EFFECTIVENESS OF SELECTED NURSING INTERVENTIONS ON THE CONSERVATION OF APHASIC PATIENTS' ENERGY AND INTEGRITY.
Contributors: University of Florida.
Published: 1992
Number of pages: 223
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Speech Pathology.; Health Sciences, Mental Health.
Description: A quasi-experimental research design was used to examine clinical outcomes with a control group of aphasic patients (n = 16) who received routine nursing care and an experimental group (n = 10) who received nursing treatment interventions. Most patients who sustained a left cerebral vascular accident (CVA) have the expression and comprehension problems of aphasia and need informational and emotional support from nurses when entering the rehabilitation setting.

The purpose of the study was to determine if selected noninvasive nursing interventions (formal orientation, turn-taking, planned social interaction, and positive feedback sessions), when systematically implemented, would positively affect patient outcomes in the following areas: depression, anxiety, fatigue, vigor, functional communication, functional social cognition, patient satisfaction with nursing care, and environmental adaptation.

Data analyses using ANCOVA with aphasia severity and days since CVA as covariates revealed that none of the patient outcome variables differed between the two groups (p $<$.05). Day and evening nurses' perception of depression and general functioning in the two groups were analyzed by two-factor ANOVAs and differed significantly (p $<.$ 05) in three areas: patients' level of anger, general functioning, and social integrity. These differences may be attributable to the greater amount of time patients spend off the unit during the day.

Mean scores on the patient outcome variables in both groups suggest that this sample of patients was positive, energized, and satisfied with nursing care by their third day on the unit. It is speculated that the nursing care was already highly therapeutic, so that the impact of the experimental nursing interventions was negligible. Since control group data were collected first, nurses may have had greater expectations from the experimental group to whom additional interventions were administered.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-10, Section: B, page: 5145.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA, 1992.

School code: 0070.