The effect of self-affirmation on anxiety and perceived discomfort in patients who have undergone open-heart surgery. A randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Self-affirmations help one focus on positive outcomes and adapt to new situations both psychologically and physiologically by the repetition of positive affirmation sentences. This method, which has promising results in symptom management, is predicted to have effective results in the management of pain and discomfort in patients undergoing open-heart surgery. AIM: To investigate the effect of self-affirmation on anxiety and perceived discomfort in patients who have undergone open-heart surgery. METHODS: This study adopted a randomized controlled pretest-posttest follow-up research design. The study was conducted at a public training and research hospital (Istanbul, Turkey) specialized in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery. The sample consisted of 61 patients randomized into two groups: intervention (n = 34) and control (n = 27). The participants of the intervention group listened to a self-affirmation audio recording for three days after surgery. Anxiety levels and perceived discomfort regarding pain, dyspnoea, palpitations, fatigue and nausea were measured daily. The State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was used to measure the level of anxiety, meanwhile perceived discomfort regarding pain, dyspnoea, palpitations, fatigue and nausea were measured by a 0 to 10 Numeric Rating Scale (NRS). RESULTS: The control group had significantly higher anxiety than the intervention group three days after surgery (P < 0.001). The intervention group had less pain (P < 0.01), dyspnoea (P < 0.01), palpitations (P < 0.01), fatigue (P < 0.001) and nausea (P < 0.01) than the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Positive self-affirmation helped reduce anxiety and perceived discomfort in patients who underwent open-heart surgery. CLINICALTRIALS: gov Identifier: NCT05487430.

Reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the Barriers to Nurses' Use of Physical Assessment scale.

AIM: This study aimed to translate the Barriers to Nurses' Use of Physical Assessment Scale into Turkish and assess the new version's validity and reliability. METHODS: This was a methodological study to verify the linguistic equivalence of the scale through the translation/back-translation method. Twelve experts in health assessment confirmed the scale's content validity. Along with the Barriers to Nurses' Use of Physical Assessment Scale, an information form, including socio-demographic features, was distributed to 380 nurses, who consented to participate in the research. Data were collected between July 2017 and April 2018. Internal consistency, factor analysis and test-retest reliability were used to determine consistency over time and intraclass correlations. RESULTS: The content validity index of the scale (0.963) was calculated following confirmation of its language equivalence. With the confirmatory factor analysis, it was determined that the fit index values were at an acceptable level and the model was suitable. The factor analysis clustered factors in seven domains. The overall internal consistency coefficient was 0.822. All subscales and the overall scale showed high intraclass correlations. CONCLUSION: The Turkish version of the Barriers to Nurses' Use of Physical Assessment Scale is a valid and reliable instrument.

Intensive care nurses' compassion and patience levels and their attitude towards elderly people.

Backgrounds: Intensive care nurses' attitudes towards the elderly and their emotional readiness before giving care can have an impact on the quality of care. Aims: The objective of this study was to investigate intensive care nurses' compassion and patience levels and their attitude towards elderly people. Methods: 'Data Gathering Form', the 'Compassion Competence Scale', the 'Patience Scale and the University of California at Los Angeles Geriatrics Attitude (UCLA-GA) were used. Results: A total of 212 intensive care nurses participated in the study. It was found that nurses whose time working in the intensive care unit and total professional experience were 6 years or more and those who were married and had children had higher levels of both compassion and patience. In addition, patience levels were significantly higher in nurses aged 29 or more. It was found that the nurses' sociodemographic and professional characteristics did not affect their UCLA-Geriatrics Attitudes total score. Conclusion: It was found in the study that there was a significant positive correlation between the nurses' compassion and patience levels and their attitudes toward elderly people.

The Effect of Nursing Counseling on Treatment Compliance: Acute Coronary Syndrome and Diabetes Mellitus.

BACKGROUND: The comorbidity of acute coronary syndrome and diabetes affects patient prognoses. Therefore, it is important to manage these diseases simultaneously. PURPOSE: In this study, the effect of nursing counseling on treatment compliance was investigated in patients who had received surgical treatment for acute coronary syndrome and had been recently diagnosed with diabetes. METHODS: A quasi-experimental design with pretest-posttest control group was used. The study sample consisted of 60 patients (intervention group = 30, control group = 30). The data were collected using a patient information form, the Patient Learning Needs Scale, and the Scale for Patient Compliance with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Treatment. This study was conducted in compliance with the Transparent Reporting of Evaluations with Nonrandomized Designs checklist. RESULTS: The intervention group earned significantly higher posttest scores on the Patient Learning Needs total scale and subscales than the control group. Moreover, intervention group compliance with treatment was higher than that of the control group. Furthermore, although significant improvements were found in the average posttest body mass index, fasting blood glucose, HbA1c, total cholesterol, triglyceride, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol values of the control group, the between-group differences in these values were not significant. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: It is important for nurses to provide counseling services that align with the learning needs of their patients. Also, nursing counseling units should be created and staffed by both specialist nurses and nurse trainers working in healthcare institutions.

The relationship between severity of overactive bladder symptoms and cognitive dysfunction, anxiety and depression in female patients with multiple sclerosis: Running head: OAB-V8, BICAMS and HAD scale in MS.

BACKGROUND: Overactive bladder (OAB), cognitive dysfunction, depression and anxiety are common problems encountered in MS. This study was planned to investigate the relationship between the severity of OAB symptoms and cognitive function, anxiety and depression in MS. METHODS: 100 patients with MS diagnosis with OAB symptoms were recruited. OAB symptoms was assessed with the OAB-V8 questionnaire. Symbol Digit Modalites Test (SDMT), California Verbal Learning Test II (CVLT-II) and Brief Vasospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R) in BICAMS Battery were used to evaluate cognitive function. Depression and anxiety were assessed with the Hospital Anxiety Depression (HAD) Scale. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 40.9±12.3, the duration of the disease was 9.03±6.89 years, and the mean OAB-V8 score was 17.6±8.9. SDMT test (r=-0.299, p<0.01) showed a moderately significant, CVLT-II (r= -0.219, p<0.05) and BVMT-R (r=-0.218, p<0.05) tests showed a weakly significant negative correlation with OAB-V8 score. There was a moderate positive correlation between the OAB-V8 score and HAD-D (r=0.279, p=0.005) and HAD-A (r=0.318, p=0.001) scores. SDMT and BVMT-R scores were significantly lower in anticholinergic (Ach) drug users (especially oxybutynin users) compared to those who did not use Ach drugs. CONCLUSIONS: It has been observed that the severity of OAB symptoms is related to worsening of information processing speed and an increase in depression and anxiety. It has been determined that there is a significant effect on information processing speed, visual learning and memory in patients using Ach drugs, especially in those using oxybutynin, compared to those who do not use Ach drugs.

Assessment of nocturnal polyuria in patients with spinal cord injury at three different mobilization phases: A multicenter cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of nocturnal polyuria (NP) in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) during three different particular phases, and investigate the impact of injury level and injury type on the prevalence of NP. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. SETTING: Neurogenic Bladder Study Group from six different rehabilitation centers across the country. PARTICIPANTS: 40 patients with SCI. OUTCOME MEASURES: Patients were divided into three groups according to mobilization phase; 1st group included patients confined to bed (n = 14), 2nd group included patients sitting on a wheelchair (n = 19) and 3rd group included patients standing with an assistive ambulation device (n = 7). NP was assessed by nocturnal polyuria index (NPi) and nocturnal urine production (NUP) indexes. RESULTS: No significant difference was found between the groups (P = 0.312 for NPi and P = 0.763 for NUP) in terms of the presence of NP according to their mobilization phase. The night and 24-hour urine volumes showed no significant difference between the groups (P = 0.907 and P = 0.395 respectively). The NPi and NUP values did not show a significant difference between male and female patients (P = 0.826, P = 0.364 respectively), patients with the injury level of ≥T6 and

Transforaminal Epidural Steroid Injection in the Treatment of Pain in Foraminal and Paramedian Lumbar Disc Herniations.

AIM: To compare the effect of fluoroscopically guided transforaminal epidural steroid injections on radicular pain in foraminal and paramedian lumbar disc herniations. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This study included patients who did not benefit from previous medical treatments or are not suitable for surgery. Transforaminal epidural steroid injections for the treatment of foraminal and paramedian lumbar disc herniation were performed in 370 and 1262 patients, respectively. Every group’s preprocedural visual analogue scale (VAS) and 12-week postprocedural VAS scores were recorded, and statistical analysis was performed. The complications noted were also recorded. RESULTS: The preprocedural and postprocedural mean VAS scores for radicular pain in foraminal disc herniation were 67.11 ± 4.28 and 34.78 ± 3.64, respectively. However, the preprocedural and postprocedural mean VAS scores in paramedian disc herniation were 62.16 ± 6.65 and 19.07 ± 4.50, respectively. Statistical analysis of the varying preprocedural and postprocedural VAS scores showed that transforaminal epidural steroid injections were more effective for paramedian disc herniation than for foraminal disc herniation (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Transforaminal epidural steroid injections were more effective for paramedian lumbar disc herniation than for foraminal disc herniation, 12 weeks after the procedure.