Scandinavian journal of caring sciences
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Review
Informal carers' support needs when caring for a person with dementia - A scoping literature review.
Informal carers of people with dementia report having unmet needs for support and few supportive interventions have been shown to be effective. There is a need to develop needs assessment instruments and supportive interventions with a holistic and person-centred approach to meet the various and complex needs of carers. The aim of this study was to provide an overview of carers' support needs when caring for people with dementia with the objectives to map and synthesise knowledge on key concepts of carers' support needs. ⋯ The findings of this study help to map a framework describing carers' support needs that may guide the development of future needs assessment instruments and supportive interventions.
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Caring for a person with dementia predisposes informal carers (carers) to mental and physical disability. Carers tend to focus on the needs of the person with dementia and have difficulties expressing their own needs for support. No instrument has yet been developed to directly assess carers' support needs. The aim of this study is to clarify the main categories of carers' support needs to inform future development of an instrument to assess carers' support needs. ⋯ Carers have support needs in common regardless of the relation to the person with dementia. Carers tend to focus on the needs of the person with dementia, thus not knowing their own needs. The four main categories clarified in this study may inform the foundation of developing an instrument to facilitate dialogue between carers and professionals with the purpose of assessing carers' support needs.
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The previous research describes creative writing to have a potential for self-care and healing in relation to illness and mental health conditions. The aim of this article was to deepen the understanding of creative writing and human becoming, from a caring science perspective. A data material consisting of answers from an e-form and diaries was analysed with a thematic analysis. ⋯ The first main theme, Creative writing - an act of emotional reactions and release, shows that creative writing is an act where fears and emotional reactions are unveiled; it is a relieving valve for the writer and includes moments of liberating wordplay. The second main theme, Creative writing - a key to self-understanding and personal growth, shows that creative writing is a genuine conveying of oneself to others, to experience mercifulness within oneself, to keep up faith in oneself and hope for the future and to find a new order of values. Creative writing enhances human becoming and gives possibilities for human beings to find inner peace and balance in life.
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There is limited research on nurses' experiences of nursing care in the operating room. The operating room nurses' responsibility is to ensure good nursing care before, during and after surgery. In an increasingly technological health care environment, there is always a risk of turning the focus away from nursing care towards technology and medicine. ⋯ The operating room nurses' experienced threats to safe nursing when they lacked time for the patients as well as for their own recovery, and they lacked feedback in order to improve care. They ensured security for patients by establishing one-to-one contact, protecting patients' well-being and working in teams for the patients' best interest, participants also focused on the task at hand instead of the patient as a person. New ways of organising work in operating units, and well-functioning teams can be a key to a successful integration of experiences from ward nurse to an operating room nurse, and provide support so that they feel more visible, at ease and safe in their new profession.
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Patient participation is fundamental to nursing care and has beneficial effects on patient outcomes. However, it is not well embedded yet and little is known on how nurses could effectively stimulate patient participation in hospital care. The Tell-us Card is a communication tool for inviting patients to talk about their preferences and needs, and to increase patient participation in daily care. ⋯ This pilot study showed a positive early effect of the Tell-us Card communication tool on patient participation, although integration in daily nursing care appeared to be complex and an optimal fit has not yet been reached. Patients were positive about the intervention and wrote meaningful issues on the Tell-us Cards. More research is needed on how to incorporate patient participation effectively in complex hospital care.