Cognitive appraisal of stress events: measuring the personal schema of childbirth.

The purpose of this study was to theoretically base, develop, and test items for the Childbirth Schema Scale. The scale was designed to obtain an understanding of schema formation and revision with the known stressor of childbirth. The psychometric properties of the instrument were assessed using a sample of childbearing women, surveyed before and after birth. A principal components analysis with varimax rotation resulted in a four-factor solution supporting the theoretical factors of emotions of outcome, sensations of work, time, and preparation for control. Construct validity was assessed by hypothesis testing that women whose prebirth schemas were least like their real experience would use more review than women whose schemas were closer. A significant t test between the two groups provided some evidence of validity. The factors were used to form subscales. Internal consistency scores for each subscale were .73, .70, .84, and .65, respectively.

Needs of the family during critical illness of elderly patients.

Persons 65 years of age or older occupy 46% of all intensive-care beds. This number will rise in the next decade as the percentage of persons age 65 or older rises to a projected 13% by the turn of the century. Elderly patients require care that may be different from their younger counterparts. The needs of the families of the elderly may also be different. Nurses should carefully consider the needs and differences of each family, especially the need to participate in care and to be with the elder and the needs for information, reassurance, and comprehensive discharge planning.

Preceptorial students' view of their clinical experience.

A preceptorial is a one-on-one reality-based clinical experience in which the staff nurse supervises the learning experience. Many schools of nursing use preceptor clinicals for the last clinical experience, but no studies were found that examined how students viewed that experience. This qualitative study was undertaken to ascertain how undergraduate preceptorial students view their clinical experience. In addition, since the program studied also uses preceptorials for its students' first clinical experience, the study examined differences in perception about the preceptorial between first- and second-level students. The students were asked to complete an anonymous open-ended questionnaire about their clinical experience. Content analysis was performed on the answers using the whole response to the question as the unit of analysis. Indicators of reliability and validity were established. Two themes emerged from the analysis: what students desire from their clinical experience and the factors that influence the preceptorial clinical experience. In addition, differences were found between perceptions of students in the first and last preceptorial clinical experiences. The results were discussed in terms of clinical experiences and possible differences in perception of clinical between those who have preceptorial and traditional faculty-led clinical experiences.