Psychoeducational groups for young adults with genital herpes: training group facilitators

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Behavioral Therapy Intervention Techniques Used in Treatment

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disorder that significantly reduces the functionality of people with symptoms of this disorder and negatively affects their psychological health. Behavioral therapy is an empirically based therapy approach used in the treatment of this psychological disorder and many other psychological disorders. In this study, the articles on behavioral therapy intervention techniques used in the treatment of PTSD and the empirical basis of these techniques were compiled. The literature review in Turkish and English revealed that psychoeducation, real-life exposure, imaginary exposure, prolonged exposure, breathing exercises, relaxation training and systematic desensitization behavioral therapy intervention techniques are commonly used in the treatment of PTSD and that these techniques are effective in the treatment of the disorder.

Nurses as providers of emotional support to patients with MDR-TB

AIM

To identify the forms and means of emotional support that nurses provide to patients living with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MTR-TB) in Lima, Peru.

BACKGROUND

A fundamental role of nurses is to provide emotional support, defined as all the strategies that a health team employs to assure the psychosocial well-being of the patient. However, neither the forms of emotional support nor the means used by nurses in resource-poor settings have been much written about. This paper describes a qualitative study of a team of seven nurses working in a programme that provides individualized MDR-TB treatment to patients in Lima, Peru. It describes the various forms of support that facilitated the ability of patients to adhere to treatment despite socio-economic difficulties, social stigma, drug side effects, problems related to different stages of treatment and concurrent illnesses/special situations.

METHODS

Qualitative study methods were employed over the course of 8 years to observe nurses and patients in an MDR-TB treatment programme. These included participant observation, structured observation sessions of nurses with their patients and focus groups with seven nurses.

CONCLUSION

Through theme and content analyses of qualitative data, ten situations related to MDR-TB treatment were found. These ten issues served as an analytical framework used to identify and discuss the various types of emotional support provided by both formal and informal means. This type of support focused on problems related to different stages of treatment, social stigma of the illness, treatment adherence, side effects, socio-economic difficulties, death and concurrent illnesses/special situations.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

The essential role of the nurse as a provider of emotional support in the development or implementation of similar programmes with MDR-TB should, in future, be taken into account.

Effects of psycho-educational interventions on sexual health risks and psycho-social adaptation in young adults with genital herpes

The purpose of this study was to test the outcomes of group psycho-educational intervention (PEI) led by nurses on sexual health risks (knowledge, behaviour, disease burden) and psycho-social adaptation (depression, mood states, self-efficacy) in young adults with the chronic disease, genital herpes. Two hundred and fifty-two young adults with symptomatic genital herpes participated in a randomized controlled trial (RCT). The intervention was participation in a three-session group PEI facilitated by a nurse in the community. Participants completed questionnaires measuring sexual health risks (herpes knowledge, sexual risk behaviour, disease burden of patterns of recurrences of outbreaks of the disease), and psycho-social adaptation (depression using the Beck Depression Inventory [BDI], mood states using the Profile of Mood States [POMS], and feelings of self-efficacy for protection from sexually transmitted diseases [PSTD]) at induction into the study, and at 3 and 6 months. Participants were mainly employed, Caucasian, single women in their twenties (X = 27.1 years, SD = 4.3), with some college education; 23% of the sample were men. After controlling for baseline knowledge about genital herpes, the experimental group had significantly more knowledge than the control group at 3 and 6 months' post-intervention. They also reported using condoms and spermicides to prevent the spread of genital herpes more often than did the control group. The implications for nurses in the community include the following: (a) PEI is an intervention that can be used by nurses in the community with a high-risk population; (b) group intervention is a viable treatment for people with a highly stigmatized, chronic sexually transmitted disease (STD); and (c) further testing of the use of PEI by nurses in the community with other high-risk populations is needed.

Psychoeducational groups to promote effective coping in school-age children living in violent communities

Children living in violent communities may experience chronic stress, which may place them at risk to develop mental health problems. Children who learn to cope effectively with stress develop protective mechanisms that promote and enhance mental health. The use of psychoeducational groups to promote and enhance effective coping in children who live in communities with chronic violence has not received much attention in the professional literature. This paper discusses the process of conducting community-based psychoeducational groups with two groups of children aged 6 to 8 years and 9 to 12 years in a community "safe house." Strategies to promote and enhance coping in the areas of safety, self-esteem/self-understanding, and power and competence in children are discussed. An informal evaluation and recommendations for the use of psychoeducational groups as a community-based intervention are presented.