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This cross-sectional study assessed the magnitude of Livelihood Diversification (LD) and the effects of some socio-demographic factors in severe food insecurity among smallholder farmers in Kadida Gamela district, Southern Ethiopia. Data were collected from 200 households, using simple random sampling. We used the Berger-Parker Diversity Index (activity based) and the Simpson index to measure the level of livelihood diversification and the Ordinal Least Square (OLS) to examine key determinants of LD. The majority (65%) of households witnessed engaging in 2-3 livelihood sources. However, the overall level of diversification, compared to potential available opportunities, was found to be low. The results of the regression analysis indicated that the education level of the head of the household, access to credit, participation in a food for work programme and the land size owned by households were the key predictors of livelihood diversification. Finally, the study highlighted the importance of continued commitment on the part of policy-makers and local administrators to support the development of non-farm and off-farm livelihood sources through availing credit services, skill training and, above all, educating the community.

Relationships between the medical personnel, particularly between physicians and nurses are an important factor in providing the medical care. If an institution has sufficient number of members and optimum structure of the personnel and if there is a good communication and cooperation between the members, then it is possible to see considerable effects of these factors on providing the medical care and on its results. Unsuitable behaviour is one of most important factors, which affect the quality of relationships between the employees. The relationships between nurses and physicians belong to considerable and important aspects of the general atmosphere at the working site and thus, it will call for versatile approaches.

The target of the present contribution is to inform the reader on a model of taking the alternative acute care of patients with mental diseases. This is a project of residential facilities, which form a transition between the hospital care and case work. These facilities occur in North America and Western Europe, thus successfully reducing numbers of hospitalised patients. In the work presented here, the importance of the institutional treatment is first reminded. The theoretical concept of the alternative acute psychiatric care is described with presenting three cases of residential facilities, which are effectively functioning in practice. Advantages of the alternative facilities are conclusively summarized, but their critical assessment is also considered. The basic source was the English original work Warner, R.: Alternatives to the Hospital for Acute Psychiatric Treatment: first edition, American Psychiatric Press, Washington D. C. 1995.
The environment of the residential facility is small and it exerts a family style and normalizing effects. It is situated in the patient natural environment, the house is kept open and it enables the patient to remain in contact with his/her social life. Restrictive methods are not implemented and informal relationships based on equal rights are preferred over a hierarchical structure. The patients experience a certain degree of the self-control and they train the responsibility for their behaviour and for maintaining the environment which they are living in. In the residential facility projects, emphasize is put on the individual approach to patients, fulfilling their psychosocial needs and on their re-integration into the community. It is governed by a multidisciplinary team, the role of health-social workers being irreplaceable there. The care provided in the residential facility makes it possible to flexibly react to the need of patients and to strengthen their internal sources.

Sport becomes a common activity in people with health involvements. The popularity of the top sport of handicapped people is currently being increased. However, the importance of sport activities of handicapped people at lower performance levels is not yet sufficiently estimated, which particularly concerns the recreational sport. In 2003, in České Budějovice, an examination based on questionnaires was performed with the aim of mapping the importance and benefits of sport activities in persons with health involvements. Within the survey, persons with health involvements (of the body or senses or with combined handicaps) were questioned and divided into actively sporting and non-sporting ones. The sample group comprised 54 respondents. The results of the examination based on questionnaires demonstrate distinctive differences in particular areas of the life as well as in the general life style in individuals performing sport activities and in handicapped people, who do not participate in these activities. The comparison of results of the questionnaire examination of groups of sporting and non-sporting persons indicates obvious positive effects of the sport activity on the quality of life of persons with body or sense involvements. Individuals engaged in sports report enhancement of their physical functions, reduction of requirements for the rehabilitation care, acquiring of new capabilities and skills, finding of new social contacts, reduction of the perception of barriers, participation in interest activities, in activities of integrating nature, etc. Sport activities positively affect the mental life of handicapped people with enhancing and improving the quality of incorporation of these people into social relationships. The targets are removal of social barriers, increase in the quality of life of these persons and their natural integration into the society.

One of steps to an improved integration of handicapped students at universities is so called specialized centre for helping students with special needs. In general, this type of the centre has a uniform target, which is providing the help for handicapped students in their study. The specialized centres for helping students with special needs as whole are operated by universities such as Charles University (UK) in Prague, Palacký University (UP) in Olomouc, Masaryk University (MU) in Brno and the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice (JU). In 2005, at the universities mentioned, questionnaire examination was implemented with a target to ascertain the measure of the satisfaction of students with the services provided by the centre. Within the scope of a research, handicapped students were inquired at the universities mentioned. The results of the questionnaire examination demonstrate what services of the specialized centres are most frequently employed by the students. The results also indicate that in general, students with handicaps invite services of the specialized centre, which will help them compensate their specific study requirements and thus, they recommend the foundation of these centres at other universities, too. The purpose of the present contribution is to familiarize the public not only with the scope of the activity of particular centres for helping handicapped students in the Czech Republic, but also with the ratio of the applicability of particular services, which are offered to the students. The results acquired by the questionnaire examination were used in the course of establishing a similar centre at the University of South Bohemia.

Organic foods, products of ecological agriculture (organic farming) offer values and qualities, which have not yet been sufficiently explained to the consumers. Word marks "bio" and "eco", similarly as the use of adjectives "biological" and "ecological" in association with foods is protected by legislation in a decision of the EU Council (Decision of the European Economic Community No. 2092/91). In accordance with the decision of the EU Council, each ecologically manufactured product should be marked with a stamp including a code of the control organization. In the Czech Republic, the use of the Czech national mark bio became usual: "Bio-product: Product of organic farming". In accordance with valid Law No. 242/2000 Sb on ecological farming, the use of the mark on Czech products is obligatory. Organic food is a foodstuff industry product acquired from bio-products and restricted amounts of approved admixtures delimited by a technology procedure in accordance with special directions and under a control regimen. Over the last ten years, the European bio-product market increased on average by 25% annually. Since 1993, the receipts in the Czech Republic were increased by a factor of nearly ten. Expressions healthier, more nutrient or more tasteful are related to organic foods in general. The health takes the first position as a motivation for purchasing organic foods according to results of examination in consumers. In contrast, the environmental protection as a motivation takes a back seat. There is also a frequent discussion about the association between "bio" and a health. There are also reports, in which the value of organic foods for the health is considered doubtful or even principally refused. It is possible to hear opinions that plants grown without industrial fertilizers suffer from malnutrition or unvaried nutrition and thus, they do not exert the desirable chemical composition or that without treatment with pesticides, they can comprise harmful mycotoxins or other metabolites. What is the actual quality of organic foods? Organic foods are certainly healthier due to the fact that they were produced without inputs of risk substances and that they contain considerably more fibrous material, less added sugars, fats and additives, which undoubtedly positively affects their quality, human health and environment.

Amendment of law No. 326/1999 Sb. "On the stay of foreigners in the territory of the Czech Republic" brought a number of changes in the field of providing foreigners with the health care in the Czech Republic. In the Czech Republic, there are five commercial health insurance companies that can rightfully insure foreigners as follows: the insurance company Maxima a. s., the General Health Insurance Company a. s., the insurance company Slavia, Victoria Volksbanken and the insurance company Uniqa. The article entitled "An analysis of situation in providing foreigners with health care" deals with aspects encountered by foreigners arranging the health insurance in the Czech Republic territory. These are foreigners who do not adhere to criteria of providing the health care based on the public health insurance. In the first part of the contribution presented here, criteria of the analysis of the complex health insurance (obligatory for foreigners who stay in the Czech Republic territory for periods longer than 90 days) are established, offers and services provided by particular health insurance companies are described (including language and local accessibility) and problems of foreigners who cannot be insured is also outlined. The principal part of the article is aimed at the scope of and exclusions from the health care reimbursement, detailed consideration of insurance benefits, duration and abolishment of the insurance and special requirements of the law "On the stay of foreigners in the Czech Republic territory" in terms of insurance contracts. Main drawbacks of the complex health insurance are conclusively considered, such as for example the language problems associated with primary information on the health insurance in the Czech Republic, impossibility of adhering to conditions necessary for the arrangement of the insurance, its high cost or legislation making the access of foreigners to the health insurance difficult.
The contribution is based on results of the solution of the COST Project entitled "The health and social situation of immigrants and asylum seekers in the Czech Republic", the main purpose of which is finding the relationship between the health condition and social situation of immigrants and asylum seekers in the Czech Republic territory with the help of ten social determinants of the health. The sample group included Ukrainian, Mongolian and Vietnamese people aged 18-65 years.

The target of the article presented here was to find how the nurses in the Czech Republic identify the anxiety about death in patients and whether they use the nursing diagnosis "Death anxiety" in nursing plans for patients.
The group included 468 general nurses from hospices, oncological and haemato-oncological departments, institutions for long-term treatment, old people's homes and homecare agencies in the Czech Republic. A semi-structured, non-standardized questionnaire with Likert scales was employed. The research was implemented from January to May 2011. The results were processed by the use of the descriptive statistics, squared chi test with the Bonferroni significance correction and Mann-Whitney test.
Almost half the total number of nurses (47.0%) reported that they relatively frequently encounter patients suffering from anxiety about death at their working site. Signals resulting in the identification of the anxiety about death were categorized depending on diagnostic elements of the nursing diagnosis "Death anxiety" (00147) in the NANDA International taxonomy. The following diagnostic elements occurred most frequently: "reports negative thoughts related to death and dying" (38.7%), "reports deep sadness" (36.8%) and "discussions on topic of death" (32.9%). Only 42.3% of nurses reported that they use the diagnosis "Death anxiety" in their nursing plans. In the diagnostic element: "reports negative thoughts related to death and dying", there was a significant dependence between the rate of occurrence and type of the institution (p

In the Czech Republic, the number of social workers (henceforth public custodians) taking care of adult persons (aged 18 years and older) having no or restricted legal capacity is being increased (Juríčková et al., 2011, p. 280). The adult persons having no or restricted legal capacity (henceforth persons in custody) are exposed to a larger degree of negligent care or undignified treatment, which makes them a risk group (Ivanová et al., 2009, p. 6). In this contribution, results of qualitative research examination are presented, where the target was to find and analyze topical problems in the performance of the function of public custodians. The purpose of the work was to enhance the quality of taking the care of persons in custody. The semi-structured interview technique was used within the framework of the research examination. The data were analyzed by the contents analysis method. Based on this, in selected regions of the Czech Republic, the following topical problems of the performance of the public custodian function were identified: a) the effective legal arrangement of the custody is too general; b) in the court sentence, the extent of legal capacity is established in a manner inadequate to the situation of the person having restricted legal capacity; c) the methodology of the performance of the function of the public custodian has not been established; d) the cooperation of physicians with public custodians is insufficient; e) there is a lack of institution with special regimen for alcoholic and schizophrenic persons; f) there is a low public knowledge of the institute of custody; g) there is a lack of supervision and systematic education of public custodians. The research examination is presented next to outcomes of the international project "Advocacies for frail and incompetent elderly in Europe" (henceforth ADEL), which was implemented in the Czech Republic in 2009 to 2010.

The authors deal with the inter-generation solidarity under conditions of taking care of seniors who are not self-sufficient. They were particularly focused on studying one aspect of the family solidarity concept: solidarity of agreement. They tried to combine conflict and consensual attitudes to this problem and thus to characterize the nature of conflicts and harmony in families taking care of seniors. The target of the study was mapping of relationships between the life harmony and manifested conflicts between persons providing and accepting the care and finding differences in this field between families taking care of seniors under different conditions.
After presenting basic terms, outlining the research targets and introducing the theoretical background, the authors present results of their empiric sociological research. Standardized interviews were performed with 405 respondents taking care of their own aging parents or aging parents of their partners. In the section Results, a general relationship between the degree of harmony and conflicts in the families inquired is first described and the families are subsequently compared depending on the method of taking care of the senior. For the comparison, families taking care of seniors at home, families taking care of seniors in a separate household and families transferring the senior to the institutional care were differentiated from each other. The results indicate that there are differences in the degree and nature of conflicts depending on different types of the family arrangement. Typology of families was established to facilitate the description of relationships between the concepts of the consent, conflict and method of taking the care. The results demonstrated that it is impossible to idealize the solidarity in families taking care of seniors in their own households and indicated requirements for supplementing the model of the family solidarity by an investigation of conflicts. During this, they may not behave as a barrier in the family solidarity, but they may rather serve as an indicator of the interest and mutual dependence reducing the personal autonomy.

Families have always provided help for relatives who needed it due to their diseases or old age. This resoluteness of families is still present at the time being. We can speak about informal caregivers, who satisfy needs of their relatives in their natural domestic environment without professional knowledge. By this care they try to provide dignified and quality life of non-independent persons. The willingness of the family to take care of a person with a reduced self-sufficiency means not only time consumption but also physical and mental loading to the caregiver and giving up his/her own priorities. The target of the text was to outline the currently existing problems of the implementation of taking the family care of non-independent persons in the area of the administrative district of the town with extended competence Písek. The results of the research questionnaire examination are data indicating the degree of information of family caregivers about the method of taking care of non-independent persons and the source of their information. A further question concerned problems encountered in taking care for a relative person and taking advantage of possible professional healthcare and social support in the area of the administrative district considered. The method of interviews was employed for the implementation of the research examination. The questionnaire technique was used for the data accumulation. The examination results demonstrated that 39.5% of respondents have never been practically familiarized with taking necessary care of non-independent persons. And only one half of the total group of respondents knew who could be addressed for granting compensatory tools. Informal caregivers from small villages (i.e. types I and II) situated in the cadastre area of the town with extended competence Písek perceive mainly the physical load in providing the care compared to informal caregivers directly from the town with extended competence Písek (i.e. type III) who reported the social load. The caregivers search for most data and necessary assistance in physicians, nursing healthcare professionals and friends. Only 10.5% of families take advantage of healthcare and social services to provide the necessary help in taking care of non-independent persons.

Difficulties in swallowing are a frequent and potentially severe problem. Dysphagia can be encountered in any period of life, but the prevalence is essentially higher in seniors (Roy et al., 2007, p. 858-865). Due to the population aging (Czech Statistical Office, 2009), it is to expect that the occurrence of swallowing disorders will ever be increased with increasing the average life span. In the dysphagia diagnostics, on the one hand, objective data resulting from the patient examination are obtained, but it is also suitable to consider subjective data, which are accumulated in the course of interviews. The Eating Assessment Tool (EAT-10) (Belafsky et al., 2008, p. 919-924) may be used for this purpose.
The target of the study presented here was to test the tool in an available sample of seniors, to determine the rate of occurrence of subjectively observed problems in swallowing and to describe the measure of their importance. These were seniors over 65 years of age from institutions of the health and social care in the Liberec Region. The mentioned tool EAT-10 consisting of ten items focused on the subjective assessment of the existence of problems in swallowing was employed. The rate of the problems and measure of their importance were determined. The condition for including the senior into the examination was successful completing of testing cognitive functions - Mini-Cog (Borson et al., 2006, p. 349-355) and signing the informed consent. The sample included 124 respondents over 65 years of age.
The research examination revealed that total of 51 (41%) of respondents felt subjective difficulties in swallowing; 31 (25%) of respondents had the total score according to the tool EAT-10 ≥3 points (the maximum possible score being of 40 points). The average measure of the importance of subjectively considered problems in swallowing, as obtained in particular items, was of 1.5-2.42 points (0 = no problem, 4 = major problem).

The main target of the work was to describe a research method in the field of nursing focused on the identification and description of limits of the style of life in individuals suffering from chronic diseases and demonstrate its verification in a pilot project. The conceptualisation of the lifestyle as a construct of a diseased individual based (not only) on his/her perception of the reality of everyday events, made it possible to take advantage of using a specific method of the qualitative approach. It is based on the methodological triangulation and employs three techniques of the data collection as follows: the life curve and life story, the Cantril ladder, and deep semi-structured interviews. The method was verified in a pilot research project in individuals with three types of chronic diseases: multiple sclerosis, diabetes mellitus and selected psychiatric disorder - depression. The pilot research served as a starting point for a longitudinal research examination, which will deal with the target group of persons suffering from multiple sclerosis.
The pilot research identified limits of the lifestyle in a respondent (woman) having multiple sclerosis, which exerted, based on her own statement, direct relationships to her chronic disease: "failures of vision, presence of diseases, particularly hypertension, diagnosis - insecurity, loss of job (on losing the disability pension), disorders of the gait and falls, vertigo, tiredness, sleeping disorders due to frequent nocturnal micturition, failures of short-term and intermediate-term memory and failures of the fine motoricity and motorgraphic capacity". The whole research project was supported by research grants, and the process of the data accumulation is still under way. The text presented her comprises mainly the research method together with a description of the pilot project outcome.

Based on the ecological perspective, we can understand sudden changes in the health condition and associated requirements for position in the year-round inclusion of seniors as a situation, in which all the three causes are accumulated referred to by authors as possible reasons for the maladaptation (Germain, Bloom, 1991; Germain, Gitterman, 2011). The examination of effects on the client due to this cluster of causes is tedious, but it is unavoidable. Within the framework of a specific research 5/2011 "Process of adaptation of seniors to their life under the institutional care", I attempted to acquire data which could make it possible not only to improve understanding the client (man or women) in the course of the adaptation process, but also to determine whether the ecological perspective can bring a contribution to better understanding of his/her adaptation process. In my contribution, I mention only partial results of this research project concerning the research examination implemented in institutions for seniors in Slovakia.
Given the target, I chose a qualitative research strategy, particularly design of an illustrative case study (Yin, 2003; Zainal, 2007). In the research work designed in this way, the investigator works with a minimum number of cases examined, which makes him/her possible to consider problems from different points of view. The research sample consisted of two seniors (a men aged 82 years and women aged 76 years), who were clients of the institution and in the course of our research, they were subjected to the adaptation process, two social workers, two nurses and members of families of the seniors. In one case, this was a daughter and son-in-law of the female client, and in the second case, this was a son and grand-daughter of the male client.
The results acquired demonstrated relationships between the social role played by the male senior/female senior in the previous period and success of the adaptation itself. The data obtained simultaneously indicate possibilities brought into the social work practice just by the ecological approach.

Introduction: Within the framework of the Czech Republic, studies in the field of the satisfaction with the work were particularly aimed at the identification of priorities of the occupational environment of general nurses and degree of their saturation by the employer. In our study, we examined relationships between social and demographic factors and satisfaction of nurses with their work.
Targets: The target of the contribution was to find the relationship between selected social and demographic variables and particular fields of the satisfaction of Czech nurses with their work.
Sample group and methods: The research sample included 499 nurses from six hospitals in the Czech Republic. The satisfaction of nurses with their work was estimated by the use of the questionnaire McCloskey/Mueller Satisfaction Scale. The dependence between particular variables was established with the help of the Spearman correlation coefficient. Differences in the satisfaction of nurses with their work were determined by the Kruskal-Wallis test. In results exerting the statistical significance based on the Kruskal-Wallis test, Mann-Whitney non-parametric tests of multiple comparisons were subsequently performed.
Results and discussion: Positive correlations were found between the age, length of the total clinical practice and satisfaction of Czech nurses with the work. Statistically significant differences in particular areas of the satisfaction with work were found in terms of the education, family conditions, number of children and type of the working site.

In the last century, together with the democratization of the society, man as an individual appeared in the focus of interest. Different documents are being formulated declaring his/her rights and duties. These changes are reflected in all the areas of the human life including the situation of being ill - the field of medicine. The target of the work is to indicate the social and political context of the change mentioned. Input data are documents concerning remarkable patient organizations, particularly declarations of targets. These data were quantitatively analyzed and supplemented by personal experience of the author of the contribution, who is strongly engaged as a volunteer in one of the patient organizations.
The patient organizations are not a quite new phenomenon. However, their importance has been considerably increased over the last years. The declared purposes do not only include the psychosocial support of patients and their relatives and transfer of information, but attempts are being increased to establish the patient-centred healthcare, to amplify the influence of patients in the creation of the health politics and to facilitate the attainability of the treatment and information. An important target of patient organizations is protection of rights of patients declared in different documents. The patient organizations operate at different levels and are associated into large bodies. The task of the healthcare system is providing of the healthcare to all the people who are in need of it. Of course, enormously growing requirements for the medical care cannot be satisfied with restricted financial sources. The care should be rationalized with making decision about the type of the care provided for particular groups. Of course, representatives of patients cannot be absent during these negotiations.

Trans-cultural aspects should be specified to provide the midwifery care for a client from the Chinese community. Respecting and subsequent satisfying needs of a woman in context with specific features of cultural differences is of importance for the physiological course of the delivery. At the stage of the consideration of the woman condition by the midwife, the Madeleine Leininger model is applied. It specifies requirements for procedural care provided by the midwife in dimensions of the trans-cultural aspects. The solution of most frequent diagnoses in midwifery in the course of delivery in a client who belongs to the Chinese community is proposed with taking into account culturally acceptable methods of the moderation of pains in the course of the delivery and effective communication in relation to a non-assimilated Chinese women in the environment of the labour ward in the Slovak Republic. Culturally acceptable competences of the midwife in relation to a client of a different culture are delimited for the midwife. A particular attitude to one client from the Chinese community is presented, which helped us to improve our attitude to providing a multicultural care and motivated us for activities aimed at its high quality. This valuable experience revealed reserves and initiated changes in traditional providing the midwifery care to satisfy bio-psychosocial needs of a woman and provide physiological course of the delivery.

The target of our contribution is to use an analytical method for the demonstration of the origination, development and current condition of educational programmes in countries having long-term tradition in the field of palliative care (the USA, Canada) and in countries, where the palliative care is being implemented for rather shorter periods (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovak Republic).
The development of the palliative care in every country depends on legislative, social, economical and cultural factors. In spite of this, particular countries mutually attempt to improve conditions for providing palliative care and increasing its quality. These attempts are characterized by the origination and action of different national (for example "The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization" in USA, "The Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association" in Canada, "Polish Association of Palliative Care - PAPC" in Poland) and international ("The European Association of Palliative Care - EAPC, Eastern and Central Europe Palliative Care Task Force - ECEPT) organizations, which cooperate with each other and simultaneously support the development of the palliative care in countries where it is stagnating. At the present time, there is an intention throughout the world to establish in particular countries conditions, which could enhance the quality of providing palliative care, particularly due to permanent increase in the frequency of oncological diseases, civilization diseases and numbers of seniors.
According to the World Health Organization, the level of the palliative care in the country is determined by three factors, which are the state health policy, availability of medicines and treatment procedures necessary, and education. In our contribution we just consider the problems of the education in the field of palliative care in nurses and physicians as one of principal conditions for enhancing its quality.
Conclusively, we point out the realistic situation of the education in the branch of nursing and general medicine, concerning the education of nurses and physicians working in the given field, and changes, which should be implemented in association with the education in the field of the palliative care.

Given the increasing number of inhabitants of the People's Republic of China and contemporary globalisation tendencies in the society including inhabitants of this Republic, it is of course necessary to know at least principal information concerning members of the Chinese minority living in the Czech Republic and their specific features in the field of nursing care. This research work was elaborated with the use of qualitative research methods. The research target of the present work was to consider special features of the nursing care, which should be respected according to the members of the Chinese minority. The data accumulation was provided with the help of semi-structured interviews with members of the Chinese minority group in the Czech Republic. The scope of questions of the semi-structured interview used is particularly based on conceptual nursing models by M. Gordon, M. Leininger and a model by J. Giger - R. Davidhizer. To achieve this target, five research questions were established. Case reports were obtained based on results of the interviews. The case reports form a research basis for categorized tables and graphs (modified approach of framework analysis), where most important research results are summarized. The main results include the determined specific features of the nursing care in the field of sampling the blood, communicating medical diagnosis, particularly for the family, fear of drug dependence and also pain and its solution. Further results also include a description of the perception of Czech nursing and nurses as providers of the special nursing care by members of the Chinese minority group. Based on the results of the work, hypotheses are proposed, designed for the further research. The principal data concerning members of the Chinese minority group living in the Czech Republic were arranged in an information summary and standards of nursing care. In contact with nursing personnel, everybody of us expects quality individual and respectful care. It is necessary to respect specific features of all the patients regardless of the colour of the skin and political or spiritual creed. When granting the professional nursing care, it is necessary to rise above limits of our own culture and habits with the aim to provide our patient/client from any cultural group with as effective nursing care as possible.

The traditional Chinese medicine belongs to the oldest treatment methods. It is focused on supporting the body in re-establishment of equilibrium and harmony, which were disturbed. The diagnostics in the traditional Chinese medicine is also considerably different from methods employed in west medicine. The traditional Chinese medicine helps treat a number of health problems, but is also serves as a prevention of the disease origination.
Over recent years, the Czech Republic became a target country of immigrant groups as well as individuals from neighbouring countries and remote areas. In our country, the most numerous immigrants are members of Chinese and Vietnamese minorities. The traditional Chinese medicine may be very important for them in their everyday life. This should be taken into account when granting quality nursing care.
The research target of our work was to determine what the health problems in members of the Chinese and Vietnam minorities to be treated with the help of the traditional Chinese medicine are, and what treatment methods are most frequently employed.
The research part of our work was processed with the help of qualitative research. Semi-structured interview was used for the data accumulation, which was the same for Chinese and Vietnamese minorities. The research sample included 18 respondents, 9 from the Chinese minority and 9 from the Vietnamese minority, living in the Czech Republic.
The results indicate that the traditional Chinese medicine is more frequently used by members of the Chinese minority, most typically in health problems of lower degrees of severity. In the Vietnamese minority, the traditional Chinese medicine occupies only the second position, if the west medicine is not able to help. It is, however, obvious, that in the case of health problems of a lower degree of severity they also rather prefer the traditional Chinese medicine.

The target of the research presented was mapping of the occurrence of smoking tobacco and level of knowledge and standpoints concerning the healthy life style and identification of differences in behavioural and risk factors from the viewpoint of the region (Komárno, Nové Zámky, Martin), nationality (Slovak, Hungarian) and achieved level of education (primary school, secondary school, university).
The group of women examined is a comparative retrospective study from the standpoint of methodology. We monitored and compared three groups of hospitalized women immediately after the delivery in regions of Martin (central Slovakia), Komárno and Nové Zámky (south Slovakia).
The study included 240 respondents from Martin, 363 respondents from Nové Zámky and 261 respondents from Komárno.
In Nové Zámky and Komárno bilingual (Slovak and Hungarian) versions of questionnaires were distributed. In the statistical analysis, the differences were considered at a statistical significance level p ≤ 0.05.
Of the total number of 864 respondents at average age of 26.0 years (SD=4.9; median=25.0 years; modus=25.0 years), 311 were of Hungarian nationality. In Hungarian women, there was a significantly higher representation of those with primary education (p

As long as over the last 6 years, the Slovak Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family is supporting employers, who are helpful in respecting equal chances under conditions of the Slovak market. This is the topic of establishing equal conditions not only for men and women, but also for handicapped, mentally ill people compared to healthy persons. The author offers a solution of the social situation of mentally ill people through the mediation of the multidisciplinary triad process, where the mentally ill person passes through three stages: patient - client - employee. Emphasize is put on effective and purposeful diagnostics based on directed theory of social work. The result is an example of good practice of helping the mentally ill people under Slovak conditions. The target of the contribution is to solve the situation of mentally ill individuals going from the role of the patient to the role of the client and finally to the role of the employee. Thus, the interventional process acquires its coordinated, complex and continuous features and its efficacy is enhanced. The example of Integra n. o. offers philosophy of taking care of mentally ill people where the method of therapeutic programmes improving the client self-confidence is employed: from the choice of ergotherapy to the life in the community by the form of protected accommodation, thus providing a quality social network in the form of self-helping and supporting groups. The autonomy of the patient is simultaneously respected in his/her independent activities and decisions, which acts as a counterbalance to the paternalistic approach to mentally ill people.

This article addresses the issues of Age Management and the application of the Work Ability Index (WAI) for employees aged 50+. The objective of the study was to verify the potential of the application of an international European questionnaire method for the WAI identification in the Czech environment with the emphasis on the healthcare sector. The practical survey was conducted by a group of nurses and midwives of the Municipal Hospital in Ostrava and the employees of the company Vítkovice Reality Developments s.r.o. The results of the survey imply that healthcare workers scored poorer results in the Work Ability Index than non-healthcare workers. The authors concluded by stressing the need to implement the concept of Age Management as an instrument for staff management and for the maintenance and exploitation of the work ability of older staff members.

The nursing diagnosis Impaired Comfort (00214) is one of the new diagnoses in NANDA International 2009-2011 (North American Nursing Diagnosis Association International). Its holistic focus containing physical, psycho-spiritual and social dimensions correlates with the problems in menopausal women. The objective of the study was to validate the nursing diagnosis Impaired Comfort (00214) with the focus on menopause. We identified the diagnosis in a selected group of menopausal women (n = 80); their responds were used for evaluation of the defining characteristics of the diagnosis. The patient-focused clinical diagnostic validity model by Fehring was used. A questionnaire-type evaluation tool containing 23 items and identification data was designed to evaluate the defining characteristics. Women evaluated the defining characteristics on the Likert-type scale. After collecting the data, weighted scores (WS) were calculated for each defining characteristic. The research results on major defining characteristics were consistent with the results of other studies. The major defining characteristics selected by women were: Disturbed sleep pattern (WS = 0.76), Reports being hot (WS = 0.76), and Reports being uncomfortable (WS = 0.75). Women described ten defining characteristics as minor, and discarded ten defining characteristics as irrelevant for the nursing diagnosis Impaired Comfort (00214). The research results show the diversity of symptomatology in menopause. The roles of nursing include support for and education of menopausal women focused on positive attitude towards menopause and improvement of bio-psycho-social and spiritual experiencing in women.

The goal of this study was to carry out a diagnostic content validation regarding the nursing diagnosis Ineffective Breathing Pattern - 00032, which was approved by the Taxonomy Committee of NANDA International for the years 2012-2014. A validation study, methodologically based on Fehring's Diagnostic Content Validation, was performed with 52 nurses and medical experts from four hospitals in Moravia and Bohemia who work in nursing care in adult intensive care units or on anaesthesia and resuscitation wards.
Main findings:
1. The validity of the nursing diagnosis Ineffective Breathing Pattern - 00032 has a DCV weighted ratio of 0.63.
2. The DCV weighted ratio of 0.84 of the defining characteristic "dyspnoea" ranks it among the major defining characteristics of the validated diagnosis.
3. The DCV values of 12 defining characteristics between 0.74 and 0.52 ranked as minor defining characteristics of the validated diagnosis.
4. The DCV values of three defining characteristics between 0.40 and 0.32 were considered irrelevant defining characteristics.
5. A strong positive correlation was found between minor defining characteristics "decreased expiratory pressure" and "decreased inspiratory pressure" (r = 0.831), between minor related factors "neuromuscular dysfunction" and "musculoskeletal impairment" (r = 0.710) and between minor related factors "neurological immaturity" and "neuromuscular dysfunction" (r = 0.732).
Conclusions: The experts only considered one major diagnostic characteristic significant - dyspnoea, and none of the related factors of Ineffective Breathing Pattern - 00032. Despite the limitation of this study, the overall validity of the tested nursing diagnosis is acceptable according to Fehring, without the need to remove the diagnosis from the list presented by the Taxonomy Committee of NANDA International.

Aim: Comparison of intensity, sensitive and affective components, disability, motion range of the m. erector spinae muscle activity during both dynamic and static activities at the sagittal level regarding the most frequent diagnoses, within the framework of classification by the McKenzie method.
Patient sample: The research sample consisted of 31 patients by the MRI-diagnosed discopathy, who were divided into two groups. Both of these groups were treated using the McKenzie method. Group 1 involved the central symmetrical posterior derangement (n = 15). Group 2 involved the unilateral asymmetrical derangement, with emanation of pain into the lower limb (n = 16).
Methods: For the measurement of the intensity and character of pain, the McGill Pain Questionnaire - its short form (SF MPQ) was used. The pain intensity was evaluated by the visual analogue scale (VAS). The disability was evaluated by the Roland Morris Questionnaire (RMQ). The m. erector spinae muscle activation measurement from L4 area paravertebrally was conducted by the surface EMG in μV. The range of motion was measured by a goniometry.
Results: Group 1: activation of the m. erector spinae: no significant lateral differences were found and activation of the m. erector spinae was declining symmetrically. Group 2: in this group, there was the occurrence of lateral differences recorded on the right side versus the left side. On the painful side, the activation changes manifested themselves most markedly with their increase during the flexion in the upright posture and with their decline occurring during extension while standing, which presented the therapeutic principle. In the assessment of intensity and perception of pain, disability and motion ranges, no significant differences were found. One month and three months after the treatment there was a significant decrease in pain in both of the groups (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: During the treatment, we have managed to record changes in intensity, pain localisation and motion ranges in the monitored groups, which was in compliance with the clinical picture syndromes according to McKenzie.

The relationship between the society and disabled people has experienced various stages from mockery and condemnation to the present endeavour to create conditions for integration of persons with different handicaps into the normal life of the society. With disabled children a significant role in this process is represented by the family which experiences various periods of dealing with the disabilities of its member from the moment when it has met the unfavourable prognosis of being handicapped and they must cope with this situation in a different way and for an extended period of time. The family will often face internal problems, as well as adversity involving their surroundings. The attending paediatrician must provide care in these cases, not only for the disabled child but they must also influence the atmosphere within the entire family in a positive way.

The investigation concerning the development of impact journals in the field of nursing for the period 2011-2013 was carried out. This investigation follows a similar survey carried out between 2005 and 2010. In recent years, we can see the growth in the number of journals in the field of nursing, as it was during the previous time period. For the period 2002-2013, the number of newly listed titles grew from 34 to 109 titles. This fact evidences the growing importance of nursing and nursing research in order to permanently increase the quality of patient care at all levels.
At the same time, it offers professionals in this field more options for publishing in the world major periodicals.