Faculty of Health Sciences Projects (Master's)

Permanent URI for this collection

https://opus.uleth.ca/handle/10133/3718

Browse

Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 5 of 21
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Mental health and well-being of African immigrant women in southern Alberta, Canada
    (Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Health Sciences, 2024-05-01) Odekina, Hannah I.; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Health Sciences; Lokanc-Diluzio, Wendi
    The aim of this study was to delve into the experiences of African immigrant women in Southern Alberta and the ensuing impact on mental health. Employing an exploratory descriptive qualitative research design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eleven (11) African immigrant women. Thematic analysis revealed that these women encountered intersecting challenges in Canada stemming from factors such as race, gender, social class, and immigration status, leading to negative effects on their mental health. Nevertheless, the participants employed various coping strategies to alleviate these challenges, with culture playing a significant role in shaping perceptions and coping mechanisms. The study underscores the importance of implementing culturally safe programs by stakeholders, policy makers, and mental health practitioners to facilitate the successful transition and integration of African Immigrant women into their new environment.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The effects associated with seclusion room use
    (Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Health Sciences, 2023) Parmar, Kajal; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Health Sciences; Haight, Katherine
    Confinement of a patient is a practice that has existed since the 18th century. Historically patients who were diagnosed with a mental illness were confined in an asylum as these patients were seen as immoral due to the stigma related to mental health (Newton-Howes, 2018). Currently, secure rooms are used to confine patients who are experiencing a psychiatric crisis or behavioural disturbances. Although secure rooms are a beneficial last resort intervention, secure rooms are not always used in accordance with policies. The misuse of secure rooms can lead to negative effects for both the patients and staff (Beames & Onwumere, 2021), making them a controversial intervention in mental health facilities. The goal of this project is to educate the interdisciplinary team on the negative effects of seclusion rooms, and to enhance the interdisciplinary team’s knowledge of other first-line interventions that are utilized to reduce the occurrence of seclusion room use. This project took place at the Hope Centre in North Vancouver British Columbia. It utilized an educational session for the staff which included a PowerPoint presentation and the introduction of an infographic.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Educational in-service on providing evidence based care for patients with multiple sclerosis
    (Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Health Sciences, 2023) Sklarenko, Jeanine M. M.; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Health Sciences; Haight, Katherine
    Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune disease that attacks the central nervous system (Cowan et al., 2020). Alberta is known to have one of the highest rates of MS in the world; 340 out of every 100,000 people are diagnosed with this disease (Government of Alberta, 2013). Individuals with MS are commonly hospitalized due to complications of their disease. Alberta nurses can anticipate providing care to hospitalized MS patients in the years to come. The purpose of this project is to facilitate knowledge translation by presenting current MS research and evidence-based material to frontline nurses on two acute care units at Chinook Regional Hospital (CRH) in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada through educational in-services. The goal of this project is to develop an education session for frontline nurses to increase awareness and knowledge about MS and to improve outcomes for MS patients when admitted to hospital.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    QR code linked videos to enhance competencies in rural nursing
    (Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Health Sciences, 2023) DeCosse, Renée; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Health Sciences; Haight, Katherine
    In developed countries such as Canada and the United States (US), nurses who work in rural critical care and emergency settings are faced with many infrequent procedures and skills requiring high levels of competency to perform safely (Decker & Hine, 2015; Gibson & McDermott, 2014). Procedures such as ventilation and pacing are not part of everyday work for rural nurses but may be crucial to the survival of the patient (Decker & Hine, 2015; Gibson & McDermott, 2014). In addition to the low-volume nature of these competencies, they are often needed in urgent situations, with quick action required by the nurse to positively affect patient outcomes (Hendrickx & Winters, 2017; Lawford & Giles, 2012; MacKinnon, 2012). Rural nurses struggle to maintain these competencies due to issues such as infrequency and lack of exposure to critical care skills (Saqe-Rockoff et al., 2019). A proposed solution to this practice problem involves applying a ‘just-in-time' (JIT) strategy where a brief, concise, and targeted informational video is offered via quick response (QR) codes placed at point-of-care, on or near the associated equipment in the rural emergency department (ED). This paper discuses the outcomes of a project designed to assess the validity of this proposed solution to improve competencies and self-efficacy among rural emergency nurses. Supplementary Material Video: Clinical Practice Bytes: Quick Review on How to Set Up a Pleur-Evac (Dry Suction) for Chest Drainage. This two-minute video demonstrates setting up a chest drainage unit.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Spiritual distress : an introduction
    (Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Health Sciences, 2023) Grindrod-Millar, Kathleen; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Health Sciences; Haight, Katherine
    Spiritual distress is an important component of holistic nursing practice. Internationally, nursing competency to care for patients in spiritual distress has not been well established (Kasar & Nacak, 2021). The goals of this project are to provide a high-level introduction to the concept of spiritual distress, provide a session to teach nurses to identify spiritual distress in oneself and others, and motivate nurses to continue their education on spiritual distress after the session. A 30-minute lunch time educational session was developed and piloted to all employee designations at St. Michael’s Health Centre in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. Data was collected from post-intervention surveys. Data analysis concluded that this educational intervention design was effective in educating learners on spiritual distress and that further education on this subject is desired.