The Impact of Counseling on the Self-Esteem of Women in Thailand Who Have Experienced Intimate Partner Violence

Background: Intimate partner violence is a significant and serious public health problem. It adversely affects the health and self esteem of abused women.Objective: To investigate and compare self-esteem, coping methods and general health in women who have experienced partner violence living in the Northeast region of Thailand.Methodology: The study was carried out at two sites: a primary care unit, and a drug treatment center. Women who showed abuse indicators based on the abuse indicator screening questionnaire received counseling from a nurse who was trained on the assessment of and care for women who had experienced intimate partner violence. Evaluations of abused women’s self-esteem, coping, and general health were carried out before and after counseling.Results: Seventeen women reported having experienced partner violence and had displayed at one time or another indicator symptoms such as headaches, stomach pain, weakness, anxiety and depression. After receiving counseling, abused women showed better self-esteem (t = -4.80, p<0.001) and improved health status according to the General Health Questionnaire (z = -3.09, p<0.01). In addition, they felt the need to use less avoidance coping strategies (z = 9.19, p<0.01) with a better approach to coping styles (z = -2.59, p<0.01).Conclusions: Nurses trained in counseling can help improve the health of abused women, raise their self-esteem and encourage them to use the proper coping strategies

Results of retroviral and adenoviral approaches to cancer gene therapy

Genetic modification for cancer treatment has involved the introduction of chemotherapy protection and sensitization genes into normal and tumor cells, respectively, for the purpose of improving the outcome of conventional approaches to the treatment of solid tumor neoplasms. This paper will review the use of multidrug resistance-1 retroviral vectors and cytosine deaminase adenoviral prodrug activation vectors for this purpose

Hand dermatitis among female nursing students in tropical Australia

Although hand dermatitis is known to affect nursing students worldwide, the prevalence among their Australian counterparts has not been elucidated and the relative contribution of tropical environments is unclear. Therefore, we conducted the first investigation of hand dermatitis among 232 female, undergraduate nurses in tropical Australia using a previously validated methodology. Hand dermatitis prevalence rose from 10.8% in the first year to 27.4% by the third year and averaged 18.5% across all three grades. Pre-existing atopic dermatitis caused a 7.8-fold risk increase during logistic regression analysis (odds ratio [OR] 7.8, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.0–21.1, P < 0.0001). Overall, this study suggests that hand dermatitis is less common among tropical Australian nursing students than their counterparts around the world. The identification of atopic dermatitis as a hand dermatitis risk factor was, however, consistent with previous research conducted in non-tropical areas