The present study was conducted to examine whether a sexual rehabilitation intervention program, which was developed during the present study and designed for stroke patients and their spouses, was effective in terms of sexual knowledge and satisfaction and frequency of sexual activity at 1 month after intervention. The study subjects were conveniently selected from stroke patients admitted to the neurology department at a university hospital located in Incheon, South Korea. A total of 46 subjects (12 couples for the experimental group and 11 couples for the control group) were included. Sexual knowledge, sexual satisfaction, frequency of sexual activity, level of cognitive function, and performance with respect to daily living activities were measured. The results obtained demonstrated that the devised sexual rehabilitation intervention program significantly increased sexual satisfaction and frequency of sexual activity, but that it did not promote sexual knowledge. The present study has meaning because the intervention program could be used as a practical guideline for post-stroke sexual rehabilitation. In addition, the findings of this study provide evidence regarding the usefulness of sexual education and counseling on the sexual health of post-stroke patients and their spouses.

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The purpose of this study was to examine whether positive changes in consciousness level after applying a sensory stimulation programme exceed natural recovery. A single experimental group interrupted time series design was used. Subjects were brain-injured patients who were hospitalized at a university hospital in South Korea. The sensory stimulation programme was composed of auditory, visual, olfactory, gustatory, tactile and physical stimulation. Levels of consciousness were evaluated using the Glasgow Coma Scale. The intervention was carried out twice, first for 4 weeks, then a recession period was allowed for 4 weeks, and immediately after this the second intervention was implemented for 4 weeks. Results showed significant alterations in consciousness levels 2 weeks after starting intervention 1. This effect increased gradually and was maintained for 3-4 weeks. However, consciousness levels began to decrease 2 weeks after terminating intervention 1 and this decrement continued until starting intervention 2. The pattern of improvement of intervention 1 could be represented as a gradual onset and temporary duration model. At the beginning of intervention 2, consciousness levels were maintained at a low level. However, they began to increase again after 2 weeks and this increment continued even after terminating intervention 2. Therefore, the effect of intervention 2 could be represented as a gradual onset and permanent duration model. These results suggest that an intervention programme should be applied for more than 1 month to achieve a permanent effect on consciousness levels and that at least 2 weeks are required for any significant effect.

The purpose of this study was to clarify the effects of interventions that were applied to prevent endotracheal suction-induced hypoxia by meta-analysis. To obtain a sample for this meta-analysis, a computerized search was performed through MEDLINE in addition to tracking down additional references cited in bibliographies of past reports. Finally thirty research reports were examined. In terms of the application time of oxygenation, insufflation and preoxygenation were the most prevalently used in the studies. Regarding the methods of oxygenation, the most prevalent technique for oxygenation was hyperoxygenation in combination with hyperinflation. Hyperoxygenation and hyperinflation were most frequently induced by FiO2 of 1 and a 150% tidal volume of three to six breaths, respectively. Suctioning was commonly sustained for <15 seconds using pressures of -80 to -120 mmHg and with size 14 French catheters. Insufflation was less effective than the other methods examined in the present study. From this study, it can be concluded that the interventions that were applied to prevent endotracheal suction-induced hypoxia, regardless of their application times or methods, reduced suction-induced hypoxia significantly.

A comprehensive understanding of symptom clusters in cancer patients would help establish valid diagnostic symptom cluster entities and aid the development of subjective/objective phenotypic criteria for symptom cluster based diagnoses and of nursing care protocols for managing symptom clusters.