Nursing Journal CMU

Effects of a Long COVID Literacy Enhancement Program on Reducing the Severity of Post-Infection COVID-19 Behaviors of Elderly in Communities, Bangkok Metropolitan Area

2024-09-16T15:36:21+07:00

Long COVID symptoms in elderly with COVID-19 affect their lives. Enhancing health literacy can reduce the severity of Long COVID symptoms. This randomized controlled trial explored the effects of a Long COVID literacy enhancement program on reduction of the severity of post-infection COVID-19 behaviors of elderly in Bangkok communities. The two-group pretest-posttest design applied Nutbeam’s health literacy as a conceptual framework. Sixty four elderly Bangkok residents, aged 60-80 years with COVID-19 for five days to two months were randomly assigned, by multi-stage random sampling with a computer, to an experimental group or a control group with 32 per group. The experimental group received the Long COVID literacy enhancement programe consisting of healthy dietary instruction; demonstrations on selecting online sources of knowledge about Long COVID via Google, Facebook, and YouTube; lung exercises; and breathing exercises for relaxing from stress. The participants were instructed to engage in lung and breathing exercises at home once a day and document their exercise for 12 weeks. Pretest and posttest data were analyzed with independent t-test and paired t-test statistics.

The findings showed that the experimental group had a significantly higher mean score for reducing severity of post-infection COVID-19 behaviors after the experiment (M = 74.44, SD = 5.93) than before the experiment (M = 52.00, SD = 9.64, t = 9.78, p < .001). Moreover, the experimental group had a significantly higher mean score for reducing severity of post-infection COVID-19 behaviors after the experiment (M = 74.44, SD = 5.93) than the control group (M = 50.38, SD = 7.96, t = 13.70, p < .001).

These findings provide a guideline for community nurse practitioners, professional nurses, and health teams to reduce the severity of symptoms of post-infection COVID-19 patients.

Nursing Practice Environment and Resilience of Nurses in General Hospitals, Naypyitaw, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar

2024-03-08T09:27:17+07:00

Nurses are confronted with increasing levels of adversity in their workplace and experience many stressors. Resilience can help nurses avoid or lower the adverse effects caused by these stressors, leading to retention of nurses. This descriptive-correlational research aimed to describe the nursing practice environment and resilience, and to examine their relationship among nurses in general hospitals in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. A stratified random sampling method was used to select 155 nurses from general hospitals in Naypyitaw. The research tools utilized were the Practice Environment Scale of Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI) and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-25). The Cronbach alpha coefficients of the tools were .82 and .91, respectively. Descriptive statistics and Pearson's correlation coefficient were employed to analyze the data.

The findings were as follows:
1. The nursing practice environment as perceived by nurses was favorable (M = 2.61, SD = 0.24).
2. The mean score for resilience in nurses was 71.71 (SD = 12.46), with the first, second, third, and fourth quartiles being 0-65 (25.80%), 66-73 (25.16%), 74-81 (24.52%), and 82-100 (24.52%), respectively.
3. The nursing practice environment had a significantly positively moderate relationship with the resilience of nurses (r = 0.33, p < 0.001).

This study's findings can provide vital evidence for nurse administrators, hospital administrators, and policymakers to strengthen and maintain a favorable nursing practice environment; design in-service training programs for professional competence; organize adequate facilities, flexible working schedules, and regular staff meetings to tackle the foundations of stress; and seek collaborative outcomes for enhancing nurses’ resilience.

Predicting Factors of the Preparation for Active Aging Among Workers in an Industrial Area, Chonburi Province

2024-09-03T16:15:16+07:00

Preparing the working-age population for quality aging can significantly reduce their long-term dependency in communities. This predictive correlational study aimed to investi- gate readiness for quality aging and its predictors, including personal, economic, social, and environmental factors. The sample consisted of 151 working-age individuals aged 40-59 years from industrial areas in Chonburi Province, selected through cluster random sampling. The research instrument was a questionnaire comprising six sections: 1) personal information, 2) work conditions, 3) attitudes toward aging, 4) health threats, 5) workplace policies, and 6) readiness for quality aging. The questionnaire demonstrated content validity indices of .88, .86, .97, and .82, with reliability coefficients of .88, .75, .88, and .93, respectively. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and stepwise multiple regression analysis.

The findings revealed that the overall readiness for quality aging among the workers was high (M = 3.88, SD = 1.10). Economic preparedness was the most prominent, followed by social, physical health, and mental health aspects. The significant predictors of readiness for quality aging were workplace policies (β = -0.197) and job position (β = 0.195), collec- tively accounting for 8.0% of the variance in readiness (R² = 0.080, F = 6.452, p < 0.01).

Therefore, community health nurses or occupational health nurses can apply these findings by promoting exemplary readiness behaviors among supervisory staff and organizing activities that support physical and mental health preparedness for aging individuals in the workforce.

The Factors Related to Blood Pressure Control Behaviors Among Rubber Farmers with Uncontrolled Hypertension

2024-07-24T13:43:50+07:00

Blood pressure control among rubber farmers is quite difficult due to their lifestyle, which primarily involves working at night. Working at night is a significant factor affecting blood pressure control because insufficient rest makes blood pressure control difficult. The objective of this descriptive correlational research design was to examine the factors related to blood pressure control behavior among rubber farmers with uncontrolled hypertension in Nan province, Thailand. The PRECEDE framework was applied as the conceptual framework for this study. A total of 136 rubber farmers with uncontrolled hypertension were recruited using multi-stage cluster sampling. Data was collected using a 7-part questionnaire on the following: 1) demographic characteristics; 2) knowledge about hypertension; 3) attitude towards blood pressure control; 4) perception towards blood pressure control; 5) access to health services; 6) social support; and 7) blood pressure control behavior. It was validated by three experts, achieving a CVI of .96. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used to test reliability, yielding a value of .88. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Spearman’s rank correlation, and point biserial correlation.

The results revealed that the average score of blood pressure control behavior amongst the participants was at a good level (M = 62.94, SD = 4.65). The following factors related to blood pressure control behavior among the participants demonstrated statistical significance: gender (r_pb = 0.290, p-value = .001); knowledge about hypertension (r_s = 0.381, p-value = .001); attitude towards blood pressure control (r_s = 0.414, p-value = .001); perception towards blood pressure control (r_s= 0.523, p-value = .001); access to health services (r_s = 0.302, p-value = .001); and social support (r_s = -0.186, p-value = .037).

The study recommends that changing the blood pressure control behavior of rubber plantation farmers should focus on promoting awareness of their ability to control blood pressure, along with changing attitudes towards disease management, and providing comprehensive knowledge about the condition.