Women’s Expectations and Experiences Regarding Nursing Support during Childbirth

Context: Women giving birth always need to be supported and provided care during childbirth, trustful relationships with the health professionals, mainly childbirth nurses. The midwife can promote women feeling of being empowered and subsequently having positive experiences and satisfaction during childbirth.Aim: The study aimed to assess the women's expectations and experiences regarding nursing support during childbirth. Methods: A descriptive design was utilized in carrying out this study. A purposive sample of 400 women was recruited in this study that was conducted at the antenatal clinic and postnatal room, Ain Shams University Maternity Hospital. The study utilizes three tools: A structured interview questionnaire to assess socio-demographic characteristics of the study sample, the expectations of nursing support during labor and birth, and the childbirth experience questionnaire. Results: 58.3% of the studied sample had negative expectations toward nursing support.62.6% of the studied sample had negative experiences toward childbirth.Conclusions: The study concluded that more than half of the studied sample had negative expectations toward nursing support. Besides, slightly less than two-thirds of the studied sample had negative experiences toward childbirth. Also, there was a highly significant correlation between the total expectations of the nursing support score of the studied sample and their total childbirth experiences. The study recommended conducting an educational program for childbirth nurses regarding expectant mothers' expectations, wishes, and needs during labor

Effectiveness of Self-instructional Module on Knowledge and Remedial Practices Regarding Selected Minor Ailments Among Primigravida

Context: Most pregnant women complain of some degree of minor ailments that are not serious in themselves, but their presence decreases the mother's feeling of comfort and wellbeing, particularly among the primigravida.Aim: This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of the self-instructional module on knowledge and remedial practices regarding selected minor ailments among primigravida. Methods: A quasi-experimental design (one group pretest/posttest) was utilized to achieve the aim of this study—a purposive sample of 120 primigravida women. The study was carried out at the obstetrics and gynecology outpatient clinic in Benha university hospital. Data were collected through four main tools: A self-administered questionnaire to assess women's characteristics and obstetrical history, a maternal knowledge assessment questionnaire; maternal health practices assessment questionnaire, and a women's satisfaction questionnaire. Results: showed that the mean age of the studied sample was 23.02±7.57 years. An improvement with highly statistically significant differences was observed in women's knowledge and remedial practices regarding minor ailments at the post-intervention phase compared to the pre-intervention phase at (p<0.001). The majority of pregnant women were satisfied after the implementation of the self-instructional module. There was a non-significant positive correlation between total knowledge and total healthy practices regarding minor ailments at the pre-intervention phase (P>0.05) while there was a highly positive statistical correlation between total knowledge and total healthy practices regarding minor ailments at the post-intervention phase (P≤ 0.001). Conclusion: The research hypotheses were supported, and the self-instructional module had a positive effect on the improvement of pregnant women's knowledge and, in turn, remedial practices after its implementation. Also, there was a statistically significant reduction in the frequency of minor ailments at the post-intervention phase compared to the pre-intervention phase in favor of post-intervention. The antenatal self-instructional module regarding minor ailments should be restructured and reviewed to meet up the health needs of pregnant women, particularly primigravida

Effect of Aromatic Massage on Somatic Problems among a Cohort of Menopausal Women

Context: Menopause is a significant event in women's lives. It marks the end of a woman's natural reproductive life; it is usually accompanied by symptoms that affect the women's ability to perform their normal daily activities. Massage is one of the non-pharmacological methods that can help women cope with menopausal symptoms. Aim: The study aimed to evaluate the effect of aromatic massage on somatic problems among a cohort of menopausal women. Methods: A comparative quasi-experimental time serial (pre-posttest, study/control) design was used. The study was conducted at outpatient clinics of Ain shams University Maternity Hospital. A purposive sample of 74 menopausal women with menopausal symptoms was recruited in this study and divided randomly into an intervention group (Aromatic massage) and a control group (Massage only). Data were collected through three tools. A structured interviewing questionnaire is divided into three parts: general data, obstetrics, and menstrual history, the Kupperman index (menopausal assessment symptoms tool) to assess somatic menopausal symptoms, and the Visual Analogue Scale to assess the history of menstrual pain degree among menopausal women. Results: It revealed two matched groups of women with a mean age of 47.83±5.23 vs. 49.05±3.98 in the aromatic and massage-only groups, respectively. The pre/post-intervention results revealed a significant improvement in most somatic menopausal symptoms, decreasing the frequency of hot flushes attacks, paresthesia, vertigo, fatigue, myalgia, headache, heart palpitation, and formication in the aromatherapy massage group post-intervention and in the follow up (p<0.05). The comparison between the aromatic and massage-only groups revealed a significant difference between the two groups with a significantly lower mean score in total menopausal somatic symptoms. Conclusion: Aromatic massage with lavender, clary sage, jasmine, and rose dissolved in almond oil was effective in easing somatic menopausal symptoms compared to their pre-intervention level and compared to the massage-only group. The study recommended developing counseling programs for women about aromatic massage therapy at gynecological clinics.&nbsp

GIZA 11 AND GIZA 12; TWO NEW FLAX DUAL PURPOSE TYPE VARIETIES

Sixteen flax genotypes {13 promising lines and 3 check varieties viz., Giza 8 (oil type), Sakha 1 (dual purpose type) and Sakha 3 (fiber type)} were evaluated for straw, seed, oil yields and their related traits under twelve different environments; four locations (Sakha, Etay El-Baroud, Ismailia and Giza Exp. Stations through three successive seasons (2011/12, 2012/13 and 2013/14). These materials were evaluated in a randomized complete blocks design with three replications at the twelve above-mentioned environments. The analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences among genotypes (G), environments (E) and G x E interaction for all studied traits except straw weight per plant, indicating a wide range of variation among genotypes, environments and these genotypes exhibited differential response to environmental conditions. The significant variance due to residual for all characters except both straw weight per plant and oil yield per fad indicated that genotypes differed with respect to their stability suggesting that prediction would be difficult, which means that mean performance alone would not be appropriate. Interaction component of variance (σ2ge) was less than the genotypic variance (σ2g) for all characters, indicating that genotypes differ in their genetic potential for these traits. This was reflected in high heritability and low discrepancy between phenotypic (PCV) and genotypic (GCV) coefficients of variability values for these traits indicating the possibility of using each of long fiber percentage, plant height and technical stem length as selection indices for improving straw weight per plant, as well as, using 1000-seed weight and capsules number per plant as selection indices for improving seed weight per plant. Yield stability (YSi) statistic indicated that S.541-C/3 and S.541-D/10 gave high mean performance and stability for straw, fiber, seed and oil yields per fad in addition to oil percentage, capsules number per plant and 1000-seed weight. Therefore, the two genotypes well be released under the name Giza 11 and Giza 12, respectively. These newly released varieties are of dual purpose type for straw, fiber, seed and oil yield. They may replace the low yielding cultivars Giza 8, Sakha 1 and Sakha 3