Lived experience of women with gestational diabetes mellitus living in China: a qualitative interview study.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the lived experience of women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) living in China in order to add knowledge about how the Chinese women suffer from GDM. DESIGN: A qualitative interpretive interview study. Data were collected with a snowball sampling technique. Phenomenological hermeneutics was used as the analysis method based on Ricoeur's phenomenological hermeneutical interpretation theory. SETTING: The study was performed at the participants' work places, or at the obstetric clinics or wards at two provincial hospitals and one municipal hospital in the southeast of China. PARTICIPANTS: Inclusion criteria were age ≥18 years, diagnosis of GDM without other pregnancy complications, in 34th gestational weeks-postpartum 4th weeks and speaking Mandarin Chinese without speech impediment. 62 women, who met the inclusion criteria, took part in the study. RESULTS: The lived experience of the women with GDM living in China was formulated into a main theme: 'longing for caring care'. The main theme was derived from four themes: being stricken by GDM, wishing to receive caring GDM care, being left alone to struggle with GDM and trying to adjust and adapt to life with GDM. CONCLUSION: The eagerness for caring care in China was highlighted. The lack of caring care could be one of the possible reasons why the professional-patient relations were deteriorating in China. It could be useful for health providers and health policymakers to receive education and training about caring care. Using the health metaphor of balance and 'patient participation' and 'patient-centred' approaches may benefit women with GDM and thus improve the quality of care in China.

Quality of care from the perspective of women with gestational diabetes in China.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the quality of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) care experienced by women in China and how it could be improved. METHODS: A qualitative study was conducted at a municipal hospital in south east China. Women who had been diagnosed with GDM at 34-38weeks of pregnancy were enrolled during two periods; between May 1 and July 31, 2012, and between April 1 and July 31, 2013. Data regarding patient-perceived care quality were collected through semi-structured individual interviews and were analyzed by qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: The study enrolled 44 patients; the interviews recorded a lack of professional care resources for GDM, a lack of high-quality personalized care for women with GDM, and patients' suggestions regarding how to improve GDM care. CONCLUSION: The participants reported a lack of high-quality GDM care, describing the core problem as an imbalance between over-stretched hospitals and low-efficiency under-utilized primary healthcare centers. Clinical-practice reforms identified, particularly in primary healthcare settings, included improving services through increasing the number of health professionals and material resources to comply with diabetes guidelines, and incorporating a humanistic approach in the provision of care.

'Is gestational diabetes a severe illness?' exploring beliefs and self-care behaviour among women with gestational diabetes living in a rural area of the south east of China.

OBJECTIVE: This study explores beliefs about illness and health and self-care behaviour among women with gestational diabetes living in a rural area of the south east of China. DESIGN: A qualitative exploratory study using semi-structured interviews and qualitative content analysis. SETTING: A hospital located in the outskirts of a city in the south east of China. PARTICIPANTS: Seventeen women with gestational diabetes in 34-38th pregnant weeks. RESULTS: The beliefs about gestational diabetes among the women in the present study were found to be bidirectional. Some of them feared the illness and its negative influence on health, while others believed that it was not a severe illness and disbelieved the diagnosis of gestational diabetes. They related their illness and health to the individual, social and natural factors. They mainly sought help from the professional sector, but did not fully comply with the professionals' advice. Diet control and exercise were their main self-care measures, but none of them self-monitored their blood glucose. They demonstrated their misunderstanding about diet control and self-monitoring of blood glucose. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlighted the serious lack of knowledge, lower level of risk awareness and poor self-care behaviour among women in this group. Health professionals were found to be the most important source of knowledge about gestational diabetes for these women. The influence of Chinese culture was demonstrated. Gestational diabetes among these women can most likely be improved by training the health professionals and by health education involving individuals, families and the rural communities.

The complexity in the implementation process of empowerment-based chronic kidney care: a case study.

BACKGROUND: This study is part of an interactive improvement intervention aimed to facilitate empowerment-based chronic kidney care using data from persons with CKD and their family members. There are many challenges to implementing empowerment-based care, and it is therefore necessary to study the implementation process. The aim of this study was to generate knowledge regarding the implementation process of an improvement intervention of empowerment for those who require chronic kidney care. METHODS: A prospective single qualitative case study was chosen to follow the process of the implementation over a two year period. Twelve health care professionals were selected based on their various role(s) in the implementation of the improvement intervention. Data collection comprised of digitally recorded project group meetings, field notes of the meetings, and individual interviews before and after the improvement project. These multiple data were analyzed using qualitative latent content analysis. RESULTS: TWO FACILITATOR THEMES EMERGED: Moving spirit and Encouragement. The healthcare professionals described a willingness to individualize care and to increase their professional development in the field of chronic kidney care. The implementation process was strongly reinforced by both the researchers working interactively with the staff, and the project group. One theme emerged as a barrier: the Limitations of the organization. Changes in the organization hindered the implementation of the intervention throughout the study period, and the lack of interplay in the organization most impeded the process. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicated the complexity of maintaining a sustainable and lasting implementation over a period of two years. Implementing empowerment-based care was found to be facilitated by the cooperation between all involved healthcare professionals. Furthermore, long-term improvement interventions need strong encouragement from all levels of the organization to maintain engagement, even when it is initiated by the health care professionals themselves.

Empowerment intervention in outpatient care of persons with chronic kidney disease pre-dialysis.

Empowering interventions can improve person-centered care. A pre- and post-evaluation using interactive research involving two years of empowering interventions was designed to improve quality of care in outpatients with chronic kidney disease who were pre-dialysis. The results showed significantly increased empowerment in the intervention group. Interactive research facilitated the implementation of the empowerment intervention, which may increase sustainability over time.

Level and determinants of diabetes knowledge in patients with diabetes in Zimbabwe: a cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION: A previous study of beliefs about health and illness in Zimbabweans with diabetes mellitus indicated limited knowledge about diabetes and the body, affecting self-care and health-care seeking behaviour. The aim of this study was to assess the level of diabetes knowledge in Zimbabwean adults with diabetes mellitus, to determine the main gaps in knowledge and identify the socio-demographic and diabetes-related determinants that predict diabetes awareness and self-care practices. METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive study was performed using a standardized self-report Diabetes Knowledge Test questionnaire (DKT) of 58 respondents, 32 women and 26 men. Results were analysed with descriptive and analytic statistical methods. RESULTS: The majority of the respondents scored average knowledge on all three sub-scales: general knowledge, insulin use and total knowledge, with an overall score of 63.1 ± 14, 2%. Major knowledge gaps were in areas related to diet, insulin use and glycaemic control. No significant differences in mean scores were detected in the diabetes knowledge sub-scales when comparisons were made of mean knowledge scores in relation to socio-demographic and diabetes-related characteristics. However, diabetes-related complications were significantly associated with lower total and general diabetes knowledge, and female gender was an independent determinant of low general knowledge. CONCLUSION: Knowledge gaps were evident in areas regarding insulin use, diet and glycaemic control. Low diabetes knowledge was associated with female gender and could be a risk factor for development of diabetes-related complications. Knowledge gaps need to be addressed in diabetes education to prevent development of diabetes-related complications.

The experience of empowerment in the patient-staff encounter: the patient's perspective.

AIM AND OBJECTIVE: The aim was to explore empowerment within the patient-staff encounter as experienced by out-patients with chronic kidney disease. BACKGROUND: Empowerment has an important role to play in the patient-staff relationship in the case of patients with a chronic disease. When it comes to patients with chronic kidney disease, there has been little research on empowerment, for which reason interviewing such patients about their experiences of empowerment will provide useful knowledge within the context of out-patient care. DESIGN: A qualitative interview study was chosen to gain an understanding of empowerment from the patient perspective. METHOD: The study was carried out at an out-patient clinic in Sweden and involved 20 patients with chronic kidney disease. The interviews were subjected to latent content analysis. RESULTS: Five of the seven sub-themes emerging from the analysis represented empowerment: Accessibility according to need, Confirming encounter, Trust in the competence of the healthcare staff, Participation in decision-making, Learning enables better self-management. The other two represented non-empowerment: Meeting with nonchalance, Lack of dialogue and influence. From the seven sub-themes, one comprehensive theme was generated: Creation of trust and learning through encounter. CONCLUSION: The main finding regarding the central role of the creation of trust and learning through the patient-staff encounter underlines the importance of understanding empowerment from the patient's perspective. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Nursing and other healthcare staff need knowledge and understanding of the meaning of empowerment from the patients' perspective to meet their needs in out-patient care.

Empowerment in outpatient care for patients with chronic kidney disease - from the family member's perspective.

BACKGROUND: Family members of persons with pre-dialysis chronic kidney disease may experience feelings of vulnerability and insecurity as the disease follows its course. Against this background, the aim of the present study was to explore empowerment in outpatient care as experienced by these family members. METHODS: An inductive approach for qualitative data analysis was chosen. The study sample comprised 12 family members of pre-dialysis patients at an outpatient kidney clinic. Two interviews with each family member were subjected to content analysis to gain an understanding of empowerment from the family members' perspective. RESULTS: Having strength to assume the responsibility was the main theme that emerged from the following five sub-themes: Being an involved participant, Having confirming encounters, Trusting in health-care staff, Comprehending through knowledge, and Feeling left out. Four of these five sub-themes were positive. The fifth subtheme illuminated negative experience, indicating the absence of empowerment. CONCLUSIONS: Family members' experience of empowerment is dependent on their ability to assume the responsibility for a relative with chronic kidney disease when needed. The findings emphasise the need for a family perspective and the significance of a supportive environment for family members of persons in outpatient care.

Implementation of a nutritional programme in elderly people admitted to resident homes.

AIM: The aim was to test the hypothesis that education provided to staff regarding nutritional needs and individualizing nutritional care will improve the nutritional status and functional capacity of elderly people newly admitted to resident homes. DESIGN: Pre- and posttest, quasi experimental. SETTING: Resident homes. SUBJECTS: Sixty-two residents (20 men, 42 women) in the experimental group and 53 (14 men, 39 women) in the control group were consecutively included. Mean age was 85 years. METHODS: On admission and after 4 months, nutritional status was assessed using a combination of anthropometry (weight index, arm muscle circumference and triceps skinfold thickness) and biochemical measurements (serum albumin and transthyretin). Functional capacity and overall cognitive function were also assessed. In the experimental unit, the staff received education about nutritional needs and individualized nutritional care. RESULTS: After 4 months the number of residents assessed as protein energy malnourished decreased from 20 to seven in the experimental (p = 0.004), and from 17 to 10 in the control group (p = 0.1). In the experimental group, motor activity (p = 0.006) and cognitive function (p = 0.02) increased. In the control group, motor activity decreased (p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that the intervention had effects, as the number of protein energy malnourished residents decreased in the experimental group and motor activity and cognitive function improved. No such improvements were seen in the control group.

The two-step Mini Nutritional Assessment procedure in community resident homes.

UNLABELLED: AIMS AND OBJECTIVITIES: The aims were to test internal consistency and interrater reliability of Mini Nutritional Assessment during implementation of Mini Nutritional Assessment in community residential homes and to test sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic predictivity of Mini Nutritional Assessment-short form vs. Mini Nutritional Assessment. BACKGROUND: There is a need in clinical practice to assess nutritional status in older people and to identify those who could benefit from early intervention. METHODS: The two-step Mini Nutritional Assessment procedure (Mini Nutritional Assessment-short form and Mini Nutritional Assessment) was used in 127 older people admitted to eight residential homes. In three of those homes (A, B and C), registered nurses simultaneously performed the assessment procedure, after receiving education and training. The intention was to offer the registered nurses a tool for independent practice use. RESULTS: Internal consistency was 0.68 (Cronbach's alpha) (n = 127). In residential home A, B and C, the registered nurses carried out Mini Nutritional Assessment in 45 residents out of 68. The agreement level between the author's and the registered nurses' assessments was 62% (kappa 0.41). In residential home A, B and C, the agreement level was 89%, 89% and 44%, respectively. Sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic predictivity of Mini Nutritional Assessment-short form vs. Mini Nutritional Assessment were 89%, 82% and 92%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The two-step Mini Nutritional Assessment procedure seems to be a useful tool to identify residents in need of nutritional interventions, despite the registered nurses not carrying out Mini Nutritional Assessment in all residents and the low agreement in residential home C. It indicates that to implement and use Mini Nutritional Assessment in nursing care demands the creating necessary staff resources, such as adequate staffing, sufficient education and continual supervision. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Because of the high sensitivity of Mini Nutritional Assessment-short form and Mini Nutritional Assessment, Mini Nutritional Assessment-short form alone might be sufficient for practice use, as its simplicity might increase its usefulness.

The willingness to eat. An investigation of appetite among elderly people.

The aim of this study was to identify and describe factors of importance with regard to appetite among elderly people. A qualitative approach was used and the method was grounded theory. Fifteen elderly people were interviewed using a method with two overall questions. The results show that the willingness to eat plays a central role in appetite among elderly people. The appetite is a state on a sliding scale, from good to poor appetite. Factors affecting the appetite include six categories: mood, personal values, wholesomeness, food, eating environment and meal fellowship. When planning and realizing nursing actions concerning eating, the willingness to eat has to be observed. The desire within every individual has to be given consideration, including all factors as well as how they affect each other. The willingness to eat contains internal factors dependent on mood and personal values, as well as external factors dependent on wholesomeness, food, eating environment and meal fellowship. These factors contain qualitative dimensions, which affect elderly people's appetites as well as their quality of life to a varying extent. Through this, it can be seen that there is a connection between their desire or willingness to eat and their will to live.