Saliha Altiparmak

Skin cancer knowledge and sun protection behavior among nursing students

AIM The objective of this study was to determine skin cancer knowledge and sun protection behavior among nursing students. METHODS A total of 1178 nursing students in the Aegean Region of Turkey took part in this descriptive study. A score for knowledge on protection against skin cancer and a score for protective behavior against skin cancer were calculated. RESULTS In this study, first year students sunbathed more in the middle of the day than fourth year students, and their knowledge of skin cancer was lower. No statistical difference was determined for protective behavior between the two groups. The knowledge levels and protective behavior of first year students were alarmingly low, but the average scores for knowledge and behavior of the fourth year university students were higher. The knowledge levels of the fourth year students were average but their protective behavior was insufficient. It was found that the knowledge levels and the levels of protective behavior of light-skinned students were higher. CONCLUSION This study revealed that the knowledge levels and protective behavior of first year nursing students against the harmful effects of the sun and for protection against skin cancer were alarmingly low. It also showed that the knowledge levels of the fourth year nursing students were average, but that their protective behavior was very insufficient. These findings suggest that it is of extreme importance to acquire knowledge and behavior for protection against skin cancers in the education of nursing students.

Drug-using behaviors of the elderly living in nursing homes and community- dwellings in Manisa, Turkey

AIM The study aimed to investigate drug-taking behaviors of the elderly living in a nursing home or community dwelling and to determine the factors affecting their behaviors. MATERIALS AND METHODS This cross-sectional study was conducted on the elderly living at homes (n=106) or in nursing homes (n=220) in the city center of Manisa located in the Aegean region of Turkey. The study data were collected between February 2011 and May 2011. For data collection, three survey forms were used: the socio-demographic questionnaire, the standardized mini mental test and the questionnaire which enquires drug-using behavior. The data were evaluated with SPSS for 15.00 Windows statistical package program. Data descriptive statistics were evaluated with the chi-square test, Students t-test and logistic regression analysis. RESULTS The mean age of the whole group was 73.4±6.3 (65-94). In the study group, the mean numbers of chronic diseases and medications used were 1.2±0.9 (0-5) and 2.6±1.8 (0-10), respectively. According to the survey results, those living in nursing homes, males and those with education higher than primary school education displayed better drug-taking behaviors than those living at home, females and those with less than primary school education, respectively. CONCLUSION The appropriate use of medicine is a major problem in old age. Living at home or in a nursing home, gender and education are important factors affecting the correct use of medicine in old age.

Asthma and quality of life in adolescents in Manisa, Turkey.

Abstract Background: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of asthma and the association between asthma and quality of life in sixth, seventh, and eighth graders in the city of Manisa. Method: The population of this cross-sectional study includes the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades of primary schools located in the city of Manisa (n=59, 135). The study sample included 763 students from nine schools with different socioeconomic features selected by the Directorate of National Education. Data were collected under the supervision of the researcher with a socio-demographic questionnaire, International Study of Asthma and Allergy in Childhood (ISAAC) questionnaire and Kiddo-KINDL, a quality of life scale. Descriptive statistics, Student’s t-test and χ2-test were used for the evaluation of the data. Results: In total, 83 children (10.9%) were diagnosed with asthma by doctors and 82 children (10.7%) had wheezing or asthmatic attacks in the past 12 months. The children with life-long asthma had significantly lower scores for quality of life than those without asthma (p<0.05). Conclusion: The prevalence of asthma is different in different geographical regions in Turkey. Our results are similar to the results of Western society and asthma has a negative effect on the quality of life of children.

The Relationship between quality of life and social support in homosexuals living in Izmir, Turkey

It has been well documented that quality of life (QL), an indicator of people’s subjective sense of well-being, is not evenly distributed among people in society. This descriptive study investigated the levels of social support and quality of life in homosexuals living in the city of Izmir in Turkey and the factors affecting the levels of their quality of life and social support, and to determine the relationship between their quality of life and the social support they received. Seventy-two individuals were included in the study by network/ snowball sampling method. The World Health Organization Brief Quality of Life Assessment Scale (WHOQOL-BREF), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support scale (MSPSS) and socio-demographic questionnaire were used in the research. All the individuals involved were male. According to the Turkish Penal Code, same-sex relations among people over 18 are not considered a crime although secret prostitution is prohibited. Little research has been carried out on homosexuality in Turkey. According to studies in Turkey, attitudes towards gay men and lesbians are usually negative. Yuzgun argued that homosexuals in Turkey are regularly exposed to police terror. One of the major causes of negative attitude is religious beliefs. Of the participants, 60.3% were transsexual and 39.7% were homosexual and their mean age was 30.5 ± 8.9 (16-55). The quality of life scores of homosexuals were lower than were those of heterosexuals, as has been found in other studies. Transsexuals’ and homosexuals’ mean scores for overall quality of life and social support were determined as 53.66 ± 8.29 (33.05-73.43) and 51.68 ± 27.06 (12-154) respectively. The study findings revealed that homosexuals’ scores for perceived social support and quality of life were worse than those of other people and transsexuals’ scores for quality of life, psychological health and social support subscales were better than those of homosexuals (p<0.05). Among the reasons why transsexuals have better quality of life domain scores are that they are perceived by the society as females due to their physical appearance, and that they have overcome the sexual identity problem and thus they see themselves as women. The most important feature designating the quality of life is the parents’ education level (p<0.05). This result can be interpreted to suggest that families with higher education can communicate with their children better and try to understand them more. In addition, the fact that those who become aware of their sexual identity and acknowledge it at an early age, and thus are accepted by their families more easily, can be considered another factor affecting the high scores for the family subscale. Those whose parents’ education was higher than primary school education (n=39; 53.4%), who did not grow up in fragmented families (n=55;75.3%) or who acknowledged their sexual identities after puberty (n= 55; 75.3% ) achieved higher scores for the friends subscale. Not having experienced any sexual assault (n= 16; 21.9%), being aware of the groups dealing with their problems (n=38; 52.1%), not smoking (n=12; 16.4%) and not using alcohol (n=10; 13.7%) or any illicit substance (n=30;41.1%) are among the other variables affecting their quality of life positively. The relationship between social support and the quality of life was determined by the fact that the quality of life increased as social support increased (r=0.328, p=0.005). The data in the literature indicate that social support is important for homosexuals, because the more social support they have the fewer psychological, physical and emotional health problems they experience, but they cannot get enough social support from their families. It is reported that homosexuals who do not get enough social support from their families seek more support from their friends, and that the support from friends affects their psychosocial life positively, as indicated in our study. The study group stated that they mostly shared their problems with their homosexual friends (36.9%), and that the main problem they experienced was being despised because of their sexual identities (36.9%). Struggling against similar problems arising from social pressure, and sharing the same fate, are among the other factors which strengthen friendship. Previous research has suggested that if families of gays and lesbians do not provide the support they need, they receive it from their partners and friends. As found in our study, several other studies in the literature have found that social support improves homosexuals’ quality of life and encourages them to behave positively. Studies also show that social support influences health behaviours. But studies conducted on homosexuals in our society only deal with disease. There is a need to perform more social studies and research to determine the status and needs of homosexuals. It would be appropriate to develop individual training programs and national social service programs in order to improve the social support homosexuals receive and thus their quality of life.

A comparison of contribution of informed consent forms with long or short texts with regard to obtaining knowledge by volunteers: A pilot study -

Objective. The objective is to determine which of the two texts giving information about the same issue and one of which id short and one of which is long is more effective in enlightening readers having no pre-knowledge of medical science and whether there is coherence between the scores obtained from the texts. Methods. The sampling of the research planned as experimental is constituted by 66 volunteer female students who are 1st year students at the faculty of agriculture. The group was randomly divided into two and the first group was given the short text and the other one the long text. Then the question from was applied in order to find out how much of the information in the form they learnt. Each true answer given to the questions was scored as 1, and each wrong answer was secored as 0; therefore a total grade was obtained. For data analysis, Mann Whitney-U and t Tests analysis methods have been used. Score averages have been compared using Chi-square statistics and calculated using Odds ratio (OR). Consistency between the average scores of the answers given to short and long forms were evaluated through kapa statistics. Results. 100% of the answers obtained using the long form was above the average, 20% of the answers obtained using the short form was above the average and 80% was below the average. Kappa between the answers in the long and short from was found as 81%. The results obtained from the long form were determined to be seven times better than the short one (OR:7,0). The non-random alignment between responses to the long and short form was found to be 81% (Cohen Kappa: 0.814). When the score average scores obtained from the answers given according to the demographic qualities of the participants, no meaningful relation was found. Conclusions. The long version of the context of informed was found more effective than the short one.