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Biomedical subjects

R Gallop

Publications and source records attributed to R Gallop.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1996

Psychiatric nurses' attitudes toward sexuality, sexual assault/rape, and incest.

This descriptive, exploratory study examined psychiatric nurses' attitudes towards sexuality, sexual assault/rape, and incest, and explored the relationships between these attitudes and the personal characteristics of the nurse. Contrary to previous research on nurses in nonpsychiatric settings, the nurses in this Canadian study had favorable attitudes towards sexuality and did not subscribe to attitudes of victim blaming in sexual assault/rape and incest. The strongest predictor of attitudes was age of the nurse (p < .02); cultural/ethnic background may also be associated with attitudes (p < .02). The results indicate a need to develop more precise measures of attitude for psychiatric nurses.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

A 'domains of practice' approach to the standards of psychiatric and mental health nursing.

Standards have considerable influence on the practice of a discipline. As the written and explicit expectations of nurses held by their professional group, nursing practice standards serve as a basis for performance evaluation and as a clarification of the areas of nurses' accountability. Delineated here are the issues that the Canadian Federation of Mental Health Nurses faced as they attempted to identify and describe the nursing behaviours essential to this specialty area. A rationale for the 'domains of practice' approach is provided. The problems inherent in creating such a national document are addressed. Seven practice domains are described; the standards for two domains, the 'Helping' and the 'Effective Management of Rapidly Changing Situations', are outlined in detail.

Canada↗
PubMed1995

The impact of childhood sexual abuse on the psychological well-being and practice of nurses.

This study compares the psychological well-being of nurses who were sexually abused as children with those who were not abused and considers the impact of this abuse on aspects of their clinical practice. On the psychological measures, abused nurses differed from the nonabused nurses by having significantly higher distress scores and lower self-esteem scores. For some nurses, the abuse influenced their private and professional relationships including personal sexual relationships and working with other health professionals. These results highlight the need for the educational and health care systems to consider the needs of health care professionals who may have been abused.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1995

Inquiring about childhood sexual abuse as part of the nursing history: opinions of abused and nonabused nurses.

This article explores the opinions of nurses who were sexually abused as children and those who were not, concerning routine inquiry about a history of sexual abuse. Approximately 60% of the participants indicated that routine inquiry should be conducted in pediatric and psychiatric settings. Reasons put forward for not inquiring included concerns about being intrusive, feeling unqualified to deal with content if abuse had occurred, and fear of increasing the distress of clients. Participants believed nurses needed education in this area if they were to be effective. Reasons why this topic involving sexuality and violence may be difficult for nurses are considered.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1995

The relationship between nurses' limit-setting styles and anger in psychiatric inpatients.

OBJECTIVE: Violence by patients in psychiatric settings is frequently associated with the quality of staff-patient interactions. Impulsivity has been identified as a high risk factor for anger and aggression. This study was designed to test the influence of nurses' limit-setting styles on anger among psychiatric inpatients grouped by high or low levels of impulsivity. METHODS: Ninety-seven patients with various diagnoses and either high or low levels of impulsivity participated in role-play scenarios in which nurse actors played out six limit-setting styles, ranging from belittlement to explanations of rules to empathy linked with a presentation of an alternative course of action. Patients' level of anger in response to the acted scenario was assessed using the Spielberger State-Trait Anger Scale. RESULTS: Patients' level of anger was highest in response to unempathic limit-setting styles, moderate for explanations, and lowest for empathic styles. Impulsive subjects were more likely to respond with anger than nonimpulsive patients, regardless of the limit-setting style. CONCLUSIONS: Although many current intervention programs focus on reducing patients' anger after it occurs, the study results suggest that it may be possible to prevent some of patients' anger by improving nurses' limit-setting styles.

Acting Out↗
PubMed1995

Factors contributing to nurses' difficulty in treating patients in short-stay psychiatric settings.

Difficulties experienced by nurses in treating a total of 249 patients in four short-stay psychiatric units were examined using a rating scale that assessed such factors as overall extent of treatment difficulty, patients' problem behaviors, adequacy of treatment resources, and staff members' affective responses. Data from each site were analyzed separately using stepwise hierarchical regression. The findings indicated that patient problem behaviors and treatment resources were comparable between settings. Except for patient violence, none of the problems were consistently related to overall treatment difficulty across settings. The results suggest that treatment difficulty is related to the unique combination of patient characteristics, resource deficits, and treatment philosophies in particular treatment settings and that efforts to reduce treatment difficulty should address setting-specific issues.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1994

Therapeutic alliance on an inpatient unit for eating disorders.

The therapeutic alliance as measured by the Working Alliance Inventory was examined on an inpatient unit for eating disorders. Unit staff and patients (n = 33) admitted within a 2-year period completed the rating scales at 3 weeks after admission and again at 8 weeks. Patients who remained in the program (n = 21) perceived the therapeutic alliance with staff to be significantly stronger than patients who left the program (n = 10). The perception of the alliance strengthened over time for patients while staff perceptions did not. Little correlation was observed between staff and patient perceptions of the alliance. The findings suggest that patient perception of the alliance may be a critical factor in the decision to remain in the treatment program. It is argued that helping a patient feel involved in a structured program presents a particular challenge to staff.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

The ethic of care: a comparison of nursing and medical students.

The purpose of this research was to examine whether "caring" uniquely reflects the moral orientation of nursing students. Gilligan's theory of moral development and Kolhberg's theory of moral development structured this study of 119 nursing and medical students who described a real-life moral dilemma and responded to a hypothetical clinical moral dilemma. The findings suggest that nursing students use care more than justice considerations, but their moral orientation could best be described as mixed. Differences were found between nursing and medical students, but these differences appeared to be related to gender, not professional role. Therefore, it was concluded that a caring moral orientation is not unique to nursing.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Nurses' confirming/disconfirming responses to patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.

This study examines whether in group situations, patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) received less empathic verbal responses from nurses than non-BPD patients. Nurses' feelings toward specific diagnoses were also examined. Twenty patient groups were observed involving 17 nurse leaders and 164 patients. Responses by the nurse leaders were rated using Heineken's Confirmation/Disconfirmation Rating Instrument. The staff response portion of Colson's Hospital Treatment Rating Scale was used to determine nurses's feelings toward specific diagnoses. The study provides some initial evidence that in actual practice situations nurses respond to BPD patients in a less empathic manner than to patients with other diagnoses.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1993

Residents' and nurses' perceptions of difficult-to-treat short-stay patients.

OBJECTIVE: Characteristics attributed by nurses and by psychiatric residents to difficult-to-treat inpatients in a short-stay setting were compared to determine whether discipline-specific perceptions of such patients existed. METHODS: A total of 117 patients consecutively admitted to a short-stay inpatient unit were assessed by both psychiatric residents and nurses during the third week of hospitalization using subscales of the Hospital Treatment Rating Scales. The degree of management difficulty presented by each patient in 28 areas was rated, and an overall rating was calculated. Two separate regression analyses were used to examine characteristics of patients rated difficult. RESULTS: Self-harm behaviors, violence toward others, and behaviors that sabotage treatment were identified by both nurses and residents as characteristics of difficult patients, although these characteristics contributed less to residents' perceptions of patient difficulty than to nurses'. For nurses, the most important additional characteristics contributing to treatment difficulty were related to patients' inability to form a therapeutic alliance. For residents, by far the most significant contributor to overall treatment difficulty was lack of response to medication. CONCLUSIONS: The discipline-specific differences in perceptions of difficult-to-treat patients were associated with differences in professional roles. Communication problems between physicians and nurses may be due in part to their different perceptions of treatment and management difficulty.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Self-destructive and impulsive behavior in the patient with a borderline personality disorder: rethinking hospital treatment and management.

This article reconsiders current approaches to the inpatient treatment and management of the patient with a borderline personality disorder. It is suggested that current approaches tend to be reactive rather than proactive. An alternative model based on a behavioral therapy program for chronic parasuicidal borderline women, is suggested. The approach reframes self-destructive behavior as a habitual response to overwhelming affect. By targeting core problems such as self-destructive and impulsive behaviors, nurses can help patients begin to consider alternative behavioral responses to intense stress.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1992

The conceptualization of impulsivity for psychiatric nursing practice.

This article conceptualizes impulsivity from the perspective of psychiatric nurses in the inpatient setting. A theoretical model of the nature and the process of impulsivity is developed phenomenologically from information obtained from psychiatric nurses and patient chart reviews. The impulsive event is characterized by three elements: (1) precipitants of the behavior, (2) characteristics of the impulsive event, and (3) staff response. The expression of these elements differentiates impulsivity according to patient domains of psychotic and nonpsychotic illnesses. The emerging differentiation provides the opportunity to develop distinct nursing interventions that target the impulsivity within each of these domains.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1991

Nurses and AIDS.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1990

The empathic process and its mediators. A heuristic model.

Clinical empathy research has been plagued with conceptual and methodological difficulties. This paper describes a model of the empathic process that enables clinicians, teachers, and researchers to examine specific components of the model and to determine the influence of particular mediators on the empathic process. Empathy is conceptualized as a three-phase time-sequenced process rather than as a multidimensional or multicomponent phenomenon. Stripped of detail, the empathic process reveals an inducement phase, a matching phase, and a participatory-helping phase. By examining these phases, it becomes possible to distinguish empathy from closely related concepts such as sympathy. Each of the phases reveals numerous mediating variables that influence the outcome of the phase, i.e., whether the process of empathy continues or an alternate terminal point is reached. Many of these mediators are derived from existing conceptual and empirical work on empathy. Particular attention is paid to situational or contextual mediators of empathy. Contextual mediators have only recently been acknowledged as an important variable in the empathic process. For clinicians, identification of contextual variables that may be responsive to intervention is a critical step in the modification of the clinical environment. We would suggest that clinical empathy research is largely the study of these mediating influences and should be recognized as such.

Countertransference↗
PubMed1989

How nursing staff respond to the label "borderline personality disorder".

The influence of the diagnostic labels "schizophrenia" and "borderline personality disorder" on the expressed empathy of psychiatric nursing staff was assessed by examining nurses' written responses to a series of hypothetical patient statements. Respondents were more likely to demonstrate affective involvement in response to the schizophrenic patients' statements and were more likely to offer belittling or contradicting responses to the statements of patients with borderline personality disorder. The results corroborate increasing concerns that the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder has become a pejorative label for difficult patients and suggest that staff may provide stereotypic responses and less empathic care to borderline patients than to other patients.

Adult↗