Rev Lat Am Enferm
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Control and alleviation of pain in the care to children with cancer are objects of nursing concern in the search for interventions that are able to minimize or avoid physical-emotional problems in these children. Medical, psychological and nursing literatures describe pain through physiological, emotional, behavioural and environmental aspects in several models of scales of pain evaluation and control. This study describes some models of evaluation of pain in children and presents the adaptation of the Scale Model of Visual Analogy of Faces by McGrath (1990), as an instrument to be used in nursing care to children with cancer. Although the literature utilized on this study gives emphasis on the evaluation and control of pain in children with cancer, we verify the viability of applying this model by nursing in other situations of pain.
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How to measure pain is a great challenge to those who desire to control adequately such a complex experience. Standardized instruments that take into consideration the patient's own account, have been developed in order to make such a task easier. In this article we carry out a revision of the instruments used mostly for measuring postoperative pain, and we point out some of the advantages and disadvantages. We emphasize the need for specific research focusing on the measurement of surgical pain, taking into consideration the multiple dimensions of a painful experience.
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This study develops some considerations about the deinstitutionalization process considering the conception and stigma of madness, and the difficulties to reverse it in society as it was constructed through history. Authors analyse the consolidation of the necessary infrastructure to this process, making direct relations with all social subjects and policy determination.
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Comparative Study
[Measurements of the gravity of injuries in patients with head injuries by the AIS/90 manual and the CAIS/85 chart].
This study was developed in order to compare the use of the ABBREVIATED INJURY SCALE (AIS) and the CONDENSED ABBREVIATED INJURY SCALE (CAIS) as basis to calculate INJURY SEVERITY SCORE (ISS) in head injured patients. The results showed that the ISS value was equivalent in the majority of the patients (58.51%) codified by both scales. Also no statistic differences between the scales were perceived when we compared the severity levels as severe, moderate and minor, 61.38% of the lesions scored by AIS/90 were scored by CAIS/85, too.
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The objective of the present methodological study was to construct and validate a scale of attitudes of people concerning AIDS, to aid in the diagnosis of favourable and unfavourable attitudes and evaluation of educational programs related to AIDS. The steps followed to develop the Likert-type scale were: elaboration of items related to knowledge, feelings and reactions about AIDS; apparent validation and verification of content; application of the instrument in a sample of people; evaluation of the ability to discriminate the items; study of the internal reliability of the scale; factor analysis of the scale to establish the fundamental dimensions of the instrument. The final scale contained 25 items. This instrument showed a high coefficient of reliability and validity.