Illness perceptions and blood pressure control among hypertensive Filipino Americans: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Among Asian Americans, Filipino Americans (FAs)-who constitute the fourth largest US immigrant group and who fill in health care workforce shortages-experience high prevalence but low control rates of high blood pressure (HBP). Research reveals that patients' illness perceptions, their common-sense model (CSM) of the illness, influence treatment behaviors, and management outcomes. However, scarce information exists about FAs' perceptions about HBP.

African American women's perceptions of the meaning of support groups for improving adherence to hypertension treatment: a conceptual model.

Aim: To investigate the meaning of support groups and the features of these groups that African American (AA) women view as improving adherence to high blood pressure (HBP) treatment. The study generated a conceptual model to illuminate features of these groups that influence adherence of AA women to HBP treatment.

Design: Qualitative research.

The factor structure of a short acculturation scale for Filipino Americans in an adult U.S.-born sample.

The influx of non-European immigrants since 1965 ushered the development and use of acculturation measures in immigrant health studies. A Short Acculturation Scale for Filipino Americans (ASASFA) represents a validated, unidirectional ethnic-specific measure used with first-generation FAs. ASASFA's psychometric properties with adult U.

Level of acculturation, food intake, dietary changes, and health status of first-generation Filipino Americans in Southern California.

Purpose: This exploratory descriptive study investigates the acculturation level, food intake, dietary changes and practices, health status perceptions, and diet-related health indicators-body mass index (BMI), waist and hip circumferences, and waist-to-hip ratio-of first-generation Filipino Americans (FAs) in Southern California.

Data Sources: Healthy FA adults-20 women and 10 men-were interviewed. Acculturation level was obtained using A Short Acculturation Scale for Filipino Americans.

Facilitating the career transition of second-career students into professional nursing.

This article describes the approaches used by the Second Careers and Nursing (SCAN) program to socialize second-career students into professional nursing. The pre-licensure phase of the program is guided by Schlossberg's transition theory of moving in, moving through, and moving out. Moving in involves setting expectations, from the admission interview to the two-day intensive orientation.

The illness beliefs, perceptions, and practices of Filipino Americans with hypertension.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the illness beliefs, perceptions, and practices of Filipino Americans (FAs) with hypertension (HTN) to reveal their explanatory models (EMs) of the illness.

Data Sources: Audiotapes and transcripts of focus group interviews and observational notes were subjected to content analysis. Medical records and related empirical studies provided supporting data.

Validating the Interpersonal Communication Assessment Scale.

Despite the centrality of interpersonal communication in nursing, there are few psychometrically sound instruments to measure the communication competencies of undergraduate and graduate nursing students. This article reports on the development and testing of the Interpersonal Communication Assessment Scale (ICAS), which was designed to assess the communication competencies of students in undergraduate and graduate nursing programs. Retroductive triangulation, using both deductive and inductive methods, and the Model of Relational Competence guided the measure's conceptualization and development.

Transformation in family nurse practitioner students' attitudes toward homeless individuals after participation in a homeless outreach clinic.

Purpose: To use a retrospective pre/post self-assessment survey to determine the attitudes of family nurse practitioner (FNP) students toward homeless individuals before and after participating in a homeless outreach clinic (HOC) and to elicit, through focus groups, their perspectives on the homeless population after their HOC participation.

Data Sources: A mixed-methods study using focus group tapes and transcripts of 15 FNP students who were divided into two separate focus groups as well as three completed survey measures: Demographic Data Form, Attitudes Toward Homelessness Inventory, and HOC Attendance Form.

Conclusions: Overall, the FNP students revealed no stigmatizing attitudes toward homeless people prior to their HOC participation, but a significant positive change in their attitudes occurred after the experience.

Use of intuition by nursing students: instrument development and testing.

Background: Intuition has been described as an important type of nursing knowledge and has gained acceptance as a valid way of knowing in clinical nursing. Use of intuition has become one way of explaining professional expertise. Measures of the use of intuition have been developed primarily for experienced nurses, but few measures of intuition use among nursing students exist.