Educational needs of self-care in cachectic cancer patients and caregivers

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

To give an overview of what is known about the educational component of supportive care for people with cancer cachexia and their family caregivers.

RECENT FINDINGS

The educational needs for self-care by people with cancer cachexia are largely unmet. There is potential for education to enable self-care that mitigates cachexia-related distress with benefit to quality of life and mitigates malnutrition/malnutrition risk with implications for treatment tolerance and outcomes. Theoretically informed approaches to cancer cachexia education for patients and their family members are needed if optimal methods for support of self-care are to be identified. The cancer workforce also needs education to have the confidence and knowledge to play a role in the cancer cachexia education of their patients.

SUMMARY

To address the educational needs of self-care in cachectic cancer patients and their caregivers, there is much work to do. Healthcare professionals need to know the best educational process and methods for cachexia for supporting quality of life and to facilitate improving cancer treatment outcomes including survival.

Social Cognitive Theory as a Theoretical Framework to Predict Sexual Risk Behaviors among Older Adults

OBJECTIVES

Older adults vary in their safe and unsafe sexual behaviors. While researchers are beginning to understand more about the sexual and intimate expression of older adults, only recently are they beginning to understand how older adults make decisions about sexual risk. Bandura's social cognitive theory offers a frame for understanding how self-efficacy, environmental factors, and goal motivation are related to sexual risk behaviors for older adults, including the interplay between these variables.

METHODS

Using a diverse sample of older adults (n = 720) age 50+ years, social cognitive theory was modeled to determine the relationship between environment variables (age, gender, and sexual health conversations with practitioners), behavioral variables (self-efficacy), and cognitive variables (importance of sexual wellness goals) with the outcome variable of sexual risk behaviors.

RESULTS

Self-efficacy had an indirect effect on sexual risk via sexual wellness goal motivation. Healthcare provider conversations had both direct and indirect effects on older adults' sexual risk through sexual wellness goal motivation. Models were similarly predictive for older men and women.

CONCLUSIONS

Sexual risk behaviors among older adults are more influenced by environmental factors in their healthcare settings and their perception and prioritization of sexual wellness goals.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

Providers play a key role in initiating and maintaining sexual health discussions with older patients, potentially mitigating sexual risk and bolstering self-efficacy.

Educational diagnosis of self-management behaviours in patients with diabetes mellitus, hypertension and hypercholesterolaemia based on the PRECEDE model: Qualitative study

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To identify the key factors of adopting self-care behaviours in the treatment of diabetes mellitus II, hypertension and hypercholesterolaemia when the three conditions appear simultaneously.

BACKGROUND

Diabetes, hypertension and hypercholesterolaemia are chronic health problems which often appear together. The correct monitoring of these pathologies when they concur simultaneously requires specific health management behaviours, to which a significant part of the population is unable of adhering, despite recommendations from professional healthcare workers.

DESIGN

A qualitative study using focus groups techniques was carried out. The elements related to the content were drafted following the recommendations of the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ checklist).

METHODS

Patients with simultaneous diabetes, hypertension and hypercholesterolaemia, as well as nursing professionals and family doctors who have treated patients at primary care centres, were the key sources of information. The methodology used to analyse the information was content analysis.

RESULTS

There were factors which can positively or negatively determine the adoption of the self-management recommendations that healthcare professionals make to patients who simultaneously have diabetes, hypertension and hypercholesterolaemia. These factors were not only associated with the patient, but also with the health carers themselves and the healthcare system and policies in force.

CONCLUSIONS

When health professionals provide recommendations for self-care to people diagnosed with diabetes, hypertension and hypercholesterolaemia simultaneously, they should bear in mind not only the determinants of behaviour associated with the patient, but also those that are related to the health professionals themselves and with the healthcare system. The PRECEDE model could be a good tool to identify and design health education programs.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

The knowledge of the determinants of health behaviour of patients with chronic diseases could improve adherence patients to health recommendations, avoid associated complications and increase their quality of life.

Physical Activity in Parents of Young African American Children: The Application of Social Cognitive Theory

Background:

Social cognitive theory (SCT) proposes that personal and environmental factors influence behavior bidirectionally. Research examining the personal and environmental factors of physical activity (PA) among African Americans (AAs) framed by SCT is scarce.

Purpose:

The purpose of this article is to enhance knowledge of SCT as a foundation for health promotion and PA research, in general, and among AAs. Findings from a previous study provide exemplars for key factors and relationships in SCT.

Implications for Research and Practice:

The SCT serves as a good framework for researchers studying health promotion and PA in generalamong AA parents.