Sleep quality, coping, and related depression: A cross-sectional study of Turkish nurses.

BACKGROUND: The sleep quality of nurses affects both their health and standard of nursing care. Working conditions, depression, and coping potential can also lead to sleep problems. INTRODUCTION: Sleep plays a crucial role in overall health at every stage of life. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of sleep quality, depression, and coping mechanisms on the performance of nurses, whose sleep quality is strongly affected due to shift-based work. METHODS: The sample of this descriptive correlational study consisted of 133 healthcare workers. Data were collected using the Personal Information Form, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Coping Response Inventory (CRI), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) and evaluated using the t test, Mann-Whitney U test, one-way ANOVA, Enter method, and linear regression. FINDINGS: One in three nurses reported having poor-quality sleep, and one in two nurses said they felt sleepy during the day. With declining sleep quality, the nurses' ability to cope with stress diminished, and their degree of depression increased. DISCUSSION: The nurses' financial situation and level of depression were key factors that influenced their quality of sleep and capacity to handle stress. To improve nurses' sleep, the shift pattern needs to change. CONCLUSION: To increase the quantity of sleep and enhance mental health, changes should be made to the shift schedules of nurses to allow for appropriate rest and reduce daytime sleepiness. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE AND POLICIES: Improved working conditions for nurses and updated nursing standards are required to improve nurses health and wellbeng.

Evaluation of sexual functions of the pregnant women.

INTRODUCTION: Pregnant women may avoid sexual intercourse or may unavoidably undergo problems in their sexual lives because of various complaints they suffer from. AIM: The study aims to evaluate sexual functions of the pregnant women and to determine the factors that negatively affect their sexual health. METHODS: This is a descriptive research study conducted to evaluate sexual functions of pregnant women. Three hundred six pregnant women admitted to the Women Birth Polyclinics within the Women Birth and Children's Hospital between October 1, 2010 and March 31, 2011 were included in the study. The data were gathered using a personal information form and the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI). Kruskall-Wallis variance analysis and Mann-Whitney U-tests were used for the statistical analysis. MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURES: The main outcome is an assessment of the FSFI domains in pregnancy and relationships between pregnancy complaints and sexual functions. RESULTS: The results indicated that the mean age of the pregnant women was 25.6 ± 5.4 and their length of marriage was 5.93 ± 5.4 years. The study revealed that 88.9% of the pregnant women had sexual desire disorders, 86.9% had sexual arousal disorder, 42.8% had lubrication disorders, 69.6% had orgasm disorders, and 48% had sexual satisfaction disorders. Statistically significant differences were found in correlations between FSFI medians and the characteristics of the pregnant women in terms of age, educational level, length and type of marriage, and gestational week. There were also statistically significant differences in correlations between the pregnancy characteristics in terms of backache, constipation, respiratory difficulty, leg ache, and cramp problems (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: It was determined that the sexual lives of the pregnant women were negatively affected not only by factors such as old age, low educational status, arranged marriages lasting for more than 10 years, undesired pregnancy, and gestational week but also by health problems such as backache, constipation, respiratory difficulty, leg ache, and cramp problems.

Evaluating the Social Anxiety Depression Levels and Accompanying Psychosocial Problems in Children Diagnosed with Enuresis.

INTRODUCTION: This study was conducted to evaluate the accompanying psychosocial problems in enuresis as well as the social anxiety-depression levels in children diagnosed with enuresis. METHODS: This descriptive study investigating depression and social anxiety levels of children diagnosed with enuresis was carried out with 167 children who were followed up for at least six months following their enuresis diagnosis. All participating children had no other physical or mental illnesses and were aged five years or older. Data were collected using three measurement tools and evaluated using descriptive, correlational analyzes. RESULTS: In this study, 69.4% of the children diagnosed with enuresis were aged 7-12 years. 38.3% of their parents used "reward", while 37.1% preferred "punishment" as a method for toilet training their children. The children's depression and social anxiety mean scores were 21.48±7.29 and 54.58±8.84, respectively. A strong positive correlation was found between the children's mean depression and social anxiety scores (r=0.677, p<0.001). The median depression scores of children were found to be statistically significantly different according to the children's type of family, night sleep characteristics, type of enuresis, school success, and family life (p<0.05). Those with fragmented families (p=0.049), who did not sleep deeply at night (p=0.031), who slept for about 5-7 hours a day (p<0.01), and those whose school success was negatively affected by enuresis (p=0.021) and those who were exposed to negative family life (p=0.034) all obtained statistically significantly higher median depression scores. CONCLUSION: Children with enuresis had low depression and moderate social anxiety and their depression increased as their social anxiety increased. The children experienced psychosocial difficulties due to enuresis. When treating children with enuresis, it is necessary to consider both the affected child and their families through the adoption of a holistic approach, and also to evaluate the children both physically and psychosocially.

Striae gravidarum in primigravid women: prevalence, risk factors, prevention interventions and body image.

Objectives: The study was conducted to identify the striae gravidarum (SG) prevalence in primigravid women, the influencing risk factors and the preventive interventions, and also to investigate its effect on body perception.Methods: This cross-sectional and descriptive study was conducted on 421 primigravid women who presented to a training and research hospital to have a nonstress test during routine follow-up. The data of the study were collected with the "Data Collection Form", "Fitzpatrick Skin Type Scale", "Davey's Severity Score of Striae Gravidarum" and "Body Image Scale (BIS)".Results: SG was found to be present in 67% of primigravid women. According to the results of the logistic regression analysis conducted, the presence of social security, sleep duration, BMI in pregnancy, and a history of striae in the mother and/or sister were found to be associated with SG presence (p < 0.05). A very weak positive relationship was found between SG severity in primigravidas and the score obtained from BIS (p < 0.05). The body perception of the pregnant women worsened in the presence of SG and a very weak negative relationship was found between the number of interventions used for prevention and the BIS score (p < 0.05).Conclusion: SG is seen in 7 of 10 women and affects body perception negatively. We recommend providing training and consultancy services both before and during pregnancy on the interventions and lifestyle changes required and topical preparations that can be used to prevent or decrease the severity of SG while taking the risk factors causing the problem into account.