Introduction:
Home-dwelling older people with chronic diseases often need the support of informal and formal caregivers in order to continue living at home. Family members, however, need to be ...willing and prepared for caregiving together with home care nurses.
Objectives:
The purpose of this study was to explore factors associated with family caregivers’ preparedness to care for older home-dwelling adults who also receive home care nursing services.
Methods:
For this cross-sectional correlational study, a structured questionnaire was sent to family caregivers of adults aged 65 years or older receiving services from a community care agency. A total of 243 participants returned the questionnaire, of which 199 could be analyzed.
Results:
The stepwise backward regression model explained 29.1% of the variance of family caregivers’ preparedness. Mutuality was the most strongly associated factor with family caregivers’ preparedness whereas professional involvement of family caregiver in care process was important as well. Care intensity showed no significant impact.
Conclusion:
Nurses should support the whole family emotionally, and appreciate, admire, reinforce, and respect the caregivers’ situation. Home care nurses need to invest in helping families to find solutions, to strengthen their relationships between family members and the older person dwelling at home.
Often family members provide care‐giving, which allows older adults to remain in their homes. With declining health and increasing frailty, care‐giving of elderly people becomes a task of family ...caregivers (FC) in conjunction with home care nurses. It has been shown in both acute care settings and long‐term care facilities that family members prefer to be involved in decision‐making and care planning for their next of kin. Therefore, an integrative review was conducted to explore the body of knowledge of FCs’ involvement in home‐care settings from the FCs’ perspective. CINAHL, PubMed, and Cochrane databases was searched with the terms family caregiver, involvement, home care, and community dwelling. Studies written in German or English between 1996 and 2017 focusing on FCs’ caring for home‐dwelling older adults together with home care nurses were included and critically appraised. The extracted findings were analysed with concept analysis method. Twenty‐six studies were included and five themes were identified. Four themes formed the basis of assistance towards family caregivers by nurses and included “relationship building with professionals,” “negotiating with professional care,” “being professionally supported,” and “managing role expectations and knowledge sharing”. The fifth theme, “working together” described the mutual care for the care recipient. Although the first four themes were consistent with a pre‐existing conceptual model by Sims‐Gould and Marin‐Matthews (2010), the fifth required an expansion of the model with an additional contribution “collaborative practice”. The findings illustrate that involvement in care is an interactional process, which provides the basis for collaborative practices with the home care nurses for family caregivers. Family members often want to be part of the healthcare team, and nurses need contextual factors that allow providing their full range of skills and knowledge to involve family caregivers accordingly.
To reveal possible differences in whole brain topology of epileptic glioma patients, being low-grade glioma (LGG) and high-grade glioma (HGG) patients. We studied functional networks in these ...patients and compared them to those in epilepsy patients with non-glial lesions (NGL) and healthy controls. Finally, we related network characteristics to seizure frequency and cognitive performance within patient groups.
We constructed functional networks from pre-surgical resting-state magnetoencephalography (MEG) recordings of 13 LGG patients, 12 HGG patients, 10 NGL patients, and 36 healthy controls. Normalized clustering coefficient and average shortest path length as well as modular structure and network synchronizability were computed for each group. Cognitive performance was assessed in a subset of 11 LGG and 10 HGG patients.
LGG patients showed decreased network synchronizability and decreased global integration compared to healthy controls in the theta frequency range (4-8 Hz), similar to NGL patients. HGG patients' networks did not significantly differ from those in controls. Network characteristics correlated with clinical presentation regarding seizure frequency in LGG patients, and with poorer cognitive performance in both LGG and HGG glioma patients.
Lesion histology partly determines differences in functional networks in glioma patients suffering from epilepsy. We suggest that differences between LGG and HGG patients' networks are explained by differences in plasticity, guided by the particular lesional growth pattern. Interestingly, decreased synchronizability and decreased global integration in the theta band seem to make LGG and NGL patients more prone to the occurrence of seizures and cognitive decline.
Background
Family members often need to be supported in informal care of the elderly and desire to be involved into care planning and decision‐making. Valid and reliable instruments are needed to ...measure how family members perceive the care and support they receive from nurses for older family members living at home.
Aim
The purpose of this study was to translate the 20‐item social support scale of the Family Functioning, Family Health and Social Support (FAFHES) questionnaire from English to German and test the validity and reliability of the scale among Swiss‐German‐speaking family caregivers of home‐dwelling elderly people who receive home healthcare services.
Methods
A cross‐sectional study was conducted to test the empirical and psychometric properties of the translated and culturally adapted version of the social support questionnaire. A factor analysis with the principal component analysis PCA was used to test construct validity. The internal consistency of items was measured with the Cronbach`s alpha coefficient.
Results
After a rigorous translation process the original 20‐item questionnaire was adapted into a 19‐item version and tested with family caregivers (n = 207) of home‐dwelling elderly. Psychometric testing of the German version of the social support questionnaire revealed that the three factors – affirmation, affect and concrete aid – were congruent with the original questionnaire. The accounted variance was 79.5% and the internal consistency determined by the Cronbach's alpha was 0.973.
Conclusion
The German version of the social support scale of the FAFHES questionnaire is a valid and reliable instrument to assess family perceived support on three dimensions – affirmation, affect and concrete aid – received from nursing professionals. The questionnaire should be tested further in other German‐speaking populations.
Background
The clinical presentation of European patients with mild‐to‐moderate COVID‐19 infection is still unknown.
Objective
To study the clinical presentation of COVID‐19 in Europe.
Methods
...Patients with positive diagnosis of COVID‐19 were recruited from 18 European hospitals. Epidemiological and clinical data were obtained through a standardized questionnaire. Bayesian analysis was used for analysing the relationship between outcomes.
Results
A total of 1,420 patients completed the study (962 females, 30.7% of healthcare workers). The mean age of patients was 39.17 ± 12.09 years. The most common symptoms were headache (70.3%), loss of smell (70.2%), nasal obstruction (67.8%), cough (63.2%), asthenia (63.3%), myalgia (62.5%), rhinorrhea (60.1%), gustatory dysfunction (54.2%) and sore throat (52.9%). Fever was reported by 45.4%. The mean duration of COVID‐19 symptoms of mild‐to‐moderate cured patients was 11.5 ± 5.7 days. The prevalence of symptoms significantly varied according to age and sex. Young patients more frequently had ear, nose and throat complaints, whereas elderly individuals often presented fever, fatigue and loss of appetite. Loss of smell, headache, nasal obstruction and fatigue were more prevalent in female patients. The loss of smell was a key symptom of mild‐to‐moderate COVID‐19 patients and was not associated with nasal obstruction and rhinorrhea. Loss of smell persisted at least 7 days after the disease in 37.5% of cured patients.
Conclusion
The clinical presentation of mild‐to‐moderate COVID‐19 substantially varies according to the age and the sex characteristics of patients. Olfactory dysfunction seems to be an important underestimated symptom of mild‐to‐moderate COVID‐19 that needs to be recognized as such by the WHO.
Background: The clinical presentation of European patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 infection is still unknown. Objective: To study the clinical presentation of COVID-19 in Europe. Methods: ...Patients with positive diagnosis of COVID-19 were recruited from 18 European hospitals. Epidemiological and clinical data were obtained through a standardized questionnaire. Bayesian analysis was used for analysing the relationship between outcomes. Results: A total of 1,420 patients completed the study (962 females, 30.7% of healthcare workers). The mean age of patients was 39.17 ± 12.09 years. The most common symptoms were headache (70.3%), loss of smell (70.2%), nasal obstruction (67.8%), cough (63.2%), asthenia (63.3%), myalgia (62.5%), rhinorrhea (60.1%), gustatory dysfunction (54.2%) and sore throat (52.9%). Fever was reported by 45.4%. The mean duration of COVID-19 symptoms of mild-to-moderate cured patients was 11.5 ± 5.7 days. The prevalence of symptoms significantly varied according to age and sex. Young patients more frequently had ear, nose and throat complaints, whereas elderly individuals often presented fever, fatigue and loss of appetite. Loss of smell, headache, nasal obstruction and fatigue were more prevalent in female patients. The loss of smell was a key symptom of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 patients and was not associated with nasal obstruction and rhinorrhea. Loss of smell persisted at least 7 days after the disease in 37.5% of cured patients. Conclusion: The clinical presentation of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 substantially varies according to the age and the sex characteristics of patients. Olfactory dysfunction seems to be an important underestimated symptom of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 that needs to be recognized as such by the WHO.
Objective: To investigate the occurrence of olfactory and gustatory dysfunctions in patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 infection. Methods: Patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 ...infection were recruited from 12 European hospitals. The following epidemiological and clinical outcomes have been studied: age, sex, ethnicity, comorbidities, and general and otolaryngological symptoms. Patients completed olfactory and gustatory questionnaires based on the smell and taste component of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, and the short version of the Questionnaire of Olfactory Disorders-Negative Statements (sQOD-NS). Results: A total of 417 mild-to-moderate COVID-19 patients completed the study (263 females). The most prevalent general symptoms consisted of cough, myalgia, and loss of appetite. Face pain and nasal obstruction were the most disease-related otolaryngological symptoms. 85.6% and 88.0% of patients reported olfactory and gustatory dysfunctions, respectively. There was a significant association between both disorders (p < 0.001). Olfactory dysfunction (OD) appeared before the other symptoms in 11.8% of cases. The sQO-NS scores were significantly lower in patients with anosmia compared with normosmic or hyposmic individuals (p = 0.001). Among the 18.2% of patients without nasal obstruction or rhinorrhea, 79.7% were hyposmic or anosmic. The early olfactory recovery rate was 44.0%. Females were significantly more affected by olfactory and gustatory dysfunctions than males (p = 0.001). Conclusion: Olfactory and gustatory disorders are prevalent symptoms in European COVID-19 patients, who may not have nasal symptoms. The sudden anosmia or ageusia need to be recognized by the international scientific community as important symptoms of the COVID-19 infection.
Objective: To investigate the occurrence of olfactory and gustatory dysfunctions in patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 infection. Methods: Patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 ...infection were recruited from 12 European hospitals. The following epidemiological and clinical outcomes have been studied: age, sex, ethnicity, comorbidities, and general and otolaryngological symptoms. Patients completed olfactory and gustatory questionnaires based on the smell and taste component of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, and the short version of the Questionnaire of Olfactory Disorders-Negative Statements (sQOD-NS). Results: A total of 417 mild-to-moderate COVID-19 patients completed the study (263 females). The most prevalent general symptoms consisted of cough, myalgia, and loss of appetite. Face pain and nasal obstruction were the most disease-related otolaryngological symptoms. 85.6% and 88.0% of patients reported olfactory and gustatory dysfunctions, respectively. There was a significant association between both disorders (p < 0.001). Olfactory dysfunction (OD) appeared before the other symptoms in 11.8% of cases. The sQO-NS scores were significantly lower in patients with anosmia compared with normosmic or hyposmic individuals (p = 0.001). Among the 18.2% of patients without nasal obstruction or rhinorrhea, 79.7% were hyposmic or anosmic. The early olfactory recovery rate was 44.0%. Females were significantly more affected by olfactory and gustatory dysfunctions than males (p = 0.001). Conclusion: Olfactory and gustatory disorders are prevalent symptoms in European COVID-19 patients, who may not have nasal symptoms. The sudden anosmia or ageusia need to be recognized by the international scientific community as important symptoms of the COVID-19 infection.
Highlights • Successful merging of individual pregnancy data across heterogeneous platforms. • Global standardized PlGF measure developed for use, irrespective of local platform. • Best reference ...curve for PlGF measurements created for normal pregnancy. • Successful use of reference curve for identification of adverse outcomes. • Method can be extended to any biomarkers from heterogeneous platforms in any field.