An investigation of factors affecting compassion levels of midwives

INTRODUCTION The profession of midwifery is seen as a genuinely individual-centric catalyst transforming compassion to care. Due to this, compassionate care should be the basis of midwives’ care, especially for those who care for women and children. This research investigated the compassion levels of midwives to determine the factors affecting them. METHODS This descriptive research was conducted between 10 February and 29 May 2020, with 119 midwives working in a training and research hospital in Istanbul. The data were collected using the ‘Compassion Scale’ and analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test and logistic regression model. RESULTS The total mean score on the compassion scale of midwives participating in the study was found to be 71.46 ± 9.60. Sociodemographic data and vocational belongings of participants were compared with the mean scores of the compassion scale subdimensions. It was determined that as the age of the midwives increased, they showed more kindness and awareness of compassion (p<0.021, p<0.023, respectively). It has been determined that as the education level of midwives decreases, their compassion level also decreases and they become more insensitive (p<0.044). It was found that being married increased the kindness (p<0.023) and common humanity characteristics (p<0.032) that affect compassion. It was found that the levels of kindness (p<0.020) and awareness (p<0.048) increased for those who had children, and compassion was associated with having a child. In addition, a statistically significant relationship was found between the professional commitment and kindness of the midwives participating in the study (p<0.034). It was found that midwives’ knowledge of rules related to professional ethics increased their compassion scale scores by 1.2. CONCLUSIONS Midwifery is a profession with a high sense of spirituality. However, professional belonging, love of the profession and professional development positively affect midwives’ levels of compassion. Improving midwives’ feelings of belonging and their professional development will also contribute to the quality of maternal and infant health

THE DIGITAL GAMING ATTITUDE SCALE (DGAS): A Reliability and Validity Study

In this study, it is aimed to develop a tool that can measure attitudes of university students towards digital gaming in a valid and reliable way. 368 university students studying at Gazi University Faculty of Sports Sciences in the 2018-2019 academic year participated in the study. In this study, a mixed design, integrating qualitative and quantitative research designs, was used. In the qualitative step of the study, students were asked about digital gaming, and item pooling was conducted. In the quantitative step, reliability and validity studies were conducted by using SPSS 23 and Lisrel 8.8 programs. According to Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), a structure with three sub-scales consisting of 18 items was obtained. The scale consists of Cognitive (5 items), Affective (5 items) and Behavioral (8 items) sub-scales. Following exploratory factor analysis, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed and an evidence was obtained that fit indices of the scale obtained according to CFA were within the acceptable range. Subsequently, item and reliability analyses were conducted for the scale. In this context, the total variance ratio explained by the scale is 65.11% and Cronbach's Alpha is .82. Overall, it was found that the Digital Gaming Attitude Scale is a tool that can accurately and reliably measure participants' attitude towards digital gaming

A brief overview on geothermal scaling

Hot spring waters are rich in terms of minerals. Since there are dramatic changes in thermodynamic parameters in geothermal power plants, such as a decrease in temperature and pressure, severe precipitation occurs throughout the system components in an uncontrolled manner. There are three main chemistries in deposits: carbonates (mainly calcium carbonates), silicates (metal silicates), and sulphides (antimony sulphide-stibnite). Energy harvesting is remarkably reduced out of the insulating nature of the deposit. Various actions need to be taken to mitigate this undesirable issue of scaling in geothermal systems. Geothermal systems are in fact quite complex, and the composition of brine and, accordingly, the chemistry of the deposit are not identical. Therefore, each system should be studied individually, and a tailor-made remedy should be developed. In this overview, the types of deposits in terms of chemistry and the actions (pH modification or antiscalant dosing) that should be taken to reduce scaling are mentioned, and potential chemistries of antiscalants are given

Clinical course of psoriasis patients that discontinued biologics during the COVID-19 pandemic

BackgroundSince psoriasis is a chronic disease, it is not recommended to discontinue the treatment agents used. However, in real life, the treatment of psoriasis patients may be interrupted for various reasons. During the pandemic period, the treatment of many patients was also interrupted. ObjectivesTo evaluate relapse and clinical worsening in psoriasis patients whose biological therapy was interrupted during the pandemic and reveal associated factors. MethodsThe study included patients aged >= 18 years, who were followed up with moderate and severe chronic psoriasis controlled by the last biological agent [Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) 75 response achieved] but had to discontinue their treatment during the pandemic. The patients' demographic and clinical characteristics, clinical course after the discontinuation of these agents, presence of clinical worsening, and relapse were evaluated. Risk factors were analyzed with the logistic regression analysis. ResultsThe study included 169 patients, with a mean age of 47.3 +/- 14.5 (18-87) years. The mean biologics-free time was 18.2 +/- 12.3 (2-56) weeks. Clinical worsening was detected in 41.4% and relapse in 48.5% of the patients. The significant risk factors for clinical worsening and relapse in both univariate and multivariate analyses were alcohol use during the biologics-free period, total time off biologics, and the presence of an additional triggering factor. The use of secukinumab and ustekinumab was found to be a protective factor against clinical worsening in multivariate analyses. ConclusionAs the biologics-free period is prolonged, the likelihood of clinical worsening and relapse increases, therefore, we do not recommend discontinuing biological agents

Patient use of complementary and alternative medicine for psoriasis vulgaris and factors believed to trigger the disease: A multicenter cross-sectional study with 1621 patients

Introduction: Due to the chronic recurrent nature of psoriasis vulgaris (PV) and lack of definitive treatment for the disease, patients often resort to alternative treatments. Physicians seem to have low awareness of this issue. Objectives: To elicit the perceptions of 1,621 PV patients on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and examine factors reported to worsen PV. Methods: The patients sociodemographic characteristics, Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI), Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), disease duration, and severity were recorded, and the patients CAM use was questioned in detail. The patients were also asked about factors that worsened PV and their experiences with a gluten-free diet. Results: Of the patients, 56.51% had used CAM. The mean age, illness duration, PASI scores and DLQI of those using CAM were significantly higher. CAM use was significantly higher in those with facial, genital involvement, and arthralgia/arthritis. The patients mostly referred to CAM when PV became severe (46.4%). Of the CAM users, 45.52% used herbal topicals. The physicians of 67.03% did not inquire whether they used CAM. Of the participants, 37.73% considered that stress worsened their disease. Gluten-free diet did not affect PV symptoms in 52.22%. Conclusions: Patients CAM use is often overlooked by dermatologists. Our results showed that more than half the patients used CAM and did not share this information with their physicians. Therefore, the awareness of physicians should be increased and patients should be asked about the use of CAM and directed to the appropriate medical treatment options by physicians