Exploring religious coping strategies epilepsy patients in Turkey: A descriptive study.

OBJECTIVE: It is seen that religious coping methods are used in the literature, but the existing literature on religious coping methods and coping strategies used by epilepsy patients is insufficient. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the positive and negative religious coping levels of epilepsy patients. METHODS: This research is a descriptive research type. The research data were collected from patients with epilepsy living in a province in eastern Turkey between April and June 2024. The research population consists of epilepsy patients living in Erzurum province. The sample consisted of 154 patients who agreed to participate in the study. Data collection tools were "Questionnaire Form" and "Religious Coping Scale." Frequency, percentage calculations, mean and standard deviation values were used to evaluate the data. One Way Anova, Independent Sample t-test, Mann-Whitney U, and Pearson correlation tests were also used. RESULTS: Positive religious coping scores (22.90 ± 5.35) and Negative religious coping scores (7.24 ± 3.25) of epilepsy patients were found to be at high levels. Participants' gender, marital status, occupation, income status, prayer, fasting, and Quran reading habits significantly affected their positive religious coping behaviors (p < 0.05). In addition, it was determined that as the age of the participants increased, they resorted to positive religious coping behaviors more (r: 0.215, p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study show that the positive and negative religious coping levels of epilepsy patients are high. In addition, the participants prefer positive religious coping behaviors more.

What are the thoughts of postgraduate nursing students regarding the 'Applied Scientific Research' course? A qualitative study on achievements, benefits, challenges, and suggested solutions.

OBJECTIVE: This research aimed to examine students' emotions, opinions, and suggestions regarding the "Applied Scientific Research" course. METHOD: The study was conducted in a province in eastern Turkey between June and July 2023. Data were collected from 9 postgraduate students attending the "Scientific Research" course at a university's Institute of Health Sciences using a 'Descriptive Information Form' and a 'Semi-Structured Questionnaire'. Content analysis was employed for the qualitative data evaluation. RESULTS: The participants' ages ranged from 25 to 32. Six participants were female, five were academicians, and five were doctoral students. Six participants had taken a statistics or research course before the scientific research course. Additionally, seven had attended scientific conferences, five followed a scientific publication regularly, five had conducted scientific research before, and five had not published scientific research before taking the course. Through the analysis of data obtained from participant interviews, three themes, namely "Effects of Activities in the Course," "Reasons for Recommendations and Preferences," and "Outcomes of the Course," were identified. Six sub-themes and 18 codes were generated, including "Most Challenging Activity," "Least Challenging Activity," "Recommendations for the Course," "Reasons for Choosing the Course," "Contributions of the Course," and "Feelings Towards the Course." CONCLUSION: The research results indicate that students improved their skills in conducting scientific research, writing articles, and getting published after taking the course. Furthermore, the course evoked positive feelings in students and increased their perceived competence.

The Turkish version of the Nurses' Occupational Stressor Scale: A validity and reliability study.

PURPOSE: The study was conducted to test the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the "Nurses' Occupational Stressor Scale," which was developed to determine the occupational stressors that nurses experience during work. DESIGN AND METHODS: "Nurses' Introductory Form" and "Nurses' Occupational Stressor Scale" were used to collect the research data. FINDINGS: The factor loading values of the scale items varied between 0.351 and 0.670. X2 /SD was 2.27, Goodness of Fit Index (GFI) = 0.92, Adjusted GFI = 0.92, Comparative Fit Index = 0.91, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation = 0.061, and Standardized Root Mean Square Residual = 0.055. As a result, the scale was shaped with 21 items and a single dimension. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: "Nurses' Occupational Stressor Scale" is a valid and reliable scale. Using this scale, stressors in nurses' work environment can be measured, and while intervention is applied, the effectiveness of such intervention can be evaluated.

The effect of calcitonin treatment on plasma nitric oxide levels in post-menopausal osteoporotic patients.

Several recent studies have revealed a wide role for nitric oxide (NO) in bone metabolism. Low doses of NO cause bone resorption, but higher doses of NO inhibit bone resorbing activity. Cytokines are potent stimulators of NO production. NO is a very short-lived molecules. It exists for only 6-10 s only before it is converted by oxygen and water into the end-products nitrates and nitrites. Osteoporosis is a metabolic bone disease, characterized by a decreased amount of bone and increased susceptibility to fracture. NO may be involved as a mediator of bone disease such as post-menopausal osteoporosis. Calcitonin is a peptide hormone that inhibits bone resorption. The function of calcitonin in some cells is often unclear. In this study 30 post-menopausal osteoporotic women of ages ranging between 55 and 59 years without systemic diseases and free of any drug therapy were included. Twenty of them, randomly chosen, were treated with calcium (500 mg day(-1))+calcitonin (nasal spray 100 U day(-1)) and the other 10 women (control group) were treated with calcium only. This treatment was applied for 6 months and NO values were measured in each of the two groups before and after treatment. Our findings demonstrate that NO regulates osteoclastic bone resorption activity in association with calcitonin.