Nurses' experiences of providing transcultural nursing care to minority patients in Yunnan province: A descriptive qualitative study.

Cultural competency is essential for providing transcultural nursing care. This qualitative study explores nurses' experiences of providing transcultural nursing care to patients from ethnic minority in Yunnan province, China, with the aim of supplementing and enriching previous quantitative research. Yunnan is home to 25 ethnic minorities with the highest proportion (33.1%) of people from ethnic minorities in China. A descriptive qualitative method was used to describe the experiences of 12 nurses. Data were collected in October 2020 through semistructured interviews and analyzed using conventional content analysis methods. Three themes were generated, including limitations of resources to provide transcultural nursing care, challenges in providing transcultural nursing care, and concerns about the quality of nursing care. The results suggest that there is scope for improving cultural competence of nurses in Yunnan through education that would enable them to provide high-quality transcultural nursing care. Training topics could include transcultural knowledge, cultural sensitivity, minority languages, and immersive multicultural experiences. Other suggested improvements include a resource room for transcultural care, the accommodation of religious and dietary needs, and dedicated staff who lead transcultural care in hospitals.

Work environments for healthy and motivated public health nurses.

Objectives By defining health as mental health and productivity and performance as work motivation, the study aimed to identify work environments that promote the health and motivation of public health nurses, using the concept of a healthy work organizations, which encompasses the coexistence of excellent health for each worker and the productivity and performance of the organization.Methods Self-administered questionnaires were sent to 363 public health nurses in 41 municipal public health departments in Chiba prefecture. The questions were comprised of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) for mental health and the Morale Measurement Scale (5 items) for work motivation. Demographic data, workplace attributes, workload, and workplace environment were set as independent variables. The Comfortable Workplace Survey (35 items in 7 areas) was used to assess workers' general work environments. The "Work Environment for Public Health Nurses" scale (25 items) was developed to assess the specific situations of public health nurses. While aggregation was carried out area by area for the general work environment, factor analysis and factor-by-factor aggregation were used for public health nurse-specific work environments. Mental health and work motivation results were divided in two based on the total scores, which were then evaluated by t-tests and χ(2) tests. Items that showed a significant correlation were analyzed using logistic regression.Results The valid responses of 215 participants were analyzed (response rate: 59.2%). For the general work environment, high scores (the higher the score, the better the situation) were obtained for "contributions to society" and "human relationships" and low scores were obtained for "career building and human resource development." For public health nurse-specific work environments, high scores were obtained for "peer support," while low scores were obtained for "easy access to advice and training" and "organizational public health initiative." Mental health was found to be related to "contributions to society" (OR=2.86), "workload" (OR=3.00), and "organizational public health initiative" (OR=2.08). Work motivation was found to be related to "contributions to society" (OR=6.73) and "recognition of public health nurse's judgment and opinion" (OR=1.59).Conclusion Both mental health and work motivation were related to working environments where public health nurses can feel that their work is meaningful to society. It is therefore necessary to improve work environments so that objectives are clearly defined to raise aspirations and nurses' activities and achievements are recognized and shared.

Life-space mobility and social support in elderly adults with orthopaedic disorders.

The purpose of this cross-sectional survey was to explore relationships between life-space mobility and the related factors in elderly Japanese people who attend orthopaedic clinics. The study measures included surveys of life-space mobility (Life-space Assessment (LSA) score), social support (social network diversity and social ties), physical ability (instrumental self-maintenance, intellectual activity, social role), orthopaedic factors (diseases and symptoms) and demographic information. The questionnaire was distributed to 156 subjects; 152 persons responded, yielding 140 valid responses. Mean age of the sample was 76.0 ± 6.4 (range, 65-96 years), with 57.9% women (n = 81). In a multiple regression analysis, the six factors were significantly associated with LSA. Standardized partial regression coefficients (ß) were gender (0.342), instrumental self-maintenance (0.297), social network diversity (0.217), age (-0.170), difficulty of motion (-0.156) and intellectual activity (0.150), with an adjusted R(2) = 0.488. These results suggest that outpatient health-care providers need to intervene in not only addressing orthopaedic factors but also promoting social support among elderly Japanese.

Features of perceived neighborhood environment associated with daily walking time or habitual exercise: differences across gender, age, and employment status in a community-dwelling population of Japan.

OBJECTIVE: Perceived neighborhood environment (NE) is considered a determinant of daily physical activity (PA). However, evidence concerning differences among types of PA, gender, and age is limited. The study purpose was to clarify the association between NE and walking time (WT) or habitual exercise (HE) across gender, age, and employment status in a community-dwelling population of Japan. METHODS: A questionnaire mail survey with a stratified random 7,515 sampling was conducted in a northeast city in January 2007. Multiple logistic analysis was conducted to examine the associations between seven NE indices and WT or HE across gender, age, and employment status: 20-39 (young-employed), 40-59 (middle-employed), and 60-79 (old-employed or old-unemployed) after adjustment for age and means of transportation. RESULTS: A total of 3,806 residents (52.4 % females) completed the survey. Traffic and crime safety in old-unemployed males and proximity to service facilities and traffic and crime safety in middle-employed females were significantly associated with a low risk of insufficient WT. Proximity to service facilities in old-employed males, number of service facilities, places for walking, and good view in middle-employed females, and density of dwelling and proximity to service facilities in old-unemployed females were significantly associated with a low risk of non-HE. CONCLUSIONS: The association between NE and WT or HE differed across type of PA, gender, age, and employment status, and was observed mainly in middle- and old-aged females. The middle- and old-aged female residents' PA possibly were more influenced by their NE, and NE would contribute to promote active living.

[Mobile-phone e-mail use, social networks, and loneliness among Japanese high school students].

PURPOSE: The purposes of this study were to assess the loneliness of Japanese high school students who own and use a mobile phone, to clarify the relationships between students' loneliness and their social network and frequency of use of e-mail feature, and to demonstrate relationships with a student's social network and recognition of the benefits and drawbacks of mobile phone use. METHOD: The participants were 227 students from two classes in each grade of a high school in the Kanto region of Japan. Participants answered a questionnaire covering the UCLA Loneliness Scale as well as questions pertaining to the circumstances of use of their mobile phones, their social networks (e.g., number of friends), and their perceptions of the benefits and drawbacks of mobile phone use. The questionnaires of students owning a mobile phone were analyzed. Total scores for the UCLA Loneliness Scale were calculated, and factor analysis was performed for the benefits and drawbacks. RESULT: A total of 220 questionnaires were returned, for which 94.1 percent of respondents owned a mobile phone. The percentages of male and female respondents were 58% and 42%. Chronbach's alpha for the UCLA Loneliness Scale (total score) was 0.87, a result similar to previous studies with high school and university students. Factor analysis revealed five factors associated with the benefits and drawbacks of mobile phone use. Multiple-regression analysis showed that 42.9% of the variance in "frequency of e-mail use" was explained by grade level, frequency of mobile phone use, and two of the five factors from the benefits and drawbacks ("difficulty of communication," and "possible sleep loss due to nighttime e-mailing"). Stepwise multiple-regression analysis revealed that 24.4% of the variance in UCLA Loneliness Score was explained by gender, the frequency of e-mail use, the number of friends and the presence/absence of a girlfriend or boyfriend. CONCLUSION: Presence of an active social network and frequent e-mailing by mobile phone reduced students' loneliness. The frequency depended on their recognition of the benefits and drawbacks of mobile phone use and by the frequency of mobile phone use. This study established that students appreciate the usefulness of their mobile phone as an immediate communication tool, and are aware of its limitations. Although they experience frustration and lack of sleep (because of nighttime use), students use mobile phones to deepen their friendships.

[Factors related to the mental health of workers dispatched to foreign countries].

The purpose of this study was to elucidate factors related to mental health standards of workers dispatched to foreign countries. The subjects were 317 male employees of an electronics company aged between 30 and 49 yr who were first dispatched to North America, Southeast Asia, or Western Europe without movement between the actual locations. A questionnaire survey was conducted on these subjects. Items of investigation consisted of 12 General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) items (indices of mental health standards), 4 baseline characteristics (age, assignment period, areas, and types of work), and 37 other items such as sociocultural factors, medical-sanitary factors, work factors, daily lifestyle factors, social support factors, and environmental factors. Multiple regression analysis was performed on the GHQ scores as criterion variables and baseline characteristics and various factors as explanatory variables. As a result, the following factors were correlated with GHQ scores in workers dispatched to foreign countries: inconvenience caused by different manners and customs (beta = 0.256) among sociocultural factors: inability to understand doctor's instructions (beta = 0.129) among medical-sanitary factors: bad relationships with local superiors (beta = 0.229) and the frequency of paid vacation in a year (beta = -0.129) among work factors: taking exercise less than once in a week (beta = 0.141) and smoking habit (beta = 0.136) among daily lifestyle factors, and lack of communication with the family (beta = 0.177), lack of persons to consult with (beta = 0.138), being dispatched alone (beta = 0.119), and lack of cultural exchange with the local community (beta = 0.117) among social support factors. Since social support factors accounted for 4 of the 10 items related to GHQ scores, personal relationships may be important for mental health in workers dispatched to foreign countries.