Service learning: Nursing students' civic engagement with diverse populations of children with special needs.

PURPOSE: There is limited knowledge of nursing students' perspectives about engagement with special needs populations. The purpose of this study was to identify the advantages/benefits and disadvantages/challenges of nursing students' engagement experience with children with special mental and physical disabilities. Recommendations to enhance student engagement experiences were also provided. METHODS: A descriptive, qualitative design was employed. Undergraduate nursing students (N = 28) responded to open-ended questions about their civic engagement experiences at a community-based, respite care program for children with special needs. Student accounts underwent directed content analysis, with coding, category and theme development according to the Theory of Planned Behavior. The Atlas.Ti computer program was used to manage the data. RESULTS: Advantages/Benefits: Filling cognitive and experiential learning gaps, rewarding connections/relationships, positive emotions, perceptions and interactions, and fun and stress relief. Disadvantage/challenges: Managing negative/uncomfortable emotions and uncertainty, witnessing and managing disruptive behaviors, negative perceptions of program operations/expectations. CONCLUSIONS: Students experienced cognitive, emotional, interpersonal and educational advantages and/or disadvantages while engaging with this defined population. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: To enhance engagement faculty can provide education and anticipatory guidance, detail responsibilities and expectations, and/or utilize simulation for student preparation. Nurses and researchers can utilize community based participatory methods to guide discussions with community-based organizations to collaboratively develop strategies to institute, evaluate and enhance student engagement during service learning experiences with children who have special needs.

Beliefs and willingness towards participating in genetic testing for depression in low-income and racial/ethnic minority mothers at-risk.

PURPOSE: To identify mothers' salient normative, behavioral and control beliefs and willingness towards participating in genetic salivary testing for depression. DESIGN: A qualitative, descriptive design was employed. 41 multi-ethnic mothers completed surveys that underwent directed content analysis according to The Theory of Planned Behavior. Percentages and frequency counts were used to categorize responses and calculate willingness. FINDINGS: Salient beliefs included: Behavioral: Finding a cure/treatment for depression (29.3 %), Normative: Family would approve (46.3 %), and Church associates would disapprove (19.5 %). CONTROL: Lacking information/explanations (34.1 %) as barriers, convenient locations (24.4 %) as facilitators. Most mothers indicated a willingness to participate (90.2 %). CONCLUSIONS: Interventions should target families, emphasize benefits, explain purposes and procedures, and use community based participatory methods.

Exploring Expressions of Depression in Black Single Mothers.

PROBLEM: This study investigates the experience of depression from the perspective of Black single mothers, an understudied diverse-sub-group who consistently report high levels of depressive symptoms that go undetected and untreated. PARTICIPANTS: The sample consisted of 210 Black single mothers aged 18-45 who reside in urban communities. METHODS: A descriptive, cross-sectional design was used to categorize the responses of Black single mothers to an open-ended question that asks about feelings of depression according to the four domains of the Centers for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Percentages and frequencies were used to describe the results of the analysis. FINDINGS: The 303 usable responses were most consistent with the depressed affect domain (N = 172), followed by somatic activity (N = 108), interpersonal symptoms (N = 21), and lack of positive affect (N = 2). The most prevalent raw responses included sadness (N = 59), forms of anger (N = 48), depressed (N = 24), cry (N = 23), do not want to be around people (N = 21), lonely (N = 17), tired (N = 16), and stressed (N = 12). CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS: Consider culture and individualized assessments to explore feelings of anger and sadness when screening for depressive symptoms in specific sub-groups of Black single mothers. Consider the use of appropriate screening tools.

Socio-Demographic and Coping Correlates and Predictors of Depressive Symptoms Among Low-Income and Ethnic Minority Mothers At-Risk.

This study identified coping and sociodemographic correlates and predictors of depressive symptoms in mothers at risk for clinical depression. A descriptive, cross-sectional design was employed. A convenience sample of 88 low-income or ethnic-minority mothers aged 21 to 45 completed a depression scale, demographic data sheet, and responded to an open-ended question. Content analysis, descriptive, and inferential statistics was used for data analysis. Exactly 42.5% of mothers reported high depressive symptoms (>16). Lower income levels (r = .342, p = .01) and head-of-household status (r = .220, p = .04) were significantly associated with higher depressive symptoms. Those who used social support coping had lower depressive symptoms than those who did not (t = 2.50, p = .014). Those using emotion-focused coping only had higher depressive symptoms than those using a mix of coping strategies (t = 2.60, p = .011). Healthcare providers can employ vigilant depression screening and encourage utilization of a mix of problem and emotion-focused coping strategies to reduce depressive symptoms and prevent clinical depression.

Eliciting Willingness and Beliefs towards Participation in Genetic Psychiatric Testing in Black/African American Mothers at Risk for Depression.

Black/African American women are at high risk for depression, yet are underrepresented in psychiatric genetic research for depression prevention and treatment. Little is known about the factors that influence participation in genetic testing for Black/African American women at risk. The purpose of this study was to elicit the beliefs that underlie participation in genetic testing for depression in Black/African American mothers, a subgroup at high risk. Willingness to participate in genetic testing procedures was also determined. A qualitative, descriptive design was employed. Exactly 19 mothers aged 21-42 completed open-ended questionnaires. Directed content and descriptive analyses of the text were conducted based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. Salient beliefs included: behavioral advantages-diagnosing/detecting depression (31.6%), finding cure/treatment (21.1%); disadvantages-not finding follow-up treatment/help (21.1%); salient referents, who approves-family members (47.4%), agencies/organizations (26.3%); who disapproves-church associates (21.1%). Control beliefs included: barriers-unpleasant/difficult testing procedures (42.1%), limited knowledge about the purpose of testing (26.3%); facilitator-a convenient location (21.1%). Most mothers (89.5%) indicated willingness to participate in testing. Interventions can target families, address barriers, emphasize future benefits, and use convenient locations and community-based participatory research methods. Policies can address social determinants of participation to increase inclusion of these mothers in psychiatric genetic research.

Infant health of mothers with multiple sclerosis.

Controversy surrounds whether mothers with multiple sclerosis (MS) who wish to breast-feed their infants should forego breast-feeding in order to resume immunomodulating therapy following birth even though breast-feeding has not been shown to have deleterious effects on these mothers. Knowledge of potential health benefits to infants through breast-feeding could influence health care providers to encourage mothers with MS who wish to breast-feed to do so. This study of 140 breast-feeding and 35 non-breast-feeding mothers with MS identifies the type and prevalence of illnesses experienced by their infants during the first 6 postpartum months and at 9 months and 12 months. Significantly more non-breast-fed than breast-fed infants experienced otitis media, lower respiratory illness, constipation, milk intolerance, and allergy during the 1st year. Study results support the need to encourage mothers with MS who wish to breast-feed their infants to do so and to delay immunomodulating therapy until breast-feeding cessation.

A biobehavioral approach to understanding obesity and the development of obesogenic illnesses among Latino immigrants in the United States.

The prevalence of obesity and obesity-related illnesses is higher among Hispanics (Latinos) than other racial and ethnic groups, and rates increase exponentially with the number of years living in the United States. Mounting evidence suggests that the origins of many chronic illnesses among disadvantaged minority groups may lie with cumulative exposure to chronic psychological and physiological stressors through the biobehavioral process of allostatic load (AL). Among immigrant Latinos, acculturation stress may contribute to an increase in AL and thus may be an independent risk factor for the development of obesity and obesogenic illnesses. The purpose of this theoretical article is to present a proposed model of the effects of acculturation stress on AL and obesity among Latino immigrants. Such a model can be useful to guide intervention efforts to decrease obesity among immigrant Latinos by adding education, skill building, and social integration strategies to healthy eating and physical activity to reduce the deleterious impact of acculturation stress.