Patient education medication adherence alone and in combination with healthy lifestyle behaviour teaching is an effective tool for blood pressure reduction in the hypertensive population in primary health care settings.

Interest in complementary-alternative medicine therapies is growing rapidly in Turkey. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to determine the types and prevalence of alternative therapies used by the patients with a diagnosis of cancer, and to determine factors influencing the choices of their therapies in Erzurum, Turkey. Approximately 10-minute face-to-face interviews were conducted with each subject in the radiation oncology department. The factors associated with the use of alternative therapies after a diagnosis of cancer were assessed by chi-square analysis. The findings indicated that complementary-alternative medicine therapies were used by 41.1% of the subjects after their diagnosis, and that all of the alternatives they used were herbs. The most commonly used herb was stinging nettle leaf (urtica dioica) or seed of nettle. Almost all (93.2%) of the herbs used were nettle. In general, especially the women and the younger patients of both genders were more likely to be using alternative therapies. There was no difference in demographic and cancer characteristics between users of alternative therapy and nonusers. More than the half of the patients using alternative therapies (54.5%) reportedly did not discuss the use of herbs with their healthcare professionals. Most of the patients using stinging nettle and other herbs therapies reported that they had heard about the use of herbs from friends or relatives (52.3%), or from the other patients in this clinic (43.2%). This study found that there is a high prevalence of alternative therapies used by patients with cancer in eastern Turkey. The use of these alternative therapies requires that nursing professionals rethink staff competency, patient assessment, and patient-focused care. Communication between patients and healthcare professionals should initiate dialogues on this topic for a better understanding of patient choices with regard to treatment options.

Herhangi bir ölçeği orijinal dili yerine farklı bir kültürde kullanmak için uygun bir şekilde uyarlanması gerekir. Birçoğu İngilizce olarak geliştirilen ölçeklerin kaynak dilden hedef dile çevrilmesi, ölçeğin hem kültürel hem de dilsel olarak eşitliğinin sağlanması için birçok analiz metodunun kullanılmasını gerektirmektedir. Ölçeğin geliştirildiği ülke ile hedef ülke arasındaki dil ve kültür farklılıkları ne kadar büyük olursa, bu değerlendirme de o kadar önem kazanmaktadır. Bununla birlikte, gelişmişlik düzeyi, sosyal yaşam ya da değerler açısından çok benzer kültürlerde bile ölçeğin geçerlik ve güvenirliğini etkileyebilecek farklılıklar olabilir. Tüm bu zorluklarına rağmen, uyarlanmış ölçeğin kullanımı doğal olarak zaman tasarrufu sağlar, toplanan verilerin genelleme yeteneğini arttırır ve ölçüm yapılan toplumlar arasında benzerlik ve farklılıkların araştırılmasına olanak tanır. Ayrıca, geçerli ve güvenilir araçlar, hemşirelik bakım çıktılarının değerlendirilmesinde önemli kanıtlar elde edilmesini sağlar. Uyarlama yapılmadan önce iki önemli konunun dikkatlice incelenmesi gerekir. Birinci olarak, uyarlanması planlanan ölçeğin gerçekten gerekli olup olmadığıdır. İkinci olarak ise, adapte etmek için önerilen ölçeğin gerçekten kullanılabilecek en iyi araç olup olmadığının değerlendirilmesidir. Toplumlar arasında duygu, düşünce ve davranışların ifadesi değişkenlik gösterdiği için, ölçek uyarlaması yapılırken, bu dinamik yapı göz önünde bulundurularak gerekli değişiklikler yapılmalıdır. Uyarlama sürecinde izlenecek adımlar Dünya Sağlık Örgütü tarafından birçok çalışmadan rafine edilerek bazı aşamalara indirgenmiştir. Bunlar; çeviri, uzman paneli değerlendirmesi, geri çeviri ve pilot uygulama aşamalarıdır. Bu aşamaların tümünde dikkat edilmesi gereken noktalar vardır ve bu makalede bunlar açıklanmaya çalışılmıştır. Makalede, Türkçe 'ye uyarlanmaya karar verilen bir ölçeğin sadece dilbilimsel ve kavramsal olarak değil kültürel eşitliğinin de sağlanması için gerekli olan bilgiler sunulmaya çalışılmıştır.

The use of complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) among children with cancer is becoming increasingly popular. Therefore, it is important to gain insight into the prevalence and factors related to the use of CAM. This study presents findings from a study of parents of 88 children with cancer who were receiving or had received conventional therapy for treatment of childhood cancer at a pediatric oncology unit in eastern Turkey. The findings indicated that 48.9% of the respondents reported the use of 1 or more CAM therapies. The most commonly used modality was herbal products such as herbal tea and herbal meal, mostly stinging nettle (Urtica dioica). The findings of this study indicate that CAM users were children who were an average of 3 years older than nonuser children and that CAM use was more prevalent among the children who had been diagnosed with cancer for a longer time than nonusers. There were no significant difference between users and nonusers regarding sociodemographic characteristics (such as age education level, economic status), hopelessness score of parents, gender of child, and treatment status. Healthcare providers should remain informed about the benefits and adverse effects of complementary and alternative therapies to discuss treatment options with patients and their families and to monitor treatment efficacy.

Medical and nursing students are expected to be more competent in terms of being acquainted with different cultures and approaching culturally, compared to many other disciplines. This descriptive study was designed to evaluate the cultural sensitivity levels of nursing and medical students and the affecting factors. One hundred and eleven nursing and 164 medical students were included in the study. The data were collected by using a questionnaire questioning the variables that were thought to affect the cultural sensitivity of students and the intercultural sensitivity scale. According to results of the study; it was observed that university students receiving education in the fields of medicine and nursing had good cultural sensitivity levels and those interacting with people from other cultures and speaking a foreign language had significantly higher cultural sensitivity levels (p < 0.05). According to these results, it was thought that it would be useful to develop plannings aimed at increasing the language proficiency in university curriculums and abroad experience opportunities of students, and to design qualitative studies based on interviews and observations aimed at examining the factors affecting the intercultural sensitivity.

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Nurses can train mothers to pump their breast milk, stimulate their infants with the odor of their breast milk, and feed it to their infants in the premature unit. This may lead to a quicker transition to oral feeding.

Peers can reinforce learning through ongoing contact. Peer education can be used to improve early diagnosis of breast cancer and breast cancer awareness in asymptomatic women.