Cardiac catheterization is a diagnostic procedure which is intrusive and anxiety provoking. Patient education and information offer have been suggested as effective nursing interventions to reduce patients' anxiety and stress. Main objectives of this study are : 1) to develop concrete objectives information for patients undergoing cardiac catheterization ; 2) to analyze the types of information included in the newly developed concrete objective information. The subjects of this study are 11 patients who were admitted to the CCU of a general hospital in Seoul. The subjects were provided with preparatory information about cardiac catheterization by using interview and a booklet. After the procedure, the subjects were asked to describe additional information which they suggest to be added into the booklet and the physical sensations felt during the procedure. The results of the study are summarized as follows : Most subjects were satisfied with the preparatory information that was provided by interview and the booklet before the procedure. But patients suggested several problems related to the content of the booklet. First, they reported difficulty to differentiate the terms-coronary angio gram and cardiac catheterization. Also, some patients expressed that they feared after reading the information about the incision of inguinal area. Subjects responded that the information about the direct process of the test did not reduce their anxiety and the information was not detail enough. Next, most subjects would want to know about the monitor and the sound from monitor. They said that they could not hear instructions from doctor of nurse during the procedure due to tension. Considering above response results, the need for more effective way to provide information, like visual and auditory information through video tape for giving information is suggested. Sensations related to the procedure were the smell coming from sterilization of inguinal area, stinging pain in groin when the doctor inserts a needle into artery, and the sensation of pressure and moving of vessels surrounding neck when the catheter was inserted and visualized on fluoroscopy. Besides, subject reported hot sensation and burning feeling in face and chest area, and nausea when dye is injected by hand. In the analysis of information content, there was 79% agreement on the actual units of analysis that were coded. In the analysis of type of information, procedural information was 60.4%. Concrete objective information was 28.1%, and other information was 11.5%. Agreement of the coders in categorizing the units of information was determined by using Cohen's kappa which corrects for chance agreement. Cohen's kappa was .84.

Although sensory deficits caused by stroke have been occasionally reported, dysfunctions of discriminative sensation have seldom been studied in patients with strokes. With the use of specifically designed methods, discriminative sensations including texture discrimination and position sense were tested in 67 patients with acute unilateral stroke. Thirty-two age and sex-matched healthy subjects were used as controls. Impaired discriminative sensation was common in patients with unilateral stroke (detected in 57 out of the 67 patients) regardless of the lesion location except for patients with lateral medullary stroke. Proprioceptive discriminative sensation remained intact in all except for three out of 25 patients who were initially diagnosed as having pure motor stroke on the bases of conventional sensory tests. However, tactile discriminative sensation remained intact in only 17 out of 25 patients. Discriminative sensory disturbances are common in patients with unilateral stroke even in those with intact sensory function on routine examination. The subtle disturbances of this sensation may explain, at least in part, the clumsiness of the patients that is not readily explained by conventional neurological tests.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of sensory stimulation on premature infants.
METHOD
Thirty three premature infants admitted to NICU of D University Hospital in C city were randomly assigned in two groups (Experimental group: 16, Control group:17). For the experimental group, tactile and kinesthetic stimulation developed by Dr. Field was applied 2 times a day for 10 days. Behavioral state was measured using the Anderson Behavioral State Scale (ABSS). Heart rate, respiration, and oxygen saturation were obtained for each infant before and after sensory stimulation. Hypothesis testing was done using the X2- test, student t-test, and repeated measures of ANOVA.
Result
Hypothesis 1: There was a significant difference in the daily body weight gain between experimental and control group (F= 40.77, p= .0001). Hypothesis 2: There was a significant difference in the frequency of 'inactive awake state' between two groups (X2= 39.778, p= .001). Hypothesis 3: There were significant differences in the mean of heart rate and O2 saturation between two groups (t= -2.174, p= .037; t= 3.080, p= .005). However, there was no significant difference in the mean of respiration rate between two groups (t= -1.966, p= .581).
CONCLUSION
The effectiveness of a sensory stimulation on weight gain and behavioral state in premature infants was supported. Further study is recommended to develop a sensory stimulation method as an independent nursing intervention for premature infant.

This study was designed to investigate the effects of a sensory stimulation program on the growth (weight, height, head circumference, and chest circumference), behavioral development, behavioral states, and the heart rate of the infants. A total of 23 infants of 2 weeks old were divided into sensory stimualtion group (11 infants) and control group (12 infants). The infants of sensory stimulation group had received sensory stimulation for 6 weeks. Sensory stimulation program was composed of tactile and kinesthetic stimulation. We assessed growth, behavioral state and heart rate every week and behavioral development every 2 weeks. The results were as follows: 1. Body weight in sensory stimulation group, from two weeks after the sensory stimulation program, was significantly increased more than control group, but there was no significant difference in height, head circumference, and chest circumference between the two groups. 2. Behavioral developmental score of sensory stimulation group was significantly higher than that of control group from two weeks after the sensory stimulation program. Developmental states of sensory stimulation group showed more 'high average developmental state' than the control group from 4 weeks after sensory stimulation program. 3. Behavioral states of sensory stimulation group after the sensory stimulation program, the 'sleeping state' was significantly increased more than control group. The 'awakening state' and the state of fuss or crying were significantly less than those of the control group. 4. The heart rate of the sensory stimulation group after the sensory stimulation was significantly lower than the control group. These results indicate that the sensory stimulation program decreases heart rate and improves the sleeping state to be effective on promoting the growth and development of the infants. In view of these experiments, we suggest sensory stimulation program might be considered as a nursing intervention for growth and development of the infants not only in clinical settings but also at homes and in the communities.

This study has been conducted on the nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design in quasi experimental basis and newly born premature infants from intensive care unit of G Medical University Hospital in Inchon Metropolitan were selected in two groups of 21 infants each. The first group for experimental and the other for control. Data has been collected form October 30, 1997 to August 29, 1998. For the experimental group tactile and kinesthetic stimulation was applied 2 times a day for 10 days(10:00~11:00 hours in the morning and 17:00~18:00 in the afternoon). As a weight weighing instrument, electronic indicator scale(Cas Co, Korea) was used. To determine urine cortisol concentration level in stress hormone, radio immuno assay method was used. And high performance liquid chlomatogarphy was used to determine urine norepinephrine, concentration level. To determine behavior status, tools developed by anderson et al(1990) and remodeled by Kim Hee-Sook(1996) were used. Collected data were analyzed with the SAS program using x2-test, student t-test, repeated measures ANOVA and paired t-test. The result were as follow. 1. As for the daily weight gain, the experimental group showed first change in weight and this group also showed higher weight in the average weight than the control group. Statistically, however, there was no significant factor between the two groups. 2. The cortisol concentration in urine showed decrease in the experimental group norepinephrine concentration in urine showed increase in both experimental and control groups. No statistical significance was shown between the two groups. 3. In the aspect of behavior status, the experimental group showed statistical significance by showing inactive in the state of alert and conversion to a positive state than the control group. In conclusion, the sensory stimulation in this study showed a positive aspect through there was no statistical significance n the weight gain and urine stress hormone concentration. In the behavior status, there was statistical significance in the frequency of staying inactive in the state of alert and conversion to a positive state.