The effect of online laughter therapy on depression, anxiety, stress, and loneliness among nursing students during the Covid-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Nursing students experienced mental symptoms when they switched to distance education due to the pandemic. AIMS: This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of online laughter therapy sessions on depression, anxiety, stress, and loneliness levels in first-year nursing students. METHODS: In this randomized controlled trial, 61 healthy nursing students were randomly assigned to intervention (n = 32) and control groups (n = 29). The intervention group received online laughter therapy twice weekly for four weeks. The control group received no intervention. The data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, and the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale at the study initiation and week four in both groups. RESULTS: There was no difference between the mean scores of the groups in the pre-test (p > 0.05). There was a statistically significant difference between groups in terms of depression after online laughter therapy sessions (p < 0.05), but there was no significant difference between anxiety, stress, and loneliness levels (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Online laughter therapy sessions significantly reduced depression but had no effect on anxiety, stress, and loneliness. During the COVID-19 pandemic, online laughter therapy can be organized to reduce depression levels.

The effect of the COVID-19 social distancing measures on Turkish women's mental well-being and burnout levels: A cross-sectional study.

Lockdown and social distancing measures during the COVID-19 pandemic increase women's responsibilities and influence their mental health. This study aimed to assess the effect of COVID-19 social distancing measures on mental well-being and burnout levels of women using an online cross-sectional survey in Turkey. The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale, The Burnout Measure, and Sociodemographic form were used in this study. All analyses were performed on a sample of 438 women aged between 18 and 65. The mean score of mental well-being was 47.86 (SD = 10.04) and the mean score of burnout was 3.86 (SD = 1.16). Being younger than 30 years old (t = 2.14, P = 0.033), having undergraduate education or above (F = 5.09, P = 0.007), part-time working (F = 5.39, P = 0.005), attending to school (t = 2.68, P = 0.008), having COVID-19 symptoms (t = 6.01, P < 0.001), and perceiving spousal emotional support (F = 3.47, P = 0.016) were the factors associated with high burnout. Being older than 30 years old (z = -3.11, P = 0.002), full time working (H = 11.96, P = 0.003), not attending to school (z = -2.09, P = 0.036), perceiving spousal emotional (H = 13.22, P = 0.004), or social (H = 13.11, P = 0.004) support were the factors associated with higher mental well-being. Age (ß = -0.03, P = 0.001), having two or more children (ß = 0.42, P = 0.015), and perceiving COVID-19 symptoms (ß = -0.73, P < 0.001) were the predictors of women's burnout. This study shows that mental well-being and burnout levels of women in Turkey have been considerably affected as a result of social distancing measures taken with the first wave of the pandemic. Findings signal the immediate need for targeted mental health nursing interventions. Therefore, technology-based mental health support programmes are recommended to be designed and utilized by mental health nurses.

An examination of gender stereotypes, ambivalent sexism, and dating violence as potential predictors of nursing students' beliefs about intimate partner violence: A cross-sectional correlational study.

AIM: This study aimed to examine the role of the feminine or masculine gender stereotypes, ambivalent sexism and dating violence to predict nursing students' beliefs about intimate partner violence. BACKGROUND: Although there has been a growing interest in understanding the sociocultural contexts and the factors of the intimate partner violence, there is a serious lack of empirical research on different dimensions of this problem among nursing students. DESIGN: A cross-sectional correlational design was used. METHODS: The data were collected from a sample of 520 university students from three nursing schools in Istanbul, Turkey. Participants were selected through convenience sampling. Data were collected with the sociodemographic form, the Beliefs About Wife Beating Scale, the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory, the revised Conflict Tactics Scale, and the Bem Sex Role Inventory. RESULTS: Results revealed that male participants were more prone to justify wife beating and believe that battered women benefitted from beating. Based on the results of the study, in addition to sex, region of birth, representing feminine or masculine gender stereotypes, hostile sexism, psychological aggression and having an injury due to experiencing violence in the latest relationship were the important predictors of nursing students' beliefs about intimate partner violence. CONCLUSIONS: Nursing curricula should include courses to enhance students' awareness towards violence against women, sexism and gender equality. More, universities should provide counseling services for nursing students who experienced violence.

The effects of ethnocentrism and some features on intercultural sensitivity in nursing students: A comparative descriptive study.

BACKGROUND: Nurses should provide culturally sensitive care by being aware of the cultural characteristics, values and beliefs of the individuals for whom they are responsible. Nursing education must provide a foundation for the development of intercultural sensitivity. AIM: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of ethnocentric attitudes and some characteristics of nursing students on their intercultural sensitivities. METHODS: A comparative descriptive design was used to collect data from nursing students in two universities located in the west and the east of Turkey (N = 535; students from the east: n = 202; students from west: n = 333) Data were collected using the socio-demographic characteristics form, the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS) and the Ethnocentrism Scale. RESULTS: When both students from east and west in Turkey were compared in terms of ISS total scores, a statistically significant difference was found between the students in terms of pervious place of residence, taking the intercultural nursing course, acquaintance with people of other cultures, having experience abroad and speaking another language (p < .05). When both students from east and west were compared in terms of the ethnocentrism scale total scores, a statistically significant difference was found between the students in terms of the gender, the year of the education, previous place of residence, taking the intercultural nursing course, acquaintance with people of other cultures, having experience abroad and having friends from different countries (p < .05). According to the linear regression analysis, the intercultural sensitivity of students was found to be significantly affected by ethnocentrism. CONCLUSIONS: Intercultural nursing courses and concepts such as intercultural sensitivity and ethnocentrism should be given a more comprehensive place in the curriculum to increase intercultural sensitivities and reduce ethnocentrism.

Violence Against Women in Turkey: A Social Ecological Framework of Determinants and Prevention Strategies.

Violence against women (VAW) in Turkey is concerning, and to develop and implement effective prevention strategies for addressing it, careful consideration must be given to the factors that influence it. In this review, we synthesized the body of literature on VAW in Turkey according to a social ecological framework, which is a theoretical model considering the complex interplay between individual, relationship, community, and societal factors. Consistent with this framework, we obtained research articles and commentaries in Turkish and English from a variety of national and international databases and websites regarding risk factors, cultural practices violating women's rights, and trends and current practices, including prevention efforts. Our review revealed that factors influencing VAW are marriage at young age, lower education level, alcohol abuse, and childhood trauma or abuse history for individual level; having multiple partners, low relationship satisfaction, and forced marriage for relationship level; poverty, lack of social support, and lack of employment opportunities for community level; cultural acceptance of men's superiority and dominance over women, acceptance of violence, cultural practices, and weak legal sanctions for societal level. Additionally, we reviewed multilevel prevention strategies in the extant literature on effective prevention and intervention efforts according to social ecological framework and proposed research, practice, and policy implications derived from this framework.