The winner of the "Best Original Research Paper in Cancer Nursing" Award for 2013 is "Effects of an Internet Support System to Assist Cancer Patients in Reducing Symptom Distress: A Randomized Controlled Trial" by Cornelia M. Ruland, PhD.
Abstract: As health care disparities become more evident in our multicultural nation, culture sensitive health research needs to be a priority in order for good health care to take place. This article will explore the literature related to acculturation stress and mental health disparities among the Mayan population. Literatures of similar but distinct groups are included due to the limited amount of research of the Mayan population. Using Leiniger's Transcultural nursing theory, these findings suggest that nurses have a large gap to fill to address the mental health disparities of specific cultural groups like the indigenous Maya, thereby satisfying their nursing obligations.
This article presents intensive psychiatric nurses' work and nursing care. The aim of the study was to describe expressions of cultural knowing in nursing care in psychiatric intensive care units (PICU). Spradley's ethnographic methodology was applied. Six themes emerged as frames for nursing care in psychiatric intensive care: providing surveillance, soothing, being present, trading information, maintaining security and reducing. These themes are used to strike a balance between turbulence and stability and to achieve equilibrium. As the nursing care intervenes when turbulence emerges, the PICU becomes a sanctuary that offers tranquility, peace and rest.
More than 70% of seriously ill patients with cancer suffer from xerostomia and the associated problems of swallowing, chewing and speaking. This study aims to investigate whether treatment with acupuncture is a viable option for hospice patients with xerostomia. During a 2-year period, 117 patients were assessed for xerostomia. Eighty-two patients were found to have moderate xerostomia. Sixty-seven fulfilled the criteria for inclusion. Of these, 14 were included but only eight completed the study. Ten acupuncture treatments were given during a 5-week period. The effect of acupuncture was measured using a visual analogue scale, and by measuring the saliva production before and after the series of treatment. The results show that all the patients experienced alleviation of dryness of the mouth and the associated symptoms, and thus benefited from the acupuncture treatment. However, conducting a 5-week acupuncture intervention study is not feasible at an inpatient hospice due to the patients being too close to death.
Nurses working in the long-term care (LTC) sector face unique workplace stresses, demands and circumstances. Designing approaches to leadership training and other supportive human-resource strategies that reflect the demands of the LTC setting fosters a positive work life for nurses by providing them with the skills and knowledge necessary to lead the care team and to address resident and family issues. Through the St. Joseph's Health Centre Guelph demonstration site project, funded by the Nursing Secretariat of Ontario's Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, the Excelling as a Nurse Leader in Long Term Care training program and the Mentor Team program were developed to address these needs. Evaluation results show that not only have individual nurses benefitted from taking part in these programs, but also that the positive effects were felt in other parts of the LTC home (as reported by Directors of Care). By creating a generally healthier work environment, it is anticipated that these programs will also have a positive effect on recruitment and retention.
The reinstatement of social activism as a central feature of nursing practice has been advocated by nursing scholars and is consistent with contemporary conceptualizations of primary health care and health promotion that are rooted in critical social theory's concept of empowerment. Advocacy oral history from a feminist postmodern perspective offers a method of research that has the potential and purpose to empower participants to transform their political and social realities and may, therefore, be considered social activism. A recent study of public health nurses who had experienced significant distress through the reduction and redirection of their practice is provided as an exemplar of advocacy oral history. Philosophies underpinning the research method and characteristics of feminist postmodern research are reviewed and implications for the use of this methodology for social activism in nursing are drawn.
When doing secondary data analysis, it is not uncommon to find that a key variable was not measured. Often the researcher has no option but to do without the missing indicator, but when nearly parallel datasets exist, the researcher may have other options. In an earlier article leading up to this special issue, this research team was confronted with the problem that research utilization had been measured in only one of two similar datasets, namely, in the 1996 but not the 1998 Alberta Registered Nurse survey. The 1998 dataset had a larger sample size (6,526 compared to 600 nurse respondents in 1996) and a stronger set of measured variables, but was missing the key variable of interest--research utilization. To overcome this, a regression-based strategy was used to create a research utilization score for each nurse in the 1998 survey by exploiting the availability of several anticipated causes of research utilization in both datasets. Presented here is an alternative and more complicated procedure that might be applied in future investigations. The article presents a methodological understanding of how to use a phantom variable to account for the unmeasured research utilization variable in a two-group structural equation model. This approach could be used to overcome several of the limitations connected to using a regression-based approach to creating a key missing variable when nearly parallel datasets are available.
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Comment On: Nurs Res. 2006 May-Jun;55(3):149-6016708039
