The loneliness of old women
Alaviani, M., Khosravan, S., Alami, A., & Moshki, M. (2015). The effect of a multi-strategy program on developing social behaviors based on Pender’s Health Promotion Model to prevent loneliness of old women referred to Gonabad urban health centers. International journal of community-based nursing and midwifery, 3(2), 132-140.
The first article to be reviewed is related to the problem of loneliness of old women. This is one of the most common problems in the aging population of today since a lot of people are left without due attention on behalf of their relatives. In Iran, where the study took place, the average life expectancy is increasing; therefore, the number of elderly people is on the rise. Besides physical weakness, these people also suffer numerous problems related to their social life since their existing connections often get damaged. According to different estimations, loneliness is experienced by 25 to 50% of the total world population.
Thus, the major purpose of the research was to identify how a multi-strategy program created based on Pender’s Health Promotion Model could improve the social interaction of elderly women thereby helping eliminate loneliness. The selected study design was quasi-experimental. It was performed in 2013 during the period covering nine months, between January and November. The sample consisted of 150 elderly women between 60-74 years from Gonabad urban health centers. Russell’s UCLA loneliness questionnaire and questionnaire created based on Pender’s Health Promotion Model were utilized; the results obtained were analyzed using T-pair, Chi-square, independent-T tests through SPSS, version 20, and descriptive statistics. In the intervention group, the subjects were provided with four sessions, during which they were given extensive information about loneliness and empowered (through performing practical tasks) to improve their social life.
The results revealed a significant decrease of loneliness in the members of the intervention group, which made it possible for researchers to conclude that Pender’s Health Promotion Model is an application framework that can be used for successful planning of various healthcare interventions since it allows identifying appropriate changes and improving particular reactions and responses.
Physical restraint devices in clinical care
Stinson, K. J. (2016). Nurses’ attitudes, clinical experience, and practice issues with the use of physical restraints in critical care units. American Journal of Critical Care, 25(1), 21-26
The second article is devoted to the investigation of physical restraint devices in clinical care units that have to be managed by nurses. Such restraints are common in clinical settings since they more often resort to mechanical ventilation and other types of invasive procedures (as compared to hospitals). Thus, the researcher intended to find out what attitudes nurses have to physical restraint devices, taking into account their experience and healthcare issues they had to encounter and manage in the course of their practice (e.g. how they provided care to physically restraint patients and what problems they had to resolve thereby). This problem is relevant since their knowledge and attitudes can impact patient outcomes in the long run.
By design, the research was a descriptive correlational study. The researcher collected all the necessary data online using the Physical Restraint Questionnaire, which was completed by 413 participants. The results obtained were classified and analyzed with the application of Patricia Benner’s novice to the expert framework.
As a result of the study, it was found out that the clinical experience of nurses (both in general and in critical care) had practically no connection with their attitude to the application of physical restraint devices. Despite this fact, the researcher noticed that nurses who were more experienced had a broader knowledge of such devices since they were covered by their education. Thus, it was concluded that the current nursing curricula lack information about physical restraint devices since they typically address hospital but not clinical settings, where they are implemented more often. As far as the application of the selected model is concerned, it was confirmed that it was useful for proper classification and investigation of results obtained in the course of a qualitative study.