The Effect of a Diabetes Self-Management Mobile Application on Self-Efficacy, Self-Care Agency, and Self-Care Management Among Patients With Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus.

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease that needs long-term management. Mobile health is an emerging field that is being used for diabetes self-management. Aim: Evaluate the effect of a diabetes self-management mobile application on self-efficacy, self-care agency, and self-care management among 128 Jordanian patients with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus. Methods: The study utilized a non-equivalent controlled groups quasi-experimental design, with 64 patients in the control and in the intervention groups. Results: There was significant improvement in mean self-efficacy in the intervention group, improved self-care agency between the groups, and improved self-care management both within the intervention group and between the groups, after controlling for self-efficacy and self-care agency. Conclusion: Using a diabetes self-management mobile application may help improve patients' confidence in managing diabetes, and better commitment to and performance of self-care activities.

The effect of COVID-19 vaccine tele-educational program on vaccine hesitancy and receiving the vaccine among women planning for pregnancy, pregnant or breast-feeding mothers.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 hesitancy among women planning to become pregnant, who are pregnant, and who are breast-feeding is still a global phenomenon. Unfortunately, there is a lack of national educational programs that provide those groups of people with the information they need about the vaccine. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the effect of the COVID-19 vaccine tele-educational program on vaccine hesitancy and receiving the vaccine among women planning for pregnancy, pregnant and breast-feeding mothers. METHODS: This study implemented a quasi-experimental pre-post design and was conducted in Jordan. It was a two-time study and had two groups of women; 220 women participated in the control group, and 205 women participated in the intervention group (those received the tele-educational program). All participating women answered the demographic characteristics sheet and the Arabic version of Hesitancy About COVID-19 Vaccination Questionnaire twice. RESULTS: Results showed that after conducting the program the interventional group reported significantly higher vaccination rate and lower mean score of hesitancy than the control group (M = 24.67, SD = 5.11; M = 27.45, SD = 4.92; respectively) t (423) = -4.116, p-value < 0.001. Moreover, before the program, women in the intervention group reported significantly higher levels of hesitancy compared to those in the same group after the program (M = 28.35, SD = 4.91; M = 24.66, SD = 5.11; respectively) t (204) = 17.83, p-value < 0.001. CONCLUSIONS: The study concluded that awareness of pregnant women after being given the tele-education program about COVID-19 vaccination decreased their hesitancy and improved their willingness to participate in the COVID-19 vaccination. Therefore, health workers should focus on providing scientific-based information about the vaccine to reduce the doubts of pregnant women about participating in the COVID-19.

Nurses' Experiences of Grief Following Patient Death: A Qualitative Approach.

PURPOSE: To explore the lived experiences of nurses' feelings, emotions, grief reactions, and coping mechanisms following their patients' death. BACKGROUND: On a daily basis, nurses are experiencing patients' death, which exposes them to grief. Nurses' grief has not been sufficiently addressed in practice settings, although it has been a well-known threat to health and work performance. DESIGN: A qualitative design guided by a phenomenological approach was adopted. METHOD: Data were collected from a purposive sample of 21 Jordanian nurses by conducting three focus groups and analyzed using Colaizzi's framework. FINDINGS: Four themes were generated in which participants reported feelings of grief following their patients' death. Their grief emotions were reported as sadness, crying, anger, shock, denial, faith, fear, guilt, fear of the family's reaction, and powerlessness. CONCLUSIONS: The study provided evidence that nurses respond emotionally to patients' death and experience grief. Nurses are burdened by recurrent patients' deaths and try to cope and overcome their grief. This study emphasizes the importance of developing strategies to help nurses positively cope with their grief from a holistic perspective. This will reflect positively on the nurses' performance.

Sexual information needs of Arab-Muslim patients with cardiac problems.

Cardiac diseases have direct and indirect effects on sexuality. Health care providers, especially nurses, have a major responsibility in addressing and discussing sexual concerns and providing sexual counseling needs for patients with cardiac diseases. Discussing sexual issues in Arabic Muslim countries is considered a taboo. Lack of information about sexual life can affect the quality of life for patients with cardiac diseases. In this study, concerns regarding counseling needs and sexual information pertaining to Jordanian patients with cardiac diseases are addressed. Non-experimental, cross-sectional, descriptive designs were employed, accompanied by a self-report questionnaire, as well as a structured interview using the Steinke Sexual Concerns and Sexual Activity questionnaires for cardiac patients. A convenient sample of Jordanian male and female patients with cardiac problems was recruited. Results revealed that only 11% of the participants with cardiac diseases reported receiving information regarding sexual life following cardiac-related events. Most patients (71%, F=81) preferred cardiologists to provide them with sexual information, and almost two-thirds of them (62%, F=75) considered nurses' gender to be a barrier, preventing them from inquiring about their sexual life. Patients with cardiac diseases had sexual concerns, but none of incredible importance. However, most patients (76%, F=94) reported changes in sexual activities following cardiac-related events. Cardiac patients had sexual concerns and sexual counseling needs that they would not discuss. Health care professionals should arrange sexual counseling plans with the patient; as every patient has individual, specific, and unique sexual counseling needs, dependent upon their lifestyle, health conditions, and their type of cardiac disease.