Patient Empowerment Using Electronic Telemonitoring With Telephone Support in the Transition to Insulin Therapy in Adults With Type 2 Diabetes: Observational, Pre-Post, Mixed Methods Study.

Background: Initiation of insulin therapy for the management of type 2 diabetes can be an unwelcome and distressful development for patients. Current evidence suggests that telemonitoring can help improve glycemic control in type 2 diabetes and can support empowerment to self-manage diabetes. This telemonitoring intervention was underpinned by an empowerment approach.

Children and young people's experiences and perceptions of self-management of type 1 diabetes: A qualitative meta-synthesis.

The aim of this review was to conduct a meta-synthesis of the experiences and perceptions of self-management of type 1 diabetes of children and young people living with type 1 diabetes (CYPDs). Six databases were systematically searched for studies with qualitative findings relevant to CYPDs' (aged 8-18 years) experiences of self-management. A thematic synthesis approach was used to combine articles and identify analytical themes.

Key word signing: Parents' experiences of an unaided form of augmentative and alternative communication (Lámh).

Parents' experiences of using Lámh, a key word signing approach used in Ireland, were captured through in-depth face-to-face interviews with parents of children with a range of intellectual disabilities. It emerged that Lámh provides child users with one of the rudiments of inclusion, that is, a means of engaging with others. A number of factors can potentially influence the engagement achieved, namely ongoing family commitment to the sustainment of Lámh, available communication partners, accessibility, appropriate Lámh training, speech and language therapy support and the existence of a Lámh signing environment external to the home.

Building resilience in the face of adversity: navigation processes used by older lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adults living in Ireland.

Aims And Objectives: To explore resilience processes among older lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adults.

Background: Older lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender identities have frequently been viewed from a deficit, vulnerability and pathological perspective; consequently, the natural resilience processes that underpin the lives of many older lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people goes unrecognised, with few studies focusing on the processes they use in building resilience.

Design: The design of the study is qualitative and exploratory.

Older LGBT people's experiences and concerns with healthcare professionals and services in Ireland.

Background: The specific healthcare needs and concerns for older lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons have not been explored to any degree within Ireland.

Aims And Objectives: The aim of this paper, which is part of a larger study, is to detail older LGBT persons' usage, experiences and concerns with accessing healthcare services, disclosing their LGBT identity to professionals, preferences for care and their suggestions for improvement in services, including nursing services.

Design: A mixed methods research design combining quantitative survey and qualitative interview approaches of equal significance was used.

Job satisfaction among public health nurses: a national survey.

Background: Despite increasing interest in nurses' job satisfaction relatively few studies have investigated job satisfaction among public health nurses.

Aim: To establish current level of job satisfaction among public health nurses and identify the main contributing variables/factors to job satisfaction among this population.

Design: Quantitative descriptive design.

Young children's perspectives of ideal physical design features for hospital-built environments.

Recently, increased recognition has been attributed to the requirement to include the views of child patients in the planning of new health care services so that contemporary buildings can be designed to enhance future experience. This is important, especially since the voices of young children are so often under-represented or represented through adult proxies. The purpose of this article is to share young children's perspectives of what constitutes ideal physical design features for hospital-built environments.

Meeting the information needs of children in hospital.

The provision of information is an individual entitlement and a prerequisite to enabling children to understand their illness, make choices about their health care and be involved in decision-making processes around these choices. However, limited evidence exists on children's perspectives of information provision while an inpatient in hospital. The aim of this paper is to describe the process of information exchange between health professionals and children in hospital.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender older people in Ireland: mental health issues.

International policy initiatives have highlighted the need to include older lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues in the provision of appropriate health and social care. However, empirical studies in the area remain sparse. The aim of this study was to investigate the experiences and needs of LGBT people over the age of 55 years living in Ireland and this article reports on specific mental health issues.

Employing an ethnographic approach: key characteristics.

Aim: Nurses are increasingly embracing ethnography as a useful research methodology. This paper presents an overview of some of the main characteristics we considered and the challenges encountered when using ethnography to explore the nature of communication between children and health professionals in a children's hospital.

Background: There is no consensual definition or single procedure to follow when using ethnography.

Engaging with children in research: Theoretical and practical implications of negotiating informed consent/assent.

At the outset of an ethnographic inquiry, we navigated national and international resources to search for theoretical and practical guidance on obtaining parents and children's informed consent/assent. While much theoretical guidance debating ethical issues to children's participation in research was found, a paucity of published papers offering practical guidance on assent processes and/or visual representations of child assent forms and information sheets was discovered. The purpose of this article is to describe our experiences, both theoretically and practically, of negotiating the process of obtaining informed consent and assent with parents and children for a non-therapeutic qualitative research study.

Hepatitis C virus in primary care: survey of nurses' attitudes to caring.

Aim: This paper is a report of a study measuring attitudes of primary care nurses towards caring for people with hepatitis C.

Background: Hepatitis C is a major public health problem. Attitudes to caring for people with hepatitis C vary and can have an impact on nursing care practices.

Communication between children and health professionals in a child hospital setting: a Child Transitional Communication Model.

Aim: This paper is a report of a further analysis of data from an ethnographic study of the nature of communication between children and health professionals in a child hospital setting.

Background: There is a paucity of research on the nature of communication between health professionals and child patients. Additionally, theory has not been developed to any great extent in the communication literature on children.

Hepatitis C virus infection in primary care: survey of registered nurses' knowledge and access to information.

Aim: This paper is a report of a study conducted to compare knowledge of hepatitis C virus infection amongst three groups of registered nurses working in primary care, to identify their current sources of information and access to educational resources.

Background: Hepatitis C virus infection is a public health problem; no vaccine exists to prevent the disease. Previous studies identified limitations in nurses' knowledge of hepatitis C virus infection and the impact on care.

Clinical support roles: a review of the literature.

It is widely acknowledged in the literature that the amalgamation of theory with practice is crucial to the development of competent practitioners. The United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting [United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting 1986. Project 2000: A new preparation for practice.

'Visible-ness': the nature of communication for children admitted to a specialist children's hospital in the Republic of Ireland.

Aim: This article presents the core concept of 'visible-ness' that emerged from an ethnographic study, which explored the nature of communication, for children (for ease of reading children refers to children and young people), admitted to a children's hospital in the Republic of Ireland.

Background: The importance of engaging with both child and family has been espoused as fundamental in promoting 'family'-centred care. To date, studies have almost exclusively explored parents' and nurses' perspectives of the nature of parent participation and nurse-parent interactions and relationships.

Impressions of nursing before exposure to the field.

Aims And Objectives: This paper reports on non-mature general nursing students' perceptions of nursing as a career prior to their first clinical placement.

Background: It is widely recognised that the first clinical practice experience serves a dual role, that of validating students' choice of career and shaping their perceptions of nursing. This study sought to explore 23 first year non-mature (<23 years) nursing students' perceptions of nursing as a career prior to their first clinical exposure.

Choosing nursing as a career: a qualitative study.

It is widely accepted that nursing as a career is viewed favourably by society in that it offers job security, mobility and career variety. The main reason for choosing nursing in the 21st century remains the desire to help and care for others, as this paper demonstrates. The findings presented here are part of an on-going longitudinal study which is exploring whether mode of selection into nursing has an impact on a number of variables, of which, career choice is one.

Clinical education facilitators' and post-registration paediatric student nurses' perceptions of the role of the clinical education facilitator.

In Ireland the past two decades have witnessed the introduction of various clinical 'support' personnel under various titles into clinical areas. However, an identifiable gap remains with a degree of ambiguity over who has prime responsibility for clinical teaching. Now, a new post has emerged, that of clinical education facilitators (CEFs).

Clinical education facilitators: a literature review.

Aims And Objectives: The aim of this literature review, set within an Irish context, is to present a broad overview of former and existing clinical support personnel, explore the concept of facilitation and examine what is known about the role of the clinical education facilitator.

Background: The importance of providing a supportive clinical environment to enhance clinical teaching and learning is strongly portrayed in the literature. While the past two decades have borne witness to various clinical support personnel, the literature identifies conflicting demands that these personnel face.

Irish nursing students' changing levels of assertiveness during their pre-registration programme.

Background: Stress and bullying have been found to be common problems in a number of studies of Irish nursing and midwifery. Victims of bullying need high levels of assertiveness to enable them to withstand the stress of victimization. It was deemed important to measure nursing students' level of assertiveness prior to, and near completion of, their pre-registration education programme.

Perceived barriers and facilitators to implementing research findings in the Irish practice setting.

Background: Studies have consistently demonstrated that nurses are increasingly recognizing the role research has to play in their daily practice. Despite this recognition the actual application of research findings in the practice setting is still poor. To date, the barriers to implementing research findings in the Republic of Ireland's practice setting have not been explored empirically.

The experience of fatigue for people living with hepatitis C.

Hepatitis C affects approximately 3% of the world population, with fatigue being acknowledged as the cardinal symptom. Despite growing recognition that hepatitis C fatigue impacts in a negative manner on quality of life, at the time of this study no empirical information existed regarding the nature of this fatigue or the way in which it affects a person's life. Such information is needed to enable nurses to engage in appropriate sensitive symptom management which is the core nursing activity with this population, as to date there is no vaccine or widely effective pharmacological therapy.

Research and development in a Northern Ireland trust.

Aim: A cross-sectional survey was carried out with the aim of ascertaining the perceived research and development (R&D) capacity of an integrated trust in Northern Ireland.

Method: All registered nurses in the trust were invited to participate (n = 786). Data were collected via the Research and Development Culture Index, which is an 18-item, four-point Likert scale.