Nursing Commons^™

Discriminative Nursing Care Practices Towards Patients With Opioid Use Disorder In The Hospital Setting: How Knowledge And Social Attitudes Impact Care Delivery, Jeanne Adam Bernier

Doctoral Dissertations

Discriminative nursing care (DNC) practices towards patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) is a current phenomenon negatively affecting patient care and patient outcomes. It leads to delays in care, insufficient pain control, and feelings of guilt and shame, and it is linked to self-isolation, social isolation, social rejection, and even unemployment and housing disruption which perpetuate a dangerous cycle of inequity that is hard to overcome. In some cases, OUD stigmatization even increases morbidity and mortality rates. OUD stigmatization and discrimination are real problems in today’s health care climate due to the vast number of people affected by OUD and …

Faith Influences On Health Of Rural Appalachian Older Adults In East Tennessee: An Ethnonursing Study, Karina Elizabeth Strange

Doctoral Dissertations

As the U.S. older adult population increases and diversifies, healthcare providers need innovative, cost-effective, and culturally congruent approaches to gerontological nursing care. Decades of multidisciplinary evidence demonstrate that spirituality enhances older adult holistic health. However, although research about spirituality and nursing has become more culturally diverse, little is known about spirituality-health linkages of rural Appalachian older adults (RAOAs). This knowledge gap is significant because Appalachia leads the country in mortality related to chronic comorbidities such as heart disease, cancer, and depression. Given age, poverty, limited transportation, and health provider shortage areas, RAOAs experience severe health disparities. Moreover, spirituality is an …

The Lived Experience Of Losing Employment After Diagnosis With Dementia: A Phenomenological Analysis, Susan K. Blaine

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was describing the experiences of people with dementia (PWD) who lose their employment after diagnosis with dementia, but sooner than originally planned. A phenomenological approach based on tenets of Maurice Merleau-Ponty was used. Six telephone interviews were conducted, with participants sharing their experiences. Transcripts were transcribed verbatim, and subsequently analyzed via a hermeneutical analysis approach. Themes were identified within and between transcripts, considering the contextual grounds of Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology: body, others, time, and world, and the contextual ground of participants’ experience: the stigma of dementia. An overarching, central theme of “still working” was identified across …

The Psychosocial Experiences Of African American Sexual And Gender Minority Caregivers Of People With Dementia, Lakeva Harris

Doctoral Dissertations

Over 50 million people in the United States provide unpaid care to a family member or friend. One-third of these caregivers (16 million) provide care to someone with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). Of these caregivers, more than 20% state caregiving has led to a decline in their health. African American caregivers are less likely to report being in very good or better health than their white caregiving peers. Similarly, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer (LGBTQ) caregivers are more likely to report fair or poor health than their heterosexual, cisgender peers. The overlap of these minoritized identities may …

Do Young Adults With Close Family Experiencing Alzheimer's Have Higher Depression Rates, Ali Sullivan

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Fall Risk Factors Among Hospitalized Older Adults With Alzheimer’S Disease And Related Dementias, Jean Bettencourtt Sconza

Doctoral Dissertations

Falls are a common and devastating complication of hospital admission for older adults. Falls are especially significant for those with Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias (ADRD) as they are at high risk to fall and to suffer injuries from falling. Despite the large body of research on falls in hospitals, less is known about fall risk factors among patients with ADRD. The purpose of this retrospective case-control study was to determine which risk factors are predictors of falls among hospitalized older adults with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) by comparing those who fell with those who did not fall. …

Testing A Musical Game Activity For Community-Dwelling Older Adults, Jordan Riggins, Susan Mclennon Phd Arnp

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

The Relationship Of Basic Conditioning Factors, Knowledge, Self-Care Agency, Self-Care Behavior, And Urinary Sodium Excretion Of Hypertensive Older Adults: Testing Orem’S Self-Care Theory, Pratsani Srikan

Doctoral Dissertations

Understanding the powerful factors of sodium reduction benefits older adults by leading to reduce many health risks, lower the health care cost and diminished economic and social burden. This study had two aims: 1) to explore to what degree four factors--selected basic conditioning factors, knowledge of sodium reduction, sodium reduction self-care agency, and sodium reduction self-care behavior predict urinary sodium excretion in hypertensive seniors, 2) to test whether these variables related to sodium reduction were congruent with Orem’s Self-Care Theory.

Based on this theory, internal and external conditioning factors were proposed as either positively or negatively influencing an individual’s knowledge …