Music as a therapeutic intervention for anxiety in patients receiving radiation therapy.

Purpose/objectives: To determine whether music moderates the level of anxiety that patients experience during radiation therapy.

Design: Experimental, longitudinal, random assignment to music or no music therapy.

Setting: Urban radiation oncology center in a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in the southeastern United States.

Adolescent substance abuse: prevalence, assessment, prevention, and treatment.

Substance abuse continues to be a major problem in the preadolescent and adolescent age groups. Although some progress appears to have occurred in recent years, prevalence of alcohol and other drugs requires constant vigilance. This article reports current statistics of alcohol and drug use in the adolescent population.

A comparison of open and closed catheterization techniques in rehabilitation patients.

An effective method was sought to decrease the incidence of urinary tract infections acquired by hospitalized rehabilitation patients requiring catheterization. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there was a difference in the incidence of urinary tract infections that occurred following use of two types of intermittent catheterization techniques: open catheterization and closed catheterization. The incidence of infection in both the control (open catheterization) and experimental (closed catheterization) groups was analyzed.

Developing a nursing staff support group model.

A nursing staff is an open system that involves constant interactions with other members, patients, and other systems within the hospital environment on an ongoing basis. These constant interactions can contribute to conflict, ambiguity, stress, and strain in the nursing system. Nursing staff support groups are beginning to emerge as an integral part of the health care system.