The purpose of this study was to develop and determine the effectiveness of a nursing mentoring intervention program for adolescents with type 1 diabetes. A coping skills training program using a group intervention session and online mentoring was providedvia e-mail or telephone over a 12-month period. Ten adolescents and 7 young adults with type 1 diabetes completed this program. The findings suggest that the use of the group-based coping skills training session and mentoring intervention improved the metabolic control of diabetes in adolescents over a 12-month period and facilitated their self-efficacy of diabetes management over a 6-month period. Overall, the adolescents enjoyed the relationship with their mentors during the intervention period. However, there was a significant decrease in the mentoring relationship at 12 months post-session. The online mentoring is not ideal for establishing and maintaining strong connections between mentees and mentors over the long term. Additional research is needed to increase the beneficial effects of mentoring for mentees. The basic structure (e.g., ongoing guidance for mentors and training them to develop strong communication skills, early support for relationship building, and supervision of mentoring relationships) of mentoring programs must be strengthened if they are to be successful.

View full abstract

The goal of this study was to determine the mentoring relationships and mentoring experiences of young adults with type 1 diabetes. Qualitative and quantitative data were obtained to assess the mentoring relationships and experiences of young adults. To assess the mentoring practice and mentoring experiences of seven young adults, a qualitative descriptive analysis was performed. Two different communication patterns were found in the mentoring relationship. Some mentors were successful at expressing sincere concerns for their mentees via active listening skills, while others were unable to maintain strong intimacy with their mentees, and the relationships ultimately ended. It was difficult to maintain strong intimacy between mentees and mentors over the long term. However, mentoring increases young adults' sense of responsibility and their positive roles as a mentor. Moreover, young adultsfound theirnew potentialities as they determined living with diabetes.

View full abstract

[in Japanese]

View full abstract

This study examines the characteristics and factors associated with feelings of difficulty in child rearing in mothers of preterm infants. Analysis was conducted on self-report questionnaires received from 23 mothers of preterm infants and the same number of full-term infants' mothers. The mean age of preterm infants was 6.3±2.7 months, mean gestational age 31.5±2.9 weeks, and mean birth weight 1456±478g. Although the child-rearing difficulties faced by mothers of preterm infants were comparable to those faced by mothers of full-term infants, many mothers of preterm infants tended to feel that their family members did not understand them during pregnancy, and that their husbands did not discuss child-rearing with them. The child-rearing difficulties faced by mothers of preterm infants had a positive correlation with anxiety and depression among mothers and their husbands' health; they had a negative correlation with the period after children's discharge. These results suggest that it is important for nurses to understand mothers' perceptions of infant-mother interaction and their social support, and to provide care in the early stages.

View full abstract

A semi-structured interview was conducted with four fathers of children up to puberty with severe motor and intellectual disabilities in order to clarify thoughts, ideas, responses and behaviors as a father of such severely disabled child who has been hospitalized for a long term. The result led to seven categories of the fathers' thoughts, ideas, responses and behaviors in their relationship with the children; "struggle for the child's recovery," "critical situation in home care," "change in the idea towards the disabled," "desire for continuation of peaceful stay at the hospital," "searching of a father's role," "difficulty of balance between involvement in the child, and home and work" and "worries about the child's future." As conclusion, the fathers changed their way of treating the children through relation with medical personnel. It is necessary to provide a place like peer counseling where a father can speak out his thoughts and can meet parents in the same situation. Nursing support is also necessary for a father where he can share time with the child in order to prevent their relation from becoming weak due to the child's long-term hospitalization.

View full abstract

[in Japanese]

View full abstract

This qualitative study aims to improve understanding of the self-care behavior and social support in adolescent patients with IBD, in order to apply the findings in nursing practice. Four patients aged 14 to 21 were interviewed in this study using semistructured interviews, and their responses were analyzed qualitatively and inductively. Six themes could be formulated as a result of their responses, namely: 1) communicating with others about the condition and the daily challenges it causes; 2) receiving treatment based on the patient's understanding of the condition; 3) consultation is necessary only on an emergency basis, not daily; 4) consultation can only take place with those who understand the condition well; 5) preparing for possible problems; 6) trying to find an individual way of living with the condition. It is important for nurses to have a trust-based relationship with patients while watching patients' behavior closely in order to understand how they cope personally with IBD.

View full abstract

The purpose of this study is to elucidate the process in which fathers who have a child suffering from cancer come to terms with the difficult situation. Six fathers whose child had been hospitalized due to the onset of cancer in the pediatrics ward at Hospital A were interviewed. Using the amended version of grounded theory approach, analysis was performed on textual data, which is the word by word transcription of their comments collected during the interviews. Four categories were drawn from the data: category of feeling their own growth, category of doctors' help by providing reassurance, category of their desperate coping behavior and category of encouragement. Fathers of those children who had been diagnosed as having cancer first experienced the fear that they might lose their child. Thereafter, they managed to sustain themselves through the distressing situation by endeavoring to 'switch to positive thinking', 'assume cheerfulness' and 'pretend to be strong-hearted'. As a result, these fathers were able to realize their own growth. It was found that the process was affected by the mental support of their fellow workers, sick child and sick child's siblings and reassuring involvement of the doctors.

View full abstract

Since child abuse in Japan increases every year, the importance of support for daily living to the abused child is pointed out in various articles. Even though, the support for daily living is one of the nursing skills, the literature review revealed no study on the topics. The purpose of this study is to describe the self-care nursing intervention based on "the Integrated Approach to Symptom Management (IASM)" in the support for daily living of three children who live in a children's home and had suffered from child abuse. In this study, children's difficulties to maintain their life habit were identified as "the symptom" in the framework. Two cases were approached for "the cleanliness," one for "the activity and rest." All three cases showed the behavioral change after the intervention. Since duration of intervention was not long enough, it was not appropriate to conclude the effect of change to extend to the change of life habit.

View full abstract

The objective of this qualitative and inductive study was to determine the process how the women living with spina bifida, a congenital ailment with physical disabilities, would acquire and establish their self-management pattern in healthcare behavior in their daily life. Subjects were 15 females with mean age 36.3 years (ranged 26-44 yrs): 5 revealing their spina bifida on web pages by themselves, and 10 introduced by website managers. Data were obtained through conducting individualized and direct face to face interviews of 45 to 151 minutes long with mean length 71 minutes, audio-taping upon consent and recording with verbatim documentation later on. Then they were analyzed using the grounded theory approach. As the result, it was shown that the subjects, due to the "disability characteristics of spina bifida", realized themselves as "different from anybody else" in their daily living, had "a desire to lead an ordinary living", and retained "maintenance of self-esteem" through "adjusting themselves to the difference from others". Therefore, the women living with spina bifida tended to spend long period of time without having sufficient knowledge and understanding of their disease and had to experience unnecessary physical and psychological distresses. Thus, it was suggested that it was necessary to provide them regularly more with individualized explanation according to their developmental stage and to show them the way how to alleviate the difference from others through adjusting themselves.

View full abstract

[in Japanese]

View full abstract