| 1. |
- Arvidsson, Ida, et al.
(författare)
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Early terminal complement blockade and C6 deficiency are protective in enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli-infected mice
- 2016
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Ingår i: Journal of Immunology. - : The American Association of Immunologists. - 0022-1767 .- 1550-6606. ; 197:4, s. 1276-1286
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Complement activation occurs during enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) infection and may exacerbate renal manifestations. In this study, we show glomerular C5b-9 deposits in the renal biopsy of a child with EHEC-associated hemolytic uremic syndrome. The role of the terminal complement complex, and its blockade as a therapeutic modality, was investigated in a mouse model of E. coli O157:H7 infection. BALB/c mice were treated with monoclonal anti-C5 i.p. on day 3 or 6 after intragastric inoculation and monitored for clinical signs of disease and weight loss for 14 d. All infected untreated mice (15 of 15) or those treated with an irrelevant Ab (8 of 8) developed severe illness. In contrast, only few infected mice treated with anti-C5 on day 3 developed symptoms (three of eight, p < 0.01 compared with mice treated with the irrelevant Ab on day 3) whereas most mice treated with anti-C5 on day 6 developed symptoms (six of eight). C6-deficient C57BL/6 mice were also inoculated with E. coli O157:H7 and only 1 of 14 developed disease, whereas 10 of 16 wild-type mice developed weight loss and severe disease (p < 0.01). Complement activation via the terminal pathway is thus involved in the development of disease in murine EHEC infection. Early blockade of the terminal complement pathway, before the development of symptoms, was largely protective, whereas late blockade was not. Likewise, lack of C6, and thereby deficient terminal complement complex, was protective in murine E. coli O157:H7 infection.
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| 2. |
- Dalheim Englund, Ann-Charlotte
(författare)
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Associations between Social Capital measures and Return to Work among Women on Long-term Sick Leave
- 2014
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sick leave rates are decreasing in Sweden overall, but these rates follow the international trend of higher sick leave for women than men. This study focuses on the associations between social capital measures and return to work (RTW) among women on long-term sick leave. Questionnaire data were collected at four times from a cohort of long-term sick women (n=324). The preliminary results suggest women that reported having someone they feel very close to, having someone they can share happiness with and being comforted by being held in someone’s arms increased in work ability score and working degree significantly more over time compared to women who had no such friend/relationship. Additionally, women with shared household duties and women allowed to take a short break at work but not at home, increased in work ability score and working degree significantly more over time compared to women with major responsibility for the household, no opportunity for breaks at work and an accepting climate for break taking at home. These results highlight the importance of social attachment, a basis of equality and a good work environment that allows moments of rest in order to increase work ability and improve the RTW process.
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| 3. |
- Dalheim-Englund, Ann-Charlotte, et al.
(författare)
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Getting along with disease-engendered uncertainty in asthma child families
- 2006
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Ingår i: New Developments in Parent-Child Relation. - : New York: Nova Science Publishers. - 1600211704
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- All communities set high expectations on parents and to raise a child is a challenging responsibility. Being a parent includes feelings of pleasure, but is also associated with concem and extra work. If the child is stricken by a chronic illness their concem and extra work more often than not will increase. One of the most common chronic diseases among children world-wide is asthma and it constitutes a considerable health problem. Current literature shows that asthma brings uncertainty and extra work to family life, which influences many aspects of a farnily's health and social life. In a Swedish study, it is found that mothers and fathers of children with asthma manage their uncertainty in different ways - mothers mostly act in a protecting manner and express feelings of sadness, while fathers act in a liberating manner and express feelings of acceptance. Furthermore, another Swedish study points out the fact that the relations among asthma family members are govemed by uncertainty and characterized by control, tight bonds and feelings of being forsaken and lack of understanding. From the literature and studies mentioned above, one can assume that living under such circumstances may not only affect family members' present life, but it may also affect their future. Uncertainty puts a great drain on the family, e.g. misunderstanding between parents can occur, siblings may feel forsaken and the child with asthma may be prevented from taking an own responsibility for life with the disease. One way to get a deeper understanding of human relations is to use different perspectives. In this article, we will try to illurninate asthma family life and relations by using an existentialistic, a Hegelian as well as a gender perspective.
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| 4. |
- Dalheim Englund, Ann-Charlotte, et al.
(författare)
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Having a child with asthma : quality of life for Swedish parents
- 2004
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Ingår i: Journal of Clinical Nursing. - : Wiley. - 0962-1067 .- 1365-2702. ; 13:3, s. 386-395
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease. Childhood asthma contributes significantly to morbidity among children and has a significant impact on the quality of life (QoL) and daily routines of both the children and their parents. AIM AND OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate how Swedish parents of children with asthma experience their QoL, and to investigate whether there were differences concerning QoL between parents within the same family. The purpose was also to investigate possible connections between their QoL and background variables. METHOD: A total of 371 parents of children with asthma (57% mothers and 43% fathers) participated in the study. The Paediatric Asthma Caregiver's Quality Of Life Questionnaire (PACQLQ) was used to measure the parents' QoL, i.e. how the child's asthma interferes with the parents' normal activities and how it has made them feel. RESULTS: The findings show that most parents of children with asthma evaluated their QoL as close to the positive end of the scale, and there was close agreement in the scoring between parents within the same family. Significant associations were found between parents' lower QoL outcome and living in the North of Sweden. There were also significant associations between fathers' lower QoL outcome and having a child younger than 13 years of age and mothers' lower QoL outcome and having a child with severe asthma. Although the result shows that a child's asthma did not influence the parents' QoL to a greater degree, it is still important for healthcare workers to help these parents to sustain and improve their well-being. CONCLUSIONS: The fact that they just evaluated their QoL during the preceding week only, and did so at the time when their children were being treated with asthma medication, might have influenced the results in a positive direction.
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| 5. |
- Dalheim Englund, Ann-Charlotte, et al.
(författare)
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I have to Turn Myself Inside Out” : Caring for Immigrant Families of Children With Asthma
- 2012
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Ingår i: Clinical Nursing Research. - : Sage Publications, Inc.. - 1054-7738 .- 1552-3799. ; 21:2, s. 224-242
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In multicultural societies, health care professionals encounter immigrant families of children with asthma. They play an important role in supporting these families, but few studies have focused on this phenomenon. The aim of the present study is to gain a broader understanding of the challenges health care professionals face in their encounters with non-Western immigrant parents of children with asthma. Seventeen professional caregivers were interviewed, and their narratives were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The results show that health care professionals’ main challenges when encountering immigrant parents can be described by the theme, “Turning oneself inside out.” This theme is characterized by five categories: gender and professional issues, impact on professional relationships, communication challenges, unfamiliar disease and treatment perceptions, and time issues. The results highlight the importance of providing health care professionals with support and organizational conditions that increase opportunities to understand the unique situation of these families
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| 6. |
- Dalheim Englund, Ann-Charlotte, et al.
(författare)
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Life without professional work : perceptions about one’s self, interpersonal relations and social life after retirement
- 2019
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Ingår i: Healthy Aging Research. - : Wolters Kluwer. - 2261-7434. ; 8:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this study is to understand how healthy, older adults in Sweden perceive their life situation after retirement. The study is based on a lifeworld approach, and a phenomenographic method was used. Eighteen participants were interviewed, and data were analysed according to the phenomenographic principle of qualitatively different categories. Two categories were developed. The first category, “perceptions that draw attention inward, towards one’s self”, was further described in three subcategories: Sense of decreased status in society, the desire to keep aging at a distance, and contemplation of one’s own existence. The second category, “perceptions that draw attention outward, away from one’s self” was further described in the following four subcategories: caretaking of family members, involvement in social relationships, finding of deep meaning in animals and nature and engagement with society. In the discussion, the findings are further illuminated through comparisons with concepts such as maturity, wisdom and gerotranscendence, and reflections on the findings ‘relevance to a caring context follow. The conclusion suggests this study can provide knowledge that will allow healthcare providers to bridge the gap between generations in order to provide high-quality care. However, for a more profound caring dialogue, for example, about the end of life, a deeper analysis is required.
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| 7. |
- Dalheim-Englund, Ann-Charlotte
(författare)
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Skydda och frigöra : en studie av föräldrar till barn med astma och av professionella vårdare
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Aim: The overall aim of this thesis is, from the point of view of parents of a child with asthma, to describe meanings of being a parent, parents’ quality of life, and to describe how family relations are influenced by their child’s disease. The aim is also to increase the understanding of what strategies professional caregivers use in their work with teenagers suffering from asthma. Methods: Informants in the three qualitative studies were 29 parents (17 mothers and 12 fathers) of children with asthma and 7 professional caregivers. Informants in a quantitative quality of life study were 371 parents. The data collections were undertaken by means of interviews, observations and a questionnaire. The data was analysed by means of a phenomenological-hermeneutic method, grounded theory and statistics. Results: A meaning of being a parent of a child with asthma is to live a strenuous life and to fear that the child might die during a severe asthma attack. The parents’ actions involve both protecting and liberating and their feelings involve sadness as well as acceptance. Mostly the mothers act in a protecting manner and express feelings of sadness. The fathers mostly act in a liberating manner and express feelings of acceptance. The core concern in families of a child with asthma was found to be disease-engendered uncertainty. The mothers describe that feelings of uncertainty always are present owing to the unpredictability of the disease. These feelings make the mothers more or less available for family members. For the child with asthma the mothers’ experience that they are always available. Thus, control and tight bonds characterize the mother-child relationships. The mothers’ constant availability for the child with asthma is experienced to lead to a decreased availability for other family members and theses relationships are characterised by feelings of forsakenness and lack of understanding. However, when parents of children with asthma estimate their quality of life by a questionnaire, they estimate it as comparatively high. In the same family the parents scoring of separate items was to a large extent similar. The result also shows that professional caregivers’ central concern is to assist teenagers with asthma to conquer life. This gives rise to five strategies: showing respect, being at hand, promoting personal sense of responsibility, promoting exceeding boundaries, and promoting reflections. In professional caregivers’ attempt to assist teenagers to conquer life some differences are seen in the way they support boys and girls. Conclusion: One conclusion drawn from this thesis is that being a parent of a child with asthma involves feelings of uncertainty. In meeting the parents in question, caregivers should reflect upon these feelings and consider how the parents could be assisted. As mothers and fathers describe different attitudes in relation to the care of the child, it is also important to reflect upon how professional caregivers can assist the balance between the mothers’ protecting and the fathers’ liberating attitudes. It is also important for professional caregivers to reflect upon how they meet teenage girls and boys with asthma respectively, and to take their needs and understanding of the situation into consideration.
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| 8. |
- Dalheim Englund, Ann-Charlotte, et al.
(författare)
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Social support outside work and return to work among women on long-term sick leave working within human service organizations
- 2016
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Ingår i: Applied Nursing Research. - : Saunders Elsevier. - 0897-1897 .- 1532-8201. ; 30, s. 187-193
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aim: To investigate the relationships between return to work and social support outside work among women on long-term sick leave from human service organizations. Background: Work is an important part of life and is, in general, considered to be supportive of health and wellbeing. Few studies have thoroughly investigated the importance of aspects of social support outside work for return to work. Methods: A cohort of women on long-term sick leave was followed with questionnaires from 2005 to 2012. Results: The availability of social attachment increased the women's work ability, return to work, and vitality significantly more over time. There were positive relationships between return to work and seeking support in terms of emotional support and comfort and expressing unpleasant feelings. Conclusions: Important resources to increase return to work can be found in factors outside work, such as close social relationships and support seeking. Thus, it is important to take the woman's whole life situation into account and not focus solely on aspects related to the workplace.
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| 9. |
- Englund, Ann-Charlotte, et al.
(författare)
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Assisting teens with asthma to take command
- 2006
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences. - : Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.. - 0283-9318 .- 1471-6712. ; 20:2, s. 193-201
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In English To meet and work with teenagers may be a challenge for caregivers as adolescence is a period when youths try to establish autonomy. Although asthma is an increasing problem worldwide, few studies have addressed professional caregivers' motives and actions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to describe professional caregivers' strategies in their work with teenagers with asthma. Grounded theory, inspired by Glaser, was used to uncover the phenomenon. The informants were seven professional caregivers who worked at an eight-day asthma camp for teenagers in Sweden. Participant observations and interviews were used, and the first author collected the data and participated in the activities. Findings show that professional caregivers' core concern is to assist teenagers with asthma to take command. This core concern gives rise to five strategies: showing respect, being at hand, promoting own responsibility, promoting to exceed boundaries and promoting reflections. In professional caregivers' attempt to assist teenagers to take command some differences are seen in the way they support boys and girls. One conclusion drawn from our study is that the provisional theory of 'Assisting teenagers with asthma to take command' is not only suitable for professional caregivers working at asthma camps; it may, in some degree, also be used as a source of inspiration for professional caregivers in other settings.
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| 10. |
- Englund, Ann-Charlotte, et al.
(författare)
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Being the parent of a child with asthma
- 2001
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Ingår i: Pediatric Nursing. - : Jannetti Publications, Inc.. - 0097-9805. ; 27:4, s. 365-373
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this study is to describe what it means to be parents of a child with asthma. Unstructured interviews were carried out with 12 mothers and 12 fathers of children with asthma living in Sweden. The parents' accounts were analyzed using a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach. The results revealed that parents were living a strenuous life and their actions involved both protecting and liberating. Parents also reported feelings of sadness and acceptance. In most cases, mothers acted in a protecting manner and expressed feelings of sadness; fathers acted in a liberating manner and expressed feelings of acceptance. To gain a deeper understanding of the parents' actions and feelings, study results were interpreted through philosophical perspectives described by Ruddick (1989), Mayeroff (1965), and Hegel (1975). These interpretations show that the feelings and actions of these parents exist in a dialectical relation with one another. Results emphasize the importance of a good partnership between the parents and the nurse, where the nurse shows consideration for the parents' unique actions and feelings and understands and supports parents in the care of their child with asthma.
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