Training nursing students in motivational interviewing for alcohol misuse: A mixed method study

Background Motivational interviewing led by nurses has been demonstrated to be effective in reducing alcohol consumption among university students. However, most of these professionals feel that they lack the competence necessary for motivational interviewing due to a lack of formal training in the nursing curriculum. Objectives To design, implement and evaluate a motivational interviewing training course for alcohol misuse in an undergraduate nursing curriculum and to explore students' experiences with this course. Design A mixed-methods study involving a descriptive comparative quantitative design and qualitative focus group interviews with nursing students. Settings An elective nursing course in a Spanish university. Participants A total of 21 fourth-year nursing students. Methods The course was developed as a twelve-week, two-hour course. It comprised three modules covering the concepts, tools and skills associated with motivational interviewing for alcohol misuse. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected after the completion of the course to evaluate the training received by students; these data were categorized using Kirkpatrick's model. The quantitative results included students' satisfaction, knowledge, skills and attitudes, which were measured using an ad hoc questionnaire, a multiple-choice exam, and two rater-based assessments (the Peer Proficiency Assessment instrument and an evidence-based checklist). Qualitative focus groups were used to explore students' experiences of the entire programme. Results Students' satisfaction with the course was rated 9 out of 10, highlighting the usefulness and adequacy of the course content. The quantitative and qualitative results both indicated that all students acquired the knowledge necessary to perform motivational interviewing and significantly improved their motivational interviewing microskills. Only half of the students reached the level of proficiency in two of the three ratios calculated. The three main themes identified pertained to the learning atmosphere, module methodologies, and students' self-perceptions of competence. Finally, the students reported having transferred their learning to clinical practice. Conclusion A course on motivational interviewing for alcohol misuse positively influences nursing students both personally and in terms of their future professional work by improving their knowledge, skills, attitudes and self-perceived competence

RICORS2040 : The need for collaborative research in chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a silent and poorly known killer. The current concept of CKD is relatively young and uptake by the public, physicians and health authorities is not widespread. Physicians still confuse CKD with chronic kidney insufficiency or failure. For the wider public and health authorities, CKD evokes kidney replacement therapy (KRT). In Spain, the prevalence of KRT is 0.13%. Thus health authorities may consider CKD a non-issue: very few persons eventually need KRT and, for those in whom kidneys fail, the problem is 'solved' by dialysis or kidney transplantation. However, KRT is the tip of the iceberg in the burden of CKD. The main burden of CKD is accelerated ageing and premature death. The cut-off points for kidney function and kidney damage indexes that define CKD also mark an increased risk for all-cause premature death. CKD is the most prevalent risk factor for lethal coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the factor that most increases the risk of death in COVID-19, after old age. Men and women undergoing KRT still have an annual mortality that is 10- to 100-fold higher than similar-age peers, and life expectancy is shortened by ~40 years for young persons on dialysis and by 15 years for young persons with a functioning kidney graft. CKD is expected to become the fifth greatest global cause of death by 2040 and the second greatest cause of death in Spain before the end of the century, a time when one in four Spaniards will have CKD. However, by 2022, CKD will become the only top-15 global predicted cause of death that is not supported by a dedicated well-funded Centres for Biomedical Research (CIBER) network structure in Spain. Realizing the underestimation of the CKD burden of disease by health authorities, the Decade of the Kidney initiative for 2020-2030 was launched by the American Association of Kidney Patients and the European Kidney Health Alliance. Leading Spanish kidney researchers grouped in the kidney collaborative research network Red de Investigación Renal have now applied for the Redes de Investigación Cooperativa Orientadas a Resultados en Salud (RICORS) call for collaborative research in Spain with the support of the Spanish Society of Nephrology, Federación Nacional de Asociaciones para la Lucha Contra las Enfermedades del Riñón and ONT: RICORS2040 aims to prevent the dire predictions for the global 2040 burden of CKD from becoming true

Matrix Riccati equations and their applications

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN007860 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Higher order moving finite element methods for systems described by partial differential-algebraic equations

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DX201048 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Variance balanced change-over designs for dependent observations

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:9117.711(472/96) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Copoliésteres alifáticos derivados del ácido galactárico diacetalizado

Postprint (published version

Interfacing judgmental forecasts with statistical methods Voluntary versus mechanical integration

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN024417 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Actuation of large displacements by smart hyperhelices

Includes bibliographical referencesSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:9106. 170(CUED/D-STRUCT/TR 206) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Bio-based aromatic polyesters from a novel bicyclic diol derived from D-mannitol

2,4:3,5-Di-O-methylene-D-mannitol, abbreviated as Manx, is a D-mannitol-derived compound with the secondary hydroxyl groups acetalized with formaldehyde. The bicyclic structure of Manx consists of two fused 1,3-dioxane rings, with two primary hydroxyl groups standing free for reaction. A homopolyester made of Manx and dimethyl terephthalate as well as a set of copolyesters of poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) in which 1,4-butanediol was replaced by Manx up to 50% were synthesized and characterized. The polyesters had Mw in the 30 000−52 000 g mol−1 range and a random microstructure and were thermally stable up to nearly 370 °C. They displayed outstanding high Tg with values from 55 to 137 °C which steadily increased with the content in Manx. Copolyesters containing up to 40% of Manx were semicrystalline and adopted the crystal structure of PBT. Their stress− strain parameters were sensitively affected by the presence of carbohydrate-based units with elongation at break decreasing but tensile strength and elastic moduli steadily increasing with the degree of replacement.Peer Reviewe

Carbohydrate-based copolyesters made from bicyclic acetalized galactaric acid

Mixtures of the dimethyl esters of adipic acid and 2,3:4,5-di-O-methylene-galactaric acid (Galx) were made to react in the melt with either 1,6-hexanediol or 1,12-dodecanediol to produce linear polycyclic copolyesters with aldarate unit contents varying from 10 up to 90 mole %. The copolyesters had weight–average molecular weights in the ∼35,000–45,000 g mol−1 range and a random microstructure, and were thermally stable up to nearly 300 °C. They displayed Tg in the -50 to -7 °C range with values largely increasing with the content in galactarate units. All the copolyesters were semicrystalline with Tm between 20 and 90 °C but only those made from 1,12-dodecanediol were able to crystallize from the melt at a crystallization rate that decreased as the contents in the two comonomers approached each other. Copolyesters containing minor amounts of galactarate units adopted the crystal structure characteristic of aliphatic polyesters but a new crystal polymorph was formed when the cyclic sugar units became the majority. Stress–strain parameters were sensitively affected by composition of the copolyesters with the mechanical behavior changing from flexible/ductile to stiff/brittle with the replacement of adipate units by the galactarate units.Peer Reviewe