Jean Burley Moore

Childhood Obesity Study: A Pilot Study of the Effect of the Nutrition Education Program Color My Pyramid

The need for successful nutrition interventions is critical as the prevalence of childhood obesity increases. Thus, this pilot project examines the effect of a nutrition education program, Color My Pyramid, on children’s nutrition knowledge, self-care practices, activity levels, and nutrition status. Using a pretest–posttest, quasiexperimental design, 126 fourth- and fifth-grade students from experimental and control schools are compared. The intervention program incorporates an online component www.MyPyramid.gov, Orem’s Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory, and consists of six classes taught over a 3-month period. Results indicated that the program increased nutrition knowledge in the control group. Furthermore, it increased activity time from pretest to posttest and decreased systolic blood pressure for children in both groups; however, there were no significant differences in BMI percentiles. The findings indicate that Color My Pyramid can be successfully employed in school settings and thus support school nursing practice.

Sources of Conflict Between Families and Health Care Professionals

It is essential to examine conflict between patients and health care professionals from the patient’s perspective. The purposes of this study were to 1) identify sources of conflict, 2) determine nursing interventions that alleviate conflict, and 3) test a conceptual framework of sources of conflict. This phenomenological study focused on children with cancer and their parents’ perceptions of conflicts with health care professionals as well as what they thought helped with such conflicts. Their reports of conflict were compared to C. W. Moore’s circle of conflict conceptual framework. A purposive sample of 27 participants (9 children, 14 mothers, and 4 fathers) participated in the study. Study findings showed that conflict occurred between health care professionals and families originating from differences in expectations and desires regarding data, interests, structure, relationships, and values, consistent with C. W. Moore’s conceptual framework. Nursing interventions reported by children and parents to be helpful in preventing or alleviating conflict were identified. C. W. Moore’s framework may provide a valuable structure for assessing conflict and designing nursing interventions to alleviate conflict.

Measurement of Orem’s Basic Conditioning Factors: A Review of Published Research:

The purpose of this review was to examine published research on basic conditioning factors described in Orem’s self-care deficit theory of nursing, in order to identify operational definitions, measurement strategies, and the results of the analyses. Thirty-five research articles published between 1987 and 1997 met the criteria for inclusion in the review. Consensus or lack of consensus in operational definitions for specific factors was determined and successful measurement methods were identified. Recommendations are made for revising conceptual and operational definitions. Suggested measurement strategies for the factors are discussed.

The Relationship of Self-Concept and Self-Care in Children with Cancer

The purposes of this descriptive study were to examine the relationships between self-concept and (a) self-care, (b) dependent-care, and (c) basic conditioning factors for children with cancer, and to compare the self-concept of children on- and off-therapy. The theoretical framework was Orems self-care deficit theory of nursing. The sample consisted of 74 children with cancer and their mothers. Results showed small but significant correlations between variables, providing some evidence that if children had higher self-concept scores they performed more self-care activities and received more dependent-care from their mothers. The self-concept scores of the on- and off-therapy groups were not significantly different. This study supports Orems theory and reinforces the need to promote positive self-concept

Parents’ Reactions to Conflict With Health Care Providers

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine parents’ reactions to conflict with health care providers and the outcomes of the conflicts. This study builds on previous research that confirmed the occurrence and sources of conflict among these informants. Seventeen parents whose children had a diagnosis of cancer were interviewed in this study. A priori coding was used to identify the specific strategies for dealing with conflict proposed by Rubin and associates. Ginsburg’s approach to narrative analysis was used to examine parent’s stories. Findings were that parents used the strategies of problem solving, yielding, withdrawing, inaction, and contending identified by Rubin and associates in reaction to conflict with health care providers. Following episodes of contending, many parents in the study reframed the conflict and experienced transformations or turning points, resolving to become more effective advocates for their children. A few of these advocates proceeded to become community activists.

Testing Orem's Theory of Self-Care Deficit: Dependent Care Agent Performance for Children

The purpose of this study was to test Orems theory of self-care deficit, one of three constituent theories included in her general self-care deficit theory of nursing. Specifically, the relationship between dependent care agent performance and basic conditioning factors was examined. Dependent care agent performance for children was defined as health promotion and self-care activities provided by a responsible adult on behalf of the child. The Dependent Care Agent Questionnaire was used with a sample of 380 mothers of children from ages 1 to 16 years. The hypothesis that basic conditioning factors influenced dependent care agent performance was supported (R2 = .13, p = .0001).

A cross-sectional examination of growth indicators from Nicaraguan adolescent girls: a comparison of anthropometric data from their Guatemalan counterparts

Background: Few studies have examined growth data from adolescent girls in Latin America and almost none have been conducted in Nicaragua. Thus this study examines growth data from Nicaraguan adolescent girls. Aim: This study describes cross-sectional growth data from a sample of Nicaraguan girls. These data are compared with data from Mexican–US and Guatemalan girls. It is hypothesized that (a) Mexican–US and Guatemalan wealthy ladina girls will show better indicators of nutritional status when compared with the Nicaraguan girls, and (b) the Nicaraguan girls will show similar anthropometric indicators when compared with poor Guatemalan girls. Subjects and Methods: Anthropometric and age at menarche data were collected from a sample of 154 adolescent girls ages 10–17 years living in Managua, Nicaragua. Results: The findings revealed that these girls are significantly shorter and lighter than US, Mexican–US and wealthy Guatemalan adolescent girls. These girls are also significantly taller and heavier than their poor Guatemalan counterparts. Conclusion: This study reveals that the Nicaraguan girls are undernourished when compared with other Latin American girls living in an improved overall environment. The data also reveal that the Nicaraguan girls have better indicators of nutritional status when compared with a cohort of poor Guatemalan girls.

Statistical and nonstatistical significance: implications for health care researchers.

Quality improvement professionals have to decide whether a change has led to improvement. This is typically done through testing the statistical significance of the findings. In this article, we explore controversies surrounding statistical significance testing with attention to contemporary criticism of bad practice resulting from the misuse of statistical significance testing. Most statistical significance tests use tests (eg, F, χ2) with known distributions with the P values used as the main evidence to evaluate whether tests are statistically significant. The primary conclusion of this article is that the P value alone as a measure of statistical significance does not give sufficient information about testing of hypotheses. When it is coupled with other measures, however, such as the point estimation of the effect size and the use of a confidence interval around it, the combination of these statistics can provide a more thorough explanation of statistical testing. This article offers recommendations for process improvement investigators as to when to appropriately apply and not to apply statistical significance testing.

Concepts of anemia among low income Nicaraguan women

La anemia es un problema de salud comun entre las mujeres alrededor del mundo, sin embargo, se hanrealizado pocas investigaciones sobre los conceptos de anemia entre las mujeres. El proposito de este estudiofue examinar los conceptos de anemia en mujeres Nicaraguenses de bajos ingresos economicos. La investigacionfue de orden cualitativa. Para la recoleccion de datos, se realizaron entrevistas semiestructuradas, grabadasen castellano, con 14 mujeres. Las cintas grabadas fueron transcritas y se realizo un analisis de contenido. Losresultados indican que pocas mujeres poseen conocimientos biomedicos sobre anemia, por ejemplo, la ingestionde alimentos pobres en hierro. Otras expresaron creencias populares, como remedios caseros, ingestion deleche de yegua o jugo de remolacha y ciertos alimentos como sopa de judias. La mayoria de las mujeres noconocia ningun sintoma de anemia y pocas relataron que creian que esta enfermedad podria transformarse enleucemia. Estos conceptos de anemia son instructivos para las enfermeras que trabajan con pacientes enNicaragua y sera de mucha utilidad para desarrollar intervenciones de enfermeria para aliviar este problemade salud publica.DESCRIPTORES: anemia, Nicaragua, America LatinaAnemia is a common health problem among women throughout the world, however, there has been minimal research on womens concepts of anemia. The purpose of this study was to examine concepts of anemia in low income Nicaraguan women. A qualitative design was used. Audio-taped open-ended interviews in Spanish with 14 women were used to obtain data. Tapes were transcribed and content analyzed. The findings indicate that few of the women had biomedically accurate concepts of anemia, such as that it was due to lack of iron from poor eating. Others held folk medical beliefs including home remedies, for example drinking the milk of a mare or beet juice and eating certain foods such as bean soup. Most of the women did not know any symptoms of anemia and a few reported that it can develop into leukemia. These concepts of anemia are instructive for nurses working with patients from Nicaragua and will be useful in developing nursing interventions to alleviate this public health problem.

Self-Care Operations and Nursing Interventions for Children With Cancer and Their Parents:

As individuals assume more responsibility for their healthcare, nurses need to explore methods to support families’ self-care practices. The purpose of this qualitative study was to: (a) determine what self-care and dependent-care operations children and parents perform to address self-care requisites, and (b) explore nursing interventions to promote operations. Orem’s theory of self-care, theory of self-care deficit, and theory of nursing system were employed. Twenty-seven participants were interviewed about their cancer experiences. Results were that children and parents performed estimative, transitional, and productive operations to meet self-care requisites. Various nursing interventions that promoted these operations were identified. Recommendations were made for further interventions to support families.