Journal of Caring Sciences
Volume:9 Issue: 2, Jun 2020

The absence of comprehensive supports systems for older persons in Nigeria has put them on psychosocial challenges at old age. Thus, this study profiled the social supports provided by the adults to older persons in Ibadan, Southwestern Nigeria.

This cross-sectional study utilized mixed method approach to administer a standardized questionnaire among 460 consented adults who had older parents, and conducted twelve in-depth interviews among male and female participants in Apete, a peri-urban community in Ibadan, Nigeria. Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed respectively using SPSS ver. 20 and content analysis.

Most (67.2%) of the respondents were females, and 77.2% were not living with their older parents. Older parents of 32.4% of the respondents relied on children as a source of income, whereas nearly half (47.0%) of the respondents perceived the care of the elderly as government responsibility. Financial care (48.5%) from significant others was perceived the most unmet social needs of the elderly, while lack of money (44.6%) was perceived the cause of the unmet social needs of the elderly. There was significant relationship (X2 = 0.056) between the average monthly income and the time frame the children give money to older parents.

There exist social supports to the elderly in peri-urban Nigeria. The social support systems available to the elderly were influenced by the culture, blessing/prayer-needs from parents, and reciprocity factors.

Telenursing is a simple method to provide and maintain nursing care for patients with chronic illness such as diabetes. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of telenursing on body mass index (BMI) and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) in illiterate patients aged 50 years and older with type 2diabetes.

A randomized controlled clinical trial was performed. Sixty patients with type 2 diabetes who referred to Aligoodarz diabetes clinic (Lorestan, Iran) were randomly assigned to the intervention and control group. Each patient was assessed before and after intervention for the following clinical parameters: HbA1c by Drew-DS5 analyzer and weight by scale (Sahand BMI electronic scale /Iran). All patients received diabetes self-care training for 3 days before the study. Telephone follow ups were applied in intervention group for 12 weeks. The data were analyzed using Chi-square, paired t-test and independent t-test by SPSS11.

Results showed statistically significant decrease in BMI at the end of the training from 29.28(3.29) to 28.35(3.37) Kg/m2 and statistically significant decrease in HbA1c from 8.96(1.24) to 7.56(0.71) in the intervention group. The effect size base on Cohen’s formula for BMI and HbA1c was Cohen’s d=2.85, Effect size r= 0.81 and Cohen’s d=2.04, Effect size r= 0.71 respectively.

The findings indicate that Nurse-led telephone follow up can increase adherence from treatment program and has beneficial effects on HbA1c and BMI in illiterate patients aged 50 years and older with type 2 diabetes.

A life-threatening illness can cause the involvement of family members and the imposition of psychological and physical stress on them. Certainly, the family is a very valuable resource in patient care and plays an important role in maintaining the emotional support and patient’s recovery. The aim of this study was to explain the family members’ supporting behaviors of the patient admitted to the cardiac special units.

This qualitative study was performed in the cardiac special units in Isfahan. The number of participants was 20, including 5 nurses, 8 family members, and 7 patients. The data were collected through interview and observation by purposive sampling. Then, the data were analyzed by Graneheim and Lundman's qualitative content analysis method. The study lasted 12 months.

Data analysis showed that family’s support can be classified into three levels, including support by the therapeutic alliance (attempts to console and reassure, restoration of self-esteem, diminishing patient’s insensitivity, commitment to the patient, and visiting the patient ), participatory information (obtaining reliable information from the nurse, active role in providing meaningful information about the patient’s prognosis), practical and instrumental support (searching for economic support resources, providing the patient with the necessary equipment, trying to do the right care taking into account the family culture).

Understanding family’s supportive behaviors can help improve counseling and planning for quality care of patients admitted to the cardiac care units.

Given the harmful effects of insomnia and the need for a better understanding of the disorder as well as providing proper care, the present study aimed to compare the emotional dysregulation and experiential avoidance in patients with insomnia and non- clinical individuals.

To conduct the present cross-sectional study, two sample groups were selected randomly. The first group consisted of 100 patients with insomnia who visited the Sleep Disorders Research Center at Farabi Hospital in Kermanshah, Iran. The second group consisted of 100 administrative staff of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences without sleep problems. For data collection, three questionnaires were used: Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire. The data were analyzed through the analysis of variance, using the SPSS Statistics Software Ver. 13.

The total mean score of difficulties in emotion regulation in patients with insomnia and non-clinical people measured 101.18(45.60) and 86.77(21.88), respectively, and the mean scores of experiential avoidance measured 37.53(12.33) and 28.74(21.88) in patients with insomnia and non-clinical people, respectively. The results of the present study revealed that there was a significant difference between the two groups in terms of emotional dysregulation and experiential avoidance.

According to the current results, it is suggested that therapists consider the role of emotional dysregulation and experiential avoidance in the treatment and care of chronic insomnia. To solve these problems, it is recommended third-wave therapies be used, especially acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT).

Anti-retro viral (ARV) drugs are the corner stone of management of HIV infection. ARVs have been consistently proven to reduce mortality due to HIV. The aim of this study was to identify the level of drug adherence and related challenges for adherence.

A cross- sectional study was conducted in the antiretroviral therapy (ART) clinic of a tertiary care teaching hospital. Patients who were above 18years of age, on ART for at least six months and underwent counselling before starting ART were included in the study (n=143). Demographic variables and clinical profile were noted and level of drug adherence and associated factors were assessed using Morisky Green Levine Test and check list respectively. Data was analysed in SPSS version 22.

Most of the study subjects (89.5%) had high level of medication adherence and 10.5% had medium level adherence. Factors contributing to high adherence level were confidentiality and trust among health workers, concerned about their own health, understanding about the prescribed drugs, idea about disease progression, effectiveness and knowledge of ARVs.

Drug adherence was found to be high among HIV- infected patients in this study and various reasons contributed for the high adherence among the study subjects.

The quality of care affects patients’ satisfaction. To provide high quality care, nurses face ethical challenges in daily practice. Moral sensitivity is the first phase in moral implementation. This study aimed to determine the relationship between nurses’ moral sensitivity and patients’ satisfaction in medical wards.

In descriptive correlational study 198 nurses and 198 patients in 17 medical wards filled out the "Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire (MSQ)" and "Patient Satisfaction with Nursing Care Quality Questionnaire (PSNCQQ)", respectively. Nurses were sampled by the census method. For each nurse, a patient was selected randomly from the same ward. Data were analyzed using SPSS ver13.

The highest scores were in the dimensions of "Relational orientation" and "Following the rules", and the lowest scores were in the dimensions of "Autonomy" and "Experiencing moral conflicts". The highest level of patients’ satisfaction was with "nurses’ professional performance" 3.98 (1.09), and the lowest level was with "nurses’ routine work" 2.69 (1.22). There was no significant relationship between the mean of patient satisfaction and moral sensitivity of nurses.

Considering that nurses had a higher score in dimension of "Following the rules" and a lower score in dimension of "Autonomy", It seems ethical performance in the real situation is not merely due to the nurses’ moral sensitivity and It seems the complexity of the organization causes nurses face difficulties in making decisions related to clinical practice; therefore, policy makers in the health system should be able to identify barriers.

Hospitalization of patients in the intensive care units always has negative consequences such as anxiety and concern for patients and their families. This study aimed to investigate the effect of programmed family presence in intensive care units on patients' and families' anxiety.

This was a quasi-experimental study conducted in Iran. The eligible patients and a member of their families were assigned into two groups (N=80) through convenience sampling. The family members in the experimental group were allowed to attend twice a day for 15 minutes in a planned way beside the patient and contribute to their clinical primary care. In the control group, the family members had a strict limitation to visit their patients based on the usual policy. Anxiety in both groups at the beginning and on the third day of patient's admission was measured, using Spielberger's questionnaire. The data were analyzed with SPSS Ver. 13.

The mean score of anxiety in the control group did not show significant difference in patients and in families, however it had decreased significantly in the experimental group after the intervention for both patients and families. The results showed that mean differences between the two groups was statistically significant in patients and families.

The planned presence of the family of patients in CCU played a crucial role in reducing the anxiety of patients and their family. Furthermore, it is recommended that strategies of visiting policy in ICUs should be revised and the possibility be provided for the families' planned presence and participation in the patient care.

Professional nursing is based on caring. Care is a combination of love and respect in interacting with others. There are many concerns about nursing care without love. However, the concept and meaning of love in nursing have not been paid the due attention. This study analyzed the concept of love in nursing. The aim of this study is to describe and discuss the concept of love in nursing.

A concept analysis was conducted using the 8-step Walker and Avant's model. Databases such as SID, PubMed, Web of Science, CINHAL, SCOPUS and Google Scholar were searched. The terms "love","concept analysis" and "nursing" were used for searching in international sources. No time limit was considered in searching the databases and all studies were published until December 2017. In the initial search, 142 articles were found but finally eight articles remained relevant and entered the study.

The authors did not find a special independent tool to measure love in nursing. Therefore, we define love in nursing as follows: the combination of nursing care with a sense of responsibility, benevolence, attention and concern, respect, and understanding of others as a human being, regardless of their negative consequences for themselves.

Understanding the meaning of love in nursing can promote nursing practice in two ways. First, the nurses are examining their values and beliefs. Second, they find out how to interact with patients.