The effects of sleep and touch therapy on symptoms of fibromyalgia and depression.

BACKGROUND: Many alternative interventions are practiced in an effort to reduce symptoms of fibromiyalgia. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of sleep and touch therapy accompanied by music and aromatherapy on the symptoms of fibromyalgia and depression. METHODS: The study was carried out between September 2009 and March 2011 in the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Polyclinic in Trabzon, Turkey. The sample consisted of 162 female patients and had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia at least 6 months prior to the study. Since the sample contains two intervention groups and one control group, each group was assigned 54 patients. Data were collected through a Personal Information Form, a Fibromyalgia Symptom Form and the Beck Depression Index. The study employed a pre-test/post-test control group design. A paired sample t-test was used in the comparisons of the in-group scale points; the chi-square in the intergroup comparisons, and the McNamer test in the in-group comparisons. RESULTS: After the interventions, it was observed that the depression levels in the touch-music-aroma therapy group showed a larger decrease (before: 22.01±5.3; after: 14.52±3.7) than in the sleep-music-aroma therapy group (before: 24.81±5.1; after: 20.16±4.9) and control groups (before: 23.73±4.4; after: 21.05±2.6). Symptoms such as restless sleep, headache, morning fatigue, exhaustion, feeling like crying and bowel complaints were also significantly reduced (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: It is suggested that nurses providing healthcare to FMS patients should also offer these patients aromatherapy, sleep, music and touch therapies.

Appraising the self-assessed support needs of Turkish women with breast cancer.

The purposes of this study were to establish the range of needs of women with breast cancer and to examine how women's needs might form clusters that could provide the basis for developing a standardized scale of needs for use by local breast care nurses in the evaluation of care. The sample consisted of 143 women with breast cancer who were admitted to the outpatient and inpatient oncology clinics in a university hospital in Erzurum, Turkey. The data were collected by questionnaire, and included demographic characteristics and the self-assessed support needs of women with breast cancer. Statistical analyses have shown that the standardized scale of needs has statistically acceptable levels of reliability and validity. The women's support needs mostly clustered in Family and Friends (79%) and After Care (78.3%). The most frequently required support category was Family and Friend; however, the women were in need of support of all categories. In terms of age ranges, there are statistically significant differences in relation to Femininity and Body Image, and Family and Friends of the seven categories. Women experienced a high level of needs associated with a diagnosis of breast cancer. The results in this study should increase awareness among cancer care professionals about a range of psychosocial needs and may help them target particular patient groups for particular support interventions.

The relationship between women's satisfaction with prenatal care service and the characteristics of the pregnant women and the service.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this descriptive correlational study was to investigate the relationship between women's satisfaction with prenatal care services and the demographic characteristics of the women and the service's features. METHODS: The population studied consisted of Turkish women living in Erzurum, Turkey, who had delivered their infants and were still hospitalized. The women had received prenatal care, had no complications during pregnancy, carried their pregnancies to term, and were considered to have had normal deliveries. The sample size was determined as 367 women, and 350 women responded to the questionnaire. Question items consisted of women's satisfaction with prenatal care services, the demographics characteristics of the pregnant women, and the characteristics of prenatal care. The questionnaire was given to the women in the birthing house. The researchers collected data using an interview method between 1 January and 30 April, 2002. RESULTS: In terms of the mean item score and total scale, the women were 'somewhat satisfied' with the prenatal care service. The women were more satisfied with health-care information and the 'cost of the service' dimension of the scale. There was an association between women's satisfaction with prenatal care services and the characteristics of both prenatal care and those of the pregnant women. CONCLUSION: The sample of women in this study reflects only the study population in this area of Turkey. The findings of the study should be limited to this population. The scale would be useful for further studies investigating how prenatal care providers can better identify women's satisfaction with prenatal care service. A satisfaction measurement scale of prenatal care services would be helpful as an interview form that could identify the satisfaction scale and rate the scale's importance in the health-care provider's office, hospital, during a home visitation, or a primary health-care center, private clinic or maternity and child health center.

Turkish women's satisfaction with family planning services.

This research was designed to identify women's satisfaction with family planning services and, secondly, to establish a standardized scale of satisfaction for use in the evaluation of women's satisfaction with family planning services. The population for this study comprised Turkish women living in Erzurum, and attending one of five primary health-care centers in Erzurum for services. The study included 406 women who were selected by random sampling from the population who used current family planning methods. Data were collected using the satisfaction with family planning services scale front 1 April to 20 June 2002. Cronbach's alpha of the scale is 0.86. Alpha coefficients ranged from 0.83 to 0.77 for seven dimensions. Factor analysis on the 37 items revealed that the seven factors that resulted were the same as the seven components of intrinsic motivation. The score mean of the scale was 132.2 +/- 26.8, and the score mean per item was 3.5. In terms of both the mean overall score and the score per item, women were reasonably satisfied with family planning services. This study provided a standardized scale of women's satisfaction with family planning services. The sample of the present study was collected from only the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. Utilization of such methods as an interview form that would identify factors and rate their importance while women are in health-care centers and offices would be helpful.