Evaluation of a program to reduce back pain in nursing personnel

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of a program designed to reduce back pain in nursing aides. METHODS: Female nursing aides from a university hospital who had suffered episodes of back pain for at least six months were included in the study. Participants were randomly divided into a control group and an intervention group. The intervention program involved a set of exercises and an educational component stressing the ergonomic aspect, administered twice a week during working hours for four months. All subjects answered a structured questionnaire and the intensity of pain was assessed before and after the program using a visual analogue scale (VAS). Student's t-test or the Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test for independent samples, and Chi-square test or the Exact Fisher test for categorical analysis, were used. The McNemar test and the Wilcoxon matched pairs test were used to compare the periods before and after the program. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant decrease in the frequency of cervical pain in the last two months and in the last seven days in the intervention group. There was also a reduction in cervical pain intensity in the two periods (2 months, 7 days) and lumbar pain intensity in the last 7 days. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that a program of regular exercise with an emphasis on ergonomics can reduce musculoskeletal symptoms in nursing personnel.

Show me your body and I tell you how hold you are: a non-invasive methodto define 6 life history-classes in Risso's dolphins (Grampus griseus), using an identified trial population in the Atlantic

European Cetacean Society Conference Workshop, Galway, Ireland, 25th March 2012.

Spatial segregation of calving and nursing Risso's dolphins (Grampus griseus), and its conservation implications

"Conhecer o Mar dos Açores III - Fórum científico de apoio à decisão". Biblioteca Pública e Arquivo Regional João José da Graça, Horta, Faial, Açores, 19-20 de setembro de 2013.

Assessment of nursing students and nurses' orientation towards patient-centeredness

Background - Being patient centered is a core value for nursing. Patient centered-care has been related to patient and health provider satisfaction, better health outcomes, higher quality of care and more efficient health care delivery. Objectives - The purpose was to assess the orientation adopted by nurses and students in patient care, using The Patient-Practitioner Orientation Scale, as well as to compare the results between resident nurses and students from different academic years. Settings - Public School of Nursing and a Central Hospital, in Lisbon (Portugal). Participants - Students in the first, second and fourth year of nursing school and nurses participated in the study. Methods - For data collection, we used The Patient-Practitioner Orientation Scale (European Portuguese version), an instrument designed to measure individual preferences toward the dimension of caring a sharing in health professional-patient relationship. Students and nurses also filled out two additional questions about their perception of competence in technical and communication skills. Additional demographic information was also collected, including gender, age, academic year and length of professional experience. Results - A total of 525 students (84.7% female) and 108 nurses (77.8% female) participated in this study. In general, caring sub-scores, measuring the preference of about attending to patient emotional aspects, were higher than sharing sub-scores, measuring beliefs about giving information and perceiving patient as a member of the health team. Students were significantly more patient-centered throughout their nursing education (p<0.001). Comparing to students in the second and fourth academic years (p<0.001) nurses' scores were significantly lower both in total PPOS and in caring and sharing subscales. Conclusions - These results reinforce the idea that patient centeredness may be developed in academic context. The scores obtained highlight the importance of studies that aim to identify factors that may explain the decrease of patient centeredness in professional practice.

Health-related quality of life and working conditions among nursing providers

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate working conditions associated with health-related quality of life (HRQL) among nursing providers. METHODS: Cross-sectional study conducted in a university hospital in the city of São Paulo, Southeastern Brazil, during 2004-2005. The study sample comprised 696 registered nurses, nurse technicians and nurse assistants, predominantly females (87.8%), who worked day and/or night shifts. Data on sociodemographic information, working and living conditions, lifestyles, and health symptoms were collected using self-administered questionnaires. The following questionnaires were also used: Job Stress Scale, Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) and Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). Ordinal logistic regression analysis using proportional odds model was performed to evaluate each dimension of the SF-36. RESULTS: Around 22% of the sample was found to be have high strain and 8% showed an effort-reward imbalance at work. The dimensions with the lowest mean scores in the SF-36 were vitality, bodily pain and mental health. High-strain job, effort-reward imbalance (ERI>1.01), and being a registered nurse were independently associated with low scores on the role emotional dimension. Those dimensions associated to mental health were the ones most affected by psychosocial factors at work. CONCLUSIONS: Effort-reward imbalance was more associated with health than high-strain (high demand and low control). The study results suggest that the joint analysis of psychosocial factors at work such as effort-reward imbalance and demand-control can provide more insight to the discussion of professional roles, working conditions and HRQL of nursing providers.

Beyond methodological nationalism: The contribution of Robert E. Park to the history of intercultural communication

The legacy of nineteenth century social theory followed a “nationalist” model of society, assuming that analysis of social realities depends upon national boundaries, taking the nation-state as the primary unit of analysis, and developing the concept of methodological nationalism. This perspective regarded the nation-state as the natural - and even necessary - form of society in modernity. Thus, the constitution of large cities, at the end of the 19th century, through the intense flows of immigrants coming from diverse political and linguistic communities posed an enormous challenge to all social research. One of the most significant studies responding to this set of issues was The Immigrant Press and its Control, by Robert E. Park, one of the most prominent American sociologists of the first half of the 20th century. The Immigrant Press and its Control was part of a larger project entitled Americanization Studies: The Acculturation of Immigrant Group into American Society, funded by the Carnagie Corporation following World War I, taking as its goal to study the so-called “Americanization methods” during the 1920s. This paper revisits that particular work by Park to reveal how his detailed analysis of the role of the immigrant press overcame the limitations of methodological nationalism. By granting importance to language as a tool uniting each community and by showing how the strength of foreign languages expressed itself through the immigrant press, Park demonstrated that the latter produces a more ambivalent phenomenon than simply the assimilation of immigrants. On the one hand, the immigrant press served as a connecting force, driven by the desire to preserve the mother tongue and culture while at the same time awakening national sentiments that had, until then, remained diffuse. Yet, on the other hand, it facilitated the adjustment of immigrants to the American context. As a result, Park’s work contributes to our understanding of a particular liminal moment inherent within many intercultural contexts, the space between emigrant identity (emphasizing the country of origin) and immigrant identity (emphasizing the newly adopted country). His focus on the role played by media in the socialization of immigrant groups presaged later work on this subject by communication scholars. Focusing attention on Park’s research leads to other studies of the immigrant experience from the same period (e.g., Thomas & Znaniecki, The Polish Peasant in Europe and America), and also to insights on multi-presence and interculturality as significant but often overlooked phenomena in the study of immigrant socialization.

Association between sleep quality and quality of life in nursing professionals working rotating shifts

OBJECTIVE To analyze the association between sleep quality and quality of life of nursing professionals according to their work schedules.METHODS A prospective, cross-sectional, observational study was conducted between January and December 2010, with 264 nursing professionals, drawn from 989 subjects at Botucatu General Hospital and stratified by professional category. The Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index and the WHOQOL-bref were administered to evaluate sleep quality and quality of life, respectively. Self-reported demographic data were collected with a standard form. Continuous variables were reported as means and standard deviations, and categorical variables were expressed as proportions. Associations were evaluated using Spearman’s correlation coefficient. The association of night-shift work and gender with sleep disturbance was evaluated by logistic regression analysis using a model adjusted for age and considering sleep disturbance the dependent variable. The level of significance was p < 0.05.RESULTS Night-shift work was associated with severe worsening of at least one component of sleep quality in the model adjusted for age (OR = 1.91; 95%CI 1.04;3.50; p = 0.036). Female gender was associated with sleep disturbance (OR = 3.40; 95%CI 1.37;8.40; p = 0.008). Quality of life and quality of sleep were closely correlated (R = -0.56; p < 0.001).CONCLUSIONS Characteristics of the nursing profession affect sleep quality and quality of life, and these two variables are associated.

Recent history of fractional calculus

This survey intends to report some of the major documents and events in the area of fractional calculus that took place since 1974 up to the present date.

Photographic source for the history of portuguese-speaking Africa, 1870-1914

History in Africa, n.18, pág.67-82

The discovery of three lost ‘Salting’ carpets: science as a tool for revealing their history

Thesis presented at the Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, to obtain a Master degree in Conservation and Restoration,Specialization in Textiles

A teaching-learning sequence of colour informed by history and philosophy of science

In this work, we present a teaching-learning sequence on colour intended to a pre-service elementary teacher programme informed by History and Philosophy of Science. Working in a socio-constructivist framework, we made an excursion on the history of colour. Our excursion through history of colour, as well as the reported misconception on colour helps us to inform the constructions of the teaching-learning sequence. We apply a questionnaire both before and after each of the two cycles of action-research in order to assess students’ knowledge evolution on colour and to evaluate our teaching-learning sequence. Finally, we present a discussion on the persistence of deep-rooted alternative conceptions.

A didactic sequence of elementary geometric optics Informed by history and philosophy of science

The concepts and instruments required for the teaching and learning of geometric optics are introduced in the didactic processwithout a proper didactic transposition. This claim is secured by the ample evidence of both wide- and deep-rooted alternative concepts on the topic. Didactic transposition is a theory that comes from a reflection on the teaching and learning process in mathematics but has been used in other disciplinary fields. It will be used in this work in order to clear up the main obstacles in the teachinglearning process of geometric optics. We proceed to argue that since Newton’s approach to optics, in his Book I of Opticks, is independent of the corpuscular or undulatory nature of light, it is the most suitable for a constructivist learning environment. However, Newton’s theory must be subject to a proper didactic transposition to help overcome the referred alternative concepts. Then is described our didactic transposition in order to create knowledge to be taught using a dialogical process between students’ previous knowledge, history of optics and the desired outcomes on geometrical optics in an elementary pre-service teacher training course. Finally, we use the scheme-facet structure of knowledge both to analyse and discuss our results as well as to illuminate shortcomings that must be addressed in our next stage of the inquiry.

The visual image in Epiphanic Short History

The visual image is a fundamental component of epiphany, stressing its immediacy and vividness, corresponding to the enargeia of the traditional ekphrasis and also playing with cultural and social meanings. Morris Beja in his seminal book Epiphany in the Modern Novel, draws our attention to the distinction made by Joyce between the epiphany originated in a common object, in a discourse or gesture and the one arising in “a memorable phase of the mind itself”. This type materializes in the “dream-epiphany” and in the epiphany based in memory. On the other hand, Robert Langbaum in his study of the epiphanic mode, suggests that the category of “visionary epiphany” could account for the modern effect of an internally glowing vision like Blake’s “The Tyger”, which projects the vitality of a real tyger. The short story, whose length renders it a fitting genre for the use of different types of epiphany, has dealt with the impact of the visual image in this technique, to convey different effects and different aesthetic aims. This paper will present some examples of this occurrence in short stories of authors in whose work epiphany is a fundamental concept and literary technique: Walter Pater, Joseph Conrad, K. Mansfield, Clarice Lispector. Pater’s “imaginary portraits” concentrate on “priviledged moments” of the lives of the characters depicting their impressions through pictorial language; Conrad tries to show “moments of awakening” that can be remembered by the eye; Mansfield suggests that epiphany, the “glimpse”, should replace plot as an internal ordering principle of her impressionist short-stories; in C. Lispector the visualization of some situations is so aggressive that it causes nausea and a radical revelation on the protagonist’s.

Os enfermeiros e as representações sociais sobre o envelhecimento : implicações nos cuidados promotores da autonomia da pessoa idosa hospitalizada

RESUMO: O envelhecimento da população tende a aumentar em todo o mundo, trazendo consequências a níveis sociais, económicos, e de saúde. As hospitalizações e a necessidade de cuidados de enfermagem à população idosa tendencialmente aumentam pela maior fragilidade, derivada do aumento das situações de doença crónica e dependência. Os cuidados de enfermagem podem ser influenciados pelas representações sociais acerca do envelhecimento, estando associados mitos e estereótipos, e levar à desvalorização da individualidade e autonomia da pessoa idosa. Neste sentido, preconiza-se a realização de cuidados em parceria com a pessoa idosa, que promovam a sua autonomia e empowerment. Este estudo tem como objectivo compreender o modo como as representações sociais dos enfermeiros acerca do envelhecimento influenciam os cuidados de enfermagem na promoção da autonomia do idoso hospitalizado. Realizámos um estudo qualitativo, com recurso à entrevista e a técnica por associação livre de ideias, sendo entrevistados 17 enfermeiros de um serviço de internamento de medicina. Da análise dos resultados, constatámos que para os enfermeiros do estudo a representação social negativa acerca do envelhecimento foi a mais evidenciada, associada a situações como: dependência, doença, solidão, isolamento, necessidades, tristeza, peso na sociedade/problemas/dificuldades; levando à desvalorização das capacidades físicas, mentais, psicológicas, e da autonomia da pessoa idosa. Como factores dificultadores da promoção do respeito e autonomia da pessoa idosa referiram a motivação, características do enfermeiro e da pessoa idosa e os constrangimentos institucionais. Contudo alguns enfermeiros utilizam estratégias facilitadoras da promoção da autonomia como a: apresentação, proximidade, disponibilidade, promoção da esperança, avaliação da situação, e capacitação física e mental. Concluímos que as representações sociais negativas acerca do envelhecimento condicionam os cuidados de enfermagem na promoção da participação da pessoa idosa nos cuidados e nas decisões relativas a si. Os cuidados realizados em parceria, influenciados por uma visão positiva da pessoa idosa, valorizam a sua individualidade e toda a sua história de vida fomentando a sua autonomia.---------- ABSTRACT: Population aging is a global phenomenon, felt particularly in developed countries, with consequences at the social, economic and health-related levels. Hospitalization rates and nursing care needs among the elderly are on the rise in part due to the increased fragility of this population which experience greater levels of dependency and chronic disease. The quality of nursing care may be influenced by social representations of aging, associated with myths and stereotypes, that may lead to the devaluation of the individuality and autonomy of elderly persons. To this end, advocates for care in partnership with the elderly person, that promote their empowerment and autonomy. The present study aims to understand the manner in which social representations held by nurses with regards to the phenomenon of aging influence nursing care, with particular emphasis on the promotion of autonomy among hospitalized elderly patients. This study is a qualitative study, utilizing interviews and the free association of ideas technique, with a total of 17 interviews conducted on nurses working in a hospital ward. According to our results, nurses harbour negative social representations concerning the aging process, associating the latter with dependency, disease, loneliness, needs, sadness, burden on society/problems/difficulties, all of which may lead to the devaluation of the physical, mental, and psychological capacities of the elderly, negatively impacting upon their autonomy. Among those factors found to hinder the promotion of respect and autonomy of the elderly in this study, are personal motivation, characteristics of the nurse and the elderly person and institutional barriers. However, some nurses made use of a number of strategies that promoted patient autonomy, namely: presentation, proximity, availability, the promotion of hope, situation evaluation and physical and mental capacitation. In conclusion, negative social representations concerning aging condition the quality of nursing care, particularly, in what concerns the promotion of patient participation in care and self determination. Nursing interventions carried out in collaboration with the patient, influenced by a positive view of the elderly, value the individuality and life history of these individuals, thereby fomenting their autonomy