Open Access Theses - Health Science - 2010 and earlier

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  • Publication
    Inner strength among the oldest old : a good aging
    ( 2006)
    Nygren, Björn
    The overall purpose of this thesis is to describe, explore and illuminate inner strength among the oldest old. The thesis has a salutogenic perspective where strengths and health are in the foreground instead of weakness and ill health. The thesis is part of The Umeå 85+ study and comprises four studies with both quantitative and qualitative data. The aim of Study I was to test reliability and validity of the Swedish language version of the Resilience Scale (RS) in regard to its stability, internal consistency and validity. A convenience sample of 142 participants aged 19 to 85 years answered the questionnaires the first time and 126 on the retest. In Study II scales aimed to measure phenomena related to inner strength, health and development were used. The aim was to describe resilience, sense of coherence, purpose in life, and self-transcendence in relation to perceived physical and mental health in a sample of 125 participants aged 85 to 103 years. Study III aimed to give a more extensive knowledge of resilience among the oldest old. The relationship between resilience and physical health factors, psychological health factors, diseases and social relations were examined among a sample of 192 persons aged 85 to 103 years. In order to deepen the knowledge about inner strength from a life world perspective the aim of study IV was to illuminate the meaning of inner strength as narrated by women and men 85 and 90 years old. The sample consisted of those 18 participants that scored the highest on the scales aimed at measure phenomena related to inner strength. The findings in study I showed that the Swedish version of the RS was both valid and reliable. Construct validity was established by satisfactory correlations coefficient values between the RS and the Sense of Coherence Scale and the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale. A principal component analysis corresponded well to the original version of the RS. Reliability was assured with both satisfactory internal consistency as well as test-retest reliability. The findings in study II showed significant correlations between the scales aimed to measure resilience, sense of coherence, purpose in life and self-transcendence which indicates that the scales reflect some kind of common core, which was interpreted as inner strength. The oldest old scored high on all scales, this indicating that strength can be preserved or perhaps even increased in old age. The finding also showed lack of significant correlations between the scales and perceived physical health but significant correlations between these scales and perceived mental health among the women but not for the men. No significant correlation was found between physical and mental health. In study III a regression analysis showed that a strong resilience among the oldest old was found to be associated with health, mainly represented by absence of depressed mood but also by not being on medication and by the absence of psychological symptoms, but also that raising children in the past gave a meaning to the present by having a family and this produced feelings of feeling safe and secure in facing the inevitable future; that is, being resilient means living in connectedness with one’s past, present, and future. In study IV a phenomenological hermeneutic approach to the interview text disclosed a meaning of inner strength as Life goes on –living it all, meaning that inner strength still makes it possible to live, handle and being open to ones life in many of its potentials. Inner strength means that one can chose to stand up and fight as well as living in reconciliation, a possibility to work hard as well as feeling relaxed, inner strength means having tasks to accomplish as well as feeling content and proud over ones life as well as life itself, it means relying in oneself as well as having faith in others and God (for some), knowing that you as a person is the same as well as accepting and adjusting to changes. It means that one can chose aloneness and still be connected, it is to be living in the present as well as in one’s past and in the future. That is, living in wholeness. The findings of the studies are discussed in relation to personal strengths and a good aging.
  • Publication
    Psychiatric care of people at risk of committing suicide : narrative interviews with registered nurses, physicians, patients and their relatives
    ( 2001)
    Talseth, Anne-Grethe
    The aims of this thesis are to illuminate the meaning of being cared for and treated by nurses and physicians, as narrated by psychiatric suicidal in-patients; the meaning of taking care of and treating patient at risk of committing suicide, as narrated by nurses and physicians; and the meaning of being met and having one’s suicidal relative taken care of by health personnel, as narrated by relatives. Narrative interviews were conducted with 42 adult patients at risk of committing suicide in an in-patient psychiatric unit, 19 RNs, 19 physicians, and 15 relatives at a hospital in Norway. The tape-recorded and transcribed interviews were interpreted using a phenomenological hermeneutic method. Nurses’ relations to patients at risk of committing suicide were illuminated via the dimension ‘Distance- Closeness’ (I). The relation of the suicidal patient to the nurses was illuminated via the dimension ‘Confirming- Lack of confirming’ (II). The relation of physicians to patients was illuminated via the dimension ‘Power to - Power over’. (III). The relation of suicidal patients to physicians was illuminated via the dimension ‘Participating approach-Observing approach’ (TV). Results from the relatives’ experiences of being met by health personnel of suicidal patients reveal that the context of being met was characterized by ‘being helpless-powerless’, and that the meaning of the experiences of ‘being met’ was reflected in six themes: ‘Being seen as a human being’; ‘Participating in an I-Thou relationship with personnel’; ‘Trusting personnel, treatment and care’; ‘Being trusted by personnel’; ‘Being consoled’; and ‘Entering into hope’ (V). The interpreted meanings of the experience of being cared for as a person at risk of committing suicide were illuminated as confirmation, communion, consolation and hope. Threaded through these meanings is the relation with self and others. Thus, the essence of the results that emerged from this study indicates the presence of a relational view of the care received by people at risk of committing suicide.
  • Publication
    Support for women with breast cancer, and for the district and hospital nurses involved : an intervention study
    ( 1995)
    Pålsson, Maj-Britt
    The purpose of this study was to investigate breast cancer patients’ experiences of their illness and of traditional nursing care (TNC) or supportive nursing care (SNC) respectively, as well as nurses' experiences of support and of caring for cancer patients. An intervention including extended co-operation between the surgical ward and primary health care, shorter waiting times, and changed routines concerning the information about the diagnosis, as well as training and systematic clinical supervision for the nurses, was implemented. Newly diagnosed breast cancer patients (n=47) from two county councils in the south-east of Sweden were interviewed (IV, V). Thirty-four of them completed scales about well-being, burnout, hopelessness, anxiety and depression (VII). The women who had TNC reported lack of professional support during the initial phase of the disease and suggested changes in the care similar to those implemented in the SNC. In the SNC group the women expressed feelings of safety and security after the professional support and the organizational changes in the care. There were significantly more single women and women who had had breast conserving surgery in the SNC group than in the TNC (VII). The hopelessness scores in the SNC group were significantly higher than in the TNC group. Thirty-nine district nurses (DNs) were interviewed at baseline (I), and thirty-three of them completed scales about burnout, empathy, and sense of coherence (SOC) before and after systematic clinical supervision (VI). Twenty-three of the 39 DNs, as well as 9 hospital nurses (HNs) who participated in the clinical supervision, were interviewed about their experiences of this intervention (III). Twenty-nine tape-recorded supervision sessions in three groups of DNs (n=23) were analysed (II). Baseline interviews and analyses of the content of the supervisory sessions strongly emphasized that DNs experienced problems in the home care of seriously ill cancer patients. Deep human contacts were a source of both strain and enrichment. The clinical supervision was said to provide relief from undesirable thoughts and feelings, confirmation of themselves both as individuals and in their professional role, a broader and deeper knowledge and increased self-confidence. There were no significant differences in the burnout, empathy, and SOC scores between the supervisory group (n=21) and a comparison group (n=12) at the first and second measures, nor over time within the groups. There were some correlations between these phenomena and the Karolinska scales of personality, as well as cor­relations between burnout, empathy and SOC. The groups of women were not entirely similar as regards demographic and medical characteristics, and the sample size of patients and nurses was small. It is obvious that patients in the TNC missed those factors that were implemented in the SNC, at the same time the latter women expressed hopelessness more often than those who had received TNC. This result may be due to the fact that support from nurses had made the women more prepared to express their feelings, that support had not been provided to an adequate extent or in the right way, or that the applied scales were not appropriate. The finding that the nurses experienced the clinical supervision as very positive but that, despite this, there were no significant differences in attitudes measured by scales within or between the groups, can be interpreted in a similar way. Consequently, further research is needed to judge the effects of intervention. The study has, above all, produced qualitative descriptions of patients' experiences of the nursing care after discharge from hospital, and of DNs’ experiences of the care of cancer patients in their homes, and of systematic clinical supervision.
  • Publication
    The meaning of caring as narrated, lived, moral experience
    ( 1995)
    Åström, Gunilla
    The purpose of this research was to understand the meaning of caring as narrated, lived, moral experience. Forty-five good nurses experienced in the care of patients in surgical, medical and geriatric wards were interviewed. They described their experience of; caring, caring abilities, the worthwhile of caring, the strength related to caring and narrated situations (n=88) in which they had experienced that their caring had made a difference to the patient. Surgical nurses described care and cure as an integrated whole, medical nurses described care as integrated with the patients' social context and geriatric nurses described care as enhancing the autonomy of patients (I). The nurses' narrated, lived, experiences of caring situations revealed ways of intervening and interacting with the patient including caring actions (II). Eighteen good nurses experienced in the care of cancer patients were also interviewed. Their narrated, lived experiences of morally difficult care situations i.e. situations where it had been hard to know what was the right and good thing to do for the patient (n=60), revealed that relationships with their co-workers were very important for their possibility to act according to their moral reasoning and feelings(III). The situations for the nurses were either disclosed as overwhelming or possible to grasp. When narrating about these situations the nurses used different terms about themselves and their co-workers (One, They, I and We). The nurses viewed the patients either as a task to be accomplished or as a valuable unique person. In the latter situations ethical demands were interpreted, judged and acted upon (IV). Interpretations of these nurses' skills in managing morally difficult care situations disclosed two levels; one group of nurses who described positive paradigm cases, liberating maxims and disclosed open minds, while the other group described negative paradigm cases, restrictive maxims and revealed closed minds. The latter nurses were mostly the nurses who disclosed in Paper III that they used the term "one" about themselves and "they" about their co-workers (V).en patients recently cared for at surgical and medical wards were interviewed(IV). They narrated lived experiences of receiving/not receiving the help they needed or wanted when suffering from pain and anxiety/fear. The patients revealed that the most important thing for them to feel cared for in these situations was to be listened to, taken seriously and trusted, if they were not treated in this way the patients revealed that they felt they were in the hands of somebody who was uncaring. The findings are interpreted within the framework of Paul Tillich's philosophy concerning love, power, justice and courage, thereby showing the tension between these phenomena in the narrated, lived, moral experience. Light is also thrown on the dynamics of openness, vulnerability, fallibility, forgiveness, affirmation as well as powerlessness, meaninglessness, insufficiency, dissociation and exclusion. Reflections are made concerning practical wisdom.
  • Publication
    Vocally disruptive behaviour in severely demented patients in relation to institutional care provided
    ( 1990)
    Rahm Hallberg, Ingalill
    Thirty-seven patients identified as vocally disruptive and a control group, selected from 264 patients at psychogeriatric wards were studied. Tape-recordings of their vocal behaviour, ratings of their functional performance and symptoms related to dementia, observations of their behaviour, activities and interaction with caregivers were performed. Seventeen plus sixteen caregivers were interviewed to give their interpretation of the experience behind the behaviour and describe their own experience of it. The severely demented vocally disruptive patients were found to be significantly more physically dependant, disorientated at the ward and prone to confusional reactions but they had a more preserved speech performance than the controls. The vocal activity expressed such as helplessness, pain, fear and protest. Some were emotionally indifferent and a few expressed positive emotions. Caregivers interpreted the behaviour as an expression of anxiety related to such as abandonment, dissolution and loss of autonomy. They also expressed a strong wish to comfort the patients but felt unable to do so. The patients' daily life was characterized by idleness and solitude. Caring activities and interactions were dominated by physical procedures performed in a fragmentary and rapid way. Two hypotheses are generated. 1. Vocally disruptive behaviour develops influenced by sensory deprivation and the brain damage. 2. The care provided is influenced by caregivers experiencing anxiety in the patients as well as experiencing a conflict between the care they would like to provide and the care they actually provide. This evokes anxiety in them which elicits defence mechanisms leading to emotional withdrawal from the patients and task oriented care. The results are discussed in a nursing perspective based on existential thoughts, psychoanalytic and psychosocial theory.