Patients' experiences from their received education about the process of kidney transplant: a qualitative study

Kidney transplant needs long term treatment, care and a follow up. Patients with kidney transplant need support in fields of knowledge, skills and motivations. Several researches showed existing challenges regarding education of these patients. A qualitative study was conducted to define patients' experiences from their received education about the process of kidney transplant. This was a qualitative study with a content analysis approach. Sampling was purposive up to data saturation. The participants aged 18-60 years, had experienced transplantation. The data were collected by semistructural individual in-depth interviews with 18 participants. The interviews were analyzed by Graneheim and Lundman content analysis method. Three general themes of "educational experiences at the beginning of transplantation", "educational experiences in post transplantation care", and "patients' struggle to enhance their awareness in order to preserve their transplanted kidney" were emerged. The findings showed that patients' did not receive adequate knowledge about kidney transplant process. This issue reveals an unstructured and uncoordinated education given to kidney transplant patients by health team members during kidney transplant process. With regard to high motivation of the patients, designing such educational program based on self-management in the process of kidney transplant for these recipients is essential. Nurses in their educational role can enable the patients through educating them about problem solving methods and selection of the best solution to preserve their transplanted kidney and consider renal transplant recipient self-management as their first priority toward these patients.

Challenges of interprofessional collaboration in Iranian mental health services: a qualitative investigation

Nurses and other members of health care team provide mental patients with health services through interprofessional collaboration which is a main strategy to improve health services. Nevertheless, many difficulties are evidently influencing interprofessional collaboration in Iranian context. This paper presented the results of a study aimed to explore the context. A qualitative study was conducted using in-depth interviews to collect data from 20 health professionals and 4 clients or their family members who were selected purposefully from the health centers affiliated with Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. Themes were identified using latent qualitative content analysis. Trustworthiness of the study was supported considering auditability, neutrality, consistency and transferability. The study lasted from 2010 to 2011. Some important challenges were identified as protecting professional territory, medical oriented approach and teamwork deficits. They were all under a main theme emphasizing professionals' divergent views. It could shed insight into underlying causes of collaboration gaps among nurses and other health professionals. The three introduced themes implied difficulties mainly related to "divergences" among health professionals. Moreover, the difficulties revealed the need for training chiefly to improve their convergent shared views and approaches. Therefore, it is worthwhile to suggest interprofessional education for nurses and other professionals with special attention to improving interpersonal skills as well as mental health need-based services.

effects of reflexology on chronic low back pain intensity in nurses employed in hospitals affiliated with Isfahan University of Medical Sciences

Humans have been involved with the phenomena of pain and pain relief from the ancient times. Back pain is the most common pain. In fact, eight out of ten people experience it in their lifetime. However, individuals with specific jobs, including nurses, are faced with this problem more. Nursing is in the top ten careers suffering from the most severe musculoskeletal injuries. There are non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic treatments to relieve back pain. One of the non-medical treatments of pain is called reflexology which is a branch of complementary and alternative therapies. This research has been conducted to investigate the effect of reflexology on chronic low back pain intensity. This study was a double-blind clinical trial. The study population consisted of 50 female and male nurses suffering from chronic low back pain working in hospitals affiliated with Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. The participants were divided into two groups of reflexology and non-specific massage. A questionnaire was completed through interviews and a 40 minute sessions of interventions were performed three times a week for two weeks. Pain intensity was measured by Numerical Analogue Scale for pain before and after the intervention. Descriptive and inferential statistics, including independent t-test and chi-square test, were used to analyze the data. The results showed a significantly higher reduction in pain intensity scores in the reflexology group after the intervention as compared with the non-specific massage group. However, the non-specific massage was also significantly effective in reducing pain. Reflexology can be effective in reducing the severity of chronic back pain, i.e. it is able to reduce pain from moderate to mild. Thus, this technique is recommended to be performed by nurses as a complementary therapy in patient care.

How public perceive diabetes: a qualitative study

Diabetes has a high prevalence in Iran, and its incidence is estimated to increase from 3.5 million adults in 2005 to 5.1 million by 2025. Given the high prevalence of diabetes in Iranians, it is surprising that little is known about understanding of diabetes in the general population. This study aimed to explore how people without diabetes interpreted the disease. This study was conducted as a qualitative content analysis, using unstructured and in-depth interviews, with the participation of 21 individuals without diabetes [13 women and 8 men], 18-61 years old, who were selected for this purpose from the cities of Isfahan and Tehran from October 2010 to May 2011. The data were analyzed using latent content analysis method. The participants had different beliefs and ideas about diabetes and most of them gave a negative and black image of diabetes. Although a small number of individuals considered diabetes better than AIDS and cancer, they often took diabetes as blackness, end of romances, and a gradual death. However, the study sample was small. The findings show that the participants' perspective on diabetes is negative and destructive. It seems shaping a new identity in the path of empowerment could be difficult within the social and cultural context. These findings can give an insight to health care providers to realize how important it is to find the public perception about diabetes. They are responsible to change or modify the public view on diabetes by introducing the disease with the help of prominent people and educating individuals in the society on all aspects of living with diabetes, not simply the symptoms and disabilities it brings along.