HERBAL THERAPIES USED BY HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS IN TURKEY

The purpose of this study was to determine herbal therapies used by the patients for regulation of blood pressure. This descriptive study was conducted in three districts of Izmir, Turkey. The study group included 193 patients with hypertension diagnosis who admitted to a primary care center and accepted to participate in the study. Data were collected through an investigator-made questionnaire including questions about socio-demographic features and herbal therapies used for regulation of blood pressure. Percentiles and chi–square statistics tests were used to evaluate the data through SPSS 11.0 program. The subjects included in the study had suffered from hypertension for 8.28+7.92 years, and 95.9% of them received medication to treat their hypertension. Of all hypertensive patients, 51.3% used herbal therapies for the treatment of hypertension. The patients used herbal therapies most commonly when they felt ill. There were no statistically significant difference between the use of herbal therapies and gender, education, marital status, having health insurance and income level. Health professionals who provide primary health services, especially nurses, need to follow patients regularly and provide patient education on antihypertensive therapy. Nurses must plan the necessary training programs by evaluating the data about, whether the hypertension patients use herbal therapies that can affect their health negatively or not

Elder Abuse and Neglect in a Population Offering Care by a Primary Health Care Center in Izmir, Turkey

The objective of this study is to investigate the prevalence of abuse and neglect of the elderly aged 65 years and older, living with their relative in a primary health care center area and affecting factors. A descriptive study included 331 people aged 65 years. The most frequent type of abuse was psychological abuse and the least frequent was sexual abuse. Female gender, low education levels, living with spouses and children, and perception of familial relationships as average or below average significantly increased abuse. The nurses providing primary health care should be able to identify and observe the elderly at risk of abuse and conduct programs preventing abuse

Knowledge, Facilitators and Perceived Barriers for Early Detection of Breast Cancer among Elderly Turkish Women

This article deals with elderly Turkish women's experiences with breast self examination, clinical breast examination and mammography screening, as well as perceived barriers and facilitators in the theoretical framework of the Health Belief Model and the Health Promotion Model. This is a qualitative study performed on 46 elderly women aged 60-75 years. Data were collected with focus group interviews and analyzed systematically with qualitative analysis techniques to determine themes concerning knowledge and facilitators of and perceived barriers to early detection of breast cancer among elderly women. Barriers to screening were insufficient knowledge, fear, neglect/postponement, embarrassment/religious beliefs, inability to make an appointment, lack of a physician's recommendation and health professionals' attitudes. Facilitating factors were being informed about screening, fear, awareness of cancer screening, familial history of breast cancer and social support, making an appointment, health professionals' communication and physicians' recommendations. Public health nurses and health professionals from other health disciplines should be aware of elderly women's need for knowledge about screening, understand elderly women's fear and worries about their health and know barriers to and facilitators of screening

Attitudes of nursing and medical school students towards ageism

The present study aimed to evaluate the attitudes of nursing and medical school students towards age discrimination and to determine the association between these attitudes and various variables. A total of 662 students, 328 from the Faculty of Nurse Education and 334 from the Faculty of Medicine, participated in the present descriptive and cross-sectional study.Data were collected using Data Form for socio-demographic characteristicsand Ageism Attitude Scale (AAS). Descriptive statistics, t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, Chi-square test, One-Way ANOVA, and Kruskal Wallis test were used to evaluate the data using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows (Version 20.0).Nursing school students had higher points in restricting the life of elderly people, positive discrimination towards them and Ageism Attitude Scale, but had lower points in negative discrimination towards them compared to medical school students. While the points of positive discrimination towards elderly and Ageism Attitude Scale of the students of two schools were not significantly different (p>0.05), points of restricting the life of elderly people and negative discrimination towards elderly varied significantly between the students of two schools (p [Med-Science 2020; 9(4.000): 848-55

Assesment of Noise Level and Hearing Conservation in a School Community

School nurses are responsible for hearing conservation education programs due to its effects on students' and teachers' health and education quality. The design of this field study was planned as a descriptive method. The purpose of the study was assessment of noise exposure level in classroom and school corridor setting and promotes awareness about noise at the school community which located in Izmir. By evaluating the results of noise levels, students were given health education about sources and reducing of noise, in ten classes (n= 250). The measurement process was made by using a sonometer between lecture and break time. Before awareness education, noise levels were detected between mm 80.75 dB, max 87.25 dB in corridors. Post education measurement noise level was 80.25 dB, 84.50 dB. Sound level is quite beyond normal levels. In addition to education being performed, it was observed that the participation of teachers and school managers was influential for awareness

Validity and reliability study for the self-efficacy scale

Aim: The aim of this methodological study was to analyze the validity and reliability of the Turkish adaptation of the Self-Efficacy Scale originally developed by Lechner, de Vries, and Offermans