Depression, anxiety and quality of life in stroke survivors and their family caregivers: A pilot study using an actor/partner interdependence model.

BACKGROUND: Depression and anxiety are common in stroke survivors as well as their family caregivers. However, it is not known whether each person's emotional distress contributes to their partner's quality of life (QOL). OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the effect of depression and anxiety on QOL in stroke survivor-caregiver dyads using dyadic analysis technique - the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM). METHODS: This was a cross-sectional pilot study with a total of 30 participating dyads (30 stroke survivors and 30 family caregivers) from Hospital Rehabilitasi Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This pilot study was conducted over a period of 3 months, between December 2014 and February 2015. Depression and anxiety were assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). QOL was assessed using the Short Form-12 Health Survey (SF-12). All analyses were carried out using IBM SPSS version 22. Dyadic data were analysed using multilevel modelling (MLM). RESULTS: Depression was uniquely associated with an individual's own QOL. Survivors and caregivers with higher depression had poorer physical component summary (PCS) scores and mental component summary (MCS) scores. Stroke survivor's depression exerted a significant actor effect on their PCS (b=-1.42, p=0.001) and MCS (b=-1.52, p<0.001). Caregiver's depression exerted a significant actor effect on their PCS (b=-2.53, p<0.001) and MCS (b=-1.51, p=0.004). Caregivers' anxiety negatively influenced their own MCS (b=-0.58, p=0.031). Furthermore, depression exerted a significant partner effect on PCS in stroke survivors (b=-1.19, p=0.003). Caregivers' depression was also related to their stroke survivors' poorer QOL, particularly PCS. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that depression affects the QOL of both stroke survivors and caregivers, not only emotionally but also physically. This dyadic study also has evidence pointing to depression in caregivers and its association with stroke survivors' physical QOL.

Effects of family-centered care on the satisfaction of parents of children hospitalized in pediatric wards in a pediatric ward in Chaloos in 2012.

BACKGROUND: Family-centered care (FCC) involves holistic care and requires cooperation with the family in planning, intervention, and the evolution of the care that is being provided. Many previous studies have provided results that indicate the importance of the family's involvement in pediatric care, but there is still resistance in doing so within the organizational culture of the hospitals in Iran. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of FCC on the satisfaction of parents of children hospitalized in 2012 in the pediatric ward at Razi Hospital in Chaloos, Iran. METHODS: This Quasi-experimental study was conducted in 2012 in the pediatric ward at Razi Hospital in Chaloos, Iran. Seventy hospitalized children between the ages of 1 and 3 who suffered from diarrhea, vomiting, or pneumonia were selected through convenience sampling. They were divided randomly into two equal groups, a control group (routine care) and an experimental group (family-centered care). SPSS Statistics 14 software was used to analyze the data, and p<0.05 was considered to be significant. RESULTS: In the FCC group, the mean score of satisfaction among the parents of the children was 20 out of 90 before the intervention, but, after the FCC method was used, it increased to 83.2 out of 90. In addition, a significant difference was found between the scores of satisfaction for the control and experimental groups (p<0.001), and all parents of children in the experimental group expressed high satisfaction. CONCLUSION: Our findings showed that the practice of FCC in caring for the sick children can increase the satisfaction of their parents significantly. The role of the family's involvement is critical in every component of the intervention efforts, as shown by the constructs of participatory support, educational support, and psychological support. Thus, a notable implication here is that FCC may lead to increased quality of care and should be included in the educational programs of the nursing staff in pediatric ward.

Aging parents' caregiving and rehabilitating a brain-injured son: an autoethnography of a 10-year journey.

This autoethnography withdraws from information accumulated through a 10-year period of daily-weekly-monthly descriptive observation-recording (triangulated- parents & house-helper) of caregiving and rehabilitating of our brain injured son (survivor/care-receiver). We present it as an interactive voice of verbal conversation, thoughts, insights, and interpretations. It is delivered as a series of articulation intra-pulsated with our interrogation of societal-cultural-religious perspectives, norms and biases, and aligns with the CAP (Creative Analytical Practices) method of Ellis. This autoethnography glows from the richness of information which encapsulates the challenges confronting us the aging parent caregivers, the gradual incremental mind mending achievement of our son, and the interactive verbalizations and thoughts, of the caregivers, care-receiver, and other persons. The overwhelming mental and physical pain and struggle of the survivor and the aging caregivers and their sense of celebratory-satisfaction with rehabilitation progress are highlighted. Interpretation and valuation of positive and negative responses of other persons provide a critical matrix to this autoethnography. We intend to inform other caregivers and relevant healthcare professionals through this autoethnography.

Alternative supplement for enhancement of reproductive health and metabolic profile among perimenopausal women: a novel role of Nigella sativa.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this open label crossover study was to investigate the effects of Nigella sativa on reproductive health and metabolic profile of perimenopausal women in Rawang, Malaysia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty nine perimenopausal women aged 45 to 65 were allocated into the experimental group treated orally with 1600mg/day of encapsulated pure powdered N. sativa compared to control groups treated with placebo for 12 weeks. At the end of study, participants underwent washout period for fourteen days before being crossed over and continued for another cycle of treatment. Participants were abstained from taking any other drugs, herbal preparations or food supplements throughout the study. Body weight, height, waist circumference, blood pressure, biochemical parameters and hormonal levels were measured at baseline and at the end of experiment for both cycles. Face to face interview was carried out at baseline and every week to check for compliance, minimize dropouts and to record reproductive health and quality of life indicators using Greene climacteric and SF-36 instruments. RESULTS: The treatment groups in both cycles showed significant improvement with reference to low density lipoprotein cholesterol and blood glucose (P<0.05). There were no significant differences between groups in total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein and triglyceride concentration. Treatment with N. sativa induced a significant reduction of prevalence and severity of menopausal symptomsas well as significant improvement in some components of quality of life (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: These results suggested that treatment with N. sativa exert a therapeutic and protective effect by modifying weight gain, improving lipid profile and blood glucose as well as hormonal level which is believed to play an important role in the pathogenesis of metabolic syndrome during menopause.

Prevalence of neck pain and associated factors with personal characteristics, physical workloads and psychosocial among male rubber workers in FELDA settlement Malaysia.

UNLABELLED: Rubber tapping processes posed potential risk of various health problems among rubber workers. It ranges from simple musculoskeletal aches to more serious and complicated structural damage to bone, muscles, tendons and nerves of musculoskeletal system. These health problems might be linked directly to the arduous demands of farm labor. OBJECTIVES: A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the prevalence of neck pain (NP) and musculoskeletal symptoms (MSS) and its association with personal characteristics, physical workloads and psychosocial factors among rubber workers. METHODS: Stratified random sampling method was adopted and a total of 419 rubber workers in FELDA's scheme Malaysia participated in this study. Data was collected through face to face interview using modified Standardized Nordic Questionnaire (SNQ) and Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ). RESULTS: The results revealed the prevalence of NP was 59.9% and weak correlation with age (?= -0.184, p= 0.001) and a positive weak correlation with working hours per day (?= 0.099, p= 0.043) significantly. All physical workloads (neck flexion or rotation, awkward postures, repetitive motion and static postures) had significant weak to moderate positive correlation with NP (p<0.05). Job insecurity was found to have weak and positive correlation with NP (p<0.05). Binary logistic regression analysis showed risk factors for NP were decreased with age (OR= 3.92, 95% CI 1.61 - 9.58, p=0.003), increase in neck flexion or rotation (OR= 9.52, 95% CI 5.55 - 16.32, p= 0.001), awkward postures (OR=2.23, 95% CI 1.29 - 3.86, p= 0.004) and static postures (OR= 1.86, 95% CI 1.10 - 3.14, p= 0.021). CONCLUSION: This study showed that high prevalence of NP was associated with neck flexion or rotation, awkward and static postures.

Development of a questionnaire for assessing factors predicting blood donation among university students: a pilot study.

University students are a target group for blood donor programs. To develop a blood donation culture among university students, it is important to identify factors used to predict their intent to donate blood. This study attempted to develop a valid and reliable measurement tool to be employed in assessing variables in a blood donation behavior model based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), a commonly used theoretical foundation for social psychology studies. We employed an elicitation study, in which we determined the commonly held behavioral and normative beliefs about blood donation. We used the results of the elicitation study and a standard format for creating questionnaire items for all constructs of the TPB model to prepare the first draft of the measurement tool. After piloting the questionnaire, we prepared the final draft of the questionnaire to be used in our main study. Examination of internal consistency using Chronbach's alpha coefficient and item-total statistics indicated the constructs "Intention" and "Self efficacy" had the highest reliability. Removing one item from each of the constructs, "Attitude," "Subjective norm," "Self efficacy," or "Behavioral beliefs", can considerably increase the reliability of the measurement tool, however, such action is controversial, especially for the variables "attitude" and "subjective norm." We consider all the items of our first draft questionnaire in our main study to make it a reliable measurement tool.