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Biomedical subjects

Sharon D Horner

Publications and source records attributed to Sharon D Horner.

16 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Measuring asthma severity: instrument refinement.

The focus of this study is to evaluate a brief parent-report instrument, the Severity of Chronic Asthma (SCA) scale, that conforms to the national guidelines for assessing asthma. Convergent validity was found between the SCA and other measures related to asthma severity including an illness severity scale (How Bad is the Asthma?), asthma management scales for parents and children, and the pediatric quality-of-life scale. The SCA is a multidimensional scale with appropriate evidence of reliability and validity that may be a heuristic and effective measure in both clinical practice and research endeavors.

Absenteeism↗
PubMed2006

Home visiting for intervention delivery to improve rural family asthma management.

The focus of this article is on the use of home visits in an asthma self-management intervention study with rural families who have a school-aged child with asthma. The study design involved randomization of the sample by elementary schools, then baseline (pretest) and postintervention data collection.(1) The purpose of this article is to describe challenges with, and pose solutions for, implementing home visits for asthma self-management in rural areas. Home visiting is a strategy for program delivery that takes advantage of the home context for tailoring services to address the family's individual needs. The advantages of intervening in the home include being able to (a) use actual home conditions for individualizing the asthma education to meet families' needs; (b) match home visitors with family in terms of ethnicity and language; (c) retain a high percentage of families over the year-long duration of the study; and (d) not add to family burden of managing asthma.

Asthma↗
PubMed2006

Comparison of three modes of measuring stress, coping, and humor in school-age children.

Computer-assisted administration of surveys is gaining popularity among many researchers, but the equivalence of this method to more traditional approaches such as using paper and pencil has not been determined for many commonly used questionnaires, particularly among school-age children. This study examined systematic differences in the responses of 4th, 5th, and 6th graders to measures of stress, coping, and humor among three modes of assessment: paper-and-pencil questionnaires, computer-assisted self-interviewing (CASI), or a combination of paper-and-pencil and CASI. Participants were 1,245 ethnically diverse children enrolled in public schools in the central region of the United States. Psychometric and score distribution characteristics were examined using item analyses and analyses of mean and covariance structure as a function of mode of assessment. Differences in response patterns, primarily at the scale score level, were documented on some of the key measures. In general, CASI medians and means were higher and correlations among CASI measures tended to be lower than those obtained with paper-and-pencil and mixed mode assessment, and CASI variances were lower. This study suggests the importance of the continued examination of the impact of mode of questionnaire administration when assessing these and other domains of well-being in school-age children.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2005

Barriers that influence eating behaviors in adolescents.

Adolescence is a time of rapid growth and development with biologic, psychological, and emotional changes occurring simultaneously. We conducted a critical review of the literature to analyze key topics in the study of adolescents' eating behaviors and to identify barriers to healthy eating experienced by adolescents. The literature documents that nutritional deficits and poor eating established during adolescence have long-term health, growth, and developmental consequences. Gaps in the literature are identified and recommendations for future studies are proposed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

The impact of genetic information on policy and clinical practice.

This article discusses genetics-related policy issues that have an impact on health care systems, health care providers, and their patients: privacy, mass screening, family screening, and knowledge dissemination. Access, cost, and ethical implications are important discussant points for each of these genetic-related policy issues. Embedded in the issue of privacy are concerns of insurability, confidentiality, and discrimination. The public health policy implications related to mass screening programs include efficacy of the screening tests, availability of primary and secondary interventions, access, costs, and program evaluation. Policy issues for family screening are similar to mass screening, with added concerns about privacy and availability of adequate resources, including health care providers and counselors trained in genetics. Knowledge dissemination is critical to maintaining currency of clinical information and applications of genetic technologies and treatments. As genetic information expands, the need for knowledge dissemination will increase. The importance of advanced practice nurses' involvement in these policy issues is discussed.

Genetic Testing↗
PubMed2003

Cross-cultural validation of the stages of the tobacco acquisition questionnaire and the decisional balance scale.

The first phase in a study of smoking behaviors of 11- to 14-year-old Taiwanese children was designed to ensure the reliability and validity of newly translated instruments. The stages of the tobacco acquisition questionnaire (STAQ) and the decisional balance scale (DBS) were translated into Chinese, then back-translated into English. The DBS was adapted based on input from a focus group with young adolescents, reviewed by a panel of experts and laypersons, and pilot-tested. The next step consisted of administering the instruments to 401 children (ages 11-14 years) for psychometric testing. Factor analysis yielded three components for the STAQ accounting for 57.8% of the total variance, with alphas of the subscales ranging from.85 to.92. The DBS had two components accounting for 59.3% of the total variance, with alphas of.87 and.90 for the subscales. Accuracy of the translated instruments was supported by the psychometric test results.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Youth Resilience Framework for reducing health-risk behaviors in adolescents.

Adolescents engage in risky behaviors that compromise their health. Leading causes of morbidity and mortality are associated with a few preventable health-risk behaviors initiated in childhood and early adolescence. Interventions that enhance protective factors in childhood are needed to offset these vulnerabilities and thus promote the health of adolescents. The Youth Resilience Framework is presented that addresses individual and sociocultural risk factors and protective resources that can influence health outcomes throughout adolescence. This framework incorporates a developmental approach to address precursors and health-risk behaviors that may be amenable to early health-promoting interventions.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2002

The impact of asthma risk factors on home management of childhood asthma.

There have been few studies of childhood asthma among families who live in nonmetropolitan settings. This work is part of the baseline assessment conducted before implementing a health education program to study the impact of asthma risk factors (gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, asthma severity) on home asthma management. Data analysis yielded no significant differences in home asthma management performed by parents or children with asthma based on the child's gender, ethnicity, asthma severity, or family socioeconomic status. Factors that define the child's experienced asthma pattern, such as activity limitations, number of allergens, and school absenteeism, were associated with the parent's work of asthma management. Trends in the data for the different ethnic and gender subgroups that have implications for clinical practice were identified. Future directions for research to address questions that emerged in this analysis are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Validation of the smoking self-efficacy survey for Taiwanese children.

PURPOSE: To determine the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the smoking self-efficacy (SSE) survey. DESIGN AND METHODS: The SSE survey was translated into Chinese then was back-translated into English, reviewed for content validity, pilot tested, and administered to 401 children between December 1998 and August 1999. A random cluster sampling method was used in this study. FINDINGS: Reliability was indicated by Cronbach's alpha coefficient, .98. The validity of the SSE scale was determined by face validity, item-total correlation coefficient, content validity index, and concurrent validity. Principal component analysis was done to determine the construct validity of the SSE scale. The revised SSE scale had three components accounting for 74.3% of the total variance with alpha of .96. The correlation coefficient between the SSE and revised SSE scale was .99. CONCLUSIONS: Findings show that the revised SSE scale is not only parsimonious but also it is as reliable and valid as is the original SSE scale. This translated instrument is appropriate for use in studies of smoking behavior in Taiwanese children aged 11 to 14 years. Further research will be needed to validate the SSE scale with different populations and settings in Taiwan.

Child↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A genetics course for advanced clinical nursing practice.

PURPOSE: To describe a genetics course for advanced clinical nursing practice. BACKGROUND: The Human Genome Project is yielding new discoveries in genetics. The sheer volume of new information threatens to overwhelm healthcare providers as they must find ways to interpret and use these discoveries. DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT: The course was developed in recognition of the fact that graduate nursing students in advanced practice programs need to understand and apply genetic information in the care of their patients. The course builds on core competencies identified by the National Coalition for Health Professional Education in Genetics and the International Society of Nurses in Genetics. OUTCOMES: Students demonstrate that they can access, evaluate, and synthesize current information on a genetic condition and develop a comprehensive plan of care for patients with the selected condition. INTERPRETATION/CONCLUSION: Students learn basic and applied genetic concepts and skills. They are able to utilize resources appropriately to identify patient care needs and develop strategies for meeting those needs. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE: The need to remain current in understanding emerging technologies and genetic information will continue to grow as scientific discoveries are made that affect greater numbers of the public. Nurses in advanced practice are in a position to support patients and their families as they deal with the significance of these discoveries for their current and future health.

Curriculum↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Personal strengths of homeless adolescents living in a high-risk environment.

Health-risk behaviors and associated adverse health outcomes in homeless adolescents are well documented. Strengths of these youth that contribute to their health and well-being are seldom acknowledged. The purpose of this secondary analysis of qualitative data was to identify strengths that protect homeless youth. Two types of strengths emerged: resources and self-improvement. Resources served as the foundation for survival whereas self-improvement served as a process that enabled youth to consider a more healthy future. By recognizing the many strengths of homeless youth, nurses may develop community-based programs to help this population reenter society.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Computer-assisted survey interviewing of school-age children.

Longitudinal surveys of children in school settings can yield large volumes of data for use in exploring research questions that may influence development of intervention programs. However, traditional methods of data collection such as paper-and-pencil questionnaires or person-to-person interviewing present major threats to validity throughout the process of data collection, data management, and data analysis. The use of computer-assisted survey interviewing is an alternative that has both advantages and disadvantages. Lessons learned in the first wave of a longitudinal study of approximately 1161 children in fourth, fifth, and sixth grades illustrate both the strengths and limitations of this method.

Child↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Home asthma management for rural families.

ISSUES AND PURPOSE: To assess home asthma management among rural families with a school-age child who has asthma. DESIGN AND METHODS: Exploratory analysis of baseline data of a tri-ethnic sample of rural families with school-age children who have asthma. RESULTS: Parents and children enact a moderate amount of asthma management behaviors. Preventive behaviors were correlated with the Asthma Behavior Inventory and treatment behaviors were correlated with the child's asthma severity. Factors that could affect asthma management include no insurance, no visits to providers in 12 months, or no asthma medications. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Nurses must use every contact with families to assess their asthma management and availability of resources, and to determine the fit between asthma severity and the asthma management plan.

Adaptation, Psychological↗