Common Intervention (common + intervention)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Feeding and dementia: a systematic literature review

JOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING, Issue 1 2006
Roger Watson PhD RN FIBiol FRSA
Aim., This paper reports a systematic review of the literature on interventions to promote oral nutritional intake of older people with dementia and feeding difficulty between 1993 and 2003. Background., Older people with dementia commonly experience difficulty with feeding, especially in the later stages of the condition. This topic and related nursing care was reviewed in 1993 and the conclusion was that there was little research into interventions that nurses could use to alleviate feeding difficulty. Method., A systematic review of the literature was carried out using the CINAHL, Medline, EMBASE and Cochrane databases and the search terms ,feeding', ,eating' and ,dementia' combined as follows: ,(feeding or eating) and (dementia)'. A second search was carried out combining the search terms ,mealtimes' and ,dementia' as follows: ,mealtimes and dementia'. The literature search was carried out on 1 December 2003 and papers were included in the review if retrieved by 31 December 2003. English language papers only were retrieved. Results., Sixty-seven papers were retrieved, of which 13 addressed interventions aimed at helping older people with dementia to feed. All studies reported positive outcomes but only one randomized controlled trial was reported. Music was the most common intervention but there were no standardized interventions or outcomes across the studies and none reported the use of power analysis to decide on sample size. There were problems in some studies with confounding variables. Conclusions., Further research is needed into interventions aimed at how nurses can help older people with dementia to feed. There are some promising lines of enquiry, with music being one of these, but future studies need to use adequate samples and to use power calculations and account adequately for confounding variables. There is also a need to standardize interventions and outcomes across such studies to facilitate meta-analysis. [source]


Current approaches to obesity management in UK Primary Care: the Counterweight Programme

JOURNAL OF HUMAN NUTRITION & DIETETICS, Issue 3 2004
The Counterweight Project Team
Abstract Background/Aims Primary care is expected to develop strategies to manage obese patients as part of coronary heart disease and diabetes national service frameworks. Little is known about current management practices for obesity in this setting. The aim of this study is to examine current approaches to obesity management in UK primary care and to identify potential gaps in care. Method A total of 141 general practitioners (GPs) and 66 practice nurses (PNs) from 40 primary care practices participated in structured interviews to examine clinician self-reported approaches to obesity management. Medical records were also reviewed for 100 randomly selected obese patients from each practice [body mass index (BMI) ,30 kg m,2, n = 4000] to review rates of diet counselling, dietetic or obesity centre referrals, and use of anti-obesity medication. Computerized medical records for the total practice population (n = 206 341, 18,75 years) were searched to examine the proportion of patients with a weight/BMI ever recorded. Results Eighty-three per cent of GPs and 97% of PNs reported that they would raise weight as an issue with obese patients (P < 0.01). Few GPs (15%) reported spending up to 10 min in a consultation discussing weight-related issues, compared with PNs (76%; P < 0.001). Over 18 months, practice-based diet counselling (20%), dietetic (4%) and obesity centre (1%) referrals, and any anti-obesity medication (2%) were recorded. BMI was recorded for 64.2% of patients and apparent prevalence of obesity was less than expected. Conclusion Obesity is under-recognized in primary care even in these 40 practices with an interest in weight management. Weight management appears to be based on brief opportunistic intervention undertaken mainly by PNs. While clinicians report the use of external sources of support, few patients are referred, with practice-based counselling being the most common intervention. [source]


Mind-Body Interventions During Pregnancy

JOURNAL OF OBSTETRIC, GYNECOLOGIC & NEONATAL NURSING, Issue 2 2008
Amy E. Beddoe
ABSTRACT Objective:, To examine published evidence on the effectiveness of mind-body interventions during pregnancy on perceived stress, mood, and perinatal outcomes. Data sources:, Computerized searches of PubMed, Cinahl, PsycINFO, and the Cochrane Library. Study Selection:, Twelve out of 64 published intervention studies between 1980 and February 2007 of healthy, adult pregnant women met criteria for review. Data extraction and synthesis:, Studies were categorized by type of mind-body modality used. Progressive muscle relaxation was the most common intervention. Other studies used a multimodal psychoeducation approach or a yoga and meditation intervention. The research contained methodological problems, primarily absence of a randomized control group or failure to adequately control confounding variables. Nonetheless, there was modest evidence for the efficacy of mind-body modalities during pregnancy. Treatment group outcomes included higher birthweight, shorter length of labor, fewer instrument-assisted births, and reduced perceived stress and anxiety. Conclusions:, There is evidence that pregnant women have health benefits from mind-body therapies used in conjunction with conventional prenatal care. Further research is necessary to build on these studies in order to predict characteristics of subgroups that might benefit from mind-body practices and examine cost effectiveness of these interventions on perinatal outcomes. [source]


Clinical medication review by a pharmacist of elderly people living in care homes: pharmacist interventions

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHARMACY PRACTICE, Issue 2 2007
David P Alldred research clinical pharmacist
Objectives To describe the rate and nature of pharmacist interventions following clinical medication review of elderly people living in care homes. Setting Care home residents aged 65+ years, prescribed at least one repeat medication, living in nursing, residential and mixed care homes for older people in Leeds, UK. Method Analysis of data from care home residents receiving clinical medication review in the intervention arm of a randomised controlled trial. Intervention outcomes for each medicine were evaluated for each resident. Key findings Three-hundred and thirty-one residents were randomised to receive a clinical medication review and 315 (95%) were reviewed by the study pharmacist; 256 (77%) residents had at least one recommendation made to the general practitioner. For the 2280 medicines prescribed, there were 672 medicine-related interventions: medicines for cardiovascular system (167 (25%)), nutrition and blood (121 (18%)), central nervous system (113 (17%)) and gastrointestinal conditions (86 (13%)) accounted for 487 (73%) of medicine-related interventions. There were 75 non-medicine-related interventions. The most common interventions were ,technical' (225 (30%)), ,test to monitor medicine' (161 (22%)), ,stop drug' (100 (13%)), ,test to monitor conditions' (75 (10%)), ,start drug' (76 (10%)), ,alter dose' (40 (5%)) and ,switch drug' (37 (5%)). Recommendations to stop a medicine were most common for CNS drugs (32 (32%)). The most common medicine to be recommended to be started was calcium and vitamin D (45 (59%)). Following a recommendation to test to monitor a medicine, 23 (14%) medicines required a change. Conclusions This study has demonstrated that clinical medication review by a pharmacist can identify medicine problems in approximately 80% of care home residents, requiring intervention in 1 in 4 of their prescribed medications. [source]