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(1) Background: In response to the impact of religious intervention on health outcomes and the importance of documenting how nurses experience the spiritual need of 392 hospitalized patients, it is vital to provide the nursing profession with instruments to evaluate these spiritual aspects. This study describes the development and validation of the Nursing Care and Religious Diversity Scale (NCRDS); (2) Methods: A two-step design was used for NCRDS translation and psychometric validation. The tool design was developed in the first step, while the psychometric characteristics were tested in the second step. An inductive study was conducted to test the validity and reliability of the NCRDS tool. The overall sample consisted of 317 nurses; (3) Results: The final instrument comprised 25 items in five dimensions. The construct validity indicated five dimensions. The face and content validity were adequate. Test-retest reliability displayed good stability, and internal consistency (Cronbach's α) was acceptable (0.83); (4) Conclusions: Initial testing of the NCRDS suggested that it is a valid and reliable instrument to evaluate individuals in religious diversity, with five dimensions for evaluating the meaning of spirituality and individual belief, the religious healthcare environment, educational adequacy, spiritual and religious needs, and religious plurality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family Centered Care (FCC) in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) included family involvement in the care process of newborns and infants. Staff perceptions of FCC may influence clinical practice and management strategies in NICUs, with an impact on quality and humanization of the care. The Family-Centred Care Questionnaire-Revised (FCCQ-R) was adapted for the NICU setting, therefore the FCCQ-R@it-NICU was developed and used for the present study in 32 Italian NICUs. We calculated internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha correlation between Current and Necessary dimensions of the scale using the Pearson correlation coefficient. Furthermore, we investigated which characteristics could influence staff perceptions of FCC in NICUs. 921 NICU professionals participated in the study. The FCCQ-R@it-NICU revealed good internal consistency (0.96) and good correlation between dimensions (p < 0.05). Statistical and significant differences in Current and Necessary dimensions were found and some demographic characteristics were found predictable on FCC practice. The FCCQ-R@it-NICU is a valid tool to investigate staff perceptions about FCC in NICU settings. Profession, education level and work experience seem to positively influence the perception of what is required for FCC practice within NICUs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose: Perceptions toward nursing diagnosis (ND) may represent core drivers of its adoption within clinical practice. Few studies have investigated perceptions toward ND within nursing academic contexts. The study was conducted to validate the Italian version of the Minnesota Nurses' Perceptions of Nursing Diagnoses (MNPND) scale on a sample of Italian nursing students and explore the psychometric structure of perceptions in a sample drawn from this population. Methods: A cross-sectional survey with an online self-administered questionnaire was used. The study used exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Results: A three-factorstructure was obtained from parallel analysis and EFA. This was confirmed using CFA; fit statistics: MLRχ² (132) = 230.150, p <. 001; CFI = 0.94; TLI = 0.93; RMSEA = 0.05 [90% CI = 0.041–0.064]; SRMR = 0.056). Conclusions: The MNPND scale is a useful instrument to measure nursing students' perceptions of ND [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To test the effectiveness of an educational intervention including "face to face" training, compared to a standard information program, to reduce microstomia in women with systemic sclerosis. Design: Single-blind, two-arm, randomized controlled study with a 12-month follow-up period. Setting: Hospital wards of a large Italian dermatological reference center. Subjects: Female inpatients with diagnosis of systemic sclerosis. Interventions: For both groups an information brochure and an audio-visual DVD were developed specifically for the study. The control group was assigned to educational materials alone (i.e. brochures and DVD), while the experimental group, in addition to the same educational materials, received specific "face-to-face" interventions, repeated at each follow-up visit. Main measures: Primary outcome was measurement of the opening of the mouth. Secondary outcomes was the self-reported mouth disability. Results: The intention-to-treat analysis included 63 patients. Compared to the baseline measurement, we observed an increase of the mouth opening of 0.31 cm (95% confidence interval: 0.13–0.49), P = 0.003; in the control group, the increase was 0.13 cm (95% confidence interval: 0.01–0.25), P = 0.06. The difference in improvement between the two groups was not statistically significant (P = 0.10); however, it reached statistical significance in the per-protocol analysis (39 patients, P = 0.02). Conclusion: Face-to-face nursing rehabilitation training seems to improve microstomia to a greater extent, when compared to a standard intervention based only on written and audio-visual materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim To test the situation-specific theory of heart failure self-care with structural equation modelling. Background Several authors have proposed theories on heart failure self-care, but only the situation-specific theory of heart failure self-care by Riegel and Dickson is focused on the process that patients use to perform self-care. This theory has never been tested with structural equation modelling. Design A secondary analysis of data from a cross-sectional study. Methods Patients with heart failure were recruited in 21 cardiovascular centres across Italy during 2011. Data were collected with a sociodemographic questionnaire, chart abstraction for clinical data and the Self- Care of Heart Failure Index v.6·2. Results A sample of 417 participants was enrolled in the study (59% males, mean age 72 years). The following propositions were tested and supported: Symptom monitoring correlates with treatment adherence; symptom monitoring and treatment adherence have a direct, positive relationship with symptom recognition and evaluation that in turn have a direct, positive relationship with treatment implementation; treatment implementation has a direct, positive relationship with treatment evaluation. In addition, the following three relationships were found: Symptom monitoring has a direct, positive relationship with treatment implementation; symptom recognition and evaluation have direct, positive relationships with treatment evaluation and symptom monitoring correlates with treatment evaluation. [Correction added on 9th April 2013, after first online publication: '...symptom monitoring correlates with treatment implementation.' has been corrected to read '...symptom monitoring correlates with treatment evaluation.'] Conclusion The data support the situation-specific theory of heart failure self-care with the addition of three new relationships that emerged from the analysis. Results of this study lend further support to the use of the situation-specific theory of heart failure self-care in research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]