Athena Kalokerinou

Factors That Influence Greeks' Decision to Register as Potential Bone Marrow Donors

Hemopoietic stem cells can be used from bone marrow or blood or umbilical cord blood of matched siblings or appropriately matched unrelated volunteers. Today, large bone marrow registries have been established to help identify volunteer unrelated bone marrow donors for patients lacking a family donor. Despite there being almost 10 million registered potential bone marrow donors (PBMD) worldwide, only 50% of white patients have a suitable bone marrow match. Growth in the number of PBMD increases the likelihood of finding a compatible donor for a patient. The attitudes and knowledge of 250 registered PBMD and 315 not registered PBMD toward bone marrow donation, tissues and organs donation, and blood donation were surveyed, using a questionnaire with 27 items. Multivariate logistic regression identified gender (females more often than males), regular blood donation, having a relative or a friend who has already been registered as PBMD, having a relative or a friend who needs bone marrow transplantation, family discussion about tissue and organ donation, knowledge about bone marrow transplantation, information about bone marrow transplantation, and trust in health professionals were independent predictive factors influencing peoples decision to register as PBMD. Knowledge of these factors is important to target recruitment efforts.

Health Promotion Practices and Attitudes Among Nurses in Special Education Schools in Greece

Published research concerning health promotion in Greek schools is limited. The aim of the study was to evaluate special education school nurses’ involvement in health promotion activities, examine their attitudes toward it, and to explore the factors influencing their practices. A cross-sectional survey was carried out in 2005 by mailed questionnaires to all 45 Greek school nurses. Descriptive statistics and nonparametric tests were used. The results indicate that 37 (82%) school nurses have had moderate involvement in health promotion programs due to the existing health policies set mainly by the school personnel and the state services. Their attitude toward health promotion was positive and depended on personal health promotion practices and activities and on health policies. Pupils’ participation in health promotion programs changed according to their special health needs. The lack of legislated duties and absence of a specific health promotion programming prevented school nurses from being involved. Children’s special needs inhibited or promoted health promotion activities.

Assessing Health-Related Quality of Life in the Greek Home Health Care Setting Comparing Cancer Patients’ and Nurses’ Assessment

The study’s aim was to evaluate the agreement between patients’ and nurses’ ratings of patients’ health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and to identify factors that affect their level of agreement. A total of 150 home health care cancer patients from Greece and all nurses (N = 5) who worked in the home health care units completed the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire–Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30). Intraclass correlation coefficients varied between .45 and .87, indicating a moderate to excellent agreement. Median absolute difference on QLQ-C30 scores ranged from 0.00 to 16.66 points on the 0 to 100 scale. Cohen’s d varied between −0.15 and 0.59. Nurses’ higher educational level was associated with greater agreement (p = .05). Nurses assessed lower the QoL of patients who were completely disabled than the patients themselves did (p = .005). Our findings suggest that Greek home health care nurses estimate patients’ QoL in a reliable and valid way.

Reliability and validity of the Clinical Cultural Competency Questionnaire-Greek version (CCCQ-G) -

Introduction: Cultural competency is a term that is widely used regarding health care providers around the world. As a consequence, a plethora of new instruments have been introduced in order to describe, evaluate and measure the new term of cultural competence. Objective: This study aimed to determine the validity and reliability of the Clinical Cultural Competency Questionnaire-Greek version (CCCQ-G) among Healthcare Professionals. Methods: Two hundred and twenty (220) health professionals, from three (3) general pediatric hospitals in Greece completed the questionnaire. Internal consistency was determined and convergent validity was further examined with the intercorrelations of subscales. The structure of the questionnaire was investigated using factor analysis. Results: Analysis resulted in a six-factor solution, explaining 55 % of the variance. All subscales resulting from the factor analysis had alphas that ranged from 0.71 to 0.91. Correlations among the scales were all statistically significant. Higher scores in most subscales were observed for health care professionals who had attended transcultural health courses. Conclusions: The Greek version of CCCQ was found to possess good reliability and validity, therefore, the instrument could be used in future research studying cultural competence of health care professionals.

Economic Evaluation of Home Care Versus Hospital Care for Patients With Terminal-Stage Malignant Neoplasms

Home care is implemented internationally on a large scale. However, in Greece, home care services are underdeveloped, especially in public sector. The economic evaluation of home care for patients with terminal-stage malignant neoplasms and the comparison with the cost of hospital care. A socioeconomic evaluation was conducted comparing the cost of home care with the cost of hospital care for patients with terminal-stage malignant neoplasms. The study population included 66 patients in home care group and 64 patients in hospital care group. Both medical cost of care and carers’ lost productivity were evaluated. The 3-month medical cost of home care was estimated at €2424.3 per patient, while the corresponding cost in hospital care group was €6665.4. The monthly carers’ lost productivity in home care group was estimated at €523.9 per patient (6.7 days out of work), while in hospital care group it was €1071.3 (13.7 days out of work). Home care provides services at lower cost compared to hospital care and contributes in cost containment of public health expenditure.