The significance of breastfeeding practices on postpartum depression risk.

Objective: Examine the relationship between breastfeeding practices (breastfeeding status and breastfeeding length) and postpartum depression (PPD) risk, after controlling for significant risk factors for PPD.

Design: A cross-sectional, correlational study design was used. Data was used from a national dataset using a subsample of women (n = 29,682) residing in 26 states in the United States that answered the 2016 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) questionnaire.

Work activities of primary health care nurses in Poland: National Survey Results.

Background: In some countries, including Poland, nurses have acquired autonomy from being a designated "ancillary staff" to "professional staff" only in recent decades. No prior published studies have examined, however, whether the actual nursing practice in primary health care (PHC) has evolved with the advancement of education and professional autonomy. The aim of this study is to assess the scope of practice of a PHC nurses and their actual work activities.

The shared decision-making model: Providers' and patients' knowledge and understanding in clinical practice.

Background: Shared decision making (SDM) is a collaborative approach to patient care that facilitates patient engagement in self-care by upholding the patient's values and perspectives. The Affordable Care Act (2010) offers provisions for using SDM in clinical practice to improve care outcomes; however, inconsistent evidence exists about the provider-patient satisfaction and effectiveness of using SDM in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), which offer care predominantly to the underserved.

Purpose: This study assessed providers' and patients' knowledge and understanding of SDM in two FQHC in the Pacific Northwest.

A Dedicated Education Unit and a Novel Resident Nurse Transition-to-Practice Program in an Ambulatory Oncology Setting.

Objective: To summarize an innovative initiative in oncology nurse workforce development that addresses critical current and future gaps and encompasses use of dedicated education units for student nurse rotation and a transition-to-practice residency program.

Data Sources: Review of institutional data including original pilot analysis and ongoing programmatic metrics (N=8 years), consensus, professional guidelines, and published literature.

Conclusion: The dedicated education unit serves as a conduit for recruitment into institutional oncology nurse residency positions, and retention rates in the residency program continue to exceed national averages.

Integrating population health into nursing education: The process of gaining commitment from Washington's nursing deans and directors.

The achievement of health equity requires the expansion of nursing roles to include assessing burdens of disease, practicing cultural humility, implementing prevention strategies, and developing partnerships. In 2017, deans and directors of schools and programs of nursing in Washington State came together to commit to the integration of population health concepts and social determinants of health into all areas of nursing curricula. Through online communications and in-person meetings, facilitated in part by the authors of this paper, and with subcommittee representation from several baccalaureate nursing programs, Washington State academic nursing leaders identified new strategies to increase faculty awareness of population health and how to inspire related curricular changes to their programs.

Behavioural categories of professionalism of nurses in Poland and Belarus: A comparative survey.

Aim And Objectives: To compare the self-reported level of professionalism among nurses in Poland and Belarus and to indicate the areas in which differences in professional behaviours of nurses in both countries exist.

Background: Nurses constitute the largest group of healthcare providers, and the term professionalism is closely related to nursing profession.

Design: This investigation is a comparative survey and descriptive analysis of professional behaviours among nurses in Poland (n = 205) and Belarus (n = 236).

Breastfeeding Support Guided by Swanson's Theory of Caring.

Purpose: Many women struggle with initiation of breastfeeding. The purpose of this study was to explore mothers' perceptions of care and support received from clinicians during breastfeeding initiation and the utility of Swanson's (1991) Theory of Caring to provide person-centered care to breastfeeding mothers and infants.

Study Design And Methods: Directed content of secondary analysis of data obtained from 11 women via in-person interviews at three time points: before birth, a week after giving birth, and 6 to 8 weeks after giving birth.

Hearing Distressing Voices Simulation: Students' Perspectives.

The aim of this qualitative study was to describe nursing students' experiences of hearing distressing voices through content analysis of essays regarding changes they encountered during simulation. Data, obtained from undergraduate (n = 237) and graduate (n = 128) students' short self-reflection papers, were analysed using a six-step thematic analysis. The following six themes emerged: (a) experiencing cognitive and perceptual challenges, (b) feeling unpleasant emotions, (c) dealing with functional changes and hardships, (d) experiencing somatic changes, (e) making attempts to cope, and (f) facing lingering impact.

Preparing nursing students for enhanced roles in primary care: The current state of prelicensure and RN-to-BSN education.

Background: With the current emphasis on including registered nurses (RNs) on the primary care teams, it is essential that nursing programs prepare students for employment in these settings.

Purpose: This study explored the current state of prelicensure and RN-to-Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) online education regarding the implementation of primary care content in the curricula.

Methods: A sample of 1,409 schools and/or colleges from across the United States was invited to participate in an online survey.

Somali Families' Experiences of Parenting in the United States.

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of first-generation Somali families' experiences of parenting in the United States to discover potential barriers to effective parenting with the goal to design supportive interventions. Using descriptive phenomenological design, 20 Somali families in Seattle, Washington, were interviewed. Interview transcripts were then analyzed using steps outlined by Colaizzi.

Culturally Embedded Risk Factors for Cambodian Husband-Wife HIV Transmission: From Women's Point of View.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to use interview data to examine the validity of a recently published theoretical model of HIV transmission between husband and virginal wives in rural Cambodia.

Design: This study used a qualitative description method with a sample of women diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Methods: Data were collected through in-depth interviews conducted with 15 women who self-identified as having contracted HIV from their HIV-positive husbands.

Becoming a person with HIV: experiences of Cambodian women infected by their spouses.

We conducted an interpretive phenomenological investigation in order to understand, within a Cambodian sociocultural context, the lived experiences of women infected with HIV by their husbands as they navigated the tasks of discovering, disclosing and dealing with the diagnosis. Using an open-ended interview protocol and an interpretive phenomenological approach, data were analysed from 15 women (aged 28-42 years) who self-identified the HIV transmission as coming from their spouses. Using qualitative inductive analysis, we were able to identify three main themes: (1) finding oneself to be HIV-positive, (2) encountering HIV--accepting an unwelcomed guest and (3) going public--dealing with the fear of discrimination.

Life changes in women infected with HIV by their husbands: an interpretive phenomenological study.

HIV transmission from husbands to wives in stable marital relationships has increased. Our study explored women's perspectives on their life changes after being infected with HIV by their husbands. The interpretive phenomenological approach guided the study.

Perinatal experiences of Somali couples in the United States.

Objective: To explore the perspectives of Somali couples on care and support received during the perinatal period in the United States.

Design: Descriptive phenomenology.

Setting: A private room at the participants' homes or community center.

Role of the registered nurse in primary health care: meeting health care needs in the 21st century.

There is widespread interest in the redesign of primary health care practice models to increase access to quality health care. Registered nurses (RNs) are well positioned to assume direct care and leadership roles based on their understanding of patient, family, and system priorities. This project identified 16 exemplar primary health care practices that used RNs to the full extent of their scope of practice in team-based care.

Conception, pregnancy, and birth experiences of male and gender variant gestational parents: it's how we could have a family.

Introduction: Like members of any other population, transgender and gender variant people--individuals whose gender identity varies from the traditional norm or from the sex they were assigned at birth--often seek parenthood. Little is known about the decision making and experiences of these individuals, including male-identified and gender-variant natal females who wish to achieve parenthood by carrying a pregnancy. This pilot qualitative study used grounded theory methodology to explore the conception, pregnancy, and birth experiences of this population of parents.

Experiences of preconception, pregnancy, and new motherhood for lesbian nonbiological mothers.

Objective: To describe the experiences of preconception, pregnancy, and new motherhood from the perspective of lesbian nonbiological mothers.

Design: Descriptive phenomenology.

Setting: A private room at the study site and participants' homes.

Outcomes of the Evidence-Based Pitocin Administration Checklist at a Tertiary-Level Hospital.

Pitocin, a synthetic form of the hormone oxytocin, is a high-alert medication that heightens patient harm when used incorrectly. This investigation examined the outcomes of an evidence-based Pitocin administration checklist used for labor augmentation at a tertiary-level hospital. Data came from patient records.

Peripherally inserted central catheter: compliance with evidence-based indications for insertion in an inpatient setting.

A randomized, retrospective chart review was conducted at a medium-sized community hospital to verify appropriateness of peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) use in 49 inpatient patients. Study results support the Infusion Nurses Society recommendation to use PICCs to facilitate either short- or long-term intravenous therapy of vesicants, irritants, and any medications with a pH less than 5 or greater than 9 and osmolarity greater than 600 mOsm/L. All PICC insertion criteria recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were met except one--the intended duration of intravenous therapy of more than 6 days.

Infant feeding buddies: a strategy to support safe infant feeding for HIV-positive mothers.

Background: Prior to 2010, the World Health Organization recommended that HIV-positive mothers exclusively breastfeed for the first 6 months of life unless replacement feeding was acceptable, feasible, affordable, sustainable, and safe. Community pressure to practice mixed feeding, lack of knowledge on safe feeding, and shame regarding HIV status discourage mothers from breastfeeding exclusively and contribute to South Africa's low exclusive breastfeeding prevalence of 7% for infants under 6 months.

Objective: This pilot study explored the feasibility of implementing a feeding buddy system to provide a mother with support to achieve her infant feeding goal.

Confronting the inevitable: a conceptual model of miscarriage for use in clinical practice and research.

In spite of scientific evidence that miscarriage has negative psychological consequences for many individuals and couples, silence and dismissal continue to surround this invisible loss in North American culture and beyond. The grief and sorrow of miscarriage has important implications for clinical practice. It indicates a need for therapeutic interventions delivered in a caring, compassionate, and culturally sensitive manner.

Resolution of depression and grief during the first year after miscarriage: a randomized controlled clinical trial of couples-focused interventions.

Aims: The purpose of this randomized controlled clinical trial was to examine the effects of three couples-focused interventions and a control condition on women and men's resolution of depression and grief during the first year after miscarriage.

Methods: Three hundred forty-one couples were randomly assigned to nurse caring (NC) (three counseling sessions), self-caring (SC) (three video and workbook modules), combined caring (CC) (one counseling session plus three SC modules), or control (no treatment). Interventions, based on Swanson's Caring Theory and Meaning of Miscarriage Model, were offered 1, 5, and 11 weeks after enrollment.

Miscarriage experiences of lesbian couples.

This was a descriptive phenomenological study of 10 self-identified lesbian couples who had experienced miscarriage in the context of a committed relationship. Analysis of individual and joint open-ended interviews revealed that the experience of miscarriage for lesbian couples must be viewed from the perspective of the difficulties surrounding conception as well as the actual pregnancy loss. The overarching theme, "We are not in control," captures the struggles lesbian couples faced in conceiving their pregnancies and the sense of loss that accompanied miscarrying.

Phenomenology: an exploration.

Investigators who use phenomenological approaches to understand experiences of human healing, caring, and wholeness need to consider the differences that exist between descriptive and hermeneutic phenomenology. In this article, these two approaches are compared and contrasted with respect to roots, similarities, and differences. Guidelines are offered to assist prospective investigators in selecting the approach most suitable to personal cognitive style and beliefs about the ways humans experience and find meanings during transitions through wellness and illness to advance nursing knowledge in a holistic view.

Optimal healing environments in nursing.

The purpose of this paper is to explore nursing's historical legacy as a caring-healing profession, and the meaning, significance, and consequences of optimal healing environments for modern nursing practice, education and research. Described are the core foci of nursing as a discipline: what it means to be a person and experience personhood; the meaning of health at the individual, family, and societal levels; how environments create or diminish the potential for the promotion, maintenance, or restoration of well-being; and the caring-healing therapeutics of nursing. Each of these domains are described and discussed in the context of caring, healing environments.