Cognitive Appraisal of Health Scale: early instrument development in stroke.

Stroke, the leading cause of disability in the United States, results in significant limitations for an estimated 5.5 million American adults. The degree of physical limitations does not explain why some individuals with severe impairments adapt well, whereas others with little impairment are severely disabled.

Developing clinical nurse specialist practice competencies.

Background: In 1998, the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialist (NACNS) developed the first ever core competencies for clinical nurse specialist (CNS) practice.

Purpose: This article describes the method used to develop, validate, and revise CNS core practice competencies.

Methods: The stepwise method of identifying core CNS competencies included content analysis of CNS position/job descriptions, extensive literature review, development by role experts, first-tier corroboration, second-tier corroboration encompassing stakeholder review, final review/editing, approval by the board of directors, and dissemination.

Perceived health and life satisfaction among older adults: the effects of worry and personal variables.

The purpose of this study was to describe how worry affects two desired outcomes of nursing care for older adults-perceived health and life satisfaction. A convenience sample of 100 individuals (ages 65 to 97) living in the community responded to the questionnaire. Despite several chronic diseases, 89% of the participants perceived themselves as "well.

The need for some sense making: doctor of nursing practice.

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing has developed a general proposal for a practice doctorate for nursing and the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties has developed a proposal for the practice doctorate for nurse practitioners. This article describes the current initiative for developing the practice doctorate and argues that the proposed practice doctorates raise substantial concerns for the discipline of nursing. The concerns addressed in this article include the rationale offered for the new degree, confusion over the focus of the degree, the impact of the degree on educational and economic resources for both students and employers, and the regulatory issues arising from the implementation of the degree.

The CNS regulatory quagmire--we need clarity about advanced nursing practice.

The current quagmire in the regulation of CNS practice is largely due to confusion about definitional approaches to advanced nursing practice. Establishing clarity about the nursing focused and medical focused definitions of advanced practice can greatly assist in developing and implementing appropriate levels of regulation for the CNS role and scope of practice. It has been my experience that state boards of nursing want to do their very best in helping to protect the public while not creating insurmountable problems that essentially put APRNs such as CNSs out of work and raise restraint of trade issues.

Two-dimensional correlation analysis of visible/near-infrared spectral intensity variations of chicken breasts with various chilled and frozen storages.

Generalized two-dimensional (2D) correlation analysis of visible/near-infrared (NIR) spectra was performed to characterize the spectral intensity variations of chicken muscles induced by either storage time/temperature regime or shear force values. The results showed that intensities of two visible bands at 445 and 560 nm increase with the storage temperature under identical treatment, possibly indicating a color change due to frozen storage. The 2D NIR correlation spectra indicated that all NIR bands reduce their spectral intensities, probably due to the water loss and compositional alterations during the freeze-thaw process as well as the tenderization development in muscle storage.

Prediction of color, texture, and sensory characteristics of beef steaks by visible and near infrared reflectance spectroscopy. A feasibility study.

Color, instrumental texture, and sensory attributes of steaks from 24 beef carcasses at 2, 4, 8, 14, and 21 days post mortem were predicted by visible/near infrared (visible/NIR) reflectance spectroscopy in 400-1080 nm region. Predicting the Hunter a, b, and E* yielded the coefficient of determination (R(2)) in calibration to be 0.78-0.

Psychological stress and coping: framework for poststroke psychosocial care.

The ability to deal with and manage a chronic condition such as stroke requires a learning process embedded in personal experience that is often emotionally taxing as well as physically fatiguing. Stroke survivors typically need help in balancing demands and resources and in preventing or effectively coping with stress emotions to conserve energy. The major constructs outlined in this article provide a framework for psychosocial care to promote the experience of wellness in stroke survivors.

Cognitive self-care skills: a model for managing stressful lifestyles.

Feeling overwhelmed or overloaded and frequently experiencing anxiety, anger, guilt, and/or frustration is preventable and amenable to personal control. It takes self-awareness and lots of practice to modify long established ways of thinking about one's self and others. It is often helpful to have someone who will support identified goals to improve stress-reducing resources; to help with developing a sensitivity to self-generated stress-inducing demands; and/or to rehearse cognitive stress-reducing, self-care skills.

Understanding hope and factors that enhance hope in women with breast cancer.

Purpose/objectives: To examine the extent to which antecedent variables and appraisals differentiate levels of hope in women during treatment for breast cancer.

Design: Descriptive, correlational.

Setting: Two large midwestern urban areas.