The effect of a school-based fruit and vegetable promotion program on adolescents' fruit and vegetable consumption behavior in Turkey.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of a school-based F&V promotion program developed in line with the transtheoretical model (TTM) on the consumption behavior of middle school students. DESIGN AND METHODS: The study was designed as semi-experimental research with pre-/post- and follow-up tests and a control group. It was conducted at a total of six middle schools in the district of Fethiye/Mugla, Turkey. Three of the schools were selected with the random clustering method as an intervention group and the others as the control group. The F&V promotion program was executed in the intervention group for a period of 24 weeks. RESULTS: It was found in the 6th and 12th months after the intervention that the daily number of portions of fruits (p<.01) and vegetables (p<.01) consumed by the students in the intervention group was significantly more compared to the control group. The perception of the pros of F&V consumption and self-efficacy in the intervention group were higher than in the controls (p<.01). CONCLUSIONS: The school-based F&V consumption promotion program was effective in increasing the number of portions of fruits and vegetables students consumed and in improving their behaviors in this regard. APPLICATION TO PRACTICE: The study indicates that the interventions described may be recommended to school nurses for use in their efforts to increase levels of F&V consumption.

A study of the relationship between the study process, motivation resources, and motivation problems of nursing students in different educational systems.

BACKGROUND: The study process is related to students' learning approaches and styles. Motivation resources and problems determine students' internal, external, and negative motivation. Analyzing the study process and motivation of students yields important indications about the nature of educational systems in higher education. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to analyze the relationship between the study process, and motivation resources and problems with regard to nursing students in different educational systems in Turkey and to reveal their effects according to a set of variables. DESIGN: This is a descriptive, cross-sectional and correlational study. SETTINGS: Traditional, integrated and problem-based learning (PBL) educational programs for nurses involving students from three nursing schools in Turkey. PARTICIPANTS: Nursing students (n=330). METHODS: The data were collected using the Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F) and the Motivation Resources and Problems (MRP) Scale. RESULTS: A statistically significant difference was found between the scores on the study process scale, and motivation resources and problems scale among the educational systems. This study determined that the mean scores of students in the PBL system on learning approaches, intrinsic motivation and negative motivation were higher. A positive significant correlation was found between the scales. CONCLUSIONS: The study process, and motivation resources and problems were found to be affected by the educational system. This study determined that the PBL educational system more effectively increases students' intrinsic motivation and helps them to acquire learning skills.

The Effectiveness of Structured Supported Education Programs for Families With Intellectually Disabled Children: The Example of Turkey.

This a quasi-experimental study that was conducted at a specialized education school in a city in Turkey for the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of a structured supported education program for the parents of children with intellectual disability (ID). The education program was conducted with a total of 8 groups attending 3 sessions. 104 individuals completing the program sessions and comprised the sample. In a comparison of parents' levels of knowledge, the mean number of correct answers on the pretest was 15±3.75 and 19.25±2.88 on the posttest. Beck hopelessnes scores were 9.75±4.14 before the education and 6.25±4.77 after the education; this differences were statistically significant. It was found that the supported education of parents of individuals with ID made an impact on the family's knowledge and level of hopelessness.

Evaluating the cancer related fatigue by children, mothers, and nurses in Turkish pediatric oncology patients.

PURPOSE: The aims of this study were to evaluate cancer related fatigue by children', mothers', and nurses' perspectives in recently diagnosed pediatric oncology patients, to evaluate levels of agreement between the fatigue scales, and to evaluate the relationships between fatigue and sample characteristics. METHOD: The sample of this cohort, descriptive, correlational study consisted of 26 recently cancer diagnosed children between the ages of 7 and 12, receiving inpatient treatment in pediatric oncology/hematology units, their mothers and their nurses. The data about children's fatigue were collected using the Child Fatigue Scale-24 h, Parent Fatigue Scale-24 h and Staff Fatigue Scale-24 h, for two consecutive days in the second and third weeks of the patient's first chemotherapy treatment cycle. RESULTS: The mean scores of the Child Fatigue Scale-24 h showed the children's fatigue to be at a moderate level, a statistically significant difference was found between the CFS-24 h and PFS-24 h mean scores in the first and second measurement (p < 0.05). The Intraclass correlation showed a good agreement between scales and repeated measurements for these scales. CONCLUSION: Fatigue in recently diagnosed cancer patients is an important symptom which is of particular concern to the children, their parents and nurses. The study showed that these three scales can be used alone an also used simultaneously, and also proved that these scales are reliable for repeated measurements.

Nutritional style of parents and examination of the effective factors.

AIM: This study was performed to determine the nutritional style in parents who had children aged between 3 and 6 years and the effective factors. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The sample number of this descriptive study was calculated with the sample formula for unknown population and the parents of 300 children aged between 3 and 6 years who attended a nursery school in the province of Izmir constituted the sample. The sample was reached in two periods. "The Sociodemographic Data Form" and "the Parent Nutritional Style Scale" were used as data collection tools. Written approval was obtained from the scientific ethics committee of the Ege University, Faculty of Nursery (B.30.2.EGE.0.82.00.00/29-288). The heights and weights of the children were measured by the investigators with certain measurement tools. The body mass index standard deviation score (BMI SDS) was calculated for each child. The children whose body mass index standard deviations were between +2 and -2 standard deviation were considered to have normal weight. The Auxology program was used to obtain these data. The body mass indexes of the parents were calculated according to the height and weight values stated by themselves. In analyses of the data, student's t-test and Mann-Whitney U test were used for comparison of two groups. Variance analysis and Kruskal-Wallis variance were used for multiple comparisons; Bonferrroni corrected Mann-Whitney U test and Shefee test were used for advanced analysis. RESULTS: It was found that the variables including the age, education level, number of children, working status of the mothers and the perception of the child's weight by the mother affected the nutritional style of the parents. The mean "emotional" and "instrumental" nutrition subdimension scores of the mothers who were young, who had an education of primary school and who were housewifes, the mean "encouraging nutrition" subdimension scores of the mothers who had small for gestational age babies and the mean "emotional" nutrition sub-dimension scores of the mothers who perceived their babies' weights as lower than normal were found to be higher (p<0.05). No significant difference was found in the nutritional style in relation with the child's BMI SDS and the mother's own BMI. CONCLUSIONS: The nutritional styles of parents are affected by some sociodemographic and anthropometric properties, but the relation with the child's weight should be demonstrated by observational studies.

Health professionals' estimation of cancer-related fatigue in children.

Many studies show that cancer-related fatigue is one of the most common symptoms experienced by children as a side effect of cancer therapy. This problem has grown considerably in recent years; the exact mechanisms underlying fatigue remain unclear. Therefore, assessing and managing this symptom can be problematic. This article describes the findings from a survey evaluating how health professionals (n = 56) at the Pediatric Oncology Centers in Izmir currently define and assess cancer-related fatigue. The results demonstrate that while the problems associated with fatigue are acknowledged, assessment tools are not widely used, and the majority of health professionals report that they would benefit from further education on the subject to assist in the care of patients.

A comparison of problem-based and traditional education on nursing students' critical thinking dispositions.

Determining the critical thinking (CT) levels of students in undergraduate nursing schools is important in terms of establishing the methods of education that should be used. Although there is some evidence that active learning approaches like problem-based learning are effective in developing CT, the findings are inconclusive. This descriptive analytic study compared levels of critical thinking among senior nursing students (N=147) in two educational programs, one of which used a problem-based learning (PBL) model while the other used a traditional model. The California critical thinking disposition inventory (CCTDI) was used as a data collection tool. Comparisons between the groups were made using t-test analysis. There was a significant difference (p<0.05) between the critical thinking disposition scores of the seniors in the PBL school and those in the school implementing the traditional model. Analysis of sub-scale scores showed significant differences in truth-seeking and open-mindedness. These findings add to the evidence that the active and self-directed nature of PBL encourages students' ability to think critically, be tolerant of the ideas of others and evaluate conflicting information before reaching a conclusion.