Spirit: A Biblical Study

Spiritual care is an activity that most nurses aspire to, yet most nurses feel inadequate to perform. There is a plethora of nursing literature that explores and describes spiritual care. Furthermore, there are nurse scholars and researchers who have published recommendations on how to provide spiritual care. However, there is no nursing literature that attempts to describe or understand what the spirit actually is. The purpose of this presentation is to present what I have learned from studying the word \u27spirit\u27 as it occurs in the Bible. I will present the three themes that emerged from this study, I will explore what the Bible teaches us about the spirit within the context of these three themes, and then I will suggest ways that this information can help nurses provide spiritual care

Intervention to Slow Progression of Peripheral Arterial Disease

Lower extremity peripheral arterial disease (PAD), which results from peripheral atherosclerosis, affects up to 10 million people in the United States alone. Claudication, defined as walking-induced pain in one or both legs relieved by rest, is the primary symptom of lower extremity PAD. Vascular nurses play a critical role in the collaborative care of PAD patients by offering counseling to change unhealthy behaviors, yet patients experience problems in actually overcoming sedentary lifestyle and nicotine addiction--the cornerstones of lifestyle management for PAD. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to identify factors that promote the adoption and maintenance of exercise and smoking cessation behaviors with PAD patients. A pretest-posttest control group design with a 12-week exercise and smoking cessation intervention was implemented, with outcome measures assessed at baseline, 3 and 6 months post enrollment. The model used for developing this intervention study was the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change (TTM), combined with principles of nicotine addiction and exercise determinants. In addition, functional status was measured. The intervention group did have a significant increase (p \u3c .05) from baseline in claudication pain time (CPT) at 3 and 6 months, and in maximal walking time (MWT) at 3 months only. There was a significant difference between groups (p \u3c .05) for exercise stage of change at 3 months, but not at 6 months. In addition, baseline exercise self-efficacy significantly correlated with 3 month exercise stage of change for the usual care group but not for the intervention group. The implication being that a low baseline self-efficacy can be overcome with an intensive nursing intervention. There were no significant changes in either smoking decisional balance or smoking stage of change over time by group. As a result, all smokers data (n = 15) were collapsed and analyzed, with differences and trends discussed, and themes identified. Results from this study support the premise that a nurse-managed, theory based exercise adoption intervention is effective in helping claudicants adopt a routine exercise program. In addition, when combined with a critical health event, this intervention may contribute to claudicants\u27 successful smoking cessation