Marie Golsäter

Symptom distress and life situation in adolescents with cancer

Having a life-threatening disease like cancer during adolescence poses a number of problems. The purpose of this study was to identify the adolescents own experience of areas of the life situation affected by the disease and problems related to it. Ten adolescents with varying diagnoses and treatment were interviewed. They also completed a quantitative measurement of problems. The result shows eight domains and 24 subdomains influencing the experience of life situation. Those were disease and treatment (side effects, isolation, medical procedures), identification (others are ill, appearance), feelings and reactions (mood, self-image, meaning, hope), coping (positive thinking, distraction, positive effects), togetherness (family, friends, school), support (family and friends, the youth association, professional support), reactions of the families (parents, siblings), and quality of care (professionalism, information, organization, equipment). The problems mentioned in the interviews are also compared with the quantitative measurement used. The adolescents mentioned 77 problems in the interviews, of which 17 were not on the list of problems. Of those 17, seven dealt with physical problems, and six were problems concerning the quality of care. They ranked wanting and depending on parents as the worst problems for themselves from the list of problems.

Will it Hurt? Verbal Interaction between Child and Radiographer during Radiographic Examination

This study investigated the nature of verbal interactions between child, parent and radiographer and the extent to which it varied as a function of the childs age. The participants were 20 female radiographers and 32 children (3-15 years) examined for acute injuries. The verbal interactions during the examination were video recorded and analyzed using the Roter Interaction Analysis System (RIAS). Results indicated that 80% of the verbal interaction was accounted for by the radiographer, 17% by the child and 3% by the parent. The distribution of utterances varied with regard to childrens age.

‘It makes you feel like you are not alone’: Expectant first-time mothers’ experiences of social support within the social network, when preparing for childbirth and parenting

‘It makes you feel like you are not alone’ : Expectant first-time mothers’ experiences of social support within the social network, when preparing for childbirth and parenting

Learning through networking in healthcare and welfare : The use of a breakthrough collaborative in the Swedish context

ABSTRACT Breakthrough Collaborative (BC) aims at learning through networking, mainly at micro level, and is used as a tool to improve care and welfare organizations. The aim of this study was to explore and illuminate the challenges when applying BC model at meso and macro level. In 2010, the Swedish Health and Medical Services Act stated the responsibility of healthcare professionals to consider children’s needs as relatives. This study uses an interactive collaborative research model. To support healthcare organizations in the implementation of the regulation, county councils/regions in Sweden were invited to take part in a BC during 2015. Six teams from different county councils/regions participated. Team members were interviewed several times during the project time. Data were analyzed with an explorative and descriptive qualitative content analysis. The result illuminates the challenges faced when applying BC at meso and macro level. Most challenges concern preparation, support structures and system connections. There are similarities with the challenges met at micro level when BC is used at meso and macro level. But it seems even more important to consider how the team is constituted at meso and macro level to make use of the learnings and achieve long-term impact in the home organization.

It's like a puzzle : Pregnant women's perceptions of professional support in midwifery care

PROBLEM Pregnant women are not always satisfied with the professional support they receive during their midwifery care. More knowledge is needed to understand what professional support pregnant women need for childbirth and parenting. BACKGROUND Childbearing and the transition to becoming a parent is a sensitive period in ones life during which one should have the opportunity to receive professional support. Professional support does not always correspond to pregnant womens needs. To understand pregnant womens needs for professional support within midwifery care, it is crucial to further illuminate womens experiences of this support. AIM To explore pregnant womens perceptions of professional support in midwifery care. METHODS A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews. Fifteen women were interviewed during gestational weeks 36-38. Data was analysed using phenomenography. FINDINGS The women perceived professional support in midwifery care to be reassuring and emotional, to consist of reliable information, and to be mediated with pedagogical creativity. The professional support facilitated new social contacts, partner involvement and contributed to mental preparedness. The findings of the study were presented in six categories and the category Professional support contributes to mental preparedness was influenced by the five other categories. CONCLUSION Pregnant women prepare for childbirth and parenting by using several different types of professional support in midwifery care: a strategy that could be described as piecing together a puzzle. When the women put the puzzle together, each type of professional support works as a valuable piece in the whole puzzle. Through this, professional support could contribute to womens mental preparedness for childbirth and parenting.

Breastfeeding preterm infants at a neonatal care unit in rural Tanzania

OBJECTIVE To describe the breastfeeding experiences of mothers with preterm and low-birth-weight infants in a neonatal unit in Tanzania. DESIGN A qualitative research design. SETTING A neonatal unit at a referral hospital in rural Tanzania. PARTICIPANTS Convenience sample of 10 new mothers with preterm infants. Additionally, to triangulate the data, five nurses affiliated with the neonatal unit were interviewed. METHODS A semistructured interview guide was used for data collection. All interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed with inductive qualitative content analysis. RESULTS One main category, The mother has to adapt to the new situation to make breastfeeding natural, and three generic categories, The challenges of breastfeeding a premature infant, Enhancing the feeding situation, and The need for support, were used to describe breastfeeding challenges. Challenges consisted of the perception that the infant was different than healthy infants and the infants and mothers health problems and needs. To improve the feeding situation, mothers learned how to feed their infants using timing strategies. Confidence and security were achieved with support from family and friends, the other mothers, and the health care staff. CONCLUSION Mothers perceived breastfeeding as natural but needed support to overcome the challenges of breastfeeding preterm infants. Through support and education they were empowered, adapted to their new situations, and felt confident with breastfeeding.

Special support for behavior difficulties and engagement in Swedish preschools

The Swedish preschool curriculum stipulates that all children independent of support needs should attend mainstream preschool groups, with equal opportunities for learning and engagement. Preschool ...

Children as relatives to a sick parent: Healthcare professionals’ approaches:

An illness or injury sustained by a family member affects all family members. It is consequently important that a child’s need to be involved in a family member’s care is clearly recognized by healthcare professionals. The aim of this study was to describe healthcare professionals’ approaches to children as relatives of a parent being cared for in a clinical setting. A web-based study-specific questionnaire was sent and responded to by 1052 healthcare professionals in Sweden. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and qualitative analysis. The results show that guidelines and routines are often lacking regarding involving children in the care of a parent. Compared to other areas, psychiatric units seem to have enacted routines and guidelines to a greater extent than other units. The results indicate that structured approaches based on an awareness of the children’s needs as well as a child-friendly environment are vital in family-focused care. These aspects need to be prioritized by managers in order to support children’s needs and promote health and wellbeing for the whole family.

School nurses’ health dialogues with pupils regarding food habits

The aim of this study was to describe the content of school nurses’ health dialogues with pupils regarding food habits. A qualitative content analysis of 24 recorded health dialogues resulted in five categories describing the content of the dialogues, regarding food habits. Current food habits covered food, mealtimes and food related to physical activity. Social context and food habits showed that social groups in the pupils’ surroundings affected their food habits. Society and food habits included external factors that affected food habits, such as school and laws. School nurses’ advice and support regarding food habits described how nurses offered advice, support and information. Pupils’ understanding of health in connection to food habits comprised the pupils’ knowledge, participation and willingness to change. The results showed a variety of interacting factors which affected the pupils’ food habits, upon which health-promotional work can be based.

General practitioners' accounts of how to facilitate consultations with toddlers - an interview study

Abstract Objective: To describe general practitioners’ (GPs’) accounts of how to facilitate consultations with children aged 1–2 years. Design: A qualitative study based on focus group interviews. Setting and subjects: Five focus group interviews were conducted with a total of 25 GPs at Swedish primary health care (PHC) centres. The GPs regularly invited toddlers to consultations. Result: The GPs’ accounts of how to facilitate consultations with toddlers revealed descriptions of making efforts to instil confidence in the situation to enable the consultation. Toddlers in need of health care always visit the GP with adults such as their parents, guardians or other relatives. Therefore, the GP directs efforts towards the adults and the child more or less simultaneously, as they both need to rely on the GP. The GPs describe how they instil confidence in the adults by establishing a mutual understanding that the consultation is necessary to secure the child’s health. Regarding the child, the GP instils confidence by establishing a relationship in order to approach the child and accomplish bodily examinations. Conclusion: The result shows that GPs’ encounters with children in consultations are two-sided. The GP needs to conduct bodily examinations to secure the child’s health and development, but to do so he/she needs to establish purposeful relationships with the adults and the child by instilling confidence. This indicates that establishing relationships in the consultation is significant, and a way to achieve a child-centred consultation. KEY POINTS Research regarding GPs’ encounters with toddlers in consultation is limited, even though toddlers frequently visit PHC. • GPs make efforts to instil confidence by establishing mutual understanding with parents and a relationship with the child. • Establishing purposeful relationships with both the child and parent is significant in enabling the consultation. • Establishing a relationship with the child overrides conducting the bodily examination, to promote the child’s feeling of ease and allow a child-centred consultation.