Self-care of the feet in people with type 2 diabetes. A qualitative study.

OBJECTIVE: To understand the experiences of adults over 65 years of age with type 2 diabetes mellitus, regarding foot self-care. METHOD: Qualitative phenomenological study with a descriptive approach. It is carried out in the facilities of the Primary Care Center of Les Planes de Sant Joan Despí, Barcelona, belonging to the Catalan Institute of Health. For the data collection, a semi-structured and individual interview was used, with a script of basic aspects to be explored, not closed and focused on the objectives of the research. The interviews were carried out between June 2019 and December 2020. A thematic analysis was carried out concomitantly with the collection of these. RESULTS: A final sample of 13 persons (4 men and 9 women) participated in the study. Adherence to diabetic foot self-care recommendations is irregular. Participants explain risky behaviours despite knowing that they can cause injury to feet previously considered high risk. The evaluation of the podiatrist supposes an economic cost that some people cannot afford. CONCLUSIONS: The nurse has to do an exhaustive follow-up of how persons with diabetes take care of her feet, insisting on preventive recommendations not only in the annual review but every time the person attends the diabetes follow-up consultation. Effective nurse-podiatrist communication is needed to improve prevention and follow-up of people at risk of diabetic foot disease.

Effectiveness of Narrative Photography in Increasing Nursing Students' Empathy: A Pretest-Posttest Study.

BACKGROUND: Narrative photography is a method that can enhance nursing students' empathy when caring for individuals with HIV. METHOD: This quasiexperimental pre-test-posttest study included 28 first-year nursing students from a public university in Barcelona, Spain. Empathy was assessed using the Spanish validated version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. RESULTS: Empathy scores were higher in the intervention group (p = .01). Women scored higher on empathy and also on the fantasy, empathic concern, and personal distress dimensions. A significant relationship was found between the perspective taking dimension and students choosing nursing as their first option at university. Having no experience in the health field was associated with higher scores on the empathic concern dimension (p = .027). CONCLUSION: Narrative photography is an effective learning method to promote nursing students' empathy when caring for individuals with HIV. [J Nurs Educ. 2022;61(12):701-705.].

Emotional support for parents with premature children admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit: a qualitative phenomenological study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Parents who have a premature child in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) are in a stressful situation. The aim of this paper is to analyze the emotional support received by parents with premature children admitted to NICUs. METHODS: A phenomenological qualitative study with an explanatory and interpretative approach was employed. RESULTS: The findings are: 1) The experience and emotions of a premature delivery; showing sadness, guilt and despair, stress, anxiety, and uncertainty over the future of their child. 2) The emotional support received by the father/mother of the partner; discussion of how their partner is cared for, as well as the care given to the premature child and other children in the family; the stress that this causes them on not being able visit all at once. 3) The emotional support offered by the health professionals (doctors, nurses, etc.); parents indicate that they have received very strong support from the nurses, but also that they were not always asked about their feelings when in the NICU. 4) The informal emotional support of relatives and parents in the NICU. After talking with other support mothers, the mothers then felt less guilty. CONCLUSION: As regards premature birth, the mothers showed feelings of sadness and guilt, asked themselves where they had failed and what they had done wrong.