Self-image and self-esteem in African-American preteen girls: implications for mental health.

Current research suggests that pubertal development is occurring earlier in African-American preteen girls in response to familial contextual factors, which may make them vulnerable to low self-image and self-esteem dissatisfaction. This lowering in self-image and self-esteem may contribute to the early initiation of sexual behaviors, putting these girls at risk for pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. These potential risks place these girls in need of prepubertal health promotion, yet preadolescents are not frequently a focus of nursing care delivery except when summer camp and back-to-school physicals are performed. This article presents an in-depth overview of selected literature on self-esteem, discusses findings on self-image and self-esteem from a pilot study on pubertal influences on accelerated sexual behavior, and proposes health promotion strategies for pre- and peripubertal girls to promote positive mental health outcomes. More focused attention is needed on health promotion targeting the developmental transition health needs of prepubertal girls. Targeted health promotion activities may foster healthier pre- and peripubertal girls' perceptions of the meaning of their pubertal physical changes and stronger self-image and self-esteem. The goal of these health promotion activities should be to foster continuity of positive self-image and self-esteem among preteen girls, which is essential to prevent initiation of premature-for-age risk of problem behavior, such as early coitus.

What is nursing research: evolving approaches to methods and content.

In addressing what constitutes nursing research in the 1990s, approaches to conducting nursing research and examples of studies are discussed in the context of historical forces. The early studies were characteristically educational in focus and quantitative by design. Nursing research has come a long way in regard to foci of the questions asked, diversity of approaches to knowledge development, and sophistication of research methods. Three approaches are described to illustrate the diversity in nursing research: quantitative, qualitative, and triangulation.

Cognitive skills & development competencies for conducting research critiques.

As the nursing profession expands its unique scientific body of knowledge, it is essential that all professional nurses become capable of evaluating the scientific and clinical merits of this information generated by nursing research. Three developmental levels of research critique skills are delineated by the nurse reader's competencies: novice, intermediate, and advanced. Each developmental level is described in relation to five cognitive skills which underlie the proposed competencies: knowledge, comprehension, analysis, evaluation, and synthesis.

1988 Delphi survey of nursing research priorities for New York State.

In order to inform decisions about nursing research and health care policy, the Council on Nursing Research of the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) conducted a Delphi survey to identify the priorities for nursing research in New York state. The Delphi technique is a method of eliciting judgements from experts for the purpose of short-term forecasting and planning. The survey was conducted by mail in three rounds during 1988. Round I required participants to identify three primary research priorities for the nursing profession. In Round II participants ranked the 37 most frequently identified categories from Round I. The highest 16 categories from Round II were ranked by participants in Round III to provide the final 10 nursing research priority categories for New York state. All members of the New York State Nurses Association holding a minimum of a master's degree in nursing were invited to participate. The response rates were: Round I, 34% (N = 872); Round II, 38% (N = 985); Round III 37% (N = 974). Of the 10 nursing research priority categories identified in the final round, 5 relate to nurses, 2 relate to nursing, and 3 relate to clients. None of the high-risk conditions or populations with whom nurses work appear in the top 10, and only 2 of these are ranked in the top 15 priority categories. These priority categories will be used by the NYSNA Council on Nursing Research to influence its future agenda and activities. They can be used by the nursing profession and others for planning, policy making, and establishing nursing research funding priorities.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

A theoretical framework for nursing research in child abuse and neglect.

Three existing models for studying child abuse and neglect are evaluated and a theoretical framework with 10 assumptions about parent-child transactions in abusive or neglectful families are presented.