Attitudes towards suicidal behaviour and associated factors among nursing professionals: A quantitative study.

WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: Self-confident health professionals with positive and understanding attitudes can take better care of people with suicidal behaviour, but the factors associated with these attitudes are not known. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE?: The majority of nursing professionals had no experience or training in mental health or suicide. They were less self-confident and had more negative attitudes. Nurses and nursing assistants who worked before in mental health services were more understanding with people with suicidal behaviour. Nurses and nursing assistants who were working in prehospital services were less self-confident to taking care of people with suicidal behaviour. Some members of the nursing team had already seriously considered committing suicide. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE?: The practicing, support and training in mental health may improve the nurses' attitudes and emotional competencies. It is important to know why few nurses had suicide-related training, despite the relevance of this issue. Training in mental health or suicide need to include attitudinal and emotional competencies. It is important to offer emotional support to emergency nursing professionals. ABSTRACT: Background The attitudes towards suicide of emergency nurses may affect the care provided. However, the factors associated with these attitudes remain unclear. Objective To investigate attitudes towards suicidal behaviour and associated factors among nursing professionals working in emergency settings. Methods A cross-sectional observational study including 28 nurses and 118 who were nursing assistants employed at two emergency services in Brazil was conducted. Data were collected in 2015 using a self-administered sociodemographic questionnaire and the Suicide Behavior Attitude Questionnaire (SBAQ). Results The majority of participants reported having no experience or training in mental health or suicide. They reported more negative feelings towards the patient and a lower self-perception of professional competence regarding suicidal behaviours, and these attitudes seemed to reinforce each other. Nurses who worked in mental health services reported less moralistic/judgemental attitudes. Working in prehospital services was associated with having a lower self-perception of professional competence. There were professionals who reported thinking seriously about committing suicide. Conclusion When combined with support and training, practicing mental health nursing may serve as an opportunity to develop favourable attitudes and emotional competences, and these issues need to be addressed in suicide education strategies.

Two Tailored Provider Curricula Promoting Healthy Weight in Lesbian and Bisexual Women.

PURPOSE: Provider curricula to reduce potential weight bias or stigma in treating lesbian and bisexual (LB) women who are overweight or obese were pilot-tested in two unique settings. Trainings used LB cultural competency and motivational interviewing techniques to improve provider-patient interactions. METHODS: Two training formats were used: Clinic Format and Academic Format. Clinic Format training was pilot tested at Lyon-Martin Health Services, a Program of HealthRight360, a community health center serving women, lesbians, and transgender people in San Francisco and in two community settings. Academic Format training was pilot tested by the Mautner Project of Whitman-Walker Health with physicians, medical residents, and students at Georgetown, George Washington, Howard, and Vanderbilt Universities. Both programs measured provider knowledge and attitude change. RESULTS: Both programs saw significant percentage point gains in knowledge about LB women's avoidance of health care based on body size. Participants in the Academic Format program saw the greatest gain in knowledge about understanding health care avoidance (30 percentage point increase), whereas Clinic Format program participants gained most in understanding how to appropriately discuss weight loss with patients (23 percentage point increase). CONCLUSIONS: Both programs increased provider knowledge about the barriers to health care facing LB women who are overweight and obese, reducing the potential for future negative interactions. However, the two programs differed in how they conceptualized the relationship between weight and health, likely contributing to differences in knowledge gain among participants at each site. Future studies should test differences between the two formats across site type or staff baseline knowledge differences.

Multidisciplinary approach for the study of an Egyptian coffin (late 22nd/early 25th dynasty): combining imaging and spectroscopic techniques.

This paper demonstrates that an educated methodology based on both non-invasive and micro invasive techniques in a two-step approach is a powerful tool to characterize the materials and stratigraphies of an Egyptian coffin, which was restored several times. This coffin, belonging to a certain Mesiset, is now located at the Museo Civico Archeologico of Bologna (inventory number MCABo EG 1963). Scholars attributed it to the late 22nd/early 25th dynasty by stylistic comparison. The first step of the diagnostic approach applied imaging techniques on the whole surface in order to select measurements spots and to unveil both original and restored areas. Images and close microscopic examination of the polychrome surface allowed selecting representative areas to be investigated in situ by portable spectroscopic techniques: X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), Fiber Optic Reflectance Spectroscopy (FORS) and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). After the analysis of the results coming from the first step, very few selected samples were taken to clarify the stratigraphy of the polychrome layers. The first step, based on the combination of imaging and spectroscopic techniques in a totally non-invasive modality, is quite unique in the literature on Egyptian coffins and enabled us to reveal many differences in the ground layer's composition and to identify a remarkable number of pigments in the original and restored areas. This work offered also a chance to check the limitations of the non-invasive approach applied on a complex case, namely the right localization of different materials in the stratigraphy and the identification of binding media. Indeed, to dissolve any remaining doubts on superimposed layers belonging to different interventions, it was necessary to sample few micro-fragments in some selected areas and analyze them prepared as cross-sections. The original ground layer is made of calcite, while the restored areas show the presence of either a mixture of calcite and silicates or a gypsum ground, overlapped by lead white. The original pigments were identified as orpiment, cinnabar and red clay, Egyptian blue and green copper based pigments. Some other pigments, such as white lead, Naples yellow, cerulean blue and azurite were only found in the restored areas.

Lesbians' and bisexual women's definition of health.

Health is an abstract term used to describe the state of the human body, a mental state or the likelihood of longevity. Throughout history, many definitions have been provided by agencies and healthcare professionals. Although the meaning of health has a long and well-examined history, there remains a gap in the literature surrounding the meaning of health to specific populations of people. The purpose of this article is to present an analysis of the meaning of health from the perspective of lesbians and bisexual women. A content analysis was performed on the definition of health as reported by 189 sexual minority women. The conclusions from this study strongly suggest that health interventions for lesbian and bisexual women focus on what women want to achieve, rather than on what individual behavior should be.

Hipertensión arterial: principales factores de riesgo modificables en la estrategia salud de la familia / Hypertension: major modifiable risk factors in the family health strategy

Este artículo tiene como objetivo el estudio de los principales factores de riesgo de la hipertensión arterial, modificables por la actuación de la Estrategia Salud de la Familia. La metodología utilizada fue una revisión narrativa de literatura con recogida de datos en la base electrónica SCIELO, con los descriptores: hipertensión, factores de riesgo, equipo multiprofesional y educación en salud. El trabajo ocurrió en el período de diciembre de 2010 a febrero de 2011. Se localizaron 581 artículos sobre HAS, siendo que 11 fueron considerados para el análisis. Los resultados indican que la educación en salud en la atención básica, especialmente en la Estrategia de Salud de la Familia (ESF) constituye un instrumento de intervención importante, pues conociendo la realidad de la población que atienden, las intervenciones propuestas por el equipo multiprofesional pueden producir resultados positivos. Se observó la necesidad de valoración de nuevos conceptos de salud-enfermedad y participación del usuario de salud en la elaboración de un plan de intervención, con estímulo al abandono del consumo de tabaco y del uso abusivo de alcohol, reducción de peso entre aquellos con sobrepeso, implementación de actividades físicas, reducción del consumo de sal, aumento del consumo de hortalizas y frutas, además de la disminución en el consumo de alimentos grasos, entre otros, para estimular el auto-cuidado promoviendo una mejora en la calidad de vida de la población (AU)

This article aims to study the main risk factors for hypertension, which are modifiable in the Family Health Strategy. The methodology used was a narrative review of literature to collect data in the electronic SCIELO containing the key words: hypertension, risk factors, multidisciplinary team and health education. Data collection occurred between December 2010 and February 2011. We found 581 articles on hypertension, and 11 were considered for analysis. The results indicate that health education in primary care, especially in the Family Health Strategy (ESF) is an important intervention tool because knowing the reality of the people who attend, the interventions proposed by the multidisciplinary team can produce positive results. There is a need for an appreciation of new concepts in health care and health user participation in preparing the plan of action, stimulating smoking cessation and alcohol abuse, weight reduction among the overweight, introduction of physical activity, reduction of salt intake, increased consumption of vegetables and fruits, besides the reduction of fatty foods, among others, in order to stimulate self-care and promote a better quality of life (AU)