Information needs of young adults with type 2 diabetes : a literature review

Background Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is increasingly prevalent in young adults but there is very little information about what information they need to undertake diabetes self-management.

Aim To undertake a structured literature review to identify what information people with type 2 diabetes aged 25 to 45 years need to manage their diabetes and how they would like to receive it.

Methods A structured literature search was conducted. The MEDLINE, CINAHL, AMI, APAIS-Health databases were searched for articles published between 1980 and 2011. The reference list of journals and relevant websites were searched. Inclusion criteria were: literature about T2DM in young adults and literature about education and information needs of young adults with T2DM.

Results Only one article specifically focussed on the information needs of young people with T2DM and two reports included some information about T2DM and young adults. The limited data available suggested young adults with T2DM have specific information needs that are not sufficiently addressed in current resources, and have some needs different from young people with type 1 diabetes. Young people with T2DM want clear, consistent information from credible sources, delivered in a range of formats. They also want psychological support and counselling, age-specific education groups, after hours access to health professionals and education provided to family members and the community about T2DM in young people and about how to support people with T2DM.

Conclusion With the prevalence of T2DM in young adults continuing to increase, the need to address the specific information needs and learning styles of people with T2DM aged 25 to 45 is increasingly important.

Information needs of family carers of people with diabetes at the end of life: a literature review

Background:
Recent research identified the issue that family carers of people with diabetes at the end of life (EOL) did not receive sufficient information to enable them to help their relative manage their diabetes at the EOL.

Aim:
The aim of the current study was to undertake a literature review to identify the information needs of family carers of people with diabetes at the EOL.

Method:
A comprehensive review of the literature was conducted by searching the following databases: CINAHL, PubMed, PsychInfo, Scopus, and SocINDEX. The grey literature was also searched for papers relevant to the aim. All study designs were included. A content analysis of relevant papers was undertaken to identify themes.

Results:
Sixteen of the more than 300 papers identified addressed the information needs of family carers of people with diabetes at the EOL and were included in the review. Five key themes were identified from the papers reviewed: (1) performing diabetes care tasks, (2) focus of care, (3) blood glucose management, (4) EOL stages, and (5) involving patients and family carers in decisions about diabetes care. Most of the 16 papers represented the views of health professionals and focused on the need to provide information about the medical aspects of diabetes management.

Conclusions:The review suggests further research is needed to identify the information needs of family carers of people with diabetes at the EOL to enable interventions to be developed to support the family carers and meet their unique information needs.

The information needs of older people who choose supportive care over dialysis: A case study approach

Background: Supportive care is increasingly being viewed as an appropriate alternative option to dialysis or transplantation for older people with advanced chronic kidney disease (ACKD). The purpose of this study was to explore the information needs of older people with ACKD who choose supportive care as their treatment. Methods: A case study approach using semi-structured interviews and medical case note review methods was used to explore the information needs of six older people receiving supportive care. Results: The majority of the information the participants had recalled receiving placed a greater emphasis on dialysis over supportive care. Although they did not want dialysis, they were not clear on what supportive care meant or whether they had a supportive care plan. Participants perceived they had never been given specific information about supportive care. Medical case note review revealed infrequent and non-systematic documentation in medical case notes. Conclusions: In the absence of a formal nephrology supportive care program, information may be provided in an unplanned, non-systematic approach to older people and their families who choose supportive care.

Análise da ocorrência de peixes-boi com base no conhecimento ecológico local e nos parâmetros ambientais na costa leste da Ilha de Marajó, Pará

Atualmente, existem ao redor do mundo três espécies de peixes-boi: a) Trichechus manatus (Linnaeus, 1758); b) Trichechus senegalensis (Link, 1795) e c) Trichechus inunguis (Natterer, 1883), todas pertencentes à família Trichechidae. Algumas características ambientais parecem influenciar a presença dos peixes-boi em uma determinada área, tais como: i) temperatura da água – principalmente para áreas subtropicais, ii) profundidade dos corpos d’água, iii) salinidade e iv) ação das marés; v) disponibilidade de alimento e vi) baixa hidrodinamica. Apesar de as espécies de sirênios existentes no Brasil estarem protegidas pela Lei Federal de Proteção à Fauna (Lei nº 5.197, de 03-01-1967) e sua alteração (Lei nº 7.653, de 18-12- 1987) e pela Lei de Crimes Ambientais (Lei nº 9.605/98, de 12-02-98), o peixe-boi amazônico e o peixe-boi marinho ainda correm risco de desaparecimento em um futuro próximo, sendo por isso, considerados como vulnerável e muito ameaçado de extinção, respectivamente, pela Portaria IBAMA nº 1.522/89. O presente estudo tem como objetivo investigar a ocorrência de sirênios do gênero Trichechus com base no conhecimento ecológico local e nos parâmetros ambientais existentes na costa leste da Ilha do Marajó, no Estado do Pará. Para tanto foi avaliado o nível de conhecimento dos pescadores locais sobre os peixes-boi; mapeada as áreas de ocorrência dos peixes-boi com base no conhecimento ecológico local e determinou as áreas de maior ou menor probabilidade de ocorrência de peixes-boi com base em indicadores ambientais. Os pescadores locais possuem um excelente conhecimento sobre o peixe-boi, informando características morfológicas, hábito alimentar e preferências ambientais satisfatórias. As ameaças diretas (caça) para a região não estão evidentes devido à diminuição de mão de obra especializadas, havendo apenas captura oportuna. Foi registrado durante o estudo dois encalhes na região e segundo informações de mortalidade de Trichechus spp. na área, nos últimos 50 anos morrem no mínimo 43 animais, sendo estes principalmente usados na farmacologia e consumo. O município de Salvaterra é o com maior probabilidade de ocorrência de peixe-boi segundo as características ambientais (menor intensidade de correntes, baixa salinidade, abundancia de alimento, menor tráfego de embarcações motorizadas) corroborando com os dados do conhecimento ecológico local, que indica a mesma área como de uso pelos peixes-boi. Apesar do incremento nos últimos anos nos estudos dos peixes-boi para o estado do Pará, ainda se faz necessário o investimento maior na pesquisa acerca desses animais. A continuidade das ações relacionadas ao manejo e a conservação dos peixes-boi devem ser somadas a participação dos atores sociais para uma rede de informações mais eficiente a fim de minimizar a perda de hábitat, os encalhes e aperfeiçoar as ações de resgate e reabilitações dos sirênios no estado. A foz do rio Amazonas deve ser especialmente estudada, pois se trata de uma área de simpatia das duas espécies ocorrentes no Brasil que influencia diretamente na conservação dos peixes-boi do todo o país.

Upper Ewaso Ngiro River Basin Water Management Information Platform: Survey on Development priorities, Information Needs and Conflict Management Efforts

A survey of development priorities and needs for water related information, including information on Water User Associations

DISEASE-RELATED INFORMATION NEEDS OF CANCER PATIENTS AGES 11-20: A COMPARISON OF PATIENT-PARENT AND PATIENT-PHYSICIAN PERCEPTIONS

Innovative, aggressive treatments and prolonged survival rates for patients with childhood cancers have placed new demands on the patient, parent and physician. As a result, counterproductive coping behaviors are often noted in adolescent cancer patients.^ One of the main ways the environment is manipulated by the individual to achieve personal comfort is through selectivity of information. An individual will usually pull the support personally needed to cope from the environment if sufficient resources are available. However, information provided young cancer patients is often filtered through the physicians and parents perspectives of the patient's needs without systematic input from the patient. In order to ensure that adequate information resources are available to help teenage patients cope with their illness, health professionals must have insights into the information needs of those patients. No previous efforts to address this subject were found in the literature.^ This study was designed to identify adolescent perspectives of their disease-related information needs and to compare their viewpoints with those of their parents and physicians. Sixty-five outpatient cancer patients (ages 11-20) receiving treatment at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute in Houston, Texas, 60 of their parents, and 53 physicians, who were involved in the treatment of pediatric patients at M. D. Anderson, were asked to complete self-administered questionnaires. The questionnaires used were developed, administered and analyzed by the investigator. Specific areas addressed in the questionnaires included: Perceptions of cancer-related tests and treatments, the importance of 30 disease-related items of information, responses evoked by receipt of information, current and preferred sources of information, delivery of information at the time of diagnosis, and disease-related information requested for patients, family, friends and teachers.^ Adolescent perceptions of their information needs and their preferences for delivery of information were determined. The relationships between patient-parent and patient-physician perceptions were then analyzed to determine areas in which agreements and disparities in viewpoint existed. Programmatic and research recommendations were then provided.^ Hopefully, through these efforts, the adolescent patient will be helped to receive relevant information support from those deemed to be most important to his/her efforts to cope with cancer. ^

Reporting experiments to satisfy professionals information needs

Although the aim of empirical software engineering is to provide evidence for selecting the appropriate technology, it appears that there is a lack of recognition of this work in industry. Results from empirical research only rarely seem to find their way to company decision makers. If information relevant for software managers is provided in reports on experiments, such reports can be considered as a source of information for them when they are faced with making decisions about the selection of software engineering technologies. To bridge this communication gap between researchers and professionals, we propose characterizing the information needs of software managers in order to show empirical software engineering researchers which information is relevant for decision-making and thus enable them to make this information available. We empirically investigated decision makers? information needs to identify which information they need to judge the appropriateness and impact of a software technology. We empirically developed a model that characterizes these needs. To ensure that researchers provide relevant information when reporting results from experiments, we extended existing reporting guidelines accordingly.We performed an experiment to evaluate our model with regard to its effectiveness. Software managers who read an experiment report according to the proposed model judged the technology?s appropriateness significantly better than those reading a report about the same experiment that did not explicitly address their information needs. Our research shows that information regarding a technology, the context in which it is supposed to work, and most importantly, the impact of this technology on development costs and schedule as well as on product quality is crucial for decision makers.

Information needs of clinical teams: analysis of questions received by the Clinical Informatics Consult Service

Objectives: To examine the types of questions received by Clinical Informatics Consult Service (CICS) librarians from clinicians on rounds and to analyze the number of clearly differentiated viewpoints provided in response.

Information needs of rural health professionals: a review of the literature

This review analyzes the existing research on the information needs of rural health professionals and relates it to the broader information-needs literature to establish whether the information needs of rural health professionals differ from those of other health professionals. The analysis of these studies indicates that rural health practitioners appear to have the same basic needs for patient-care information as their urban counterparts, and that both groups rely on colleagues and personal libraries as their main sources of information. Rural practitioners, however, tend to make less use of journals and online databases and ask fewer clinical questions; a difference that correlates with geographic and demographic factors. Rural practitioners experience pronounced barriers to information access including lack of time, isolation, inadequate library access, lack of equipment, lack of skills, costs, and inadequate Internet infrastructure. Outreach efforts to this group of underserved health professionals must be sustained to achieve equity in information access and to change information-seeking behaviors.

Meeting the information needs of education policymakers.

"GFI 97-9504"--P. [4] of cover.

Joint congressional hearing on the changing information needs of rural America : the role of libraries and information technology : July 21, 1982.

Mode of access: Internet.

The downsides of downsizing: Communication processes and information needs in the aftermath of a workforce reduction strategy

This study explored the impact of downsizing on levels of uncertainty, coworker and management trust, and communicative effectiveness in a health care organization downsizing during a 2-year period from 660 staff to 350 staff members. Self-report data were obtained from employees who were staying (survivors), from employees were being laid off (victims), and from employees with and without managerial responsibilities. Results indicated that downsizing had a similar impact on the amount of trust that survivors and victims had for management. However, victims reported feeling lower levels of trust toward their colleagues compared with survivors. Contrary to expectations, survivors and victims reported similar perceptions of job and organizational uncertainty and similar levels of information received about changes. Employees with no management responsibilities and middle managers both reported lower scores than did senior managers on all aspects of information received. Implications for practice and the management of the communication process are discussed.