Biomedical subjects

Gayle J Acton

Publications and source records attributed to Gayle J Acton.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2003

A framework for developing a coding scheme for meta-analysis.

The prominence of systematic reviews as bases for evidence-based practice is increasingly recognized and has significance for practice disciplines such as nursing. Synthesizing research findings is key to informing the clinical care of individuals burdened with health problems. A major issue in conducting such reviews involves developing reliable and valid coding procedures for extracting data from the research literature. A formalized process is described for developing coding instruments that have been used in five separate studies. Initial instrument development for a diabetes self-management education meta-analysis is described, followed by a discussion of adapting the instruments for subsequent meta-analytic studies of self-management interventions in diabetes care and of interventions to reduce caregiver burden of individuals with Alzheimer's disease dementia. Although time and effort are required for development of coding processes for research synthesis, these instrument development activities are one of the critical elements of producing reliable and clinically useful information.

Humans↗

PubMed2003

Spirituality in caregivers of family members with dementia.

Caring for a loved one with dementia is a difficult and stressful task due to the multiple memory and behavior problems that persist over many years. Researchers have implemented various intervention strategies and evaluated their impact on the negative aspects of caregiving. Yet, many of these strategies have failed to show reductions in the burden of caregiving. However, caregivers sometimes report that these same intervention strategies were extremely helpful. Perhaps those strategies are helping caregivers find spiritual meaning in their lives that empowers them to transcend their caregiving difficulties. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate spiritual meaning in caregivers of family members with dementia. A descriptive, naturalistic field study using qualitative interviewing techniques was used to collect data from 9 family caregivers of adults with dementia. In this study, spirituality was described as a connection between a higher power, others, and oneself that resulted from patterns of process, communication, and discovery.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2002

Health-promoting self-care in family caregivers.

Caregiving for family members with cognitive impairment is stressful and time consuming. Because of the attention needed to manage the memory and behavior problems of the care receiver, family caregivers have little time to attend to their own health needs. Most research related to the health of family caregivers has been conducted within a stress-illness framework. Fewer researchers have studied caregiver health from a health-promotion paradigm. The purpose of this study was to compare health-promoting self-care behavior infamily caregivers with demographically matched noncaregivers and to investigate the mediational effect of health-promoting self-care behavior on the relationship between stress and well-being. Findings revealed that family caregivers scored significantly lower on all measures of health promotion, with the exception of Nutrition and Number of Medications, and significantly higher on Barriers to Health-Promoting Actions. Health-promoting self-care behavior acted as a mediator to reduce the effect of caregiver stress on general well-being.

Caregivers↗

PubMed2002

Self-transcendent views and behaviors. Exploring growth in caregivers of adults with dementia.

Literature suggests difficult life experiences such as fear, loss, and grief can provide an impetus for moving from self-centeredness toward a broader personal identity and self-transcendence. Caring for a family member with dementia may provide the context for such a movement; thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate self-transcendent views and behaviors in family caregivers of adults with dementia. A naturalistic field study design was used to collect data from individuals caring for family members with dementia. Findings showed little evidence of self-transcendent views and behaviors and little opportunity for caregivers to engage in activities that might facilitate self-transcendence. Conclusions of the study reveal social isolation, ambivalence, burden of care, and emotional fragility may inhibit the development of self-transcendence and interfere with healthy growth and development in family caregivers.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2002

Interventions for family members caring for an elder with dementia.

This chapter reviews 73 published and unpublished research reports of interventions for family members caring for an elder with dementia by nurse researchers and researchers from other disciplines. Reports were identified through searches of MEDLINE, CINAHL, Social Science Index, PsycINFO, ERIC, Social Work Abstracts, American Association of Retired Persons database, CRISP index of the National Institutes of Health, Cochrane Center database, and Dissertation Abstracts using the following search terms: caregiver, caregiving, dementia, Alzheimer's, intervention study, evaluation study, experimental, and quasi-experimental design. Additional keywords were used to narrow or expand the search as necessary. All nursing research was included in the review and nonnursing research was included if published between 1991 and 2001. Studies were included if they used a design that included a treatment and control group or a one-group, pretest-posttest design (ex post facto designs were included if they used a comparison group). Key findings show that approximately 32% of the study outcomes (e.g., burden, depression, knowledge) were changed after intervention in the desired direction. In addition, several problematic issues were identified including small, diverse samples; lack of intervention specificity; diversity in the length, duration, and intensity of the intervention strategies; and problematic outcome measures.

Aged↗