Quality of Life of Children and Adolescents with Multiple Sclerosis-A Literature Review of the Quantitative Evidence.

BACKGROUND: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease of the central nervous system that also develops in patients under 18 years of age. The disease negatively affects the quality of life (QoL) of children and adolescents. We conducted a literature review. The aim of the review was to identify the QoL of pediatric patients with MS and assess the factors determining their QoL. METHODS: We analyzed studies published between 2000 and 2020 in PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, Web of Science, and EBSCO databases. RESULTS: In all, 17 studies were included in the review. The most common tool in assessing QoL was the generic module PedsQL. The range of mean/median global score of QoL was 53.8-81.7. The worst QoL was dominantly reported in the school and emotional spheres, on the contrary, the disease's least determined area of QoL was the social and physical dimension. In particular, disability and fatigue were important predictors of QoL. CONCLUSIONS: MS negatively affects the school and emotional spheres in particular, so it is important to pay greater attention to these spheres of life of MS patients. As the review studies pay insufficient attention to the analysis of positive factors and their impact on the QoL of MS patients, research should integrate these phenomena. The use of MS-targeted tools in future research in the pediatric MS population is also appropriate.

Nurses' Knowledge and Attitudes towards Prevention of Pressure Ulcers.

BACKGROUND: Pressure ulcers (PU) remain a serious complication of immobile patients and a burden for healthcare professionals. The incidence and prevalence remain alarming. Knowledge and attitudes of nurses play a fundamental role in prevention. The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge and attitudes of nurses towards the prevention of PU in selected Slovak hospitals and find relationships and differences among selected variables. METHODS: A quantitative exploratory cross-sectional design was chosen. Validated instruments were used. From the 460 randomly selected nurses, 225 (49%) participated in this research. RESULTS: Results showed insufficient knowledge (45.5%) and attitudes (67.9%) of nurses towards PU prevention. There was a significant positive correlation found between the knowledge and attitudes (ρ = 0.300; p = 0.000). Nurses´ knowledge was significantly different within the level of education (p = 0.031) and work department (p = 0.048). CONCLUSIONS: Results showed insufficiencies in the knowledge and attitudes of nurses towards PU prevention. Therefore, it is essential to focus on general education and continuing education and practice of nurses. Further development of educational programs and frequent measurement of these two parameters can lead to a significant improvement in the quality of care provided.