PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

N I Komorita

Publications and source records attributed to N I Komorita.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

Social support and breast self-examination.

Declining practice of breast self-examination (BSE) among women over the age of 55 years dramatically decreases the probability of early detection of breast cancer. About two-thirds of women who die of breast cancer are over the age of 55 years. Social support has been found to be associated with health behaviors. Although a woman's health may benefit from supportive relationships, the effect of diminished social networks on practices of BSE among older women has not been examined. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between social support and the frequency and accuracy of BSE practice. The sample consisted of 22 women, 55 years of age and older, who were having routine examinations at a small Midwestern gynecologic clinic. Social support was assessed by the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire, and two tools assessed the accuracy and frequency of BSE. Social support was found to be significantly related to the frequency of BSE (r = 0.45, p < 0.05), but not to the accuracy of BSE (r = 0.28). The results also indicated that these women had lower social support scores compared with younger women. Planners of nursing intervention for BSE should consider health care providers as important resources in social support networks for the reinforcement of frequency and accuracy of BSE for older women.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

Perceptions of caring by nurse educators.

The purpose of this paper is to report on nurse educators' perceptions of caring behaviors. A review of the literature indicated a lack of consensus between nurses and patients of exactly what constitutes caring behaviors. Since subjects in previous studies were based on nurses educated at various levels, it was hypothesized that a more homogeneous sample of nurses with advanced education might provide different findings. Using the Larson CARE-Q, 110 nurse faculty, managers, and clinical specialists/practitioners were asked to indicate what they believed were the most and least important caring behaviors. Because the 72 educators' findings were similar to those of 38 other nurses with advanced education, their responses were combined. A clear difference between the perceptions of nurses and patients was obtained, and the data support the results of previous studies--nurses have a tendency to consider comfort and trusting relationship items as most important while patients perceive behaviors associated with physical care as most important. No significant differences were found between educators according to type of programs or functional groups, and few differences were found according to age, years of experience, or clinical areas.

Adult↗