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M J Pituch

Publications and source records attributed to M J Pituch.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Community nursing competencies: a comparison of educator, administrator, and student perspectives.

Perceptions of functioning levels of baccalaureate students nearing graduation were assessed, comparing views of 15 educators, 15 health department administrators, and 185 students. A modified list of the 47 essential public health nursing competencies identified through the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services Division of Nursing served as the basis for data collection and analyses. Student competencies in individual skills were ranked higher than group and community competencies by all three groups surveyed. Students ranked competencies at higher levels than educators and educators at higher levels than administrators. Although administrators continue to advise new graduates to work in acute care before entering community health, support for continuation of this practice was not observed based on administrator ratings.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Evaluation of the Health Belief Model and decision making regarding amniocentesis in women of advanced maternal age.

The Health Belief Model (HBM) was developed as an attempt to explain an individual's decision regarding obtaining preventive health care. This model was applied to predict the decisions of women of advanced maternal age regarding their obtaining amniocentesis in a one-year study conducted in Toledo, Ohio. A questionnaire based on the HBM was administered to a sample of 98 pregnant women of advanced maternal age. A total of 96 questionnaires were eligible for inclusion in the study. Sixty-one women reported that they would have amniocentesis, 22 would not, and 13 were unsure. A multivariate analysis of variance among amniocentesis decision groups was performed using the health belief components (perceived susceptibility, perceived seriousness, perceived benefit, perceived barrier) and knowledge as variables. There was a significant difference (Wilks' criterion, p less than .0001) among the three decision groups, but the differences were in the health belief components and not in knowledge. A stepwise discriminant function analysis was used to classify subjects on the amniocentesis decision. Of the variables examined, only the HBM component perceived benefit factor was a significant discriminant (p = .0001). It is not necessarily the lack of knowledge that prevents women who are at risk because of advanced maternal age from having amniocentesis but their perceptions regarding amniocentesis. Genetic counselors need to focus more on exploring the perceptions of amniocentesis benefits in this population to facilitate the decision making process.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Perceived needs of wives of stroke patients.

The purpose of the study described in this article was to determine the difference between the importance that wives of hospitalized stroke patients attached to their own needs and the degree to which they felt those needs were met by members of the nursing staff. Fourteen wives whose husbands had survived an initial stroke completed the Stroke Family Inventory, a 27-item self-administered questionnaire, and participated in a structured private interview to further explore the impact of the stroke on their lives. The wives were asked to reflect on their needs as perceived during the acute stage (the first 2 weeks) of the stroke. Of the 27 needs identified by the wives, four were perceived to be most important. These were (a) a wife's need to know what she could do to assist with her husband's care, (b) a need to be included in discharge planning for her husband, (c) a need to know that nursing personnel cared about her husband, and (d) a need to know what kind of activities her husband was able and/or would be able to do. Results showed that the wives perceived that 18 (66%) of the 27 needs were not met very well by hospital nursing staffs.

Adult↗