The purpose of this study was to examine the types of experiences schizophrenic patients have living in a community where they participate in a psychiatric day care or small-scale workshops using a Grounded Theory Approach.
Analysis identified the following seven components: living a fulfilling life: stability of perceived mental illness status; maintaining good self-esteem; making adjustments in life; having oneself accepted; feeling safe and relieved; and, having something to believe in. The interviews showed that they were "living a fulfilling life".
It was found that "making adjustments in life" and "maintaining good self-esteem" were requirements for "living a fulfilling life" , while "stability of perceived mental illness status" formed a basis of "living a fulfilling life".
The findings suggest that specialized nursing support may be necessary for improvement of quality of life for schizophrenic patients living in a community.

View full abstract

The purpose of this study is to clarify the work-related environmental stressor influencing Burnout by utilizing a Covariance Structure Analysis in order to plan concrete measures for preventing Burnout. The subjects were nurses caring for patients with neurological intractable illness. Questionnaire investigation was carried out to 284 nurses working in ward for these patients of national and general hospitals with 300 beds or more.
Findings were as follows, the first work-related environmental stressor influencing Burnout is the factor of "impossibility on nursing". The second, that of "conflict with colleagues". The factors of "distrustfulness of doctors", "conflict with bosses" and "experience of patients' death" did not significantly influence Burnout. These findings indicated the importance of the work-related environment in which nurses are easy to express their feelings during patients's care and to establish comfortable relations among colleagues

View full abstract

This study examined relationships among non-death loss, care support and anticipatory grief in family caregivers of dementia patients living at home. Four types of questionnaires including a health scale were administered to 144 dementia family caregivers. Under non-death loss there were four categories :"loss of ability," "loss of family cohesion," "loss of selfopportunity" and "loss of identity." and under care support there were three categories: "emotional support," "instrumental support," and "negative support." A anticipatory grief was comprised of seven factors: "disgust and loneliness," "fulfillment," "gratitude," "denial," "reflection," "over-involvement" and "resignation." The correlations between these scales showed that non-death loss and care support influence the nature and intensity of anticipatory grief. Furthermore, it was shown that the "loss of family cohesion" and "disgust and loneliness" negatively impacts caregivers' health. The author recommends that the adjusting aspect of anticipatory grief should be paid much more attention, that non-death loss should be constructed on a different scale from anticipatory grief, and that non-death loss and anticipatory grief would have as important effects on mental health as the caregiver's burden does.

View full abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between social skills and self-esteem using longitudinal data. The causal model of social skills influencing self-esteem was examined using 61 schizophrenic patients living in the community. The results showed that effective social skills provided high self-esteem, but that schizophrenic patients with high self-esteem did not necessarily demonstrate effective use of social skills. The outcome of this study was evidence that the enhancement and maintenance of use of social skills may be an effective method of improving self-esteem in schizophrenic patients. Future qualitative research is necessary to examine change in self-esteem in schizophrenic patients.

View full abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify an observation method that is useful for early detection of ileus in patients with mental disorders. Thirteen nurses, who had noticed the onset of ileus in patients with mental disorders, were interviewed.
The results showed that the following observation methods were important for early detection of ileus: (1) careful observation of abdomen symptoms in patients with medical history of ileus, abdominal surgery, or common use of a laxative. (2) careful observation of an abdomen when increase in quantity of oral medicine, fever elevation, dehydration, or decrease in daily activities was recognized. (3) careful observation of a change of mental states, and a behavior that differs from usual. (4) collection of information that is necessary for distinguishing ileus from other symptoms, by examining inspection, auscultation, and palpation with certainty.
Based on these results, in the future we would like to increase the number of case and add new observation methods that are useful for early detection.

View full abstract

The purpose of this study was to clarify the present state and the problems of nursing for patients with endometriosis. The subjects in this study were 130 nurses with experience of endometriosis patients. An original questionnaire the nursing of endometriosis patients, and the BSRI (Bem Sex Role Inventory) for Japanese to assess sex-role personality were used in this study. The following results were obtained : 1) Most of nurses recognized that endometriosis is an intractable and serious disease. However, the nurse's recognition to the pregnancy and selection of appropriate treatment was low. 2) The nurses recognized typical symptoms of endometriosis such as lower abdomen pain of the menstruation period and infertility. However, the nurses recognized lower abdomen pain other than that of the menstruation period, and during evacuation was low. 3) Most of nurses recognized the problem of the patient with endometriosis infertility. However, the nurse's recognition of psychological problem following to infertility was low. 4) The factors that influence the nursing of endometriosis patients were age, experience in nursing gynecologic patients, and sex-role personality factors. These results show that nurses should understand the patient's illness experience and problems, and also establish more effective ways of nursing for endometriosis patients.

View full abstract

Support for the bereaved families of traffic accident victims was investigated by participating in activities of self-help groups for the family and interviewing the participants. The results of the survey showed that many of the families experienced various types of secondary victimization, the sources of which varied in each case. They obtained information about the groups, from which they received psychological support, not from medical staff but through their actions, e.g., launching their own inquiries to get at the truth and collecting the related information. There were negative aspects of the groups: participating in the groups sometimes made the families depressed because the groups were organized by the bereaved families; and the participants had the difficulties of human relations in the groups. However, overall, the groups served as a place where "The families received positive energy and shared information and empathy", and acted "as a bridge to society": participation in the groups gave the families, tending to become unsociable, an opportunity to go out, and the groups promoted social activities to address issues relating to traffic accident victims such as the protection of the victims and the development of legislation.

View full abstract

The purpose of this study is to research the discharge planning process that the nurse helped the patient and his family who are difficulty to back to home. Semi-structured interviews were conducted for 12 nurses who work in the recovery period rehabilitation ward .Results of which ware analyzed in the grounded theory approach.
The nurses exercised two competencies in the all processes. One was "analysis of the safe living in the home" and the other was "sensitivity for family's tention". And the nurse intervened patient and the family. The nurses helped the patients to drive for his goal of ADL. But the nurse proposed to change goal without burden for the patient and his family, when the nurses felt the patient's depression in rehabilitation. In that time, the nurse helped them for their decision making. These competencies and interventions are effect in leading to discharge patient from hospital to his home.

View full abstract

The purpose of this study was to clarify effects of adapted intensive morning care on elderly people's daily living and activities. The subjects were five female (72-93 years old) in nursing home, necessary for total or part of assistance to ride on the wheelchair,and possible to interact with others. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and participant observations.Data were analyzed by inductive coding. The four number of actigraphic activities in the subjects were calculated in the activities time and the non-activities time. The sleeping and waking time at night were evaluated to make a comparison pre-intervention and intervention period by the average.
The following results were obtained: Intensive morning care adapted to elderly people exerted the effect which "an impulse was received", "a feeling become stable", "will was recovered" on elderly people's daily living. Intensive morning care was connected with the waking of the daytime and the fine sleep of the night.

View full abstract