Aims and objectives. To explore the associations between illness perceptions offatigue, sense of coherence and stress in patients one year after myocardial infarc-tion.Background. Post-myocardial infarction fatigue is a stressful symptom that is dif-ficult to cope with. Patients' illness perceptions of fatigue guide professionals inpredicting how individuals will respond emotionally and cognitively to symptoms.Individuals' sense of coherence can be seen as a coping resource in managingstressors.Design. A cross-sectional study design was used.Method. One year post-myocardial infarction, a total of 74 patients still experi-encing fatigue completed four questionnaires: the Multidimensional Fatigue ScaleInventory -20, the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire, the Sense of Coherencescale (sense of coherence-13) and a single-item measure of stress symptoms.Descriptive statistics, correlations and stepwise regression analysis were carriedout.Results. Strong negative associations were found between illness perceptions offatigue, sense of coherence and stress. Sense of coherence has an impact on illnessperceptions of fatigue. Of the dimensions of sense of coherence, comprehensibilityseemed to play the greatest role in explaining illness perceptions of fatigueone year after myocardial infarction.Conclusion. To strengthen patients' coping resources, health-care professionalsshould create opportunities for patients to gain individual-level knowledge thatallows them to distinguish between common fatigue symptoms and warning signsfor myocardial infarction.Relevance to clinical practice. There is a need to improve strategies for copingwith fatigue. It is also essential to identify patients with fatigue after myocardialinfarction, as they need explanations for their symptoms and extra support
Aims: The purpose of this thesis is to describe peer educators’ experiences from the training given to them by The Leadership South Programme. The aim is also to describe the participants’ perceived self-empowerment and perceptions about their own learning and experiences of being a peer educator. The study also aims to explore how peer educators share their skills with others.
Methods: Grounded Theory is the method used for the research presented in this thesis. The data collection was done by open-ended questionnaires followed by qualitative interviews.
Results: The results show that the peer educators who participated in our study show increased self-esteem and motivation. The training has also given them increased knowledge in communicating, listening and facilitating others. Furthermore peer educators experienced increased self-awareness and learned how to motivate and support their peers and share information.
The aim of the study was to investigate the employees' experience of reflection as a work method. The sample for the study consisted of 16 employees (women aged 25-55 years) from four special housing care of the elderly who regularly work with the reflection as a work method. The methodology for this study was qualitative in nature, inspired by a phenomenological approach. The empirical data collected consisted of 16 banded individual semi-structured interviews. The asked questions have been open to give the respondents the opportunity to develop their views and thoughts and to give the study a depth. All 16 interviews were then transcribed and analyzed to arrive a result.
The theoretical framework for this study includes literature and previous research about the importance of reflection for learning and skills development in the workplace.
The result has three overarching themes emerged;
Learning, professionally approach and Culture. These themes summarize the categories that have emerged in the study. The study shows that reflection as a work method provides the group with a better fellowship where they learn from each other and a respectful attitude towards each other. For the individual person, the method gives greater self-insight, improved communication skills and increased competence. The conclusion of the study show that the reflective work method can be considered as a tool that lays the foundation for a common learning where employees have the opportunity to develop both elderly care as common values in order to strengthen and develop the quality of health care.
Background: Child health care is managed by Barnhälsovården (BHV) in Sweden. Child health care nursing promotes children’s health and development. It works with preventing illness and is dedicated to early identification and addressing those problems. It facilitates health visits for children from birth to 6 years. New mothers have a high risk of suffering from postpartum depression. EPDS screening is used to assess and identify postpartum depression. BHV-nurse is responsible for planning, implementing, and following up on health promotion and preventive measures. The nurse also creates trust and secure relations with mothers and makes systematic assessments.
Aim: The aim was to illuminate Child Health Care nurse’s experiences in conducting EPDS Screening (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale)
Method: Qualitative interviews were conducted with ten BHV-nurses. Data was analyzed using qualitative content analysis described by Lundman & Graneheim (2017).
Results: Four categories have emerged: Support for implementation, need for further development, obstacles to implementation and trusting relationship. Education, support from psychologists and work experience are three subcategories that were identified which can provide support for the implementation of EPDS screening. Competence development as well as supervision and inclusion of fathers are two subcategories which require further research. The result shows that language barrier, lack of time and difficulties in reaching each other in the conversation were obstacles in conducting EPDS screening. Communication, proper treatment and continued follow-up were important to create a trusting relationship between the nurse and the mother during EPDS screening.
Conclusion: EPDS training is a prerequisite for conducting EPDS screening. Child health care nurses feel secure when combined with psychological support and their own work experience, but they need more education and guidance. Lack of time, language difficulties and difficulties reaching each other are some obstacles faced during the EPDS screening. Interpretation guidelines need to be reviewed to overcome language barriers. EPDS screening forms need to be adjusted to the population diversity that reflect society. Conversation with fathers is also important because they can also suffer from mental illness.
The aim of the study was to examine the emergency personnel’s perception of the effects of exercises, with regard to learning and usefulness. The exercises were quasi-experimental and constructed in such a way that employees from different organizations overlapped each other’s tasks. This was accomplished by: having asymmetries included in the scenarios, repeating exercise procedures and testing different strategies, which were discussed at joint seminars. The exercises were compared to a similar study, published in this journal, of nonquasi-experimental but merely traditional exercises. Surveys were distributed and collected from emergency personnel in connection with seven exercises. At the exercises, 94.3% of the personnel thought that the exercises had a focus on collaboration (traditional exercises, 75.6%).
Background: Addiction and dependence are explained today based on a dominant model that describes addiction as a chronic and relapsing neurobiological disease. Syringe exchange is an alternative care intervention for individuals with injection drug use. The purpose of syringe exchange is to reduce the risk of spreading blood diseases, as well as to establish contact between healthcare and individuals with injection drug use.
Aim: The purpose of studies was to describe the health effects of people with injection drug use who participate in syringe exchange programs.
Method: The method in the study was a literature review. Systematic literature searches were conducted in the databases Cinahl and Pubmed, which led to seven articles that were the basis of this study's findings. The selected articles were quality reviewed, analyzed and themes were created.
Results: Three themes emerged in the results, these were “Available care”, “Increased knowledge” and “Damage minimization”. Under the theme "Available care", it emerged that a non-judgmental environment contributes to more people with injection drug use seeking care. Under "Increased knowledge", it emerged that people with injection drug use had a lack of knowledge about the risks involved in injecting drug use, and the program had increased knowledge during participation. Under "Damage minimization" it was presented how the program can control health risks through clean materials and treatments.
Conclusion: Syringe exchange increases knowledge of various health effects and possibilities for treatment and care for injection drug users. The availability of syringe exchange looks different in different countries and the implantation of knowledge depends on the conditions of each country. The various conditions that affect the countries include economy, politics and culture. Positive health effects can eventually lead to better public health at both an individual- and societal level.
Background.
An eating disorder is a serious mental illness that affects the whole body, mentally and physically. Women are more likely to develop an eating disorder than men. The largest diagnostic group is the EDNOS group (Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified) which includes BED (Binge Eating Disorder). This study focuses on the two other diagnostic groups, Anorexia Nervosa (self-starvation) and Bulimia Nervosa (binging and self-induced purging).
Aim
This study’s aim is to describe treatment options for people with eating disorders.
Method
An examination of articles was conducted. Articles were retrieved from data bases andanalysed.
Results
The findings were divided into themes and subthemes. Four themes were found, psychotherapeutic treatment, psychopharmacological treatment,treatment with alternative methods and the importance of a therapeutic relationship.The result shows that there are several treatment methods for an eating disorder and that the caregiver has a major part in the recovery.
Conclusion
No universal treatment was found so it’s important to adapt the treatment to the person’s needs. It’s also important to remember to not insult or wound the person. As a caregiver it’s necessary to remember to see beyond the disorder and see the person behind it in order to build a therapeutic relationship
The purpose of this paper is to find out how teachers at Högskolan Väst perceive their work situation. Is there a balance between work time and work, if not, why is that? The questions we sought answers to focus on their perception of working hours, tasks, accessibility in terms of support and resources, participation, and the very idea of balance between work and leisure. The study is based on semi-structured interviews conducted with academics at Högskolan Väst. To highlight the teachers' own perceptions are phenomenographically preferable because then they have the opportunity to describe and explain how they perceive their work situation and it is inspired by phenomenography as the study made.
The results of the study show that it is about professional identity, the different roles that a university teaching position and contains the individual's ability to see oneself in a context. Perceptions of priorities, the quality of teaching, meeting with students and the social network with colleagues at Högskolan Väst has been a recurrent phenomenon in the interview talks also how teachers perceive their opportunities to influence the work situation. Likewise, how teachers perceive their opportunities to influence the work situation.
Our study demonstrates the complexity of having more roles in a teaching position, and that this, together with the economic condition of the organization and larger student groups ena-bles university teachers sometimes perceive their work situation as burdensome. The teachers see as positive is the contact with students and to provide students with good prospects for future employment
Background/Objectives:The prevalence of obesity, defined as body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to30 kg/m2, differs between populations; however, there is a need for data on description on body composition in reference populations of different ages and from different countries. The objective of this study was to pool dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) body composition reference data from population-based Swedish cohorts.Subjects/Methods:Four population-based cross-sectional cohort studies including 1424 adult Swedes were divided into five age groups (20–29, 30–39, 40–49, 50–61 and 75 years of age); BMI 24.6±3.9 kg/m2 were pooled. Body composition was measured with DXA.
Results:The difference in BMI from the youngest to the oldest age group was 3.2 and 4.3 kg/m2 in men and women, respectively (P<0.001, both sexes), and fat mass (FM) was 9.9 and 9.1% higher in the oldest compared with the youngest men and women (P<0.001, both sexes). Fat-free mass (FFM) remained stable up to 60 years of age in men (P=0.83) and was lower at 75 years of age compared with the younger ages. In women, FFM was lower from age 60. From youngest to oldest age groups, height-adjusted FM differed from 4.6 to 7.8 kg/m2 in men and from 6.8 to 10.8 kg/m2 in women (P<0.001, both sexes).
Conclusions:Our results provide reference data on body composition in Swedish populations. BMI and FM were higher among older age groups compared with the younger ones. FFM remained stable up to 60 years of age and was lower first among the 75 years of age.
Jæren Recovery College offers recovery courses for persons with challenges related to mental health and or addiction. This study examined to what extent the students at Jæren Recovery College reported satisfaction with the courses, and potential relationships between different student groups or course types, and course satisfaction. Data in this cross-sectional study was collected between 2019 and 2021 (N = 211). The students reported high satisfaction with the courses. They experienced the course as source of learning and insight, and as a social arena. The findings correspond with previous research on Recovery Colleges internationally and support the relevance of Recovery Colleges in Norwegian context.
The collaboration most often found in preschools are with the child health care centers and has been found to be sporadic and deficient. According to the Education Act the guidelines to increase the quality of schools in Sweden include psychosocial health prevention by collaborating with several professions within the school system, but these guidelines does not apply to preschools despite the fact that the majority of children in Sweden go to preschool from an early age.
Most of the collaboration in preschool is focused on identifying risk factors, but according to a research summary published by the National Agency for Education most of the focus needs to be on the preventive and health promoting work. This essay is based on a social constructivist theory and a relational perspective with the assumption that every social situation is an effect of the relationship between the child, adult and the preschool organisation. With the support of previous research, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the preschool curriculum and the Education Act, questions were formulated and sent out to preschool staff through a digital survey. They were asked to answer questions about their views on their ability to work in a preventing and health promoting way and on their views on collaborations with other professions surrounding the children. The results showed that the largest obstacle was a lack of time and that the child groups were considered too big. They didn’t feel like they had the time to work health promoting for all children and that the discussion about the psychosocial health of the children wasn't prioritized. The majority of the respondents had some form of collaboration, mainly with special needs educators, psychologists and the child care centers, but they wanted to see an increased collaboration with more professions.
The aims of the present study were to map the level and distribution of aggressive and antisocial behaviors in a sample of Moroccan high school students and to define the level of these behaviors in adolescents who reported parental alcohol use problems and/or experienced abuse. In total, 375 high school students completed the "Mental and Somatic Health without borders (MeSHe)" survey that includes the Life History of Aggression scale. Male students had significantly higher scores for aggression and antisocial behaviors than female. The students who reported experience of abuse or parental alcohol use problems scored significantly higher for aggression, self-directed aggression, and antisocial behaviors compared to students not reporting these negative psychosocial factors. Previously shown gender-specific patterns in aggressive and antisocial behaviors, but not in self-harm behaviors were confirmed in these Moroccan high school students. Reported experience of abuse and/or parental alcohol use problems were associated with increased frequency of aggressive and antisocial behaviors.