Nursing and Assessment Tools

The nursing process is the framework in providing nursing care. Assessment is an important aspect of nursing care and is the first step in the nursing process.

An assessment of the client’s emotionally and psychology health needs must be assessed to ensure a holistic view of the client is obtained. Jean Watson’s theory of caring is the blueprint of the nursing profession. Jean Watson’s theory of human caring focused on establishing a caring relationship with patients. Jean Watson believed in treating the patient as a holistic being ("Jean Watson’s Philosophy of Nursing", 2012).

Watson’s theory of human caring allows nurses to identify and incorporate the spiritual, emotional, and psychological needs of a patient into the care being provided ("Jean Watson’s Philosophy of Nursing", 2012). Assessment tools are proven to expand the assessment and evaluation skills of nursing in various stages of patient conditions. This paper will examine three assessment tools, and how they improve the nursing process and the quality of care being provided. These three assessment tools are the Beck Depression Inventory, Ways of Coping Questionnaire, and Coping Resources Inventory for Stress.Later in this paper these assessment tools will be applied to a vulnerable population, adolescent pregnancy.

The Beck Depression Inventory is one of the most widely used instruments for measuring the severity of depression in adolescents and adults (“Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), 2012”). This assessment tools was created by Dr. Aaron Beck and was publish in 1996 (Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)", 2012). The Beck Depression Inventory is a 21-item assessment tools that measure characteristic attitudes and symptoms of depression ("Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)", 2012).

This assessment tool takes approximately 10 minutes to complete ("Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)", 2012). The questionnaire consists of items related to symptoms of depression such as hopelessness, irritability, guilt, and sense of being punish, as well as physical symptoms such as fatigue, weight loss and lack of interest ("Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)", 2012). The validity of the Beck Depression Inventory has been extensively tested, and it has high levels of validity because it was developed by a group of clinicians ("Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)", 2012).The Beck Depression Inventory will improve nurses’ global assessment of their patients. The Beck Depression Inventory assessment tool is necessary to initiate in the assessment phase to determine if interventions are needed such as a detailed psychiatric assessment The next assessment tool is Ways of Coping Questionnaire.

In 1980, Susan Folkman and Richard Lazarus created this assessment, and it was revised in 1988 ("Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WAYS)", 2012). Ways of Coping Questionnaire consist on sixty-six to sixty-seven questions ("Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WAYS)", 2012).This assessment tool is used to measure a person’s thoughts and actions used in handling a stressful encounter ("Ways of Coping Questionnaire", 2013). Ways of Coping Questionnaire identifies the processes individuals use in coping with a stressful situation ("Ways of Coping Questionnaire", 2013). This test can be completed in approximately ten minutes and is used in high school age teens through adulthood. The assessment tool cost $15.

00 and can be completed on-line with results given ("Ways of Coping Questionnaire", 2013).Ways of Coping Questionnaire is currently used by counselors to determine and develop individuals coping mechanisms ("Ways of Coping Questionnaire", 2013). The Ways of Coping Questionnaire enhances the assessment phase of the nursing process by assessing the patient’s ability to cope and determine interventions and resources to meet their needs, reduce stress, and improve coping. The last assessment tool is the Coping Resources Inventory which was created by M. Susan Marting and Allen Hammer ("Coping Resources Inventory (CRI)", 2012).The Coping Resources Inventory for Stress is to help individuals in restructuring coping resources ("Coping Resources Inventory", 2013).

The Coping Resources Inventory measure five basic ways an individual handle stress such as cognitive, social, emotional, spiritual/philosophical, and physical ("Coping Resources Inventory", 2013). This assessment tool can be administered to individuals or to groups and is appropriate for a wide range of ages ("Coping Resources Inventory (CRI)", 2012).The cost of the test is $15.00 and can be taken online and is not time consuming ("Coping Resources Inventory (CRI)", 2012). This assessment tool is an efficient and valid measure of coping ("Coping Resources Inventory", 2013). Based on research, using the Coping Resources Inventory for Stress is a reliability test that is being used in today’s practice ("Coping Resources Inventory", 2013).

The Coping Resources Inventory can improve nursing assessment by assess the patient’s primary coping resources, and to determine if other resources are needed to enrich a patient’s ability to cope.When providing care to a vulnerable population the assessment is the most essential part of the nursing process. The assessment is vital to ensure that needs are identified so that the patient receives excellent health care. Teen pregnancy and teen parenting are a vulnerable population. These assessment tools that were discussed in this paper can benefit this vulnerable population.

Per Research, teen mother display higher depression than other mothers during the prenatal phase and six months postpartum (Lanzi, Bert, & Jacobs, 2009). Depression is negatively related to parenting skills.The Beck Depression Inventory allows nurses the opportunity to assess depression in this vulnerable population and provide counseling and nurse-based interventions and prevention in preparing pregnant adolescents for motherhood (Lanzi, Bert, & Jacobs, 2009). The Ways of Coping Questionnaire can be beneficial to determine the teenager’s ability to cope with stressful events.

Becoming pregnant and becoming a parent is a stressful time in someone life. Being a parent brings out a range of emotions that can be both negative and positive.Teen parents must be able to manage these emotions to maintain a healthy and safe home. This assessment tools can be used to determine their coping mechanism to ensure that the teen parents are able to cope with these rollercoaster emotions. Becoming pregnant as a teenager can place an enormous amount of stress on the teenage and the significant other (Rivera, 2012).

Using the Coping Resources Inventory assessment tool can determine if the adolescent has established and developed coping resources to decrease stress.It is important to determine the coping resources to minimize the affect the unborn fetus may encounter due to the level of stress the mother is feeling (Brown, Harris, & Woods, 2012). Nurses must be aware of the assessment tools available to evaluate the patient’s emotionally and psychological health needs for this vulnerable population to improve patient care. Assessment is one of the most essential aspects of nursing care. Assessment must be completed initially and on-going.

To assess a patient holistically the patient’s emotionally and psychology health needs must be assessed to determine interventions that are needs. The Beck Depression Inventory, Ways of Coping Questionnaire, and Coping Resources Inventory for Stress are three important assessment tools to assess patients emotionally and psychology needs. These three assessment tools can benefit vulnerable population such as teen pregnancy. I plan to utilize these assessment tools to assist in providing excellent nursing care.