bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Systematized HIV/AIDS education for student nurses at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria: impact on knowledge, attitudes and compliance with universal precautions
Authors: Uwakwe Charles B.U. 
Published: March 2003

Systematized HIV/AIDS education for student nurses at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria: impact on knowledge, attitudes and compliance with universal precautions This paper reports the findings of a study which examines changes in a group of Bachelor of Science (BSc) nursing students’ perceptions, knowledge of and attitudes towards human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), accruing from attempts at a systematized education for the cohort. Based upon a 3‐month study of 141 registered nurses enrolled in a BSc nursing programme at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, it investigates alterations in knowledge and attitudes resulting from intense instruction on HIV/AIDS, AIDS patient care, and compliance with universal precautions. With regard to knowledge enhancement and attitudinal transformation, the research reveals that a number of positive changes occurred over the period of the study. Not only were the nurses better informed about AIDS than previously, but their attitudes towards the disease and patient care had become considerably more liberal, as well as their disposition to comply with universal precautions. The conclusion emphasizes that it is very important for education about HIV/AIDS to be incorporated within current undergraduate and in‐service training programmes for Nigerian nurses.
Crosscurrents: against cultural narration in nursing
Authors: Freshwater Dawn 
Published: March 2003

Crosscurrents: against cultural narration in nursing Nurses, like other groups throughout history, have been described as an oppressed group. Writers who describe nurses as lacking in self‐esteem, autonomy, accountability and power support this view in the literature. Indeed the cultural narration of nursing is for nurses to be subordinate. This article explores the emergence of horizontal violence within nursing and suggests that it is a result of unexpressed conflict within an oppressed group. The author aims to raise the awareness of horizontal violence in nursing so that practitioners come to understand how this in itself can be an expression of power. Drawing upon theories of reflective practice, the article examines how the educational system in nursing may have contributed to the felt oppression within the group by colluding with the cultural narrative. The crosscurrents of cultural narration are strong and it is argued here that the nurse needs to feel empowered in order to take action to swim against the tide. The author proposes that a model of transformatory learning based upon critical theory creates the possibility of emancipatory action in nursing, both locally and globally.
Social perceptions of cancer and their impacts: implications for nursing practice arising from the literature
Authors: Flanagan Jean , Holmes Susan 
Published: March 2003

Social perceptions of cancer and their impacts: implications for nursing practice arising from the literature At the millennium cancer still holds a special mystique and is imbued with socio‐cultural meanings, which extend far beyond the rational, scientific and biological facts of the disease. Excessive fear and dread may cause family and friends to display avoidance or overprotective behaviours to the ill person, who may subsequently perceive dissatisfaction with social support. Drawing on a literature review this paper explores the impact of cancer on social relationships. Interpersonal strain in relationship is often explained in the stigmatization of the illness and this concept is explored through contemporary social theorizing. These findings have direct implications for nursing practice where the goal of care is to enhance the support relationship.
Women’s views of counselling received in connection with breast‐feeding after reduction mammoplasty
Authors: Engström Britta Lena , Fridlund Bengt 
Published: March 2003

Women’s views of counselling received in connection with breast‐feeding after reduction mammoplasty The aim of this study was to generate a theoretical model of the experiences of women, who had undergone reduction mammoplasty, of counselling received in connection with breast‐feeding. Data were collected through interviews with 12 breast‐reduced women who had given birth to a child, and the material was analysed by means of the grounded theory method. Written permission to post notices at the child welfare centres had been obtained from the primary care managers. The women themselves applied for participation in the study. The results showed that their need for counselling from somebody who listened attentively to them and gave advice in connection with breast‐feeding, was considerable. The women could have a feeling of self‐reliance, ambivalence, acceptance or guilt, depending on the extent to which they perceived to have received counselling from their family members. At the same time, their experiences of the encounter with the nursing staff were of crucial importance. Lack of active listening and counselling from the nursing staff can be counterbalanced by support from relatives. However, when such support is not forthcoming, the nursing staff must be able to support the women in their role of a mother, which requires that education and supervision are given to the staff. The findings of the study can be used as a basis for further research into the need for support of the families concerned.
‘I don’t have any other choice’: spouses’ experiences of placing a partner in a care home for older people in Sweden
Authors: Lundh Ulla , Sandberg Jonas , Nolan Mike 
Published: March 2003

‘I don’t have any other choice’: spouses’ experiences of placing a partner in a care home for older people in Sweden The main aim of this paper is to consider the experiences of Swedish spouses who have placed a partner in a care home for older people. Data were gathered from semi‐structural interviews with 14 spouses (11 wives and 3 husbands) who had been involved in a care home placement within the previous 6 months. The results reported here are from the first component of a larger grounded theory study, the aim of which is to explore, describe and understand the experience of care home placement from a variety of perspectives and to identify the implications for policy and practice in Sweden. The focus here is on the experience of spouses, relating to the decision‐making process, the move into care and subsequent contact with the care home. Four themes emerged from the data – making the decision, making the move, adjusting to the move and reorientation. The results show a lack of planning for the elder person’s entry to a care home, and professional dominance of this stage of the process. The largely ambivalent emotional responses to the move that spouses experience and the difficulties in initiating and sustaining relationships with staff in the home are discussed in the light of previous research.
The theory–practice gap in nursing: the role of the nurse teacher
Authors: Landers Margaret G. 
Published: March 2003

The theory–practice gap in nursing: the role of the nurse teacher The increasingly complex requirements of today’s nursing practitioners, have been accompanied by demands on nurse educators to look at new ways to facilitate learning in the clinical area (Camiah 1996). In recent years nursing education has undergone a period of major change in many countries through integrating with universities. While nurse educators are striving to respond to changes in education the dichotomy between the theoretical input taught in the classroom and what is practised or experienced on the wards remains a problem (Ashworth & Longmate 1993, Ferguson & Jinks 1994). Dale (1994) postulates that theory provides the basis for understanding the reality of nursing, it would seem reasonable, therefore, to assume that the content studied in the classroom correlates with what the student experiences on the ward. It should also follow that if a gap exists between theory and practice, efforts should be taken for its reduction (Rafferty et al. 1996). According to MacNeil (1997) many initiatives have been introduced in an effort to bridge the theory–practice gap and these have focused around the role of the nurse teacher. These changes in education are redefining the role of the nurse teacher, therefore, the part that they currently play and will play in the future needs to be carefully considered (Phillips et al. 1996b). The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the literature on the theory–practice divide in nursing. First, some of the reasons cited for its existence will be explored. Second, suggested ways of bridging the divide will be considered focusing on the role of the nurse teacher.
The crescent and Islam: healing, nursing and the spiritual dimension. Some considerations towards an understanding of the Islamic perspectives on caring
Authors: Rassool G. Hussein 
Published: March 2003

The crescent and Islam: healing, nursing and the spiritual dimension. Some considerations towards an understanding of the Islamic perspectives on caring Caring from Islamic perspectives is not well versed in Eurocentric nursing literature. There is widespread misunderstanding of the concept and practice of Islam within the context of health care and nursing practice. The areas of contention, in the context of health care systems, are whether the western paradigm to nursing care and management are applicable to Muslims and non‐Muslims in both Islamic and non‐Islamic countries. What is lacking in some of the conceptual frameworks and models of care is not only the fundamental spiritual dimension of care, but also the significance of spiritual development of the individual towards healing. The focus of this paper is to provide an awareness of Islamic health practices, health behaviours, code of ethics and the framework of Islamic perspectives of caring and spirituality. A brief overview of the Muslim world, the historical development in caring and health and the pillars of the Islamic faith provide the context of the paper. The development of a model of care based on the Islamic perspective is suggested.
Legitimation of nurses’ knowledge through policies and protocols in clinical practice
Authors: Manias Elizabeth , Street Annette 
Published: March 2003

Legitimation of nurses’ knowledge through policies and protocols in clinical practice Health care professionals use policies and protocols in varying ways to guide their clinical activities and to promote quality patient care. The critical ethnographic case study upon which this paper is based, involved a research group comprising six registered nurses who worked in a critical care setting. Research methods included professional journalling, participant observation, and focus group and individual interviews. This paper examines the power relations at play between doctors and nurses, and among nurses, and the ways in which nurses used policies and protocols as a means of mediating communication. While policies and protocols provided nurses with legitimacy of their knowledge in the clinical arena, doctors tended to rely on their past experience and background to inform their knowledge and activities. For nurses to believe that they provided valued and collaborative input in patient decisions, they actively sought out written evidence through policies and protocols to confirm and support their knowledge. Policies and protocols of critical care activities provided nurses with expected standards of care, which they used to legitimize their knowledge and to communicate with doctors about ‘undesirable’ medical decisions. The doctors valued their professional authority and autonomy over policies and protocols, while nurses used these written guidelines to assert power and demonstrate resistance. Policies and protocols do not exist in isolation; they occur within a complex network of power relations that create tensions in clinical practice. In challenging these tensions, it is important that nurses and doctors establish a fine balance between using policies and protocols to provide directions for practice, and to allow sufficient latitude and flexibility in addressing the complexities of patient care.
Women’s psychosocial adjustment to diabetes
Authors: Willoughby Deborah F. , Kee Carolyn , Demi Alice 
Published: March 2003

Women’s psychosocial adjustment to diabetes Successful adjustment to a chronic illness such as diabetes mellitus is influenced by a variety of psychosocial factors. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which social support, personal resources, coping styles, and psychosocial adjustment to illness differ among women with diabetes living in different types of household structure and to explore the influence of social support, personal resources, coping styles, and household structure on the psychosocial adjustment of women with diabetes. Data were collected in 1995. The convenience sample included 115 diabetic women with an average age of 48 years. Mean length of time from diagnosis was 10 years. Instruments included a demographic data form, a measure of social support, a personal resource scale, the Jalowiec Coping Scale, the Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale‐Self‐Report, and a self‐report item for assessing household structure. Multiple analysis of variance showed that women in various types of households differed in personal resources and coping. Higher levels of social support and more adequate personal resources were associated with more effective coping and better psychosocial adjustment. The effective use of confrontive, optimistic, supportant and self‐reliant coping was associated with better psychosocial adjustment, while evasive and emotive coping styles were associated with more adjustment problems. Multiple regression showed that 47% of the variance in adjustment was explained by personal resources and social support. Findings indicated that women in various types of households differed in the adequacy of their resources and in the ways that they cope with diabetes. Findings further indicated that greater social support, more adequate personal resources, and more effective coping are associated with better adjustment.
Grief and older people: the making or breaking of emotional bonds following partner loss in later life
Authors: Costello John , Kendrick Kevin 
Published: March 2003

Grief and older people: the making or breaking of emotional bonds following partner loss in later life The aim of this ethnographic study was to explore retrospectively the grief experiences of 12 older people whose partners had recently died in hospital, following a period of terminal illness. The rationale was based upon developing an understanding of the grief experiences of newly bereaved older people. In doing so, it is important to consider that grief is not only shaped by culture and social context but also by the nature of the relationship between the mourner and the deceased. For most of this century, the dominant conceptualization relating to grief and the social experience of bereavement has been based on the psychoanalytical school of thought. This process is said to involve the mourner passing through a number of stages or phases and forms the basis of the ‘grief work hypothesis’. Using in‐depth ethnographic interviews, the mourner’s reactions to and perceptions of the loss were explored. Tape‐recorded interview data were analysed using the inductive process of both content analysis and discourse evaluation. The findings from this study shed light on an area of conjugal bereavement that has received little attention in the past and challenges traditional models of grief. The indications are that in the first year of bereavement, the bereaved retain and modify the emotional relationship with their deceased partners, through a range of symbolic behaviours. The discussion raises issues concerning the need to consider the extent to which contemporary conceptualizations of grief explain the reactions of older people whose grief experiences are shaped by their social situation. The study also highlights important issues concerning the need to understand the complexity of grief experiences and bereavement support for older people which has a number of implications for nurses in both hospital and community settings.
Professional nurses’ perception of nursing mentally ill people in a general hospital setting
Authors: Mavundla Thandisizwe Redford 
Published: March 2003

Professional nurses’ perception of nursing mentally ill people in a general hospital setting The aim of this study was to explore professional nurses’ perception of nursing mentally ill patients in a tertiary hospital in Durban. An explorative, qualitative, descriptive and contextual design was followed as the basis for conducting the study. The above‐mentioned research design was achieved through field work conducted in an urban‐based general hospital. A sample of 12 professional nurses was selected from a population of 800 professional nurses employed in this setting using a purposive sampling technique. This sample size was determined by saturation of data as reflected in repeating themes. Both individual phenomenological semistructured interviews and field notes in the form of observations were used as methods of data collection. The field work was conducted without any preset theoretical framework of reference by using bracketing and intuiting. During interviews, participants were asked only one research question, namely: ‘How do you perceive nursing mentally ill patients in your unit or ward?’ Communication skills were employed to encourage participants to verbalize their perception of nursing mentally ill patients in a general hospital setting. A tape recorder was used to collect data and the data was transcribed verbatim. Data collected was analysed following the descriptive method of Giorgi (1986). Coding was carried out by the researcher and an independent expert who is a psychiatric nursing specialist and a qualitative research expert. After data analysis, the results were reflected within universal categories of the Nursing for the Whole Person Theory in order to give them structure. The four themes that emerged from the findings are: perception of self, perception of a patient, perception of feelings that hinder nursing the mentally ill, and perception of the environment. The measures for ensuring trustworthiness proposed by Guba (
Lincoln Y.S. & Guba E.G. (1985)Naturalistic Inquiry. Sage, Beverly Hills) were used as the basis for ensuring reliable and valid findings. The perception of nursing mentally ill people within a general hospital setting was negative and affected the intellectual and the affective component of the nurses’ psychological functioning within their internal environment. It was recommended that nurses’ knowledge and skills should be increased and that they should be given emotional support in terms of counselling.
Universal vs. selective services: the case of British health visiting
Authors: Elkan Ruth , Robinson Jane , Williams Debbie , Blair Mitch 
Published: March 2003

Universal vs. selective services: the case of British health visitingAims.This paper discusses whether there should be universal or selective provision of health visiting services. The aim is to show the central relevance of the work of the late epidemiologist, Geoffery Rose, to arguments advocating the retention of a universal health visiting service.Backround.In the United Kingdom (UK), health visiting moved, in the early years of the twentieth century, from being focused on the needs of poor families to becoming a universally provided service. Recent debates about the future of British health visiting have again raised the issue of whether health visiting remains a universal service, or should be targeted only on the most needy.Structure.Following an exposition of Rose’s work, two kinds of problems with which health visitors are concerned, depression and child abuse, are used to illustrate the ways in which Rose’s approach can be applied to health visiting.Central thesis.Rose argued that the bulk of problems in society arise in the many who are not at especially high risk, rather than in the few who are at high risk. This is because of a very large number of people who are not at especially high risk. Consequently, following Rose, this paper argues that in relation to such problems as depression or child abuse, to target health visiting services only on those at high risk would be to leave untouched a vast burden of health and social problems. In the context of identifying people who are at greatest risk, Rose argued that no screening instrument can ever be sufficiently precise to accurately identify those most likely to suffer problems. In corroboration of Rose’s argument, this paper illustrates the pitfalls of health visitors’ attempts to screen for families at greatest risk through the use of such instruments as checklists of risk factors.Conclusions.It is concluded that it is neither possible to screen accurately for those at greatest risk, nor desirable to target services only on those at greatest risk. Therefore, it is advocated that health visiting should remain a universal service. However, it is recognized that within a universally provided service, some clients will require a greater intensity of input than others. In assessing the need for services, it is argued that the professional judgements of health visitors are crucial.
Video modelling to educate patients
Authors: Krouse Helene J. 
Published: March 2003

Video modelling to educate patients Background. Changes in health care delivery in the United States of America due to economic pressures have required nurses to develop innovative instructional materials for educating patients and families. Educational materials such as videotapes, specifically designed to provide information and promote active participation in treatment decisions, can be effective tools for empowering patients. A comprehensive analysis in 1988 concluded that the concept of ‘video modelling’ or ‘behavioural modelling’ offered the greatest benefit of videotaped presentations. Aim of the study. The purpose of this integrative literature review was to examine the concept of video modelling and its applications in clinical practice. Methods. A computer search of the electronic databases of Medline and CINHAL between 1990 and 1999 produced a total of 40 research studies on video instruction for patients. Based on criteria for inclusion, 18 research studies involving video modelling were reviewed and three major uses were identified: (1) assisting decision making regarding treatment options; (2) reducing pre‐procedural anxiety and improving coping skills; and (3) teaching self‐care practices. Results. The studies reviewed included a variety of research designs, clinical settings, and patient populations. Despite these differences, several benefits to the use of video modelling were found. Patients who viewed videotapes regarding treatment options had a greater understanding of the risks and benefits of those choices and were more apt to be active participants in decision making. Collective results of the studies focusing on stress and coping revealed that preparatory videotapes using video modelling could have a positive effect on reducing anxiety and physiological arousal during stressful procedures. With self‐care practices, several of the studies found that there was an increase in desired behaviours in people whose educational programmes included video modelling. Conclusions. The use of video modelling has potential benefits for clinical practice in facilitating knowledge acquisition, reducing preparatory anxiety, and improving self‐care. Nurses must become more actively involved in evaluating various teaching approaches used with patients to enhance practice and outcomes.