Perceptions of Selected Job Characteristics of Staff Nurses Diagnosed with Fibromyalgia Syndrome

The purpose of this exploratory study was to describe the perceptions of selected job characteristics of staff nurses with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS). Criteria for inclusion in this study included being a female registered nurse employed in a staff nurse position providing direct patient care, and a diagnosis of FMS from a physician. Nurses were informed of this study through an article and an advertisement placed in Nursingmatters, a monthly statewide nursing newspaper delivered to nurses\u27 homes. Data were collected by posting a survey on the Internet for 8 weeks. The survey contained inclusion criteria and information about the participant\u27s job, age, FMS, and the job content questionnaire, a survey designed to report on 8 dimensions of the workplace. The final question was open-ended, inviting the participant to add comments relevant to the topic. Sixty­five respondents met the inclusion criteria. Data analysis was completed using a computer program, the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Both descriptive and chi square statistics were calculated. Findings of this study include the majority of participants were employed in the hospital; had not changed jobs but had changed the number of hours they worked, were age 50 to 59, and had a baccalaureate degree. The majority also reported being diagnosed with FMS for 5 years or more, and considered pain the predominant symptom ofFMS. Chi square findings include strong association between perceptions of working in a hospital setting and high physical demands. The hospital was also strongly associated with requests for excessive amounts of work and an environment where waiting on work from others slows down the nurse. The responses to the open-ended question reported a lack of social support from both coworkers and supervisors, high psychological demands for some, and the physical demands of work were reported in positive and negative terms

UK guideline on transition of adolescent and young persons with chronic digestive diseases from paediatric to adult care

The risks of poor transition include delayed and inappropriate transfer that can result in disengagement with healthcare. Structured transition care can improve control of chronic digestive diseases and long-term health-related outcomes. These are the first nationally developed guidelines on the transition of adolescent and young persons (AYP) with chronic digestive diseases from paediatric to adult care. They were commissioned by the Clinical Services and Standards Committee of the British Society of Gastroenterology under the auspices of the Adolescent and Young Persons (A&YP) Section. Electronic searches for English-language articles were performed with keywords relating to digestive system diseases and transition to adult care in the Medline (via Ovid), PsycInfo (via Ovid), Web of Science and CINAHL databases for studies published from 1980 to September 2014. The quality of evidence and grading of recommendations was appraised using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) system. The limited number of studies in gastroenterology and hepatology required the addition of relevant studies from other chronic diseases to be included. These guidelines deal specifically with the transition of AYP living with a diagnosis of chronic digestive disease and/or liver disease from paediatric to adult healthcare under the following headings; 1. Patient populations involved in AYP transition 2. Risks of failing transition or poor transition 3. Models of AYP transition 4. Patient and carer/parent perspective in AYP transition 5. Surgical perspectiv

Satisfaction with Life Through Sickness and In Health: Internal and External Resources and their Impact on Identity Development

Identity development is one of the most important tasks of adolescence, though in recent years this task has been extended through a post-adolescence period known as emerging adulthood. This period of time is one that is rich in identity exploration and allows for more time to develop a mature identity status. When examining identity development, those factors that affect the development of an identity need to be examined and understood. One such factor that greatly affects identity development is having a serious illness, such as cancer. Those who have or have had cancer may struggle with the development of a cohesive identity. Identity, in this population, is affected by number of factors, including a change in social status, the trauma of having an illness, transitioning from patient to survivor , the physical impacts of the disease, and having to recreate and re-explore one\u27s commitments in important domains of life. Aside from the impacts on identity, satisfaction with life is also impacted in those who have had cancer; however, the literature on satisfaction with life is inconclusive. Some individuals report lowered satisfaction with life, while others report similar satisfaction with life to the general population. This begs the question of why some have decreased satisfaction with life and others do not. This study sought to examine the effects of creativity and parenting on identity development and satisfaction with life. There were significant effects of creativity and parenting on identity, though some effects differed across the healthy group and the cancer group. Similarly, identity had impacts on satisfaction with life that were moderated by the history of an illness

Discounting of Probabilistic Rewards in Pigeons

From the Washington University Senior Honors Thesis Abstracts (WUSHTA), Volume 4, Spring 2012. Published by the Office of Undergraduate Research. Joy Zalis Kiefer, Director of Undergraduate Research / Assistant Dean in the College of Arts & Sciences; E. Holly Tasker, Editor; Kristin Sobotka, Undergraduate Research Coordinator. Mentor: Leonard Gree