Publications by authors named "Abbey Valvano"

Objective: This study sought to explore relationships between sexual satisfaction, sexual communication and relationship satisfaction in people living with multiple sclerosis (MS). Specifically, sexual satisfaction was evaluated as a moderator between sexual communication and relationship satisfaction.

Design: Individuals diagnosed with MS and being treated in a hospital-based MS clinic in the southeastern United States (n = 58) completed measures of sexual satisfaction, sexual communication, sexual dysfunction, relationship quality, depression, level of disability, and frequency of sex-related communication and behaviors in a cross-sectional survey design.

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The nature of multiple sclerosis (MS) presents challenges to health-promoting behaviors (e.g. adherence) and quality of life.

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Interprofessional collaboration requires that health professionals think holistically about presenting concerns, particularly for multimodal problems like sexual dysfunction. However, health professions students appear to receive relatively little sexual health education, and generally none is offered on an interprofessional basis. To assess current degree of interprofessional thinking in sexual health care, 472 health professions students in Georgia, United States, were presented with a sexual dysfunction vignette and asked to rate the relevance of, and their familiarity with, interventions offered by several professionals.

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The purpose of the present study was to conduct a mixed-methods investigation of meaning-making appraisals generated from spinal cord injury survivors' narratives of their injury experience. The sample consisted of 79 participants from an urban midwestern Veterans Affairs facility. The study design was cross-sectional and incorporated semistructured, face-to-face interviews, taking approximately 1 hr to complete.

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Objective: This study examined the influence of medical injury severity, perceived loss of physical functioning (conceptualized as physical resource loss), and global meaning making on psychological well-being among 79 veterans living with a spinal cord injury.

Measures: Structured interviews were completed to assess perceived loss of physical abilities using the Conservation of Resources-Evaluation and SF-36 Health Survey, global meaning making (Purpose in Life scale), and psychological well-being (Sense of Well-Being Inventory). Medical injury severity was calculated from medical records.

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