No abstract

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is chronic, incurable, and requires that affected patients cope with their condition on a constant basis. The purpose of this descriptive study was to predict the perceived health, functioning, and well-being among patients with IBD through the use and effectiveness of various coping methods. Forty-six patients with IBD completed the Jalowiec Coping Scale, the Health Status Questionnaire, and a demographic questionnaire. Results indicate that use of evasive, fatalistic, and emotive coping methods along with optimistic coping effectiveness were significantly inversely correlated with health perception and well-being. No coping effectiveness variables and only the use of evasive, fatalistic, and supportive coping methods were significantly inversely correlated with perceived functioning. Regression analysis indicated that 20% of the variance in health perception could be predicted from the use of emotive coping method. Fatalistic coping method use explained 24% of the variance in perceived functioning. Finally, 51% of the variability in perceived well-being could be predicted from the use of fatalistic coping method and the effectiveness of optimistic method. These findings indicate that emotion-focused coping methods are important predictors of the health, functioning, and well-being perceptions of patients with IBD.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a nurse-directed smoking cessation intervention for adults hospitalized in a small community hospital using a quasiexperimental, prospective, longitudinal design with biochemical validation of self-reported tobacco abstinence. Sixty-eight inpatients were assigned to either a control (n = 30) or an intervention group (n = 38). The control group received smoking cessation literature. The intervention group received smoking cessation literature and a nursing intervention. Each member of the intervention group was randomly assigned to a one or four telephone call subgroup for post discharge nurse follow-up at 3 months. Fifty-five participants completed the study. Smokers receiving the nurse-directed intervention were significantly more likely to be tobacco abstinent at 3 months (n = 17, 55%) than smokers in the control group (n = 5, 21%). Within the intervention group, tobacco abstinence at 3 months was not significantly different between the one and four telephone call groups. For the total sample, smoking relapse was significantly higher for participants who lived with another smoker.