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Biomedical subjects

I M Holter

Publications and source records attributed to I M Holter.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Developing a translation of the McGill pain questionnaire for cross-cultural comparison: an example from Norway.

The ability to measure pain across diverse cultures is important for understanding the universal aspects of pain and expediting nursing intervention. The McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) is the most valid and reliable single multidimensional pain instrument available for measuring pain. Although it has been translated in several languages, most efforts, including two Norwegian translations, have resulted in a variety of new versions, all lacking sufficient faithfulness to the original MPQ to allow qualitative or quantitative cross-cultural comparisons. There is a need for direct translations that maintain the original denotation, connotation and numerical value of the MPQ and thus provide a base for future cross-cultural studies of pain. This paper reports on the development and initial testing of a direct translation of the McGill Pain Questionnaire into Norwegian (NMPQ). The translation process involved three phases: translation, back-translation and consensual. In order to evaluate its performance and validity, the NMPQ was administered to a group of adult surgical patients at two different points in time during the postoperative period. The NMPQ was examined for its feasibility, its sensitivity in detecting decreases in intensity of pain postoperatively and for construct validity. A visual analogue scale was used to check for converging validity, and Spielberger's state anxiety scale was used to assess discriminate validity. The initial testing of the NMPQ with adult surgical patients suggests that the NMPQ is culturally acceptable, relevant, sensitive to fluctuations in pain and numerically consistent with the original MPQ. The moderate levels of validity attend lend considerable assurance to the instruments readiness for use in cross-cultural studies of pain.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Patient-nurse collaboration: a comparison of patients' and nurses' attitudes in Finland, Japan, Norway, and the U.S.A.

While there has been an increasing emphasis on patients' participation in decisions concerning health care and nursing in the literature as an ideal, it is not clear to what extent patients and nurses assume the consumerist attitude regarding health-care decision making. With the view that attitudes people hold regarding their role in health care and nursing will primarily affect the way they behave in health-care situations, a multinational study was carried out to examine five sets of attitudes regarding consumerism held by patients in acute-care hospitals and nurses working in them. The findings from the surveys in Finland, Japan, Norway, and the U.S.A. indicate that while the patients and the nurses in these countries tend to lean toward the consumerist perspective in their attitudes, there were significant differences in the acculturation of these attitudes among the countries and between the patients and nurses. Two different models for the explanation of attitude regarding collaborative decision making in nursing practice emerged for the patients and the nurses as groups. For both groups, however, age and the more general consumerist attitudes have a bearing on their attitudes regarding collaboration in nursing.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Cross-cultural testing of the "appraisal of self-care agency: ASA scale" in Norway.

The purpose of this study was to test the discriminant validity and interrater reliability of an instrument that measures aspects of self-care agency using Norwegian populations. The ASA scale forms A and B, which had been tested in the Netherlands previously, were translated into Norwegian and administered to two groups of elderly subjects and to a sample of geriatric nurses and nursing assistants in Norway. The subjects, one group from two geriatric rehabilitation units, and another from those living independently who were attending activity centres, completed the ASA-A scale. The nurses filled out the ASA-B scale. The results were supportive of the validity and reliability. Discriminant validity of the ASA scales was demonstrated.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1993

Action research: what is it? How has it been used and how can it be used in nursing?

Action research has enjoyed increasing popularity across a wide variety of disciplines including nursing. Action research was designed specifically to bridge the gap between theory, research and practice and incorporates both humanistic and naturalistic scientific methods. As such, action research is a highly compelling method for nursing. However, action research does not easily lend itself to definition. A variety of approaches, definitions and uses have emerged since it was created by Kurt Lewin and have given rise to much debate within social and behavioural sciences. This confusion has carried over into nursing literature without any systematic identification of or debate about the core characteristics of action research or the multitude of approaches or uses that have come to be associated with this method. Thus this paper addresses the central characteristics, three major approaches to action research that exist today and how action research has been used and can be used in nursing.

England↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Nursing services administration in Norway.

Despite the importance of nurse administrators to a nation's hospitals and health service, there are few systematic studies analyzing the environmental context of nursing administration and how nurses function to improve the quality of care, control costs and maintain morale. To rectify this situation--which is as true for Norway as for most nations of the world--an in-depth study was conducted of chief nurses in Norwegian hospitals. The aim was to improve understanding of 1) what nursing administration is like, 2) the demands made of nurse administrators in a variety of organizational and geographical contexts, and 3) the skills that are needed to be successful. Below, a report of the study.

Cost Control↗