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Caring for people with dementia (PWD) poses a lot of challenges to family caregivers. Mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) is a newly adopted psychosocial intervention through an integration of the mind and body to reduce stress of the participants (caregivers). This study aims to determine whether and to what extent MBI for family caregivers of PWD can reduce their stress. Electronic databases including MEDLINE, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, EMBASE, and the Web of Science were searched for relevant studies published between 1990 and 2016. All randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-experimental studies evaluating the effects of MBI on reducing stress in family caregivers of PWD were eligible for inclusion in this review. Five studies were included. Of these, three trials involving 144 participants were eligible for the meta-analysis. The analysis showed that stress levels dropped significantly after the MBI. The findings showed a significantly more favorable effect of MBI with the standardized mean difference with a moderate aggregated effect size of 0.57 (95% CI [0.23, 0.92], overall effect Z = 3.25 at p = 0.001). This effect was only found immediately after the MBI but not in the follow-up sessions. In conclusion, the available evidence suggests that MBI seems to be effective at reducing stress among family caregivers of PWD. However, it should be noted that the number of studies involved was small ( n = 5), as were the sample sizes, and no sustained effect was found. Multi-center RCTs of the effects of MBI involving larger and more diverse samples of family caregivers of PWD are recommended before any clear conclusion can be reached. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility and preliminary effects of an individualized exercise programme with and without behavioural change enhancement strategies for frail older people with fatigue. Design: A three-arm, single-blinded, quasi-experimental pilot study. Setting: Community health centres. Participants: A total of 79 frail older people with fatigue, mean age 79.32 years (±7.72). Interventions: The combined group received a 16-week combined intervention consisting of exercise training and a behavioural change enhancement programme. The exercise group received exercise training and health talks, whereas the control group received only health talks. Main outcome measure(s): Feasibility was assessed through the participants' recruitment, retention, attendance and adherence, feedback, and reports of adverse events. The preliminary effects were assessed by the participants' level of fatigue, physical endurance, self-efficacy, and self-perceived compliance with exercise. Results: Feasibility was achievable with high recruitment (87.2%) and low overall attrition (7.1%) rates. A similar reduction in fatigue was identified in all groups, but a trend of greater improvement in physical endurance was observed in the combined group than in the other two groups. The combined group also had a significantly better attendance rate [F(2,76) = 5.64, p < 0.01)] and higher self-perceived exercise compliance than the exercise group. Conclusion: The combined intervention has the potential to enhance the participants' adherence to exercise regimens by improving their attendance in training sessions and their self-perceived exercise compliance. They are important to maintaining an appropriate level of engagement in daily exercises, especially at the beginning stages of behavioural change, when the participants are establishing the habit of exercising daily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Active participation in learning activities and reviewing assessment activity can facilitate learners engaged in these processes. This case study reports student experiences of the process of peer assessment with teacher guidance in a group project for a first-year nursing course with 153 students. Twenty groups of students were assigned roles in exploring one of the two scenarios: one involved analysing diabetes mellitus and the other considered colorectal carcinoma, in each case covering provision of acute nursing care in hospitals and preparing health promotion strategies in a community. Each group also provided comments to the group that worked on the other scenario, based on prearranged assessment criteria. After receiving comments from their peer group, each group was then allowed to revise their drafts prior to final submission. The teacher’s input would be offered, if the peer feedback was inaccurate or insufficient. A survey was conducted to explore the learning experiences, and three semi-structured focus group interviews were conducted to triangulate findings with the survey. The first-year students expressed the need for both peer feedback and the lecturer’s direct guidance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents a study which examines the reliability of the pain items and scale of the interRAI Community Health Assessment (CHA) Hong Kong version in determining pain among older adults in Hong Kong, China. Community-dwelling older adults were subjected to a face-to-face interview design study. The results showed good test reliability and acceptability when used among the subjects.

This international cross-sectional survey examined the potential role of organizational psychological support in mitigating the association between experiencing social discrimination against long-term care (LTC) facilities' healthcare professionals (HCPs) and their intention to stay in the current workplace during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants included a convenience sample of 2,143 HCPs (nurses [21.5 %], nurse aids or residential care workers [40.1 %], social workers [12.1 %], and others [26.4 %]) working at 223 LTC facilities in 13 countries/regions. About 37.5 % of the participants reported experiencing social discrimination, and the percentage ranged from 15.3 % to 77.9 % across countries/regions. Controlling for socio-demographic and work-related variables, experiencing social discrimination was significantly associated with a lower intention to stay, whereas receiving psychological support showed a statistically significant positive association (p-value=0.015 and <0.001, respectively). The interaction term between social discrimination and psychological support showed a statistically significant positive association with the intention to stay, indicating a moderating role of the psychological support., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None, (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Immersive virtual reality (IVR) is a niche technology rising in popularity in nursing education. Although there is an abundance of evidence to demonstrate the effect of virtual reality (VR) on desired learning outcomes, this evidence is limited to technical or procedural skills or managing a single patient with clinical problems. Nontechnical skills (NTS), such as communication, decision-making, teamwork, situation awareness, and managerial skills, have not been explored using IVR technology., Objective: This study aimed to (1) investigate the potential efficacy of the IVR system virtual reality hospital (VR-Hospital, or VR-Hosp), a single-user game we developed, on nursing students' NTS, sense of presence in the virtual clinical environment, and satisfaction and self-confidence in learning; (2) identify variables that predict NTS; and (3) explore students' experience in using VR-Hosp., Methods: A multimethods design with a quantitative and qualitative approach was adopted. Participants were provided with VR-Hosp with 3 scenarios in training. VR-Hosp adopted a multibed, multipatient, multitask approach and was embedded with various clinical situations. Learning outcomes were measured after the training, followed by group interviews., Results: In total, 202 students joined the study. Results revealed high levels of satisfaction and self-confidence in learning. Significant achievement in NTS was perceived by the students. The levels of satisfaction and self-confidence in learning and the involvement and sensory fidelity domains in the sense of presence were positive predictors of NTS., Conclusions: The promising results offer a basis for designing IVR activities for nursing education. Further investigations are imperative to determine the impact of IVR technology on learning outcomes in clinical practice., (©Kitty Chan, Patrick Pui Kin Kor, Justina Yat Wa Liu, Kin Cheung, Timothy Lai, Rick Yiu Cho Kwan. Originally published in the Asian/Pacific Island Nursing Journal (https://apinj.jmir.org), 10.07.2024.)

Aims: To (i) assess the adherence of long-term care (LTC) facilities to the COVID-19 prevention and control recommendations, (ii) identify predictors of this adherence and (iii) examine the association between the adherence level and the impact of the pandemic on selected unfavourable conditions., Design: Cross-sectional survey., Methods: Managers (n = 212) and staff (n = 2143) of LTC facilities (n = 223) in 13 countries/regions (Brazil, Egypt, England, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Norway, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Thailand and Turkey) evaluated the adherence of LTC facilities to COVID-19 prevention and control recommendations and the impact of the pandemic on unfavourable conditions related to staff, residents and residents' families. The characteristics of participants and LTC facilities were also gathered. Data were collected from April to October 2021. The study was reported following the STROBE guidelines., Results: The adherence was significantly higher among facilities with more pre-pandemic in-service education on infection control and easier access to information early in the pandemic. Residents' feelings of loneliness and feeling down were the most affected conditions by the pandemic. More psychological support to residents was associated with fewer residents' aggressive behaviours, and more psychological support to staff was associated with less work-life imbalance., Conclusions: Pre-pandemic preparedness significantly shaped LTC facilities' response to the pandemic. Adequate psychological support to residents and staff might help mitigate the negative impacts of infection outbreaks., Impact: This is the first study to comprehensively examine the adherence of LTC facilities to COVID-19 prevention and control recommendations. The results demonstrated that the adherence level was significantly related to pre-pandemic preparedness and that adequate psychological support to staff and residents was significantly associated with less negative impacts of the pandemic on LTC facilities' staff and residents. The results would help LTC facilities prepare for and respond to future infection outbreaks., Patient or Public Contribution: No Patient or Public Contribution., (© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Advanced Nursing published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)