Deaf-Blindness through the Voices and Experiences of Parents and Educators.

This qualitative study used the experiences of parents and educators to explore the developmental processes and behaviors of deafblind people of different ages and with different etiologies. It also explored which strategies of intervention and care employed by parents and educators best promote and stimulate the abilities and the autonomy of deafblind people. Eligible parents and educators were identified and recruited from the New York Parents Association for Deafblind and the Helen Keller National Center on Long Island using purposeful sampling.

Nursing students' perspectives of dance movement therapy to learn relational skills: A qualitative description study.

Background: Nursing students are expected to develop communication and relational skills during their undergraduate education, and the literature on art-based methods for teaching these skills is growing. Art-based education seems to be a promising method for teaching relational skills, especially embodied and performing arts. Dance Movement Therapy has been used previously to learn relational skills, but never in undergraduate nursing students.

Barriers and facilitators of education provided during rehabilitation of people with spinal cord injuries: A qualitative description.

Background: After a spinal cord injury (SCI), individuals must acquire their maximum level of independence before returning to their previous social and working conditions. The education provided during rehabilitation is one of the basic but complex aspects that influence the health perspectives of people with SCI. Gaining the perspective of SCI survivors experienced barriers and resources to enhance the education process may assist healthcare professionals in understanding this complex aspect of their practice.

Teaching resilience and vulnerability to nursing students using films: A qualitative study.

Background: There is a limited tradition of using films in healthcare education, although it is constantly developing. Further, to understand complex concepts, such as vulnerability and resilience, is fundamental to improving nursing education.

Objective: This study aims to explore how a combined approach, using films and expert patients, could influence nursing education on the topics of vulnerability and resilience.

The hidden curriculum in nursing education: a scoping study.

Context: The hidden curriculum is a learning dimension made up of culturally acquired, unintended lessons. Although nurse educators are not fully aware of it, through the hidden curriculum students are prepared for adult professional roles, internalising professional values and developing a professional identity. However, academic nursing education has paid relatively scarce attention to it.

Nursing profession and nurses' contribution to nursing education as seen through students' eyes: A qualitative study.

The behavior of clinical instructors, as observed by students, deeply influences their professional development. When instructors behave unprofessionally, they risk undermining the professional growth students gain from their clinical placement experience. Clinical instructors need to be aware of how their behavior can affect the students' learning process and the contributions they make to clinical nursing education.

Nurses' Experience of Body Nursing Care: A Qualitative Study.

As a practice, nursing centers on patients' bodies and how they live the experience of illness and disability through their bodies (embodiment). International nursing studies conducted on the topic of body care primarily include theoretical studies, whereas empirical studies remain sparse. The aim of this study was to describe nurses' perceptions of the role of their bodies and the bodies of patients during body care.

Best Practices in the Management of Central Vascular Access Devices: An Observational Study in Areas With a High Prevalence of Trained Nurses.

Since 2009, the Department of Continuing Education at the Orthopedic and Trauma Center Hospital in Turin, Italy, has provided a training course for nurses in the management of central vascular access devices (CVADs). The course focuses on dressing and flushing procedures, as well as compliance with other CVAD guidelines. An observational study was conducted among nurses to determine the level of best practices in areas with a high prevalence of nurses trained in the management of CVADs.

Adaptation and validation of the Caregiver Burden Inventory in Spinal Cord Injuries (CBI-SCI).

Design: Validation cross-sectional study.

Objectives: Even though caregiver burden (CB) represents a well-recognised concern among caregivers of people with a spinal cord injury (SCI), there are no specific questionnaires designed for its evaluation. This study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the Caregiver Burden Inventory in Spinal Cord Injury (CBI-SCI), which was modified from its original version, and specifically its construct and reliability.

Caring for Dying Patient and Their Families: The Lived Experiences of Nursing Students in Italy.

Background: The literature from recent decades persistently suggests that nurses are not adequately trained in caring for the dying. Numerous studies call for enhanced education in end-of-life care.

Objective: To explore student nurses' experience of caring for dying persons and their families and how this experience was influenced by their undergraduate education, with a view to improving end-of-life training.

"Hosting" an implantable cardioverter defibrillator: A phenomenological inquiry.

Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) can reduce unexpected cardiac mortality, but they also have a dramatic impact on a patient's quality of life. We aimed to explore ICD recipients' experiences in order to foster improvements in the quality of care. Analyses were done using a descriptive phenomenological method, based on qualitative interview data from a purposive sample of 20 ICD recipients.

[Organizational features influencing health worker's fulfillment in an Alzheimer center and in a nursing home].

Objectives: The pursuit of the best working conditions and of a rewarding job are pivotal elements in care process cause working satisfaction plays a main role to further the positive treatments outcome.

Methods: Anonymous questionnaires were administered to 59 subjects (10 nurses and 49 health workers) operating in two different institutions, an Alzheimer centre and a nursing home, in order to describe their personal sensation about work's gratification.

Results: Our research shows up, in both institutions, a satisfying perception about working conditions, learning and educational opportunities, teamwork and individual skills recognition.

Informal caregivers' needs on discharge from the spinal cord unit: analysis of perceptions and lived experiences.

Purpose: Spinal cord injuries (SCI) are one of the most complex and disabling diseases, implying severe consequences on aspects of life of people affected by SCI and their caregivers. The aim of our study was to explore the situation of informal caregivers of persons with SCI when discharged home from a SCI Unit, in relation to needs, emotional experiences, difficulties and subsequent reactions to discharge.

Methods: A purposive sample of 11 caregivers were interviewed on patients' discharge home from the Spinal Injury Care Unit and at 6 months.

Barriers in the management of cancer-related pain and strategies to overcome them: findings of a qualitative research involving physicians and nurses in Italy.

Introduction And Aims: There are many barriers and obstacles that even today lead to an inadequate treatment of cancer-related pain. The aim is to describe the experiences of a group of Italian physicians and nurses as far as the nature of these barriers is concerned and the possible tools to be used to overcome them.

Material And Method: We run 5 focus groups with 42 healthcare professionals (11 physicians, 31 nurses) working in 5 hospitals in Italy.

[The use of expressive writing in the course of care for cancer patients to reduce emotional distress: analysis of the literature].

Aim: The emotional distress represents one of the symptoms most frequently reported in the cancer patient in therapy, increasing the risk of developing a disease depressive. Through the analysis of the literature we want to assess whether the use of expressive writing on cancer patients in their care pathway compared to the use of writing neutral reduces emotional distress.

Method: The bibliographic search was conducted using the databases CINAHL, PubMed, Cochrane Library and PsycInfo.

Therapeutic education to cancer patients: experiences of Italian nurses.

Introduction: Therapeutic patient' education is a complex process requiring a proper level of communication between the patient and the healthcare professional. Nurses play a key role in providing the patients and their families with educational activities.

Objective: This paper is the report of a study which investigates the experiences of some Italian nurses with regards to their role in therapeutic education to cancer patients.

[Taking care of foreign users: what training is needed for the healthcare workers at the Municipal Health and Science Agency of Torino?].

Introdution: Immigration is growing and immigrants' presence is important also in the health care system, thereby services reorientation and a multicultural approach are needed.

Objective: To explore health care professionals' training needs of Turin Azienda Città della Salute e della Scienza in taking care of foreign users.

Methods: An ad hoc 4-sections questionnaire was built: (1) Knowledge, attitudes and perceptions; (2) Lived and Training; (3) Improvement in cultural competence; (4) Socio-demographic data.

Adherence to treatment in patient with severe cancer pain: A qualitative enquiry through illness narratives.

Purpose: Pain is a common symptom in cancer patients and often the most tangible sign of disease they and their families perceive. Despite currently available treatments, cancer pain frequently remains underrated and undertreated because of lack of adherence to the prescribed drug regimen. With this study we sought to identify elements that could facilitate pain management by exploring through narrative interviews the lived experiences of patients with severe chronic cancer pain in relation to their adherence to pain therapy.

Living with and treating rare diseases: experiences of patients and professional health care providers.

We explored the experiences of illness of patients suffering from rare diseases and of the health professionals who care for them at the Center for the Interregional Coordination of Rare Diseases of Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta in Italy. The research was carried out between 2010 and 2011. We collected qualitative data from 22 patients and 12 health professional health care providers.

Biofield therapies and cancer-related symptoms: a review.

Patients with cancer can experience several treatment-related symptoms, and conventional care focuses primarily on cure and survival without a holistic approach to disease. Subsequently, an increasing number of patients are accustomed to complementary modalities to improve well-being. Biofield therapies (BTs) are complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) modalities based on the philosophy that humans have an energetic dimension.

[Profiles and evaluation process: what integration? Experience of the Local Health Agency TO2 of Turin].

Introduction: The Service of Health Professions of this facility (TO2 of Turin) aimed during the 2010 to devise/develop a new evaluation tool for the new employees , trying to fit them with the profiles set up the previous year.

Methods: The conceptual model of reference for the construction of working drafts of the grids was inspired by the special insert edition of "L'infermiere" in 2007, a literature review was carried out and a number of internal meeting within 6 of the Service of health Professions were set up. A working group were set up - 93 people - as well as indicators were developed to monitor and implementation of the instruments.

The effectiveness of the quality program Pac-IficO to improve pain management in hospitalized cancer patients: a before-after cluster phase II trial.

Background: Cancer-related pain continues to be a major healthcare issue worldwide. Despite the availability of effective analgesic drugs, published guidelines and educational programs for Health Care Professionals (HCPs) the symptom is still under-diagnosed and its treatment is not appropriate in many patients. The objective of the study is to evaluate the efficacy of the Pac-IFicO programme in improving the quality of pain management in hospitalised cancer patients.

Communication of the death of a patient in hospices and nursing homes: a qualitative study.

Purpose Of The Research: Announcing the death of a patient to another in hospices and nursing homes (NH) requires special skills, especially when the recipient is another resident. The aim of this study is to describe how hospice and NH staff deal with the communication regarding a patient's death, if this communication is perceived as a problem, and strategies implemented.

Methods And Sample: The 55 health care workers (HCWs, 26 nurses and 29 auxiliary nurses) of two NHs and two hospices in Turin (Italy) were interviewed with a semi-structured interview exploring the residents' perception of need to receiving information on another patient's death, the experiences of having given this information in the last 6 months, and the strategies implemented.

Evaluation of Staff's Job Satisfaction in the Spinal Cord Unit in Italy.

In July 2007 a Spinal Cord Unit was set up in Turin (Italy) within the newly integrated structure of the Orthopaedic Traumatologic Centre, warranting a multidisciplinary and professional approach according to International Guidelines. This approach will be possible through experimentation of a personalized care model. To analyze job satisfaction of health care professionals operating within the Spinal Cord Unit, preliminary to organizational change.

Effectiveness of an educational video as an instrument to refresh and reinforce the learning of a nursing technique: a randomized controlled trial.

The Undergraduate Nursing Course has been using videos for the past year or so. Videos are used for many different purposes such as during lessons, nurse refresher courses, reinforcement, and sharing and comparison of knowledge with the professional and scientific community. The purpose of this study was to estimate the efficacy of the video (moving an uncooperative patient from the supine to the lateral position) as an instrument to refresh and reinforce nursing techniques.