Thalassemia Major and Associated Psychosocial Problems: A Narrative Review

Thalassemia is an inherited disease that causes the production of damaged hemoglobin chains. Patients are diagnosed with thalassemia major due to major clinical signs and deep anemia. This study aimed to examine the major thalassemia and psychosocial aspect of it, which is such an important issue, to serve as a roadmap for better handling these patients and to contribute to the literature. The method used in this study was narrative review. A literature review was conducted by searching the materials published in databases including Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar search engine from 2001 to 2020. Besides WHO website was searched. Thalassemia major damages the heart, liver, lungs and endocrine organs due to anemia and iron accumulation. In addition, the patient may experience mental and social problems due to the congenital nature of the disease and its lifelong duration. The psychosocial problems and treatment burdens of thalassemia patients are very high. There are many studies about the prevalence and physical consequences of thalassemia. However, there are not enough articles and researches describing the psychosocial effects of thalassemia on patients and what can be done about these effects. For this reason, this paper focuses on the process of thalassemia and the psychosocial problems it creates to contribute to the literature and to be a roadmap for better handling these patients.

Correlates of help-seeking by parents for the socioemotional development of their 3-year-old children: a longitudinal study

ObjectivesTimely parental help-seeking regarding their child’s socioemotional development is associated with a lower rate and lower severity of psychosocial problems in later life. This study aimed to examine the correlates of parental help-seeking for the socio-emotional development of 3-year-old children.DesignRetrospective cohort study.SettingCommunity-based survey in Rotterdam.ParticipantsOf 2305 parents and their 2-year-old children at baseline, 1507 who completed follow-up questionnaires were included in the analyses when children were 3 years old.Outcome measuresParental help-seeking regarding their child’s socioemotional development and types of formal and informal help sources (eg, general practitioner, internet) used in the past 12 months were measured. Hierarchical logistic regression models were applied to identify factors correlates of parental help-seeking among 13 predisposing, enabling and need factors according to Andersen’s behavioural model.ResultsIn total, 22.6% of parents reported help-seeking in the past 12 months for socioemotional development of their 3-year-old child; 6.8% addressed formal help sources and 17.5% addressed informal help sources. General practitioner (2.7%) and family (12.5%) were the most frequently used formal and informal sources, respectively. In the full model, predisposing factors associated with higher odds of parental help-seeking were child’s other western ethnic background (OR=1.66, 95% CI 1.02 to 2.68) and parental age ≤29 years old (OR=1.71, 95% CI 1.01 to 2.92). No associated factors were found among enabling factors. The need factors associated with higher odds of parental help-seeking were having previous help-seeking (OR=2.52, 95% CI 1.83 to 3.48) and discussing child’s socioemotional development in the well-child visit (OR=2.47, 95% CI 1.73 to 3.53).ConclusionsPredisposing and need factors were associated with parental help-seeking for socioemotional development of 3-year-old children. The findings can be used to further develop support for parents accessing adequate information, prevention and anticipatory care with regards to the child’s socio-emotional development.

Psychoeducation Strategy: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) To Improve Self-Efficacy of Stroke Patients

Background: Stroke is the most common cerebrovascular event. Stroke patients often have biological, spiritual, and psychosocial changes. Psychosocial problems experienced in stroke patients include problems with self-efficacy. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is commonly used to solve psychosocial problems. Objective: This study aims to determine the effect of ACT on the self-efficacy of stroke patients. Methods: This study utilized quantitative and quasi-experimental designs without a control group. The study was conducted in a selected hospital rehabilitation unit in Yogyakarta. The respondents were selected via the purposive sampling technique. The self-efficacy was assessed using The Strategies Used by Patients to Promote Health (SUPPH) questionnaires and statistically tested with the Wilcoxon test. The total number of respondents of this study was 33 stroke patients. The characteristic of respondents was mostly 45 – 64 years old (72.73% ), male (57.6%) and, had a history of stroke for 1 – 6 months (39 %). Result: Wilcoxon test results showed a computed p-value of 0.000 on the effect of ACT on stroke patients’ self-efficacy; thus, the null hypothesis was rejected. In other words, ACT proves its effectiveness in improving stroke patients’ self-efficacy. Conclusion: Based on the data, this research can be concluded that ACT effectively improved the self-efficacy of stroke patients. The researchers recommend utilizing ACT as a nursing intervention for stroke patients in the hospital rehabilitation unit.

Plasma Radiofrequency Ablation for Scar Treatment

Scars are a common disfiguring sequela of various events such as acne, hidradenitis suppurativa, surgery, trauma, and burns, which can lead to serious psychosocial problems with a negative effect on the quality of life. Many conventional approaches have been proposed for the treatment of scars, including surgical techniques, dermabrasion, chemical peels, topical silicone gel, 5-fluorouracile and dermal fillers injection or autologous fat transfer for atrophic scars, and corticosteroids injection for hypertrophic and keloid scars; however, they have sporadic effects. Ablative lasers, such as carbon dioxide laser or Erbium Yag laser, are associated with many collateral effects limiting their application. Non-ablative laser treatments have been shown to be safer and to have fewer side effects, but they have a reduction of clinical efficacy compared to ablative lasers and a minimal improvement of scars. The demand for minimal invasive and safe technology for the treatment of a scars has stimulated the search for more effective novel therapy with fewer collateral effects. Plasma radiofrequency ablation is a new technique consisting of the generation of plasma energy through the production of ionized energy, which thermally heats tissue in a uniform and controlled manner, through a plasma radiofrequency device, inducing a sublimation of the tissue. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of P-RF ablation in the treatment of scars performed with D.A.S. Medical device (Technolux, Italia), which is a tool working with the long-wave plasma radiofrequency principle.

Pengalaman Orang Tua dalam Merawat Anak Berkebutuhan Khusus : Literature Review

Introduction: The presence of a child in the family is certainly very encouraging for parents. However, it is different from parents who have children with special needs. Children with special needs need different treatment from other children. This of course raises different experiences for each parent in their care. Objective: This study was to determine the psychosocial experience of parents in caring for children with special needs. Method: The method used in this paper is a literature review. With library sources, namely journal articles published in the 2020-2021 period which are full text. Search for journal articles using the Google Schoolar database with the keyword experience; parent; nurse; the child with special needs. Results: This study found 1,500 journal articles which the researchers then took according to the specified criteria, obtained as many as 10 articles. 10 articles reviewed by researchers found 3 journal articles on experiences of parents who can accept the condition of children with special needs and 7 articles found experiences of parents who have psychosocial problems in caring for children with special needs. Conclusion: This literature review found that the experience of parents in caring for children with special needs is divided into two where there are parents who can accept their child's condition sincerely and parents who experience psychosocial problems in the care of children with special needs such as stress, inferiority, shock, rejection, etc. How parents respond to their children with special needs is influenced by many factors such as age, environment, knowledge, etc.

THE RELATION BETWEEN THE CYCLE OF ADMINISTRATION OF CHEMOTHERAPY TO PSYCHOSOCIAL PROBLEMS IN BREAST CANCER PATIENTS

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common malignant neoplasm that affects women. One of the treatments for breast cancer is chemotherapy which is carried out according to a particular schedule with a specified length of therapy to increase the patient's recovery rate. In addition to the physiological effects, chemotherapy also has a psychological impact on the patient. Fulfillment of psychosocial needs is important to improve the quality of life of patients caused by changes in physical, social, cognitive, spiritual, emotional and role functions. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the cycle of chemoteraphy with psychosocial problems in breast cancer patients. Method: This study is a quantitative correlational study using 54 breast cancer patients as samples by purposive sampling. Data collection was carried out during April 2020 to June 2020 in the chemotherapy room at Koja Hospital, North Jakarta. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS 21) questionnaire was used to identify psychosocial problems in breast cancer patients. Statistical analysis of the Spearman rank test was carried out to analyze the relationship between chemotherapy cycles and psychosocial problems. Results: The results showed that there was a relationship between chemotherapy cycles and psychosocial problems (p value 0.001) although it showed a weak relationship between those two variables (r 0.257). Psychosocial problems identified included anxiety (53%), depression (9.3%), low self-esteem (16.7%) and stress (20.4%). Conclusion: Nurses need to provide comprehensive nursing care for patients undergoing chemotherapy including identifying problems related to physical complaints and psychosocial needs so that nursing interventions can be given comprehensively to breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.