Nursing around the world: Japan - preparing for the century of the elderly.

Japanese society, highly modern, yet traditional, is undergoing change due to economic and demographic pressures. The aging of the population has placed tremendous strains on its universal health and social service systems. The nursing profession is responding to these societal changes by its involvement in policy decisions and service enhancements for the elderly, and by increasing the educational level of nurses. In this article, nursing education, practice, and research as well as demographic trends in Japan are described.

Use of a silicone nipple shield with premature infants.

Nipple shields have been used with premature infants to facilitate breastfeeding in certain circumstances. In this paper, clinical observations and chart reviews regarding nipple shield use by 15 premature infants are reported. Volume taken at the first breastfeeding was compared to the volume prescribed by the physician, based on caloric requirements for infant weight. Using test weights, we found that 60 percent of these infants consumed 50 percent or more of the prescribed amount with the first use of the nipple shield. The nipple shield was found to be useful in certain circumstances where mothers had attempted breastfeeding previously.

Taking the lead in environmental health: defining a model for practice.

1. The link between the environment and health has become increasingly evident during the last half of this century. 2. The concept of environment has been central to nursing practice since its origins; however, nursing's description of this concept has varied over the years. Occupational health nurses tend to place more emphasis on environmental aspects of health and safety than other nursing specialists. 3. An ecological systems model provides a convenient framework for describing the interrelationships and interactions that exist in the various levels of environmental systems. 4. This model can serve as means to guide the development of primary, secondary, and tertiary preventive strategies to address environmental and occupational health problems.

Influencing policy on diapering: not for babies only.

Recently, nurses and health professionals have been recognized as advocates on the health and environmental issues related to disposable diaper use. In this article, the history of an education project on diapering alternatives and the processes used to affect policy proactively are reviewed. Lessons from this effort to influence institutional and environmental policy are useful as health care professionals become increasingly involved in policy decisions in community and work settings.

Social support for women during chronic illness: the relationship among sources and types to adjustment.

The purpose of this study was to explore who in the network provided what type of support in relation to psychosocial adjustment for women experiencing chronic illness. The Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire was administered to 125 chronically ill women, along with measures of depression (CES-D), family illness demands (Demands of Illness Inventory), marital quality (Spanier Dyadic Adjustment Scale), and family functioning (FACES-II). Repeated-measures ANOVA was used to examine the average amount of support from four main sources: partner, family, friends, and others. Women perceived more support from the partner than from any other source. Family members provided more affective support than friends or others. Friends provided more affirmation than family or others. After the partner, women reported confiding about their illness more to health care providers, counselors, or religious personnel than family or friends. Pearson correlation coefficients were computed for the amount of support from each source and the measures of individual, dyadic, or family adjustment. In general, affect, affirmation, and reciprocity from both the partner and family were associated with less depression, higher marital quality, and better family functioning.