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Exploring Perceptions And Experiences With Resources Among Rural Alzheimer's Dementia Family Caregivers In The Midwest, Rita M. Million

Theses & Dissertations

Exploring PERCEPTIONS AND EXPERIENCES WITH RESOURCES AMONG RURAL Alzheimer’s Dementia Family Caregivers in the Midwest

Rita M. Million

University of Nebraska, 2017

Supervisor: Karen Schumacher, Ph.D., RN

Background. Despite vast amounts of research on informal caregiving in the Alzheimer’s dementia (AD) population, research on the experience and perceptions of rural caregivers is limited. A better understanding of rural caregivers’ knowledge, use, and nonuse of resources is essential to offset the impact of caregiving. Purpose. This study explored Alzheimer’s dementia family caregivers’ experiences and perceptions with resources in rural Midwest communities. Design. A descriptive qualitative approach with one-time semi-structured interviews was …

Self-Efficacy For Symptom Management In Adult Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Patients, Lynn White

Theses & Dissertations

Hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) is a treatment for hematologic cancers and other hematologic conditions that causes severe treatment-related symptoms. The first 30 days after HSCT, or the acute phase, is when symptoms are most intense. During this time, the ability of patients to manage their symptoms, in collaboration with their health care providers, is crucial to reduce the distress caused by the symptoms. Self-efficacy is the person’s confidence in their ability to perform a behavior, such as symptom management. This body of work describes the concept of self-efficacy for symptom management (SESM), presents an integrated literature review on self-efficacy …

Maternal Life Course Adversity: The Intersection Of Psychosocial And Biobehavioral Adaptive Response In Pregnancy, Crystal Modde Epstein

Theses & Dissertations

The link between life course adversity and adverse health outcomes is well established, particularly early life adversity (ELA). There is also evidence that the physiologic adaptations associated with stress, depression and ELA can be transmitted intergenerationally via long-term set-point changes within the maternal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA). It is unknown how the type and timing of maternal stress and adversity influences HPA regulation during pregnancy and whether maternal coping attenuates this relationship. Manuscript 1 was an integrative review of studies examining the association between maternal ELA and HPA regulation during pregnancy. In manuscripts 2 and 3 the findings of the dissertation …

Communicatively Constructing The Bright And Dark Sides Of Hope: Family Caregivers' Experiences During End Of Life Cancer Care, Jody Koenig Kellas, Katherine M. Castle, Alexis Johnson, Marlene Z. Cohen

Journal Articles: College of Nursing

(1) Background: The communication of hope is complicated, particularly for family caregivers in the context of cancer who struggle to maintain hope for themselves and their loved ones in the face of terminality. In order to understand these complexities, the current study examines the bright and dark sides of how hope is communicated across the cancer journey from the vantage point of bereaved family caregivers; (2) Methods: We analyzed interviews with bereaved family caregivers using qualitative thematic and case oriented strategies to identify patterns in the positive and negative lived experiences when communicating about hope at the end of life; …

Peer Intervention To Increase Physical Activity Among Working Women, Sheri A. Rowland

Theses & Dissertations

Most Americans do not engage in enough healthy physical activity (PA), with working women particularly at-risk for inactivity. Workplace PA interventions have been effective, however studies using peers as the central theoretical strategy, have not been found. Social cognitive theory and social comparison theory were used to develop a peer-modeling workplace PA intervention. The aims of this experimental, two-group, preliminary study were: 1) assess intervention feasibility, 2) determine the intervention effect on cardiorespiratory fitness (primary outcome), and PA behavior, cardiovascular risk, self-efficacy, motivation, and social comparison, and 3) describe participant perceptions of the intervention using qualitative focus-group data. Female employees …

Genetic Influence On Resilience To Potentially Traumatic Events, Kosuke Niitsu

Theses & Dissertations

Most individuals experience at least one potentially traumatic event (PTE), such as a natural disaster. When exposed to PTEs, some individuals are more vulnerable to develop psychopathology, such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In contrast, others are less adversely affected by PTEs, who are often described as “resilient”. A concept analysis of resilience (Manuscript #1) revealed: the antecedent is PTE; the defining attributes are ego-resiliency, emotion regulation, heredity, and social support; and the consequences are none to mild psychopathological symptoms and positive adaptation. Based on a systematic review of genetic influence on resilience (Manuscript #2), the following 10 polymorphisms were …