Behice Erci

Relationship between depression and loneliness in elderly and examination of influential factors

This study was planned and conducted for the purpose of examining the relationship between depression and loneliness in elderly people and the influencing factors. The study was a descriptive and correlational study and its population consisted of 17,080 older individuals aged sixty and over who were registered at six Family Healthcare Centers (FHCs) located in the provisional center of Malatya. The sample of the study comprised of 913 elderly people who were chosen from the elderly people registered at the FHCs first by cluster sampling and then by simple random sampling from the clusters in proportion to the population. The data was collected between April and June 2011 using a questionnaire developed by the investigators in line with the literature, the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and the UCLA Loneliness Scale (ULS). They had a mean score of 13.83 ± 7.4 from the GDS and 40.50 ± 12.1 from the ULS. A positive correlation was found between Geriatric Depression and loneliness (r=0.608, p<0.001). It was observed that there was a significant correlation between loneliness and depression in the elderly people living in a community, presence of social security and higher income, on the other hand, led to lower mean scores. In view of these results, it can be advised that a minimum income should be secured for elderly people whether they have social security or not, their families and the society should be trained not to leave elderly people alone.

Psychometric Properties of the Child Feeding Scale in Turkish Mothers

PURPOSE The objective of this study was to adopt the Child Feeding Scale (CFS) to the Turkish language and culture and to assess the validity and the reliability of the Turkish version of the scale. METHODS The research was methodological study design. A convenience sample of 158 mothers at a primary health care center completed a structured questionnaire including the CFS for mothers in 2008. RESULTS In the assessment of construct validity, seven factors were identified; they related to Perceived Responsibility, Perceived Parent Weight, Perceived Child Weight, Concern About Child Weight, Pressure to Eat, Restriction, and Monitoring. The seven factors explained 57.6% of the total variance. The overall internal reliability coefficient of this scale was .75. CONCLUSIONS The present study provides evidence of the CFSs validity and reliability. The scale has potential applications for use in research. The CFS can be used to assess aspects of child-feeding perceptions, attitudes, and practices and their relationships to childrens developing food acceptance patterns, the control of food intake and obesity.

Psychometric evaluation of the primary health-care satisfaction scale in Turkish women

OBJECTIVE This paper reports an adaptation of the English version of the primary health-care satisfaction scale for use with Turkish women and an evaluation of its psychometric properties. DESIGN A psychometric study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS A convenience sample of 381 women at a primary health-care centre completed a structured questionnaire including demographic characteristics and the primary health-care satisfaction scale for women in 2008. Item analysis, principal components analysis, internal consistency reliability and Cronbachs alpha were used to measure the psychometric properties of the items of the scale. RESULTS In the assessment of construct validity, three factors were identified with a: (1) administration and office procedures, (2) communication, (3) care coordination and comprehensiveness. These factors together explained 54.8% of the total variance. Internal reliability coefficients of these three factor-based scales were 0.80 and 0.93, respectively. CONCLUSIONS The present study provides evidence of the primary health-care satisfaction scales validity, reliability and acceptability. This scale should be further evaluated with a larger representative sample of women seeking primary care in Turkey and diverse populations of the world. The scale has potential applications for use in research. The scale may be used both in studies to evaluative alternative models of primary care delivery for women and in quality improvement programs in womens primary care.

The effectiveness of the Omaha System intervention on the women's health promotion lifestyle profile and quality of life.

AIM This article is a report of a quasi-experimental study of the effectiveness of the Omaha System intervention on the womens health promotion lifestyle profile and the quality of life. BACKGROUND The Omaha System is a model for organizing, documenting and evaluating the outcomes of comprehensive, community-based, client-centred care. Therefore, the Omaha System is important for public health nurses whose aim is to protect and promote health. However, few studies addressed the influence of the Omaha System on health promotion activities or quality of life in adult population. METHODS The design of the study was one-group pre-test and post-test. The study took place in Turkey in 2007; the sample comprised 76 women from an urban primary healthcare centre. The women completed questionnaires consisting of demographical characteristics, the health promotion lifestyle profile scale developed by Walker and colleagues and the quality of life scale developed by Burckhardt and colleagues. The researcher then visited selected women in their home weekly or biweekly for a 4-month period. At the end of intervention, the scales were applied to the women as the post-test. FINDINGS The mean scores of self-actualization, health responsibility, interpersonal support, stress management subscales of the health promotion lifestyle profile and the total score increased in post-test, except for nutrition subscale. There were statistically significant differences between pre- and post-test scores. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrated that the Omaha System intervention increases health promotion lifestyle profile of the women. It is recommended as a nursing care to health promotion.

Meaning in life of patients with cancer.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to evaluate meaning in life and its predictors in Turkish patients with cancer. METHODS A convenience sample of 182 patients with cancer at a Turkish university hospital completed a structured questionnaire including demographic characteristics, disease/treatment characteristics, symptom level, and the meaning in life scale for patients with cancer in 2007. The researcher visited the oncology clinic five work days in every week and conducted interviews with the patients. In analysis of the data, correlation, t-tests, Kruskal-Wallis variance and regression analysis were used. RESULTS In this study, the mean score of the total meaning in life showed that the patients tended to be undecided concerning meaning in life. Education level, age, and diagnosis duration of the independent variables were effective predictors of meaning in life. Together the independent variables explained 24.3% of the variance of the purpose subscale, 26.2% of the variance of the coherence subscale, 14% of the variance of the choice/responsibleness subscale, and 44.1% of the total variance of the goal seeking subscale. Overall the independent variables explained 19.8% of the total variance of the total meaning in life. SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS The results in this study should increase the awareness of cancer care professionals about a range of the meaning in life and may help them to target particular patient groups for detail support interventions.

Psychometric Validation of the Women's Health Questionnaire in Menopausal Women

The objective of this study was to adapt the Womens Health Questionnaire (WHQ) to women who speak Turkish and are from the Turkish culture, and to assess the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the scale. A convenience sample of women undergoing the menopausal transition or in the postmenopausal period was recruited at one primary health care center in Erzurum, Turkey. The researchers selected consecutive women who applied to the center for health care services. Three hundred sixty-six women were asked to participate in the study and to complete the WHQ during their appointment at the health care center in 2010. In the assessment of construct validity, nine factors were identified: depressed mood; menstrual symptoms; somatic symptoms; anxiety/fears; attractiveness; sexual behaviour; vasomotor symptoms; memory; and sleep problems. The nine factors explained 56.5% of the total variance. The overall internal reliability coefficient of this scale was 0.80. Evidence of the validity, reliability, and acceptability of the questionnaire was provided in this study. The Turkish version of the questionnaire is easy to understand and allows evaluation of womens quality of life for various purposes.

The Effect of Watson’s Human Caring Model on Meaning of Life and Symptom Management in Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of Watson’s Human Caring Model on the meaning of life and symptom management in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Design: The study was conducted using a real test model featuring a pretest and posttest and a control group. Methods: The sample consisted of 158 adult cancer patients (79 in both the experimental and control groups). The sample size was determined and the participants were allocated to groups using power analysis and a random sampling method. For the pretest, both groups completed an introductory questionnaire, the Life Attitude Profile, and the General Symptom Inventory. Then, the experimenter visited the experimental group patients’ homes three times, at 2-week intervals, to provide nursing care based on Watson’s model. Finally, after 8 weeks, a posttest was conducted by having both groups complete the Life Attitude Profile and General Symptom Inventory once again. Results: In the experimental group, the mean total posttest score for the Life Attitude Profile was determined to be 164.21 ± 36.5, and the mean total General Symptom Inventory score was 55.06 ± 13.19; however, in the control group, the mean total Life Attitude Profile score was 127.31 ± 10.61 and the mean total General Symptom Inventory score was 136.91 ± 16.20. The mean differences between the groups were statistically significant (p < .001). Implications for Practice: Care based on Watson’s model increases the sense of meaning in life and decreases symptom levels for patients undergoing chemotherapy.

The effects of depression, personal characteristics, and some habits on physical activity in the elderly: AKTÜRK et al.

PURPOSE The current study investigated the effects of depression, personal characteristics, and some habits on physical activity levels among the elderly. DESIGN AND METHODS This study followed a descriptive design. The population of the study consisted of 11 750 individuals at least 65 years old. The sample size of the study was determined to be 967 by power analysis. Descriptive statistics and logistic models were used for data analysis. RESULTS Together, age, the presence of a caregiver, chronic disease, and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) score explained 32% of the variance in the physical activity of the elderly. Among these factors, the GDS score alone had the greatest effect. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS To maintain health, it is important to reduce depression and increase physical activity among the elderly.

Validity study of the Turkish version of the barriers to insulin treatment questionnaire

The purpose of this study is to test the validity and reliability of the Barriers to Insulin Treatment Questionnaire and adapt the questionnaire for Turkish society. This was a cross-sectional study. The population of this study consisted of adult patients with type 2 diabetes who were using insulin and being monitored in the Endocrine and Outpatient Clinics of Inonu University Turgut Ozal Medical Centre. The sample of the study consisted of 348 patients. The data were collected by using the Barriers to Insulin Treatment Questionnaire (BITQ) and a survey including demographic characteristics. The 14 items of the questionnaire are scored between 1 and 10. BITQ has five factors as fear of injections and self-testing, expectations regarding positive insulin-related outcomes, expected hardship from insulin treatment, stigmatization by insulin injections, and fear of hypoglycemia. In order to test the construct validity of the questionnaire, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were utilized. The reliability of BITQ was evaluated by its Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency coefficient, item total correlation, and test-retest reliability. It was determined that the Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients of the questionnaire factors ranged between 0.70 and 0.82, the scale item factor loadings varied from 0.54 to 0.86, and the item total correlation coefficients were between 0.30 and 0.52. CFA supported the 5-factor scale structure obtained as a result of EFA. Good fit index values were obtained as a result of CFA. According to the obtained results, it may be asserted that BITQ is valid and reliable in terms of its application in Turkish society.

The self-perceived burden scale: a validation study in Turkish patients with spinal cord injury

Methods: This study was conducted between January and June 2017 with 250 cancer patients in the oncology and hematology clinic of a university hospital in Turkey. The data was collected by using questionnaire consisting of the information about the patient’s demographic characteristics and using state of complementary and alternative treatment. Data that was collected from the study was analyzed by using means, percentage and chi-squared test.