Hospital Practices and Research

Abstract Background: Nurses play a vital role in healthcare, and their well-being directly impacts the quality of patient care they provide. However, the demanding nature of nursing work, characterized by long hours, shift work, and emotional strain, can affect their personal lives, including marital quality.
Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between emotional empathy, alexithymia, and marital quality in nursing students in Ahvaz City and to predict marital quality based on emotional empathy and alexithymia.
Methods: This study employed a cross-sectional, descriptive-correlational design. The statistical population included all married nursing students at Ahvaz University of Medical Sciences in 2023. A sample of 204 married students was selected using the convenience sampling method. Data were collected using the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale (RDAS), Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), and Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS). Data were analyzed using the Pearson correlation coefficient and simultaneous regression analysis. SPSS software v27 was used for data analysis.
Results: The results showed that emotional empathy had a positive and significant correlation with marital quality (p <0.001), and alexithymia had a negative and significant correlation with marital quality (p <0.001) in nursing students. The results of the simultaneous regression analysis showed that emotional empathy and alexithymia predicted 49% of the variance in marital quality.
Conclusion: This study identifies emotional empathy and alexithymia as important factors in marital quality for nursing students. However, recognizing the complexity of marital satisfaction, the authors advocate for interventions that address these factors alongside other relevant contributors.

Abstract Background: To test the effectiveness of concept maps used in the education of nursing students in the field of health, we need to use measurement tools.
Objectives: The purpose of the study was to develop “Scale for the Effectiveness of Concept Maps in Nursing Education (SECMNE)”.
Methods: This was a methodological instrument development study. This study was conducted in a university’s health of nursing department in Tokat, Turkey, between September and December 2019. The universe of this study, which used a methodological design, consisted of third and fourth-year nursing students, and the sample size was 174. The item pool was formed with 86 items. The content validity was assessed by 9 experts. The 86-item draft scale that had a 4-point Likert type scoring system. Content validity ratio (CVR), Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test, Bartlett test, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), Cronbach’s alpha, and Pearson product-moment correlation analysis techniques were used for the validity and reliability analyses of the scale.
Results: The scale consists of 3 subscales (integration of information, integration of the care plan, perception) and 30 items. Scale’s Cronbach alpha is 0.97.
Conclusion: The scale developed in this study was concluded to be a valid and reliable measurement tool that can be used to measure the effectiveness of the concept maps in nursing education. The SECMNE can help nursing student identify the lack of knowledge and negative attitudes about concept map in nursing education and prepare nursing care plan. 

Abstract Background: A professional is an individual who prefers a profession, is specially qualified in its technical aspects, and makes a living with the profession.
Objective: This research was conducted to determine the professional values of nurses and the factors affecting them.
Methods: This descriptive research evaluated a sample of 97 nurses working in a private hospital in Ankara, Turkey. Data was collected using the demographic form and professional values scale (PVS).
Results: Among the nurses in the study sample, 43% had a graduate degree, 84.5% were staff nurses, and 37.2% were surgery, obstetrics, and cardiovascular surgery nurses. The mean score of professional values of nurses in this study was determined to be 4.20 ± 0.55. It was determined that professional values of nurses in the 34-year and older group, including male nurses, those usually working the day shift, those who chose the profession, those with memberships in associations, and those who participated in scientific meetings/seminars, had higher scores for professional values, but this finding was statistically insignificant (P > 0.05).
Conclusion: The professional values of nurses was found to be above the middle level. In this light, it can be recommended, especially to managers, that training on professional values should be planned for nurses. It is also recommended that nurses receive undergraduate education and other comprehensive studies. In order to achieved a desired position in nursing, nurses must update regularly their scientific knowledge, participate in scientific meetings/seminars, and become members of professional associations.