GEVHER NESIBE JOURNAL OF MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES

The Relationship between Psychological Distress, Loneliness and Quality of Life in Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Research

Nareg DOĞAN — 2024-09-01

Objective: This cross-sectional study aimed to determine the relationships between psychological distress, loneliness, and quality of life in adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Method: The study was conducted in Turkey with 488 adults, ages 18-64, between August and December 2020. Data were collected online, using a sociodemographic information form and COVID-19 questionnaire, the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10), and the UCLA Loneliness Scale (ULS-8). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, and Hierarchical Regression Analyses.

Results: It was determined that 19.7% of the participants were at risk for mild, 13.5% for moderate and 34.4% for severe psychological distress. A significant relationship was found between the physical component of quality of life and gender, income status, decreased income during the pandemic, chronic disease, mental illness, physical activity, sleep duration, psychological distress, and loneliness (R²=0.391, p<0.001). A significant relationship was found between the mental component of quality of life and age, gender, income status, mental illness, fear of COVID-19, taking personal precautions in the pandemic, physical activity, psychological distress and loneliness (R²=0.359, p<0.001). The level of psychological distress and loneliness were significant determinants of both the physical and mental components of the quality of life, and the quality of life decreased as the level of psychological distress and loneliness increased.

Conclusion: It is thought that various interventions (advanced epidemic management policies, psychosocial and mental health services) should be organized to improve mental health and quality of life, both of which are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic process.

HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) Knowledge Levels and Opinions of Health Services Vocational School Students

Elif ÜNER ASİL — 2024-09-01

Objective: To determine the HPV knowledge levels and opinions of health services vocational school students. This descriptive study was conducted at the Health Services Vocational School of a foundation university between April and July 2022.

Materials and Methods: The population of the study consisted of 1675 students and since HPV is a social sexual health problem, it was aimed to reach the entire population without sample selection. The study was completed with 271 health services vocational school students who filled out the form completely and agreed to participate in the study. Demographic Questionnaire Form and Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Knowledge Scale were used as data collection tools in the study. In the data analysis of the study, the obtained data were evaluated with statistical methods such as Kruskal-Wallis H test and Mann-Whitney U test, and percentages, arithmetic means and medians were used for numerical data.

Results: 64.2% of the participants stated that they had knowledge about HPV. However, only 7.4% of the participants had HPV vaccination. However, the rate of those who did not want to get HPV vaccination was 39.9% and the most common reason in this group was the belief that the vaccine was not reliable (11.7%). It was observed that more than half of the participants recommended HPV vaccination (53.1%) and supported its inclusion in the national vaccination program (64.6%). There were statistically significant differences in the total and sub-dimensions of the HPV Knowledge Scale according to the participants' HPV vaccination status (p<0.05, p <0.01, p<0.001). The median scores of those who had HPV vaccination were higher than those who had not had it both in total and in all sub-dimensions. The knowledge levels of those who had HPV vaccination were higher than those who had not.

Conclusion: It was observed that the knowledge level of the students about HPV and HPV vaccination was not at the desired level. It was concluded that more than half of the participants were women. It was observed that more than half of the participants had heard of HPV but did not have detailed information about the infection. A very small number of participants in the study had received the HPV vaccine, and the number of people who wanted to receive it was less than half. The most notable reason for the participants not wanting to receive the vaccine was that it was not considered reliable.

Evaluation of Medical Secretaries' Perceptions on Labour Productivity in a University Hospital

Oğuzhan YÜKSEL — 2024-09-01

Objective: This study was conducted to determine the perceptions of medical secretaries working in a university hospital in Isparta province regarding their labor productivity.

Methods: The research was conducted between November 03-December 18, 2023. In the descriptive and analytical study, 100 medical secretaries out of 112 secretaries working in the hospital participated voluntarily. Data were collected using the "Participant Introduction Form" and the questionnaire developed by Özkoç (2005) in Turkey, which includes factors affecting labor productivity.

Results: According to the findings of the study, it was determined that the perception level of the secretaries participating in the study regarding the factors affecting work efficiency was above the medium level. The majority of the secretaries are 36 years old and above. Ensuring labour productivity is an important parameter. While the rate of female medical secretaries was 69.3%, the rate of male medical secretaries was 30.7%, indicating that female secretaries predominantly work in the university hospital. It was understood that there was no statistically significant difference between the perception levels of the secretaries participating in the study regarding personal, organizational and other factors related to work efficiency according to age groups (p>0.05), while the perception level regarding ergonomic factors differed statistically significantly according to age groups (p<0.05). According to the post hoc Tukey test results applied to determine which age groups differ, it is seen that the perception level of the secretaries in the 43-49 age group regarding ergonomic factors is significantly higher than the secretaries in the 21-28 age group (p<0.05). While the factors affecting the labor productivity of secretaries differ according to working style and age groups, they do not differ according to education level and gender groups.

Conclusion: It is recommended that hospital administrators should periodically take the ideas and opinions of medical secretaries and use them as a guide for improvements to be made.

Mentoring Process in Midwifery: Peer Midwife Resource

Asibe ÖZKAN — 2024-09-01

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the mentoring process in midwives and to determine the effects of peer mentoring on the acclimatization process, job comprehension and job readiness.

Method: The sample of the descriptive study conducted in 2022 consisted of 64 newly recruited mentees, 33 mentor midwives who mentored them, and 72 senior midwives working in clinics where mentee midwives worked to determine the effect of peer mentoring on clinic adaptation and patient care. The research data were collected by personal information form, opinions about mentoring form and peer mentoring evaluation scale in midwifery.

Results: Mentees; 76.6% of the mentees found the mentoring process necessary and its duration sufficient, 67.2% defined peer mentoring as a helpful peer, and the same percentage stated that they felt more competent while caring for the patient after the mentoring process. The mean total score obtained from the peer mentoring evaluation scale was 55.05±17.21, and the highest mean scores obtained from the subheadings of the scale belonged to the subheadings of contribution to the mentee 22.32±7.14, mentor characteristics 17.01±5.11, and peer relations 16.17±4.27, respectively.

Conclusion: Peer mentoring was considered to be an important human resource that is overlooked for the guidance process and it was concluded that the use of this resource will make great contributions to professional development.

Professional Perception Styles and Experiences of Male Nursing Students: A Qualitative Study

Serap ÖNER — 2024-09-01

Objective: Our study was planned to understand how the nursing department is perceived by male nurse students, their career selection process and their experiences regarding the Obstetrics-Gynecology Nursing Course Practice, and to determine their thoughts on improving the quality of care.

Methods: Our study is a qualitative research and a phenomenological approach was used. The population of the study consisted of male students studying in the nursing department of a university in the Marmara Region, who took the Obstetrics and Gynecology Nursing Course and completed its practice. The saturation of the themes was taken as the criterion in the study and it was completed with a total of 6 students. Socio-demographic questionnaire and semi-structured interview form were used as data collection methods. The interviews, which lasted approximately 40 minutes, were recorded on a voice recorder. The recorded records were transcribed and content analysis, themes and sub-themes were determined in the Maxqda program.

Results: The average age of the students participating in the study is 21. All of the students who participated in the study stated that the application of this course was different from other courses because the patients were women. It was also determined that they had problems in patient care and that the reason for this was 'patient privacy' and that they were disturbed because 'patients did not want to receive care from male nurses'.

Conclusion: It was determined that the students had difficulties in the application of the course and did not want to work in obstetrics and gynecology services in the future.

The Relationship between Premenstrual Syndrome and Psychological Strength and Emotion Regulatory Disorder

Zeliha ÖZŞAHİN — 2024-09-01

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between premenstrual syndrome, psychological resilience and emotion dysregulation.

Materials and Method: The field of education at the Faculty of Health Sciences and Nursing, affiliated with a public university, created the universe of female modeling. When power analysis was performed, the sample was calculated as at least 671 female students with an error level of 0.05, 80% representation power and 99.9% confidence rate, and the research was completed with 712 participants. "Personal introduction form, "Premenstrual Syndrome Scale (PMSS)", "Brief Psychological Resilience Scale (BPRS)" and "Difficulty in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS)" were used to obtain the data. Percentage distribution, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, cronbach alpha, pearson correlation analysis were used in statistical evaluation.

Results: The mean age of the participants was 21.69±3.97 years, the mean menstrual cycle (days) was 28.64±6.45, the mean number of days with menstrual bleeding was 5.99±1.37, and 74.16% experienced PMSS. The mean total scores of the participants were 17.96±4.46 for PSS, 43.04±17.10 for DERS and 136.38±40.34 for PMS. In addition, negative, weak, moderate and highly significant correlations were detected with PMSS and all its subscales and KPSS, and positive correlations with the mean scores of DDGS and its subscales (p<0.01).

Conclusion: It was determined that psychological resilience decreased and emotion regulation difficulty increased as level of premenstrual syndrome increased.

A Research on the Quality of Life of Individuals and Cost-Utility Analysis of Cochlear Implantation

Yavuz Selim KÜÇÜK — 2024-09-01

Objective: This study aims to research a comparison of the effects of unilateral and bilateral cochlear implant procedures on quality of life and cost-utility analysis in individuals with hearing loss.

Material and Methods: The effects of cochlear implant procedures on individuals' quality of life and cost-value analyses were examined by evaluating the articles obtained by scanning the keywords "unilateral cochlear implant", bilateral cochlear implant" and "cost-utility analysis" from the research published in PubMed in the last 20 years.

Results: The Health Utilization Index-3 (HUI3) has generally been accepted as the most conservative and consistent measure of Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) for cost-value studies of cochlear implant procedures. It has been observed that children who received implants at an earlier age have higher quality of life scores. When deciding whether to have a unilateral or bilateral cochlear implant, it is thought that it would be more appropriate to choose a bilateral cochlear implant because the quality of life gain of the bilateral cochlear implant is higher and the incremental cost-value ratio is lower.

Conclusion: Statistically significant increases in quality of life are found before and after unilateral or bilateral cochlear implantation, with extremely favorable cost-value ratios. It is recommended to conduct cost-utility analysis studies of cochlear implant procedures performed in Turkey and compare them with developed countries.

Examining the Relationship between the Perception of Traumatic Birth and the Perceived Social Support of Mothers Whose Babies Are in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Ayşe ÇATALOLUK — 2024-09-01

Objective: This study was conducted to examine the relationship between traumatic birth perceptions and perceived social support of mothers whose babies were in the intensive care unit.

Methods: The research is descriptive and cross-sectional and was conducted between 15 August 2022 and 15 June 2023 with the participation of 250 mothers whose babies were in the intensive care unit. A survey form to determine the socio-demographic and descriptive characteristics of mothers, the Traumatic Birth Perception Scale (TBPS) and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) were used as data collection tools. In evaluating the data, t-test and One Way Anova analysis, which are parametric tests, were used. The relationship between the scales was examined with Pearson correlation analysis. The statistical significance level was accepted as p<0.05.

Results: The mean TBPS score of the mothers participating in the study was calculated as 62.16±30.04, the mean score of the MSPSS subscale was 58.35±18.51, the mean score of the MSPSS family subscale was 20.20±6.65, the mean score of the friends subscale was 18.35±6.73, and the mean score of the special person subscale was 19.79±6.54. It was determined that there was a statistically significant difference between the women's pregnancy status (primiparous/multiparous) and the mean TDAS score (p<0.05). A statistical difference was found in terms of the mothers' educational, working and pregnancy planning status and the average MSPSS score (p<0.05 for each). In the study, it was found that there was a negative, weakly significant relationship between the MSPSS and TDAS score averages (r=-0.130, p=0.040).

Conclusion: In this study, it was understood that as the level of social support perceived by mothers increased, the level of perception of birth as traumatic decreased. Additionally, it was found that primiparous mothers had a higher perception of traumatic birth than multiparous mothers. It was found that the social support perceived by mothers with a higher education level, working and planned pregnancy was higher.

Health Perceptions and Quality of Life of Patients after Coronary Artery Bypass

Veli Eşref KARASU — 2024-09-01

Aim: This research was conducted to examine the health perceptions and quality of life of patients after coronary artery bypass grafting.

Method: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted with 117 patients who had coronary bypass surgery and were discharged within the last six months and who applied to the outpatient clinic for control purposes between 31.10.2022 and 01.02.2023. In the study, data were collected with the Personal Information Form, Health Perception Scale (SAS) and Quality of Life Scale Short Form-12 (SF-12). Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney U and correlation tests were used to evaluate the data. Ethics committee and institutional permission was obtained to conduct the research.

Results: Age, education and smoking status of the patients and PSA total; SF-12 Physical Health with age, gender and education level; A statistically significant difference was determined between education level and SF-12 Mental Health subscale score averages (p<0.05). The PSA total mean score of the patients included in the study was determined as 53.09±10.32, the SF-12 Physical Health summary subscale mean score was 47.83±9.14, and the Mental Health summary subscale mean score was 51.80±7.94. A high positive correlation was determined between the Health Perception Scale and the SF-12 Physical (r=0.968, p<0.001) and Mental Health (r=0.772, p<0.001) summary subscales.

Conclusion: It was determined that the patients' health perceptions, physical and mental health were at moderate levels. As patients' health perceptions increase, their quality of life, physical and mental health also increases.

Self-Efficacy and Spiritual Care Needs of Individuals Receiving Hemodialysis

Yasemin ÖZYER GÜVENER — 2024-09-01

Objective: This study was conducted to determine the Self-Efficacy and Spiritual Care needs of Individuals Receiving Hemodialysis.

Methods: This descriptive study was conducted with 102 dialysis patients who volunteered to participate in the study. The study data were collected using the Descriptive Information Form, the General Self-Efficacy Scale and the Spiritual Care Needs Inventory. In the analysis of the data, descriptive statistics, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, Pearson’s correlation analysis were used.

Results: The mean scores obtained from the overall General Self-Efficacy Scale and its “Initiation”, “Perseverance” and “Insistence” sub-dimensions were 55.98±10.03, 32.60±8.22, 15.62±3.28 and 7.74±2.60 respectively. The mean scores obtained from the overall Spiritual Care Needs Inventory and its “caring and respect” and “meaning and hope” subscales were 79.58±17.34, 32.77±6.97 and 46.81± 11.66 respectively. There was a significant relationship between the mean scores the participants obtained from the overall General Self-Efficacy Scale and its Initiation”, “Perseverance” and “Insistence” sub-dimensions, and the mean scores they obtained from the overall Spiritual Care Needs Inventory and its “caring and respect” and “meaning and hope” subscales.

Conclusion: The participants Self-Efficacy level was at an average level, which suggested that they needed spiritual care. In conclusion, we think that creating environments that will facilitate the spiritual practices of patients in hemodialysis units will improve their self-efficacy and spirituality.

Saturation Levels of Postnatal Live Babies between 0-48 Hours at Different Altitude Levels

Deniz PARLAK — 2024-09-01

Objective: The objective of this study was to compare two different oxygen saturation levels of live newborn infants in the 0-48 hour period in the provinces of Ardahan (1900 m) and Adana (29 m), which are located at two different altitudes.

Methods: The subjects of the study consisted of 200 mothers who had just given birth in Adana and Ardahan provinces and agreed to participate in the study voluntarily and their newborn infants. Data were gathered using an APGAR score and a personal information form.

Results: Postnatal O2 saturation measurements by province were 90.94±2.78 for the 0th hour, 94.26 ± 1.78 for the 8th hour, 95.52 ± 1.70 for the 12th hour, 96.13 ± 1.46 for the 24th hour and 96.65±1.41 for the 48th hour in Ardahan province, 90.28±2.76 for the 0th hour, 93.71 ± 1.39 for the 8th hour, 95.05 ± 1.34 for the 12th hour, 95.84 ± 1.30 for the 24th hour and 96.15±1.27 for the 48th hour in Adana province. According to the results of the APGAR scoring, 53% of the infants born to mothers who resided in the province of Ardahan and 48% of the infants born to mothers who resided in the province of Adana each received 8 points.

Conclusion: According to the results of the APGAR scoring, 53% of the infants born to mothers who resided in the province of Ardahan and 48% of the infants born to mothers who resided in the province of Adana each received 8 points. As a result, it was determined that the saturation levels of infants born in Ardahan at 1900 m altitude between 0 and 48 hours were statistically higher than those of infants born in Adana province at 29 m altitude. Due to this reason, it is suggested that new studies be conducted at different time intervals to investigate how periodic altitude changes affect the saturation levels of postnatal live births.

The Evaluation of the Opinions of the First Year Students Watching the Birth Videos on Birth

Emine Serap ÇAĞAN — 2024-09-01

Aims: This study was conducted to evaluate the opinions of first-year midwifery students about birth who watched a birth video as part of the midwifery course.

Materials and Methods: The research is of descriptive type and was conducted between January-February 2023.The population of the research was 49 students studying in the Midwifery Department of a University. The socio-demographic characteristics introduction form was used to collect the data. Videos about the birth mechanism, which are available as open access from the Nucleus Medical Media account on Youtube, were watched by the students. After watching the birth videos, the students were asked to fill in the socio-demographic characteristics questionnaire and write their opinions about their views after watching the birth video. SPSS package program was used in the analysis of the data.

Results: 57.1% of the students stated that they had not watched a birth video before, and 51.0% of them stated that they had not received any information about birth before. While 71.4% of the students stated that they were afraid of birth, 73.5% of the students stated that their views on birth changed positively after watching the video. After watching the birth video, most of the students stated that the profession of midwifery is a sacred profession and that the birth is miraculous, while others stated that they did not feel anything. When they were asked to describe their thoughts in one word, they generally used concepts such as miracle, fear, excitement.

Conclusion: It was observed that the majority of midwifery students had positive thoughts about birth after watching the birth video and thought that it contributed to understanding the sanctity of the midwifery profession.

The Impact of Education Provided to Women in Reproductive Age on their Sexual Health/Reproductive Health Behavior: A Semi-Experimental Study

Cevriye OCAKTAN TETİKÇOK — 2024-09-01

Objective: This study aims to investigate the influence of education provided to reproductive-age women on their sexual health/reproductive health (SH/RH) behavior.

Method: The study was designed as a single-group, semi-experimental type. It was conducted at the Ali Ulvi Kurucu Youth Center affiliated with the Karatay Municipality in Konya on December 28-29. Ninety-six women registered at the youth center received SH/RH education over two days. The women were assessed before and after the education. Data were evaluated using the Introductory Information Form, Sexual Health Knowledge Test, Attitude Scale towards Sexuality, Attitude Scale towards Sexual Behaviors, Attitude Scale towards Sexual Health and Personal Hygiene, and Attitude Scale towards Preventing Sexually Transmitted Diseases.

Results: The average age of the participating women was 20.3±1.8. It was observed that after education, women’s knowledge of sexual health, attitude scale scores toward sexuality, and attitude scale scores towards sexual behaviors increased compared to before the education (p < 0.05). However, there was no significant difference in women’s attitudes towards sexual health and personal hygiene, attitudes towards sexually transmitted diseases, and attitudes towards methods of preventing sexually transmitted diseases before and after education (p > 0.05).

Conclusion: SH/RH education positively influences sexual health knowledge, attitude towards sexuality, and attitude toward sexual behaviors of women of reproductive age.