Intensive care unit dignified care: Development and validation of a questionnaire.

BACKGROUND: Patient dignity is sometimes neglected in intensive care unit (ICU) settings, which may potentially cause psychological harm to critically ill patients. However, no instrument has been specifically developed to evaluate the behaviors of dignified care among critical care nurses. AIM: This study aimed to develop and evaluate ICU Dignified Care Questionnaire (IDCQ) for measurement of self-assessed dignity-conserving behaviors of critical care nurses during care. METHODS: The instrument was developed in 3 phases. Phase 1: item generation; phase 2: a two-round Delphi survey and a readability pilot study; phase 3: cross-sectional survey with model estimation. The questionnaire was evaluated by item analysis, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, assessment of internal consistency reliability, and test-retest reliability. The investigation was conducted using a convenience sample of 392 critical care nurses from 6 cities in Zhejiang Province, China, of which 30 participated in the test-retest reliability survey 2 weeks later. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS: The study was approved by ethics committee. All participants provided written informed consent before the survey. The questionnaire survey was anonymous. RESULTS: The results showed acceptable reliability and validity of the IDCQ. The 17-item final version questionnaire was divided into 2 dimensions: absolute dignity and relative dignity. These two factors accounted for 62.804% of the total variance, and model fitting results were acceptable. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the questionnaire was 0.94, and the test-retest intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.88 after 2 weeks. CONCLUSIONS: This study developed a brief and reliable instrument (IDCQ) to assess dignified care in ICU nursing. It can help critical care nurses identify their behaviors in maintaining patient dignity and discover their deficiencies. It may also serve as a clinical nursing management tool to help reduce patient disrespect experience in ICU.

Individual factors in dignified care: A cross-sectional study of critical care nurses.

AIM: To determine the level of dignified care provided by critical care nurses, and explore the associated individual factors. BACKGROUND: Dignity is a fundamental right of human beings. Critically ill patients are dependent on nurses. Their need for respect and dignity is liable to be neglected in intensive care unit settings. Both critically ill survivors and dying patients suffer mental anguish due to loss of dignity. METHOD: This was a cross-sectional study of 526 critical care nurses working at intensive care units for adults in Zhejiang Province, China. Data were collected from February 2021 to May 2021 using the Intensive Care Unit Dignified Care Questionnaire, Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale, Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Health Professional and Nurses Professional Values Scale-Revised. RESULTS: The total score of dignified care was 67.37 (8.83), with the standard score as 74.07 (12.99). Participants who performed poorly in absolute and relative dignity accounted for 8.4% and 31.2% of the total sample, respectively. Emotional intelligence (ß = .379, p < .001), empathy (ß = .319, p < .001), professional values (ß = .147, p < .001), age (ß = .075, p = .003) and training in dignified care (ß = .074, p = .010) were associated with dignified care, explaining 67.6% of the variance. CONCLUSION: The average level of participants' behaviours of maintaining patient dignity was medium. Critical care nurses need to improve their ability to maintain relative dignity of patients. Emotional intelligence, empathy, professional values, age level and training in dignified care were predictors of dignified care. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Improving emotional intelligence, empathy and professional values of critical care nurses and training them (especially less experienced nurses) will enhance their ability in dignified care. This study provides a novel perspective to help nursing managers develop interventions to promote humanized care in the intensive care unit.

Th17/Treg balance: the bloom and wane in the pathophysiology of sepsis.

Sepsis is a multi-organ dysfunction characterized by an unregulated host response to infection. It is associated with high morbidity, rapid disease progression, and high mortality. Current therapies mainly focus on symptomatic treatment, such as blood volume supplementation and antibiotic use, but their effectiveness is limited. Th17/Treg balance, based on its inflammatory property, plays a crucial role in determining the direction of the inflammatory response and the regression of organ damage in sepsis patients. This review provides a summary of the changes in T-helper (Th) 17 cell and regulatory T (Treg) cell differentiation and function during sepsis, the heterogeneity of Th17/Treg balance in the inflammatory response, and the relationship between Th17/Treg balance and organ damage. Th17/Treg balance exerts significant control over the bloom and wanes in host inflammatory response throughout sepsis.

Online health management continuance and the moderating effect of service type and age difference: A meta-analysis.

Numerous empirical studies have been carried out to explore factors of online health management continuance. However, results were not unified. We thus conducted a meta-analysis to identify influential factors and potential moderators. A systematic literature search was performed in nine databases (PubMed, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, Ovid of JBI, CINAHL, Embase, CNKI, VIP, and CBM) published up to December 2020 in the English or Chinese language. Meta-analysis of combined effect size, heterogeneity, moderator analysis, publication bias assessment, and inter-rater reliability was conducted. Totally 41 studies and 12 pairwise relationships were identified. Confirmation, perceived usefulness, satisfaction, information quality, service quality, perceived ease of use, and trust were all critical predictors. Service type and age difference showed their moderating effects respectively. The perceived usefulness was more noteworthy in medical service than health and fitness service. The trust was more noteworthy in young adults. The results confirmed the validity and robustness of the Expectation Confirmation Model, Information Systems Success Model, and trust theory in online health management continuance. Moderators included but are not limited to age difference and service type. The elderly research in the healthcare context and other analytical methods such as qualitative comparative analysis should be applied in the future.

Understanding and change - Parents' perspectives of their self-poisoning children: A phenomenological study.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to describe the experiences of parents of self-poisoning in Wenzhou, China. BACKGROUND: Self-poisoning by a child results in severe trauma, placing parents at great risk for psychological and physical problems. However, few studies have examined the experiences of parents following the attempted suicide of their child through self-poisoning, limiting the ability to guide effective services through empirical research. METHODS: The study adopted a qualitative design and 11 parents whose children harmed themselves through self-poisoning were included. Semi-structure, face-to-face interviews were conducted and Colaizzi's analysis method was followed. RESULTS: Colaizzi's method identified three key themes: against expectations, sense of guilt, and self-growth. CONCLUSIONS: The findings highlight the need to understand experiences of parents with self-poisoning children. Nursing staff play an important role in creating a pathway to connect parents with their children. There is a need to include the voices of parents so as to not only care for self-poisoning children but also understand their suicidal behavior.