This study was designed to identify nursing students' attitudes toward life through a Q-methodology. A Q-sample was formed through a review of the literature and interviews(n=160). The final Q-sample consisted of 37 statements out of an initial 100 statements after consultation with an expert panel and pilot testing. The P-sample consisted of 14 university nursing students and 27 junior college nursing students, which was selected by convenience sampling method. Data were analyzed by the Q-analysis method. The correlation between type 2 and type 3 was relatively high (r=0.539) ; that between type 1 and type 3 was lowest(r=0.014). The first type of attitude was the "rational utilitarian" type. Students in this type valued life relative to the quality of life. They agreed with euthanasia and artificial abortion if the quality of life was threatened. The criteria for their judgement were scientific knowledge and rationality. The second type of attitude was the "Christian deontologic" type. These students appreciated the sanctity of life according to Christian dogma. They disagreed with euthanasia and artificial abortion. And they disagreed strongly that life should be created by scientific development, because only God creates life. The third type of attitude was the "unconditional deontologic" type. These students agreed with the sanctity of life, not from Christian belief but from belief in the sanctity of life. The final type of attitude was the "prima facie(conditional) deonologic" type. These students appreciated the value of life and humanity. They expressed concern for others' life and suffering. They do not want to afflict others with their own miseries. This group showed a dual value system toward themselves and others. So they experience conflict between their concern for their own and others' conditions. These nursing students' values may have been influenced by their clinical experience in hospitals and other nursing fields. Through this study, we may realize the importance of education in nursing ethics for discussion of ethical conflicts and to support ethical nursing practice.
The purpose of the study was to test the reliability and validity of the Korean version of Task Self-Efficacy Scale for activities of daily living(ADL). The Task Self-Efficacy Scale was developed by Roberts(1996) for low-intensity exercise study with older people to predict their performance of ADL. The scale was translated and back translated by bilingual persons, and then was modified to resolve variations in the translations. The Korean version of Self-efficacy Scale of ADL was then administered to 193 elderly people including 95 hospitalized patients and 98 outpatients or healthy people. Face to face interview was used to fill out the structured questionnaire, and each interview took approximately 30 minutes. The subjects for the study were 80 women and 112 men with an age range of 65 to 95 years(M=71 years) of whom 82.6% classified themselves as moderate or quite active. Most subjects(80.2%) had an education level of elementary school or less. The Self-Efficacy Scale for ADL is measured on a 0 to 10 VAS, assessing three areas of ADL : self care activities, household tasks, and motor tasks. The higher the score is the higher person's confidence in performing ADL. Psychometric testing revealed that the scale was found to be internally consistent, showing a Cronbach's alpha of .97. The scale was significantly correlated with subjects' level of activity and subjective assessment of their health status. Moderate correlation with health-related hardiness scale also supported the validity. Factor analysis was performed to confirm whether the scale represents the three sub-areas as suggested in the literature. The results of the factor analysis led to a three factor solution according to Kaiser's criterion, but the items were not strongly and cleanly loaded for the third factor. This can be explained in that, among the three sub-ADL ares of the self-efficacy scale, the areas of self care activities and household tasks seem to have similar levels of difficulty in performance with not enough differences for the self-efficacy scale to distinguish between the two areas. Therefore, one factor solution was suggested since ADL can be seen a unit of activities as similar level of difficulty in performance. One factor solution explained 68.1% of variance of the 19-item scale and all items all correlated over .6 with the factor, showing that the selected factor solution fits the model. The results indicated that the Korean version of Task Self-Efficacy Scale for ADL was reliable and valid in producing useful information to evaluate the effects of various interventions toward promoting health and quality of life for elderly people.
The purpose of the study was to identify the effects of 12-week low-intensity exercise program on muscle strength, flexibility, balance, and cognitive characteristics related to the performance of activity of daily living(ADL). A total of 16 patients who were admitted to the medical unit of a general hospital in ChoongChung province were recruited eight for the exercise group and eight for the comparison group. Four levels of low-intensity exercise from 'ROM on bed' to 'exercise while walking' were then applied to the exercise group according to their physical condition. During hospitalization, patients in the exercise group performed each level of the prescribed exercise with the researchers until they felt. comfortable doing it independently. The researchers also visited the patients' homes after discharge to make sure they could perform the exercise with Theraband in their living environment. The exercise group was contacted by phone once a week to assess the frequency and intensity in which they performed the exercise as well as their physical condition. The subjects in the comparison group participated in measurements for the study without performing the exercise and were contacted by phone after discharge, in a matched time frame with the exercise group, to assess physical condition. Muscle strength, flexibility, balance, cognitive characteristics, and performance of ADL for the two groups were compared at the pretest and the posttest after the low-intensity exercise program by utilizing SPSSWIN and the results are as follows : 1) At the posttest, measurments of muscle strengths showed that the strength of the dorsal flexor in the exercise group was significantly higher than in the comparison group. 2) Objective balance for the exercise group was significantly better than for the comparison group as measured by 'standing on one foot' and Tinetti gait and balance control. 3) The exercise group showed significantly higher task self-efficacy than the comparison group. 4) Perceived exertion for ADL for the exercise group was significantly lower than for the comparison group. 5) Improvement of performance of ADL without assistance was significantly for the exercise group than the comparison group. The findings suggest that a low-intensity exercise program would be useful for the elderly who show decline in their physical functioning due to hospitalization by partly improving physical strength, task self-efficacy, and performance of ADL. Directions for further research on issues of motivating people to exercise as well as of standardizing various types of exercise were discussed.
Respect for human life and respect for human dignity are two basic values to which organized nursing has urged its members to adhere in their service to mankind. Thus it is the nurses' duty to provide health care in support of sustenance of life and to pay respect for the patient's right to dignity. In practice, however, nurses may experience dilemmas between these duties much due to the development of modern advanced techniques. These dilemmas have become more complex and difficult to resolve. Nurses are often faced with situations in which the terminally ill refuse professional care, posing serious conflicts between respect for human life and respect for human rights to self-determination. In such cases, resolution of the problem is not a simple matter, thus requires intensive study into the ethical questions related to the situation. The purpose of this study was to identify ethical problems that nurses experience in caring for terminally ill patients and explore the ways to the resolution of problems within the context of the situations. The methodology used for the study was a case study method which 'New Casuistry' proposed by Jonsen and Toulmin(1988) and the 'Specified Principlism' proposed by Degrazia(1992) as an alternative to old deductive and intuitive method. Cases were developed through semistructured indepth interviews according to the casutistry method. A total of seven nurses were interviewd who were caring for therminally ill patients. Four cases out of a total 14 cases were related to the topic. Through the case analysis it became evident that nurses appreciated other values more often than respect for the patient's right to self-determination. These other values were convenience and effiency in nursing practice in case 1, preservation of life above all other values in case 2, provision of nursing care to fulfill the nurse's professional obligation at most in case 3, and respect for the family's demand against the patient's wish in case 4. This study showed that the most important ethical problems were conflict between respect for the patient's right to self-determination and sustenance of life for the fulfillment of professional obligation. For this problem, benefit/burden analysis from the perspective of the patient and family for the promotion of patient's wellbeing may be a way to resolve the conflict. Further, through these analysis it was shown that physicians' and families' opinions dominated in the decision? making and the opinions of nurses' and patients' tended not to be reflected. Thus the patient's right to his or her care was not readily respected. To solve this problem, nurses should make efforts to communicate reciprocally with their patients, family members and physicians in an effort to respect for their patient's rights to life and diginity from the point of view and values of the patient. It is also important that nurses provide good basic nursing care up to the time of death regardless of decisions about providing or not aggressive treatment for chronically and terminally ill patients.
No abstract available.
This primary study was done to develop an ethical guideline for organ transplantation, a life-saving treatment which helps improve the quality of life. This study tried to identify the current situation in Korea, in terms of ethical considerations in organ transplantations. This study collected basic data in organ transplantations, in the hope that procedure of organ transplantations could be developed that would be fair to both organ donors and recipients. The immediate goals of this study were : 1)to identify staff in charge of organ transplantations and their jobs in the hospital, 2) to survey whether there exists a Hospital Ethics Committee(HEC), 3) to research what consideration are formally taken in selecting recipients, and 4) to accumulate data on how consent from donors are currently obtained. The study used a survey questionnaire and received responses from 31 hospitals out of 45 hospitals where organ transplantation are being done. Organ transplantation coordinators were found in 16 hospitals, but the job description varied among hospitals. The survey showed that all 16 hospitals with and HEC that health care personnel unnecessarily dominate the committee. The study notes that HECs should be vitalized by recruiting, as members, ethicists, theologians, patients, guardians, as well as the general public outside of the hospital. The study revealed that in selecting recipients the hospital take into account ABO blood type, histocompatibility, age, waiting time, and level of patient compliance. Finally, it was shown that in the cases of living donors the transplanting hospitals seek a formal consent, whereas there are no common consenting practice established for cadaveric donors. The study concludes with three proposals. First, a nationwide institution responsible exclusively for procurement and distribution of cadaveric organs for transplantation should be established. Second, we should rebuild the national health insurance system so that have costly organ transplantation expenses are substantially covered. Last, but certainly not least, there is a need to emphasize the HEC's committment to prepare a proper ethical guideline for organ transplantation in general.
This study was aimed at (a) describing professional nursing practice environments embedded in nursing care units and (b) examining its relationships to nurses' task motivation.
Using the Nursing Work Index Revised (NWI-R) and the Work Preference Inventory (WPI), a descriptive study was conducted with a sample of 320 registered nurses on 26 nursing care units in one University hospital in Korea.
Mean scores were 12.9 on a 5-20 score range of an autonomous environment scale, 7.3 on a 3-12 score range of a collaborative environment, and 15.8 on a 7-28 score range of control over nursing practice. Nurses' age, educational level, job position, working period at the hospital and employment status were significantly related to the degree of a professional practice environment. The extent to which a professional practice environment accounted for task motivation was 19.5%.
There is a certain degree of professionalism in the workplace environment that nurses perceived within the nursing care units. When nurses care for patients, the degree of task motivation depends on the work environment supporting the professional nursing practice.