Observation is a common procedure that is controversial as it may be experienced by patients as oppressive. This article discusses the nature of observation in mental health inpatient units, concluding that the practice is likely to continue as it provides a written record of what has occurred. However, the quality of nursing intervention is more likely to have a significant impact on patients ...

This mini-review aims to introduce Margaret Newman's theory of health as expanding consciousness and caring partnership as a nursing intervention. Emanating from a unitary and transformative perspective of nursing, caring partnership enables nurses to identify with cancer patients as well as to help the patients find meaning in their situation and their lives. In genuine patient-nurse interacti...

Family systems theory posits that the relative effectiveness of early interventions will vary depending on various aspects of the family. This study tested whether maternal responsivity would predict the extent to which Prelinguistic Milieu Teaching (PMT) facilitated generalized intentional communication better than a contrast treatment that was conducted in a small group by a responsive adult ...

Carers are family members, friends, and neighbours who perform medical tasks and personal care, manage housekeeping and financial affairs, and provide emotional support to people who are ill, disabled, or elderly. From a carer's perspective, the primary requisite for a good doctor is competence. Assuming equal technical skills and knowledge, the difference between 'good' and 'bad' doctors comes...

Methods Data were collected from audiotaped think aloud periods, in which participants described their self care decision making over three 1 week periods; individual interviews held before and after think aloud periods; and a 2 hour focus group interview at the study conclusion. Transcripts of think aloud periods were used to develop interview prompts. All transcripts were analysed using const...

PURPOSE To investigate the quality of life of caregivers of children and adolescents presenting speech and language disorders from their own perspective. METHODS Two groups participated, adding up to 40 subjects. Group 1 was composed by 20 caregivers of 4 to 17 years-old children or adolescents with speech and language disorders, paired by age with the Control Group or 2 that included 20 care...

OBJECTIVES To examine age related changes in physical functioning in elderly men and women. DESIGN Prospective, population based study. SETTING Population of 15 rural and urban centres in 10 European countries. PARTICIPANTS Altogether 3496 men and women born between 1900 and 1920 who participated in the baseline survey of the HALE project in 1988-1991. The study population was examined ag...

Falls are a common problem among institutionalized adults, often resulting in serious negative consequences (Tideiksaar 2002). Fortunately, many of these falls are preventable (Tideiksaar 2002). However, there has been a recent shift from a fall "prevention" approach to one of fall "management," which aims at preventing injuries rather than falls. Falling is regarded as indicative of activity, ...

OBJECTIVES We estimated disability prevalence among adults at global, regional and country levels using internationally comparable disability data and measure. METHODS We conducted a retrospective analysis of data from the World Health Survey (WHS) (2002-2004) for nationally representative samples of civilian, non-institutionalized populations in 54 countries. A disability was measured as hav...

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which a psychoeducational intervention called "Powerful Tools for Caregivers" (PTC) influences burden of spouse caregivers. Specifically, this study examined whether spouse caregivers who attended PTC exhibited reductions in stress burden, relationship burden, and objective burden compared to a comparison group. DESIGN AND MET...