Experiences and unmet needs of women with physical disabilities for pain relief during labor and delivery.

Background: Childbirth is widely acknowledged as one of the most painful experiences most women will undergo in their lifetimes. Alleviating labor and delivery pain for women with physical disabilities can involve an additional level of complexity beyond that experienced by most women, but little research has explored their experiences.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of women with physical disabilities with respect to pain relief during labor and delivery with the goal of informing their care.

Self-Reported Driving Difficulty in Veterans With Traumatic Brain Injury: Its Central Role in Psychological Well-Being.

Background: The ability to drive is a core function supporting independent living. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) may impair driving capacity in numerous ways. Previous research has documented that individuals with TBI have more driving-related problems than other people and has identified predictors of driving status or capacity, mostly among civilians; however, no research has examined the implications of driving limitations for the well-being of individuals with TBI.

Barriers to providing maternity care to women with physical disabilities: Perspectives from health care practitioners.

Background: Women with physical disabilities are known to experience disparities in maternity care access and quality, and communication gaps with maternity care providers, however there is little research exploring the maternity care experiences of women with physical disabilities from the perspective of their health care practitioners.

Objective: This study explored health care practitioners' experiences and needs around providing perinatal care to women with physical disabilities in order to identify potential drivers of these disparities.

Methods: We conducted semi-structured telephone interviews with 14 health care practitioners in the United States who provide maternity care to women with physical disabilities, as identified by affiliation with disability-related organizations, publications and snowball sampling.

Health-Care Utilization After Hospice Enrollment in Patients With Heart Failure and Cancer.

This study aimed to examine the role of diagnosis in health-care utilization patterns after hospice enrollment. Using 2007 National Home and Hospice Care Survey data from hospice patients with heart failure (n = 311) and cancer (n = 946), we analyzed emergency service use and discharge to hospital via logistic regression pre- and postpropensity score matching. Prematching, patients with heart failure had twice the odds of emergency services use than patients with cancer ( P < .

Recommendations about Pregnancy from Women with Mobility Disability to Their Peers.

Background: Although growing numbers of women with mobility disability are becoming pregnant and desiring motherhood, relatively little is known about their pregnancy experiences or what they might recommend to other women with mobility disability contemplating pregnancy.

Methods: Using a semistructured, open-ended interview protocol, we conducted 2-hour telephone interviews with 22 women who had a significant mobility disability before becoming pregnant and had delivered babies within the prior 10 years. We recruited most interviewees through online social networks.

Reliability and Validity for Neuroscience Nurses.

The concepts of reliability and validity are important for neuroscience nurses to understand, particularly because they evaluate existing literature and integrate common scales or tools into their practice. Nurses must ensure instruments measuring specified concepts are both reliable and valid. This article will review types of reliability and validity-sometimes referred to collectively as a psychometric testing-of an instrument.

Associations among pain, depression, and functional limitation in low-income, home-dwelling older adults: An analysis of baseline data from CAPABLE.

A complex relationship exists between pain, depression, and functional limitation. These conditions, which substantially impact health care spending and quality of life, remain under-addressed in the current system of health care delivery, particularly among low-income and minority populations. This analysis uses baseline assessment data from CAPABLE, an ongoing randomized controlled trial (RCT), to examine associations between pain, depression, and functional limitation among a sample of low-income, community-dwelling elders with functional limitations.

Assessment of the Impact of Teaching Demands on Research Productivity Among Doctoral Nursing Program Faculty.

This article reports the findings of a study that examined the research and scholarship productivity of doctorally prepared nursing faculty teaching and mentoring doctoral students and the conflicting demands on them to maintain programs of research and scholarship. The specific aims were to (a) examine the research productivity and scholarship of faculty members teaching in doctoral programs and mentoring doctoral students to examine the perceived effectiveness of existing institutional mechanisms to support scholarship, (b) explore institutional features and personal practices used by doctoral program faculty to develop and maintain research and scholarship productivity, and (c) analyze predictors of scholarship productivity. Data were collected via an on-line researcher-developed survey that examined doctoral faculty roles/responsibilities and their relationship to their scholarly productivity, overall research productivity, and institutional features and personal practices to support research/scholarship activities.

Psychometric Analysis of the Work/Life Balance Self-Assessment Scale.

Background And Purpose: This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Work/Life Balance Self-Assessment scale among nurse faculty involved in doctoral education.

Methods: A national random sample of 554 respondents completed the Work/Life Balance Self-Assessment scale, which addresses 3 factors: work interference with personal life (WIPL), personal life interference with work (PLIW), and work/personal life enhancement (WPLE).

Results: A principal components analysis with varimax rotation revealed 3 internally consistent aspects of work-life balance, explaining 40.

Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus co-colonization rates with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium difficile in critically ill veterans.

A prospective study was conducted to identify risk factors for vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, including co-colonization with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium difficile infection in patients admitted to the intensive care unit in 2 Veterans Affairs facilities. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium difficile infection co-colonization were significant risk factors for vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus colonization. Further studies are needed to identify measures for preventing co-colonization of these major organisms in veterans.

Efficacy and acceptability of a home-based, family-inclusive intervention for veterans with TBI: A randomized controlled trial.

Objective: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) often undermines community re-integration, impairs functioning and produces other symptoms. This study tested an innovative programme for veterans with TBI, the Veterans' In-home Programme (VIP), delivered in veterans' homes, involving a family member and targeting the environment (social and physical) to promote community re-integration, mitigate difficulty with the most troubling TBI symptoms and facilitate daily functioning.

Setting: Interviews and intervention sessions were conducted in homes or by telephone.

Restricting Advertisements for High-Fat, High-Sugar Foods during Children's Television Programs: Attitudes in a US Population-Based Sample.

Background: Children in the United States (US) are frequently exposed to advertisements for high-fat, high-sugar (HFHS) foods, which is linked to greater demand for and consumption of those foods. Restricting advertisements for HFHS foods may be a viable obesity prevention strategy-however, public support for policy change is unclear.

Methods: A secondary analysis of the 2012 Annenberg National Health Communication Survey was conducted.

Communication between office-based primary care providers and nurses working within patients' homes: an analysis of process data from CAPABLE.

Aims And Objectives: To examine themes of communication between office-based primary care providers and nurses working in private residences; to assess which methods of communication elicit fruitful responses to nurses' concerns.

Background: Lack of effective communication between home health care nurses and primary care providers contributes to clinical errors, inefficient care delivery and decreased patient safety. Few studies have described best practices related to frequency, methods and reasons for communication between community-based nurses and primary care providers.

Hartford Gerontological Nursing Leaders: From Funding Initiative to National Organization.

In 2000, the John A. Hartford Foundation established the Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity Program initiative, acknowledging nursing's key role in the care of the growing population of older adults. This program has supported 249 nurse scientists with pre- and postdoctoral awards.

Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Dimensions of the Lower Urinary Tract Symptom Experience in Men With Parkinson's Disease.

Objective: Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in persons with Parkinson's disease (PD) have received little research attention. To address this gap in our knowledge, we examined the LUTS experience in men with PD, guided by The Theory of Unpleasant Symptoms.

Methods: A qualitative design was used to explore the LUTS experience in this population.

A Randomized Controlled Trial to Evaluate the Veterans' In-home Program for Military Veterans With Traumatic Brain Injury and Their Families: Report on Impact for Family Members.

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) creates many challenges for families as well as for patients. Few intervention studies have considered both the needs of the person with TBI and his or her family and included both in the intervention process. To address this gap, we designed an innovative intervention for veterans with TBI and families-the Veterans' In-home Program (VIP)-targeting veterans' environment, delivered in veterans' homes, and involving their families.

Maternal Characteristics, Pregnancy Complications, and Adverse Birth Outcomes Among Women With Disabilities.

Objectives: The objective of this study is to describe the maternal characteristics, pregnancy complications, and birth outcomes among a representative sample of Rhode Island women with disabilities who recently gave birth.

Methods: Data from the 2002-2011 Rhode Island Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System survey were analyzed.

Results: Approximately 7% of women in Rhode Island reported a disability.

Physical Accessibility of Routine Prenatal Care for Women with Mobility Disability.

Background: Routine prenatal care includes physical examinations and weight measurement. Little is known about whether access barriers to medical diagnostic equipment, such as examination tables and weight scales, affect prenatal care among pregnant women with physical disabilities.

Methods: We conducted 2-hour, in-depth telephone interviews with 22 women using a semistructured, open-ended interview protocol.

Unique Correlates of Heart Failure and Cancer Caregiver Satisfaction With Hospice Care.

Context: Heart failure patients, along with their informal caregivers are increasingly enrolling in hospice care. Caregiver satisfaction with hospice care is a key quality indicator. The role that diagnosis plays in shaping satisfaction is unclear.

Work-life balance of nursing faculty in research- and practice-focused doctoral programs.

Objectives: The growing shortage of nursing faculty and the need for faculty to teach doctoral students to address the shortage call for examination of factors that may contribute to the shortage, including those that are potentially modifiable, including work-life balance.This descriptive study examined work-life balance of a national sample of nursing faculty teaching in research-focused and practice-focused doctoral programs.

Methods: Data were collected through an online survey of 554 doctoral program faculty members to identify their perceptions of work-life balance and predictors of work-life balance.

A perinatal health framework for women with physical disabilities.

Background: Studies suggest that women with disabilities experience health and health care disparities before, during, and after pregnancy. However, existing perinatal health and health care frameworks do not address the needs and barriers faced by women with physical disabilities around the time of pregnancy. A new framework that addresses perinatal disparities among women with physical disabilities is needed.

Exploration of Individual and Family Factors Related to Community Reintegration in Veterans With Traumatic Brain Injury.

Background: Community reintegration (CR) poses a major problem for military veterans who have experienced a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Factors contributing to CR after TBI are poorly understood.

Objective: To address the gap in knowledge, an ecological framework was used to explore individual and family factors related to CR.

"How did that happen?" Public responses to women with mobility disability during pregnancy.

Background: Little is known about current societal attitudes toward women with significant mobility disability who are visibly pregnant.

Objective: To use qualitative descriptive analysis methods to examine perceptions of women with significant mobility disability about how strangers reacted to their visible pregnancies.

Methods: In late 2013, we conducted 2-h telephone interviews with 22 women with significant mobility difficulties who had delivered babies within the prior 10 years.