Geriatric nursing
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Mindfulness meditation in older adults with postherpetic neuralgia: a randomized controlled pilot study.
This parallel-group, randomized controlled pilot study examined daily meditation in a diverse sample of older adults with postherpetic neuralgia. Block randomization was used to allocate participants to a treatment group (n = 13) or control group (n = 14). In addition to usual care, the treatment group practiced daily meditation for six weeks. ⋯ Participants recorded daily pain and fatigue levels in a diary, and treatment participants also noted meditation practice. Results at the 0.10 level indicated improvement in neuropathic, affective, and total pain scores for the treatment group, whereas affective pain worsened for the control group. Participants were able to adhere to the daily diary and meditation requirements in this feasibility pilot study.
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One in five individuals living in the United States has deficient literacy skills, contributing to challenges navigating a complex health system. Low health literacy is a burden to individuals and to society, with global implications to the most vulnerable, including older women. ⋯ Essential themes identified by participants as requisite to working with low literacy older females are time, relationships, communication, education, and empowerment. Although each may be viewed independently, their overlapping was recognized as key to optimizing health, and of this list, relationships and communication were identified as critical to enhancing minimal health literacy in the clinical setting.