Particular Interventions (particular + intervention)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


An exploration of mental health nursing students' experiences and attitudes towards using cigarettes to change client's behaviour

JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC & MENTAL HEALTH NURSING, Issue 8 2010
M. J. NASH msc pclt bsc (hons) rnt rmn fhea
Accessible summary ,,This study explores the experiences of mental health nursing students in using cigarettes as a means of token economy. ,,The majority of the sample experienced the use of this particular intervention in various settings but also reported that other items apart from cigarettes were also used as part of a reward system. ,,Respondents generally did not like this practice, feeling that it did not work well, led to client staff conflict, was implemented in an ad hoc way and rarely recorded in a care plan. ,,An open debate on tobacco control and the use of cigarettes in behavioural change programmes is urgently required. Abstract Using cigarettes to change client behaviour is a common, yet little studied, practice in mental health care. A questionnaire survey was used to explore mental health nursing student's experiences and attitudes to this practice. The sample was four cohorts of mental health nursing students (n= 151). Of them, 84% had experienced the practice of using cigarettes to change client behaviour in acute wards (73%), rehabilitation wards (28%) and elderly care (14%). Cigarettes were used to change client behaviour in areas such as attending to personal hygiene (57%) or engaging in the ward routine (39%). However, items such as leave (60%) or drinks (tea and coffee) (38%) were also reportedly used. Of the respondents, 54% inferred that the practice did not work well with 46% stating it was not written up in care plans; 52% felt it was an ad hoc practice, 60% inferred that at times it was used as a punishment while 55% intimated that they felt bad withholding cigarettes. There are ethical and moral dilemmas around using lifestyle risk factors as rewards or using client's nicotine addiction as a means of controlling behaviour. The question of whether this intervention should ever be used, given its associated health risk, requires more critical debate in clinical practice. [source]


ARIA: impact of compliance

CLINICAL & EXPERIMENTAL ALLERGY REVIEWS, Issue 1 2005
P. Van Cauwenberge
Summary Epidemiological studies show that the prevalence of asthma and allergic rhinitis (AR) has increased progressively over the past two to three decades. Similarly, there is increasing evidence that asthma and rhinitis frequently co-exist in the same patients and that rhinitis is a risk factor for asthma. Although several guidelines are currently available for the diagnosis and management of AR, the earlier guidelines and their successors were not evidence based, and were developed primarily on the basis of expert opinion, but of course based on the available literature. More recently, the Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) guidelines were published in co-operation with the World Health Organization. These guidelines are evidence based and directed towards managing co-morbid rhinitis and asthma as different manifestations of a single airway disease, rather than as two separate diseases of the nose and the lung. They recommend treatment of AR in a step-wise manner (using a combination of allergen avoidance, pharmacotherapy and immunotherapy), based on the duration and severity of disease, rather than on the basis of type of exposure (i.e seasonal, perennial, occupational), as recommended by previous guidelines. The ARIA guidelines recognize that both the availability and the cost of a particular intervention are likely to determine patient compliance, and therefore recommends a flexible approach based on availability and cost of specific interventions in different countries. Despite the availability of treatment guidelines, there is evidence that the severity of disease is often diagnosed and treated inappropriately by general practitioners (GPs), who frequently do not use a guided treatment strategy, leading to low patient satisfaction and compliance. This suggests a clear need to implement the guidelines among GPs, especially since the vast majority of patients generally trust their GPs to provide appropriate information and optimal medication for the management of their disease. [source]


Beliefs about worry in community-dwelling older adults,

DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY, Issue 8 2006
Ignacio Montorio Ph.D.
Abstract This study examines the association between several kinds of beliefs about worry and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) severity in a sample of older individuals recruited from a community setting (N=142, mean age=71.0 years, SD=6.0, range=55,88). Beliefs about worry were assessed with a 17-item scale designed for older adults, including three dimensions: Positive Beliefs, Negative Beliefs, and Responsibility. All three dimensions distinguished between people endorsing GAD symptoms and those without GAD symptoms, and only Negative Beliefs had a significant independent weight when regressed on GAD severity, even after controlling for level of trait worry. Results of this study suggest that negative beliefs appear to be strongly related to pathological worry in older adults. These results are consistent with empirical findings in younger adults and potentially support the use of particular interventions in clinical work with older adults with GAD. Depression and Anxiety 23:466,473, 2006. Published 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


The Aid Paradigm for Poverty Reduction: Does It Make Sense?

DEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 4 2008
John Weiss
Thinking on economic policy for development has undergone many shifts in response to the perceived weak results of earlier adjustment reforms. A new donor consensus has emerged based around the central themes of economic growth, good governance and social development. This article examines the logic behind this new aid paradigm, revealing a nuanced story with country circumstances playing a critical role and particular interventions varying in impact. For example, growth does not always lead to gains for the poor that match the national average; public expenditure needs to be targeted to achieve social development, but effective targeting is difficult; governance reform may be critical but there is no simple governance blueprint, and the corruption-growth association need not always be negative. [source]


Good Enough Governance Revisited

DEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 5 2007
Merilee S. Grindle
The concept of good enough governance provides a platform for questioning the long menu of institutional changes and capacity-building initiatives currently deemed important (or essential) for development. Nevertheless, it falls short of being a tool to explore what, specifically, needs to be done in any real world context. Thus, as argued by the author in 2004, given the limited resources of money, time, knowledge, and human and organisational capacities, practitioners are correct in searching for the best ways to move towards better governance in a particular country context. This article suggests that the feasibility of particular interventions can be assessed by analysing the context for change and the implications of the content of the intervention being considered. [source]