Correlations Between Spirituality and Health-Promoting Behaviors Among Sheltered Homeless Women

Path analysis of the effect of positive psychological capital on health-promoting lifestyle in patients with COPD after pulmonary rehabilitation: An observational study

To investigate the effect of positive psychological capital on the health-promoting lifestyle of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and the intermediary effects of life satisfaction and learned helplessness. A total of 482 patients who completed the pulmonary rehabilitation course at the Nantong Sixth People's Hospital of Jiangsu Province were surveyed using a self-designed questionnaire battery, encompassing the positive psychological capital, health-promoting lifestyle, life satisfaction, and learned helplessness scales. A total of 469 of the 482 questionnaires distributed were effectively returned, leading to an effective response rate of 97.3%. The mean scores on the positive psychological capital, life satisfaction, learned helplessness, and health-promoting lifestyle scales were 105.56 ± 10.44, 19.89 ± 6.33, 50.14 ± 5.47, and 104.22 ± 10.44, respectively. The structural equation model demonstrated good fit indexes. The path analysis revealed that positive psychological capital had a direct effect of 0.431 on health-promoting lifestyle, while life satisfaction and learned helplessness had a mediating effect on this relationship (both P < .05). Patients with COPD have low levels of positive psychological capital and health-promoting lifestyle. Thus, addressing psychological problems and providing continuous rehabilitation nursing to strengthen the psychological construct are essential in this patient group. Moreover, the positive psychological capital of patients with COPD can directly predict their health-promoting lifestyle and exert an influence via the chain mediating effect of life satisfaction and learned helplessness. Therefore, clinical medical staff should assess the positive psychological capital of patients with COPD and adjust the daily rehabilitation activities according to the patients' mental state. Furthermore, enhancing the patients' life satisfaction by employing diverse strategies to reduce learned helplessness can notably improve the health-promoting lifestyle of those with COPD.

Health Promotion Behaviors and Psychosocial Factors Among Middle-Aged Women in Saudi Arabia

Introduction

Middle-aged women experience several changes that can affect their biological and psychosocial health. A healthy lifestyle is a fundamental requirement for achieving optimal health.

Objectives

To examine the impact of psychosocial factors on health promotion behaviors among middle-aged women in Saudi Arabia.

Methods

A cross-sectional, descriptive, correlational study design was used. One hundred and eighteen middle-aged women completed the demographic questionnaire, Stunkard Figure Rating Scale, Perceived Stress Scale, and Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile-II from September 2, 2020 to February 15, 2021. Multiple regression analysis was performed to estimate the impact of psychosocial factors on health promotion behaviors.

Results

Participants "sometimes" engaged in health promotion behaviors. Spiritual growth scored the highest, whereas physical exercise scored the lowest. Most of the participants were dissatisfied with their body image and reported moderate levels of perceived stress. The participants were more likely to report a preferred body image that was smaller than their perceived body image. Perceived stress and body image were significantly correlated with the total score for health promotion behaviors. Perceived stress level, age, and menopause status were significant predictors of health promotion behaviors. The model significantly predicted all the health promotion behavior subscales, excluding nutrition.

Conclusion

There were relationships between certain psychosocial predictors and health-promoting behaviors. This study can guide healthcare professionals in promoting middle adult women's adoption of health-promoting behaviors. More research can be conducted in Saudi Arabia to understand the health promotion behaviors of middle-aged women.

Health-seeking behaviours in the homeless population: A concept analysis

This concept analysis aims to define the concept of health-seeking behaviour in relation to the homeless population. The altered experiences of individuals who are homeless suggest that the concept of health-seeking behaviours has distinct attributes and therefore, a new definition of this concept is needed when compared with other populations. The framework outlined by Walker and Avant was used for this analysis with model, borderline and contrary cases. Databases searched were: CINAHL, Sociological Abstracts, PsycInfo, Google Scholar and PubMed. Because of the limited literature on the overall health-seeking behaviours of the homeless population, the most relevant 15 sources were selected from these databases for the literature review. Critical attributes derived from the literature were: (a) distrust in healthcare services, emerging from feelings of judgement or stigma from healthcare providers; (b) prioritising physiological needs such as food, shelter and clothing over the safety needs of health; (c) delaying seeking care until physical symptoms are severe; and (d) having decreased access to healthcare because of being uninsured or having no money, requiring transportation, experiencing long wait times for appointments, or lacking knowledge of available healthcare services. We define health-seeking behaviours in the homeless population as a complex process where a homeless individual seeks out healthcare for a problem or illness, but must first meet his or her physiological needs and then deem current symptoms severe enough to seek medical treatment despite his or her distrust in the healthcare system and barriers to accessing healthcare. Homeless individuals may face unique physiological hardships and emotional stressors compared to the general population, which results in distinct attributes surrounding health-seeking behaviours. Healthcare providers need to be aware of current barriers to care and perceived access to care in order to reduce the barriers to care that the homeless population faces.

Health-promoting behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic among Saudi Adults: A cross-sectional study

Aims

To evaluate health‐promoting behaviour among Saudi adults in the Jazan region during the COVID‐19 pandemic.

Design

Cross‐sectional study design.

Methods

Saudi adults (N = 305) completed an online survey from 23 April to 5 July 2020. The survey comprised demographic/social factors, COVID‐19 pandemic‐related factors and the Health‐Promoting Lifestyle Profile‐II.

Results

On average, participants reported participating in health‐promoting behaviour ‘sometimes’. Only years of education was associated with participation in health‐promoting behaviour generally. Nutritional behaviours were positively correlated with sex, age and having a job before and/or after the pandemic and negatively correlated with the number of people in the household. Interpersonal relationships increased with age and years of education. Interpersonal relationships and stress management decreased among those who reported that the pandemic had negatively affected their income.

Conclusion

Our results indicated that COVID‐19 factors are associated with Saudi adults' adoption of health‐promoting behaviour.

Palliative Care Professionals' Inner Lives: Cross-Cultural Application of the Awareness Model of Self-Care

Compassionate professional qualities traditionally have not received the most attention in either critical or end of life care. Constant exposure to death, time pressure and workload, inadequate coping with personal emotions, grieving, and depression urge the development of an inner curricula of competences to promote professional quality of life and compassionate care. The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the universality of these problems and the need to equip ourselves with rigorously validated measurement and monitoring approaches that allow for unbiased comparisons. The main objective of this study was to offer evidence on the generalizability of the awareness model of self-care across three care systems under particular idiosyncrasy. Regarding the sample, 817 palliative care professionals from Spain, Argentina, and Brazil participated in this cross-sectional study using a multigroup structural equation modeling strategy. The measures showed good reliability in the three countries. When testing the multigroup model against the configural and constrained models, the assumptions were fulfilled, and only two relationships of the model revealed differences among contexts. The hypotheses posited by the awareness model of self-care were supported and a similar predictive power on the professional quality of life dimensions was found. Self-care, awareness, and coping with death were competences that remained outstanding no matter the country, resulting in optimism about the possibility of acting with more integrative approaches and campaigns by international policy-makers with the consensus of world healthcare organizations.

The relationship of existential well - being to identity, religious coping, mental and general health among Norwegian aging women

The aim of this study was to explore the relationship of existential spirituality to identity processing, religious coping and mental and general health among younger and older aged women in Norway. Participant's included 120 women aged 31-91 who took part in a postal survey. Results showed that both accommodative and balancing identity processes were associated with existential well -being among both the younger and older aged. Among the younger - aged, mental health was also significantly associated with existential well-being, Moreover, among the older aged, religious coping in the form of discontent, was found to be associated with existential well-being.

Religious Faith and Diabetes Health Beliefs in a Homeless Population: A Qualitative Study

This participatory action research project explored the perspectives and challenges of homeless persons living with, or at risk for, type 2 diabetes. Because these persons were sheltered in and served by a church, their perspectives provide understanding about how religious faith may influence diabetes self-management.

Mantram Repetition With Homeless Women: A Pilot Study

Women and families are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population. Negative attitudes of nurses toward homeless women are a major barrier to homeless women seeking health care. This cross-sectional, mixed-methods pilot study, conducted primarily by nurses, tested the Mantram Repetition Program for the first time with 29 homeless women. The Mantram Repetition Program is a spiritually based skills training that teaches mantram (sacred word) repetition as a cost-effective, personalized, portable, and focused strategy for reducing stress and improving well-being. For the cross-sectional, pretest-posttest design portion of the study, the hypothesis that at least half of the homeless women would repeat their mantram at least once a day was supported with 88% of the women repeating their mantram 1 week later. The qualitative portion of this study using phenomenology explored the women's thoughts on mantram week 2. Themes of mantram repetition, mantram benefits, and being cared for emerged. This groundbreaking, interventional, mixed-methods pilot study fills a gap in interventional homeless research.

Defining the Meaning of Spirituality Through a Qualitative Case Study of Sheltered Homeless Women

The primary purpose of this case study was to assess the meaning of spirituality in a convenience sample of women located in an urban city in the southwest United States. The secondary purpose was to describe their lived experiences associated with spirituality. From these interviews five themes emerged: Belief in God or a Higher Power, Distinction Between Religion and Spirituality, Belief That There Is a Plan for Their Lives, Spirituality Providing Guidance for What Is Right/Wrong, and Belief That Their Lives Will Improve. These findings support the perceived fundamental importance of spirituality in the lives of homeless women. Nurses and other clinicians can use this information to develop interventions to help support women using spirituality practices and to help improve the outlook of homelessness for these women.