Effects of nonlocal geographically separated hospitalizations upon families.

When children are hospitalized at a treatment facility in a different state or country, families must deal with separation from existing support systems and the added burden of travel. The purpose of this study was to identify the stressors, coping mechanisms, and resources used by families hospitalized more than 200 miles away from home. Twenty-eight parents participated in serial interviews throughout their child's hospitalization. Content analysis was used to identify major themes and to describe the experience. From the findings, it was evident that these types of hospitalization and separation have implications for the service member, spouse, hospitalized child, siblings, and the family system. In recognizing the impact of a nonlocal hospitalization, caregivers have an opportunity for early assessment, recognition, and intervention to mediate stress and promote positive outcomes for all parents, children, and families.

Evaluation of a virtual reality simulator in sustainment training.

Is there a better way to train and prepare our health care personnel to function in a chemical biological environment while continuing to provide for patient care in a variety of healthcare settings? The purpose of this pilot work was to compare the effectiveness and user satisfaction of the Cath-Sim Intravenous Training System to the traditional IV arm model for teaching and achieving competence at IV insertion while in Mission-Oriented Protective Posture level 4 for Army medical personnel. Grounded in adult psychomotor learning principles and in an established evaluation model, participants were tested on both the traditional IV arm and Cath-Sim models and then allowed to practice on each model while at Mission-Oriented Protective Posture level 4. One week later, participants were again tested on both models. Outcome measures included (1) a computer-generated score sheet measuring time to success and criterion success/nonsuccess on the Cath-Sim; (2) time and success rating for IV insertion on the IV arm model; and (3) satisfaction evaluations completed by the participants. There were conflicting evaluation scores for recommending one model over the other. Participants felt that there was some benefit to each model depending on user, setting, and purpose.

Health promotion in active-duty military women with children.

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which selected demographic characteristics, definition of health, perceived health status, perceived self-efficacy, and resources are related to the health promoting behaviors of active-duty women with children and to describe qualitatively the experience of being an active-duty mother. Grounded in Pender's (1996) Health Promotion Model, this study used methodological triangulation to test a hypothesized model. A sample of 141 active-duty women with children using military health services participated. Resource availability and commitment were key components of being successful at balancing home and work demands.

Testing a model of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in military women with children.

The purpose of this study was to test a model of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in military women and their children. The convenience sample consisted of 238 women, 81 smokers and 157 nonsmokers, with a mean age of 37 years (SD = 9.9). Participants were either on active duty or were reservists and/or military dependents. Model constructs, some of which were adapted from the transtheoretical model of behavior change, measured personal and situational factors, pros and cons of ETS exposure, self-efficacy to resist ETS, mother's expectation for child's ETS exposure, and mother's self-efficacy to reduce child's ETS exposure. The mediating variable was the mother's daily ETS exposure, and the outcome variable was the child's daily ETS exposure. The trimmed model showed that 32% of the variance in mother's daily exposure (mediating variable) was accounted for by living with a smoker, having high ETS "pros" (as opposed to ETS "cons"), having less self-efficacy to resist ETS, and having greater self-efficacy to reduce the child's exposure. There was a significant, positive relationship (r = 0.51, p = 0.01) between the mother's and child's daily ETS exposure (outcome variable).