Defining Self-Management for Solid Organ Transplantation Recipients: A Mixed Method Study.

Patients with Solid Organ Transplantations (SOTx) face long-term lifestyle adaptations, psychological and social adjustments, and complex self-care regimes to maintain health post-transplant. Self-management (SM) skills represent important aspects of nursing communication with SOTx patients; however, there is potential for SM to be defined narrowly in terms of medication adherence. The study presented here collated the existing definitions in a mixed method review in order to identify SM attributes for this group (including those unique to this population). Secondary analysis of a dataset and bibliographic analysis and an expert panel were used to develop a comprehensive working definition of SOTx patients. The analysis comprised critical interpretation of the evolving definition content, concepts, and contexts of application in current usages and over time. We identified eight definitions and 63 cited definition sources from bibliographic analysis. Findings identified limitations of the existing definitions. Population-specific attributes included optimisation of transplant outcomes, active engagement in healthy behaviours, control, structure, and discipline characteristics, and moderating factors of patient motivation, self-efficacy, and cognitive function. A critical appraisal of definitions indicated inadequately defined aspects such as setting, temporal dimension, concept interaction, interventions, and measurable outcomes. The bibliographic analysis highlighted the influence of broader chronic illness constructions of SM, underpinning the generalisable SM attributes in current definitions. Further research may advance the development of a definition in exploring the relevance of SOTx-specific attributes of the definition.

Rapport: A conceptual definition from the perspective of patients and families receiving palliative care.

OBJECTIVE: To explore patient and family perceptions of rapport in interactions with health professionals and use the findings to develop a conceptual definition of rapport. METHODOLOGY: We undertook a qualitative Interpretive Description study; semi-structured interviews were conducted between November 2020 and May 2021. Participants included 18 patients and 11 family members recruited using a random approach from four hospice locations in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and analysed to develop a conceptual definition of rapport using guidelines (Podsakoff et al., (2016). A COREQ checklist was completed. RESULTS: Four dimensions of rapport were identified which formed the basis of a conceptual definition: 1) the type of relating, 2) the essence of rapport experienced, 3) key communication characteristics, and 4) the effect on interactions. CONCLUSION: Based on patient and family experiences of rapport, this study formulated a conceptual definition of rapport. This definition will support clinical education and practice and inform future research related to rapport. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: A conceptual definition of rapport can provide clarity for both research and clinical practice. It may be used as a tool for health professionals to reflect upon their experiences with rapport and develop expertise in this area.

A Systematic Review of Foreign Language Listening Anxiety: Focus on the Theoretical Definitions and Measurements.

A considerable amount of research on foreign language (FL) listening anxiety has emerged since 1986, yet a lack of sufficient attention on the conceptual definitions of FL listening anxiety and inappropriate employment of instruments to measure FL listening anxiety cause confusion in the research to a certain extent. This study presents a systematic review of 35 years of FL listening anxiety research. After initially searching 2,172 studies in 7 databases, 76 studies were identified for in-depth analysis. The results verified that the definitions of FL listening anxiety can be categorized into psychological, social, and situation-specific approaches, but the measure of FL listening anxiety was not only examined under these three approaches, but also additionally examined by sources of anxiety, learner characteristics, FL listening ability, and physiological factors. The results also showed that the definition of FL listening anxiety was not clear-cut nor that the measure was accurate, and to a great extent, the measure and the definition were inconsistent. This inconsistency can attribute to conceptual fuzziness in theoretical defining and casual utilization of scales without justification or explanation. We argue that future research needs to provide a tighter link between a more precise definition based on different situations and a valid measure of FL listening anxiety.

Oral frailty dissected and conceptualized: A scoping review.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this scoping review was threefold: 1. to identify existing definitions of oral frailty and similar terms in gerodontology literature; 2. to assess the oral frailty definitions and analyze whether these are well formulated on a conceptual level; and 3. in the absence of existing definitions meeting the criteria for good conceptual definitions, a new conceptual definition of oral frailty will be presented. METHODS: A search was performed in electronic databases and internet search engines. Studies explaining or defining oral frailty or similar terms were of interest. A software-aided procedure was performed to screen titles and abstracts and identify definitions of oral frailty and similar terms. We used a guide to assess the quality of the oral frailty definitions on methodological, linguistic, and content-related criteria. RESULTS: Of the 1,528 screened articles, 47 full-texts were reviewed. Thirteen of these contained seven definitions of oral frailty and ten definitions of similar terms. We found that all definitions of oral frailty contain the same or equivalent characteristics used to define the concepts of 'oral health', 'deterioration of oral function', and 'oral hypofunction'. Between the seven definitions, oral frailty is described with a different number and combination of characteristics, resulting in a lack of conceptual consistency. None of the definitions of oral frailty met all criteria. CONCLUSION: According to our analysis, the current definitions of oral frailty cannot be considered 'good' conceptual definitions. Therefore, we proposed a new conceptual definition: Oral frailty is the age-related functional decline of orofacial structures.

Ten ignored questions for stress psychology research.

Stress psychology is an interesting and important interdisciplinary research field. In this perspective article, we briefly discuss 10 challenges related to the conceptual definition, research methodology, and translation in the field of stress that do not receive sufficient attention or are ignored entirely. Future research should attempt to integrate a comprehensive stress conceptual framework into a multidimensional comprehensive stress model, incorporating subjective and objective indicators as comprehensive measures. The popularity of machine learning, cognitive neuroscience, and gene epigenetics is a promising approach that brings innovation to the field of stress psychology. The development of wearable devices that precisely record physiological signals to assess stress responses in naturalistic situations, standardize real-life stressors, and measure baselines presents challenges to address in the future. Conducting large individualized and digital intervention studies could be crucial steps in enhancing the translation of research.

Performance, Achievement, and Success in Psychological Research: Towards a More Transparent Use of the Still Ambiguous Terminology.

The present study focused on the terms performance, achievement, and success that have often been used in an ambiguous manner in psychological research. The way in which the meaning of the domain-specific constructs referred to with the terms was established for measurement purposes was investigated on a sample of 262 articles that stemmed from 35 randomly selected journals covering the full range of psychological research. The operational definitions of the constructs referred to with the terms performance, achievement, and success were analysed and compared in both inter- and intra-domain fashion. Additionally, we assessed the match among the observed operational definitions and general conceptual definitions available in the extant literature. The results revealed terminology-related issues in educational and occupational research. Within these domains, lack of adherence to the multidimensionality of the constructs of academic performance, academic achievement, academic success, job performance, and career success was identified as a general issue. Further, the tendency to measure job performance via indicators based on self-rating was considered inadequate given the objective nature of the term performance. In educational research, the overlap of the academic performance, academic achievement, and academic success constructs was confirmed, resulting from the tendency to use GPA as a universal indicator of academic outcomes. Based on the present findings, we provided several recommendations in order to encourage future research towards a more transparent way of dealing with the particular constructs referred to with the terms performance, achievement, and success. We suppose the present study may help researchers in the full range of psychological disciplines to add clarity to their own research.

What is palliative care? Perceptions of healthcare professionals.

BACKGROUND: Despite increased attention and knowledge in palliative care, there is still confusion concerning how to interpret the concept of palliative care and implement it in practice. This can result in difficulties for healthcare professionals in identifying patients whom would benefit from palliative care, which, in turn, could lead to a delay in meeting patients' needs. AIM: To explore healthcare professionals' perceptions of palliative care. METHOD: Data were collected through twelve interprofessional focus group interviews in community care and hospital wards in south Sweden (n = 74). All interviews were analysed with latent content analysis. RESULTS: Three domains were revealed: first, a blurred conceptual understanding as participants described palliative care using synonyms, diagnoses, phases, natural care and holism; second, a challenge to communicate transitions concerned the importance of how and when the transition to palliative care was communicated and documented; finally, a need for interprofessional collaboration was described as well as the consequences for severely ill persons, relatives and healthcare professionals when it was not established. CONCLUSION: The perceptions about how to interpret palliative care differed as well as when palliative care should be offered and decided, which might have practical consequences. How long a person has left to live is of great significance for decision-making, caregiving and preparation in palliative care. The challenge is to use interprofessional communication to promote understanding and collaborate across varied care levels. Integrating palliative care across diverse care levels could be one way to reduce the ambiguity of palliative care.

Proposal for field-based definition of soil bound pesticide residues.

The environmental significance of soil bound pesticide residues (SBPR) is potentially large because approximately one third of the applied mass of the pesticides in agriculture ends up as SBPR. At EU level, there is little regulatory guidance available on the environmental risk assessment of SBPR in spite of some 50 years of SBPR research. This lack of guidance is partially caused by the fact that the current definitions of SBPR are founded on non-extractability in soil in the laboratory whereas for the environmental risk assessment not the soil in the laboratory but the soil in the field is the system of interest. Therefore a definition of SBPR is proposed that is based on the field soil: a molecule (further called 'the mother molecule') is soil bound if a relevant part of this molecule has become part of the solid phase in the soil and if this relevant part will never be released again to the liquid phase in soil under relevant field conditions in the form of this mother molecule or in the form of another molecule that may possibly raise environmental or human toxicological concerns. This mother molecule may be the parent substance that is applied to the soil but it may also be a metabolite of this parent substance. A consequence of the definition is that the SBPR terminology becomes more precise because the mother molecule of the soil bound residue has to be specified. A further consequence is that very strong but reversible sorption of molecules such as paraquat is not considered soil-bound residue anymore (as may be demonstrated by a self-exchange extraction procedure). Furthermore, the definition requires that risk managers have to define what they consider as 'relevant field conditions' (e.g. include also changes of agricultural fields into forests?).

A conceptual definition of quality of life with a left ventricular assist device: results from a qualitative study.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a conceptual definition of quality of life (QoL) with a left ventricular assist device (LVAD). BACKGROUND: Conceptual and operational definitions of QoL with an LVAD are lacking. METHODS: A grounded theory method was used. Adult, outpatient LVAD recipients (n = 11) participated twice in individual or paired interviews. RESULTS: A conceptual definition of QoL while living with an LVAD was established as: "Being well enough to do and enjoy day-to-day activities that are important to me." Participants described 5 important life domains consistent with QoL literature: physical, emotional, social, cognitive, and spiritual/meaning. However, participants identified unique concerns not addressed by generic or heart failure disease specific measures typically used in the LVAD population. CONCLUSION: Existing generic and heart-failure specific QoL measures are not adequate for understanding QoL among LVAD patients. Cognition and spiritual/meaning domains were significant; these need inclusion for comprehensive QoL assessment in the LVAD population.