Journal of National Black Nurses' Association : JNBNA
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J Natl Black Nurses Assoc · Jul 2004
ReviewNursing contributions to the elimination of health disparities among African-Americans: review and critique of a decade of research.
The excessive burden of disease experienced by African-Americans has long been described by authorities in the public, private, and professional sector as a national health concern. Several reports have been published in the peer-reviewed literature that describe the outcomes of nurse-directed studies aimed at addressing the factors associated with the disparities experienced by African-Americans and these reports were also aimed toward the design of interventions to reduce and/or eliminate them. However, little is known about the scope, quality, and impact of these efforts relative to the promotion of health and the prevention of disease among African-American population groups. ⋯ This knowledge is relative to the individual and familial impact of cardiovascular disease, cancer diabetes, HIV/AIDS, mental health and mental illness, and sickle cell disease within the African-American community. Knowledge and insights relative to the concerns and needs of childbearing, parenting, the elderly, caregivers and caregiving in African-American population groups is essential if health care disparities are to be truly eliminated. This review, analysis, and critique also revealed several gaps and limitations within this body of nursing research.
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J Natl Black Nurses Assoc · Jul 2004
Multicenter StudyAttitudes and cultural self-efficacy levels of nurses caring for patients in army hospitals.
This descriptive, cross-sectional study was a convenience sample of 104 registered nurses (N = 104) from three Army hospitals who participated anonymously in this study. Participating in the study were 62 (n = 62) active-duty Army nurses and 41 civilian nurses (n = 41), and one nurse that did not specify status (n = 1). The purpose of the study was to investigate attitudes and cultural self-efficacy levels in caring for ethnically diverse patients. ⋯ Analysis of the data suggested that there were significant differences among the nurses that were based on sex, ethnicity, and military status. For the attitudes section of the EAAS questionnaire, nurses were more positive toward patients of similar ethnic backgrounds Female nurses were more positive than male nurses, and civilian nurses were more positive than their military counterparts. For the Cultural Self-Efficacy Scale (CSES), nurses expressed a fairly high degree of confidence in their knowledge of cultural concepts They also expressed high confidence in their transcultural skills for African-Americans and Latino Americans and low confidence for Asian Americans Male nurses expressed higher confidence levels than female nurses, and military nurses expressed higher confidence levels than civilian nurses.