A phenomenographic study: Exploring the variations of registered nurses' perceived roles and experiences as HIV counselors

OBJECTIVES: The study explored the variations of registered nurses' perceived roles and experiences before, during and after HIV counseling. METHODS: The study is anchored on Parse's Human Becoming Theory structured around three abiding themes: meaning, rhythmicity, and transcendence. A qualitative phenomenographical approach was used and the data were collected through semi structured, face-to-face, in-depth interview sessions with ten registered nurses who were eligible under the set criterion: HIV counselors employed in both government and private health facilities with HIV Testing and Counseling facilities and services in Iligan City and Cagayan de Oro City. Verbatim transcriptions were analyzed in iterative process using Jan Larssons and Inger Holmstrom's (2007) seven simple steps of phenomenographic analysis. Triangulation and validation established rigor and trustworthiness of the data. RESULTS: Emergent themes of differences in participants' perceived roles and experiences conveyed in a metaphor: The Employee vs. The Educator; The Professional vs. The Shepherd. CONCLUSION: The variations ascertained the association of perceived roles and experiences of HIV Counselors and posited equally vast challenges as nursing takes the core in collaboration for the care of persons living with HIV toward a dignified death

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A comparative analysis of overall survival between high-dose-rate and low-dose-rate brachytherapy boosts for unfavorable-risk prostate cancer.

PURPOSE: External beam radiation therapy (EBRT) with low-dose-rate (LDR) brachytherapy boost has been associated with improved biochemical progression-free survival and overall survival (OS) compared with dose-escalated EBRT (DE-EBRT) alone for unfavorable-risk prostate cancer. However, it is not known whether high-dose-rate (HDR) boost provides a similar benefit. We compare HDR boost against LDR boost and DE-EBRT with respect to OS. METHODS: Using the National Cancer Database, we identified 122,896 patients who were diagnosed with National Comprehensive Cancer Network intermediate- or high-risk prostate cancer between 2004 and 2014 and treated with DE-EBRT (75.6-86.4 Gy), LDR boost, or HDR boost. We compared the OS among the three groups using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression. Inverse probability treatment weighting was used to adjust for covariate imbalance. RESULTS: On multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression, HDR boost was associated with a similar OS to LDR boost (adjusted hazard ratio [AHR] 1.03 [0.96, 1.11]; p = 0.38) but significantly better OS than DE-EBRT (AHR 1.36 [1.29, 1.44]; p < 0.001). Inverse probability treatment weighting analysis yielded similar results. There was no significant difference between LDR and HDR boosts for National Comprehensive Cancer Network intermediate-risk (AHR 1.05 [0.96, 1.15]; p = 0.32) and high-risk (AHR 1.00 [0.89, 1.12]; p = 0.98) subgroups (p-interaction = 0.55). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that HDR brachytherapy boost yields similar OS benefits compared with LDR brachytherapy boost for unfavorable-risk prostate cancer. HDR boost may be a suitable alternative to LDR boost.