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Purpose: Drawing on survey data (N = 7,826) collected in the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, this paper examines whether sexual orientation is a differentiating factor in explaining relationship quality and maintenance. Previous research suggests that sexual orientation is not significant in determining relationship satisfaction; however, these analyses have used traditional variable driven approaches, which do not provide an holistic view of the relationship by considering the unique combination of characteristics. Method: In this study, latent profile analyses were used, which is a person-centered approach that allows for identification of different types of long-term relationships. Results: Data suggested that LGB individuals had marginally higher levels of relationship quality compared to their heterosexual counterparts, and sexual orientation was also associated with differing types of long-term relationships. Discussion: These findings are interrogated in more detail, in particular, how sexual orientation is associated with types of long-term relationships and how everyday practices are associated with relationship quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study reported in this paper aimed at exploring the views of staff and patients of a potential emergency nurse practitioner service in an acute trust in the UK. The role of the nurse in emergency care has changed considerably in recent years, and the evolution of the emergency nurse practitioner role has changed emergency service provision dramatically. The emergency nurse practitioner role is not uniformly defined across emergency care in the UK, and the resulting blurring of the role of emergency nurse practitioners with that of emergency department medical staff is not helpful to hospital staff or patients. A quantitative and qualitative mixed method design was used that enabled exploration of an individual's viewpoint within their own practice or natural surroundings. Self-completed questionnaires were used to determine health professionals' opinions, and semi-structured interviews were employed to explore patients' views. A total of 144 health professionals responded to the questionnaire survey giving a response rate of 28·5%, and 10 patients participated in qualitative interviews. Health professionals and patients alike were generally supportive of an emergency nurse practitioner service, but there were some concerns in relation to the role and functions of the emergency nurse practitioner and associated accountability issues. This paper contributes further data that demonstrate the inter-professional and patient support of the advanced role of the emergency nurse practitioner and highlights potential conflictual issues and barriers to implementation that can and must be resolved successfully through proper consultation prior to the service being introduced. This paper provides important information to health professionals and service providers that should help to facilitate the introduction and maintenance of a successful and effective emergency nurse practitioner service in any trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims This study aimed to compare the findings of the quality of nursing doctoral education survey across seven countries and discuss the strategic directions for improving quality. Background No comparative evaluation of global quality of nursing doctoral education has been reported to date despite the rapid increase in the number of nursing doctoral programmes. Design A descriptive, cross-country, comparative design was employed. Methods Data were collected from 2007-2010 from nursing schools in seven countries: Australia, Japan, Korea, South Africa, Thailand, UK and USA. An online questionnaire was used to evaluate quality of nursing doctoral education except for Japan, where a paper version was used. Korea and South Africa used e-mails quality of nursing doctoral education was evaluated using four domains: Programme, Faculty (referring to academic staff), Resource and Evaluation. Descriptive statistics, correlational and ordinal logistic regression were employed. Results A total of 105 deans/schools, 414 faculty and 1149 students/graduates participated. The perceptions of faculty and students/graduates about the quality of nursing doctoral education across the seven countries were mostly favourable on all four domains. The faculty domain score had the largest estimated coefficient for relative importance. As the overall quality level of doctoral education rose from fair to good, the resource domain showed an increased effect. Conclusions Both faculty and students/graduates groups rated the overall quality of nursing doctoral education favourably. The faculty domain had the greatest importance for quality, followed by the programme domain. However, the importance of the resource domain gained significance as the overall quality of nursing doctoral education increased, indicating the needs for more attention to resources if the quality of nursing doctoral education is to improve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]