This document provides information about Issue 46 of the scientific journal "Nursing Care and Research". It includes: - An index of articles in the issue on topics like the training needs of nurses in Cyprus and the relationship between social support and health. - Information about the journal, including that it is published 3 times per year by the Greek Nursing Studies Association and indexed in databases like Scopus and CINAHL. - The editorial board and instructions for authors submitting manuscripts, which must be original and contribute new knowledge to nursing practice, research, education or management.

1. 1ISSUE 46
SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL, 3 ISSUES PER YEAR SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER 2016
Published by the Greek
Nursing Studies
Association (GNSA)
ISSUE
46
INDEXED IN SCOPUS, ΕΒSCO, CINAHL
ISSN 22413960
• Training needs of nurses in public hospitals
in Cyprus
• Mental health impact in first responders
• The relatinship between social support and health
related quality of life: systematic review
• Effectiveness of an educational program
on first aid for high school pupils
PUBLICATIONS
οcelotos

2. 2

3. 3ISSUE 46
Scientific Journal, 3 Issues per Year
Published by the Greek Nursing Studies Association (GNSA)
Nursing
Care AND Research
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Chryssoula Lemonidou, RN, MSc, PhD, Professor
of Nursing, University of Athens
CO-EDITORS
Eleni Apostolopoulou, RN, PhD, Emeritus Professor of
Nursing, University of Athens
Ioannis Elefsiniotis, PhD, Associate Professor, Faculty of
Nursing, University of Athens
Panagiota Sourtzi, RN, MSc, PhD, Professor, Faculty of
Nursing, University of Athens
Olga Siskou, RN, M.Sc. Ph.D, Faculty of Nursing, Univer-
sity of Athens, President of the Greek Nursing Stud-
ies Association
EDITORIAL BOARD
Lambros Anthopoulos, Emeritus Professor, Faculty of
Nursing, University of Athens
George Baltopoulos, PhD, Professor, Faculty of Nurs-
ing, University of Athens
Thalia Bellali, RN, MSc, PhD, Associate Professor of
Nursing, Technological Educational Institute of Thes-
saloniki
Konstantinos Birbas, PhD, Associate Professor, Faculty
of Nursing, University of Athens
Gerasimos Bonatsos, PhD, Professor, Faculty of Nurs-
ing, University of Athens
Charalambos Economou, Associate Professor, Depart-
ment of Sociology, Panteion University
Petros Galanis, RN, MPH, PhD, Center for Health Ser-
vices Management and Evaluation, Department of
Nursing, National & Kapodistrian University of Ath-
ens
Margarita Giannakopoulou, MSc, PhD, Associate Pro-
fessor, Faculty of Nursing, University of Athens
Leonidas Grigorakos, Associate Professor, Faculty of
Nursing, University of Athens
Michael Igoumenidis, RN, M.Sc. Ph.D.
Dafni Kaitelidou, MSc, PhD, Associate Professor, Faculty
of Nursing, University of Athens
Ioannis Kaklamanos, PhD, Associate Professor, Faculty
of Nursing, University of Athens
Maria Kalafati, RN, MSc, PhD, Faculty of Nursing, Uni-
versity of Athens
Athina Kalokerinou, RN, PhD, Professor of Nursing,
Faculty of Nursing, University of Athens
Evangelos Konstantinou, RN, MSc, PhD, Associate
Professor, Faculty of Nursing, University of Athens
Vassiliki Matziou, RN, PhD, Professor, Faculty of Nurs-
ing, University of Athens
Pavlos Myrianthefs, PhD, Professor, Faculty of Nurs-
ing, University of Athens
Elisabeth Patiraki, RN, PhD, Professor, Faculty of
Nursing, University of Athens
Sotiris Plakas, RN, MSc, PhD, General Hospital of At-
tika «Sismanoglion»
Olga Siskou, RN, MSc, PhD, Faculty of Nursing, Uni-
versity of Athens, President of the Greek Nursing
Studies Association
EleniTheodossopoulou, Professor, Faculty of Nurs-
ing, University of Athens
INTERNATIONAL EDITORIAL BOARD
John Albarran, Principal Lecturer in Critical Care
Nursing, University of the West of England, Bris-
tol, UK
Maria Katopodi, PhD, Assistant Professor, University
of Michigan, USA
Katerina Labrinou, PhD, Assistant Professor in Nurs-
ing, Cyprus University of Technology
Anastasia Mallidou, RN, MSc, PhD, Assistant
Professor, University of Victoria, Canada
Anastasios Merkouris, RN, MSc, PhD, Associate
Professor of Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Cyprus
University of Technology
Evridiki Papastavrou, PhD, Assistant Professor in
Nursing, Cyprus University of Technology
Elisabeth D.E. Papathanassoglou, RN, MSc, PhD,
Associate Professor, Faculty of Nursing, Cyprus
University of Technology
Julie Scholes, Professor of Nursing, University of
Brighton, Brighton, UK
Riita Suhonen, RN, PhD, Profes sor, University of
Turku, Department of Nursing Science, Turku,
Finland

4. 4

5. 5ISSUE 46
Contents
NursingCare AND Research
Published by the Greek Nursing Studies Association (GNSA)
Publisher and Editor-in-Chief: Chryssoula Lemonidou
Address: 123, Papadiamantopoulou st., 115 27 - Athens, GREECE
Tel.: +30 210-7461485
e-mail: info@nursingstudies.gr
Technical publisher: Ocelotos publishing
Annual Subscriptions 2012 for Εlectronic Version
Public Services, Libraries, Companies, Organisations: € 30,00
Individual Subscriptions: € 20,00
© Copyright 2007 - 2014: All rights reserved. The reproduction of articles (or parts of them) is
prohibited without permission of the publisher and the writers.
Instructions to Authors������������������������������������������������������������������ 168
ORIGINAL PAPER
Training needs of nurses in public hospitals
in Cyprus������������������������������������������������������������������������� 181
Kitsiou A, Bilali A., Vraka I., Theodorou M.
REVIEW
Mental health impact in first responders�����������������������197
G. Gianni, D. Papadatou
REVIEW
The relatinship between social support and health
related quality of life: systematic review������������������������ 225
Sarla E., Lambrinou E., Kalokairinou A., Sourtzi P.
ORIGINAL PAPER
Effectiveness of an educational program
on first aid for high school pupils������������������������������������� 241
M. Ioannidou, P. Galanis, P. Filippidis, A. Bilali, I. Vraka, M. Theodorou

6. 6
GENERAL INFORMATION
1. “Nursing Care and Research” publishes, fol-
lowing peer review, articles in Greek or English,
contributing to the understanding and devel-
opment of all aspects of nursing care. The Ed-
itorial Department receives manuscripts relat-
ing to nursing practice, research, education
and management, with scientific, theoretical
or philosophical basis.
2. Papers published in the journal belong to
one of the following categories: a) research
studies, b) literature reviews and c) articles re-
lating to developments in nursing practice,
education and management. Additionally, let-
ters (no longer than 500 words), including re-
views or comments on previously published
work, are published if submitted within two (2)
months from the publication of the research
concerned.
3. Manuscripts must be submitted exclusive-
ly to the “Nursing Care and Research” journal,
they must not have been published in print or
electronic form, or undergo peer review at an-
other journal or medium at the time of sub-
mission. The Editorial Director decides time of
publication and reserves the right to change
manuscript format; however, large or substan-
tial changes are made only following author
consent.
Authors should avoid submitting two man-
uscripts from the same study without clear
justification. Also, they should not include in
new work material from background litera-
ture reviews that have already been published
(eg avoidance of self-plagiarism). In the event
that two papers emerge from the same re-
search study, presenting different aspects of
the work at hand, they must be submitted in-
dependently and not as two parts of the same
article. Each article should be autonomous
and must not include the other, although
cross - references can be made. When a com-
plete description of the research methodology
is made in the first article a brief description is
sufficient in the the second provided the first is
adequately referenced. Generally, one should
avoid publishing numerous individual papers
emanating from the same study (“salami slic-
ing”) and instead should focus on the different
aspects and research findings within a single
publication.
If the manuscript is accepted for publication,
the authors must complete and send via fax
at 00302107461485 the Non-Publication in An-
other Medium Form, which forms part of the
supporting files as required in the submission
process.
Instructions for Authors
MISSION AND AIM OF THE JOURNAL
“Nursing Care and Research” is a peer-reviewed journal accepting manuscripts from researchers
from Greece and abroad. Its mission is to contribute to the development of nursing science and
practice in Greece as well as internationally. The aim is to promote and disseminate new knowledge
and research data for eventual application in clinical practice. To this end, nurses and other affiliated
researchers are invited to submit high-calibre manuscripts in Greek or English. The journal welcomes
original research papers, reviews, theoretical or philosophical articles, interesting clinical cases and
methodological articles from experts. Nursing Care and Research is recognized at national level (FEK
issue B 1961/23-9-2008) and is indexed at the CINHAL, EBSCO and SCOPUS International Databases.

7. 7ISSUE 46
4. Author participation in the drafting pro-
cess
All authors cited in a manuscript must have ac-
tively contributed to the conception and de-
sign of the study and/or the analysis and in-
terpretation of data and/or in drafting the
manuscript and all should have analysed and
approved the content of the final version sub-
mitted for publication. Participation only in
the funding-seeking process or data collection
does not justify listing among the authors, and
can be acknowledged in the Acknowledge-
ment section. For this reason, when several au-
thors are cited, a separate letter is required ex-
plaining in detail the contribution of each (eg
methodological design, statistical analysis and
interpretation, drafting of final text, reviewing
and editing, literature review etc). The editori-
al department reserves the right to contact au-
thors to obtain clarifications on specific issues.
5. Submission process
Manuscriptsforpublicationaresubmittedelec-
tronically via e-mail: info@nursingstudies.gr
in Word for Windows format. Figures, tables,
graphics and images (only black white) are
to be submitted in separate files in JPEG, GIF,
TIFF, Microsoft PowerPoint and Excel formats.
Authors are advised to confirm that their work
has been received by contacting the Secre-
tariat on weekdays between 10.00-16.00, tel:
00302106512282. In addition, authors should
always maintain a copy of their work.
6. Periodicity
The journal is published three (3) times per
year (quarterly) and includes research pa-
pers submitted exclusively by its subscribers.
The author or at least one of the authors of
any manuscripts submitted must already be a
registered subscriber of the journal or a paid
member of the Nursing Studies Society for the
current year.
7. Retention of material
Authors are advised that submitted manu-
scripts are kept in record for one month af-
ter publication. If there is a request for the re-
turn of any material it should be clearly stated
when manuscripts are being submitted.
Organisation and format
8. Script: Texts should be double-spaced,
with font size 12 and 2.5 cm white margin on
all sides of each A4 page. All pages must be
numbered in the lower right corner and the
figures, tables, graphics and photos are to be
submitted in separate pages, in continuous
numbering.
9. Identification Page: The first page of each
manuscript includes the title (up to 15 words)
and the names of the authors in Greek and En-
glish. Each author name is accompanied by
qualifications, the last professional title, em-
ployer, mailing and e-mail address and tele-
phone number. In case of several authors, the
name of the author to whom inquiries regard-
ing the paper should be directed must be indi-
cated (corresponding author).
The authors of research studies cannot exceed
six (6), apart from exceptional circumstanc-
es when it comes to multi-disciplinary, large-
scale multicenter studies. The authors of oth-
er types of manuscripts cannot exceed two (2).
All authors listed in the manuscript must have
made an active contribution to the conception
and design of the study and/or the analysis
and interpretation of data and/or in the draft-
ing of the manuscript and everyone should
have studied and approved the final version
submitted for publication. Participation only
in the funding-seeking process or data collec-
tion does not justify listing among the authors,
and can be acknowledged in the Acknowledg-
ment section.
The identification page will be stored at the
journal’s Secretariat office until the comple-
tion of each anonymous peer review, receiv-
ing a code number communicated to the au-
thor via e-mail. With this number the author
can request information on the progress of
their manuscript following submission.
10. Title Page: Immediately after the identi-
fication page, follows the title page, which in-
cludes the title and the running title of the pa-
per. The running title will appear in Greek and

8. 8
English language and cannot exceed five (5)
words. This page does not list names of au-
thors or any other item that violates their ano-
nymity during the peer-review process.
11. AbstractsandKeywords:The title page is
followed by the abstracts (up to 250 words) in
Greek and English, which will accurately sum-
marize the content of the work. The abstract
includes a) introduction, b) aim(s), c) method-
ology, d) results and e) conclusion, and must
not contain bibliographical references and ab-
breviations. Each abstract is followed by up to
six (6) keywords that indicate the content, pur-
pose and focus of the manuscript.
12. Main body of work: The area of ​​the main
body of the manuscript should be 2,000-5,000
words (excluding abstracts, tables and bibliog-
raphy). Short manuscripts (up to 2,500 words
in the main body and up to fifteen (15) refer-
ences) are particularly welcome. This option is
recommended for the dissemination of small-
scale research studies of outstanding val-
ue, without the possibility of extrapolations
or repetition. In addition, smaller-scale man-
uscripts are more likely to reach publication
stage faster.
The manuscript should include headings to
further clarify text sections. Proposed head-
ings include: a) introduction, b) literature re-
view, c) aims, d) research questions and
assumptions, e) sample f) data collection pro-
cess, g) reliability and validity, h) ethical issues,
i) data analysis, j) results, k) discussion, l) lim-
itations of the study,m) conclusions and rel-
evance to nursing practice, n) acknowledg-
ments etc. Headings must be selected and
adapted to content needs and their hierarchi-
cal order should be clearly distinguishable; for
example first level headings should appear in
upper case and bold fonts, second level head-
ings in lower case and bold fonts, third level
headings in italics and so on and so forth.
Study population anonymity and informed
consent
In order to ensure anonymity, the manuscript
should not include the names of specific in-
dividuals, hospitals or other entities, without
their explicit consent. Furthermore, patients
retain a fundamental right in regards to re-
specting their privacy which should not be in-
fringed without their informed consent. How-
ever, in those cases where the authors consider
that certain personal patient data are essen-
tial for scientific purposes (such as patient ini-
tials or photographs or names of hospitals) in-
formed consent is necessary. This means that
authors are required to show the final version
of their work (with the accompanying files: Im-
ages and Annexes) prior to submission to the
journal and receive written consent from the
patients.
In each case, the authors should make an ef-
fort to ensure the greatest possible degree of
patient anonymity. For example, covering the
eye area in photos does not fully ensure the
anonymity of the depicted. Changes in some
patient characteristics is the technique rec-
ommended to authors, provided that these
changes do not distort/misinterpret the re-
search results. Such changes should always be
communicated to the publisher along with as-
surances that these changes will not result in
any “alteration” of a scientific nature. Obtain-
ing of the written informed consent should be
stated in the methodology section, in the final
text of the submitted manuscript.
ADHERING TO THE HUMAN RIGHTS CODE OF
CONDUCT
Should authors publish results of studies con-
ducted on humans, the methodology section
should indicate whether they were conducted
according to the principles of the Declaration
of Human Rights, (Helsinki 1975) as revised in
2004. Should certain processes deviate from
these principles, these must be methodolog-
ically outlined and justified.
Specifically, concerning clinical studies (in-
vasive or not), authors should indicate, in the
methodology section whether they were con-
ducted upon approval of the National Agency

9. 9ISSUE 46
for Medicines (EOF) in accordance with Minis-
terial Decision DYG 3/89292 Gazette V1973/31-
12-2003 (aligned with Directive 2001/20/EC).
It should also be indicated that data is histori-
cal and should be referred to in the past tense.
The time of data collection should be reported
in both the abstract and the main text. For ex-
ample, in the case of empirical studies, this can
be stated thus: “Data collection was carriedout
during 2007” or “Data collection was performed
over 18 months, in the 2006-2007 period.” Note
that the “Nursing Care and Research” journal
does not publish studies citing data older than
five (5) years, unless current relevance is suffi-
ciently justified. In qualitative studies, individu-
als should refer to numbers or aliases (in quotes)
and mentions should be balanced equally across
the full range of responses.
In the case of reviews, the year of the review
should be reported and the range of publica-
tion years of the studies reviewed should be
reported. Such details should be mentioned
in historical studies. The statistical tests used,
ought to be defined and, where necessary,
documented with references.
Abbreviations and symbols should be used
rarely and only in the case of names or expres-
sions of extensive length. The full names or ex-
pressions will be referred to during first use,
followed by the abbreviation in parentheses.
In any case, abbreviations will follow the rules
set out by the Royal Society of Medicine Press.
13. Conficts of interest
Public confidence in the peer-review process
depends partly on the management of any
conflicting interests arising in the writing, eval-
uation and final publication decision as artic-
ulated by the editorial department. Conflicts
of interest arise when an author (or the institu-
tion to which the author belongs to), a review-
er or the Managing Editor maintain financial or
personal relationships that can in a negative
way affect their actions/judgment regarding
the manuscript submitted to the journal. More
specifically, according to the requirements for
manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals
(as issued in February 2006 by the Internation-
al Committee of Medical Journals Publishers)
conflicting interests arise when financial rela-
tionships exist (eg employer – employee, own-
ership of property, financial honorary prizes,
and paid expert opinions) and these are the
most easily identifiable cases and those that
most often undermine the credibility of the
journal, the publishers, the authors and the sci-
entific endeavours in general. However, con-
flicting interests may arise for other reasons as
well such as poor interpersonal relationships,
academic competition etc.
Authors must indicate at the end of the text
and prior to the references section if they con-
sider that the peer review of their work may be
affected or not by the existence of any conflict
of interest as described above.
14. Sources of funding
Authors should indicate details (entity name,
contact information, amount awarded) of all
funding sources from which their research
benefitted. Examples of such sources in-
clude: medical or non-medical interest com-
pany funds, scholarships, national or Europe-
an Community grants, support from scientific
bodies (eg scientific societies, non -profit insti-
tutions etc.). It should also be indicated if the
work was carried out as part of a national or
transnational program, financed by nation-
al or international sources. In this case, full de-
tails of the program (awarding body, duration,
amount of funding, etc.) must be disclosed.
This information should be listed in a separate
section following the conflicts of interest sec-
tion.
15. Acknowledgements
The funding sources section is followed by
the optional Acknowledgements section, stat-
ing the names and affiliations of all those who
contributed (eg through the provision of pri-
mary data, or by reviewing the text or provid-
ing their opinion) to the drafting of the man-
uscript (apart from the authors). This section

10. 10
should acknowledge any sponsors donating
materials and tools required for the research.
16. Bibliographic References: Bibliograph-
ic references in the text should indicate the
names of the authors followed by the date in
chronological order, eg. (Lewis 1975, Barnett
1992, Chalmers 1994). When there are more
than two authors, the name of the first author
followed by et al., eg. (Barder et al. 1994), is ref-
erenced in the text but all authors should be
listed in the bibliography. When quotes are
used in the text, the page should be referred
to eg. (Chalmers 1994, p.7). All references must
be from primary sources.
The literature list follows the Harvard system,
written in alphabetical order based on the sur-
name of the first author. The list should in-
clude authors’ surnames and initials, the date
of publication, article title, full name of journal,
volume number (and issue number if the vol-
ume pages are not consecutive) and the first
and last page of the article. When the refer-
ence applies to a book, the author, the date,
the title, followed by the publisher and the city
must be stated. When the reference applies to
a chapter in a book, details on the author(s) of
the book, the date, place of publication and
publisher must be provided. These references
that are said to be “in press”, shall be accepted
only if accompanied by a letter of acceptance
from the journal in question.
Examples:
Williams N. (2001). Patient resuscitation follow-
ing major thermal trauma. Nursing in Critical
Care: 6: 115-121
Muller D, Harns P, Watley L. (1986). Nursing
Children: Psychology Research and Practice.
London: Harper Row.
Lewis T, Hell J. (1992). Rhabdomyolysis and
Myoglobinuria. In: Hall J, Schmidt G, Wood L.
(eds), Principles of Critical Care, Volume 2. New
York: McGraw Hill.
Websites are refencees as follows:
National Institute for Clinical Excellence (2000)
Final appraisal determination: Drugs for early
thrombolysis in the treatment of acute myo-
cardial infarction, NICE, www.nice.org.uk/ar-
ticle.asp?a =36672. Last access on 7 October
2006.
17. Figures , Tables , Graphics , Photos :
Tables must be referred to herein as Tables,
numbered in the order they are presented, eg
as Table 1, Table 2, etc. and incorporated in the
correct place in the body of the text. All imag-
es, including photos, must be referred to here-
in as Figures and numbered in the order they
are presented, eg Figure 1, Figure 2 etc. They
must also be captioned and may be accom-
panied by a legend not exceeding thirty (30)
words. Figures of all forms will cover a single
column (width 86mm) or two columns when
needed (width 177mm). The journal reserves
the right to adjust the size of figures for tech-
nical reasons.
When material (including figures, tables, etc.)
that has already been published elsewhere ap-
pears in the manuscript, the written permis-
sion of the original authors (or those who own
the copyright of said material) must be ob-
tained. The authors of published papers are
fully liable for any copyright infringement.
Peer-review process
18. All submitted work is reviewed (anony-
mously) by two (2) independent referees/re-
viewers and, if they contain complex statistical
methodologies by a statistician as well. Re-
viewers decide whether an article is a) accept-
ed, b) requires modifications or c) rejected. In
case of disagreement among the reviewers,
the Managing Editor will reach a final decision,
taking into account all reviewer comments.
If the reviewers suggest modifications, the
manuscript is returned by the journal secretar-
iat to the corresponding author for redrafting
and resubmission within six weeks from the
date the comments were made (the review
process spans usually 6-8 weeks and in some
cases can reach up to 10 weeks). During resub-
mission, authors are required to indicate the
modifications they have carried out in accor-
dance to reviewer instructions in a letter to the
Managing Editor. The modified manuscript is
forwarded to the reviewers if deemed neces-

11. 11ISSUE 46
sary, and they confirm whether or not modi-
fications comply with their recommendations.
At that point the Managing Editor reaches the
final decision to publish the article.
19. Electronic Reprint: Following publica-
tion, the corresponding author will receive an
electronic reprint of the article in PDF format.
Electronic reprints will be distributed by him/
her to the other authors. The journal does not
issue printed reprints of published work.
COPYRIGHT
20. In order to publish any article in the “Nurs-
ing Care and Research” journal, the authors are
asked to grant this exclusive right to the Soci-
ety for Nursing Studies. Along with the draft
for modifications the authors receive an Au-
thorization for Exclusive Publication form
which must be filled, signed and returned by
mail (or by email as a pdf file) to the journal,
along with the modified manuscript.
When a paper is derived from an extensive re-
search study and the same or other authors
have prepared additional papers, which have
been published or submitted for publication
in this or other journals, the corresponding
author must notify the Managing Editor so as
to ensure that third party copyright is not in-
fringed. Any impact emanating from copyright
infringement lies exclusively with the authors
of published articles and the journal will pro-
ceed with all necessary actions.
FINAL NOTE
Subscribers preparing manuscripts for publi-
cation in the “Nursing Care and Research” jour-
nal are requested to adhere to these Instruc-
tions for Authors carefully in order to avoid
delays in the publication of their work and the
publication of new volumes of the journal.

12. 12
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Continuing nursing training
is necessary in order to achieve higher health
care quality in public hospitals.
PURPOSE: To evaluate training needs of nurses
in all public hospitals in Cyprus and to investi-
gate relations between demographic and occu-
pational characteristics and training needs.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study with 385
nurses was conducted in all public hospitals in
Cyprus during October 2014 to January 2015.
Nurses completed the “Training Needs Analysis
Questionnaire” that includes 30 skills and five
scales: research/audit, communication/team-
work, clinical tasks, managerial tasks and man-
agement/supervision. Data analysis was per-
formed with IBM SPSS 21.0.
RESULTS: Nurses stated that all 30 skills were
important for nursing role. Among them 7 skills
were considered as very important, 22 as impor-
tant and only one as less important. Nurses self-
estimated their performance as very high in five
skills, as high in 23 skills and as moderate in two
skills. Moreover, they stated that after the ap-
propriate training, their performance could be
improved in a very important degree in 21 skills
and in an important degree in nine skills. Nurses
without a MSc/Phd degree had greater training
needs in research/audit scale than nurses with a
MSc/Phd degree (p0.02).
CONCLUSIONS: Nurses consider their training
as an important issue and that will help them to
improve their clinical performance.
KEYWORDS: evaluation, Cyprus, nurses, train-
ing, training needs.
ORIGINAL PAPER
Training needs of nurses in public
hospitals in Cyprus
Kitsiou A, RN, MSc
Galanis P., RN, MPH, PhD, Center for Health Services Management and Evaluation, Department of
Nursing, National Kapodistrian University of Athens
Bilali A., RN, MSc, PhD, Children’s Hospital “P. A. Kiriakou”
Vraka I., Radiologist, MSc, PhD (c)
Theodorou M., Associate Professor, Open University of Cyprus
Corresponding Author:
Galanis P., Address: 67 Mikras Asias St., GR-11527, Athens, Phone number: (210) 7781044, 6944387354,
e-mail: pegalan@nurs.uoa.gr

13. 13ISSUE 46
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Major crises and disasters
have a wide range of effects on the physical and
mental health of the general population and
of rescuers who are exposed to them. Howev-
er, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the
mental health condition that is most frequently
explored by researchers after a disaster.
PURPOSE: Purpose of the current systematic
review is to investigate whether professional
rescuers (firefighters, police officers, emergen-
cy medical service workers), consist a high risk
group for PTSD after being exposed to cata-
strophic events.
METHODS: A literature systematic review was
conducted the period October-December 2015
regarding the exposure of professional re-
sponders to crises and disasters. The search was
performed on PubMed and Scopus with the use
of keywords: first responders, police, firefight-
ers, stress, PTSD, disasters.
RESULTS: Οnly 37 scientific papers explored
the prevalence of PTSD in professional rescu-
ers, and met the inclusion criteria in the pre-
sent review. The prevalence of PTSD among
professional rescuers worldwide is estimated
to approximate 10% for studies conducted one
month to ten years after the catastrophic event.
The highest risk is documented among firefight-
ers, followed by ambulance personnel, and po-
lice officers, particularly women police officers.
PTSD often coexists with other mental health
disorders such as depression, anxiety disorders,
and drug or alcohol dependency or abuse. The
factors which are related to an increased risk for
PTSD include gender, direct exposure to major
disasters causing multiple losses, the death of a
co-worker and personal injury.
CONCLUSIONS: Further qualitative and lon-
gitudinal studies are warranted, with samples
comprising professional rescuers who, by pro-
fession, are trained to cope with the effects of
disasters, and are repeatedly exposed to trau-
matic events which affect their mental health
being.
KEY WORDS: first responders, police, firefight-
ers, stress, PTSD, disasters
REVIEW
Mental health impact in first responders
G. Gianni, Fire Officer, Economist, MSc “Crisis Management and Emergencies”, Department of Nursing,
School of Health Sciences, Νational and Kapodistrian University of Athens
D. Papadatou, Professor of Clinical Psychology, Department of Nursing, School of Health Sciences,
Νational and Kapodistrian University of Athens
CorrespondingAuthor:
G. Gianni, 40 Patroklou str., 35100 Lamia – 31 str. Rogkakou str., 15125 Marousi,
e-mail: giannoula_gianni@yahoo.gr

14. 14
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Social networks usually affect
the health status and self-esteem of groups and
individuals positively. The higher the degree of
social networking, the higher the influence. The
impact on older people is of particular interest.
AIM: This systematic review examines whether
perceived social support by older people receive
from various groups in their life is related to or
affects their health and quality of life.
METHODS: The electronic databases PubMed,
Scopus, Cochrane were searched with keywords
“social support”, “perceived social support”,
“health related quality of life”, “older people” in
all possible combinations using the operator
“and”. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were used.
All studies which referred to social support and
health related quality of life of older people were
included in the review. To assess the methodo-
logical quality of the studies we used Joanna
Briggs Institute’s critical appraisal checklist.
RESULTS: Twenty-two studies were included in
this systematic review. Social support and health
related quality of life were measured by using
different tools for measuring social support and
health. In the majority of studies social support
positively influences all aspects of health and
quality of life. In some studies, social support has
a positive and statistically significant relation-
ship with health regardless of the type of social
network.
CONCLUSION: Different types of social relation-
ships affect functionality of older people differ-
ently. A large social support network that ex-
tends beyond the family is a key factor for better
overall health of older people.
KEY-WORDS: “elderly”, “social support”, “quality
of life”
REVIEW
The relatinship between social support
and health related quality of life:
systematic review
Sarla E., RN, MSc, PhD(c), Section of Public Health, Department of Nursing, National and Kapodistrian
University of Athens
Lambrinou E., RN, PhD, FESC, FHFA, Ass. Professor, Department of Nursing, Cyprus University of
Technology
Kalokairinou A., Professor of Community Medicine, Department of Nursing, National and Kapodistrian
University of Athens
Sourtzi P., Professor of Occupational Health, Department of Nursing, National and Kapodistrian
University of Athens
CorrespondingAuthor:
Sarla E., 4 Iolkou str. 121 33 Peristeri, tel: 6972463053, email: esarla@nurs.uoa.gr

15. 15ISSUE 46
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Children’s knowledge about
first aid is extremely important to decrease the
negative consequences of accidents.
PURPOSE: To evaluate the knowledge of high
school pupils about first aid and the effective-
ness of an educational program.
METHODS: A quasi-experimental study was
conducted between October 2014 to April 2015
with voluntarily participation of high school pu-
pils of Piraeus. Pupils’ knowledge was assessed
with 22 questions with multiple answers. Pupils
completed the knowledge questionnaire in two
times, one before and one a week after the edu-
cational program. Data analysis was performed
with the statistical package IBM SPSS 21.0.
RESULTS: The mean first aid knowledge score
before the educational program was 9.2, while
after that was 21.6 (p0.001). Increased grade
in school was associated with increased first
aid knowledge score after the educational pro-
gram (p0.001). Also, increased grade in school
(p0.001), increased information about first aids
(p=0.014) and increased visiting of web pages
with healthcare material (p=0.03) were associ-
ated with increased first aid knowledge score
before the educational program. Finally, first aid
knowledge score was higher for pupils in public
schools than those in private schools (p=0.02).
CONCLUSIONS: The educational program in-
creased considerably the limited knowledge of
pupils about first aid.
KEYWORDS: cardiopulmonary resuscitation,
determinants, educational program, first aids,
students
Effectiveness of an educational program
on first aid for high school pupils
M. Ioannidou, B.A. Greek Language and Literature, MSc
P. Galanis, RN, MPH, PhD, Center for Health Services Management and Evaluation, Department of
Nursing, University of Athens
P. Filippidis, Resident Physician in Internal Medicine, Hospital of Kremlin-Bicetre, Paris
A. Bilali, RN, MSc, PhD, Children’s Hospital “P. A. Kiriakou”
I.Vraka, Radiologist, MSc, PhD (c)
M.Theodorou, Associate Professor, Open University of Cyprus
Corresponding author:
P. Galanis, Address: 67 Mikras Asias St., GR-11527, Athens, e-mail: pegalan@nurs.uoa.gr
ORIGINAL PAPER

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