Brief Online Self-help Exercises for Postnatal Women to Improve Mood: A Pilot Study

OBJECTIVES: Giving birth and adjusting to a new baby can be difficult and stressful for new mothers. Negative mood may occur during this time and can affect women, their parenting and the infant's development. This pilot study evaluated a brief online self-help intervention designed to promote positive mood in mothers of babies and toddlers. METHODS: Women in the UK who had given birth within the previous 18 months were randomly allocated to the online self-help intervention (n = 40) or active comparison group exercise (n = 40) which was matched for time and structure. Mood was measured before and after the intervention. Acceptability was examined at the end of the trial. RESULTS: The self-help intervention was acceptable to the majority of women and significantly increased positive mood compared to the comparison condition. This effect persisted after controlling for self-esteem, anxiety and depression. These results suggest that a simple self-help intervention focused on changing beliefs about oneself as a mother can have an immediate impact on women's mood. CONCLUSIONS FOR PRACTICE: Further research is need to see whether these improvements continue long-term and what processes underlie these improvements

Usability, acceptability, and feasibility of two technology-based devices for mental health screening in perinatal care: A comparison of web versus app

The use of Information and Communication Technologies (web pages and apps) in mental health has boosted. However, it is unknown which of these two devices can be better in terms of feasibility and acceptability. Our aim is to compare the feasibility, usability, and user satisfaction of two devices (web vs mobile application) of an online program for perinatal depression screening called HappyMom. In total, 348 and 175 perinatal women registered into HappyMom web and app version, respectively. The assessment protocol included different biopsychosocial evaluations (twice during pregnancy and thrice in the postpartum) and a satisfaction questionnaire. Results showed that a higher percentage of women in the web sample (27.3–51.1%) responded to each assessment compared to the app sample (9.1–53.1%). A smaller proportion of women in web sample never responded to any assessments. By contrast, the percentage of women who responded to all assessments was higher in app sample (longitudinal retention sample was 4.6% of web users and 9.1% of app users). In general, high satisfaction was found in both web and app users. Our result showed that online assessment methods are feasible and acceptable by perinatal women. However, dropout rates are a real problem that urge a solution that will be discussed further in the paper. Web and App devices present different advantages and limitations. The choice of one of them must be made taking into account the study’s objective, the sample characteristics, and the dissemination possibilities

Den motiverende endringen – livsstilsendringer for hjerteinfarktpasienter

Tittel: Den motiverende endringen – livsstilsendringer for hjerteinfarktpasienter Hensikt: Hensikten med oppgaven er å undersøke om sykepleiere kan bidra med å hjelpe pasienter som har gjennomgått et hjerteinfarkt, til å endre livsstil gjennom en metode som kalles motiverende intervju. Problemstilling: Hvordan kan sykepleier gjennom motiverende intervju bidra til livsstilsendringer hos pasienter som har gjennomgått sitt første hjerteinfarkt? Metode: Denne bacheloroppgaven er et litteraturstudium, hvor det er utført strukturerte og systematiske søk for å finne relevante forskningsartikler i ulike databaser for å belyse min problemstilling. Det er også foretatt en ressurssamtale med en fagperson relatert til motiverende intervju. Kunnskap er supplert med pensumbøker fra sykepleierstudiet og andre relevante fagbøker. Resultat: Motiverende intervju er en metode som kan benyttes til livsstilsendring for pasienter med behov for endring, og viser god effekt innen områder som fysisk aktivitet, røykeslutt og kolesterol. Behandlingshastighet for pasienter som har gjennomgått hjerteinfarkt, påvirker motivasjonen. Sosial støtte er også viktig i tiden etter et hjerteinfarkt. Konklusjon: Bruk av motiverende intervju må tilpasses pasientens endringsforberedthet i «Stages of Change». Mestringsforventning og indre motivasjon er viktig for endringen. Sykeleie fremheves som en god profesjon for å utøve MI angående livsstilsendringer, men likevel er det opp til pasienten om livsstilen vil bli endret eller ikke. Nøkkelord: Motiverende intervju, livsstilsendring, hjerteinfark