Spiritual support for people living with HIV/AIDS: a Brazilian explorative, descriptive study.

In this exploratory and descriptive research, we identified the meaning of religion and spirituality in the experience of patients at a public health service for treatment of HIV/AIDS in a Brazilian upcountry town. Eight participants were selected through theoretical sampling. Data were collected through semistructured interviews, and analyzed by means of qualitative content analysis. The emerging themes were religion: a path to support, and God is everything. Religion, as a path that leads patients to different sources of support, included exploration of different churches, acknowledgment of guilt, and finding strength to cope with the disease, rationalization of the disease process, meeting other churchgoers, and finding God and faith. God, an important source of support, was present in prayers, in the belief in healing through faith, and in the feeling of comfort and relief. Because spirituality and religion were seen as important sources of support, in this study we that health professionals include these aspects in care planning.

Promoting health in families of children with type 1 diabetes mellitus.

This paper presents a study of families of children with type 1 diabetes mellitus, emphasizing the identification of social supports and networks to strengthen interventions aimed at health promotion. The approach selected was a qualitative research, using a case study design. Four families of children with diabetes type 1 were studied, totalling seven participants. Data were collected between April and June 2007, through in-depth interviews and the construction of a genogram and an ecomap. The results presented the families' characterization and testimonies grouped in the following categories: social support, social networks and family roles. To promote care in practice, there is a need to identify the characteristics of each family and resources available that provide better living conditions. We concluded that identifying supports and social networks allows for more personalized care delivery to each family with a view to health promotion.

Renal replacement therapy for children: a family decision.

Although Anne had many complex health issues and experienced considerable support from her extended family, she wanted freedom from the restrictions posed by peritoneal dialysis. Her quality of life changed after transplantation, with more opportunities to engage in leisure activities, ability to travel, a less restricted diet, and an improved self-image. She required fewer treatments, surgeries, and hospitalizations. She left behind the role of sick child and took up a role more like a healthy child. During the disease and decision-making process, Anne learned coping mechanisms, allowing her to gain autonomy to make decisions. The case study illustrates both the need to listen to children as well as to care for the entire family. The nursing management of this child and her family was continually changing, and multiple strategies were used to support the family. The nurse came to understand the roles of family members in constant change, the sources of their resources, and foci of tensions. Based on this knowledge, the nurse can act by mobilizing resources, strengthening the confidence of family members, and helping them develop coping mechanisms. In conclusion, care of the ill child must be family-centered. Stresses on the family have an impact on the child and vice versa. The potential to influence the quality of life of both the child and the family is considerable.

[The art of clown theater in care for hospitalized children]. / A arte do teatro clown no cuidado as crianças hospitalizadas.

Hospitalization can be a very traumatic experience for children and their family members. The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of using clown theater art in the care for hospitalized children, starting with an activity developed by undergraduate students in the healthcare area. Data were obtained by observing 20 children and 11 students, characters in the clown theater interacting in the pediatric clinic in a school hospital in the state of São Paulo. The empirical data were analyzed with the thematic content analysis, which were grouped around the following themes: artistic expressions as a form of communication, participation of the binomial child and accompanying partner, and the clown as a therapeutic resource. The results show that this experience was a concrete intervention, emphasizing the children's development process, since it opens up a space for fantasy, laughter, happiness and the appropriation of the hospital routine; it is an example of widening the diagnostic and therapeutic process with the incorporation of intervention focusing on the affective, emotional and cultural necessities of the child and the family, in the search for non-traumatic care.

[Religion and spirituality: the experience of families of children with Chronic Renal Failure]. / Religião e espiritualidade: experiência de famílias de crianças com Insuficiência Renal Crônica.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the manifestations of religiosity and spirituality in families of children with Chronic Kidney Failure undergoing peritoneal dialysis. METHODS: This qualitative research is a case study with multiple subjects. Meaningful content analysis was adopted, using the thematic type, in the framework of family nursing in health promotion. RESULTS: Four families participated in the study, totaling fourteen participants. Religion and spirituality appear as important resources for family members in coping with the chronic disease, mainly in view of threatening prognoses. CONCLUSION: It is important for nurses to understand the family's religious and spirituality in the disease process, with a view to their work in health promotion.

Social support and social network in family nursing: reviewing concepts.

Social support and social network concepts are resources applicable to Family Nursing, as they are aimed at improving families' quality of life, and also at promoting, strengthening and maintaining their well-being. This study aimed to reflect on the main social network and social support concepts, relating them with Family Nursing, with a view to their application in nursing research and practice. We conclude that there is a lack of consensus about these concepts and that further criteria are needed for their use. In using Family Nursing, researchers must select the most relevant social network and social support concepts in literature to achieve the proposed objectives.

The influence of social support on strengthening families of children with chronic renal failure.

This paper presents a study of the families of children on peritoneal dialysis, emphasizing the identification of social supports and networks to strengthen interventions aimed at health promotion. Our discussion is located in the context of inequalities between developed and developing countries. For this qualitative study, a content analysis was conducted in order to elicit themes from the raw data related to the lived experience of four families that have a child with chronic renal failure. The data were collected mainly by in-depth interviews and the construction of genograms and ecomaps. The identification and characterization of the families' social supports and networks allowed nurses and families to strengthen their coping mechanisms. Because families are dealing with severe economic problems, they need better supportive programs to guide their offspring to their full potential.

Social support and families of children with cancer: an integrative review.

This study aimed to search available evidences in literature about social support to families of children with cancer. An integrative review was elaborated and the articles were searched in PUBMED, WEB of SCIENCE, CINAHL, PsycINFO and LILACS, using the key words: social support, cancer, child and family, between 1996 and 2006. Fifteen articles were selected and the analysis of these publications allowed for the identification of three themes: social support and the trajectory of cancer, social support to healthy siblings and social support to fathers and mothers of children with cancer. Data indicated a lack of consensus among researchers about the use of the term social support and that there is a need for greater methodological rigor in the conduction of these studies. Acknowledging the clients' support needs is important to plan nursing care and guide research development, whose results can be used in practice.

[Parents and nursing staff's expectations regarding the nurse's work in a NICU]. / As expectativas de pais e profissionais de enfermagem em relação ao trabalho da enfermeira em UTIN.

The general purpose of this investigation was to identify parent and nursing staff expectations regarding the nurse's role in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU). A descriptive study was carried out using a qualitative approach and interviews were conducted at a NICU in the interior of the State of São Paulo. Results showed new expectations on the part of parents and professionals regarding the role of NICU nurses. The knowledge identified as necessary were a family-centered approach, interpersonal relations techniques, and differentiation between technology and scientific knowledge. The conclusion is that NICU nurses need to play a more incisive role in the nursing care process, adjusting the use of technological advances to human knowledge, particularly in the area of interpersonal relationships between family members and staff, which includes activities of continuing education, such as specialization courses.

Health needs and nursing care. / Necessidades de saúde e o cuidado de enfermagem.

OBJECTIVE:: to present the concept of needs according to different approaches to discuss the possibility of health care that incorporates a broader view of human vulnerabilities in health services. METHODS:: the arguments are founded on nursing theorists who worked on the construction of frameworks relevant to care, based on needs and on philosophers who show the possibility of identifying the vulnerabilities of human beings, defending art as a therapeutic instrument that can promote health care. CONCLUSION:: although care can acquire a new dimension with the introduction of art, according to certain perspectives, philosophical studies on ethics and aesthetics should be resumed to identify human vulnerabilities that can in fact be compensated by sensible understanding of the outer world. To incorporate art in nursing care requires studies from theorists to be recovered, deepening concepts and working on empirical investigations for their adequate use.

[Children with cancer and their families]. / Crianças com cancer e suas famílias.

This study is aimed at reviewing the existing literature about children with cancer and their families in order to identify themes that have been researched and to survey indicators of need, thus giving subsidies for the systematization of nursing care. Systemized data collection was carried out in computerized databases between 1997 and 2002 using the keywords child, cancer, chronic illness/disease, family and nursing. A non-systemized research of scientific publications was also carried out. Results are grouped in three themes: impact of the child's cancer on the family system; adaptation process and coping strategies used by the parents in the face of the illness; and the process of loss and mourning in view of the child's death. The review demonstrated that nursing is constructing specific knowledge about the individual, cultural and regional needs of families of children with cancer, with a view to a nursing assistance that considers care in accordance to the singularity of each case.

[Family history of children with chronic kidney failure: data collection]. / Histórico familiar de crianças com insuficiência renal crônica: coleta de dados.

The systematization process of care has as its first step the nursing history. This study aims to present the experience of data collection for care planning involving families of children with Chronic Kidney Failure on peritoneal dialysis. Family Nursing was used as a theoretical reference framework. Data were collected by means of in-depth interviews, documentary analysis, field diary, genogram and ecomap. Study participants were four families. The authors discuss in-depth interviews, its limitations and advantages, the construction of the genogram and ecomap and ethical, legal and social implications. Finally, it is presented general considerations on how to apply these instruments in care delivery involving families of children with Chronic Kidney Failure on peritoneal dialysis.

[Experience of parents and other family members in the care to children and adolescents after bone marrow transplantation]. / Experiência de pais e outros familiares no cuidado a criança e ao adolescente após o transplante de medula ossea.

The purpose of this study is to describe how parents and other family members of children and adolescents submitted to Bone Marrow Transplantation, specially in the post operative period. Thirteen subjects responsible to the care of eleven patients under 18 years old participated in the study. Authors used semi-structured interviews to collected data. Data were analyzed through a qualitative approach. The following themes were identified: impact of transplantation and family life. Results indicated that due to the complexity of Bone Marrow Transplantation, the knowledge on the family reality is crucial as family plays a fundamental role in patients' quality of life. Therefore, to identify conditions, experiences and the life style of families enable the work based on their real needs, respecting their possibilities and limitations.

[Hospitalized child: care sharing between mother and nursing]. / Criança hospitalizada: mãe e enfermagem compartilhando o cuidado.

This research aimed to verify at what moment, in what kinds of care and in what way mothers are included in care to the hospitalized child and to verify how care is negotiated between nursing team and mothers. The field research was carried out through participant observation of everyday care at a pediatric hospital unit, as well as interviews with mothers and the nursing team. The inclusion of the mother in care has taken place in a subtle way. The mother has taken on procedures that had been part of nursing competence before, concentrating information on the therapeutic process. The lack of a collective therapeutic project from the perspective of family-centered care is one of the obstacles to the involvement of mothers in care. Results demonstrate that the relation between mothers and the nursing team reveal to be complex and influenced by the exercise of power, which results in the need to construct shared care.

[Pediatric nursing and the family approach: contribution to undergraduate teaching]. / Enfermagem pediátrica e abordagem da família: subsídios para o ensino de graduação.

This work aims at presenting the instruments used in the family nursing approach as depicted in the international literature as well as at providing subsidies for their utilization by Brazilian nursing professionals in family health approaches to child care. The authors present the experience of introducing a methodology for systematized care in Pediatric Nursing programs using instruments for data collection such as the family APGAR, Genogram and Ecomap. They argue that these instruments do not replace the theoretical basis of care or the reason and discernment in order to provide data with meaning and find better solutions to care for children and their family.

[Educational guideline for the maternal orientation concerning the care with preterm infants]. / Cartilha educativa para orientação materna sobre os cuidados com o bebê prematuro.

This work aimed at describing the development of educational and instructional material for maternal training, so as to prepare the mother for the preterm infants' discharge from hospital, by means of the participatory methodology. The pedagogical model used was that of education for critical consciousness, based on Paulo Freire. Study participants were two nurses, two nursing auxiliaries and four mothers of preterm babies, which were hospitalized at the Intermediate Care Unit of a university hospital in Ribeirão Preto-SP, Brazil. The participants indicated the subjects of interest for the teaching-learning process, which were grouped into the categories: daily care, feeding, hygiene, special care and family relationship. We decided to develop an educational folder with figures, which could be taken home. This educational and instructional material was produced by the researchers on the basis of literature, their professional experience and on technical and scientific advice from other professionals. The final version of the folder was validated by the participants and now constitutes a creative instrument that can be of help in health education activities oriented towards these clients. According to the participants, the educational material directed the guidelines and helped the mothers to memorize the content that had to be learned.

[Maternal care of low-birth weight infants]. / Cuidados maternos a crianças de baixo peso ao nascer.

This is an exploratory and descriptive study which aimed at characterizing mothers' accounts on the care given to the health of children with low weight at birth during their first and second years of life by means of home interviews with a group of eleven mothers of children from Ribeirão Preto--SP. The mothers pointed to difficulties with breastfeeding, the babies' diet and medication use. They also referred to concerns about intercurrences, re-hospitalizations and psychomotor development, which results in the need for professional support in order to evaluate and follow the growth and development process of children within families' everyday life.

[Journal of the Nursing School of the University of Sao Paulo -- 36 years looking after the quality of nursing care]. / Revista da Escola de Enfermagem da Universidade de São Paulo--36 anos zelando pela qualidade do trabalho na enfermagem.

REEUSP has been a trimestrial journal since 1998, which publishes 11 to 13 articles per issue on different nursing subareas; most of them on teaching, health technology, adult health (in its different specialties), mental and psychiatric health. The article and research emphasis keeps on the hospital. For being linked to a teaching unit, it presents quality on its publishing; many times produced from thesis and dissertations. It faces the challenge of stimulating the publishing of authors from other institutions; for not becoming endogenous. On the last 10 years, it received and published articles from 18 Brazilian states and several country cities from Sao Paulo State. Its graphic design was also remodeled for 2003, allowing higher clearness and easiness for reading. It accepts exchange with other journals and it is indexed on many basis. It was gotten a C international classification by CAPES.

[Participation and autonomy of mothers in the care of the hospitalized child]. / Participação e autonomia da mãe no cuidado ao filho hospitalizado.

This is a qualitative study whose purpose was to check with mothers the meaning and significance of remaining in the hospital and their participation and autonomy in the care of the hospitalized child. The field research was carried out through participant observation and through interviews with mothers. The inclusion of the mother in the care of the child has been taking place in a subtle way, and the mother has been taking on procedures which nurses were formerly in charge of, concentrating information about the therapeutic process. Nurses establish a hierarchical relation of domination-subordination with the mothers, who create some autonomy breaks in everyday situations. The lack of a collective therapeutic project in a perspective of care focused on the family is one of the obstacles to the involvement of the mother in the assistance.

[Mother-child bonding: comparative study of mothers after normal delivery and cesarean section]. / Apego mäe-filho: estudo comparativo entre mães de parto normal e cesárea.

The authors chose behavior observation through continuous and specific cursive recording. The purpose was to compare the behavior of mothers and natural-birth newborns with that of caesarian section newborns in their first 24 hours of life in rooming-in. Fourteen mother-child pairs, seven natural births and seven caesarian sections were observed. The observation led to useful conclusions related to nursing care. The mothers' voice and the way they fondle newborns can be indicators of their willingness to take care of the baby. Mothers who have caesarian sections need more attention to begin breastfeeding. In both groups, mothers improved better performance in caring for their newborns over the postpartum period. Inexperienced or fragile mothers need more postpartum attention. The environment can influence the establishment of successful ties.