Assessing the impact of an outpatient education program for patients with gestational diabetes.

In this descriptive study, two treatment approaches designed to help women with gestational diabetes manage their pregnancies were compared: a hospital, outpatient-based, nursing intervention and the traditional, office-based care provided by obstetricians. A research model was constructed using three variables suggested by the literature: input variables (risk factors prior to gestation), moderating variables (conditions that occur during pregnancy), and outcome variables (normal vs abnormal outcomes for mother and infant). This research model was used to contrast the two treatment approaches. The principal statistical procedure employed was logistic regression, a backward elimination method where the dependent variable is expressed as an odds ratio. Neither treatment approach significantly reduced the risk of abnormal outcomes for mother or infant. First-time mothers, patients with gestational diabetes on medications, and patients with gestational diabetes experiencing complications during pregnancy had a significantly greater risk of having an infant with one or more abnormal outcomes.

Correlates of self-care among the independent elderly: self-concept affects well-being.

There was a significant positive correlation between self-care and self-concept, suggesting that psychosocial interventions that enhance an older person's self-concept may be expected to improve self-care and, conversely, that participation in self-care activities may be expected to strengthen self-concept. Although functional health status was not significantly correlated with self-care, it was related to self-concept, suggesting either that functional health has a role in maintaining self-concept among older persons or that self-concept positively contributes to functional health status. Self-concept and self-care can be enhanced in older persons by communicating respect and demonstrating caring behaviors, reinforcing health-promoting behaviors, encouraging activities of daily living that contribute to independence, and by avoiding a focus on self-care deficits.