Background: Although the World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for six months, the rate of breastfeeding has decreased worldwide. Breastfeeding is the natural way of feeding a baby, but it is a process that has to be learnt. It is not unusual for problems to occur and hence support for breastfeeding is vital. The aim of this study was to explore first-time mothers' experiences of the breastfeeding support offered by pediatric nurses, as well as to develop and evaluate the Mother Perceived Support from Professionals (MoPPS) scale.
Methods: A qualitative design involving both inductive and deductive approaches was chosen. Nine first-time mothers were interviewed regarding their experiences of the breastfeeding support offered by pediatric nurses. Semistructured interviews were conducted. The mothers were also asked to grade their experiences of breastfeeding support on the MoPPS scale. A qualitative content analysis was applied when analyzing the data obtained using both the inductive (interviews) and deductive (MoPPS scale) approaches.
Results: The results revealed that the mothers felt the desire to breastfeed, although they all experienced some difficulties. They wanted the pediatric nurses to be perceptive and provide professional support based on their own experiences. When the pediatric nurses took time and booked extra appointments, the mothers felt supported. The inductive analysis resulted in one theme: "When wanting to breastfeed, mothers have a desire to be offered professional breastfeeding support". Two main categories were identified, namely "Mothers wanted but lacked breastfeeding support" and "Mothers received professional support." The deductive analysis of the MoPPS scale showed similar results, and the questions were perceived as relevant to the aim. The mothers considered it important that the pediatric nurses had sufficient knowledge about breastfeeding. It was also considered important that the pediatric nurses involved the mothers' partners in the breastfeeding support. Therefore, we suggest that these areas should be included in the MoPPS scale for pediatric nurses.
Conclusions: The MoPPS scale can be a useful tool for helping pediatric nurses to offer mothers professional breastfeeding support. Indeed, when offering breastfeeding support, pediatric nurses can use the items included on the MoPPS scale as guidance.
There is an increased call for improving the environment in which nursing students learn the clinical skills. Clinical practice in the clinical placement sites should allow students to apply their theoretical knowledge in a real environment, develop nursing skills and clinical reasoning, and observe and adapt the professional role. This study aimed at identifying the factors influencing performance in clinical practice among preservice diploma nursing students in Northern Tanzania. This study relied on a cross-sectional analysis of data collected from nursing schools in Northern Tanzania in which 208 (123 nursing students and 85 nurse tutors) participants were recruited in the study. Data was gathered using a self-administered questionnaire which collected information on sociodemographic characteristics and factors influencing clinical practice categorized in students' factors, hospital based factors, social-economic factors, and nurse tutors opinions assessed. Descriptive analyses and chi-square test were employed to understand the background information of the sample and association between variables. Majority of the nursing students (84.4%) agreed that clinical placement offers students adequate opportunity for clinical practical learning. Barriers to effective clinical learning was reported by 70.1% of the participants and the barriers include student factors such as lack of self-confidence and absenteeism, school factors such as improper supervision, and poor preparation of clinical instructors or clinical facility factors. We found a significant association between type of barrier and gender (chi-square 0.786, p=0.020). More male nursing students (62.1%) significantly reported unsupportive environment as a barrier and anxiety was more common in female nursing students (48.9%) (p=0.020). Reporting of barriers to effective clinical learning by students from different schools of nursing was not significant (P=0.696). In addition, age of participants did not have significant association with effective clinical practice (p=0.606). Student's factors and placement based factors played an important role to influence clinical learning experiences. Offering preclinical orientation, distributing and clarifying clinical learning objectives to students, and frequent visits and supervision of students in clinical area may improve student learning experience in clinical placement. In addition, tailoring the interventions to gender may improve learning experiences.
As universities strive to raise their academic rank through the quality and quantity of scholarship in order to maintain their competitive edge and funding sources, faculty face pressure to increase number of publications and externally funded research (or project proposals). There are many challenges that make it difficult for faculty to meet a university's research demand, such as increased work load in academia, teaching large-size classes of students, and other strict university deadlines related to book ordering, scheduling classes, posting grades, etc. Faculty work group conflicts, faculty incivility, and dwindling grant/research funding add to faculty stress. In order to promote scholarship in academia, administrative support, collaborative work environments, mentoring, and appropriate appraisal systems are needed to enable faculty to be more productive and satisfied.
Background. Efforts to reduce under-five mortality across the globe are being hindered by a disproportionately high rate of neonatal deaths. About a quarter of these neonatal deaths are caused by birth asphyxia. Available evidence shows that effective neonatal resuscitation delivered by providers skilled in and knowledgeable about neonatal resuscitation can significantly reduce neonatal mortality rates. Objectives. This cross-sectional study was conducted to determine knowledge and experience in neonatal resuscitation among midwives in Tamale, and the factors associated with their knowledge on neonatal resuscitation. Methods. This was a cross-sectional study involving all midwives practicing in three large hospitals in Tamale. We developed a questionnaire to collect data on demographic characteristics of participants, and their knowledge and experience in neonatal resuscitation. We used the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 21, to analyse the data. Demographic characteristics of participants were summarized using descriptive statistics. Pearson's correlation was used to determine associations between knowledge and some selected demographic features, while the one-way ANOVA was conducted to determine differences in level of knowledge based on the demographic features. Results. 98.1% of the participants in this study had insufficient knowledge on neonatal resuscitation. Midwives at the Tamale Central Hospital demonstrated a statistically significantly higher level of knowledge (24.67 ± 2.79, p = .014), compared to those at the Tamale Teaching Hospital (22.92 ± 4.56, p = .028) and Tamale West Hospital (21.50 ± 6.24, p = .021). Those who had a first-degree qualification in midwifery and those with a Post-NAC/NAP midwifery certificate had a statistically significantly higher knowledge than those with a diploma in midwifery. Training in neonatal resuscitation was associated with more knowledge in neonatal resuscitation (r(158) = .195, p = .013). In terms of experience, 55% of the participants in this study were not experienced in performing neonatal resuscitation. There were no differences in their level of experience based on their academic qualification, work place, and years of practice as a midwife. Conclusion. Considering the generally low level of knowledge and experience of midwives in neonatal resuscitation as discovered in this study, there is an urgent need for government to provide more opportunities for all practicing midwives to be trained in this important lifesaving skill.
Introduction: Thousands of individuals with communication disorders live in long-term residential care. Nursing staff are often their primary communication partners. The positive effects of social interaction and person-centred care have been recognised but there remains a paucity of research on the content and quality of communicative interaction between long-term care staff and residents with aphasia. This mixed method study investigates the discourse in interaction between nursing staff and residents with aphasia.
Methods: A routine care activity was explored in 26 video-recordings featuring four enrolled nurses and four elderly persons with severe aphasia. Factors such as goals and roles in the activity were mapped out and a qualitative discourse analysis was performed. Based on the findings a coding scheme was constructed and the amount of time spent in different interactional foci of discourse was explored.
Results: From the qualitative findings three broad, but distinct, foci in the nurse-initiated interaction could be distinguished: (1) a focus on getting the task done with minimum interaction; (2) topics related to the task, but not necessary to get the task done; and (3) personal topics related to themes beyond the caring task. The analysis of distribution of time revealed that although most of the interaction was focused on the main care activity, between 3 and 17% of the time was spent in either task-related or non task-related interaction. The distribution varied between dyads and could not be related to the residents' severity of aphasia nor the activity as such.
Conclusions: An endeavour to interact socially with the residents with aphasia influences the nurses' foci of interaction. Contextual and personal factors of the residents and nurses need to be considered in clinical work as well as research on how communication may be supported to facilitate social interaction and person-centredness in long-term care of people with aphasia.
Psychiatric morbidity such as anxiety and depression is common among patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). The coexistence of psychiatric morbidity negatively affects the outcome of treatment and increases the overall burden of disease in CAD patients. The objective of the study was to identify the level of anxiety and depression among patients with CAD. Descriptive, cross-sectional research design and purposive sampling were used and a total of 168 patients having coronary artery disease were selected purposively for the study from the patients attending cardiac outpatient department of Sahid Gangalaal National Heart Center, Kathmandu, Nepal. Data was collected on 2017 by using pretested semistructured interview schedule, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. The findings showed that 27.4% of the respondents had anxiety caseness and 23.8% of the respondents had depression caseness. Bivariate analysis showed that patient's level of anxiety was significantly associated with sex, family income, occupation status, and self-esteem. Higher level of anxiety (42.4%) was found in female than male patients. Likewise, level of depression was significantly associated with education status, occupation status, presence of comorbidities, physical exercise, and self-esteem of the patients. There was significant positive relationship between anxiety and depression score. Thus anxiety and depression were common among patients with CAD. Hence, anxiety and depression in CAD patients need be monitored regularly, provide regular counseling services, and refer the patients for the treatment when needed.