Jundishapur Journal of Chronic Disease Care
Volume:12 Issue: 1, Jan 2023

Nausea and vomiting are common complications of chemotherapy.

The present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of massage and music on chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) in the pediatric oncology ward in 2017.

The present randomized controlled trial used the convenience sampling method, and all samples were randomly assigned to two massage or music therapy groups. Accordingly, all subjects received one massage session and one music session, with one washout session between the two interventions. The severity of nausea and vomiting before, immediately after, and one hour after chemotherapy was assessed using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and after 12 hours using the adapted Rhodes index of nausea and vomiting for pediatrics by child (ARINVC). The collected was analyzed with SPSS software version 18 using the repeated measures analysis of variance, Friedman test, chi-square, Fisher's exact, and independent t-test.

The results showed that nausea and vomiting scores were not significantly different between the two groups (P > 0.05). However, the scores significantly increased in both methods immediately after the intervention, simultaneous with chemotherapy (P < 0.05), and decreased below the baseline; however, they were not significantly different from the pre-intervention scores (P > 0.05). In the second phase, one hour after the intervention, the scores of nausea and vomiting decreased below the baseline, which was significantly different from the pre-intervention scores (P < 0.05).

The massage or music therapy methods revealed no difference in reducing the severity of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in children. Nurses can use non-medicinal methods such as massage and music to reduce the complications of chemotherapy, especially nausea, and vomiting.

Irrational health anxiety increases due to insufficient information about COVID-19 and misinterpretation of allergy symptoms in favor of COVID-19. The disease increases the caregiver burden in informal caregivers and, subsequently, causes physical and mental disorders for them and negatively affects the provision of care for patients.

This study aimed to examine the relationship between health anxiety and caregiver burden in informal caregivers of patients with COVID-19.

In this cross-sectional and correlational study, the convenient sampling method was adopted to select 340 informal caregivers of patients with COVID-19 who were discharged during the last three weeks of hospitalization in Vasei Hospital of Sabzevar City, Iran, in 2021. To collect the required data, the online links of the demographic information questionnaire, Salkoviskis's short health anxiety inventory (SHAI), and Novak and Guest's Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI) were sent to the subjects through messengers. The data were analyzed using SPSS 22 as well as descriptive and analytical statistics.

According to the results, the mean caregiver burden score in informal caregivers of patients with COVID-19 was 69.72 ± 14.91, and the mean health anxiety score was 16.22 ± 8.24. Pearson's test results were indicative of a significant relationship between caregiver burden and health anxiety (P < 0.001).

Since a significant relationship was found between health anxiety and caregiver burden in informal caregivers of patients with COVID-19 in this study, it was argued that the health of informal caregivers was an important health issue certainly deserving serious attention of the health service providers.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic condition that can seriously impact a patient’s functions and quality of life. Mindfulness-based meditation as a clinical intervention can positively affect the emotional and physical states of patients with MS.

The present study aimed to investigate the role of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) on anxiety sensitivity in patients with MS.

This quasi-experimental study adopted a pretest-posttest, control group design with follow-up. The statistical population included the women with MS who enrolled in the Tehran MS Society. Convenience sampling was employed to select 30 participants who were assigned randomly to an experimental group and a control group (15 members per group). The experimental group received MBCT (for eight 90-minute sessions), whereas the control group received no interventions. The Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI) was used for data collection, and repeated measures ANCOVA was adopted for data analysis.

The mean age of women was 37.21 ± 5.78 years. Also, the duration of the disease in the participants was 5.81 ± 2.43 years. The mean ± standard deviation (SD) of the pretest, posttest, and follow-up scores of anxiety sensitivity in the experimental group were101.66 ± 2.63, 93.86 ± 3.11 and 94.00 ± 3.62, respectively, which in the posttest and follow-up was significantly different from the control groups (P < 0.001). The MBCT significantly improved anxiety sensitivity components in the experimental group compared to the control group. This significant difference was also observed during the follow-up period (P < 0.001).

The MBCT helped alleviate anxiety sensitivity in women with MS. Therefore, psychotherapists can use MBCT as an effective intervention in improving anxiety sensitivity in women with MS.

Epileptic seizures are controlled with antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). The purpose of using AEDs is to prevent seizures by maintaining the effective dose of one or more AEDs. Using a medication according to its prescription involving dosage and dosing times is expressed as medication adherence.

This study was performed to assess medication self-management and attitudes toward rational drug use among parents of children with epilepsy.

A descriptive and cross-sectional design was used in this study. The data were collected using a data collection form, the Parental Attitude Scale for Rational Drug Use (PASRDU), and the Turkish Pediatric Epilepsy Medication Self-Management Questionnaire (PEMSQ-TR).

The mean scores of participants (n = 192) on the PASRDU were 156.02 (standard deviation [SD] = 9.86), 133.02 (SD = 7.74), and 23 (SD = 7.58) on the total scale, accurate and conscious use subdimension, and effective and safe use subdimension, respectively. The mean scores of participants on the PEMSQ-TR were 81.38 (SD = 7.13), 42.4 (SD = 6.32), 24.3 (SD = 1.6), 11.36 (SD = 4.35), and 3.32 (SD = 1.94) on the total scale, information about epilepsy and treatment subdimension, adherence to treatment and clinic appointments subdimension, treatment-related obstacles subdimension, and treatment and social life subdimension, respectively. Parents’ educational status (F = 0.01, P < 0.05), child’s age at first seizure (U = 0.026, P < 0.05), frequency of seizure (U = 0.043, P < 0.05), age of the child (χ2 = 0.002, P < 0.05), and parents’ age (F = 0.036, P < 0.05) had a significant effect on the total and subscale scores of the PASRDU and PEMSQ-TR.

This study showed that although parents of children with epilepsy had positive attitudes toward rational drug use, their epilepsy medication self-management was relatively poor. The improvement of the understanding of medication self-management can ultimately increase adherence, which will affect the clinical outcomes and quality of life in children with epilepsy.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had many effects on various aspects of individuals’ lives, including causing physical and mental problems. One of the most common psychological problems, especially among first-semester students, is stress and anxiety related to COVID-19.

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between stress and anxiety with some individual-familial characteristics of first-semester students.

The current descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 106 first-semester nursing students with different educational levels at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran, in 2021. The sampling method in this study was census sampling. A researcher-made demographics questionnaire, the Perceived Stress Reactivity Scale, and the Corona Disease Anxiety Scale were used for data collection. In the current study, the data were collected online using electronic questionnaires. SPSS software (version 26.0) and independent t-test, Spearman’s correlation, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for data analysis.

The mean age of the participant was 22.3 ± 10.94 years. The total scores of anxiety and stress were 8.23 ± 5.85 and 19.38 ± 5.62, respectively. The results of Spearman’s correlation test showed a significant relationship between age and stress (P = 0.001, r = 0.290). The results of the t-test showed that there were significant differences between gender (P = 0.034), marital status (P = 0.003), and work experience (P = 0.008) with stress. In addition, a significant difference was observed between educational level and stress using ANOVA (P = 0.029).

Paying more attention to the psychological health of first-semester students provides a favorable environment for their educational success during the COVID-19 pandemic because stress and anxiety affect students’ performance in various aspects of their individual and social lives.

Witnessing chronic patients suffering from incurable diseases and the agony of watching their death make nursing one of the most stressful jobs. Job satisfaction is a key factor in providing quality nursing care services. Stress and burnout are other factors that can affect nurses’ job satisfaction and negatively influence the quality of care.

The present study aimed to determine the relationship between job satisfaction and burnout among nurses working in hospitals of Erbil, a city in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, during 2015 - 2016.

This research was a descriptive, correlational, and cross-sectional study, which encompassed 455 nursing staff, including nurses, auxiliary nurses, and nurse aids working in the public hospital in Erbil city, Kurdistan. The participants were selected using the random stratified sampling method. Demographic information forms, Herzberg’s job satisfaction scale, and Maslach’s burnout questionnaires were used to collect data. The collected data were analyzed with SPSS software version 20 using descriptive statistics, chi-square statistical tests, Fisher’s exact test, and Pearson’s correlation coefficients.

According to the findings, 7.8% of nurses had low job satisfaction, 45.2% had moderate job satisfaction, 42.7% had high job satisfaction, and 4.4% had remarkably high job satisfaction. The burnout results showed that the mean values were 36.16 ± 12.51 for the lack of personal success, 13.38 ± 9.86 for emotional exhaustion, and 8.67 ± 8.39 for depersonalization. Pearson’s correlation coefficient test revealed a statistically significant but inverse relationship between the job satisfaction of nurses and the three burnout dimensions (P ≤ 0.0001).

The authors propose a periodic job satisfaction evaluation and the detection of factors negatively affecting job satisfaction. To further reduce nurses’ burnout, managers should encourage and promote effective communication in work environments and ensure that nurses participate in decision-making. Job contradictions and ambiguities should also be reduced and avoided, if possible.

Familial psycho-education is a training model dedicated to providing essential information and educating families with a psychiatric patient to work with mental health professionals as part of a treatment plan for their ill family members.

Our aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the family psychological didactic program as an adjunctive treatment to medication in hospitalized patients with schizophrenia to reduce negative and positive symptoms.

In this clinical trial, we included 49 Iranian inpatients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia hospitalized at Shiraz Psychiatric Hospital from September 2016 to May 2017. They were randomly assigned to experimental (n = 24) and control (n = 25) groups. All groups were prescribed their usual pharmacological treatments. Additionally, in the experimental group, a psychological education intervention was planned for their families. This intervention consisted of six 90-minute sessions that lasted for three weeks. Before the intervention, after the intervention, and two months after the intervention, all subjects completed the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS).

This study was undertaken on 50 hospitalized schizophrenic patients. Most were male (72%). The mean PANSS scores at the pretest and posttest were 82.5 ± 12.594 and 84.72 ± 9.629 for the intervention group and 50.08 ± 11.477 and 51.92 ± 9.823 for the control group, respectively. Based on the ANCOVA, all groups showed the same decrease in the posttest PANSS score, although there was no considerable difference among the groups (F = 0.049; P = 0.825) in the posttest. Nevertheless, eight weeks after the completion of the intervention program, the severity of symptoms was significantly reduced in the intervention group compared to the control group. (F = 165.931; P = 0.001).

The family psychological training intervention as an additional treatment for hospitalized patients with schizophrenia can increase the effectiveness of drug treatment. Of course, we must consider the small research sample when generalizing the results.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first detected in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. Different treatments have been used to fight against the virus; however, one of the most effective and accessible is convalescent plasma therapy (CPT).

The present study investigated the effect of CPT on improving the clinical conditions of COVID-19 patients.

This study was conducted on 440 individuals, including 220 COVID-19-recovered individuals as plasma donors and 220 plasma recipients, in Shiraz, Fars province, Iran, from May 2020 to February 2021 using random sampling. After complete recovery from COVID-19, patients were recalled for apheresis and plasma isolation for convalescent plasma (CP) preparation; they were referred to the blood donation centers of Shiraz. According to the hospital request, compatible and related plasma was sent for COVID-19-hospitalized patients. At the same time, hospitals were asked to send the clinical condition documents of the patients based on the medical records and the outcomes after CPT. The Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization evaluated the results.

The median antibody titer was 1300. Titers higher and lower than 1300 were considered high and low, respectively. Blood group O had 54 times higher antibody titers above 1300 than other blood groups (odds ratio (OR) = 54, confidence interval (CI): 19.5 - 205.3, P < 0.001). Additionally, most deceased cases received plasma with antibody titers less than 1300 (OR = 0.08, CI: 0.009 - 0.36, P < 0.001). Nevertheless, most discharged patients received plasma with antibody titers higher than 1300 (OR = 1.5, CI: 1.06 - 2.3, P = 0.01). Moreover, when donors’ antibody titer was higher than 1300, the chance of survival increased by 50%. In addition, the results of this study showed higher mortality in patients whose volume of received plasma was less than 387 mL (OR = 0.3, CI: 0.10 - 0.91, P = 0.018). However, patients who received more than 387 mL CP were more likely to discharge (OR = 5.7, CI: 3.7 - 8.8, P < 0.001).

Using blood group O plasma with a minimum volume of 387 mL can be very effective in improving the clinical symptoms of patients with COVID-19 and increasing the chances of survival for these patients.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a clinical syndrome in which the renal function deteriorates during a short period of time. It is usually accompanied by the accumulation of various waste products. Among the factors causing AKI, sepsis is considered the most important and common factor since about half of the patients diagnosed with AKI are also diagnosed with sepsis. Despite recent advances in medical science, AKI remains a challenge due in part to its importance and partly because of its prevalence in, especially, ICU settings.

Keeping in mind the importance of the issue and the lack of prior national data, the current study aimed to investigate the correlation of different factors with the occurrence of AKI in ICU-admitted patients diagnosed with sepsis.

In this retrospective study, a total of 65 adult patients admitted to the ICU were included and followed for a period of four weeks. The severity of AKI was determined using RIFLE scoring system, and the QSOFA score was calculated for the patients. Other factors such as creatinine level, CRP level, antibiotics received during the study period, and present comorbidities were also recorded. Finally, the correlation between these factors and the occurrence of AKI was determined.

AKI was found in 59 of the patients. Overall, cardiovascular diseases were the most common comorbidity, and Vancomycin and Carbapenem were the most widely used antibiotics. Among the factors investigated in this study, QSOFA score and Vancomycin were the only factors significantly correlated with AKI.

In sum, it was recommended that septic patients should be managed and provided with care based on their QSOFA scores as well as on the administration of Vancomycin and other nephrotoxic antibiotics.