed that there were no significant differences between the two groups regarding sex, gestational age, birth weight, mode of delivery, and mean pain severity prior to injection. Pain severity was significantly reduced immediately and five minutes after the injection in the intervention group (p<0/05). Intake of oral sucrose 30% decreased vaccine injection pain. It can be used in clinic.

Prostate cancer is a common cancer among men and is considered to be the second cause of death among men after lung cancer. This study was conducted to determine the effect of an educational intervention based on empowerment model on awareness, attitudes, self-esteem and self-efficacy in men aged 35 to 55 years in preventing prostate cancer. This randomized clinical trial was conducted in Gonabad in 2013. Sixty men aged 35 to 55 years old were randomly allocated into intervention (n=30) and control (n=30) groups. The intervention group received an education based on individual empowerment model. Data were collected using a valid and reliable questionnaire before and two months after the intervention. By the SPSS-20, we analyzed the collected data using the T- test, Chi-squared test and Fisher's exact test. There were no significant differences between the intervention and control groups in terms of all the study variables at baseline (p>0.05). After the intervention, significant differences were shown between the groups regarding awareness (p=0.007), attitude (p=0.041), self-steam (p=0.049) and self-efficacy (p=0.034). Implementing educational intervention in men based on empowerment model would be effective on awareness, attitudes, self-esteem and self-efficacy in preventing prostate cancer.

Anxiety and postpartum depression are devastating conditions that affect both pregnant women and their infants. The current study aimed to evaluate effect of psychological interventions on postpartum depression, anxiety and infants’ weight in primipara women referred to Baghiatallah and Najmiyeh hospitals in 2013. In this randomized controlled trial, out of 534 pregnant women who were in their last trimester of pregnancy, 135 at risk women were selected. The participants were randomly assigned to the experimental or control groups. The intervention program composed of eight educational and cognitive-behavioral sessions. Individuals in the control group received usual care. The symptoms of anxiety and depression were assessed using the Beck Anxiety Inventory, the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory. Infant's birth weights were also measured. There were no significant differences between the two groups regarding baseline measurements. The anxiety and depressive symptoms scores were reduced significantly in the intervention group (p<0/05). There were no changes in the mean of birth weight in both groups after the intervention. Findings suggested that psychological interventions could reduce symptoms of emotional problems in postpartum period.

Considering the importance of thinking styles in individual's decision making, this study was conducted to investigate the correlation between thinking styles with clinical decision making among nurses working in educational hospitals affiliated to Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. In this descriptive–correlational study, 196 nurses were recruited using random sampling method. Data were collected using the Thinking Styles Inventory and a researcher structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using the Pearson correlation test and multiple regression analysis. The results showed that hierarchical thinking had the most significant relationship with the clinical decision making (p<0.001; r=0.427). Conservative and internal thinking styles showed significant negative relationships with the clinical decision making (p<0.05; r=-0.201, r=-0.149, respectively). According to the multiple logistic regression analysis, type 1 thinking styles predicted better clinical decision makings and type 2 thinking styles were associated with low scores of clinical decision making. Nevertheless the relation intensity obtained from the test was poor (R2=0.171; p<0.001). Considering significant relationship between thinking styles with clinical decision making, further studies are recommended.

Subjective well-being is one of the most important indicators of mental health status. Assessing individual needs, and social factors influencing subjective well-being among nurses are essential due to the importance and risks of their jobs. The present study aimed to determine the relationship between psychological hardiness and family function with subjective well- being in nurses. This descriptive-correlational study was conducted in 2013. The sample comprised 80 randomly selected nurses. Data were collected using the Family Assessment Devise (FAD), Subjective Well- being questionnaires (SWB) and personal View Scale Kobasa (PVS). Data were analyzed using the Pearson correlation coefficient and stepwise regression analysis in the SPSS-16. Results revealed that subjective well-being was positively correlated with psychological hardiness (r=0/330; P<0/01) and family function (r=0/406; p<0/01). Regression analysis was used to predict the subjective well-being of dimensions of family functioning and hardiness. The results showed that 21% of the control and 16% of the overall performance could explain variation of subjective well-being. The subjective well-being of nurses may be enhanced by improving their family function and hardiness via educational and counseling programs.

Recent studies have shown that social and environmental factors as well as social communication play crucial role in pregnancy outcomes. The current study aimed to examine the relationship between perceived social support in pregnancy with birth satisfaction. This was a correlational-descriptive study in which 200 pregnant women referred to the Shahid Akbarabadi hospital were randomly selected. Data were collected using demographic characteristic, the Multidimensional scale of perceived social support and Machey questionnaire. Data were analyzed using the regression analysis in the SPSS-16. There was statistically significant relationship between the family and partner perceived social support with birth satisfaction. Only the partner perceived social support could explain the variance of birth satisfaction among the participants (p<0/05). Data indicated that the mean score of the partner perceived social support (23/63±4/34) was higher than the family perceived social support (22/51±5/18) and friends perceived social support (16/56±6/16). The mean score of birth satisfaction was 68/16±10/22. There was significant association between family and partner perceived social support with the birth satisfaction. It highlighted the necessity of providing educational programs for spouses and families of pregnant women in order to support and alleviate their birth satisfaction.

Caring is central to the nature of nursing. Due to the special conditions of patients in the critical care wards, caring behaviors are important to be considered. Despite the important role of nurses in quality of care, viewpoints of nurses on the caring behaviors are unclear. This study investigated the views of critical care nurses toward caring behaviors priorities. In this descriptive-correlative study, 200 critical care nurses were selected based on the stratified random sampling. Data were collected using the Caring Questionnaire developed by Larson. Caring behaviors were ranked on a 5-point Likert-type scale with 57 caring behavior items ordered in six subscales. The data were analyzed using the statistical methods in the SPSS-21.0. Results showed that the highest priority was related to the "confident communication with patients" and the lowest priority was related to the "being accessible" and "anticipation". Furthermore, nurses ages had significant relationship with physical relaxation, confident relationship and follow-ups through subgroups (p=0.01). Female nurses ranked "monitors and follow-ups through" higher than male nurses (p=0.01). Most nurses based their work according to the confident communication with patients. The availability and anticipated needs of the patients care were identified as the lowest priorities. Providing long-term and short-term programs by policymakers in order to conduct appropriate trainings are recommended.

Since nurses have an important role in caring for end-stage patients, their attitudes toward euthanasia is important to be considered. This study aimed to examine the attitudes of nurses who work in the ICUs and oncology wards towards euthanasia. In this cross-sectional study, 205 nurses working in oncology wards and ICUs in teaching hospitals of Kerman University of Medical Sciences were enrolled during June to November 2012. Data were gathered using the Euthanasia Attitude Scale (EAS) and demographic information list. The data were analyzed using the statistical methods in the SPSS version 16. The mean score of the nurse's attitudes towards euthanasia was 58.51±14.19. The majority of nurses (n=163; 79.5%) received a score less than 75, and were opposed to euthanasia. The regression analysis showed that one year of age increase made the attitude more negative (p<0.025). The attitude of nurses with more than 5 years of work experiences was 15.05 more negative than the nurses with work experiences less than 5 years (p>0.003). The results of this study showed that most nurses had negative views on euthanasia. It seems that further studies should be conducted to clarify determinants of the nurses’ attitudes and their roles in management of end-stage patients.