Biomedical subjects

Mary R Lynn

Publications and source records attributed to Mary R Lynn.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2007

Prevalence of lower urinary tract symptoms among female elementary school teachers in Taipei.

The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) among female elementary school teachers in Taipei. A total of 520 self-administered surveys were distributed to 26 elementary schools in Taipei City. Data analyses were based on 445 usable surveys. The prevalence rates for different types of LUTS ranged from 9.9 to 44.5%. The prevalence of urinary incontinence (UI; 26.7%) and nocturia (16.0%) fell within the prevalence estimates of these LUTS in North American and European women. Employed women in this study were more likely to experience LUTS than women in previous epidemiological or community studies. This study extended research on UI into other LUTS among employed women in Asia. Study results suggest that the working environment may affect LUTS in female elementary school teachers. This preliminary study is important for developing future behavioral interventions for female LUTS in the workplace.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Mentoring the next generation of systems researchers.

As we consider our next generation of researchers, we need to be sure that we are doing the "right things" to position them for success. Surely their education will help, but we must go beyond the academic experience to insure that they have the opportunity to become accomplished and contributing professionals. It is incumbent upon us to become mentors for those promising researchers in the academic and practice pipelines to provide the guidance and opportunities required to prote ge s to situate them on a successful trajectory.

Humans↗

PubMed2006

Staff nurses and their solutions to the nursing shortage.

Nurses in acute care hospitals report that situations in their work setting and profession are in dire need of repair. Although they waiver on their intention to remain in their institution and nursing, they do not waiver on their selected resolution to nursing's shortage. A total of 787 staff nurses in eight geographically and demographically diverse states responded and were asked to select the "Top 5" actions they thought would improve nursing and decrease the shortage. Creating career ladders was endorsed by most respondents (85%) with increasing pay endorsed by the fewest (33%). When selecting the single most important action, they reversed the order--increased pay was the most endorsed (26%), and creating career ladders and increased educational opportunities were endorsed by less than 1%. Nurses appeared to be concerned about the profession in general; however, when asked the "most important" thing to do, an age-old action was selected--increase pay.

Humans↗

PubMed2005

Faces of the nursing shortage: influences on staff nurses' intentions to leave their positions or nursing.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and nurses' intention to leave their current position or nursing. BACKGROUND: Because retention of nurses is a critical issue for acute care institutions, study of the predictors of nurses' intention to leave (position or nursing) is essential. Of interest in predicting intention to leave are both organizational commitment and job satisfaction. METHODS: A mailed survey was conducted in which 787 respondents completed measures of satisfaction, organizational commitment, and personal and institutional demographics. All instruments had reliability estimates ranging from alpha = .76 to .92. RESULTS: Predictive relationships were found between financial status, organizational commitment, job and professional satisfaction, and intent to leave their current position (R = 0.42) and between financial status, professional satisfaction, and intention to leave nursing (R = 0.45) CONCLUSIONS: Organizational commitment has implications for nurses' intention to leave their current position but not nursing. Aspects of work and professional satisfaction predict both the intention to leave current position and nursing. Retention programs need to be focused on both organizational commitment and work and professional satisfaction.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Common (mis)perceptions about IRB review of human subjects research.

Every researcher who conducts research involving human subjects for their data has experiences with one or more institutional review boards. Some view their institutional review board experiences as helpful; others view them as painful and obstructive. However, there are many misperceptions about institutional review boards and their operation. Some common misperceptions are presented and discussed in an effort to correct false views held by researchers.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

PubMed2005

Assessment of patient expectations for care.

This research identified patients' expectations for their hospitalization and immediate, posthospitalization outcomes of care. Patients' expectations for care are integral to tailoring care to meet needs. Little investigation of patients' overall expectations for hospitalization exists and standardized instruments to measure them are unavailable. Qualitative analyses of 20 interviews yielded 105 data bits, subsequently rated by a second sample of 18 patients. Eight themes and 70 items resulted. Several expectations are distinct from items typical in patient satisfaction instruments. Assessment of patient expectations offers insights to what they value and expect during hospitalization and provides an important foundation for assessing patients' experiences, based on their expectations. Such assessment ultimately contributes to the goal of assessing patient-centered care.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

The scale product technique as a means of enhancing the measurement of patient satisfaction.

Measurement of patient satisfaction has long been hampered by two resolvable problems: a lack of content validity in commonly used instruments, and a lack of variability in satisfaction scores when these same instruments are used. Most patient satisfaction instruments have been developed from the perspective of the provider or institution rather than that of the patient, creating a situation of questionable content validity for these measures. Additionally, most patient satisfaction measures yield data that are invariant and consistently positively biased. Both of these problems can be addressed methodologically--through tool development using a qualitative method designed to obtain the patient's perspective, and through the use of the scale product technique to decrease the effect of acquiescence, thereby increasing variability in item responses.

Bias↗

PubMed2004

Advancing patient-centred care through knowledge development.

The call for health-care services that are patient-centred raises the need for knowledge development in both the conceptual and empirical domains. The definitions and operational elements of patient-centred care present a variety of conceptual issues. A common element in all definitions is accommodation of patient wants, preferences, and expectations. In the research domain, intervention studies face both design and measurement challenges. These include the development of interventions that are patient-centred or tailored for both patient characteristics and the environment in which they will be delivered. By addressing these critical issues, nursing can play a key role in advancing intervention science and knowledge development in the domain of patient-centred care.

Attitude to Health↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Developing and validating a Chinese instrument to measure lower urinary tract symptoms among employed women in Taiwan.

Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), including urinary incontinence, negatively affect women's quality of life. Employed women are particularly prone to experiencing the negative aspects of LUTS due to their irregular access to toilet facilities. In Taiwan, about 70% of women 25-44 years of age are employed, yet little research on LUTS in the workplace has been conducted. In this article, the development of a Chinese instrument for estimating prevalence of LUTS and identifying factors related to LUTS among employed women is discussed. After instrument-generation and translations, content validity of the instrument was assessed and found to be satisfactory. Following a pilot test, psychometric testing of the instrument (which included test-retest reliability and internal consistency) was conducted. Test-retest reliability for the majority of the items and internal consistency for the construct LUTS were adequate. Based on initial psychometric testing, the authors suggest the instrument is appropriate for use with women in Taiwan. Additional testing is recommended before being used with other populations.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Psychometric properties of the HIV-Related Fatigue Scale.

The HIV-Related Fatigue Scale (HRFS) was developed to address the specific aspects of fatigue experienced by people who are HIV-positive and are not measured in any commonly used fatigue scale. The necessity for a new scale was determined after analysis of a qualitative study to explore HIV-related fatigue in which it was found that HIV-related fatigue has components related to intensity, circumstances, and consequences that must be included in the measurement of fatigue for this population. The HRFS has 56 items, most of which are on a 1-to-10 scale, drawn from five existing fatigue scales and the data from this qualitative study. The items were deemed content valid, easy to understand, and not fatiguing to complete by people with HIV-related fatigue. Cronbach's alpha for the entire tool was .94; internal consistency for each of the three preliminary subscales is reported as well. Test-retest reliability was moderate at r = .43. Further testing needs to be done, but the HRFS has the potential to be a valuable addition to the measurement of fatigue in seropositive persons.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Evaluating content validity for children's self-report instruments using children as content experts.

BACKGROUND: The development and evaluation of instruments to index cognitive and emotional processes from the perspectives of children is a priority for pediatric nursing research. OBJECTIVE: To describe the procedures used in employing children as content validity experts in the development of a self-report instrument. METHODS: Following published recommendations for moving from qualitative research to quantitative measurement with adults and for maximizing content validity in self-report instruments, six children aged 8-16 years undergoing treatment for cancer constituted the panel of content experts for review of a measure of children's illness-related uncertainty derived from qualitative interviews. Children were provided with an explanation of the project, an explanation of their role as experts, and explicit instructions on how to evaluate the representativeness of individual items and the total scale. RESULTS: Generally, the children performed the review tasks effectively, although two children (ages 8 and 16 years) had initial difficulty in going beyond their own experience when considering the relevance of individual items. Twenty items were deemed acceptable by at least five out of the six children and two additional items were revised based on their input. DISCUSSION: Employing children as content validity experts adds a critical dimension to establishing psychometrically sound measures for studying the processes affecting the health of children and families.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The canaries in the coal mine speak: why someone should (and should not) become a nurse.

Nurses in acute care hospitals are like the canaries used to test for lethal gases in mines--if they remain, the conditions must not be extreme. Staff nurses from 8 states responded to a questionnaire giving reasons why someone should and should not be a nurse. The almost 700 nurses responding reported that many of the reasons one should be a nurse are also the reasons one should not be one (eg, pay/benefits, respect for nursing). Extrinsic factors dominated the reasons to be a nurse, with both intrinsic and extrinsic factors being the reasons not to do so.

Adult↗