Introduction: Anxiety and depression are common among patients enrolled in psychiatric outpatient care. Ear Acupuncture is an alternative form of treatment that has been shown to relieve anxiety and depression in previous studies.Aim: To evaluate ear acupuncture as a group treatment for depression and anxietyMethod: A psychiatric outpatient clinic has been offering group treatments with ear acupuncture for anxiety and depression for 5 weeks. Participants of the study have answered self-rating scales Montgomery Åsberg Depression Rating Scale, Beck Anxiety Inventory and Sheehan Disability scale before and after the treatment period. Material was collected in the period 2008-2012 and has been analyzed in SPSS.Results: Data from 31 patients were included in the study. The results from the study showed a significant difference, between the measurements before and after treatment, with a reduction of the average values in the three different scales.Summary: From this study, it is difficult to draw any conclusions about the effect of ear acupuncture.

Title: The nurse's dilemma in psychiatric inpatient care - a balancing act between good and evil Objective: To describe the nurse's experience of relieving patient suffering caused by coercive measures on a closed psychiatric ward . Frame of reference : The results are discussed in light of Eriksson´s theory of suffering and caring relationships Method: A qualitative analysis based on focus group discussions Results: The analysis resulted in six categories, to protect the patient , to involve the patient , not to lose control , to remain , to justify compulsion , and to be touched . The results showed that nurses had the experience of being able to relieve the suffering of patients caused by coercive measures. It was also found that the nurses had a tendency to justify coercive measures , the more experience they had of performing these . Conclusion: The results describe that nurses have the experience and knowledge of how to relieve patients' suffering caused by coercion but also their experiences of performing these .

Abstract. Risk assessment for future violence is an important part of today's forensic psychiatry, and including dynamic risk factors in risk assessment is important because it has been shown that risk can change over time. However, previous research has suggested that perpetrators of homicide are different than perpetrators of other violent crimes. The aim of this study was to describe and analyze risk assessments of future violence for forensic psychiatric patients convicted for homicide (n = 45) and forensic psychiatric patients convicted for assault (n = 91). To do this, differences within the groups and between the groups were analyzed.

This project is a deepening in how the space in psychiatric care setting can promote and improve thepatient?s well-being. The aim with this study was to create a manual for architects and the care to takepart of. This would consist of different aspects of how the space can be created for a more secure,care taking and healing space. With help of the manual the study would continue by creating a healingpatient room in a psychiatric clinic.The main questions were; can we create an environment which improves the healing process for thementally ill? What are the factors that we need to consider to creating a room for psychiatric care?This study only looks at the patient room, the common room and how the environment can affect theiremotional and physical well-being.By taking part of already made studies in this subject or similar, making my own studies by visitingpsychiatric departments and exploring how the spaces there contribute or not contribute to the healingprocess of the patient.

Background: Borderline personality disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis that one to two percent of the population and at least every fourth patient that have received treatment at a psychiatric clinic has been diagnosed with. BPD is most common in women between teenage and early adulthood. Purpose: The aim of this literature study was to emphasize the nursing care of patients diagnosed with BPD within different perspectives. Method: A literature study was conducted to get a deeper understanding for the nursing care of patients with BPD. The search for pertinent articles, answering to the aim of the study, was done in different databases.

Title: From openness and presence to distance and control: to be medicated and to administrate from a patient and nurse perspective.Background: Within forensic psychiatric care the patients are admitted against their will, under heavy security with long term treatments. Self-care seems, based on scientific studies, to be dependent on what the nurses involved can provide. Emphasis should focus on a humane and respectful approach when the patient is exposed to coercive measures.Aim: From a patient and nurse perspective describe experiences of beeing medicated with and to administrate antipsychotic drugs within the psychiatric inpatient care.Method: Interviews with patients and nurses, which were analyzed using qualitative content analysis with an inductive approach.Results: Patients experience frustration over not beeing able to participate in or influence descisions made regarding their neuroleptic treatment. The neuroleptic treatment is described as a coercive measure and is characterized as an experience of losing control and independence. Nurses? experiences of administering antipsychotics were described as having to do what is needed for the long term benefit of patients? well-being.

The purpose of this study was to examine the school counsellors and social service workers experience of how the child psychiatry manage their authority in the collaboration concerning children with mental health problems. The study was conducted using qualitative interviews with school counsellors, social service workers and one former employee of the Swedish child psychiatric care. Our results are divided into two themes: Collaboration and distribution of responsibility and Children who fall between the cracks. Examples of groups of children who according to our study are at risk of falling between the cracks are those who apart from mental issues have substance abuse issues or social issues, those whose parents are in a child custody dispute, children who are acting out and children with self-harm issues. The study also reveals that it's easier for children whose parents are active and knowledgeable to get help from the child psychiatric care and that it's a requirement for both parents and children to be highly motivated.There are established social hierarchs between agencies who partake in collaboration regarding children with mental illness.

Background: The need for structured practice has in recent years appeared in connection with the request for a more evidence-based nursing. In psychiatric care with its complex disabilities, it is important to have methods to identify these. Research has demonstrated the importance of patient participation in nursing that has been shown to affect their mental health. It is essential to get to know how patients with mental illness are capable of involvement in their life situation. The ICF emerged as a useful theoretical framework for development of questionnaires of patient participation.Aim: The aim of the present pilotstudy was to develop and test a questionnaire for participation, based on ICF.

Introduction: Anxiety and depression are common among patients enrolled in psychiatric outpatient care. Ear Acupuncture is an alternative form of treatment that has been shown to relieve anxiety and depression in previous studies.Aim: To evaluate ear acupuncture as a group treatment for depression and anxietyMethod: A psychiatric outpatient clinic has been offering group treatments with ear acupuncture for anxiety and depression for 5 weeks. Participants of the study have answered self-rating scales Montgomery Åsberg Depression Rating Scale, Beck Anxiety Inventory and Sheehan Disability scale before and after the treatment period. Material was collected in the period 2008-2012 and has been analyzed in SPSS.Results: Data from 31 patients were included in the study. The results from the study showed a significant difference, between the measurements before and after treatment, with a reduction of the average values in the three different scales.Summary: From this study, it is difficult to draw any conclusions about the effect of ear acupuncture.

Introduction: The conversation is one of the main components of the nursing process in psychiatric care. The preunderstanding on this research field is described based on theoretical concepts that together form the basis for understanding the study; nurse's role in psychiatric care, communication and caring relationship, as well as theories of the caring conversation and person-centered care. Research on the caring conversation as a theory and how it is experienced by patients existed, however, no research from the nurse's perspective was found.Aim: The aim of the study was to describe nurses' experiences of the caring conversation with patients in psychiatric open care units.Method: Qualitative research interviews were conducted with six nurses working in outpatient psychiatric care in the west region in Sweden. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and then analyzed according to the qualitative content analysis as described by Graneheim and Lundman (2004).Results: Four categories with related subcategories were distinguished throughout the analysis: The caring conversation, The importance of the care plan, Limitations and Caring based on the patients narrative.Discussion: An uncertainty about what caring conversation is and what it should contain creates uncertainty in the nurse's work. This results in a need for training for the individual nurse and the further research to obtain evidence for the importance of conversation in caring work.

Several studies show that the clinical reality in psychiatric care does not correspond to the demand of consumer participation from a variety of policy documents that has been produced recently. Studies also show that there is a lot to do in improving, patients with sever mental illness, becoming more involved in their own care. The nurse has a central role in this work. The Norwegian nursing theorist Jan-Ka?re Hummelvolls holistic, existentialistic model for psychiatric nursing were used as theoretical ground.The aim of this study was to examine how nurses in psychiatric outpatient units, caring for patients with psychotic disorders, experiences consumer participation.Qualitative phenomenological method was used.

Discussion about the connection between severe mental disorders and criminal acts is constantly ongoing. Violent crimes committed by persons with severe men-tal disorders get a lot of media attention in today´s society. This arise general questions regarding the penalties that these offenders are sentenced to. It is known that the responsibility for these people lies on the forensic psychiatry, however, the media does not draw attention to what is happening in this organization. The purpose of this study is to describe the forensic psychiatric organization from a staff perspective and from a legal perspective.

Background: Intimate relationship violence is physical, psychological or sexual violence that a person is exposed to in a relationship. There is a strong correlation between intimate relationship violence and mental health problems. A psychiatric ward at a hospital in Sweden, is working with a new routine. According to this routine every new patient should be asked about intmate relationship violence as a part of the admission interview.Objective: The objective of this study was to study how the healthcare personnel is working with the routine, and also to study response rate, interventions and how the work has developed over time.Method: A quantitative study with a retrospective and descriptive studydesign. One hundred and two medical records were reviewed.

Backround: Many studies indicate that people with mental illness often suffer from physical illness. Many people with mental illness do not exercise even though they often have knowledge about the benefits of physical activity. Studies suggest that psychiatric patients have the desire to have an everyday life with more content. It is apparent in studies that healthcare professionals believe that it is the patients' own responsibility to keep themselves physically active.Aim: The primary objective with this study is to examine motivation and possible obstacles to exercise for persons with self-perceived mental illness and experience of psychiatric care. The secondary objective is to investigate how psychiatric care may be of importance to people with mental illness when it comes to exercise.Methods: Semi-structured interviews.

 ABSTRACT  Nature of essay:                C-level, 15 pointsPage count:                        47Title:                                   The last way out?-A qualitative study of psychiatric staff and service users attitude to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).Author:                              Hanna Nilsson Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate attitudes to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) of professionals and service users within a user organization ? Riksförbundet för social och mental hälsa. (RSMH)Questions: Does the psychiatric staff believe that there are preconceptions about electroconvulsive therapy? What motivates service user?s choice of electroconvulsive therapy? Do the psychiatric staff and the service users think that the positive effects of ECT can outweigh the possible negative side effects?Method: Qualitative study. The study is based on interviews with psychiatric staffthat works with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), and with services users who have received electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).Results: The result showed that the psychiatric staff feels that preconceived ideas occur about the treatment of ECT, and that it is affecting their approach to work.Service users motivate their choice by how bad they felt under the depression, and that ECT was their only choice left, that´s why psychiatric staff suggested the treatment.The positive effects of ECT outweighed the possible negative side effects because life is something you value higher than any memory loss and when there is currently no treatment having a similar efficiency.Keywords: Electroconvulsive therapy, Attitudes, Side effects, Experience, Patients, Professionals.