Does Nursing Education in Turkey Affect the Attitudes Toward Ageing and Elderliness?

The aim of this study is to explore the attitudes of nurse students in Turkey, towards ageing and elderliness and to determine differences in terms of year of study. The study uses a comparative design with data collected from February to March 2020. A random sample of 306 nursing students was selected. A demographic data form and the Attitudes toward Ageing and Elderliness Scale (ATAES) were used to collect data. Of the students, 47.7% reported that they cared for older adults in their clinical practice and 53.6% confirmed that they had successfully completed the theoretical lessons on elderly care. Theoretical education (Hedge’s g = 0.23) and clinical practice (Hedge’s g = 0.34) on elderly care have minimal effects on the attitudes toward ageing and elderliness. Theoretical education and clinical practice as conducted currently in a university in Turkey, failed to improve attitudes toward ageing and elderliness. Keywords: ageing, elderliness, nursing, nursing education, nursing students

Relationship Between Home Caregivers and Caregivers Employed at Selected Institutions Providing Assistance to Seniors with Their Care Recipients Suffering from Dementia

Introduction: There are many difficulties connected with caring for an elderly person sufferring dementia. Symptoms such as aggression or apathy, as well as the progressive nature of the disorder, affect the attitude of both home and institutional caregivers towards the people for whom they care. An important element related to the provision of care is the relationship between a senior with dementia and those who provide the care (home and institutional caregivers). The aim of the article is to characterise and compare these relations. Material and methods: The study comprised 124 participants, 57 professional caregivers and 67 home carers. Two standardised questionnaires were used: the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire (NPI-Q) and the Quality of Carer-Patient Relationship - QCPR Questionnaire. Additionally, the respondents provided socio-demographic data. The study was conducted via electronic media in the first quarter of 2021. Results: It was found that there is a significant difference in the relationship between home and institutional caregivers, with their charges in the dimension of "warmth and attachment" (measured by QCPR). People providing professional care have significantly higher scores in this area. There was also a significant difference between scores in the 'no conflict and criticism' dimension (measured by QCPR) for home and professional caregivers. Institutional caregivers, in relation to their care recipients, have a higher level of this indicator than home caregivers. Conclusions: Relationships between seniors with dementia and institutional or home carers differ with regard to some issues. The differences in relationships with seniors suffering dementia may be due to the time spent caring for this person and the caregiver's response to symptoms of dementia.

Clinical profile of anterior uveitis in tertiary health centre of central India

To study the clinical profile of anterior uveitis in patients attending the Ophthalmology department of tertiary health centre of central India A cross-sectional, observational study was done in the department of Ophthalmology of tertiary health centre from January 2017 to July 2019. A total of 199 cases of anterior uveitis were studied to assess their clinical presentation and etiology. After thorough history taking, demographic data and clinical pattern were documented. Comprehensive ophthalmic evaluation, necessary laboratory investigations and radiological imaging were performed to establish the etiology. The maximum number (n=79; 39.7%) of patients were in the age group of 21-40 years and the mean age of the study subjects was 36.9+21.8 years. The male to female ratio was 1:1.42 (117 females, 82 males). Uniocular disease was found in 91.95% cases and majority (n=175; 87.93%) of the patients had acute presentation with 95.47% cases having non granulomatous uveitis. A specific diagnosis could not be made in 62.8% cases. Trauma (21.7%) was the most common cause in patients with a specific diagnosis. Persistent posterior synechiae was the most frequently seen complication (21.08%) although majority of the patients (66.8%) did not reveal any major complications.Patients with anterior uveitis most commonly had acute presentation. The disease was rarely bilateral and was mostly non-granulomatous in presentation. It was mostly idiopathic and among the known etiological factors, trauma was the most common cause.

Customer Churn in Retail E-Commerce Business: Spatial and Machine Learning Approach

This study is a comprehensive and modern approach to predict customer churn in the example of an e-commerce retail store operating in Brazil. Our approach consists of three stages in which we combine and use three different datasets: numerical data on orders, textual after-purchase reviews and socio-geo-demographic data from the census. At the pre-processing stage, we find topics from text reviews using Latent Dirichlet Allocation, Dirichlet Multinomial Mixture and Gibbs sampling. In the spatial analysis, we apply DBSCAN to get rural/urban locations and analyse neighbourhoods of customers located with zip codes. At the modelling stage, we apply machine learning extreme gradient boosting and logistic regression. The quality of models is verified with area-under-curve and lift metrics. Explainable artificial intelligence represented with a permutation-based variable importance and a partial dependence profile help to discover the determinants of churn. We show that customers’ propensity to churn depends on: (i) payment value for the first order, number of items bought and shipping cost; (ii) categories of the products bought; (iii) demographic environment of the customer; and (iv) customer location. At the same time, customers’ propensity to churn is not influenced by: (i) population density in the customer’s area and division into rural and urban areas; (ii) quantitative review of the first purchase; and (iii) qualitative review summarised as a topic.

A descriptive study to assess the knowledge regarding post COVID complications among adults in the state of Maharashtra

A non experimental survey study was conducted to assess the satisfaction of student nurses’ worked at Covid-19 areas during pandemic situation. 116 student nurses’ have participated in this study. The non-probability convenient sampling technique was used. Data was collected by means of Google form. The tool contain two sections, demographic data and likert scale to assess satisaction level of student nurses’. Objectives of study were to assess the student nurses’ satisfaction level related to clinical posting at covid-19 areas, and to find out the association of satisfaction level with selected demographic variables. The study reveals that out of 116 student nurses’ 28 (24.13%) of them were very satisfied with the clinical posting at covid- 19 areas, 53(45.68%) of them were satisfied, whereas 30 (25.86%) of them were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, and only 5 (4.31%) of them were dissatisfied. The study concludes most of the student nurses’ were satisfied with all the aspects but dissatisfaction was also noticed. 22(18.96%) of student nurses’ were dissatisfied with the administrative support at assigned hospital. In regard to availability of resources at the hospital and use of PPE kit during working hours 26 (22.41%) 0f student nurses’ reported as dissatisfied. 21(18.10%) of student nurses’ were dissatisfied with covid-19 screening carried out before and after clinical. Also in provision of facilities in quarantines period were reported as dissatisfied by 30(25.86%) of student nurses.

Level of Stress and Coping Strategies Seen Among Parents of Neonates Admitted in NICU

Aim To assess the level of stress and coping strategies in parents of neonates admitted in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at a tertiary care centre in North India. Materials and methods It was a descriptive/observational cross-sectional study of 3 year duration with a sample size of 224. All parents willing to participate and who could understand English or Hindi were included in the study after the informed consent. Stress levels and coping strategies were assessed using a validated questionnaire between 2nd to 7th day of admission. Demographic data was collected and parental stress and coping was quantified using likert scale. The data was analyzed using SPSS Version 20.0. Results Most of the parents were moderately stressed (93.3%). The most impactful stress domain was ‘Emotional’ and the most impactful question out of that domain was ‘constant fear of child’s recovery’. Of all the coping strategies, cognitive strategy was mostly used by parents. There was a negative correlation between stress and coping strategies (r = –0.09) but the result was statistically insignificant (p-value = 0.16). Of all the demographic variables, the birth order of the baby was significantly related to stress (p-value < 0.05), while parent’s education, monthly family income and area of residence were significantly related to coping (p-value < 0.05, <0.05 and <0.001, respectively). Conclusion Most of the parents were moderately stressed, with cognitive strategy being the most used by parents as the coping mechanism.

Elderly suicides in Denizli, Turkey: a retrospective study from 2011 to 2020

Background Although suicide rates and methods used may vary according to society, gender, and age there are epidemiological studies reporting that suicide rates increase with advanced age in all societies, particularly accelerating after the age of 65 years. This study aimed to investigate the demographic data and suicide characteristics—such as the location and method, among others—of the elderly suicide deaths among forensic deaths between 2011 and 2020 in Denizli, Turkey. Results It was determined that elderly suicides constituted 13.8% of all suicides and increased gradually over the years during the 10-year period. The vast majority of cases were male (82%). It has been observed that hanging is the most frequently used method. It is also noteworthy that although firearm suicide among men was the second most common method, women do not choose this method at all. The majority of elderly suicides (88.5%) in Denizli occurred in the home and its annexes. Conclusions Suicide prevention programmes should promote the elderly to benefit widely from social and health services. Therefore, there is a need to include widespread home care services and firearms regulations in prevention programmes.

Virtual user geography of library websites

The author generalizes the results of library user survey. The survey was held within the framework of the study “Webometric monitoring of libraries”. The study goal was to assess the virtual geography of library website users and to specify target audience. The user audience of 11 library websites was assessed by following criteria: geographical data (user location, probable user residence area); user demographic data (sex, age); loyalty indicators (bounce rate, visit depth, visit duration); website user desired actions (estimation of desired action conversion). Based on the findings, the author concludes that: library offline services impact website user geography; there is a close interdependence between library location and website traffic; users resident in the library region make the most loyal website users; women prevail in the library user audience. The target website user audience is identified; recommendations are offered for the further strategic development in the web-space. The study conclusions and recommendations would facilitate generated demanded content and efficient promotion of library information resources and services in the web-space.

Development and validation of the MMCD score to predict kidney replacement therapy in COVID-19 patients

Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is frequently associated with COVID–19 and the need for kidney replacement therapy (KRT) is considered an indicator of disease severity. This study aimed to develop a prognostic score for predicting the need for KRT in hospitalized COVID–19 patients. Methods: This study is part of the multicentre cohort, the Brazilian COVID–19 Registry. A total of 5,212 adult COVID–19 patients were included between March/2020 and September/2020. We evaluated four categories of predictor variables: (1) demographic data; (2) comorbidities and conditions at admission; (3) laboratory exams within 24 h; and (4) the need for mechanical ventilation at any time during hospitalization. Variable selection was performed using generalized additive models (GAM) and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression was used for score derivation. The accuracy was assessed using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUCROC). Risk groups were proposed based on predicted probabilities: non-high (up to 14.9%), high (15.0 to 49.9%), and very high risk (≥ 50.0%). Results: The median age of the model–derivation cohort was 59 (IQR 47–70) years, 54.5% were men, 34.3% required ICU admission, 20.9% evolved with AKI, 9.3% required KRT, and 15.1% died during hospitalization. The validation cohort had similar age, sex, ICU admission, AKI, required KRT distribution and in–hospital mortality. Thirty–two variables were tested and four important predictors of the need for KRT during hospitalization were identified using GAM: need for mechanical ventilation, male gender, higher creatinine at admission, and diabetes. The MMCD score had excellent discrimination in derivation (AUROC = 0.929; 95% CI 0.918–0.939) and validation (AUROC = 0.927; 95% CI 0.911–0.941) cohorts an good overall performance in both cohorts (Brier score: 0.057 and 0.056, respectively). The score is implemented in a freely available online risk calculator (https://www.mmcdscore.com/). Conclusion: The use of the MMCD score to predict the need for KRT may assist healthcare workers in identifying hospitalized COVID–19 patients who may require more intensive monitoring, and can be useful for resource allocation.

Determinants of Rural Women’s Nutrition Security Status in Northwest Ethiopia

Background: Nutrition security of women is one of the most vital foundations for overall development and wellbeing of society. Since understanding the factors that influence the nutrition security of women is very important for implementing appropriate interventions, this study was conducted to determine the determinants of the nutrition security status of rural women in Northwest Ethiopia. Methods: Survey data were collected from 197 rural women randomly selected using a two-stage sampling method (Cluster sampling in the first stage and Stratified random sampling in the second stage). Data in the two outcomes (nutritionally secured whose BMI ≥ 18.5, and nutritionally insecure whose BMI < 18.5 kg/m2) were analyzed using Binary Logit regression model to determine the significance of the determinants on women’s nutrition security status. Results: The study showed that 72.6% of the women in the study area were nutritionally insecure. Results of the statistical analysis revealed that family size (negative effect), and women’s daily feed frequency, the consumption of milk, fruits and vegetables, and animal products, and women empowerment (all positive effect) were the significant determinants of the nutrition security status of rural women. The weight, the height, and the BMI of nutritionally insecure women (44 kg, 1.45 m, and 15.8 kg/m2, respectively) were significantly lower than those of nutritionally secured women (50.8 kg, 1.55 m, and 21.1 kg/m2, respectively). Conclusions: This is the first study on the determinants of rural women’s nutrition security status using social and demographic data collected at the grass root level and analyzed using an advanced econometric model. The findings of the study show the need for government and other stakeholders’ interventions to increase access to nutritious food products and to provide trainings on feeding culture and dietary diversity to women. The findings of this study can help the Government of Ethiopia to achieve its National Development Priorities in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of UN, particularly Goals 2, 3 and 5.