Self-care Activities (self-care + activity)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Symptom management for HIV-positive persons in Norway

INTERNATIONAL NURSING REVIEW, Issue 3 2004
E. H. Bunch rn
Abstract Purpose:, To record symptoms experienced by people with HIV/AIDS, and describe useful self-care strategies and how symptoms impact on daily life. Method:, A questionnaire was used with self-reported answers and descriptions of how symptoms impact on daily activities and suggestions for useful self-care strategies. Four hundred and twenty-two (n = 422) HIV-positive persons from seven sites in the USA and one site in Norway (n = 20) answered the questionnaire. Results:, In this article subjective symptom descriptions from the Norwegian sample are presented along with self-care strategies and their effectiveness. Findings revealed the Norwegian sample to be a little older, maybe less anxious and depressed, than participants in the larger study. This difference might be explained by the structure of the national social and health care system in Norway, where treatments, medications and social services are available to all citizens without cost. Respondents described a number of related symptoms as well as their subjective explanations of what triggered the symptoms. Most of the self-care strategies were learnt by trial and error. Recommendations:, Community health providers, nurses and physicians should become more knowledgeable about the symptoms that infected persons struggle with, as well as the impact these symptoms have on routine daily self-care activities and a person's quality of life. There is need for more research about helpful self-care strategies to assist HIV-positive persons to manage their symptoms and to disseminate these to community health providers and support groups for HIV infected persons. [source]


Recovery of Activities of Daily Living in Older Adults After Hospitalization for Acute Medical Illness

JOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 12 2008
Cynthia M. Boyd MD
OBJECTIVES: To compare functional outcomes in the year after discharge for older adults discharged from the hospital after an acute medical illness with a new or additional disability in their basic self-care activities of daily living (ADL) (compared with preadmission baseline 2 weeks before admission) with those of older adults discharged with baseline ADL function and identify predictors of failure to recover to baseline function 1 year after discharge. DESIGN: Observational. SETTING: Tertiary care hospital, community teaching hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Older (aged ,70) patients nonelectively admitted to general medical services (1993,1998). MEASUREMENTS: Number of ADL disabilities at preadmission baseline and 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after discharge. Outcomes were death, sustained decline in ADL function, and recovery to baseline ADL function at each time point. RESULTS: By 12 months after discharge, of those discharged with new or additional ADL disability, 41.3% died, 28.6% were alive but had not recovered to baseline function, and 30.1% were at baseline function. Of those discharged at baseline function, 17.8% died, 15.2% were alive but with worse than baseline function, and 67% were at their baseline function (P<.001). Of those discharged with new or additional ADL disability, the presence or absence of recovery by 1 month was associated with long-term outcomes. Age, cardiovascular disease, dementia, cancer, low albumin, and greater number of dependencies in instrumental ADLs independently predicted failure to recover. CONCLUSION: For older adults discharged with new or additional disability in ADL after hospitalization for medical illness, prognosis for functional recovery is poor. Rehabilitation interventions of longer duration and timing than current reimbursement allows, caregiver support, and palliative care should be evaluated. [source]


Family support, perceived self-efficacy and self-care behaviour of Turkish patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 8 2007
Magfiret Kara Ka
Aim., The purpose of this study was to describe family support, self-efficacy perception and self-care behaviour among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and to ascertain the relationship between these variables. Background., It is important to work at improving confidence in the patients' ability to follow a self-care regimen by increasing self-efficacy. Family support also plays an important role in self-care activities. Method and design., The study design is descriptive and correlational. Of 230 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who were recruited for the study, 200 agreed to participate. The patients were recruited by the first author from an outpatient clinic in the Department of Chest Disease of a university hospital and a pulmonary hospital in Erzurum, eastern Turkey. Data were collected by using a demographic data form, the Perceived Social Support from Family Scale, the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Self-efficacy Scale and the Alberto Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Self-care Behaviour Inventory. Results., Although most participants (91·5%) perceived that they had family support and more than three quarters (73·0%) of the participants engaged in an adequate amount of self-care behaviours, only twenty five participants' (12·5%) perceived self-efficacy as high. There were statistically significant positive relationships between family support and self-care behaviour (r = 0·302; p = 0·01) and between self-efficacy and self-care behaviour (r = 0·186; p = 0·01). There was also a statistically significant positive relationship between family support and self-efficacy (r = 0·412; p = 0·01). Conclusion., The results of the study demonstrated weak to moderate, but statistically significant, relationships between family support and self-care behaviours, self-efficacy and self-care behaviour and family support and self-efficacy in Turkish patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Relevance to clinical practice., The assessment of the family support, self-efficacy and self-care behaviours of the patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease should be an essential part of nursing practice. The study also provides the foundation for the conduct of future studies of self-care training for managing patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. [source]


Prevalence, self-care behaviors, and self-care activities for peripheral neuropathy symptoms of HIV/AIDS

NURSING & HEALTH SCIENCES, Issue 1 2010
Patrice K. Nicholas dnsc, faan
Abstract As part of a larger randomized controlled trial examining the efficacy of an HIV/AIDS symptom management manual (n = 775), this study examined the prevalence of peripheral neuropathy in HIV-infected individuals at 12 sites in the USA, Puerto Rico, and Africa. Neuropathy was reported by 44% of the sample; however, only 29.4% reported initiating self-care behaviors to address the neuropathy symptoms. Antiretroviral therapy was found to increase the frequency of neuropathy symptoms, with an increased mean intensity of 28%. A principal axis factor analysis with Promax rotation was used to assess the relationships in the frequency of use of the 18 self-care activities for neuropathy, revealing three distinct factors: (i) an interactive self-care factor; (ii) a complementary medicine factor; and (iii) a third factor consisting of the negative health items of smoking, alcohol, and street drugs. The study's results suggest that peripheral neuropathy is a common symptom and the presence of neuropathy is associated with self-care behaviors to ameliorate HIV symptoms. The implications for nursing practice include the assessment and evaluation of nursing interventions related to management strategies for neuropathy. [source]