Scandinavian journal of caring sciences
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Addressing pain and suffering are critical issues for home-care nurses. Pain is frequently experienced by people living at home with chronic illnesses, as well as acutely ill people discharged early from hospitals. The purpose of this qualitative ethology study was to explore and describe the interactions and experiences expressing and responding to pain in home-care nurse-patient interactions. ⋯ The methodology of this study allows an in-depth view of typical nurse-patient interactions. It explores the subtle communicative expertise of nurses by investigating the types of communication used in nursing encounters and by explicating behavioural patterns of expressing and responding to suffering. Observational research of interaction-as-it-occurs must continue to better understand how nurses and patients co-construct personal identities of suffering and stoicism.
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The aim of this study was to ascertain the perceptions of parents, with first time major depression, regarding the social support for themselves and their children. Eighteen parents, with children under the age of 19, were interviewed on admission to an inpatient unit and of these 16 were followed up 1 year later. In addition, the severity of parents' depression and their functional status was measured. ⋯ This highlights the need to investigate the importance of social support for the family as a whole when one of them suffers from depression. There is a need for improved treatment of parental depression to reduce symptoms such as decreased functional status that may impair parenting. The study also emphasises the need for healthcare practitioners to assess multiple aspects of social support so that care planning will target all relevant domains.
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The purpose of this study was to evaluate, in a long-term perspective, the impact of a physical therapy-based educational programme on patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS). The programme includes information about the syndrome, information about pain and muscle physiology, training in warm water, stretching, body awareness therapy and relaxation in groups of 15 patients twice weekly, 2 hours during 10 weeks. A total of 240 patients with FMS participated in the study before and immediately after the programme and at a follow up with a mean of 35 months after the programme. ⋯ The results showed a significant improvement on several symptoms when comparing before and after the programme, and at the time of follow up the patients' rated well-being was still improved. The results also showed that the patients' pretreatment perception of symptoms, well-being and SOC are predictors to the perception of general health at the follow up of a physical therapy programme. The conclusion is that a physical therapy programme for patients with FMS may have a positive impact on patients' general well-being but not on other symptoms.