BACKGROUND: Filipino society's normative definition of a 'family' is one that is composed of a married heterosexual couple and their children. In such cultural set-up, both the mothers and fathers are expected to share the responsibility in raising their child or children. However, for solo mother households, this scenario is farfetched with solo mothers serving as the primary economic provider and caregiver.

OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to chart the challenges faced by solo mothers and identify the coping strategies they employed through understanding their lived experiences.

METHODOLOGY: The study used a phenomenological approach to magnify a better understanding of the phenomenon as experienced by solo mothers. The researcher conducted personal in-depth interviews with thirteen (13) solo mothers from the city of Manila. The inclusion criteria for the participants were: (a) solo mothers who raised their child alone, (b) at least 25 years of age, and (c) has at least one biological child who is 20 years old and below. The participants were recruited through purposive and snowball sampling. The interviews were carefully recorded, transcribed and critically analyzed. After careful thematic analysis of the data and with quantitative methods used, seven themes answering the study's objectives emerged.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The seven major themes recorded were: Absence of A Partner, Conflicting Responsibilities, Child Care, Social Support, Willing Endurance, Spiritual Guidance, and Self-Care. These themes were gathered from the respondents who on the averaged have been solo mothers for 10 years already. Solo mothers used both problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies, but the nature of the problem dictates the strategy to be employed. Solo mothers make sure to look after themselves to be able to take care of their children in the future. Given the reality of struggles of solo parenting, solo mothers as a sector must be provided with support programs and policies by the government to strengthen their stand on raising their children well.

PURPOSE: This study was to identify the relationship among self-management, economic stability, self-esteem, self-achievement and predictor of the self-achievements in elders. METHODS: A total of 294 subjects aged between 60 and 92 were selected through convenient sampling. Data were collected by self-reported questionnaire from May to June, 2008. Collected data were analysed by the SPSS/WIN 15.0 program. RESULTS: Self-management, economic stability, self-esteem, self-achievement were positively correlated. The most significant predictor of self-achievement in elders were self-management and self-esteem. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that self-achievement is influenced by self-management and self-esteem and needed for aged well.
Self Care ; Surveys and Questionnaires

No abstract available.
Delphi Technique* ; Self Care*

No abstract available.
Delphi Technique* ; Self Care*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of resistance exercise program for elders with type 2 Diabetes on the self care, stress and HbA1c. METHODS: Thirty three elders with type 2 Diabetes(18 experimental and 15 control subjects) were selected conveniently among the aged who had been enrolled in a community senior center. The subjects in experimental group participated in a resistance exercise program for 8 weeks. Data were analyzed using the SPSS/Win 12.0. RESULTS: The resistance exercise program showed a statistical difference in self care(t=-4.39, p=.000) and stress(t=2.22, p=.034). However, there was not a statistical difference in HbA1c (F=.556, p=.557), but experimental group had decreased continuously in HbA1c after the program. CONCLUSION: The resistance exercise program improved self care and reduced the stress in the elders with type 2 Diabetes. Therefore, resistance exercise program can be applied as an effective nursing intervention to promote self care, decrease the stress and to prevent complication for the elders with type 2 Diabetes.
Aged ; Humans ; Self Care

PURPOSE: This study was done to develop and evaluate the Integrated Stress Management Program (ISMP) for elders in rural communities. METHOD: ISMP consists of 6 educational programs to improve self-management behavior and therapeutic recreational activities and was developed by analyzing the published reports and through multidisciplinary cooperation.Effectiveness of the ISMP was evaluated by implementing the program with 53 rural elders living at home, one session a week of, 2 hours per session over, 6 weeks from March 14 to April. 22, 2005. RESULTS: After participating in the program, participants' perceived levels of stress decreased(t=2.940, p<.05), and mood state (t=4.229, p<.001), life satisfaction(t=-4.911, p<.001), and perceived social support (t=-2.891, p<.05) increased significantly. CONCLUSION: The results of this study demonstrated that the ISMP is an effective program for relieving stress level, and increasing positive mood, life satisfaction, and social support for elders in a rural community.
Rural Population* ; Self Care

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to define factors influencing psychosocial adaptation of patients with a permanent colostomy. Independent variables including perceived stress, stoma care self-efficacy, self-care behavior, self-esteem and family support were used to predict psychosocial adaptation. METHOD: The data was analyzed using the SPSS pc program window version 12.0 for descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficients and stepwise multiple regression. Ninety patients with a permanent colostomy were recruited between September 2007 and May 2008. The reliability of the instruments was tested with Cronbach's alpha which ranged from .78 to .92. RESULT: The results were as follows: The mean psychosocial adaptation score was 3.05. There were significant correlations between all the predictive variables and psychosocial adaptation (r= .63~ -.43, p<.001). Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that self-esteem (40%), stoma care self-efficacy (7%), perceived stress (2%), and self-care behavior (2%) accounted for 51% of the variance in psychosocial adaptation. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that to improve psychosocial adaptation of patients with permanent colostomy, the major related factors identified in this study should be considered.
Colostomy ; Humans ; Self Care

The individual personality traits of diabetes patients are important to understanding in order to effectively educate patients about their disease. A variety of perspectives and theoretical backgrounds may be useful to assess individual patients. In this paper, we present information regarding effective diabetes education through the understanding of different personality types and their characteristics. When the individual characteristics of patients are understood and relationships between patients and educators are based on mutual trust and respect, the self-management motivation of patients will be maximized, as will the quality of patient's lives.
Humans ; Motivation ; Self Care

Objective: The study aims to determine the association of diabetes-related emotional distress with reported diabetes self-care, and glycemic control of adult Filipinos with type 2 diabetes mellitus at The Medical City using 2 psychometric tests. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study conducted among 94 Filipinos diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus, who answered 2 validated English questionnaires: Problem areas in diabetes (PAID-20) and Diabetes self-management questionnaire (DSMQ) that screen for diabetes-related emotional distress and diabetes reported self-care, respectively. Data were encoded and analyzed using Stata SE v.13. Results: 42.6% of Filipinos with type 2 diabetes mellitus had emotional distress showing moderate to severe distress in factor 1 (diabetes-related emotional distress) and factor 3 (food related problems). 51.1% had suboptimal self-care, poorly scoring in areas of health-care use and dietary control. Majority of those who had diabetes-related distress and poor self-care where young, pre-obese and had diabetes duration of ±5 years. There was no significant association between diabetes-related emotional distress with diabetes self-care and emotional distress with glycated hemoglobin, but majority of those who had diabetes distress had higher glycated hemoglobin. There was significant association between diabetes self-care and glycemic outcomes (p=0.006) with relative risk of 1.51 (95% CI 1.10-2.07). There was linear inverse weak correlation between all subdomains of DSMQ with glycated hemoglobin except Dietary Control. Conclusions Diabetes-related emotional distress and sub-optimal self-care are prevalent among Filipinos with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Those who had poor self-care were 1.5 times more likely to have poor glycemic outcomes.
Psychological Distress ; Self Care

Objective: The objective of this study is to determine the level of adherence of T2DM patients to the recommended self-care behavior: healthy eating, being active, glucose monitoring, medication adherence, problem-solving, healthy coping and risks reduction. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study consisting of administration of the Behavior Score Instrument among 126 diagnosed T2DM patients in the Outpatient Department of the Philippine General Hospital. Data obtained were encoded and analysed using the Stata 12 program where a corresponding score was given to the answers to every question and the average was stratified by the level of adherence to the recommended self-care behaviors. Results and Conclusion Majority of the participants have good adherence in five of the seven identified self-care behaviors: medication taking (76.2%), healthy coping (65.9%), healthy eating (50.0%), problem solving (47.6%) and being active (46.0%). In terms of glucose monitoring and risks reduction, 63.5% and 55.6% of the participants have fair adherence respectively. Overall, 43.7% have good compliance to the self-care behaviors while 54.8% and 1.6% have fair and poor compliance respectively.
Self Care ; Behavior