Hope and physical health

The Mediating Role of Hope in the Relationship Between Illness Uncertainty and Discharge Readiness Among Patients With Major Depressive Disorder

PURPOSE

To investigate the effects of illness uncertainty on discharge readiness and explore whether hope mediates this relationship in individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD).

METHOD

A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 218 patients with MDD at a hospital in China. Data were collected using self-reported questionnaires, including demographic and clinical information, the Mishel Uncertainty in Illness Scale, Herth Hope Index, and Readiness for Hospital Discharge Scale. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and path analysis were used to analyze the data.

RESULTS

Illness uncertainty was negatively associated with hope (r = -0.14, p < 0.05) and discharge readiness (r = -0.207, p < 0.01). Conversely, hope was positively associated with discharge readiness (r = 0.445, p < 0.01). Hope partially mediated the relationship between illness uncertainty and discharge readiness, accounting for 28.5% of the total effect.

CONCLUSION

Illness uncertainty directly impacted discharge readiness in patients with MDD and exerted an indirect effect through the mediating role of hope. Findings highlight the importance of psychosocial interventions aimed at enhancing hope and reducing illness uncertainty to improve discharge readiness and support post-hospital recovery. [Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, xx(xx), xx-xx.].

Post-stroke fatigue, hope and discharge readiness: A cross-sectional survey

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To explore the relationships among post-stroke fatigue, hope and discharge readiness in stroke patients, and to determine whether hope mediates the relationship between post-stroke fatigue and discharge readiness.

BACKGROUND

In stroke patients, inadequate discharge readiness has been found to correlate with higher readmission and mortality rates. Although previous qualitative studies have confirmed the impact of fatigue on discharge readiness, few studies explore the impact of post-stroke fatigue and hope on discharge readiness of stroke patients. Consequently, the current research on this relationship and its underlying mechanisms is still quite limited.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

METHODS

Data were collected from 340 stroke patients. The research tools included demographic and disease characteristics, Discharge Readiness Assessment Scale for Stroke, Neurological Fatigue Index for Stroke and Herth Hope Index. The STROBE checklist was used to guide the presentation of this study.

RESULTS

Discharge readiness was negatively correlated with post-stroke fatigue and positively correlated with hope. Additionally, post-stroke fatigue was negatively correlated with hope. Post-stroke fatigue had a direct negative effect on discharge readiness, and it can also generate indirect effects through hope. Hope was the partial mediator between post-stroke fatigue and discharge readiness, explaining 55.8% of the total effect.

CONCLUSION

Discharge readiness of this population can be improved by reducing post-stroke fatigue and increasing hope. Therefore, effective management of post-stroke fatigue and hope will help improve discharge readiness.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

It is recommended that nursing staff should monitor the occurrence and development of post-stroke fatigue in stroke patients, dynamically evaluate the patient's level of hope, and pay attention to the important role of positive psychological qualities in the outcome of discharge. If medical staff can formulate corresponding intervention measures based on the influence path of discharge readiness, then the discharge readiness of stroke patients can be improved.

The Central Role of Daily Hopeful Feelings in Predicting Well-Being: A Network Perspective

OBJECTIVE

Hope is associated with many positive outcomes. However, most research on hope has focused on its cognitive aspect, with few studies examining the affective aspect. To further clarify the nature of hope and its association with well-being, this study examined the relationship between the affective aspect of hope-namely, hopeful feelings-and various aspects of well-being.

METHOD

A daily diary analysis was conducted with 187 Chinese adults (meanage = 28.17 ± 5.56). Hopeful feelings and affective (positive and negative emotions), eudaimonic (meaning in life), and evaluative (life satisfaction) aspects of well-being were assessed twice per day (morning and night) for 14 consecutive days. A multilevel vector autoregressive model was used to investigate the temporal, contemporaneous, and between-person networks of hopeful feelings with positive emotion and well-being.

RESULTS

Hopeful feelings had the strongest outstrength in the temporal networks and were the most central node in the between-person networks. In addition, hopeful feelings exhibited significant cross-lagged predictive roles on all the well-being nodes except negative emotion.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings revealed a close association between hopeful feelings and well-being, with hopeful feelings predicting various aspects of daily well-being. Future interventions to improve well-being should focus on the enrichment of daily hopeful feelings.

Hope and its associations with academic-related outcomes and general wellbeing among college students: the importance of measurement specificity

BACKGROUND

Hope has been extensively studied as a predictor of college students' academic success. Most previous studies used domain-general, global hope measures to gauge the association between hope and academic performance among college students. However, a few studies have suggested that hope is domain-specific and domain-specific academic hope measures should be included in related research to better assess the influence of hope on academic outcomes. In this study, we aimed to further examine this issue to ascertain if there is value in including academic hope measures when studying the link between hope and academic outcomes in college students.

METHODS

Two samples of Hong Kong college students (total N = 1321) were recruited. Each participant completed a set of self-reported online questionnaires.

RESULTS

In both samples, global hope and academic hope emerged as related but separate factors in confirmatory factor analyses. Academic hope had consistently stronger unique explanatory power on academic performance and goal setting than global hope did. On the other hand, global hope explained more variance in general wellbeing than academic hope did, but its explanatory role in academic performance was not significant.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings support domain-specificity and show that hope measures explain more variance in outcomes in the matched domains. Therefore, academic hope measures should more routinely be included in related research to better evaluate the role of hope in academic pursuit among college students. Possible implications for hope interventions are also discussed.

The role of hope in college transition: Its cross-lagged relationships with psychosocial resources and emotional well-being in first-year college students

INTRODUCTION

College transition is often regarded as the most stressful phase of life by college students. Hence, it is necessary to find ways to help them adjust more smoothly to this transition. Hope, as conceptualized by C. R. Snyder, has been widely studied as a predictor of optimal functioning and has been shown to be associated with better adjustment among college students. This study aimed to shed light on the role of hope in college transition by examining its unique reciprocal relationships with an array of important psychosocial resources and emotional well-being among first-year college students.

METHODS

Data were collected from a sample of Hong Kong college freshmen (N = 433, Medianage = 18 years old, 63.7% female) at two time points. At each time point, participants completed self-reported measures tapping into their levels of hope, psychosocial resources, and emotional well-being. Psychological resources included general and academic self-efficacy, meaning in life, and optimism. Social resources included secure attachment, perceived school environment, and social support. Emotional well-being was operationalized as positive and negative emotions. Cross-lagged panel models were constructed and tested by path analyses.

RESULTS

When autoregression and the effects of other variables were controlled, a greater sense of hope uniquely predicted higher levels of general and academic self-efficacy, greater presence of life meanings, more secure attachment, and more positive and fewer negative emotions. On the other hand, higher levels of meaning in life (both presence and search) and social support uniquely predicted greater hope. Academic hope and presence of life meanings reciprocally predicted one another, whereas other significant cross-lagged relationships were unidirectional.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest interventions that promote hope can be useful in helping college freshmen adjust to the new college environment by enhancing their psychosocial resources and emotional well-being. Such interventions would be more effective if they included elements that boost meaning in life and social support, which are expected to further enhance the perceptions of hope.

Pre-gestational counselling for women living with CKD: starting from the bright side

Pregnancy in women living with chronic kidney disease (CKD) was often discouraged due to the risk of adverse maternal-fetal outcomes and the progression of kidney disease. This negative attitude has changed in recent years, with greater emphasis on patient empowerment than on the imperative 'non nocere'. Although risks persist, pregnancy outcomes even in advanced CKD have significantly improved, for both the mother and the newborn. Adequate counselling can help to minimize risks and support a more conscious and informed approach to those risks that are unavoidable. Pre-conception counselling enables a woman to plan the most appropriate moment for her to try to become pregnant. Counselling is context sensitive and needs to be discussed also within an ethical framework. Classically, counselling is more focused on risks than on the probability of a successful outcome. 'Positive counselling', highlighting also the chances of a favourable outcome, can help to strengthen the patient-physician relationship, which is a powerful means of optimizing adherence and compliance. Since, due to the heterogeneity of CKD, giving exact figures in single cases is difficult and may even be impossible, a scenario-based approach may help understanding and facing favourable outcomes and adverse events. Pregnancy outcomes modulate the future life of the mother and of her baby; hence the concept of 'post partum' counselling is also introduced, discussing how pregnancy results may modulate the long-term prognosis of the mother and the child and the future pregnancies.