Scandinavian journal of caring sciences
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Fatigue is reported to be one of the most common symptoms among people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD. However, there is hardly any qualitative research describing how fatigue affects people living with this illness. ⋯ Fatigue affects the daily lives of people with COPD. Perceived with dyspnoea, fatigue was described as overwhelming. Most importantly, fatigue seems to be unexpressed to healthcare professionals and relatives.
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Spiritual dimensions such as hope, meaning in life and self-transcendence have been found to be predictors of successful ageing, life satisfaction and well-being in older individuals. Connectedness and communicating with others have been seen to facilitate hope, meaning in life and self-transcendence among nursing home patients. ⋯ The SEM model tested comprised 20 variables, indicating a desirable sample size of n = 200, while the present effective sample was n = 187. Also, cross-sectional data do not allow making conclusion on the causality.
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Neck and back pain are major public health problems in Western societies and cause considerable disability and health service use. Swedish women report more severe neck and back pain compared with Swedish men. Most studies on the aetiology of gender differences in pain deal with biological mechanisms, and less with the role of psychological and sociocultural factors. 'Pain beliefs' is a sociocultural factor and can be expressed in different ways among women and men. It is important to know what pain beliefs are held by neck and back pain patients, especially when medical guidelines recommend that back pain patients stay physically active. ⋯ Neck or back pain patients in the study saw the body as fragile and were afraid of hurting it. Notions of gender had an impact on the given advice about activity and on how patients perceived the message about staying active.