ISSN:0029-6562    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1984

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

Blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate were recorded in 24 subjects during 3 9-minute measurement sessions in which they petted an unknown dog, petted a dog with whom a companion bond had been established, or read quietly. Based on the findings of this study, several conclusions were drawn: (1) There is a significant difference in changes over time in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure between petting a dog with whom a companion bond has been established and petting a dog with whom no bond exists; (2) the decreases in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure that occur during petting a dog with whom a companion bond has been established parallel the relaxation effect of quiet reading; and (3) there is a “greeting response” to the entry of a dog with whom a companion bond has been established, which results in significantly higher systolic and diastolic pressures than the response either to an unknown dog or to reading.

ISSN:0029-6562    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1984

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

This study explored patterns of causal relationships among perception of situational control, health, socioeconomic status, functional dependency, length of stay, and morale in institutionalized elderly. Causal patterns in residents at two levels of care were contrasted.A total of 113 residents on intermediate and skilled care units chosen randomly from 4 urban proprietary nursing homes were studied. Variables were measured by means of an interview. Instruments included the Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale, Chang's Situational Control of Daily Activities Scale, and the Resident's Questionnaire.Path analysis was used with a causal model to estimate direct and indirect effects of the independent variables on morale. Important differences in the way the independent variables affected morale for residents on the two levels of care were reported. Perception of situational control proved to be a key variable, significantly related to the morale of residents on both levels of care, although the strength of the association was stronger for residents on skilled care. Functional dependency, health, and socioeconomic status had significant direct effects on the morale of residents on intermediate care but not those on skilled care.

ISSN:0029-6562    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1984

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

This study focuses on the occurrence of depression in the elderly as an explanation for conflicting findings regarding subjective time in this age group. Subjects were volunteers from a congregate meal program in central Pennsylvania. The sample (N = 68) was restricted to women over 65 years of age. All subjects were ambulatory and lived at home. Depression was measured by the Beck Depression Inventory. Subjective time was determined by having the subject give a production estimate of an interval of 40 seconds. Analysis of data, which showed a correlation coefficient of 0.35 (p< .002) between depression and subjective time, supports the hypothesis that depression is related to decreased subjective time. The finding provides a tentative explanation for deviations from the demonstrated trend toward increased subjective time with aging.

ISSN:0029-6562    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1984

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

Alterations in level, timing, and coupling of circadian excretion of catecholamine metabolites, adrenal cortical hormones, sodium, potassium, creatinine, and vital signs in acute-care surgical patients were measured. Data were examined to determine if a relationship exists between the degree of circadian alteration and the subject's reentrainment to typical circadian profiles.Urine samples for assay, temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure were collected daily at 2-hour intervals from 11 consenting surgery subjects and 10 age-and sex-matched control subjects.The data indicate that certain circadian rhythms of hospitalized subjects were altered and uncoupled from external stimuli. These findings suggest that nurses (1) give individualized patient care to promote reentrainment recovery; and (2) refine nursing assessment to consider individual circadian patterns.

ISSN:0029-6562    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1984

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

The relative effects of preadmission self-instructional information on levels of performance and time needed to achieve level of mastery of exercise behaviors were examined using a sample of 130 presurgical cholecystectomy and herniorrhaphy patients. Experimental interventions were (1) no preadmission information, (2) specific preadmission instructions, and (3) nonspecific preadmission instructions. Preadmission instructions consisting of either a specific or nonspecific booklet mailed to patients focused on techniques for coughing, deep breathing exercises, leg movements, and ambulatory behaviors. During hospitalization, patients' exercise behaviors and the length of teaching time required for patients to perform the exercise steps were measured. Findings showed that subjects in the specific exercise instruction group performed significantly more of the exercise behaviors common to both booklets than subjects in the nonspecific exercise instruction group. Subjects in the specific instruction group also performed significantly more of the behaviors available to them than the nonspecific instruction group. Required postadmission teaching time did not differ significantly between the specific and nonspecific information groups, but both the groups required significantly less teaching time in the hospital than the no-preadmission instruction group.

ISSN:0029-6562    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1984

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

Major problems in the measurement of clinical pain are created because of (1) its subjective nature, (2) a limited number of reliable and valid instruments that measure the experience, and (3) a multitude of clinical issues such as type of pain, cause, and patient sample characteristics. Instruments currently available measure intensity, behavioral and/or physiologic phenomena associated with pain, and multiple dimensions of the experience of clinical pain. Important factors the nurse must consider when selecting a measuring instrument are the various definitions of pain, the goals of the measurement problem, and the type of pain being measured. Additional factors are specific sample characteristics, ease of administration and scoring, and reliability and validity data. A careful and deliberative selection process should help provide useful and relevant information.

ISSN:0029-6562    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1984

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

The Jalowiec Coping Scale consists of 40 coping behaviors culled from a comprehensive literature review, which are rated on a 1− to 5-point scale to indicate degree of use. Twenty judges classified the items to permit analysis of the coping behaviors according to a problem-oriented/affective-oriented dichotomy; 15 problem and 25 affective items resulted. Overall agreement by the judges was 85%, with greater consensus on problem items. Evaluation of stability using a two-week retest interval (N=28) yielded significant rhos of .79 for total coping scores, .85 for problem, and .86 for affective. With a one-month interval (N=30) coefficients were .78, .84, and .83, respectively. Alpha reliability coefficients of .86 (N= 141) and .85 (N= 150) supported instrument homogeneity. Content validity is substantiated by the systematic manner of tool development, by the large number of items used, and by the inclusion of diverse coping behaviors. Factor analysis (N=141) was used to investigate construct validity. A two-factor solution to evaluate the validity of the dichotomous classification showed that 80 % of the problem items loaded on Factor I, but only 56% of the affective items loaded on Factor II. To examine this multidimensional aspect, several other factor solutions were explored. Ultimately, the four-factor solution provided the most intelligible conceptual pattern with the least loss of information. Conceptual composition of these factors is discussed, and several tentative labels for each factor are suggested.

ISSN:0029-6562    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1984

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

The purpose of the study was to determine whether patients who participated in an intervention program would improve exercise and foot-care habits, reduce smoking, and would, in turn, have fewer PVD-related illnesses than patients not exposed to the intervention. Eighty-six patients with ankle/ brachial pressure indices of less than 1.0 on one or both legs were randomly assigned to a study (N=42) or control (N=44) group. All patients were assessed on a variety of health-related and activity behaviors prior to and again 26 weeks after enrollment in the study. Study patients who participated in the intervention worked with professionals on selecting programs designed to modify and improve their smoking, exercise, and/ or foot-care habits. At the end of 26 weeks, chi-square analysis showed no significant differences between study and control groups on change in smoking and foot care, although the results were in the anticipated direction. Study patients who chose to increase their exercise showed greater increase than control patients in frequency (p= .001), distance (p= .007), and length (p= .002) of walks. Although behaviors were modified, especially in the area of exercise, it was felt that longer interventions on a larger sample size are needed.

ISSN:0029-6562    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1984

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

This article explores the efficiency of automated literature search techniques to facilitate literature accessibility. It presents three related studies using the National Library of Medicine (NLM) literature search on nurse practitioners (1980) as the point of reference. The studies investigate three questions: Is the search reproducible, does it locate the most important articles pertaining to nurse practitioner effectiveness, and can a system be developed to decide efficiently which articles in a voluminous search output should actually be obtained? Results indicate that the NLM search is reproducible but that it lists only a small proportion of available studies. Neither the NLM document nor a computer search using the parameters it cites located a high proportion of critically nominated studies. However, based upon classification of their titles, a workable system can be developed to identify those articles in a search output that are relevant and should be retrieved.

ISSN:0029-6562    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1984

数据来源: OVID