Objective: to analyze and summarize knowledge concerning critical components of
interventions that have been proposed and implemented by nurses with the aim of
optimizing self-care by heart failure patients. Methods: PubMed and CINAHL were the electronic databases used to search full peer-reviewed
papers, presenting descriptions of nursing interventions directed to patients or
to patients and their families and designed to optimize self-care. Forty-two
studies were included in the final sample (n=4,799 patients). Results: this review pointed to a variety and complexity of nursing interventions. As
self-care encompasses several behaviors, interventions targeted an average of 3.6
behaviors. Educational/counselling activities were combined or not with cognitive
behavioral strategies, but only about half of the studies used a theoretical
background to guide interventions. Clinical assessment and management were
frequently associated with self-care interventions, which varied in number of
sessions (1 to 30); length of follow-up (2 weeks to 12 months) and endpoints. Conclusions: these findings may be useful to inform nurses about further research in self-care
interventions in order to propose the comparison of different modalities of
intervention, the use of theoretical background and the establishment of endpoints
to evaluate their effectiveness.
We assessed the reliability and validity of a Salty Food Frequency Questionnaire for Sodium (FFQ-Na) and a Discretionary Salt Questionnaire (DSQ) developed for the French-Canadian population. The reliability was evaluated according to temporal stability over a 7–15 day interval (n = 36). Validity was evaluated by testing the tools against a 24-h urine sodium excretion (24 h Uri-Na) and a 3-day food record, and this at individual and group levels (n = 164). The intra-class coefficients (ICC) values for the test-retest of the DSQ, the FFQ-Na and the two questionnaires combined were 0.73, 0.97 and 0.98 respectively. Correlations of the FFQ-Na with the 24 h Uri-Na and the 3-day food record were 0.3 (p < 0.001) and 0.35 (p < 0.001) respectively. The DSQ showed no significant correlation with the reference measures. The correlation between the two methods combined were 0.29 (p < 0.001) with the 24 h Uri-Na and 0.31 (p < 0.001) with the 3-day food record. The results of Bland–Altman indicated that for the combined questionnaires, there was a bias of measurement (underestimation of intake), but it was constant for every level of intake according to the reference measures. Finally, the cross-classification indicated an acceptable proportion of agreement, but a rate between 20% and 30% of classification in the opposite quartile. In conclusion, the developed tools are reliable and showed some facets of validity.
The aim of this study was to assess the reliability of a rapid analytical method to determine salt taste detection and recognition thresholds based on the ASTM E679 method. Reliability was evaluated according to criterion of temporal stability with a 1-week interval test-retest, with 29 participants. Thresholds were assessed by using the 3-AFC technique with 15 ascending concentrations of salt solution (1-292 mM, 1.5-fold steps) and estimated by 2 approaches: individual (geometric means) and group (graphical) thresholds. The proportion of agreement between the test and retest results was estimated using intraclass coefficient correlations. The detection and recognition thresholds calculated by the geometric mean were 2.8 and 18.6mM at session 1 and 2.3 and 14.5mM at session 2 and according to the graphical approach, 2.7 and 18.6mM at session 1 and 1.7 and 16.3mM at session 2. The proportion of agreement between test and retest for the detection and recognition thresholds was 0.430 (95% CI: 0.080-0.680) and 0.660 (95% CI: 0.400-0.830). This fast and simple method to assess salt taste detection and recognition thresholds demonstrated satisfactory evidence of reliability and it could be useful for large population studies.
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