The relationship between meaning of illness, social support, coping strategies, and quality of life for lung cancer patients and their family members.

This article explores the relationship between meaning of illness, perceived social support resources, coping strategies used, and quality of life (QOL) by patients with lung cancer and their family members. The study was cross-sectional using interview data from 85 patients and associated family members. Regression results showed that total QOL in patients with lung cancer is predicted most by meaning of illness, specifically, the illness being perceived as manageable.

Confronting life with rheumatoid arthritis.

Background: Older people with rheumatoid arthritis are confronted with a variety of chronic stressors on a daily basis. Living with rheumatoid arthritis means learning to cope with physical limitations, fatigue, losing mobility and independence, pain, uncertainty and role changes related to periods of exacerbation and remission. There is a paucity of literature that addresses the stress and coping processes over time for older people who have had rheumatoid arthritis since midlife.

The patient-family learning centre.

As hospital length-of-stay decreases and ambulatory care options increase, patients and their families are expected to handle more and more of patients' care needs. In Halifax, patients of the Queen Elizabeth II (QEII) Health Sciences Centre have a resource to help them learn how to meet those needs: the Patient-Family Learning Centre (PFLC).

Nursing students with disabilities.

Nursing is a self-licensing profession with an ever-increasing responsibility to develop and sustain public trust. Thus, there is a need for nurses not only to be accountable and trustworthy but to be perceived by the public as accountable and trustworthy. Recognizing the special need for trust in caregivers, the Faculty of Health Professions at Dalhousie University has recently instituted a policy enabling its schools to suspend or terminate a student from a program based on the student's professional unsuitability.

Insights from a nursing research program on social support.

This paper highlights the conceptual and practical implications of a nursing research program that focuses on social support. The diverse dimensions of the construct of social support; its relationship to stress and coping; and its impact on health, health behaviour, and use of health services are explicated in the conceptual framework underpinning the program. These associations will be elucidated by citing examples from eight assessment studies and four intervention studies.

Comparison of parental and health care professional preferences for the acellular or whole cell pertussis vaccine.

Objective: To compare the preferences of mothers, physicians and nurses for use of a new generic acellular pertussis vaccine which is less reactogenic than and as effective as a conventional whole cell vaccine, but which would require multiple injections rather than a single injection to deliver all other recommended vaccines.

Methods: A convenience sample of 400 mothers of 1-month-old infants, 100 immunizing physicians and 100 immunizing nurses were surveyed over a 2 1/2-month period. Information about pertussis and both whole cell and acellular pertussis vaccines was provided, and a questionnaire was used to assess knowledge and attitudes about pertussis vaccine, vaccine preference and reasons for selection.

Grounded theory as feminist research methodology.

Feminist research is evolving, and with it new methods of doing science. In this feminist post-positivist era, grounded theory, while less inclusive and descriptive than ethnography, allows for complex analysis of complex questions. While Glaser & Strauss (the originators of this methodology) have written about grounded theory in an esoteric way, others have written extensively about this method in a much clearer and less rigid fashion.

Joint nursing appointments: a vehicle for influencing health care change.

With the rapid pace of health care change nurses need to organize and respond quickly to the debate on future health care policy. Nurses from practice and academia working together can capitalize on their unique knowledge and expertise to influence the development of consumer- and health-oriented policies. In the past joint appointments have served to unite nurses in the education and research domains.

Preparing health professionals for a collaborative health promotion role.

Practitioners and educators must consider whether or not the curriculum offered in a university setting by our health professional schools prepares the potential practitioner for work in the multisectorial, interdisciplinary milieu that has been recommended by The Alma Ata Declaration, the Epp Health Promotion document and the Ottawa Charter. I describe a final-year course in Community Health Nursing that is being offered by Dalhousie University School of Nursing. The course is open to generic and post-registration nurses.

Social support: diverse theoretical perspectives.

The useful predictions and interpretations about social support which can be derived from attribution, coping, equity, loneliness and social comparison theories have typically not been recognized. Attribution theory can enable explanation of motives of donors, the phenomena of help-seeking and helping, and negative effects of support efforts. Coping theory demonstrates how social support and coping interface in the stress process; adds a cognitive dimension to support; and considers costs of support.

Realistic expectations of the labor coach.

This descriptive, retrospective survey (part of a larger study) employed a questionnaire to determine the behaviors of 40 expectant fathers to the stress generated by their spouses' labors and deliveries. Results indicated that the experience was stressful for all the expectant fathers, and expectant fathers only coached their spouses with their breathing exercises at labor's peak. Fathers spent more time trying to hide their feelings and worrying about their usefulness.