PURPOSE: This study was implemented to investigate perceived illness intrusiveness in stroke patients by the characteristics of primary caregivers. METHOD: Retrospective cross-sectional survey design was used. The subjects were 225 stroke patients and their primary caregivers. Demographic variables, relationship variables, burden, depression and support were measured as primary caregivers' characteristics. Data were analyzed with SPSS win 14+. T-test, ANOVA and correlation test were used depending on variables. RESULT: Demographic variables such as age, gender, relation with patients, and living status were not related significantly with illness intrusiveness. But primary caregivers' burden, depression and support were related significantly with perceived illness intrusiveness of stroke patients. That is, burden, depression and quantitative support of primary caregivers were significantly positively correlated with perceived illness intrusiveness of stroke patients. On the other hand, qualitative support was negatively correlated with perceived illness intrusiveness. CONCLUSION: Primary caregivers' characteristics such as burden, depression and support were found to be correlated with stroke patients perception such as illness intrusiveness. So, it is recommended that nursing intervention targeting burden, depression and support of primary caregivers must be developed to reduce illness intrusiveness of stroke patients.
Caregivers ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Depression ; Hand ; Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Stroke

The demographic, psychological, social and disease characteristics were analyzed to find the sources of self-efficacy(the expectation about one's ability to engage in or execute in a behavior) in the 297 patients with rheumtoid arthritis. Except for religion and client's job, the demographic characteristics such as age. sex, partner's job, income, and educatioa] level were found to be significantly related to self-efficacy. In the group of older age, female, lower income, job with less prestige, and lower educational level, the self-efficacy was lower than the other group. Depression which measured as psychological characteristics was significantly related to self-efficacy. Social characteristics, such as social support and relationship with health professionals, were positively related to self-efficacy except for social network. Getting a high score in the area of relationship with health-professionals means that the giatients perceive that they can express themselves or decide on their own activities as much as they want. Among the disease characteristics, only disease cLlration was not significantly related to self-efficccy. The self-efficacy shows a tendency to decrease with time. Pain was negatively related to self-efficacy, Possible activity level was positively related to self -efficacy. To analyze the variables which affect self-efficacy, stepwise regressicn was implemented. As a re sult, about 42% of the self-efficacy were explained by possible activity leveI, depression, social support, and pain in that order. Based upon these results, it is recommended that the nurses who are in change of or maintain the behavior of patients wth rheumatoid arthritis consider the demographic characteristics such as age, sex, et al. Also programs which decrease the pain and depression and increase the social support and activity levels are recommended to be developed.
Arthritis ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; Depression ; Female ; Health Occupations ; Humans ; Sociology

PURPOSE: This study was aimed to identify the care dependency and its affecting factors of post-stroke patients. METHODS: Cross-sectional and correlational descriptive study design was used. The subjects were 106 post-stroke patients who were in or out-patients in a rehabilitation clinic at D city. Demographic, stroke related and post-stroke status variables (paralysis, arthria, verbal expression, visual disturbance, activity intolerance, nutritional status, depression and cognition) were included as affecting factors. Multiple regression was used to identify the affecting factors. Among demographic and stroke-related variables, significant variables such as age, education level, marital status, financial status, location of treatment, and total admission days were entered with post-stroke status variables. RESULTS: Care dependency was still high regardless of disease duration or type of stroke. Overall, approximately 80.5% of total variances in care dependency was explained with all variables. Among those variables, nutritional status, cognition and activity intolerance were the significant affecting factors. CONCLUSION: To reduce the care dependency of post-stroke patients, it is recommended to improve nutritional status, cognition and activity intolerance.
Cognition ; Depression ; Education ; Humans ; Marital Status ; Nutritional Status ; Outpatients ; Rehabilitation ; Stroke

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore the concept of deconditioning within the field of nursing allied health sciences. METHOD: The concept analysis method described by Walker and Avant(1995) was used. Critical attributes, antecedents, consequences, and empirical referents were identified. Also model, borderline, contrary and related cases were proposed. RESULTS: The definition of concept 'deconditioning' was a decrease in the function of general system that occured after long periods of immobility and might be marked by frail upon return to normal conditions. The attributes of deconditioning were as follows; 1) the deconditioning was caused by lengthening of physical inactivity; 2) the deconditioning state was resulted by respiratory system, cardiovascular system, musculoskeletal system, hematologic system and generalized manifestation; 3) the deconditioning state could be reconditioned. 4) The reinforced functions by exercise could be compromised by physical inactivity. CONCLUSION: Deconditioning is important concept in nursing practice since it occurs commonly in any patients who lack physical activity for long time and affects many aspects of clinical outcomes, but it could be reversible by nurses' efforts.
Cardiovascular System ; Humans ; Motor Activity ; Musculoskeletal System ; Respiratory System

PURPOSE: Illness intrusiveness (illness induced lifestyle disruption) by symptoms was investigated in 439 patients with rheumatoid arthritis. METHOD: The cross-sectional and retrospective survey design was used. Fatigue, disability, pain, and depression were considered as symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. RESULT: Patients were reported to perceive more illness intrusiveness than other chronic disease patients such as end stage renal disease, bipolar disorder, and peritoneal dialysis patients. They were especially intrusive into work, health, and active recreation domains. Stepwise regression analysis identified four variables counting for 26% of illness intrusiveness variances: fatigue, disability, marital status, and depression. All of the symptoms except pain were found to significantly predict illness intrusiveness. Fatigue explained 16% of illness intrusiveness variances. CONCLUSION: Fatigue and depression usually overlooked by health professionals must be carefully assessed and managed to reduce perceived illness for rheumatoid arthritis patients.
Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; Bipolar Disorder ; Chronic Disease ; Depression ; Fatigue ; Health Occupations ; Humans ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Life Style ; Marital Status ; Peritoneal Dialysis ; Recreation ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: To improve the family functioning, fear of death and depression among the terminally ill cancer patients, the effects of letter as an independent nursing intervention were identified. METHODS: Non-equivalent control group pre and post test design was used. Subjects were 60 patients and their family members who were hospitalized at hospice units of an university-affiliated hospital. Patients and their family members were encouraged to write a letter to each other at least 4 times for 2 weeks. RESULTS: Family functioning, fear of death and depression in the experimental group were significantly more improved after intervention than those of control group, even depression of experimental group before intervention was worse than that of control group. CONCLUSION: Writing a letter to family members is worth to use as an independent nursing intervention for terminally ill patients. It is recommended that further study to identify the potential of letters as an independent nursing intervention is implemented for various patients.
Attitude to Death ; Depression* ; Hospices ; Humans ; Nursing ; Terminally Ill* ; Writing

The factors that affect the nurse-patient interaction were identified, Sixty-six nurses participated in the cross-sectional survey. Based upon the literature, the factors were classified into 4 categories : the patient, the nurse, the family caregiver, and the situational factors. The data were collected with the open-and closed-ended questionnaire developed by researchers. In the closed-ended questionnaire, the significant factors differentiating the best-liked from the least-liked caring situation were found in all factors expect the nurse factors. None of the nurse factors was found to be significant. In patient factors, the physically attractive stereotype was found to affect patient-nurse interaction . As expected, family caregiver factors were found to affect the nurse-patient interaction. The content analysis was done to identify the specific factors affecting nurse-patient interaction. In both of the best-liked and the least-liked caring situation, the patient factors were the most contributing causes as likely as 68.51% and 66.45%, respectively. Some factors that nurses perceived as causes for the best-liked and the least-liked to care were presented. In conclusion, these results show that nurses are influenced by stereotypes in caring patients. So, some programs to increase awareness of the biases of nurses are included in in-service education. Also the incentives to encourage nurses are needed.
Bias (Epidemiology) ; Caregivers ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Education ; Humans ; Motivation ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the role of family to the compliance of patient role behavior in long-term hemodialysis patients. METHODS: In this descriptive correlational design, 103 participants recruited from 3 hemodialysis clinics at D city. They completed the self-reported questionnaire including family characteristics, family support, family function, and compliance of patient role behavior. All participants have family and are undergoing regular hemodialysis more than 1 year. RESULTS: Among patient's characteristics, compliance of patient role behavior was significantly different by standard of living, burden of treatment, marital status, experience of hospitalization, perceived health status, kidney transplantation plan, and depression. Experience of hospitalization, perceived health status and family support explained 31.9% of the variance in the compliance of patient role behavior (R2=.319, F=5.34, p=.001). CONCLUSION: Family support is important for compliance of patient role behavior in the long-term hemodialysis patients. Therefore it is recommended that the family must be included to improve compliance of patient role behaviors.
Compliance ; Depression ; Family Characteristics ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Kidney Transplantation ; Marital Status ; Patient Compliance ; Renal Dialysis ; Sick Role ; Socioeconomic Factors

PURPOSE: It was investigated if abdominal meridian massage has effects on constipation in institutionalized psychiatric patients taking antipsychotic drugs. METHODS: According to the constipation screening tests, 22 patients were selected as subjects. One group pre and post repeated measurement design was used. Constipation was operationalized as perceived constipation, frequency of defecation, frequency of bowel sound, and number of medicine taken to relieve constipation. Abdominal meridian massage was given for two weeks, 10-15 minutes each time and 10 times in total. RESULTS: Perceived constipation, frequency of bowel sound, and number of medicine taken were significantly improved after massage. Except for number of medicine taken, the effects on perceived constipation and frequency of bowel sound were found to be persistent 2 weeks after massage. CONCLUSION: Based upon these results, abdominal meridian massage was recommended as independent nursing intervention for the relief of constipation in psychiatric patients who taking anti-psychotic drugs. Further studies to investigate the maximal duration time of effects and whether the effects of intermittent application of this method is more beneficial than the continuous application of this method are necessary.
Antipsychotic Agents* ; Constipation* ; Defecation ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Massage* ; Nursing ; Psychotic Disorders

PURPOSE: The purposes of this study were to develop a Minimal Insomnia Screening Scale for Korean adults (KMISS) and to evaluate psychometric properties and discriminant ability of the developed scale. METHODS: Data from a cross-sectional survey of 959 Korean adults were analyzed to develop the summated insomnia scale, which was evaluated in terms of reliability, validity, and discriminant ability by receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analysis. RESULTS: Item-total correlations ranged between .71-.79 and Cronbach's alpha was .87. Adequate validity was also evident. ROC-curve analysis showed area under ROC was .87 (95% CI: .84-.90) and identified the optimal cut-off score as < or = 20 (sensitivity, .83; specificity, .75; positive/negative predictive values, .40/.95). Using this cut-off score, the prevalence of insomnia in the study sample was 26.3% and most frequent among women and the oldest group. CONCLUSION: Data supports the psychometric properties of KMISS as a possible insomnia screening instrument. KMISS also shows promise as a convenient ultra-short screening measure of insomnia for adults and epidemiological studies in community health care settings.
Aged ; Area Under Curve ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Health Status ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prevalence ; *Psychometrics ; Quality of Life ; Questionnaires ; ROC Curve ; Republic of Korea ; Self Report ; Sex Factors ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders/*epidemiology/pathology