The present study aimed to compare nursing competences of new graduate nurses after 4 and 12 months of employment using the Clinical Nursing Competence Self-Assessment Scale CNCSS, and to clarify the relationship between their nursing competence and their attributes and recognition of approval. An anonymous, self-administered questionnaire was provided to 1858 new graduate nurses who worked in 49 hospitals with more than 500 beds. Valid responses were received from 484(26.0%)nurses at 4 months of employment and from 288(15.5%)nurses at 12 months of employment, and were analyzed. Scores for ethical practice, risk management, basic obligations, assistive human relations, and continuous learning were high at 4 months of employment, indicating that nursing competences are cultivated from basic nursing education and early in clinical practice. At 4 months of employment, improvement in the quality of nursing practice was low, growth was weak, and it was difficult for the nurses to grow in their first year. Scores for continuous learning were confirmed to have no significant differences in 13 competences when comparing 4 months of employment with 12 months of employment and no influence from practical experience. It was suggested that in order for new graduate nurses to form nursing competences, they require approval from other staff, especially early in their employment.

This study examined the association between alexithymia related to psychosomatic disorders and two personal traits, somatosensory amplification and focusing attitude, which were measured using the Somatosensory Amplification Scale (SSAS) and Focusing Manner Scale (FMS-18), respectively. Alexithymia is a personality construct characterized by difficulties in identifying and describing feelings and externally oriented thinking. Previous research has shown that alexithymia is linked to psychosomatic disorders (e.g., irritable bowel syndrome), and that it is difficult for clients with alexithymia to adapt to introspective psychotherapy.Somatosensory amplification involves the tendency to experience somatic sensations as noxious and disturbing, and is strongly associated with alexithymia. Focusing attitude refers to the unique attitude of undergoing experiences by oneself in a tender, friendly, and polite manner, and has been found to be correlated with mental health. A self-reported questionnaire (including the Toronto Alexithymia Scale [TAS-20], SSAS, and FMS-18) was administered to 130 undergraduates.

Multiple regression analysis showed that SSAS scores were positively correlated with TAS-20 scores. In contrast, FMS-18 scores were strongly negatively correlated with TAS-20 scores.

These results suggest that alexithymia traits in individuals depended on whether it was an attitude of positive awareness (tender, friendly, and polite) or a negative attitude (noxious, disturbing) when they noticed their sensory self-body image. Thus, this study suggests that psychotherapy (e.g., focusing oriented psychotherapy) may facilitate a positive attitude toward sensory self-body image , which may improve alexithymia.

Key words: alexithymia, somatosensory amplification, focusing attitude.

Counseling of a mother who has a son with severe physical disability was conducted through three sessions. Subsequently, the client was interviewed regarding her evaluation these three-counseling sessions. The psychological problems of the client were resolved just after the three sessions. She had had serious levels of anxiety about quarrels between her sons and had wanted to know how to cope with the situation. Through these three sessions, the client obtained effective coping strategies and renewed her affection with her sons. These three sessions are discussed here in terms of Gendlin's"experiential changes-steps"or the experience of being"carried-forward."In the first session, the client was able to clear her mind of her imminent problems(Gendlin's"clearing a space for herself"). In the second session, she came to form her own"felt sense"and was able to perceive things with it. In the last session, she found it important to be attentive to the thoughts of her first non-disabled son, and noticed the unexpected inherent strengths of her severely disabled son. In the evaluation interview, she expressed appreciation for the counselor' s experiential listening.

The findings thus confirm the effect of"experiential changes-steps"or the experience of being"carried-forward."This case study also shows that focusing-oriented counseling is an effective counseling technique for mothers.

In addition, when considering support of parents at the Child Development Center, it was very important for professionals to collaborate(e.g. "taking over the trust relationship" and "setting safe time and space").

The purpose of this research is to highlight differences in views of families of 3-year course nursing students and 2-year course nursing students after clinical practicum and to validate the educational methods in family nursing.

The subjects were 274 nursing students who were studying in family nursing, 3-year course students

and 2-year course students, in seven nursing schools of the A prefecture. After completion of the clinical practicum, we conducted a survey on the nursing students'impression of their learning about families using an unsigned self-contained questionnaire. We analyzed the completed questionnaires(free descriptions)by use of a text mining.

After processing the data, we found that words written by the 3-year course students, the words"support," "nursing,""connecting,"and"serving"were centered around"family"and"patient."And we found that words written by the 2-year course students, the words"support,""nursing,""illness,"and"hospitalization" were centered around"family,"and"support,""fighting illness,"and"include"were around"patient."We also found that the words characteristic to the 3-year course students were"alone,"and"encouraging," while those of the 2-year course students were"oneself,""indisputable,"and"help."The 3-year course students saw patients as a member of family strongly, while the 2-year course students didn't.

We propose the following contents about education methods in family nursing in addition to the education until now. We thought that 3-year course require education that was nursing to maximize the self-care

ability of the family. We thought that 2-year course, education was necessary so that "family" and "patient"

could be regarded as a system.

We recommend that it is necessary for faculty members to consider not only patients but also their family' s nursing in implementing educational methods in family nursing.