Seminarian Attitudes toward Counseling

PurposeThis study aims to advance the understanding on individual variations in PhD candidates’ personal interest in their doctorate and supervisory and research community support, and several individual and structural attributes potentially having an impact on the profiles.Design/methodology/approachThe authors explored the interrelationship between personal interest – social support profiles, and nationality, gender, research group and study status and the risk of dropping out. A total of 768 PhD candidates from a research-intensive university in Finland responded to a modified version of the cross-cultural doctoral experience survey. Latent profile analysis was used to explore the individual variations in PhD candidates’ interest and support from the supervisor and research community.FindingsThree distinctive PhD interest-social support profiles were detected; the high interest–high support profile (74.4%, n = 570), the high interest–moderate support profile (18.2%, n = 140) and the moderate interest–moderate support profile (7.4%, n = 56). The profiles exhibited high to moderate levels of research, development and instrumental interest. Individuals in the high interest–moderate support and in the moderate interest–moderate support profiles were more prone to consider dropping out from their PhD than in the high interest–high support profile.Originality/valueThe results indicate that by cultivating PhD candidates’ interest and providing sufficient supervisory and the research community offers a means for preventing candidates from discontinuing their doctorate. Hence, building a supportive learning environment that cultivates a PhD candidate’s personal interest is likely to reduce high dropout rates among the candidates.

The phenomenon of teenage campus suicide has become the focus of attention of parents, schools and the society. The causes behind it are extremely complicated, and the root cause is psychological and spiritual problems. However, one's negative psychology is often hidden, and it is difficult to detect and effectively intervene before the tragedy. How to effectively identify students with suicidal tendencies in order to prevent tragedies has aroused extensive research and discussion among the government, academia and the public. Through investigation and research, it is found that the current popular computer cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence and computer vision can be well used for human emotion recognition and behavior prediction, and put into use in schools as a mental health auxiliary diagnosis and treatment system, thus effectively reducing the suicide rate on campus. The scenario assumes that machine learning can be used to deduce the risk of psychological problems in human samples by analyzing the frequency of negative emotions in facial expressions. Based on this, this paper proposes an effective solution for campus suicide prediction, and designs a set of auxiliary diagnosis and treatment system based on campus monitoring network system for suicide behavior prediction and student mental health analysis. Through preliminary experimental analysis and verification, the suicide psychological auxiliary diagnosis and treatment system has achieved good results in face recognition success rate, emotion recognition success rate and behavior prediction success rate. With the input of more experimental data and the increase of self-training time, the prediction system will perform better.

The study aimed at identifying the factors determining the choice of Agriculture professional career among the Students of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences in Ekiti State University, Nigeria. A total of 160 randomly selected respondents were utilized for the study, while a structured interview schedule was used to elicit information from them. Frequency counts and percentages, Likert scale, as well as, Probit model were used in data analysis. The respondent’s ages ranged from 16 to 32 years with an average of 19.5 years. They belonged to all the religion in the country. Majority of the males were from farming families and had childhood homes in rural areas. Previous educational performance (mean = 2.53), career flexibility (mean 2.37), contacts/peer groups (mean = 2.35), work experience (mean = 2.28), personal interest and by chance (mean = 2.11 respectively) and self employment influence the choice of agriculture profession. Most of the respondents perceived agriculture as a stepping stone to other professions, a poor man’s job and laborious. Barriers to continuing in the profession include, access to financial resources and land, fear of crop/livestock failure, unpredictable future and psychological problems. Probit model confirmed the significant relationship between previous educational performance, work experience, contacts and economy in the choice of agriculture as a course and profession among youths in the University. The study recommends early stimulation of students interest in agriculture, award of scholarship to agriculture students and provision of grants to graduates in agriculture who desire to embark on enterprises and tailoring school practical experiences towards commercial agriculture. Key words: Agricultural profession, choice, experience, farm work.

BackgroundLegally enforced quarantines during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in increased psychological distress, particularly among individuals with pre-existing mental health conditions. In this study, part of the Cologne Corona Counselling and Support for Infected and Contact Persons During the Quarantine Period (CoCo-Fakt) project, we hypothesised that individuals with pre-existing depression experienced greater psychological distress during legally imposed quarantine/isolation and thus require additional support. We also aimed to explore whether coping mechanisms and resilience can enhance the care provided to at-risk individuals facing similar situations.MethodsThis study included 10,033 participants (infected and contact persons) registered with the Cologne Public Health Department between December 2020 and January 2021. We collected data via online questionnaires covering demographics, mental health status, coping strategies, resilience, and support system usage.ResultsIndividuals suffering from depression (ISFDs, n = 260) reported significantly higher psychological distress scores than individuals not suffering from depression (INSFDs, n = 9773; p < 0.001). ISFDs also reported significantly lower coping (p < 0.001) and resilience (p < 0.001) scores and used support systems approximately six times more often. Backwards elimination regression analysis revealed significantly higher psychological distress scores among individuals who were female, were younger, had higher educational level, had COVID-19, and had a chronic disease other than depression. No significant interactions were found in the moderation analyses. The model accounted for 31.2% of the observed variance.ConclusionsThe findings suggest the need for tailored interventions to help both ISFDs and INSFDs develop coping strategies and resilience during quarantines. Ensuring that sufficient therapeutic services and support are available for ISFDs is crucial for maintaining good mental health.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-025-25751-0.

Palliative care is “the active total care of patients whose disease is not responsive to curative treatment. Control of pain, of other symptoms, and of psychological, social, and spiritual problems, is paramount. The goal of palliative care is achievement of the best quality of life (QOL) for patients and their families.”1 Therefore, if palliative care providers wish to evaluate the full impact of their care, they must measure changes in QOL as well as improvements in areas specifically targeted by particular interventions (e.g., pain; depression).

It is seen that cancer incidence and morbidity in the world is increasing. Cancer patients are living longer than in the past because of the developing in medicine and techonology. Palliative care is the active total care of patients whose disease is not responsive to curative treatment. Control of pain, of other symptoms, and of psychological, social, and spiritual problems is paramount. The goal of palliative care is the achievement of the best quality of life for patients and their families. An effective palliative care focuses on the patient and the family and requires a multidisciplinary approach. Doctors, nurses, social worker and religious functionaries may play a role in palliative care. A nurse involved in a palliative care team should should be able to make a comprehensive evaluation of patients and their families’ needs. She should have effective communication skills,listen to them carefully, respect patients and their families’ knowledge and decisions. The nurse provide support and care for all family members of a patient. The nurse in a special palliative care team should be aware of their abilities and limitations. She should always update their knowledge and skills.

AIM: Health problems of the elderly in addition to purely medical constitute a complex and quite acute social, economic, psychological, and spiritual problem, which are growing unstoppably everywhere in the world. The main purpose of this study is to assess the general health of the elderly, to identify the most common pathologies, and to describe the role and responsibilities of the nurse in the elderly with cardiovascular, neurological, and orthopedic diseases, in all patients in geriatric clinics. METHODS: The method used during this study was conducted through a questionnaire of the elderly in geriatric centers. The paper includes data on patients during the period April–June, 2020. RESULTS: Data were observed on 300 elderly persons of whom 100 persons or 33% were female and 200 persons or 67% were male. The mean age of patients was 90 ± 65 years. These elderly people were given information about living conditions, social problems, diseases they had, etc. The most common pathologies of these elderly people studied were cardiovascular problems 25%, orthopedic problems 31%, and neurological problems 43%. We see that women are more predisposed to cardiovascular problems in 66% of cases compared to men in 34% of cases; most predisposed to orthopedic problems are again women in 55% of cases compared to men in 45% of cases and more predisposed to neurological problems are men in 60% of cases and women in 40% of cases, it is significant (p &lt; 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: From the above data, it is noticed that almost all the elderly have a concomitant disease. The role of the nurse should be to focus on the daily monitoring of the patient’s condition, to identify in time the possible risks, and to explain to the patient how to take the therapy, how long to take this therapy, what may be the side effects and how medications should be combined.

Patientswithstrokefaceanumberofproblemsthatincludephysical,social,emotional, psychological, and spiritual problems. It caused a decrease in the well-being that he felt by stroke patients ,also coupled with a decrease in the ability to perform daily roles and decreased well-being social relationship, especially relations with his family. This study aimed to identify well-being, mastery of roles, and well-being of relationships with families and was associated with demographic characteristics. This research used quantitative descriptive methods. The sample consisted of stroke patients who were outpatient at a hospital in Bandung. A total of 96 respondents were taken based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. The instruments used were personal well-being index, Role-Function Mode Scale, and Brief Family Relationship Scale. Data analysis used descriptive statistics and chi square. The results showed that half (50%) of stroke patients experienced poor well-being. There were still those who said that almost half (39.60%) of stroke patients said that mastery of roles was not good. Likewise with the well-being of relations, there were still those who said almost half (35.40%) of the welfare of their relationships was not good. From the analysis of the relationship between demographic characteristics, it found that there was a significant relationship between the subjective well-being of stroke patients and the relationship between respondents and families (p = 0.001). Conclusions is well-being, mastery of roles, and relationships with families in stroke patients are still not satisfactory.Efforts are needed that can increase family support effectively for stroke patients.

Historically, psychiatric symptomatology has been looked upon with a mixture of bewilderment and derision—the evidence of some kind of psychological or spiritual problem—but not of a medical or biological one. However, an explosion of new research suggests that psychiatric symptomatology may actually reveal as much about the physiological functioning of the body as heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature, and blood pressure. For example, there is growing evidence that psychiatric symptoms are associated with autonomic dysregulation and the early development of chronic debilitating diseases, such as diabetes, cardiovascular, hypertension, and cancer. These diseases then take the lives of the mentally ill at a much earlier age than the general population. In addition, an association has been found between upper-end-of-normal resting vital signs and the later development of major psychiatric illnesses, such as generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and schizophrenia. Notably, a similar association has been found between upper-end-of-normal resting vital signs and the early development of the same illnesses that shorten the lives of the mentally ill. These associations raise the possibility that subtle elevations in resting vital signs and psychiatric symptomology are different manifestations of a shared physiological abnormality. The identification of a core abnormality that influences such diverse emotional, psychological, and biological conditions could completely reshape the way we think about mental illness. It could unify mental disorders and medical disorders and raise psychiatric symptoms to the level of a “fifth” vital sign. This article will explore the links between mental illness, physical illness, and resting vital signs in an effort to utilize, if appropriate, psychiatric symptomatology as a barometer of physiological function. The unique value of psychiatric symptomatology in this regard is that it could reduce the need to distinguish psychiatric symptoms from medical symptoms while at the same time more clearly revealing, without any physical instrumentation, what is happening inside the body.

The relevance of the topic lies in the study of the spiritual and social role of the mother in the Ukrainian family due to the crisis of the family in modern society. This crisis is manifested in the increase of divorces, fatherlessness, a free attitude toward sex before marriage, abortions, homosexual behavior, and a lack of trust and love between family members. Currently, during the war waged by Russia against Ukraine, Ukrainians are subjected to terrible sexual assaults, destruction, and abuse by the enemy. Because of this occupational war, the crisis in the family worsens even more. The study was conducted in 2021, before Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine. The sample included families living in Kyiv. It was advisable to experiment with 30 families who believe in God and 30 atheist families. The following methodical tools were used in the research: T. Alordey’s questionnaire, the method of ‘Normative resistance’ according to E. Eidemiller, and the projective method of ‘Draw-a-Family-Picture’. The aim of the research was to show a special vital resource of Christian mothers, which affects the creation of an atmosphere of love and respect in their families, in contrast to the vital resource of mothers in families that do not believe in God. This vital resource affects the performance of the role of the mother. As a result of the questionnaire, husbands’ understanding of the mother’s role in the family was studied. Christian and non-Christian men showed that most of them were grateful to their mothers. From the answers in the questionnaires, it is clear that the life principles that husbands learned from their mothers, they practice in their own families. This forms the authority of the wife in the family and affects the role of the mother. Normative resistance in mothers from non-believing families was not ascertained. These mothers considered terrible, negative situations to be normal. Mothers who confess Christ ascertain normative resistance. They make great efforts so that children grow up in an atmosphere of joy and mutual understanding. Analyzing the drawings of children from non-Christian families, one can see psychological and spiritual problems in families. The pictures reflect children’s experiences of conflicts in the family. An atmosphere of love and strong family relationships can be observed in the drawings of Christian children. Children have mothers who pray for them. The effectiveness of the ‘I am a mother’ training aimed at biological and social mothers is shown. The social mothers are preschool educators, schoolteachers, and academics in higher education institutions. Ukrainian mothers, teaching their children to love God and the motherland, positively influence society and form the spiritual, professional, and business cultures of the young generation. Christian families have a special, vital resource. This resource enables mothers to fully fulfill their spiritual and social roles in the family. During the war in Ukraine, such mothers laid the foundations of new values that affect the whole world.

Breast cancer is a chronic disease with high mortality, cancer patients can experience various problems including physical, psychological and spiritual problems, such as stress, sadness, physical fatigue and fear of the future, and all things will affect the quality of life of patients. Humans have a holistic nature that is both physical and psychological beings that influence each other, so that what happens with physical conditions will affect psychologically, to overcome this one of the factors that can be done to improve or affect the quality of life of breast cancer patients is self compassion, perceived social support, and self esteem to quality of life on woman affected breast cancer. The study participants were woman affected by breast cancer (N = 37). Data were analyzed by multiple regression analysis. The result show that there is an influence between self compassion, perceived social support, self esteem to quality of life which is very significant with a significant value of 0.000

BACKGROUND: Effective palliation rather than cure is often the most appropriate goal in the management of patients with advanced gastric cancer.The literature to date is limited by the imprecise use of the term palliative and subsequent variable designation of patients into evaluable groups. STUDY DESIGN: Between 2000 and 2007, 303 patients underwent a operation for gastric adenocarcinoma. Patients who received a noncurative (R1/R2) resection were identified. A procedure was defined as palliative if it was performed explicitly to palliate symptoms or improve quality of life. RESULTS: One hundred and ninety five of them (65%) received a noncurative gastric resection. The operation was palliative in 47% (92/195) and nonpalliative in 53% (103/195). Palliative no curative operations aimed preservation of tumor-engaged organ’s function, enhanced quality of patient’s life till dead, but not prolonged his life. No curative no palliative operations aimed cytoreductive effect by removing the organ engaged with primary tumor and improve the results of postoperative complex treatment and prolong the patient’s life. CONCLUSIONS: There are important differences among patients undergoing noncurative operations for gastric cancer. Studies designed to measure palliative interventions would benefit from precise designations of palliative intent in patients receiving noncurative operations. Considerable variation in defining palliative care has complicated the understanding of the role of surgery in managing patients with advanced malignancies.(1) Surgeons commonly use the word palliative to describe a procedure performed in the presence of unresectable disease, a patient with limited survival, or as acknowledgment that a successful curative operation is not possible.(2) Such imprecise and incorrect characterizations of palliation have contributed to varied interpretations of surgical indications and outcomes. Palliative care has been defined by theWorld Health Organization as “the total active care of patients whose disease is not responsive to curative treatment. Control of pain, of other symptoms, and of psychologic, social, and spiritual problems is paramount. The goal of palliative care is the achievement of the best quality of life for patients and their families.”(3) Others have further classified surgical palliation to include the evaluation of extent of disease (to include surgical biopsy), control of local disease, control of discharge or hemorrhage, control of pain, reconstruction and rehabilitation, and treatment of procedure-related complications.(4) Although these broad definitions provide a global understanding of the scope of palliative care, they fail to clarify the subject of surgical palliation. For example, inclusion of patients undergoing a surgical biopsy with those undergoing a palliative resection produces such dissimilar groups that the evaluation of important factors such as surgical morbidity and mortality is severely limited. Even in patients with known metastatic disease, it is difficult to make valid comparisons between contrasting clinical scenarios such as elective flap coverage of a complex wound versus an emergency laparotomy for gastrointestinal bleeding. Because ideal palliative care requires an approach defined in terms of a patient’s individual needs and values, identical procedures may play dramatically different roles for each patient.(5) Surgical palliation of malignancy is defined best as a procedure used with the primary intention of improving quality of life or relieving symptoms caused by an advanced malignancy.(1, 2, 5) Palliation is not the opposite of cure. Each term has its own distinct indications and goals and should be evaluated independently. Important considerations relate to the medical condition and performance status of the patient, the extent and prognosis of the cancer, the potential for a curative procedure, knowledge of the natural history of the primary and secondary symptoms, potential durability of the intervention, and the expectancy and quality of life of the patient.(6) By stressing quality of life and symptom control as key elements of palliative care, this definition not only maintains a primary focus on an individualized approach for palliative surgery but also is consistent with the recommendations from the World Health Organization definition, the landmark Study to Understand Prognoses and Preferences for Outcomes and Risks of Treatment trial,(7) and the American College of Surgeons Statement on Principles Guiding Care at the End of Life.[8] A survey of The Society of Surgical Oncology members demonstrated a need for clarity in defining palliative surgery. These surgeons strongly acknowledged the importance of quality of life and symptom control in evaluating the effectiveness of palliative surgery.(9)

BackgroundAdvance Care Planning (ACP) and its documentation, accessible to healthcare professionals regardless of where patients are staying, can improve palliative care. ACP is usually performed by trained facilitators. However, ACP conversations would be more tailored to a patient’s specific situation if held by a patient’s clinical healthcare team. This study assesses the feasibility of ACP by a patient’s clinical healthcare team, and analyses the documented information including current and future problems within the palliative care domains.MethodsThis multicentre study was conducted at the three Groningen Palliative Care Network hospitals in the Netherlands. Patients discharged from hospital with a terminal care indication received an ACP document from clinical staff (non-palliative care trained staff at hospitals I and II; specialist palliative care nurses at hospital III) after they had held ACP conversations. An anonymised copy of this ACP document was analysed. Documentation rates of patient and contact details were investigated, and documentation of current and future problems were analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively.ResultsOne hundred sixty ACP documents were received between April 2013 and December 2014, with numbers increasing for each consecutive 3-month time period. Advance directives were frequently documented (82%). Documentation rates of current problems in the social (24%), psychological (27%) and spiritual (16%) domains were low compared to physical problems (85%) at hospital I and II, but consistently high (> 85%) at hospital III. Of 545 documented anticipated problems, 92% were physical or care related in nature, 2% social, 5% psychological, and < 1% spiritual. Half of the anticipated non-physical problems originated from hospital III.ConclusionsHospital-initiated ACP documentation by a patient’s clinical healthcare team is feasible: the number of documents received per time period increased throughout the study period, and overall, documentation rates were high. Nonetheless, symptom documentation predominantly regards physical symptoms. With the involvement of specialist palliative care nurses, psychological and spiritual problems are addressed more frequently. Whether palliative care education for non-palliative care experts will improve identification and documentation of non-physical problems remains to be investigated.

China is a multicultural society made up of 56 ethnic groups. In addition to the complex cultural healthcare beliefs and traditions, China’s 1.38 billion people live under diverse social and economic conditions. Providing holistic care in such a multifaceted context is challenging for nurses and nursing educators. If nursing students are to provide holistic patient care, then nurse educators must design courses and pedagogic strategies that enhance student capacity to assess and address unique needs including biological, psychological, social, and spiritual problems and concerns. In particular, beginning with spiritual dimension of health is promising because spiritual beliefs are interwoven within the cultural fabric of Chinese people. However, Chinese people do not readily share private thoughts and feelings, and thus even introducing the topic of the provision of spiritual care as part of nursing curricula is challenging. In this article we share the educational content and pedagogical approach that was implemented in an undergraduate multicultural nursing care course that was designed to overcome these challenges. The cultural competency model developed by Camphina-Bacote (Journal of Transcultural Nursing 13:181–184, 2002) was instrumental in structuring learning around spirituality as part of cultural competency training.

Daily spiritual experiences and spiritual care competence have positive health effects on patients and form an integral part of the nursing profession. This study was conducted to determine the relationship between daily spiritual experiences and the dimensions of spiritual care competence in nursing students. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 401 nursing students in their last year of the program. The participants were selected from nursing schools in Tehran Province, Iran, in the academic year 2019-2020. The required data were extracted using a demographic information questionnaire, the Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale (DSES), and the Spiritual Care Competence Scale (SCCS). The collected data were analyzed in SPSS software at the significance level of 0.05. The mean (SD) of daily spiritual experiences and total spiritual care competence was 67.15 (16.33) and 101.77 (16.26), respectively. The personal support and patient counseling dimensions had the highest mean (SD) [22.10) 4.80)]. Among all these dimensions of spiritual care competence, only professionalization and improvement of the quality of spiritual care were predictors of the students' daily spiritual experiences (p < 0.05). The professionalization dimension of spiritual care competence was identified as a predictor of daily spiritual experience in nursing students. Therefore, the researchers recommend the highlighting of this dimension in nursing programs to promote the students' spiritual care competence.