Journal of Research in Nursing

Globally, two thirds of people with dementia are cared for by their families or friends. Family caregivers’ coping strategies of managing the caregiving burden of dementia have been studied widely in western literature. However, few attempts have been made to explore the experience of family caregivers’ coping strategies in China. The aim of this study was to explore the family caregivers’ coping strategies when caring for people with dementia in one city in the province of Shandong, China.

Fourteen family caregivers were individually interviewed, and interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to identify themes within different family members.

Four key themes were found: (a) being filial; (b) changing self and self-care; (c) seeking help; and (d) having hope and continuing life.

The study illustrates the different strategies developed by family members in order to cope with their new roles when caring for a relative who has dementia. It shows that cultural belief of filial piety plays a large role across these various coping strategies. It highlights how responsibility has been maintained and influenced by the specific sociocultural context. The results provide a useful foundation for developing interventions that support family caregivers cope with the burden of caring in this population.

Purposive sampling has a long developmental history and there are as many views that it is simple and straightforward as there are about its complexity. The reason for purposive sampling is the better matching of the sample to the aims and objectives of the research, thus improving the rigour of the study and trustworthiness of the data and results. Four aspects to this concept have previously been described: credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability.

The aim of this paper is to outline the nature and intent of purposive sampling, presenting three different case studies as examples of its application in different contexts.

Presenting individual case studies has highlighted how purposive sampling can be integrated into varying contexts dependent on study design. The sampling strategies clearly situate each study in terms of trustworthiness for data collection and analysis. The selected approach to purposive sampling used in each case aligns to the research methodology, aims and objectives, thus addressing each of the aspects of rigour.

Making explicit the approach used for participant sampling provides improved methodological rigour as judged by the four aspects of trustworthiness. The cases presented provide a guide for novice researchers of how rigour may be addressed in qualitative research.

According to the literature reviewed, although families living with a mentally ill relative often face violence, this issue has been little studied in nursing.

We conducted a qualitative research study to explore the experience of families dealing with this complex reality. We adopted Jacques Donzelot’s theory of the government of family as our theoretical framework and used grounded theory as our research methodology. In total, 14 participants who had been victims of violence perpetrated by relatives with severe mental illness were interviewed.

Qualitative analysis led to the identification of five themes: (a) medico-legal apparatus; (b) experience of violence; (c) the family’s responsibility toward the violent relative; (d) exclusion and stigmatisation; and (e) suffering and resilience. The present paper focuses on the study’s central theme: the family’s responsibility toward the violent relative.

Ostomates have several physical, psychological and social health problems. These problems negatively impact the ostomates' quality of life.

This study aims to identify Jordanian ostomates' health problems and their self-care ability to manage their ostomies.

This is a cross-sectional study. A convenience sampling method was used to recruit 168 Jordanian patients with intestinal ostomies. A self-report questionnaire was used to collect the data.

On average, the participants’ physiological ostomy-related problem scores were 8.76 ± 2.37 (out of 13 problems) and the total score of self-care ability to manage their ostomies was 16.56 ± 2.62 (out of 24). About 22% of the participants had ‘moderately severe’ to ‘severe’ depression (nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire score ≥15) and 33.9% had ‘moderate’ to ‘severe’ anxiety (seven-item General Anxiety Disorder questionnaire score ≥10). About half of the participants had exposure to teaching and/or training about ostomy care. About 85% of participants were willing to attend health education and training programmes about ostomy care. There was a significant correlation between high ostomates’ self-care ability to manage their ostomies and a low number of physiological health problems (r = −0.67, p = 0.04), a low depression (Patient Health Questionnaire 9) score (r = −0.54, p = 0.039) and a low anxiety (seven-item General Anxiety Disorder questionnaire) score (r = −0.71, p < 0.027).

Health teaching and training about intestinal ostomy management, psychosocial support, follow-up assessment and treatment for ostomy-related problems are recommended for all ostomates.

A brain drain is a migration of employees in their quest for an improved level of living conditions, better earnings, access to advanced technology and secure political conditions in diverse places worldwide. The brain drain of nurses is an ongoing phenomenon that impacts the quality and quantity of the nursing workforce and affects the quality of care. The nurses' brain drain is commonly known as a result of the interplay of many factors. So, identification of these factors and how to manage them is a timely topic in nursing research.

This study aims to investigate determinants of the nurses' brain drain and mitigating factors from nurses' perspectives in Egypt.

Mixed-methods research was conducted using a concurrent triangulation design. A sample of 325 nurses who were working at an Egyptian university hospital answered a brain drain questionnaire while the qualitative investigation was guided by a semi-structured interview with a purposive sample of 35 nurses to elicit exploratory perspectives on factors causing brain drain and mitigation strategies. Results were analysed using inferential statistics and thematic data analysis.

Both push and pull factors can predict about 99.6% and 97.5% of the nurses’ brain drain, respectively. Seven themes were derived from the qualitative content analysis, and six themes were categorised under ‘push-pull’ factors. In addition, the ‘mitigating factors theme’ was identified with five sub-factors as possible solutions. Economic and work environment reasons were reported as the most influential for nurses’ brain drain.

Policymakers could use the identified factors from quantitative and qualitative data for creating a system that would improve nurses' conditions and policies, and prevent nurses' migration. Nursing leaders have a significant role with non-remuneration strategies in retaining nurses through creating an empowering work environment. In addition, shared governance, a strong nursing syndicate role and professorial marketing would be essential mitigating factors for the nurses' brain drain.

Empathy is an essential condition for effective nursing care. An empathetic relationship between the nurse and the patient leads to positive therapeutic outcomes, increases nurses' adjustment in educational and therapeutic environments and influences their ethical sensitivities.

The current study aimed to determine the effectiveness of empathy training on the empathy skills of nurses working in intensive care units of Shahid Bahonar Hospital in Kerman, Iran.

This experimental study was conducted on nurses working in intensive care units of Shahid Bahonar Hospital affiliated to Kerman University of Medical Sciences in Iran. All nurses working in intensive care units of Shahid Bahonar Hospital were selected by randomised sampling. Data were collected by the Davis Empathy Scale (possible range 0–105) and analysed using descriptive statistics and analysis of variance.

Comparison of the mean empathy scores showed the mean scores of empathy skills in the control group were 63.45 ± 8.102 and 63.54 ± 8.05 in the pre- and post-test, respectively, which was not significantly different. But the mean scores of empathy skills in the Experimental group were 63.40 ± 8.136 and 67.7 ± 9.027 in the pre- and post-test, respectively, which showed a significant increase (p < 0.05).

The present intervention showed the effectiveness of empathy training on the empathy skills of nurses. Empathy can be acquired and learned.

Managing the amount of use of sedatives due to their high side effects in the intensive care unit is essential. Sedation-agitation protocols may play an important role in this regard. However, they have not been practically applied in Iran.

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of using the Richmond agitation and sedation scale on hospital stay duration and dependency rate on the intensive care unit ventilator system in Ahwaz City, Iran, in 2016–2017.

This randomised clinical trial was conducted on 74 patients. The subjects were selected by a stratified sampling method and divided into the experimental (n = 32) and control (n = 32) groups. Sedation and agitation levels were managed by the Richmond agitation and sedation scale as soon as the samples were anxious and agitated, and every 6 hours in the intervention group. However, the control group received routine care. The data obtained were analysed by the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).

There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of demographic variables, such as age, gender, admission diagnosis and Glasgow coma scale scores on admission. However, they differed in terms of hospital stay duration and ventilator connection (P < 0.001), Glasgow coma scale score at the separation time from the device (P < 0.001), Glasgow coma scale score at the discharge time from the intensive care unit (P < 0.02) and intensive care unit death rate (P < 0.001). In all cases mentioned previously, the intervention group’s condition was better.

Based on the results of this study, as well as the approval of validation and reliability of the Richmond agitation and sedation scale in different studies, this protocol can be very effective in optimising the use of sedatives in the intensive care unit.