Limei Zhang

This study investigated the current status of palliative care needs among maintenance hemodialysis individuals and their correlation with spiritual well-being. In this cross-sectional study, 363 maintenance hemodialysis individuals at five hospital hemodialysis centers in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, were surveyed using the General Information Questionnaire, the Disease-Related Information Questionnaire, the Palliative Care Outcome Scale (POS), and the Assessment of Chronic Disease Therapeutic Function-Mental Health Scale (FACIT-Sp-12). While the FACIT-Sp-12 scale has certain limitations—particularly that its “peace” and “meaning” subscales predominantly reflect mental health rather than spiritual well-being, with only the “faith” subscale truly measuring spiritual well-being (thus requiring cautious interpretation)—it has demonstrated satisfactory reliability and validity in Chinese patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis. Hemodialysis individuals exhibited a moderate level of palliative care needs, and these needs were negatively correlated with their spiritual well-being. The dimensions of peace and faith in the FACIT-Sp-12 were part of the predictors of palliative care needs. Clinical healthcare professionals can enhance the spiritual well-being of individuals undergoing MHD by promoting inner peace and firm faith within them, reduce the need for palliative care, improve the quality of nursing services, and ultimately improve overall quality of life.

Aims: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between nurses’ perceived organizational support, work well‐being, and medical narrative ability.Background: With the proposed bio‐psycho‐social medical model, nurses’ medical narrative ability is closely related to patients’ health problems and quality of life. Nurses’ perceived organizational support and work well‐being can improve nurses’ empathy and reflection ability to a certain extent and promote patients’ rehabilitation. However, the relationship between nurses’ perceived organizational support, work well‐being, and medical narrative ability is unclear.Methods: A total of 1831 nurses from 8 hospitals in China were surveyed using an online questionnaire that included nurses’ sociodemographic, perceived organizational support, work well‐being, and medical narrative ability. IBM SPSS 27.0 was used for Pearson’s correlation analysis, one‐way ANOVA, t‐test, and mediation effect analysis using Model 4 in PROCESS (5000 resamples).Results: The total mean score of perceived organizational support (46.68 ± 11.00), work well‐being (53.09 ± 10.81), and medical narrative ability (154.48 ± 22.93) among nurses was found to be moderate. The relationship between perceived organizational support, work well‐being, and medical narrative ability was significant, with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.348 to 0.685 (p < 0.01). The relationship between perceived organizational support and medical narrative ability is partially mediated by work well‐being. The intermediate effect accounted for 52.36% of the total effect.Conclusion: This study found that nurses’ work well‐being mediated the relationship between perceived organizational support and medical narrative ability.Implications for Nursing Management: This study evaluated nurses’ medical narrative ability and explored the relationship between nurses’ perceived organizational support, work well‐being, and medical narrative ability. The results of this study can help nursing managers and educators to take appropriate measures to intervene nurses’ perceived organizational support and work well‐being, so as to improve nurses’ medical narrative ability and optimize nursing quality.

Aims. We aimed to investigate nursing students’ spiritual care competence, perceived professional benefit, and retention intention and to analyze the relationship among these variables. Background. Nurse shortages are a global issue, and intern nursing students’ willingness to remain in the nursing profession is important. Spiritual care can reduce patients’ depression and improve their quality of life. Implementing spiritual care can help individuals have satisfying experiences. Perceived professional benefit is a positive emotional experience that is important in retention intention. However, the relationship among spiritual care competence, perceived professional benefit, and retention intention remains unclear. Methods. In this cross-sectional and correlational study, convenience sampling was used to recruit 266 intern nursing students in 10 hospitals throughout China. An online questionnaire was used to assess their sociodemographic characteristics, spiritual care competence, perceived professional benefit, and retention intention. Statistical analyses included the t-test, analysis of variance, Pearson’s correlation analysis, and bootstrap analysis. Results. Intern nursing students’ mean scores were 103.35 ± 19.00 for spiritual care competence, 72.88 ± 10.40 for perceived professional benefit, and 19.58 ± 3.37 for retention intention. Spiritual care competence was positively correlated with perceived professional benefit (r = 0.545; ) and retention intention (r = 0.149; ). Perceived professional benefit was also positively correlated with retention intention (r = 0.320; ). Bootstrap analysis showed that perceived professional benefit completely mediates the relationship between spiritual care competence and retention intention. Conclusions. We found that nursing interns had a moderate level of retention intention, and perceived professional benefit was the mediating variable between spiritual care competence and retention intention. Implications. Our study results suggest that nursing administrators and educators should improve nursing interns’ spiritual care competence and perceived professional benefit to enhance their willingness to remain in the nursing profession and alleviate nurse shortages.

The purpose of this study was to investigate spirituality and attitudes toward death among rural and urban elderly. We asked 134 older adults from rural areas and 128 from urban areas to complete a self-administrated questionnaire including the Spiritual Self-assessment Scale and Death Attitude Scale. The fear and anxiety of death, escape acceptance, natural acceptance, approach acceptance, and death avoidance scores of older adults living in rural areas were higher than those living in urban areas. The construction of social infrastructure and medical care should be strengthened in rural areas so as to improve older adults’ attitudes toward death.

Purpose. This study aimed to investigate nurses’ perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care and perceived professional benefits in China and reveal the relationship between them. Design and Methods. In this study, 372 nurses (response rate: 93.47%) from a number of hospitals across China were surveyed using convenience sampling. The data were collected through online questionnaires, including a sociodemographic characteristics form, the Chinese version of the Spiritual Care‐Giving Scale (C‐SCGS), and the Nurses’ Perceived Professional Benefits Questionnaire (NPPBQ). Findings. The total score of the NPPBQ was 136.88 ± 20.13. A statistically significant relationship was found between the total score and subscale score of the C‐SCGS and the total score and subscale score of the NPPBQ (R = 0.217–0.475, P < 0.01). Practice Implications. Nursing managers and educators should pay attention to improving nurses’ perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care in order to help nurses gain more perceived professional benefits.

Background: Urination disorders are common in Parkinson's disease (PD) and respond poorly to medication. This study aimed to analyze the risk factors for urination disorders in PD. Methods: Ninety-one patients with PD (aged 34-83 years old) were recruited. Patients were assessed with the Unified PD Rating Scale (UPDRS), Hoehn and Yahr stage, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD), and Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA). Micturition number was recorded, and Type B ultrasound was used to evaluate residual urine. Statistics was performed using binary logistic regression, bivariate correlations, and Chi-square and t-tests. Results: Of 91 patients, urinary dysfunction occurred in 55.0%. Among these, 49.5% suffered with nocturia, 47.3% with pollakiuria. Nocturia number had a positive linear relationship with HAMA score (odds ratio [OR] = 0.340, P = 0.001), HAMD score (OR = 0.323, P = 0.002), duration of L-dopa medication (OR = 0.328, P = 0.001), dose of L-dopa (OR = 0.273, P = 0.009), UPDRS-II (OR = 0.402, P = 0.000), UPDRS-III score (OR = 0.291, P = 0.005), and PSQI score (OR = 0.249, P = 0.017). Micturition number over 24 h was positively associated with HAMA (OR = 0.303, P = 0.004) and UPDRS-II scores (OR = 0.306, P = 0.003). Of patients with residual urine, 79.3% had a volume of residual urine P = 0.002). Conclusions: Nocturia and pollakiuria were common micturition symptoms in our participants with PD. Nocturia was associated with depression, anxiety, sleep problems, and severity of PD. Pollakiuria was associated with anxiety and severity of PD. Male patients were more prone to residual urine and pollakiuria.

Introduction: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with a profound immunological dysfunction manifested by a severe shift from T-helper type 1 (Th1) to T-helper type 2 (Th2) response. This predisposes patients to infections, sepsis, and adverse outcomes. Probiotic bacteria have been shown to balance the Th1/Th2 cytokines in allergic murine models and patients. For the present study, we hypothesized that the enteral administration of probiotics would adjust the Th1/Th2 imbalance and improve clinical outcomes in TBI patients. Methods: We designed a prospective, randomized, single-blind study. Patients with severe TBI and Glasgow Coma Scale scores between 5 and 8 were included, resulting in 26 patients in the control group and 26 patients in the probiotic group. All patients received enteral nutrition via a nasogastric tube within 24 to 48 hours following admission. In addition, the probiotic group received 10⁹ bacteria of viable probiotics per day for 21 days. The associated serum levels of Th1/Th2 cytokines, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scores, nosocomial infections, length of ICU stay, and 28-day mortality rate were studied. Results: The patients responded to viable probiotics, and showed a significantly higher increase in serum IL-12p70 and IFNγ levels while also experiencing a dramatic decrease in IL-4 and IL-10 concentrations. APACHE II and SOFA scores were not significantly affected by probiotic treatment. Patients in the probiotic group experienced a decreased incidence of nosocomial infections towards the end of the study. Shorter ICU stays were also observed among patients treated with probiotic therapy. However, the 28-day mortality rate was unaffected. Conclusions: The present study showed that daily prophylactic administration of probiotics could attenuate the deviated Th1/Th2 response induced by severe TBI, and could result in a decreased nosocomial infection rate, especially in the late period. Trial registration: ChiCTR-TRC-10000835.