Off the Charts

The Dangers of Loneliness: Findings from a Study among Appalachian Elders

By Sylvia Foley, AJN senior editor

Arrow and mountains by taberandrew, via Flickr

Writing for AJN in 1955, Hildegard Peplau described the complexities of loneliness, observing that “often loneliness is not felt; instead the person has a feeling of unexplained dread, of desperation, or extreme restlessness.” Fast-forward to 2009: nurse researchers Laurie Theeke and Jennifer Mallow wanted to better understand the health implications of loneliness, and decided to conduct a study. This month’s original research CE, “Loneliness and Quality of Life in Chronically Ill Rural Older Adults,” reports on a data analysis of their findings.

One of the most striking findings was that 97% of the sample reported significant loneliness, an extremely high prevalence rate. Here’s a quick overview of the study:

Background: Loneliness is a contributing factor to various health problems in older adults, including complex chronic illness, functional decline, and increased risk of mortality.

Objectives: A pilot study was conducted to learn more about the prevalence of loneliness in rural older adults with chronic illness and how it affects their quality of life. The purposes of the data analysis reported here were twofold: to describe loneliness, chronic illness diagnoses, chronic illness control measures, prescription medication use, […]

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Guest Author2017-07-27T14:50:14-04:00September 4th, 2013|nursing research|2 Comments

AJN’s September Issue: Care of Incarcerated Pregnant Women, Gun Violence, Pressure Ulcer Guidelines, More

AJN‘’s September issue is now available on our Web site. Here’s a selection of what not to miss.

Loneliness may be linked to multiple chronic illnesses, decline in positive health practices, and increased risk of death, as described in this month’s original research article, “Loneliness and Quality of Life in Chronically Ill Rural Older Adults.” Data from the pilot study described in the article suggest that nurses’ assessment and management of loneliness in this population is vital. You can earn 2.5 CE credits with this article. If you’re reading AJN on your iPad, you can listen to a podcast interview with the author by clicking on the podcast icon on the first page of the article. The podcast is also available on our Web site.

In 2004, only 54% of incarcerated pregnant women received some type of pregnancy care, and the quality of that care varied widely. Pregnant women in prisons face other risks, such as poor nutrition and heavy workloads, and often are required to be shackled during labor, despite laws to the contrary. These practices, as well as implications for nursing practice, policy, and research, are discussed in this month’s CE feature, “Care of Pregnant Women in the Criminal Justice System.” Earn 2.5 CE credits by reading this article and taking the test […]

Amy M. Collins, managing editor2016-11-21T13:06:41-05:00September 3rd, 2013|Nursing|0 Comments

Preventing Violence Against Nurses

When I graduated from nursing school, my first job was as an ED nurse at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. We’re talking about the 1970s, when drugs were plentiful and plenty of young people used them, especially hallucinogenic drugs like LSD and mescaline. Many times these patients were violent because of “bad trips” or because as the drugs wore off, they “crashed.” Sometimes these patients were accompanied by friends who were just as stoned as they were. I often experienced situations in which patients or visitors became disruptive and sometimes violent, usually because they didn’t understand what was happening to them or because they were scared and paranoid. We had no strategy or guidelines for proceeding—it was pretty much trial and error. Sometimes reasoning worked, but often it didn’t, and then we called security.

Dan Hartley.

Violence in the ED and hospital setting hasn’t gone away. In fact, I just learned from Dan Hartley, an epidemiologist with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), that according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, between 2003 and 2010 the health care and social assistance industry […]

Shawn Kennedy, MA, RN, FAAN, editor-in-chief (emerita)2018-11-11T17:13:15-05:00August 29th, 2013|nursing perspective|0 Comments

College Students: Have Fun, But Stay Safe

Photo by andlun1, via Flickr.

By Amy M. Collins, editor

This weekend I was lounging at the community pool where I live when an elderly woman next to me received a call on her cell phone and had a loud, animated conversation with her granddaughter, who seemingly had just started college.

“So, have you been partying? Gone to any bars?” the hip granny asked, resulting in a chuckle from me. I couldn’t imagine my grandmother asking me such questions way back when I started college—she was more apt to ask if I was going to church. Before hanging up, the granny gave what I thought was some very good (and realistic) advice: “Stay safe. If you go out, stay in a pack. And if you decide to drink, watch your intake and keep your drink close to you; don’t leave it on a counter where someone can mess with it.” […]

Amy M. Collins, managing editor2016-11-21T13:06:43-05:00August 26th, 2013|Nursing|0 Comments

The End of a Blogging Era?

By Jacob Molyneux, senior editor/blog editor

From August 2005 until August 2013, Kim McCallister ran a blog called Emergiblog, one of the first nursing blogs to gain a certain prominence among nurses on the Web. She told it like it was in her corner of the nursing world, and you didn’t have to always agree with her opinions to embrace her honesty and directness.

If I recall correctly, Emergiblog was one of the three exemplary nursing blogs mentioned in a lunchtime presentation given at our office by health care journalist and social media wizard Scott Hensley. (Hensley is now the writer and editor of the National Public Radio health care blog, Shots.) His excellent presentation, itself given I believe in the form of a newly created blog, gave me just enough know-how to be able to create and launch this blog from scratch on WordPress. […]

Jacob Molyneux, senior editor/blog editor2016-11-21T13:06:44-05:00August 23rd, 2013|healthcare social media, nursing perspective|4 Comments