Bullying is a concept commonly used to describe situations in which an individual is persistently treated in an abusive manner over a period of time, with a feeling of not being able to counterattack or defend him-or herself against the abuse. In this study we investigated both the prevalence of bullying in Portuguese nurses and the relationship between the symptoms of burnout and mental health in nurses who report being bullied. Participants were 107 nurses of the Portuguese Public Health System. We concluded that one out of six (13%) nurses had experienced bullying in the past six months. The three most common types of bullying behaviour experienced by the nurses were doing tasks below their level of competence, having areas of responsibility removed or replaced with more trivial or unpleasant tasks, and being exposed to unmanageable levels of workload. Bullied nurses had significantly higher levels of emotional exhaustion and lowered levels of mental health compared with non-bullied colleagues.
Throughout the pandemic of COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2, university students were considered a vulnerable risk group for mental health impairment and wellbeing deterioration. This study aimed at evaluating the pandemic’s impact on the physical and mental health and wellbeing among students of a Portuguese university. This cross-sectional study included 913 participants and ran from June to October 2020. Data collected included sociodemographics, three mental health self-report questionnaires (Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire and Brief COPE) and lifestyle practices (eating and sleeping patterns, media, and entertainment habits) during the first months of the pandemic, which included a 72-day full national lockdown. Descriptive and correlational statistical analysis were conducted. Students’ food habits changed during the pandemic, namely on the consumption of snacks and fast food and, overall, less balanced meals became more prevalent. Additionally, almost 70% of the students reported Body Mass Index changes, while 59% went through sleep pattern changes–these were more pronounced in women and younger students. Over half (67%) of the inquirees exhibited an increase in their stress, depression, and generalized anxiety symptoms. Also, the study demonstrates that students’ lifestyles trended negatively during the pandemic and highlights how important regular psychological, health monitoring and emotional support is, amongst this somehow overlooked population throughout the pandemic. Universities should provide support to overcome challenges in future stressful situations. This study might have an impact on how universities and higher education systems approach their students in terms of mental and physical health monitoring and promotion in future situations, non-related with COVID. Moreover, it has a large sample of students well characterized in terms of mental and physical health, which might be of interest for future comparison with other worldwide group of students throughout stressful situations, such as tragic events, wars, pandemics.
Background: Artificial intelligence (AI) techniques and methodologies for problem solving are emerging as formal tools essential to assist in nursing care. Given their potential to improve workflows and to guide decision making, several studies have been developed; however, little is known about their impact, particularly on decision making. Objective: The aim of this study was to map the existing research on the use of AI in decision making in nursing. With this review protocol, we aimed to map the existing research on the use of AI in nursing decision making. Methods: A scoping review was conducted following the framework proposed by the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI). The search strategy was tailored to each database/repository to identify relevant studies. The contained articles were the targets of the data extraction, which was conducted by two independent researchers. In the event of discrepancies, a third researcher was consulted. Results: This review included quantitative, qualitative and mixed method studies. Primary studies, systematic reviews, dissertations, opinion texts and gray literature were considered according to the three steps that the JBI has defined for scoping reviews. Conclusions: This scoping review synthesized knowledge that could help advance new scientific developments and find significant and valuable outcomes for patients, caregivers and leaders in decision making. This review was also intended to encourage the development of research lines that may be useful for the development of AI tools for decision making.
27 November 2017 in Issues in Mental Health Nursing
Our aim was to identify factors that contribute to a better outcome in drug users and to understand the effectiveness of nursing interventions, by applying “Nursing Role Effectiveness Model” (NREM). It's a correlational, cross-sectional study with 180 drug users in a methadone program, randomly selected from three community services. We identified that treatment time, lower co-morbidities, less poly-drug use, family support and being employed contribute to a better quality of life, better mental health, less substance addiction consequences and more satisfaction with nursing care (p < 0.05). Those data were also related with nursing interventions using Structural Equation Model and we found that nursing care contributes 29% to health outcome improvement. The model revealed itself adequate to assess the effectiveness of nursing interventions (X2: 82.51/(34) = 2.426; p < 0.01, NFI = 0.927, CFI = 0.955, RFI = 0.903, GFI = 0.917, PGFI = 0.567, PCFI = 0.722, PNFI = 0.700, RMSEA = 0.089). Compared with the NREM original model, our findings reveal new relationships between the users' structural variables and the health outcomes and also relationship between units' structural variables and nurses' structural variables.
In order to assess and to follow up the evolution of chronic wounds, it is advisable to apply measurement scales. This procedure allows clinicians to verify the appropriateness of their activities and whether the healing process is evolving as expected. To conduct a cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric analysis of Portuguese version of RESVECH 2.0. A quantitative and correlational study was designed and, to perform the cross-cultural adaptation of RESVECH 2.0, we followed the classic sequential approach for linguistic equivalence to European Portuguese. The study occurred at a Portuguese oncology hospital and the sample encompassed 281 patients with multiple chronic wounds. RESVECH 2.0 is a practical measurement instrument, easy to use, and well accepted by nurses to know all kinds of wounds' etiologies. The reliability test revealed an acceptable internal consistency and high proportion of agreement between two raters assessing the same patient. Construct validity was considered average/good and the principal component factor analysis with varimax rotation obtained six factors corresponding to 59.5% of explained variance. When comparing the domains from RESVECH 2.0 with those from BWAT we found statistically significant correlations. The adapted version of RESVECH 2.0 scale presents a good internal consistency and is valid for the Portuguese language and culture, being useful and effective in clinical practice.
Our aim was to contribute to the clinical validation of “Substance Addiction Consequences” (SAC) derived from the nursing outcomes classification (NOC), and to analyse psychometric properties. To that purpose, we applied a methodological design. The study’s outcome comprises 16 nursing-sensitive indicators, within four different consequence factors: psychological and family; physical and cognitive ability; self-care; economic and work. The psychometric properties were considered good. We concluded that the scale can be used as a valid tool to measure the consequences of substance addiction and to assess the health status as a nursing sensitive outcome. The scale is considered valid to monitor nursing interventions in the clinical setting; being a comprehensive tool it allows the nurse to understand better this complex health problem.