No abstract

No abstract

Health workers in general, and midwives and nurses in particular, experience high levels of stress/distress due to the nature of their work and workplaces; and, their socialization into ways of working that minimizes the likelihood of self-care. Increasing interest in the development of resilient workers has meant an enormous growth in interest in the role of holistic practices such as mindfulness meditation. Kabat-Zinn's mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is one of the most commonly used by those seeking to practise, theorize or research mindfulness across multiple contexts. The primary aim of this study was to pilot the effectiveness of an adapted mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention on the psychological wellbeing of nurses and midwives. More specifically, we sought to test the acceptability and feasibility of a modified MBSR intervention to inform a future randomized controlled trial (RCT). The pilot study used a pre and post intervention design. Twenty midwives and 20 nurses participated in a one-day workshop, undertook to meditate daily for 8 weeks and completed pre and post intervention measures: general health questionnaire (GHQ-12); sense of coherence (SOC) - orientation to life and the depression, anxiety and stress scale (DASS). A subgroup took part in interviews or focus group discussions of their experiences of the program and their ongoing mindfulness practice. The quantitative findings included significant improvements on the GHQ-12, SOC and the stress subscale of the DASS. Qualitative findings support the acceptability of the intervention, and highlighted a number of issues related to feasibility of any future RCT. In conclusion, mindfulness practice holds promise for increasing individual and workplace resilience, however, meaningful research evidence from carefully constructed studies will be required to engage and motivate participation and organizational support.

This trial demonstrated that the Adolescent Asthma Action program can be readily adapted to suit different cultures and contexts. Adolescents in Jordan were successful in teaching their peers about asthma self-management and motivating them to avoid smoking. The findings revealed that peer education can be a useful strategy for health promotion programs in Jordanian schools when students are given the opportunity and training.

Among a range of clinical supports, nurse managers and leaders can contribute to evidence-based health care by understanding the EBP knowledge and skills of their workforce and demanding a more practical approach in nursing education towards evidence-based guidelines and summaries appropriate to the clinical context.

The call for researchers to obtain children's informed assent, prior to their participation in medical procedures and research, has increased over recent years and parallels moves to implement child-centred approaches to health care. This article describes the processes used to include children in developing a research information sheet and assent form for use in future research into children's understandings of their surgery and hospital experiences. The process involved primary school children aged between six and 12 years. Children worked in small groups to consider information to include in these documents. Their words were collated to construct the research information sheet and assent form. Working with children resulted in documents that were more understandable for their intended audience. The article includes discussion of 'language', 'understandability' and 'readability'; concepts that researchers seeking to work with children need to come to terms with if they are to obtain 'informed assent'.

Reported two studies investigating the relationship between the extent of children's experience with illness and their level of understanding about the causes of illness. Both studies compared children with experience of a major chronic illness (cystic fibrosis in Study 1 and cancer in Study 2) with children whose illness experience was relatively minor and acute. The age range of the children in Study 1 was 4.6 to 10.6 years; in Study 2 it was 7 to 14 years. The measure of understanding of illness was the Bibace and Walsh (1980, 1981) Piagetian-based test. To determine the specificity of illness experience effects, performance on this test was considered against a second measure of cognitive functioning: conservation of amount and volume in Study 1; the Peabody Picture Vocabulary test-Revised in Study 2. Results point to both age and experience as contributing to children's understanding of illness. Methodological issues and implications for future research are discussed.

Effective interdisciplinary communication is at the heart of clinical decision-making in contemporary health-care environments. Efforts to enhance communication and work processes among nurses and doctors in an infants-and-toddler ward of a specialist paediatric hospital led to the establishment of Surgical Morning Meetings (SMMs). To evaluate the experiences of nursing and medical team members and their perceptions of the changes brought about by the SMM, qualitative evaluation of the SMM was undertaken through semistructured interviews. The analysis identified four major areas of impact: predictability: a nice way to start the day, which captured the ways in which the SMM led to better planning of the day's activities, knowledge and perspectives: learning from each other, which highlighted the way that ongoing discussions led to greater understanding and respect, relationships and support: getting to know you, which reflected the benefits derived from greater commitment, and desired outcomes: making a difference to staff, children and families. Overall, we believe that initiatives as simple as discussions among nurses and doctors can enhance personal and professional experience and lead to improved health outcomes for our patients.