Important Dimension Of Health Research Articles

Outcomes of Spiritual Health in Children: A Qualitative Content Analysis

Background: The socio-cultural status of any society depends on the health of children. Enjoying spiritual health, as one of the important dimensions of health, plays an essential role in ensuring the comprehensive health of the child. This qualitative study was done to explore the consequences of spiritual health in Iranian children. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews. Participants included 17 children and 9 researchers and specialists in the field of children’s mental health. Data analysis was carried out using the qualitative content analysis approach developed by Graneheim and Lundman. Results: During the analysis of the text of the interviews, three themes of "psychological consequences" with three categories (mental vitality, mental growth, and cognitive growth), "socio-moral consequences" with two categories (ethical growth and social growth), and "religious-spiritual consequences" with two categories (religious behavior, religious transcendence) were obtained. Conclusion: The spiritual health in children helps them grow in all aspects, which indicates the capacity of spiritual health in children. It seems that focusing on moral-spiritual development in order to ensure the spiritual health of the child helps to prevent moral-behavioral disorders and provides the ground for excellence and meaningful growth. Therefore, considering the importance of having spiritual health in children, it is necessary for those in charge of education to implement and evaluate written and practical programs based on the consequences of spiritual health and in accordance with the family system, community, and school.

Effect of Group Reminiscence Therapy on the Social Well-being of Retired Older Men In Zahedan, Iran

Background & Aims Aging is associated with declined health. To maintain the health of the elderly, it is necessary to develop preventive health measures. Social well-being is an important dimension of health in the elderly. The present study aims to determine the effect of group reminiscence therapy on the social well-being of retired older men in Zahedan, Iran. Materials & Methods This is a quasi-experimental study that was conducted in 2018. Participants were 90 retired older men aged 60-75 years in Zahedan, Iran who were selected by a convenience method and were randomly divided into intervention and control groups. Data collection tools were a demographic form and Keyes’ social well-being scale-short form. Data analysis was performed using descriptive and inferential statistics in SPSS software, version 16. Results The Mean±SD age was 68.02±3.46 in the intervention group and 68.64±4.60 years in the control group. The results of independent t-test showed that the mean score of social well-being after reminiscence intervention was significantly different between the two groups (P=0.002). Conclusion Group reminiscence therapy has a positive effect on the social well-being of retired older men. Since the elderly are interested in sharing memories and considering that reminiscence therapy is an attractive, simple and cost-effective intervention, it can be used to improve their social well-being.

Designing a Measurement Scale for Spiritual Health of the Elderly in Tehran/Iran (2019)

Background: Spiritual health is one of the important dimensions of health that causes the coherence and harmony of other dimensions of health in human beings. Due to the increasing number of elderly, considering the status of their health is important. Objectives: The present study was an attempt to design and evaluate a measurement instrument for spiritual health in the Iranian elderly, which is appropriate for the Iranian society. Methods: This mixed methods study used a sequential exploratory strategy. In the first phase, spiritual health items were extracted based on a review of the previous studies and interviews with experts and the elderly using direct content analysis. In the second phase, the standardized questionnaire was assessed by performing validity and reliability tests on 400 elderly residents of Tehran. The participants were selected based on the purposive sampling method from the elderly referring to nursing homes. To analyze the collected data, qualitative content analysis was employed. In the first phase, 45 items of the questionnaire were extracted based on the interviews. After quantitatively determining the face and content validity, six items were removed, and the questionnaire items were reduced to 39 items. Results: Exploratory factor analysis on this questionnaire identified five factors that explained a total of 52.2% of the total variance of the test. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient obtained confirmed the high internal consistency of the questionnaire (0.925). Also, a high correlation was reported between the test and retest with a 10-day interval (r = 0.997). In addition, a high and significant correlation was reported in the simultaneous implementation of the designed instrument with Paloutzin and Ellison’s spiritual health instrument (r = 0.76). Conclusions: In general, based on the present study's findings, the designed questionnaire has an acceptable level of validity and reliability and is usable for the elderly.

TEST RETEST RELIABILITY IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF TOOL TO ASSESS THE QUALITY OF NIDRA

Ayurveda is a science of body, mind and soul and it has recognized Nidra as one of the most important dimensions of health associated with happiness and good health. Happiness and good health are an out-come of a relaxed state of mind. Ayurvedic classics have given special emphasis on three important as-pects Ahara, Nidra and Brahmacharya and health of every individual depends on it1. These three aspects are called as Trayopasthamba or three sub pillars of life. Just as the pillars support a dwelling similarly the Trayopasthamba support our body. Sleep and wellbeing go hand in hand and getting a good night sleep is important for overall health. The available literatures in Ayurveda have survived against the adversity of time, and there is a need of more evidence-based research for its global acceptance. A major hurdle faced by young researchers in the research process, is the lack of adequate tools, to assess the unique and basic concepts of Ayurveda, So the need of the hour is development of valid and reliable tools. This article is an attempt to emphasize the significance of the Test retest reliability method, which was administered in the development of tool to assess the quality of Nidra.

Loneliness and its association with physical health conditions and psychiatric hospitalizations in people with serious mental illness

ABSTRACT This study explored the association between loneliness and psychiatric hospitalizations, functioning, and physical health conditions in people with serious mental illness. Data were included from 349 individuals with serious mental illnesses, aged 18+ years, who participated in two consecutive cross-sectional survey studies conducted between 2013 and 2018. This study found a higher number of psychiatric hospitalizations in the past 6 months were associated with greater loneliness. The Short-Form-12 mental component score was a highly significant correlate, accounting for a significant amount of variance in loneliness scores. The physical component score and the bodily pain subdomain of the Short-Form-12 were also significantly associated with loneliness, with individuals with lower physical functioning and greater bodily pain reporting more loneliness. Having a higher total number of health conditions, a higher total number of conditions that cause pain, and the presence of at least one respiratory condition were found to be associated with greater loneliness. Loneliness may be an important dimension of health as related to health conditions associated with pain, functioning, and psychiatric hospitalizations among people with serious mental illness. These findings reinforce the powerful role of socio-cultural and environmental factors in shaping whole health in people with serious mental illness.

The relationship between hopelessness and risk factors for early mortality in people with a lived experience of a serious mental illness

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between self-reported hopelessness and risk factors for premature mortality in people with serious mental illness (SMI). Data were extracted from the 2014 Health Center Patient Survey (N = 5,592). Having a diagnosis of SMI was significantly associated with self-reported hopelessness. Hypertension or high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder were significantly associated with self-reported hopelessness. Higher levels of hopelessness were found to be significantly associated with increased alcohol consumption. Hopelessness may be an important dimension of health in people with SMI.

Identification of dimensions and indicators of spiritual health: A qualitative study.

INTRODUCTION:Spiritual health is considered one of the important dimensions of health and has been given serious attention by the scientific community, World Health Organization, health discourse, and medical education. However, despite these considerations, there is a controversy in defining the nature of this category and its dimensions and indicators. The purpose of this study is to identify the indicators and dimensions of spiritual health for medical students.MATERIALS AND METHODS:This qualitative study with exploratory approach utilized conventional content analysis and individual in-depth interviews with experts in the area of spiritual health and spirituality in medical sciences selected through purposeful sampling. The study was conducted at Aja University of Medical Sciences in Tehran in 2018. The semi-structured interview was a tool used to achieve data saturation, that interviewed with 19 experts. Member check, credibility, and reliability were measured to increase the validity and reliability of the results. Inductive content analysis was used for the analysis of data in three main phases: preparation, organization, and categories and creating categories.RESULTS:Based on the findings of the interviews, 52 indicators were identified.Then, the indicators of spiritual health were identified in the following four categories) relationship with God, relationship with himself, relationship with others, relation with the environment (and these categories were divided inthree dimentions (cognitive, attitudes and emotions, behavioral)CONCLUSION:The findings of the present study showed that in order to have spiritual health, it is important to pay attention to one's relationship with God and one's relationship with oneself, one's relationship with others, and one's relationship with the environment, and it is necessary to pay attention to it in medical science curricula.

Impress of intergenerational emotional support on the depression in non-cohabiting parents.

BACKGROUNDMental health is one of the important dimensions of health, while depression is an important indicator of mental health evaluation.AIMTo investigate the association between intergenerational emotional support and depression of non-cohabiting parents (≥ 45 years old) in China.METHODSWe used the fourth wave data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (2015). The data was made up of ten main modules, the associated two datasets, and five constructed datasets. The first step is to select the corresponding module data according to the purpose of this study. Moreover, the data of the six modules are integrated by the unique ID code and we choose depression and non-cohabiting items as the selection conditions. 4810 samples were selected, which mainly included data on intergenerational emotional support and the individual scores on depressive symptoms.RESULTSThe average age of 4810 respondents was (60.56 ± 14.613) years old. Females were accounted for more than half of the samples (52.6%). 74.0% respondents from rural areas and approximately 63.3% of the participants had a chronic disease. The mean value of the CESD-10 score was 13.06 (SD5.225). Both faces to face and phone contacts were protective factors on depression symptoms in the mid-aged and seniors in China (P < 0.05). In terms of the frequency of face to face contact, the more frequently you met your parents, the lower your parents' depressive score was. Also, phone contact variable results are displayed as a positive correlation completely between inter-generational contacts from children and depressive symptoms in non-cohabiting parents in China. Children’s education level and income level were also reducing the risk of depression in non-cohabiting parents. However, gender, children’s numerous, chronic disease and chronic disease number were the risk factors.CONCLUSIONIntergenerational emotional support is associated with depressive symptoms in non-cohabiting parents in China. However, the relationship was also affected by other variables.

Exploration of perceptions of health of low SES citizens in the Netherlands

Abstract Background Health promotion programs (HPPs) have not yet succeeded in substantially reducing the health gap between higher and lower socioeconomic groups. It is thus a challenge to develop more effective strategies, based on an ecological perspective. To develop such strategies and activate citizens, this study explores citizens’ perceptions of health and what they need to improve it. Methods Setting Community HPP Voorstad on the Move (VoM) (July 2016-Jan 2020) in a district (+-11,000 inhabitants) in Deventer. Inhabitants’ socioeconomic status (SES), perceived health status and lifestyle are low relative to other city districts. Study design: A qualitative study of 11 community groups (n = 89) participating in two focus groups. Concept mapping was used to cluster and prioritize health perceptions. Social Practice Theory (SPT) guided the analysis of needs to change health-related behavior. Results “We don’t assume that everyone has the same idea about health, do we?” (citizen) Participants differed in age (16-82), cultural background (17% non-Dutch origin) and type of group activity. High-ranking dimensions of health are social relations, physical activity, a positive life attitude, healthy eating and empowerment. To improve health, social support from family and friends and self-confidence were the main needs. Physical impediments, (chronic) illness and financial aspects were also mentioned as barriers. The focus groups contributed to new activities as part of the VoM program facilitated by a health broker: e.g. a swimming group, biking buddies, social meetings. Conclusions Citizens perceive health as multidimensional, encompassing the physical and social environment, lifestyle behaviors, positive attitudes and being in control. Using SPT to unravel these needs in terms of meanings and competences helped to facilitate citizens’ active involvement in health-promoting activities. Key messages Low SES citizens perceive social relations, physical activity and a positive life attitude as important dimensions of health. Insight into citizens’ meanings and competences about health behaviors facilitates the development of health-promoting activities.

Psychometric performance of the PAncreatic CAncer disease impact (PACADI) score

Background/ObjectivePancreatic Cancer Disease Impact (PACADI) score measures the impact of pancreatic cancer (PC) on important health dimensions, selected by patients. The aim of this single center study was to test the psychometric performance of the Pancreatic Cancer Disease Impact (PACADI) score. MethodsPatients with suspected pancreatic cancer (PC) completed PACADI, the EuroQol-5D (EQ-5D index) and Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS) in this longitudinal observational study. Measures were compared across patients with PC (n = 210), other malignant lesions (OML) (n = 109) and non-malignant lesions (NML) (n = 41). Associations, test-retest and internal consistency reliability, longitudinal changes, sensitivity to change and prediction of mortality during the first year were examined in patients with PC. ResultsThe three measures discriminated between PC and OML. The PACADI score correlated strongly at baseline (n = 199)/after three months (n = 85) with the EQ-5D index and ESAS “sense of well-being” (0.64 and 0.66/0.73 and 0.69, p < 0.001, respectively), showed high test-retest reliability (ICC 0.84) and very good internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's alpha 0.81–0.85) across all visits. Scores improved over time at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months for survivors, and standardized response mean (SRM) for improvement between 2 and 3 months (n = 44) was 0.80 (PACADI), −0.59 (EQ-5D index) and 0.69 (ESAS “sense of well-being”). The PACADI score significantly predicted mortality within the first year (p = 0.02) in contrast to the EQ-5D index and ESAS “sense of well-being”. ConclusionThis study showed satisfactory psychometric performance of the PACADI score. The results support its use in clinical practice and intervention trials.

Combating infectious disease epidemics through China's Belt and Road Initiative.

Combating infectious disease epidemics through China's Belt and Road Initiative.

Moonstone: a novel natural language processing system for inferring social risk from clinical narratives

BackgroundSocial risk factors are important dimensions of health and are linked to access to care, quality of life, health outcomes and life expectancy. However, in the Electronic Health Record, data related to many social risk factors are primarily recorded in free-text clinical notes, rather than as more readily computable structured data, and hence cannot currently be easily incorporated into automated assessments of health. In this paper, we present Moonstone, a new, highly configurable rule-based clinical natural language processing system designed to automatically extract information that requires inferencing from clinical notes. Our initial use case for the tool is focused on the automatic extraction of social risk factor information — in this case, housing situation, living alone, and social support — from clinical notes. Nursing notes, social work notes, emergency room physician notes, primary care notes, hospital admission notes, and discharge summaries, all derived from the Veterans Health Administration, were used for algorithm development and evaluation.ResultsAn evaluation of Moonstone demonstrated that the system is highly accurate in extracting and classifying the three variables of interest (housing situation, living alone, and social support). The system achieved positive predictive value (i.e. precision) scores ranging from 0.66 (homeless/marginally housed) to 0.98 (lives at home/not homeless), accuracy scores ranging from 0.63 (lives in facility) to 0.95 (lives alone), and sensitivity (i.e. recall) scores ranging from 0.75 (lives in facility) to 0.97 (lives alone).ConclusionsThe Moonstone system is — to the best of our knowledge — the first freely available, open source natural language processing system designed to extract social risk factors from clinical text with good (lives in facility) to excellent (lives alone) performance. Although developed with the social risk factor identification task in mind, Moonstone provides a powerful tool to address a range of clinical natural language processing tasks, especially those tasks that require nuanced linguistic processing in conjunction with inference capabilities.

Sexual health and its related factors among Iranian pregnant women: A review study

Introduction: Sexual health is an important dimension of health. Pregnancy is a critical stage in women’s lives and can affect couples’ sexual health and matrimonial life due to physiological, anatomical and psychological changes in pregnancy. This review was conducted on Iranian studies to assess sexual health dimensions and influencing factors in Iranian pregnant women. Methods: This narrative review was carried out by performing a search in Iranian scientific articles published between 2000 and 2018, which considered the dimensions of sexual. Electronic databases including Magiran, Scientific information database (SID), web of science, PubMed, Scopus, and google scholar search engine were searched using the following keywords; sexual health, awareness, belief, attitude, sexual activity, sexual violence, prenatal, pregnancy, and pregnant women. Full text cross-sectional or cohort articles in Persian or English that were related to the field of sexual health of Iranian pregnant women were included in the review. Results: Among the initially identified 1383 articles, 63 met the inclusion criteria. Sexual health of pregnant women was examined and categorized into awareness, attitude, belief-activity, performance-satisfaction, quality of sexual life-sexual violence domains. Majority of studies assessed sexual violence (33 studies), followed by sexual function (24 studies), sexual satisfaction and quality of life (4 studies), and knowledge and attitudes about sexuality in pregnancy (4 studies). Main Conclusion: The review of published studies revealed that the level of awareness and attitude of Iranian pregnant women about sexual activity was low, while the level of sexual dysfunction and sexual violence in pregnancy was high. Therefore, the quality of purposeful care and counseling that have been provided hitherto in order to maintain and improve sexual health during pregnancy and even before pregnancy, should be improved. Further longitudinal and meta-analytic studies on the dimensions of sexual health, including sexual activity and sexual satisfaction are recommended.

Psychometric performance of the pancreatic cancer disease impact (PACADI) score

Abstract Background/Objective Pancreatic Cancer Disease Impact (PACADI) score measures the impact of pancreatic cancer (PC) on important health dimensions, selected by patients. The aim of this single center study was to test the psychometric performance of the Pancreatic Cancer Disease Impact (PACADI) score. Methods Patients with suspected pancreatic cancer (PC) completed PACADI, the EuroQol-5D (EQ-5D index) and Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS) in this longitudinal observational study. Measures were compared across patients with PC (n = 210), other malignant lesions (OML) (n = 109) and non-malignant lesions (NML) (n = 41). Associations, test-retest and internal consistency reliability, longitudinal changes, sensitivity to change and prediction of mortality during the first year were examined in patients with PC. Results The three measures discriminated between PC and OML. The PACADI score correlated strongly at baseline (n = 199)/after three months (n = 85) with the EQ-5D index and ESAS “sense of well-being” (0.64 and 0.66/0.73 and 0.69, p Conclusion This study showed satisfactory psychometric performance of the PACADI score. The results support its use in clinical practice and intervention trials.

Spiritual Health as a Predictor of Social and General Health in University Students? A Study in Iran

Spiritual health is considered a major asset that is associated with an individual’s perception of their health status. Social health and general health are also two important dimensions of health through which we measure our individual and social performance in the life. The measurement of spiritual and social health in past studies has been done by non-native questionnaires (it means they weren’t developed by Iranian researchers), even though these dimensions are highly dependent on Iranian culture. The purpose of this study was to investigate the ability of spiritual health to predict the general and social health of students from Iran University of Medical Sciences in the 2017–18 academic year, using two native questionnaires plus an existing questionnaire. The statistical population of this cross-sectional method consisted of students from Iran University of Medical Sciences. For this purpose, 233 students were selected using a stratified random sampling method. To collect the data, questionnaires on spiritual health, social health, and general health were employed. Data were analyzed using the Pearson correlation and regression methods. Findings indicated a significant relationship between spiritual health and social health (P < 0.01), spiritual health and general health (p < 0.05), and social health and general health (P < 0.01). In addition, spiritual health was a significant predictor of social health and general health, although the prediction power was low. Investigating the role of health dimensions in students using native questionnaires is an important subject. Spiritual health appears to be associated with general, mental, and social health. This relationship also allows the prediction of other dimensions of health in students based on spiritual health.

A Concept Analysis of Spiritual Health.

Spiritual health is an important dimension of health and forms part of a comprehensive care. This study was conducted to redefine and clarify the components of spiritual health based on different worldviews through Walker and Avant's concept analysis method. Being given a life and a soul and having beliefs are the antecedents of spiritual health. The attributes of this concept include a morality-oriented intellectual connectedness with the self, others, and the universe guided by a connection with the Transcendent and Superior being in order to create meaning in life and find its purpose in the context of culture and religion; transcendence is ultimately the consequence of spiritual heath. Using the attributes appeared in this conceptual analysis, nurses can evaluate the spiritual health of their clients and help them create positive outcome by providing appropriate interventions.

Development of the National Healthy Sleep Awareness Project Sleep Health Surveillance Questions.

For the first time ever, as emphasized by inclusion in the Healthy People 2020 goals, sleep health is an emphasis of national health aims. The National Healthy Sleep Awareness Project (NHSAP) was tasked to propose questions for inclusion in the next Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a survey that includes a number of questions that target behaviors thought to impact health, as a means to measure community sleep health. The total number of questions could not exceed five, and had to include an assessment of the risk for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). An appointed workgroup met via teleconference and face-to-face venues to develop an inventory of published survey questions being used to identify sleep health, to develop a framework on which to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of current survey questions concerning sleep, and to develop recommendations for sleep health and disease surveillance questions going forward. The recommendation was to focus on certain existing BRFSS questions pertaining to sleep duration, quality, satisfaction, daytime alertness, and to add to these other BRFSS existing questions to make a modified STOP-BANG questionnaire (minus the N for neck circumference) to assess for risk of OSA. Sleep health is an important dimension of health that has previously received less attention in national health surveys. We believe that 5 questions recommended for the upcoming BRFSS question banks will assist as important measures of sleep health, and may help to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to improve sleep health in our nation.

Role of shirodhara with ashwagandha taila in management of stress induced insomnia

Ayurveda has considered sleep as one of the most important dimensions of health associated with happiness and good health. The man of 21st century is breathing under various stresses, strain, anxiety and irregular and unnatural food habits so insomnia is a very common sleep disorder stressful life event are closely associated with the onset of insomnia and are mediated by certain predisposing personality factors. Shirodhara is used popularly for the headache, nervous disorder, stress, insomnia, and hypertension etc. Shirodhara is based on the principle of invigorating the mind bringing on essence in the body. Shirodhara works on the forehead and calming the nerves. It also help to enhance blood circulation to the brain & there by helps to beat insomnia and calms the mind and body. A clinical study on 20 cases of insomnia was done to evaluate the efficacy of shirodhara with ashwagandha taila (sesame oil processed with ashwagandha – Withania somnifera). In their treatment the efficacy was evaluated on the basis of characteristics of sleeplessness, sleep awake schedule, sleep quality, sleep time, feeling after awakening and associated symptoms. The effect of therapy was also evaluated at DASS scale. The overall result of this measure is work encouraging and significantly effective.

Global health security now

The concept of security as an important dimension of health divides opinions. To invoke the idea of security risks giving permission to more authoritarian-minded governments to use health crises as justification for sometimes extreme curbs on liberty or the political, economic, and social rights of citizens. During the Ebola virus disease outbreak, photographs appeared in news media of police brutally attacking the public for breaching curfews. Invoking arguments of global health security might further encourage this kind of violent response. Alternatively, security could more constructively mean protecting and empowering people, a view promulgated by the UN's Commission on Human Security in 2003. 1 Commission on Human SecurityHuman security now. Commission on Human Security, New York2003 Google Scholar This week, The Lancet looks at the implications of a security lens applied to health in the aftermath of the Ebola outbreak in west Africa. 2 Heymann DL Chen L Takemi K et al. Global health security: the wider lessons from the west African Ebola virus disease epidemic. Lancet. 2015; 385: 1884-1901 Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (266) Google Scholar , 3 Gostin LO Friedman EA A retrospective and prospective analysis of the west African Ebola virus disease epidemic: robust national health systems at the foundation and an empowered WHO at the apex. Lancet. 2015; 385: 1902-1909 Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (127) Google Scholar , 4 Kruk ME Myers M Varpilah ST Dahn BT What is a resilient health system? Lessons from Ebola. Lancet. 2015; 385: 1910-1912 Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (254) Google Scholar Thanks to Ebola, global health security is now a priority, not only for ministers of health but also for heads of state. Global health security: the wider lessons from the west African Ebola virus disease epidemicThe Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa was unprecedented in both its scale and impact. Out of this human calamity has come renewed attention to global health security—its definition, meaning, and the practical implications for programmes and policy. For example, how does a government begin to strengthen its core public health capacities, as demanded by the International Health Regulations? What counts as a global health security concern? In the context of the governance of global health, including WHO reform, it will be important to distil lessons learned from the Ebola outbreak. Full-Text PDF A retrospective and prospective analysis of the west African Ebola virus disease epidemic: robust national health systems at the foundation and an empowered WHO at the apexThe Ebola virus disease outbreak in west Africa is pivotal for the worldwide health system. Just as the depth of the crisis ultimately spurred an unprecedented response, the failures of leadership suggest the need for innovative reforms. Such reforms would transform the existing worldwide health system architecture into a purposeful, organised system with an empowered, highly capable WHO at its apex and enduring, equitable national health systems at its foundation. It would be designed not only to provide security against epidemic threats, but also to meet everyday health needs, thus realising the right to health. Full-Text PDF What is a resilient health system? Lessons from EbolaThe fragility of health systems has never been of greater interest—or importance—than at this moment, in the aftermath of the worst Ebola virus disease epidemic to date. The loss of life, massive social disruption, and collapse of even the most basic health-care services shows what happens when a crisis hits and health systems are not prepared.1 This did not happen only in west Africa—we saw it in Texas too: the struggle to provide a coherent response and manage public sentiment (which often manifests as fear) in a way that ensures that disease does not spread while also allowing day-to-day life to continue. Full-Text PDF

A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY ON QUALITY OF LIFE OF NURSES WORKING IN SELECTED HOSPITALS OF UDUPI AND MANGALORE DISTRICTS KARNATAKA, INDIA

Abstract:Quality of life (QOL) is an important dimension of health. It is a subjective term which varies from person to person and depends on each individual's capacity to cope with a situation. It is important to know how satisfied nurses are with their QOL and jobs and what characteristics influence their quality of life. The main aim of this study was to determine the Quality of Life of nurses as measured by WHO Quality of Life questionnaire and to find the association between Quality of Life and selected demographic and work related variables. The study population consisted of 1040 registered nurses working in selected medical college hospitals and government hospitals of Udupi and Mangalore districts during the period of data collection. Purposive sampling was used to select the samples. Data were gathered by administering Background proforma, and scale on Quality of life (WHO QOL-BREF). Median score of QOL of nurses on overall perception of quality of life and health were equal. Significant association was observed between Quality of life and marital status, and monthly income, area of work, working hours and total years of experience.