No abstract

Background: The early developmental interventions might be designed with a preventative approach to improving the development of at-risk preterm infants. The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an early physiotherapy intervention on preterm infants’ motor and global development, and on parents’ stress index. Methods: 48 infants were enrolled and randomized into two groups. Infants allocated to the intervention group received an early physiotherapy intervention, based on parental education sessions and tactile and kinesthetic stimulation during the NICU period, as well as a home-based activity program. The intervention commenced after 32 weeks post-menstrual age and ended at 2 months corrected age. Infants allocated to the control group received the usual care based on the NIDCAP-care. Results: No differences were found between groups on the Alberta Infant Motor Scale at 2- or 8-months corrected age. Infants in the intervention group showed more optimal fine motor, problem-solving, personal-social, and communication development at 1 month corrected age. Conclusions: The results showed no effect on the early physiotherapy intervention. Results might be related to the dose or intensity of the intervention, but also to the poor parental compliance. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03313427.

Aim: This study aims to describe the hiring of nurses in Catalonia and the rest of Spain over 10 years.Background: Precarious employment (PE) has negative consequences for nurses' quality of life and work performance.Methods: Quantitative study using a retrospective, longitudinal, descriptive design.We analysed publicly available employment data from Catalonia and the rest of Spain. Results: Nurses are among the health professionals with the lowest proportion of open-term (permanent) contracts, 25% during the first 4 years of employment. During the study period, each nurse hired had an average of 3.44 contracts per year. The proportion of nurses with a fixed-term (non-permanent) contract shrank from 25.3% in 2006 to 20.5% in 2012 and grew rapidly to 38.7% in 2018. We estimate that 14,800 nurses signed fixed-term contracts in 2018 without ever having registered as unemployed in nursing. Conclusion: High rates of fixed-term hiring and the high number of contracts per nurse are evidence of a high level of PE for nurses in Catalonia. Implications for Nursing Management: When policymakers and workforce planners design recruitment and retention programmes for nurses, they should consider improving working conditions by extending more open-term contracts to combat PE and, indirectly, the shortage of nurses.

No abstract

Introduction: Population aging is one of the main issues in public health within developed countries. Informal caregivers play a central role in this scenario, which can affect them negatively. Objective: The aim of this study is to identify the needs of informal caregivers related to the care of dependent persons of a Basic Health Area.Method: Qualitative and phenomenological study. Four informal caregivers in charge of non-institutionalized patients took part. These patients expressed their opinions in a semi-structured interview, that was deductively analyzed afterwards.Results: The analysis showed three key subjects: the effects of caregiving (how this task negatively affects the global health of the caregivers); difficulties related to care (related to the process of adaptation once at home, prevention of wounds, accidents and mobility issues), and caregiving learning strategies (by deductive reasoning, observation and formation).Conclusions: Caregiving has a negative effect on the caregivers’ global health. They show some difficulties in the execution of their tasks, and they declare that they are using various caregiving learning methods. Interventions directed at informal caregivers should include aspects related to health improvement and caregiving training. Introducción: El envejecimiento de la población es uno de los principales retos de la salud pública en los países desarrollados. Los cuidadores informales emergen como uno de los principales actores en este escenario, y esto puede afectarlos de forma negativa.Objetivo: El presente estudio tiene como objetivo identificar las necesidades de los cuidadores informales relacionadas con el cuidado de una persona dependiente de una zona básica de salud.Método: Estudio cualitativo y fenomenológico. Participaron en él cuatro cuidadores informales de pacientes no institucionalizados, a quienes se le realizó una entrevista semiestructurada. Posteriormente se realizó un análisis deductivo del discurso.Resultados: El análisis mostró tres temas clave: efecto del cuidar (cuidar tiene efectos negativos en la salud global de los cuidadores), dificultades relacionadas con el cuidado (relacionadas con las adaptaciones en el domicilio, la prevención de heridas, accidentes y movilizaciones) y estrategias de aprendizaje del cuidar (por lógica, observación y formación)Conclusiones: Cuidar tiene un efecto negativo sobre la salud global de los cuidadores. Estos presentan dificultades a la hora de cuidar, y manifiestan utilizar diferentes metodologías para el aprendizaje de los cuidados. Las intervenciones dirigidas a los cuidadores informales deberían incluir aspectos relacionados con la mejoría de su salud y su formación en cuidados.