| 1. |
- Jonasson, Lise-Lotte
(författare)
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A comprehensive picture of ethical values in caring encounters, based on experiences of those involved : Analysis of concepts developed from empirical studies
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Older people should have a life with a sense of value and should feel confident. These ethical values, which are expressed in normative ethics, are expected to prevail in empirical ethics. Central components of nursing are the ethical issues of autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and the principles of justice. The general aim of this thesis is to identify and describe the ethical values that are apparent in the caring encounter and their influence on the people involved. This is done from the perspective of the older person in study (I), next of kin in study (II) and nurses in study (III). In study (IV) the aim was to synthesize the concepts from empirical studies (I- III) and analyze, compare and interrelate them with normative ethics. Studies (I, III) were empirical observational studies including follow-up interviews. Twenty-two older people participated voluntarily in study (I), and in study (III) 20 nurses participated voluntarily. In study (II) fourteen next of kin were interviewed. In studies (I- III) constant comparative analysis, the core foundation of grounded theory, was used. Five concepts were used in the analysis in study (IV); three from the grounded theory studies (I- III) and two from the theoretical framework on normative ethics i.e. the ICN code and SFS law. Five categories; being addressed, receiving respect, desiring to participate, increasing self-determination and gaining self-confidence formed the basis for the core category ‚Approaching‛ in study (I). ‘Approaching’ indicates the ethical values that guide nurses in their caring encounters with older people. These ethical values are noted by the older people and are greatly appreciated by them, and also lead to improved quality of care. Four categories were identified in study (II): Receiving, showing respect, facilitating participation and showing professionalism. These categories formed the basis of the core category ‚Being amenable‛, a concept identified in the next of kin’s description of the ethical values that they and the older patients perceive in the caring encounter. In study (III), three categories were identified: showing consideration, connecting, and caring for. These categories formed the basis of the core category ‚Corroborating‛. Corroborating deals with support and interaction. Empirical ethics and normative ethics are intertwined, according to the findings of this study (IV). Normative ethics influence the nurse’s practical performance and could have a greater influence in supporting nurses as professionals. Criteria of good ethical care according to this thesis are: showing respect, invitation to participation, allowing self-determination, and providing safe and secure care. These criteria are elements of the concept of being professional. Professionalism of nurses is shown by: the approach nurses adapt to the performance of their duties, and their competence and knowledge, but also how they apply laws and professional codes
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| 2. |
- Björk, Mathilda, 1977-
(författare)
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Aspects of Disability in Rheumatoid Arthritis : a five-year follow-up in the Swedish TIRA project
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a progressive disease, often leading to disability. Because the disease course develops rapidly during the first years after diagnosis, more knowledge is needed about the early disease course to minimize later disability. This thesis describes the course of disability in early RA such as hand function, pain intensity, activity limitation and sick leave. In addition, this thesis compares disability between women and men and compares disability between RA patients and referents.This thesis is primarily based on data from the 320 patients that were included in the multi-centre project in Sweden called ‘Early interventions in rheumatoid arthritis’ (TIRA). A wide range of outcome variables was registered between 1996 and 2006 during regular follow-ups from time for diagnosis through the eight-year follow-up. Outcome regarding disease activity and disability of RA patients still remaining in TIRA at the three and five year follow-up respectively are used in this thesis. Data concerning sick leave were obtained for the patients during six years (1993-2001) – three years before and three years after diagnosis. Referents were included in two of the studies. Data regarding disability in referents were obtained according to hand function and activity limitation using the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ). Data for sick leave were obtained for six years in referents, for the same period as the RA patients.For most variables, disability in RA was most pronounced at time of diagnosis but before intervention started. Disability was then reduced already at the 3-month follow-up and thereafter affected but stable during the following five years. The exception was participation, reflected by sick leave, a variable that was stable from inclusion to three years from diagnosis. Activity limitation, pain intensity and sick leave in RA that represents different aspects of disability were explained by other aspects of disability and contextual factors rather than by disease activity. RA affects women and men differently in some aspects. Women had more severe course of activity limitations than men according to HAQ. Men were more affected than women in range of motion, although the differences were small in a clinical perspective. However, pain intensity and frequency of sick leave did not differ between women and men. Patients with RA have pronounced disability in relation to referents although several variables improve soon after diagnosis. This discrepancy refers to hand function as well as activity limitations and sick leave. The frequency of sick leave increased during the year before diagnosis in relation to referents and was thereafter high compared to sick leave in referents.
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| 3. |
- De Basso, Rachel
(författare)
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Influence of genetics and mechanical properties on large arteries in man
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Arterial pathology is the major contributor to cardiovascular diseases and mortality. The mechanical properties of arteries are independent factors for cardiovascular disease and mortality, where genetics influence the structure of the arterial wall, which may result in change in arterial stiffness. The aims of this thesis were to study the mechanical properties of the popliteal artery (PA) in healthy subjects and the influence of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) polymorphism and Fibrillin-1 (FBN1) polymorphism on large arteries. Further, the impact of FBN1 polymorphism on cardiovascular morbidity and mortality was investigated.The PA is, after the abdominal aorta, the most common site of aneurysmal development. The PA was studied in healthy subject with ultrasound and the diameter increased and the distensibility decreased with age, with men having lower distensibility than women. This seems not to be the behavior of a true muscular artery but rather of a central elastic artery such as the aorta, and might have implications for the susceptibility to aneurysm formation, as well as the association of dilating disease between the PA and the aorta. The wall stress in the PA was low and unaffected by age, probably caused by a compensatory remodeling response with an increase in wall thickness. This indicates that other mechanisms than wall stress contribute to the process of pathological dilatation in the PA.The ACE D allele may be associated with abdominal aortic aneurysm. Elderly men with the ACE D allele were associated with increased abdominal aortic stiffness compared to men carrying the I/I genotype. This suggests that the ACE D allele impairs arterial wall integrity, and in combination with local hemodynamic and other genetic factors it may have a roll in aneurysm formation.The FBN1 2/3 genotype has been associated with increased systolic blood pressure. The FBN1 2/3 genotype in middle-aged men was associated with increased abdominal aortic stiffness and blood pressure which indicates an increased risk for developing cardiovascular disease. The increased presence of plaque in the carotid artery of middle-aged men with the FBN1 2/3 genotype indicates a pathological arterial wall remodeling with a more pronounced atherosclerotic burden, but did however not affect the risk of cardiovascular events and/or death in this population. This relationship needs to be studied further.
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| 4. |
- Dimberg, Jan
(författare)
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Studies on expression and regulation of phospholipase A2 and cyclooxygenase 2 in gastrointestinal tissues with special reference to colorectal cancer
- 1999
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The phospholipases A2 (PLA2s) are phospholipid hydrolyzing enzymes that in mammalian cells exist in several different isoform including cytosolic PLA2 (cPLA2), group I PLA2 (PLA2-I) and group II PLA2 (PLA2-ll). PLA2 is involved in production of inflammatory mediators, membrane remodelling, digestive functions and stimulation of prolifemtion. In addition. PLA2 supplies cyclooxygenase COX-1 and COX-2 with arachidonic acid for production of eicosanoids.Increased COX-2 expression and high concentrations of prostaglandins have been found in human colorectal adenocarcinomas and in rat colonic twnours. Studies implicate that there is a link between the tumourigenic effect of the tumour suppressor gene adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) and COX-2 up-regulation in mouse intestinal neoplasms. Mutations of the human APC gene are frequent in both sporadic and familial colorectal cancer and result in activation of p-catenin!T cell factor-4 (Tcf-4) mediated transcription of target genes which may contribute to colorectal tumourigenesis.The ontogenic development of rat gastrointestinal PLA2-I and PLA2-II and the influence of the exogenous glucocorticoid cortisone acetate were studied. The ontogeny of rat glandular stomach PLA2-I and PLA2-II gene expression is similar and seems to follow the general postnatal development of the gastrointestinal tract PLA2-II gene expression is different in the glandular stomach compared to ileum and forestomach during the neonatal period. Administration of the cortisone acetate, during the neonatal period, induced PLA2-I and PLA2-II gene expression in glandular stomach and ileum, respectively, au effect that may be related to maturation of the gastrointestinal tract.Gene expression of PLA2-II, cPLA2 and COX-2, protein levels of COX-2 and mutational analysis of APC were investigated in human colorectal tumours. COX-2 was dramatically up-regulated in tumours located in rectum and associated with the presence of APC mutations. Tcf-4 consensus sequences found in the COX-2 promoter were activated but APC/P-catenin/fcf-4 pathway may partly be involved in transcriptional regulation of the COX-2 gene. Neither induction of PLA2-II nor correlation in gene expression between cPLA2 and COX-2 were observed. 'These observations imply that other enzymes than PLA2 contribute to generate arachidonic acid for COX-2 mediated eicosanoid metabolism aud that PLA2-II seems to play a minor or no role in hllltlan colorectal cancer.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Ericsson, Elisabeth, 1959-
(författare)
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Health and well-being of children and young adults in relation to surgery of the tonsils
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Tonsillectomy is one of the most frequently performed surgical procedures in children and youths. The aim of this thesis was to study children and youths in relation to tonsil surgery with the goal of improving the care, and to describe partial tonsillectomy/tonsillotomy (TT) using radiofrequency technique (RF) (Ellman International) in comparison with the more commonly used total tonsillectomy (TE).The thesis covers studies of wo age-groups with obstructive problems, with or without recurrent tonsillitis. Randomization to surgery was done from the existing waiting list; 92 children, 5-15 years old to 49/TT and 43/TE, (I-III) and 76 youths, 16-25 years old to 32/TT and 44/TE (IV-V).The first purpose (I, IV) was to compare the two surgical techniques with respect to pain and postoperative morbidity. Pain measures were for the children the Face Pain Scale and for the youths and parents and staff a verbal-pain-rating-scale. From the first day, the TT-groups scored significantly less pain than the TE-groups. The doses of pain-killing drugs (paracetamol and diclofenac) taken were significantly less for the children and youths receiving the TT-surgery, they could stop taking pain-killers sooner, and were back to normal activity three (5-15yrs) or four (16-25yrs) days earlier compared with TE-groups.Paper II focused on the child’s behavior (Child Behavior Checklist/CBCL), experience of pain, anxiety (State-Trait-Anxiety Inventory for Children /STAIC), previous experiences of surgery/tonsillitis, and the management of pain. The children scored higher on CBCL than a normative group before surgery, but no connection was observed between CBCL rating and experience of pain reported post surgically. There was no relation between preoperative anxiety and reported pain, but the postoperative anxiety level correlated with pain. The Egroup scored higher anxiety after surgery. Previous experience of surgery or tonsillitis did not influence the postoperative pain. The nurses scored pain lower than the parents/children and under-medicated.The second purpose was to compare the long-term effects of TT and TE-surgery after one and three years (5-15yrs) and one year (16-25yrs) (III, IV). The effect on snoring was the same for both TT and TE-groups and the rate of recurrence of throat infections was low after both surgical techniques.After one year, all children (TT/TE) showed improvements on CBCL to the same degree and there was no longer a difference between total behavior and normative values. They also scored improvements in health-related quality of life (HRQL) with Glasgow-Children-Benefit-Inventory.For both TT and TE, the older group reported lower HRQL preoperatively on all dimensions of Study-Short-Form (SF-36) compared with a normal population. After one year, a large improvement was found in HRQL in both groups and there were no differences compared with a normal population.Conclusion: Preoperative obstructive problems, in combination with recurrent tonsillitis have a negative impact on HRQL. Both after TE and TT there are large improvements in HRQL, infections, obstructive, and behavior problems one to three years after surgery, indicating that both surgical methods are equally effective. With fewer postoperative complications, less pain, shorter recovery time, and lower cost, TT with RF should be considered as method of choice.
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| 7. |
- Falkmer, Torbjörn, 1958-
(författare)
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Transport mobility for children and adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP)
- 2001
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: The transport mobility of children and adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP) is of vital interest for the individual, as well as for society. Enhanced transport mobility can be related to improved functional health status and a higher degree of autonomy, which in turn may reduce the demand for societal support. UN Resolution 48/96, together with Swedish legislation and "Vision Zero" have in different ways established that the transport system must be designed to meet also the needs of children and adolescents with disabilities. Hence, it is necessary to identify and eliminate obstacles hindering children and adolescents with CP from using public transport and other means of transport, such as their own cars, at the same level as other members of society. However, in the case of children and adolescents with CP, the transport situation and the learner driver's educational situation have so far been largely unknown.Aim: The general aim of the thesis was to describe and analyse, from a legislative and a public health perspective, the transport mobility situation for children and adolescents with CP. Furthermore, the general aim was to identify obstacles for the target group to use public transport and other means of transportation, at the same level as other members of the society, and to suggest improvements that will remove the identified obstacles.Material and methods: Several different data collection methods were used. Data, concerning travel habits and parents' perceived risks regarding transportation, were taken from a postal questionnaire addressed to parents of children and adolescents with CP. In order to estimate the numbers of potential learner drivers with CP in each age group in Sweden, a literature review was conducted, based on Swedish material. Furthermore, logbooks for learner drivers with CP were analysed retrospectively, in order to identify procedures, problems and key tasks in their driver education. Visual search strategies for learner drivers with CP were analysed, utilizing an eye tracker, and an attempt was made to introduce a screening tool for predicting the outcome of driver education.Results: Children and adolescents with CP were found to be transported under unsafe conditions, causing worry among their parents. When transporting children in the family vehicle, the parents were exposed to a very heavy burden, which increased their worry. The prevalence of potential learner drivers with CP who were in need of highly specialised driver education, including individually adapted driver training vehicles, was estimated to be 0.15 per 1,000 of a population-based age group of learner drivers in Sweden. Complex procedures, structural problems and financial obstacles made it difficult for adolescents with CP to obtain a driving licence and an adapted vehicle. The total duration of the driving tuition given by a driving instructor was found to be almost nine times higher for learner drivers with CP than for non-disabled learner drivers. Visual search strategies among learner drivers with CP were found to be less flexible than among other learner drivers. This fact indicated a need for better methods of teaching such strategies to this group as an integral component of their driver education. The validity of the motor-free visual perceptual test, TVPS-UL, for predicting the outcome of driver education for learner drivers, was found to be low. In order to find a reliable and valid screening tool for this purpose, future studies should focus on cross-validation of visual perceptual and dual task performance tests for different types of independent variables, such as obtaining a driving licence or not, accident involvement and driving ability.Conclusion: The transport system was found, from a legislative and public health perspective, to be unsuitable to meet the needs of children and adolescents with CP. Suggestions for improving transport mobility for children and adolescents with CP are provided. Several of these suggestions are practical, concrete and contextual for Swedish conditions, and some of them necessitate future research. However, a number of these suggestions are also applicable in an international context.
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| 8. |
- Hultsjö, Sally, 1973-
(författare)
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Caring for foreign‐born persons with psychosis and their families : Perceptions of psychosis care
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis was to describe and analyse perceptions of psychosis care among those involved in care, foreign-born persons with psychoses, their families and health care staff, and further to reach agreement about core components in psychosis care. This was in order to find out whether current psychosis care in Sweden is suitable for foreign-born persons and their families. The study design was explorative and descriptive. Health care staff (n=35), persons with psychosis (n=22) and families (n=26) of persons with psychosis were chosen from different regions in Southern Sweden. To capture health care staff’s experiences and to explore whether specific needs occurred within psychiatric care, nine focus group interviews were held. The perspectives of psychosis care among persons with psychoses and their families were captured through individual interviews. Finally, a study was accomplished all over Sweden in which staff, foreign-born persons with psychosis and foreign-born families of persons with psychoses answered a questionnaire to identify core components in psychosis care of foreign-born persons and their families. There was agreement that the core components in psychosis care concern general psychiatric caring, even though varying perceptions were identified. Asking about foreign-born persons’ religious and ethnic background or having the possibility to decide whether care should be provided by male or female staff were agreed to be less important. No agreement could be reached concerning the importance of considering different perceptions of psychosis care, treatments and different ways of managing the psychosis. Nor could agreement be reached as to whether staff should have specific cultural knowledge and whether interpreters should be unknown to the family but speak the right dialect. Perceptions among staff in somatic and psychiatric care as well as perceptions among foreign- and Swedish-born persons with psychosis and their families were more similar than different. General psychiatric care is important for Swedish-born as well as foreign-born persons with psychosis and their families, indicating the importance of not letting culturally determined perceptions dictate the care and take away energy from health care staff and make them lose their focus on the basic elements in general psychiatric care. However, within the general care there were individual perceptions on whose importance those involved in care did not agree. Further development suggested is to illuminate the importance of identifying individual perceptions which may differ between different persons and could be related to cultural background. Staff need to acquire strategies so they can easily manage to encounter and offer general care to foreign-born persons. Development must be achieved on both an organizational level and an individual level.
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| 9. |
- Lymer, Ulla-Britt, 1943-
(författare)
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Blood exposure in health care : health care workers' and patients' experiences
- 2004
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The general aim of this thesis was to describe and analyse health care workers' blood-exposure incidents, protective measures, and the motives behind decision making about risks and protective measures. The aim was also to procure knowledge about patients' conceptions about their care, and if precautions taken by the health care workers were included in quaiity care. The methods used were: in study I quantitative method, in studies II and III grounded theory method, and in study IV phenomenographic method.The aims of study I were to describe and analyse blood-exposure incidents and compliance in relation to recommended serological investigations, universal precautions and incident reporting routines and also to follow up a campaign against blood-exposure. Instruments used were incident report forms (n=473) and questionnaires (n=132), (n=108), (n=517). The majority of the 473 reported blood-exposure incidents came from nurses and the minority from physicians. Incidents occurred most often on hospital wards, the most commonly reported incident being needle-stick injuries, 35% ofwhich occurred during recapping the needle. Medicallaboratory technicians reported significantIy more mucocutaneous incidents than other professionaIs (P<0,01). Serological investigations post-exposure varied and 35% of individuaIs were not tested. In an anonymous questionnaire, the respondents recalled 1180 incidents, although onIy 9% of these were reported. Physicians reported onIy 3% of these, medical laboratory technicians reporting 36%. The under reporting was most common in operation theatres and in anaesthesia. Eighty-one percent believed that the accident could have been avoided if they had followed the recommended clinical practice. Despite knowledge of universal precautions, professionaIs continue to behave in a risky manner, which can result in blood exposure incidents and possibly a blood-borne viral infection.The aim of study II was to identify factors that influenced health care workers' actions in situations involving a risk of blood-exposure. Nurses and assistant nurses were interviewed (n=15). The analysis showed that there was a conflict between different demands involving protecting the patient's privacy, protecting themselves from being infected and respecting the norms of the department. The process of managing this conflict was labelled 'balancing', which most often resulted in the choice of a diagnosis-related strategy, i.e. a non-compliant behaviour. The underlying causes of how patterns of action are formed by individual and socio-cultural forces resulted in five categories, which were seen as forces that could underrnine compliance.The aim of study III was to describe and analyse different forces that promote adherence to universal precautions. Nurses and assistant nurses were interviewed (n=15, the same as in study II). The charge nurse, informal leaders, students, infection controi nurses, type of work., availability of equipment, blood-exposure incidents and media-coverage of viral blood-borne infections were described as potentially irnportant for compliance. The properties these agents must possess in order to be influential were also described. The results irnply that information about safe practices alone is insufficient to achieve that goal. All factors of importance for compliance must be taken into consideration in clinical work and in education.The aim in study IV was to identify and describe patients' conceptions of quality care and of barrier care. The patients (n=14) were adult and treated for orthopaedic reasons. Included in their conceptions of quality care were: Nice manners, mutual achievement, being involved, being cured, being cared for, and having safe care. When comparing these conceptions with previous research about patients' views of quaIity care, the findings confirmed, to a large extent, the findings from other studies. Included in patients' conceptions of barrier care were: Regular use of gloves, regular use of masks and eye-shields, use of gloves in special situations, use of masks and eye-shields in special situations, and keeping clean. The conceptions were of an interpersonal, as well as of a medical-technical nature. Patients' conceptions of barrier care could be included in the category: Having safe care. The frequentIy expressed opinion, among nurses and assistant nurses, that patients may be offended by the use of protective equipment could be refuted.This thesis has contributed to an improved understanding of the occurrence and handling of blood-exposure incidents. The dynamics of compliance and non-compliance with universal precautions have also been described by means of an attempt to uncover the interplay between deactivators and re-activators in the safety culture on wards. Patients' conceptions about barrier care were shown to be an integrated part of quality care.
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| 10. |
- Sidenvall, Birgitta
(författare)
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The meal in geriatric care : Habits, values and culture
- 1995
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of the present thesis was to study the meal situation in geriatric care, focusing on cultural, social, psychological and nutritional qualities of the meals for the patients as well as caring strategies and actions performed at meals by the nursing staff. The studies were carried out in a rehabilitation and long-term care clinic providing geriatric care. The data were gathered during two periods. In the first period 18 consecutive elderly patients and their personal enrolled nurses participated (paper I and II). In the second study the informants were 45 patients as well as registered nurses, enrolled nurses and nurse's assistauts working in the clinic (paper III, IV and V). The main approach was ethnographic, using interviews, observations and documents. Furthermore, the nutritional status was assessed by weight index and biochemistry as well as by records of dietary intake. The meal situation was found to be a meeting place between individual patients and the collective hospital culture. In the ward the patients strove to reach their own standards of acceptable table manners and retain their independence and dignity. Their conflicts at table were related to three themes. The first, "Mind your manners", demonstrated problems in managing food and objects, keeping clean, and conduct at table. Thesecond, "Appetite for food", was connected to tradition and taste, healthy food and the need not to waste food. The third, "Be content and do not complain", illustrated the elderly patients' socialized manners in talking about meals and food. The evaluation of the elderly patients' meal patterns showed a strong reduction in daily eating frequency during the time before hospitalization, which might lead to nutritional deficiency. The nursing assessment strategies were defective as patients at risk of malnutrition were missed and patients' experiences of their own and others' limited eating competence were rarely taken into consideration enough. One reason for this was shown to be the organization of the meal and the fixed form of the working phases. Ritualized practices gave the main form to the hospital meal and the serving procedures. Based on checks of patients' ability and caregivers' working conditions, the praxis was to make eating possible and facilitate the procedures. Three norms guided the caregivers; "To provide a homelike situation with fellowship for training purposes", "To ensure each patient gets what they need/want by means of a fair method of serving"and "To keep things in order and to be responsible". The thesis points out the problem that arises when institutionalized habits and values gave the meals such a fixed form that alterations in serving procedures were difficult to make. As the elderly patients strove to keep their dignity and adapt to the demands communicated, these were factors which minimized the possibilities of adjusting the eating procedures to the individual needs of the patient.
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