Factors influencing health practices of Nepalese adolescent girls.

INTRODUCTION: Nepalese adolescents, like their counterparts in other places of the world, need to focus on positive health care practices. There is a paucity of studies on factors that influence positive health practices among adolescents in developing countries such as Nepal. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationships between social support, self-esteem, hopefulness, and positive health practices among Nepalese adolescent girls. METHODS: A convenience sample of 101 Nepalese adolescent girls participated in the study. The Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, Personal Resource Questionnaire, Part II, The Hopefulness Scale for Adolescents, and The Personal Lifestyle Questionnaire were used to measure self-esteem, social support, hope, and health practices of adolescents, respectively. Pearson product moment correlations were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Statistically positive correlations were found between positive health practices and social support, self-esteem, and hope. CONCLUSION: The data demonstrated that social support, self-esteem, and hope relate to positive health practices of Nepalese adolescent girls. Nurse practitioners and other health care providers need to better understand factors that impact the health of adolescents around the world.

Eastern Indians' childbearing practices and nursing implications.

The purpose of this article is to assist nurses to understand and provide culturally sensitive perinatal care to Eastern Indians residing in the United States. Traditional practices during pregnancy, labor and delivery, and after delivery are described. The strategies that are culturally relevant and sensitive to the needs of the clients are suggested.

Stress and coping: junior baccalaureate nursing students in clinical settings.

The purpose of this study was to identify junior baccalaureate nursing students' perceived stressors and ways of coping during the clinical component of nursing education and the use of coping strategies by students with different ethnic backgrounds. Data were collected from 107 junior nursing students enrolled in the first clinical course. Results revealed students frequently perceived stressors in the clinical setting. The findings also revealed that students utilized two problem-focused coping strategies--problem solving and seeking social support coping strategies--more frequently than two emotion-focused coping strategies--tension reduction and avoidance coping. Additional findings revealed that both Caucasian and African-American students used more problem-focused than emotion-focused coping strategies.

Perceived stressors and coping strategies among individuals with rheumatoid arthritis.

The purpose of this study was to identify the stressors perceived by individuals with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to describe coping strategies used to cope with illness-related stressors and their perceived effectiveness. Data were collected from 53 patients attending a rheumatology clinic. Results revealed that pain was the predominantly perceived stressor followed by limitation in mobility, difficulties in carrying out activities of daily living, helplessness, dependency on others, threat to self-esteem, interference in social activity, interference in family relationships, difficulties performing at work, and discomfort of the treatment. Subjects used optimistic and confrontive coping strategies more frequently than other coping strategies and optimistic coping strategies were perceived to be most effective. Point biserial correlation revealed a number of significant relationships between specific stressors and use of coping strategies: interference in family relationships and use of evasive coping strategies (r = 0.27, P < 0.05), and threat to self-esteem and use of both evasive (r = 0.45, P < 0.01) and emotive (r = 0.28, P < 0.01) coping strategies. Similarly, a number of significant relationships were found between specific stressors and the effectiveness of the coping strategies: interference in family relationships and the effectiveness of both evasive (r = 0.31, P < 0.05) and emotive (r = 0.38, P < 0.01) coping strategies, and threat to self-esteem and the effectiveness of emotive coping (r = 0.29, P < 0.05).

Stress and coping: first-year Nepalese nursing students in clinical settings.

The purpose of this descriptive study was to identify stressful events of first-year Nepalese nursing students in the clinical setting and to determine how they cope with the stressful events. The sample consisted of 104 nursing students who had been in the clinical setting for 6 to 8 weeks. Four stressful events identified were: interpersonal relationships, initial experiences, feeling helpless, and demeaning experiences. The most frequently reported stressful event was interpersonal relationship (50%). Eight categories of coping from students' description were problem-solving, accepting responsibility, seeking social support, self-control, tension reduction, avoidance, wishful thinking and negative feelings. The majority of students utilized the "seeking social support" category of coping.

Promoting assertive behaviours in traditional societies.

Nurses have been encouraged to speak out, to exert power and to stand up for their rights as well as the rights of patients. Yet in many cultures strong assertive women are accepted less readily by both men and other women. The question then is: How can nurses in a traditional society be helped to develop assertive behaviours? Based on their experience in Malawi and Nepal, the authors identify the factors influencing nonassertive behaviours and present a model to foster appropriate behaviours in nurses in these and similar countries.