The aim of this undergraduate thesis was to study what the participation in the activities of the Fontain House in Stockholm means to its members. The research questions dealt with how the members describe their participation in the activities, whether they say that it has helped them, and, in that case, in which way. Furthermore, they dealt with how the members argue about their experiences of mental illness and of social help. The study was carried out within the framework of the narrative method. As tools for analyzing the narratives, parts of An-tonovsky?s theories as well as the theoretical concepts of inclusion and exclusion as described by Madsen, were used.

The aim of this descriptive review was to elucidate how the literature describes how children of parents with mental illness experience and have knowledge about their parent?s illness. The aim was furthermore to describe how the children?s existence is affected, can be improved and why the children so often are invisible. Search through Medline (through PubMed) database and additional manual search was conducted.

Background: Mental illness is a growing public health problem which can cause significant disabilities and lead to poor quality of life. As primary care nurses often are the first to encounter these patients they need knowledge to be able to respond appropriately to this group.Aim: The aim was to describe how the sufferer of mental illness experiences the introduction to primary care. Method: The literature review was based on the results of 11 scientific articles which were analyzed with the inspiration of a metasynthesis method.Results: Four categories emerged: the experience of being treated like a human being, the importance of a therapeutic space, the experience of time and availability as well as the importance of competent personnel and the importance of continuity. Patients described different aspects deemed important when encountering nursing staff. Conclusion: Patients experienced that they received good care when they felt listened to and seen as individuals with their own thoughts and feelings.

The purpose of this paper was to examine how clients on the unit for adults at Södemalms district administration (Stockholm, Sweden) with severe mental illness and substance abuse differs from other clients with substance abuse at the baseline and at follow-up one year later. We have used a quantitative method and analyzed material from ASI-interviews performed at the adult drug abuse unit at Södermalm during the time period 2002-2010. At the baseline the clients with substance abuse and co-occurring severe mental illness have more problems than other clients, primarily in the area of mental health. They spend more time alone and are more likely to engage in illegal activities. Interviewers assess their situation as more serious and that they need more help in all of ASI's areas of life than other clients.

The aim of this study was to understand how care staff in residential care perceive and work with elderly mental health and how these perceptions and work is related to aging. We have gathered our empirical material through eight qualitative interviews and vignettes with care staff in residential care. The study was conducted in a municipality with 10 000 to 20 000 inhabitants in southern Sweden. The material was analyzed with use of ageism as a theoretical frame of reference. The results showed that the care staff had different perceptions of mental illness in general and regarding the elderly.

Background: There has been a process of de-institutionalisation and mental health care re-forms in Sweden. Social services are, according to the law, responsible for helping persons with mental illness to live a life like others and to participate in the community. The aim of the study was to describe the culture in one of the social services adult day care center for social relations and activities in Stockholm. The aim was also to focus on the importance of the adult day care center for recovery and empowerment from the participants´ perspective. Methods Observations in the adult day care center were combined with four interviews with regular participants.

BackgroundType 1 diabetes is a chronically disease that often occurs in early life. In every year around 77.000 children in the world is estimated with type 1 diabetes. When a child gets a chronically disease it affects the whole family, specially the parents who will be the child's caregiver.AimThe aim of this study was to describe parents experiences of living with a child with type 1 diabetes.MethodA literature review was carried trough based on 10 qualitative scientific articles. The articles were analyzed and two main themes and seven subthemes emerged.ResultsAll parents experienced that they needed some kind of support particularly early in their illness. They felt it was a big responsibility to take care of their child with diabetes and parents often felt anxiety and fear associated with the disease.

SAMMANFATTNING Jag har skrivit om en hovsjukdom som drabbar hästar, den engelska benämningen är White line disease. Det finns inget korrekt namn på svenska, men vi kallar det för lamellrandsröta. Den engelska benämningen är den mest använda. Sjukdomen kom in i Sverige i slutet av 1980-talet, man tror att det var via importerade travhästar från USA. När den i slutet av 1990-talet fick fart i Sverige började den också att bli ett problem. Ambitionen är att få en inblick i vad lamellrandsröta är och vad den samlade kunskapen är idag bland fackfolk och praktiker. Godtyckligt har jag valt ut och ringt runt och intervjuat ett antal personer som har stött på detta problem, hovslagare, veterinärer och hästägare. All fakta som inhämtats har jag sammanställt, men det finns fortfarande många frågetecken att reda ut. Ett bekymmer är att expertisen har så varierande kunskap och syn på sjukdomen. Idag vet man att det är anaeroba (syreskyende) organismer som orsakar rötan.

According to several surveys, womens´ mental illness is increasing. Today the mental illness is the reason why a third of women are sick listed. Furthermore, these surveys also show an increase in the use of pharmaceuticals. For an example, has the use of antidepressant drugs multiplied by six times for the last 20 years.The aim of this paper is to examine experiences of womens´ mental illness and the use of pharmaceuticals. This is looked upon from two different perspectives: the treatment perspective as well as the perspective of female users.

The aim of this undergraduate thesis was to study the experience of participation in support groups for children of mentally ill parents. The research questions dealt with how the children and the adolescents talked about the knowledge, that they believed having assimilated in the support groups. The knowledge concerned mental illness and the possible impact on children when having mentally ill parents. The research questions also dealt with how the children and the adolescents talked about the meaning of being in a group. Qualitative semi structured interviews were used in order to capture the respondents? subjective experiences.

This report describes the development of a web site for co-workers on leave of absence at Volvo Cars Engine AB and graduated students at Volvo Upper Secondary School in Skövde. The aim of the web site is to be a complement to existing communication channels in the promotion of the contact between the target group and the company. The work was divided into two parts; the first consisting of a preliminary study used to identify the information which the target group finds absent in their absence from their place of work/school, and the second part consisting of the development of a proposition of content layout and web site design. The finished proposition was presented along with a couple of alternatives for the technical implementation. The information department at Volvo Cars Engine AB in consultation with Volvo Cars IT will carry on the implementation, administration and further development of the proposed solutions..

The purpose of this essay is to examine the everyday beliefs about mental illness surrounding the disease and how these are expressed and affects the sick life and identity. The focus is on the sick perspective, where a concept of norms, normalization and taboo forms a basis in the use of materials, which here consists of qualitative interviews and Internet forums. This is analyzed and then discussed with the help from structuralism and poststructuralism approach, where I mainly refer to the social anthropologist Mary Douglas, ethnologist Lars-Eric Jönsson and philosopher Michael Foucault. In the discussion vented even historical aspects of the subject and how these might have followed in our time and how beliefs about mental illness is created and maintained by the norms within a society / culture including the sick..

The purpose of this paper was to examine how clients on the unit for adults at Södemalms district administration (Stockholm, Sweden) with severe mental illness and substance abuse differs from other clients with substance abuse at the baseline and at follow-up one year later. We have used a quantitative method and analyzed material from ASI-interviews performed at the adult drug abuse unit at Södermalm during the time period 2002-2010. At the baseline the clients with substance abuse and co-occurring severe mental illness have more problems than other clients, primarily in the area of mental health. They spend more time alone and are more likely to engage in illegal activities. Interviewers assess their situation as more serious and that they need more help in all of ASI's areas of life than other clients.

Background: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an umbrella term for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. These are characterized by a chronic inflammation of the intestinal mucosa. Living with chronic illness meant that life changed significantly. Quality of life was affected for these individuals and was stressful in their lives. Aim: The aim was to describe the experiences of living with inflammatory bowel disease. Method: A qualitative literature review was chosen to analyze articles that were related to the aim of this study. Results: Based on the chosen articles five themes were created; Commuting between hope and fear, symptoms of the disease and medication become everyday focus, struggling with  the new identity, desire to control the disease- do I control my illness or does it control me and social relationships are affected. Conclusion: Inflammatory bowel disease is a distressing disease and can cause limitations in social life due to lack of knowledge by others about the disease. The affected felt a loss of control in their life due to the difficulty in managing the symptoms.

Body esteem is the affective aspect of body image, which is shaped by social experience. Compared with men, women have a more negative body image, which is more frequently correlated with depression and dysfunctional thoughts, especially in the case of eating disorders. The purpose of the present study was to examine gender differences in body esteem and its subcategories, and to find out whether there exists a stronger link between negative body esteem and higher levels of dysfunctional thoughts in women. The relationship between body esteem, dysfunctional thoughts and mental illness was examined. Participants were 73 college students doing social sciences and sports training educations.