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- Backman, Annica, 1972-
(författare)
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Leadership : person-centred care and the work situation of staff in Swedish nursing homes
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: Swedish nursing home managers, who constitute the empirical focus of this thesis, hold overall operational responsibility for the nursing homes, which includes the care of residents, direct care staff and work environment. Aged care organisations are also expected to provide person-centred care. Working towards a person-centred approach poses new demands and leads to challenges for leaders, and there is currently limited knowledge of what characterises leadership that promotes a person-centred approach. In addition, an ongoing demographic shift in the aged care workforce entails further challenges, as the proportion of professional workers is decreasing. Leading a healthy work environment is therefore important for ensuring and protecting staff health. Based on this, it is important to explore nursing home managers’ leadership in relation to person-centred care and the work situation of staff.Aim: The overall aim was to explore leadership in relation to person-centred care and the work situation of staff in Swedish nursing homes.Methods: This thesis is based on data from two data collections. First, it includes cross-sectional baseline data from a national inventory of health and care in Swedish nursing homes (SWENIS) collected in 2013-2014. The SWENIS dataset consists of a sample of staff n=3605 from 169 nursing homes in 35 municipalities, and nursing home managers n=191. The second data collection consists of 11 semi-structured interviews with 12 nursing home managers in highly person-centred nursing homes that already participated in SWENIS. Data were explored via descriptive statistics, simple and multiple regression analyses, and qualitative content analysis.Results: Leadership was positively associated with person-centred care and psychosocial climate. Highly rated leadership behaviors’ among nursing homes managers was characterized by experimenting with new ideas, controlling work closely, relying on his/her subordinates, coaching and giving direct feedback, and handling conflicts constructively. Leading person-centred care can be outlined by four leadership processes: embodying person-centred being and doing; promoting a person-centred atmosphere; maximizing person-centred team potential and optimising person-centred support structures. Leadership was also positively associated with social support and negatively associated with job strain. Further, the variation in leadership was to a very small extent explained by the nursing home managers’ educational qualification, operational form of the nursing home and the number of employees in a unit.Conclusions: All findings point in the same direction: that leadership, as it is characterized and measured in this thesis, is significantly associated with person-centred care provision as well as with the work situation of staff. This suggests that nursing managers have a central leadership role in developing and supporting person-centred care practices, and also in creating a healthy work environment. The results also highlight five specific leadership behaviours that are most characteristic of highly rated leadership, thereby adding concrete descriptions of behaviours to the literature on existing leadership theories. The findings also include four central processes for leading towards person-centred care in nursing homes. Taken together, it seems important for managers to translate the person-centred philosophy into actions and to promote an atmosphere pervaded by innovation and trust, in which cultural change is enhanced by positive cultural bearers. Utilizing the overall knowledge and competencies among staff and potentiating care teams was also considered important for leading person-centred care, along with optimising supportive structures for supporting and maintaining person-centred care. If aged care organisations are to be committed to person-centred care, an important implication seems to be to organise nursing homes in a way that allows nursing home managers to be close and present in clinical practice and actively lead towards person-centred care. The findings of this thesis contribute to our understanding of leadership in relation to person-centre care and the work situation of staff. These findings can be used in leadership educations and nursing curriculum. Longitudinal studies would be valuable for following leadership, person-centred care and the work situation of staff over time.
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- Backman, Annica, 1972-, et al.
(författare)
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Leading towards person-centred care – Nursing home managers' experiences of leading person-centred care in highly person-centred Swedish nursing homes
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background:Although a growing body of research knowledge exists highlighting the importance of leadership for person-centred care, studies focused on nursing home managers’ own descriptions of leading their staff to provide person-centred care is lacking. This study aims to explore the process of nursing home managers’ leading person-centred care in Swedish nursing homes.Methods:The methods of the study consisted of semi-structured interviews with 12 nursing home managers within 11 highly person-centred nursing homes purposively selected from a national wide survey of nursing homes in Sweden. A qualitative content analysis was performed for data analyses.Results:The study revealed that the leading person-centred care in nursing homes can be outlined as comprising four processes: Embodying person-centred being and doing; promoting a person-centred atmosphere; maximizing person-centred team potential; and finally, optimizing person-centred support structures.Conclusion:This study contributes to the literature by providing concrete descriptions of how person-centred care can be operationalised and supported in everyday practice by the leadership of nursing home managers. The study is significant in that it provides evidence on how the provision of person centred care can be facilitated by managers and the important role they play in developing and maintaining this philosophy of care within nursing homes.
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- Baxter, Rebecca, 1989-
(författare)
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“Life is for living” : exploring thriving for older people living in nursing homes
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: Demand for formal care in nursing homes has steadily increased in recent decades, prompting calls for exploration of health-promoting and salutogenic concepts that support people not only to survive in older age, but to thrive. The concept of thriving has been described as a holistic experience of place-related well-being resulting from interactions between the person and their lived-environment. However, detailed understandings of thriving among nursing home residents and staff are lacking, and little is known about the variables that influence thriving, how thriving is regarded outside of Scandinavia, or the extent to which thriving may change over time.Aim: The overall aim of this thesis was to explore meanings, expressions, measurements, and associations for thriving in nursing homes. Study I aimed to illuminate the meanings of thriving as narrated by persons living in an Australian nursing home. Study II aimed to explore how Australian nursing home staff recognise expressions of thriving among persons living in nursing homes. Study III aimed to further test and describe the psychometric properties and performance of the 32-item Thriving of Older People Assessment Scale (TOPAS) and to develop a short-form TOPAS. Study IV aimed to describe longitudinal changes in Swedish nursing home thriving over a five-year period and describe changes in associated factors. Methods: For studies I and II data were collected in the form of qualitative interviews with Australian nursing home residents (N=21; study I) and staff (N=14; study II). Qualitative data were analysed using phenomenological hermeneutical analysis and qualitative content analysis respectively. For studies III and IV cross-sectional baseline (i.e., 2013/2014) and follow-up (i.e., 2018/2019) data were collected from a nationally representative sample of Swedish nursing homes for the Swedish National Inventory of Care and Health in Residential Aged Care (SWENIS) study. The baseline SWENIS I sample consisted of 4,831 proxy-rated resident surveys from 35 municipalities (study III) and the follow-up SWENIS II sample consisted of 3,894 proxy-rated resident surveys from 43 municipalities (study IV). Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, validity testing, item response theory-based analysis, and simple linear regression.Results: The meanings of thriving for nursing home residents were understood as encompassing elements of acceptance, balance, and contentment in relation to the person’s living situation, as well as their social and physical environment (study I). These meanings were interpreted as having options and choices, and the agency to make decisions where possible, in relation to the care and living environment. Nursing home staff were found to recognise expressions of thriving through a combination of understanding, observing, and sensing (study II). Staff described recognising thriving through reflective assessment processes that involved comparing and contrasting their personal and professional interpretations of thriving with their overall sense of the resident. Psychometric testing of the 32-item and short-form versions of the TOPAS showed good validity and reliability to measure thriving among nursing home residents (study III). Population characteristics were relatively consistent between the SWENIS I baseline and SWENIS II follow-up samples (study IV). A sub-sample of nursing homes that participated in both baseline and follow-up data collections reported a statistically significant increase for thriving and a decrease in the prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms. Higher and lower thriving was associated with several neuropsychiatric symptoms.Conclusions: Thriving appeared to be a relevant and meaningful phenomenon with shared understandings among nursing home residents and staff, providing valuable support for the ongoing assessment and application of thriving in international and cross-cultural nursing home settings. The TOPAS appeared valid and reliable to facilitate proxy-rated measurement of thriving among nursing home residents, and the short-form TOPAS could have enhanced use for assessment of thriving in research and practice. Changes to the overall thriving scores between baseline and follow-up provides important information that may be used as a reference point for future measurements and comparisons of thriving and its associated variables over time. This thesis highlights the importance of considering the various experiences, perceptions, and interpretations of thriving if such a concept is to be effectively embedded in person-centred care, policy, and practice.
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- Brännström, Jon, 1977-
(författare)
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Adverse effects of psychotropic drugs in old age
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: With increasing age, the body and mind transform. Many of our organs gradually lose capacity, making them more sensitive to the effects of several drugs. In parallel, many of us accumulate an increasing burden of disease and other conditions warranting the use of medications. Hence, the use of most classes of drugs increases with age, especially so in elderly women.At the same time, medical science is lagging behind due to the fact that the oldest people in society often are excluded from pharmacological studies, where young males are the most coveted subjects.In the absence of strong evidence, much of the knowledge about the clinical and adverse effects of several drugs in the elderly is derived from observational studies, prone to bias and confounding. The use of psychotropic drugs in elderly people is particularly controversial, and even more so in people suffering from major neurocognitive disorders (NCD). Psychotropics have been associated with several adverse effects as well as limited clinical effect. Still, they are frequently prescribed to elderly patients.Aims: This thesis aims to explore the associations between several types of psychotropic drugs and two of the most severe adversities attributed to their use, increased mortality and the risk of hip fracture. It aims to explore mortality in data from well-controlled studies. It also aims to employ novel statistical methods to investigate the associations between drug exposure and hip fracture, in an attempt to gain information on possible causality from observational data.Methods: This thesis uses quantitative, comparative and epidemiological methods, prospective as well as retrospective. Two of the four papers are based on data collections conducted by the Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Umeå University, and include 992 and 1,037 individuals, respectively. The other two papers are based on Swedish nationwide registers and include 408,144 and 255,274 subjects, respectively. In all four papers multivariable regression models were used to investigate the associations between the exposures and outcomes, adjusted for possible confounding variables.Results: In a population-based sample of very old people, and in old people with major NCD, ongoing use of psychotropic drugs was not independently associated with increased mortality. Analyses did show, however, a significant impact of sex on the mortality risk, with tendencies for antidepressant drug use to be protective in men, but not in women, and for benzodiazepines to increase the mortality risk in men, but not in women. In two cohorts of old people, based on several nationwide registers, investigating the associations between psychotropic drug use and hip fracture revealed that users of antidepressants, as well as users of antipsychotics, had significantly increased risks of hip fracture, independent of a wide range of covariates. However, when studying how the risk changed over time, the strongest associations were found before the initiation of treatment with the respective drug, and no dose-response relationships were found.Discussion: The finding that psychotropic drug use was not independently associated with an elevated mortality risk was not in line with previous research, most of which have been based on data from large registers, and shown an increased risk of mortality. One reason for this difference is that the cohorts studied in this thesis were thoroughly investigated and characterised, making it possible to perform extensive adjusting for confounding variables. Hence, we expect a lesser amount of residual confounding, than in most other studies. Another explanation is that we studied ongoing drug use at baseline, rather than associations following initiation of treatment. This might have introduced a selection bias in our studies, where the individuals most sensitive to adverse effects would have discontinued treatment or passed away. The finding of a significant impact of sex on the risk of mortality adds to the unexplored field of sex differences in drug responses in old age, and warrants further investigation.In our register studies of psychotropic drug use and the risk of hip fracture, novel methods were applied. We have tried to overcome the hurdles of several types of confounding through the investigation of associations before and after the initiation of antidepressants, and antipsychotics, respectively. Our finding that the associations between psychotropic drug use and hip fracture were not only present, but indeed strongest, before the initiation of treatment indicates a strong presence of residual confounding and confounding by indication, and points toward the absence of a causal relationship between psychotropic drug use and hip fracture.Conclusion: The evidence supporting causal relationships between psychotropic drug use and serious adverse events in old age is insufficient. Our results point towards bias and confounding having strong influences on the observed associations between psychotropic drug use and mortality, and hip fracture, respectively.
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- Corneliusson, Laura, 1989-
(författare)
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Exploring resident health, wellbeing, and thriving in Swedish sheltered housing
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: As the population of older people is expected to increase in the coming decades, an increase in service demand will likely follow. Aging in place is common in Sweden, but may be associated with loneliness, anxiety, and other negative health effects. Swedish sheltered housing began to emerge around 2008, and was aimed at older people who felt socially isolated, anxious, or unsafe aging in place. Swedish sheltered housing was to be a form of independent housing, providing accommodation with increased opportunities for social participation and accessible spaces, but with no provision of health care services. Despite the emergence of such housing, and policy documents outlining anticipated benefits, the national and international scientific body of knowledge is small.Aim: The overall aim of this thesis was to explore the health, wellbeing and thriving of residents living in Swedish sheltered housing.Methods: This thesis is based on data from two data collections and registry data. The first data collection, the U-Age Sheltered Housing Survey Study, took place between October 2016 and January 2017, and consisted of surveys sent to residents living in Swedish sheltered housing, and to a matched control group. The matching criteria was age, sex and municipality of residence. The sample for the U-Age Sheltered Housing Survey Study consisted of 3,805 individuals: 1, 955 individuals living in sheltered housing, and 1,850 aging in place. The second data collection took place between April 2019 and January 2020, and consisted of semi-structured interviews in five sheltered housing accommodations which had participated in the U-age Sheltered Housing Survey Study. This data collection consisted of a total of seven group interviews with a sample of 38 residents. In addition, to enable longitudinal analyses, registry data on social services resource utilization and mortality was obtained from The Department of Health and Welfare in Sweden and Statistics Sweden. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, linear regression analyses with interaction variables, logistic regressions, and qualitative content analysis.Results: Residents living in Swedish sheltered housing generally reported lower self-rated health, lower health-related quality of life, lower functional status, and higher depressive mood, compared to those aging in place. With increasing level of depressive mood, and decreasing levels of self-rated health and functional status, those residing in sheltered housing generally reported higher levels of thriving, compared to those aging in place. A higher proportion of those living in Swedish sheltered housing received home care services, and received on average more home care service hours, compared to those aging in place. Furthermore, a higher proportion of residents living in sheltered housing had relocated to a nursing home and deceased over a 3-year period, compared to those aging in place. Rates of relocation to a nursing home and mortality were higher among those who lived in Swedish sheltered housing and received home care services, compared to those living in Swedish sheltered housing who did not receive home care services. Interviews with residents living in Swedish sheltered housing revealed four different levels to the experienced facilitators and barriers to thriving in Swedish sheltered housing: individual factors, social context, environmental factors and organizational context.Conclusions: There seems to be both a want, and a potential need, for health care related support among residents living in Swedish sheltered housing. Although residents in Swedish sheltered housing reported slightly lower self-rated wellbeing than older people aging in place, differences in wellbeing did not seem to be explained by type of accommodation per se. There do however seem to be aspects in Swedish sheltered housing that support thriving specifically among those with lower levels of health, lower functional status, and higher depressive mood, when compared to those aging in place. It seems possible that thriving in Swedish sheltered housing may be influenced by the interplay of various especially influential aspects, such as, but not limited to, levels of health, the services provided, the experience of the social environment, and the perceived support. Thereby, providing residents of Swedish sheltered housing with more health care related support and information could further support resident health and thriving. The findings of this thesis contribute to the currently limited pool of knowledge on health, wellbeing, and thriving in Swedish sheltered housing, and may assist in developing tailored services, support, and interventions for the demographic residing in this type of housing.
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- Gustafsson, Maria, et al.
(författare)
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Drug-related hospital admissions among old people with dementia
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Purpose: Drug treatment associated problems, including medication errors and adverse drug events, are common, and are the cause of a large proportion of hospital admissions in old people. People with dementia are especially at risk of drug-related problems. The objectives of this study were to assess the occurrence and character of drug-related problems that lead to acute hospital admissions among old people with dementia or cognitive impairment. Methods: This study was conducted in orthopedic and internal medicine wards in two hospitals in Northern Sweden. Information about acute admissions was collected from the medical records of the study population. A total of 458 people aged 65 years or older with dementia or cognitive impairment were included in the study. The contribution of drug related problems to each hospitalization was assessed. Results: Of 458 acute hospital admissions, 189 (41.3%) were determined to be drug-related. The most common drug-related problem (86/189; 45.5%) was an adverse drug reaction. In total, 264 drugs were judged to be involved in 189 drug-related admissions, of which cardiovascular (29.5%) and psychotropic (26.9%) drugs were the most commonly involved drug classes. The relationship between the drug-related problem and the admission was judged certain in 25 cases, probable in 78 cases, and possible in 86 cases. Drug-related admissions were more common among people taking more drugs and among younger patients. Conclusion: Drug-related problems appear to be responsible for a major proportion of hospitalizations among old people with dementia or cognitive impairment. Targeted interventions may be warranted to reduce drug-related problems.
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- Gustafsson, Maria, 1971-
(författare)
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Optimizing drug therapy among people with dementia : the role of clinical pharmacists
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: Drugs are one of the cornerstones in the management of many diseases. In general, drugs are used for diagnosis, prevention, mitigation of symptoms, and, sometimes, to cure disease. However, drug treatment in elderly people, especially those with dementia and cognitive impairments, may involve significant risk of adverse drug events. The aim of this thesis was to identify the extent of potentially inappropriate drug treatment among people with dementia and cognitive impairment and to assess the occurrence and character of drug-related problems that lead to acute hospital admissions. Another aim was to assess the potential impact of a comprehensive medication review conducted by clinical pharmacists as part of a health care team on quality of patients’ drug therapy and drug-related hospital readmission rates.Method: Long-term use of antipsychotic/psychotropic drugs and associated factors were investigated among 344 and 278 people respectively with dementia living in specialized care units. Trends in the prescribing of potentially inappropriate drugs between 2007 and 2013, comprising 2772 and 1902 people, living in nursing homes in the county of Västerbotten, were assessed using six national quality indicators. Data on drug use, function in the activities of daily living, cognitive function and behavioral and psychological symptoms were collected using the Multi-Dimensional Dementia Assessment Scale. Further, an investigation of a separate corresponding population from 2012 was done, where potentially inappropriate drug use was measured before and after a total of 895 medication reviews. Finally, a randomized, controlled trial was carried out among people 65 years or older with dementia or cognitive impairment in internal medicine and orthopedic wards at two hospitals in northern Sweden. The proportion of hospital admissions that were drug-related were estimated, and also whether comprehensive medication reviews conducted by clinical pharmacists as part of a health care team could affect the risk of drug-related hospital readmissions.Results: Antipsychotic and other psychotropic drugs were frequently prescribed to people with dementia living in specialized care units for prolonged periods. Associations were found between behavioral and psychological symptoms and different psychotropic drugs. The extent of potentially inappropriate drug use declined between 2007 and 2013. In the separate corresponding population from 2012, the frequency of potentially inappropriate drug use was significantly reduced among people who underwent medication reviews. Hospitalizations due to drug-related problems among old people with dementia or cognitive impairment were prevalent. We found that inclusion of a clinical pharmacist in the health care team significantly reduced the risk of drug-related 30-day and 180-day readmissions. However, in a subset of patients with concomitant heart failure no effect was seen.Conclusion: Among patients with dementia or cognitive impairment long-term treatment with antipsychotic and other psychotropic drugs is common. The results indicate that these drugs are prescribed to treat behavioral and psychological symptoms among cognitively impaired individuals, despite limited evidence of their efficacy and the high risk of adverse effects. Drug-related problems, such as adverse drug reactions, constituted a major cause of hospital admissions. By reducing potentially inappropriate drug use and optimizing overall drug therapy, inclusion of clinical pharmacists in a health care team might improve the quality of patient care and reduce the risk of hospital readmissions among people with dementia.
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