Grooming and etiquette as part of nurse’s professionalism: An essential curricular competency

Objective: The B.Sc. Nursing has limited hours dedicated to grooming and personal development. A smartly turned out, trained empathetic and efficient nurse helps in alleviating the miseries of the patients. The objective of this study was to see the acceptability and perceived usefulness of a course on grooming and etiquette. Methods: A proforma based qualitative study was carried out at College of Nursing, AFPGMI & National University of Medical Sciences (NUMS), Rawalpindi, from Jan to Dec, 2017. An eight week course, with weekly lectures was conducted for first to fourth year classes. At the end a semistructured proforma with simple open ended questions was administered. The questions were both in English and Urdu. The results were analyzed by finding percentages of positive and negative responses. The descriptive responses were grouped in recurring themes and analyzed for content and their constructive value. Results: There were 186 nursing cadets who completed the course and filled the proforma (55, 52, 45 and 34 from first year to fourth year, respectively). Out of 186, 98.9% (184) thought that this was a useful course. All topics were considered useful. Most liked were communication skills, teaching visits to wards, hostels and balancing home and work. About 7% disagreed about the strict dress codes, but agreed with the proper demeanor. Many suggested that senior nurses also have a dire need of these grooming lectures as many used derogatory language. Also pointed out was absence of a mechanism to report a lapse in ethical conduct seen in a colleague or a senior. Conclusion: Nursing is a demanding profession. It is important that our training includes sensitization to the non-technical attributes. They have to be groomed to become role models for young talented girls to join this noble profession. Even a short course may help to sensitize these young ladies to a very important aspect of their lives and profession. How to cite this:Safdar SA, Aqeel L. Grooming and etiquette as part of nurse’s professionalism- An essential curricular competency. Pak J Med Sci. 2019;35(2):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.35.2.647 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Parenting Cultural Models of a Group of Mothers from Rio de Janeiro

Developmental contexts have been studied in terms of systems of beliefs and practices, treated as part of general cultural models. This paper aims to describe aspects of parenting cultural models of a group of 200 primiparous Brazilian mothers from Rio de Janeiro, who had children less than 44 months old. Mothers answered the Socialization Goals Interview (SGI), and an adapted version of an inventory of beliefs about practices of care, developed by M. Suizzo. Answers to the SGI were coded in five categories and their subcategories: Self-maximization (SM), Self-control (SC), Lovingness (L), Proper demeanor (PD) and Decency (D), and scores in each of them were calculated. A factor analysis indicated three dimensions of mothers' beliefs about practices: Awaking and exposing the child to diverse stimuli (Stimulation), ensuring the Proper presentation of the child and Responding to and bonding to the child. Data was further analyzed in terms of subcategories of SM and D and of the relation to the factors mothers' educational level and sex of their child. Results showed that mothers from Rio de Janeiro share a cultural model of autonomy for their children, but that they also believe in the importance of their relationship to others.

Brazilian mothers' socialization goals: Intracultural differences in seven Brazilian cities

The present study aimed to investigate Brazilian mothers' socialization goals. The participants in the study were 349 primiparous mothers, whose ages ranged from 17 to 47 years (mean = 26.6 years), who had children aged between 1 and 48 months (mean = 16.4 months). The families were living in seven different cities representing each of the five geographical regions of the country. A scale to evaluate the families' socio-economic status and an interview about socialization goals were used. The answers were coded in five categories defined in previous studies: self-maximization, self-control, lovingness, proper demeanor, and decency. Comparison of the means showed that Brazilian mothers gave more emphasis to self-maximization and proper demeanor than to the other categories, presenting a pattern that fosters the development of children's autonomous—relational selves. The intracultural variation found was related to the different cities studied. GLM results showed main effects of both city size and mothers' educational level on their socialization goals. These findings contribute to the understanding of characteristics of socialization goals related with autonomy and sociocentrism.

The Home Advantage in Collegiate Basketball

This study substantiates the notion of a home advantage for the sport of basketball. The findings indicate that home teams win 66% of their games and this advantage is as important for game outcomes as team quality. However, the advantage varies according to the quality of home and visiting teams. The paper provides a review of the Durkheimian perspective, which views the home team as a representative of the home collectivity that draws support from its fans. Additionally, the home advantage may be seen as an expression of Goffman, whereby the players are highly motivated to respond in a manner that will maintain their proper demeanor and self-esteem.