Bridging gaps between mind, body, & spirit. Healing the whole person.

Fifty percent of visits of primary care providers are for psychiatric problems making it desirable to screen for mental, addictive, or behavioral disorders at the level of primary care. Psychiatric/mental health nurses prepared at the master's level to practice in the blended clinical specialist/nurse practitioner role are well placed to treat or collaborate in the treatment of people who present with symptoms of physical or psychological problems. The role of the clinical specialist/nurse practitioner is evolving in response to changes in health demographics, epidemiology, scientific and technological advances, and changes in managed care. Advanced practice nursing education must continue to anticipate and meet on-going changes and challenges.

Healing the mind-body and nursing specialty splits. Conference regarding the "Blended" role in psychiatric/mental health nursing. June 5, 1998--University of Massachusetts, Lowell.

When the idea for this conference was born last year, our primary concern was for the graduates of our "blended" clinical specialist/nurse practitioner (CS/NP) program and the availability of a national examination credentialing them for this new advanced practice role. As we launched our new program and answered students' questions about credentialing, we were keenly aware of the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) position of waiting for at least 100 graduates nationally from programs like ours before developing an examination for "blended" role graduates. The purpose of this article is to share the outcomes of this conference and to inspire national collegial conversation about the serious issues we face as a specialty group in advanced practice nursing.

Nursing curricula and violence issues.

This article presents the findings of a survey of Canadian schools of nursing (N = 155) that determined the extent to which violence-related content is addressed in nursing curricula. The study yielded a response rate of 88%. Theoretical content regarding violence against children and women of all ages, and suicide as a response to abuse formed part of the curriculum of all schools of nursing, if only in readings. Child abuse and suicide received the greatest number of hours of instruction, followed by woman abuse, sexual assault, and elder abuse. University schools of nursing provided the greatest number of hours of instruction when compared with other types of schools. Schools in Western and Atlantic Canada provided the greatest number of hours of instruction on woman abuse when compared with other regions of the country. The majority of university schools provided experiential instruction in the area of violence, with the other types of schools providing very little such instruction. Findings revealed a sensitivity to the importance of including content on violence in nursing curricula; however, the approach to this content is largely incidental and heavily dependent on individual faculty interests. Implications of this study point to the need for the systematic inclusion of violence-related content and the sharing of resources among schools of nursing.

Woman abuse in South Africa: an exploratory study.

PIP: This study aims to address the problem of woman abuse in South Africa as a basis for program development for survivors of violence. It also presents documentation for the expansion of social, health, and legal services for abused women and children. Ethnographic interviews were conducted on 37 South African women from various community settings and institutions in the Johannesburg region. Two focus groups discussed issues from the interview data. Two aspects of woman abused in South Africa were revealed in this study, namely, the endemic culture of violence, and the existence of cheap labor of domestic workers. It was observed that women abuse and sexual assault are rampant because of the endemic culture of violence and by customs, culture, and tradition which tends to objectify women and make them feel like male property. Regarding child and elderly abuse, it appears that more cases are being reported in South Africa. This study confirms the need for national survey data and in-depth research with abused women themselves in order to acquire a clearer picture of the personal, familial, and societal costs of violence against women. Furthermore, acknowledgement of domestic violence and its overall burden on community stability and health is vital in implementing reforms in South Africa.^ieng

Violence content in nursing curricula: strategic issues and implementation.

Many nurse educators today are sensitized to the importance of including content on violence and victim/survivor care in various nursing education programmes. While a survey of Ontario's schools of nursing in Canada revealed a considerable number of hours devoted to this topic, the approach is largely incidental, depending heavily on individual faculty interests. National and international initiatives to stem the tide of violence against women and children, plus the strategic role of nurses in primary care, call for curricula in which this content is addressed systematically. To achieve this goal and avoid pitfalls such as an 'add-on' approach to curriculum revision, nurse educators' needs in Ontario were addressed in a series of workshops involving collaboration between faculty, clinical preceptors and community-based experts in victim/survivor care.

A victimization assessment tool: instrument development and clinical implications.

Although most health care providers now recognize the importance of crisis intervention, support, and/or treatment for survivors of violence and abuse, such care is compromised unless early detection becomes a routine part of intake and assessment protocols in nursing and other facets of health care. This paper describes the development of a tool to assist nurses and other primary care providers with routine assessment for victimization in diverse health and mental health settings. It includes outcomes of preliminary validity and reliability studies, and concludes with suggestions for use in clinical work with victims/survivors of abuse in an era of increasing international concern regarding the health implications of violence.

Battered women: intervention and prevention. A psychosociocultural perspective, Part 2.

Building on the foundation of understanding and comprehensive assessment of battered women, this article addresses service planning and intervention. Strategies are approached within the framework of a Crisis Paradigm developed from field research with battered women and their families. They include mechanisms such as support groups which link crisis service to the long-term needs of battered women, and systematic approaches to removing the obstacles which keep women victimized. An Assessment and Service Planning Guide (ASPG) is proposed for inclusion in routine health care of abused women. The article concludes with strategies for preventing violence at interpersonal and societal levels.

Battered women: understanding, identification, and assessment. A psychosociocultural perspective, Part 1.

The clinical implications of research with battered women and their families are discussed using the holistic framework of nursing and anthropology. Moving beyond superficial answers to "Why do battered women stay?," barriers to leaving that stem from the sociocultural roots of violence are examined. Understanding these obstacles and the characteristics of violent men is fundamental to sensitive interaction with abused women who frequently enter and leave health care systems with no direct attention given to their primary problem of abuse. Assessment techniques are suggested, and triage and comprehensive assessment protocols are presented to aid nurse practitioners and nurses in their response to this urgent public health problem.

Effect of major nutrient substitutions on body weight gain, blood glucose and cholesterol levels, and the rate of drug metabolism in the liver.

Rats were fed diets resembling a normal human diet, except that, in a complete factorial fashion, safflower oil and/or mineral oil were substituted for part of the fat, while fructose, lactose and/or cellulose were substituted for carbohydrate, and zein was substituted for milk protein. Food intake and weight gain were not influenced by cellulose and mineral oil, but zein decreased both substantially. Plasma cholesterol was unchanged by safflower oil or mineral oil but was decreased by fructose. Plasma glucose was reduced as the starch-to-sugar ratio increased. The rate of aniline metabolism was increased by lactose and/or zein, but the rate of ethylmorphine metabolism was decreased by safflower oil or mineral oil.

Taste rejection of nonnutritive sweeteners in cats.

Cats reject saccharin and cyclamate and are indifferent to dulcin, although they, like other mammals, prefer sucrose. The rejection threshold for saccharin found in this experiments, .0001 M, is about 2 log steps lower than a previously reported rejection threshold for sodium saccharin. Water produces a taste in cats adapted to their own saliva. The high sodium saccharin threshold may have resulted because the taste of the sodium saccharin was masked by the taste of the water solvent; however, saccharin may also be somewhat more aversive to the cat than sodium saccharin. Saccharin may produce an aversive taste because it stimulates receptor sites sensitive to substances bitter to man as well as those sensitive to sugars. In addition, saccharin may not be an effective stimulus for all sugar-sensitive sites.

Electrocortical activity characteristic of vitamin B6 deficiency in the rat.

Vitamin B6 deficiency is characterized by a variety of changes in the central nervous system. Weanling male white rats, fed different levels of pyridoxine for 60 days, showed consistent differences in both amplitude and frequency of their electrocortical activity. The more deficient animals displayed higher EEG voltages and a higher dominant frequency. These two effects were systematically related to pyridoxine intake and provided similar dose-response curves. The nutritional requirement for vitamin B6, as estimated from the EEG data, was in good agreement with that estimated from growth response data.