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- Browall, Maria, 1963, et al.
(författare)
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Health care staff's opinions about existential issues among patients with cancer.
- 2010
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Ingår i: Palliative & supportive care. - : Cambridge University Press. - 1478-9523 .- 1478-9515. ; 8:1, s. 59-68
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to explore health care staff's opinions about what existential issues are important to patients with cancer and staff's responsibility when existential issues are raised by patients. METHOD: Four focus group interviews were conducted with health care staff (N = 23) at an in-patient hospice, on an oncology ward, on a surgical ward, and with a palliative home health care team. The focus group interviews focused on two questions, first, about health care staff's opinions about patients' important existential questions and, second, about health care staff's responsibility when existential issues are raised by the patient. The interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed by qualitative content analysis into subcategories and categories. RESULTS: Four categories and 11 subcategories emerged from the first question. The first category, "life and death," was based on joy of living and thoughts of dying. The second category "meaning," consisted of acceptance, reevaluation, hope, and faith. The third category, "freedom of choice," consisted of responsibility and integrity, and the fourth and last category, "relationships and solitude," consisted of alleviation, dependency, and loss. One category emerged from the second question about the health care staff's responsibility, "to achieve an encounter," which was based on the subcategories time and space, attitudes, and invitation and confirmation. SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS: The strength of this study was that the findings were fairly congruent in different settings and in different geographical areas. Health care staff were aware of the importance of existential issues to patients. The existential issues, mentioned by health care staff, are similar to findings from studies conducted among patients, which is another strength of the present study. Health care staff are also confident about how to act when these issues are raised by the patients. The challenge for the future is to implement the findings from this study among health care staff in different settings.
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| 2. |
- Browall, Maria, 1963, et al.
(författare)
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The impact of age on Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) and symptoms among postmenopausal women with breast cancer receiving adjuvant chemotherapy.
- 2008
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Ingår i: Acta oncologica (Stockholm, Sweden). - : Informa UK Limited. - 0284-186X .- 1651-226X. ; 47:2, s. 207-15
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Elderly women with breast cancer are often not given adjuvant chemotherapy (CT). One reason for this is that older women are believed to have more problems in tolerating side-effects of CT. The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of age on health related quality of life (HRQoL) and symptoms in postmenopausal women with breast cancer undergoing adjuvant CT. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eighty consecutive postmenopausal patients planned for CT were invited. Seventy-five agreed to participate (age 55-77 years). The patients completed two cancer-specific HRQoL questionnaires, The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of cancer (EORTC) EORTC-QLQ-C30, the EORTC-QLQ-BR23, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) before, during, and 4 months after completion of treatment. The design was descriptional and longitudinal. Correlations were examined between age and change in HRQoL variables. RESULTS: No significant correlations were found between age and any of the assessed HRQoL domains or symptom scales, except for dyspnoea and sexual functioning. Age was inversely correlated to change in dyspnoea from baseline through follow-up, whereas older women perceived their sexual functioning significantly lower at baseline. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that among postmenopausal patients in the age range 55-77 years consecutively selected for adjuvant CT age was not a predictor of decreased HRQoL. This supports the argument that age should not be used in isolation in decisions about adjuvant CT for breast cancer in elderly women.
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| 3. |
- Henoch, Ingela, 1956, et al.
(författare)
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Patients’, family members’ and healthcare staffs’ opinions about existential issues as a base for an educational intervention
- 2011
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Ingår i: BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care. - : BMJ. - 2045-4368 .- 2045-435X. ; 1:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective To explore patients', family members' and healthcare staff's opinions about existential issues important to patients with cancer and their relatives. Methods Two integrative literature reviews were conducted about existential issues among cancer patients and relatives, and interventions to meet these issues. Four focus groups were conducted with healthcare staff working with cancer patients at different stages about patients' existential issues, and staff's responsibility when existential issues are raised. Results In the patient review, existential issues were divided into two themes: struggle to maintain self-identity and threats to self-identity. Relatives' existential issues concerned living both in and beyond the presence of death, with reminders of death, compelling them to respond to life close to death and seek support. Few interventions directed to patients or relatives applicable to everyday healthcare practice were found. Focus groups with staff revealed four categories of patients' existential issues, life and death, meaning, freedom of choice, relationships and solitude. According to staff, their responsibility concerned achieving an encounter with the patient. Conclusion Results from three studies are congruent in that, patients, relatives and staff agree, although in different ways, about the importance of existential issues to patients and relatives. Healthcare staff was aware of the importance of existential issues and are to some extent confident about how to act when these issues are raised by the patients. Ongoing studies The project group now continues implementing findings from these studies in an educational intervention to healthcare staff in different settings, and planning interventions to patients and relatives.
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| 4. |
- Snögren, Maria, et al.
(författare)
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Psychometric evaluation of a short-form version of the Swedish "Attitudes to and Knowledge of Oral Health" questionnaire
- 2022
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Ingår i: BMC Geriatrics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2318. ; 22:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background Healthcare professionals' attitudes to and knowledge of oral health are fundamental to providing good oral health care to older adults. One instrument that assesses healthcare professionals' attitudes to and knowledge of oral health in a Swedish context is the "Attitudes to and Knowledge of Oral health" (AKO) questionnaire. Two of the three item-groups of the AKO have previously been validated in a Swedish context. However, it is crucial that all three item-groups are validated, and beneficial to design a shorter, easy-to-use questionnaire for healthcare professionals while maintaining adequate integrity of its reliability and validity. Therefore, the present study aims to develop a short-form version of AKO and to secure its psychometric properties. Methods Psychometric evaluation with Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory to validate and shorten AKO with 611 healthcare professionals from a population of 1159 working in a municipality in an urban area in western Sweden. Results Of the original 16 items in the AKO, 13 were shown to warrant retention in the abbreviated/shortened form. These showed acceptable validity and reliability for assessing healthcare professionals' attitudes to and knowledge of oral health. Conclusion This validated short-form version of AKO shows acceptable validity and reliability after being reduced to 13 items, structured in a 3-part scale. The items are consistent with the total scale, indicating that the internal consistency is acceptable. Future studies should be performed to evaluate AKO in other groups of healthcare professionals, across cultures, languages, and so on, to investigate its use and strengthen its validity and reliability.
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