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Biomedical subjects

D M Smolen

Publications and source records attributed to D M Smolen.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Self-care agency and quality of life among adults diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease.

Individuals with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) often exhibit anxiety and depression, pain and reduced energy but may not adequately develop self-care agency (SCA) to manage IBD. The purpose of this study was to examine whether SCA is related to quality of life in adults diagnosed with IBD. The sample of 34 individuals for this descriptive, correlational study completed three questionnaires including the Appraisal of self-care agency scale (A.S.A.-A Scale), the Inflammatory bowel disease questionnaire and a Demographic data questionnaire. Results indicated SCA was unrelated to indicators of quality of life among IBD individuals. This finding may be attributed to the high level of functioning of the sample. However, IBD quality of life (emotional functioning, social functioning, and bowel and systemic symptoms) was negatively correlated with the number of medications individuals took and positively correlated with the number of diagnosed chronic illnesses.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

NEW: an interactive data management system for monitoring ambulatory patients.

Biobehavioral monitoring is a method of gathering daily biological and behavioral measurements from ambulatory patients so that hospital-based care can be extended to the home. Such data can also serve many other purposes such as peer review and assesing the outcome of treatment. To assist in handling the increased information about patients, NEW, a system of three interactive APL Plus computer program packages, has been developed. The program packages, NEWDATA, EVALUATION, and WARNINGS, form an interactive data management system to provide: a rapid means of entering and verifying each patient's data from either a single day or a group of days; a flexible and simple means of retrieving and analyzing the data for an individual patient or for groups of patients; and a means of reviewing, detecting, and signaling trends in the data that deviate from present clinical criteria.

Ambulatory Care↗
PubMed1976

Bio-behavioral monitoring: a method for remote health measurement.

The treatment of chronic disease has been severely limited by the failure to develop a technology of self-measurement. To examine and validate remotely acquired data from ambulatory patients, 13 cirrhotic subjects were asked to make daily measurements of medically and behaviorally significant variables. Subjects transmitted data for six months on variables such as weight, alcohol consumption, medications, hours worked, liquid consumed and general activity, complying with 90.4% (10,078) of the requests for data. Highly significant relationships were found between patients' reports and criterion measures of weight data and alcohol consumption. Significant negative relationships between hours worked and alcohol consumption were found for several patients (P less than 0.001). The results suggest that ambulatory patients can systematically measure and communicate medically and behaviorally significant information.

Absenteeism↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Constraints that nursing program administrators encounter in promoting faculty change and development.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the constraints that nursing program administrators encounter in promoting faculty change and development. The underlying theoretical framework was based on the concepts of change and innovation presented by Lunde and Hartung, Downs and Mohr, and Kanter. Administrators of baccalaureate schools of nursing (n = 271) who were members of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing participated in this study. All participants answered a questionnaire on types of development activities provided, beliefs regarding faculty development, and constraints in providing faculty development. Descriptive statistics, cross-tabulation, and regression analysis were used to analyze data. Development activities reported ranged from sabbaticals to providing centers for faculty development. Lack of research skills in master's degree--prepared faculty was determined to be the greatest perceived limitation. Available resources, perceived faculty responsibility for own development, and perceived faculty interest were found to be predictive of provision of development activities. Results of this study suggest that availability of resources affects faculty development as does the perception by administration that faculty need to show interest and assume personal responsibility for professional development.

Faculty, Nursing↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Coping methods of patients with inflammatory bowel disease and prediction of perceived health, functional status, and well-being.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is chronic, incurable, and requires that affected patients cope with their condition on a constant basis. The purpose of this descriptive study was to predict the perceived health, functioning, and well-being among patients with IBD through the use and effectiveness of various coping methods. Forty-six patients with IBD completed the Jalowiec Coping Scale, the Health Status Questionnaire, and a demographic questionnaire. Results indicate that use of evasive, fatalistic, and emotive coping methods along with optimistic coping effectiveness were significantly inversely correlated with health perception and well-being. No coping effectiveness variables and only the use of evasive, fatalistic, and supportive coping methods were significantly inversely correlated with perceived functioning. Regression analysis indicated that 20% of the variance in health perception could be predicted from the use of emotive coping method. Fatalistic coping method use explained 24% of the variance in perceived functioning. Finally, 51% of the variability in perceived well-being could be predicted from the use of fatalistic coping method and the effectiveness of optimistic method. These findings indicate that emotion-focused coping methods are important predictors of the health, functioning, and well-being perceptions of patients with IBD.

Activities of Daily Living↗