DXA valuable for bone mineral density testing.
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Absorptiometry, Photon↗
Biomedical subjects
Margaret O Doheny
Publications and source records attributed to Margaret O Doheny.
Knowledge and health beliefs of osteoporosis in college nursing students.
PURPOSE: This purpose of this study was to describe college students' knowledge of osteoporosis, health beliefs regarding osteoporosis, self-efficacy to perform osteoporosis-preventing activities, and actual performance of osteoporosis-preventing activities. METHOD: This descriptive study used a survey method. Participants completed a questionnaire consisting of the Osteoporosis preventing Behaviors Survey, the Osteoporosis Knowledge Test, the Osteoporosis Health Belief Scale, and the Osteoporosis Self-Efficacy Scale. SAMPLE: One-hundred ninety-four nursing student subjects (86 sophomore students and 108 senior students). RESULTS: Senior students were more knowledgeable about osteoporosis than sophomore students and were more confident about performing osteoporosis-preventing behaviors. There were no significant differences between the groups regarding their health beliefs about osteoporosis, their performance of weight-bearing exercise, dietary calcium intake, or intake of caffeinated products. CONCLUSION: These results may be useful in examining the nursing curricula at colleges of nursing, as well as investigating methods of helping beginning nurses, as health promoters, to make lifestyle changes. This, in turn, may lead to behaviors to prevent osteoporosis in themselves and those for whom they provide care.
Adolescent↗
Height change and bone mineral density: revisited.
PURPOSE: To evaluate the relationship between height change, osteoporosis risk factors, and bone mineral density. SAMPLE: Secondary data collected on 168 healthy women, ages 50 to 65 years, who had a dual energy x-ray absorptiometry screening of the hip and spine to determine bone mineral density. METHOD: A quantitative secondary analysis of data that replicated in part a study by Hunt (1996). FINDINGS: The relationships between height change, osteoporosis risk factors, and bone mineral density were not significant for this group of healthy postmenopausal women. However, these women did not meet daily minimum requirements for dietary calcium intake and daily exercise. IMPLICATIONS: The good news is that healthy women ages 50 to 65 years still have time to engage in osteoporosis preventing behaviors to prevent bone loss and eventual height loss. The use of measured height change, as an indicator for osteoporosis risk, is a cost-saving tool and should be considered as one component of a comprehensive osteoporosis health appraisal incorporating daily calcium intake and exercise. Further research, with more precise measurement of height, needs to be done to evaluate the relationship between height change, osteoporosis risk factors, and bone mineral density.
Absorptiometry, Photon↗
Tailored interventions to enhance osteoporosis prevention in women.
PURPOSE: The purpose of this pilot study was to determine if tailored nursing interventions based on personal knowledge of bone mineral density from a dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry cause increases in knowledge of osteoporosis, health beliefs, or osteoporosis-prevention behaviors in postmenopausal women 50-65 years of age, 6 months after the intervention. METHOD: The design for this pilot study was a two group quasi-experimental design. The treatment group received a tailored intervention; the control group did not. Outcome data were gathered at 6 months after dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. The tailored intervention was designed and given to each woman via telephone using her dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry results and osteoporosis questionnaire data that addressed her knowledge of osteoporosis and osteoporosis-prevention behaviors of calcium intake, exercise, smoking, and alcohol use. A written mailed copy of the intervention followed the telephone interview. Six months after the intervention, the women were mailed another osteoporosis questionnaire to determine if the tailored intervention made a difference in the outcome variables. SAMPLE: A total 124 women between the ages of 50 and 65 (101 control, 23 treatment) comprised the sample. RESULTS: There was no difference in knowledge between groups. On the average, there were significantly more perceived barriers to calcium in the tailored group (mean = 13.48) than in the nontailored group (mean = 11.55) (t = 2.147; df = 122; p = .034). There were significantly more perceived barriers to exercise in the tailored group (mean = 14.39) than in the nontailored group (mean = 12.21) (t = .144; df = 122; p = .034). Daily calcium intake increased in both the tailored and the nontailored groups. The tailored intervention increased women's daily calcium intake from 614.28 to 1039.10 mg (t = -2.896; df = 22; p = .008). The nontailored group daily calcium intake increased from 587.91 to 916.30 mg (t = -3.541; df = 100; p = .001); there was no significant difference between the groups. Weight-bearing exercise behaviors decreased from 96.04 minutes to 59.2 minutes in the tailored group but increased slightly in the nontailored group from 81.47 to 87.26 minutes of exercise. CONCLUSION: Tailored interventions increased women's perceived barriers to calcium and exercise. Both groups increased calcium intake. The mixed findings of increased perception of barriers to calcium and exercise and decreased exercise behaviors indicate the need for further study. This important intervention has implications for orthopaedic nurses and healthcare professionals involved in health promotion and prevention of osteoporosis.
Aged↗