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.

Venous leg ulcers are a chronic disease mostly among elderly individuals. The leg ulcers are often painful and interfere with the individual?s daily life. The aim of this literature review was to describe individuals? experiences of living with venous leg ulcers.

Introduction Postoperative wound infections leads to increased patient suffering and cost society money because it leads to longer hospital stays. Previous research shows that patient related risk factors such as smoking, diabetes, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), advanced age (>65 years) a low preoperative hemoglobin level (<140g/L) and a high BMI (> 30) increases the risk of suffering a postoperative wound infection. Aim To investigate whether patients that underwent surgery with Coronary artery Bypass Graft (CABG) in a university hospital in central Sweden in 2013 and had any of these risk factors more often suffer from post-operative wound infection.MethodThe study has a descriptive design and is based on an ongoing infection registration area of operations. The study included 148 patients out of 255 (58%) undergoing CABG in 2013. Possible risk factors were collected through medical record review.Results There was no significant correlation between surgical wound infection and patient-related risk factors such as smoking (not quit smoking four weeks before surgery), diabetes, COPD, advanced age (>65 years), low preoperative hemoglobin (<140g/L) or a high BMI (>30) and suffered a postoperative wound infection.Conclusion More research and a larger sample is needed in the field to produce a reliable result could be presented..

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness training in the treatment of chronic pain, estimate the degree of mindfulness before and after intervention, and to describe the participants experience of mindfulness training. Mindfulness is defined as moment to moment, non-judgmental awareness. After the treatment of chronic pain 16 patients were offered and nine agreed to participate in mindfulness training. The intervention group took part in an 8-week group-program. The comparison group, not randomized, was 16 former patients.

Sahlgrenska AcademyAt University of GothenburgDepartment of Internal Medicine and Clinical NutritionAbstractTitle: The obesity paradox, myth or truth in adults with cardiovascular disease.Author: Louise Svensson och Amanda NilssonSupervisor: Fredrik BertzExaminer: Ingrid LarssonProgramme: Dietician study programme, 180/240 ECTSType of paper: Examination paper, 15 hpDate: May 30, 2013Background: It has long been generally accepted that obesity is a risk factor for many diseases. Despite this, new research indicates that a higher BMI could be a protective factor for those with a chronic cardiovascular disease. This discovery is called the obesity paradox and could change the perception of patients' BMI in both public health and clinical work.Objective: The objective of this systematic review article is to examine the scientific evidence for the existence of the obesity paradox in chronic cardiovascular disease, i.e. if a BMI >25 kg/m2 is associated with lower mortality among adults with chronic cardiovascular disease.Search strategy: The databases used in the literature study were PubMed, Summon, Scopus and Cochrane. The keywords were: obesity paradox, cardiovascular, heart, male, BMI, intentional weight loss, cardiovascular mortality and mortality heart failure.Selection criteria: Studies, which had an adult population classified after BMI that suffered from chronic cardiovascular disease and had all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality as endpoints, were included.Data collection and analysis: Ten studies were included.

Venous leg ulcers are a chronic disease mostly among elderly individuals. The leg ulcers are often painful and interfere with the individual?s daily life. The aim of this literature review was to describe individuals? experiences of living with venous leg ulcers.

The purpose of doing this essay was to illustrate how people living with chronic disease, dependent on medical technology experience their life situation. The study includes people with either dialysis therapy, mechanical ventilator or chronic oxygen therapy. A meta-synthesis was used as a method where a systematically review of studies that are made in a given issue compiles. Findings of the studies resulted in a synthesis of three themes: Limitations in life as a consequence of life-long treatment, to take responsibility for your life provide self-esteem and safeness, and to be cared for in different contexts ?help or prohibit.

Syfte: Syftet med studien var att, utifrån vetenskaplig litteratur, beskriva hur patienter med KOL upplever att livskvaliteten påverkas av sjukdomen och hur sjuksköterskor kan bidra till att bibehålla livskvaliteten hos dessa patienter samt att beskriva artiklarnas kvalitet gällande deltagare och bortfall i undersökningsgruppen.Metod: Deskriptiv litteraturstudie. Artiklarna har sökts i databasen Medline och via manuella sökningar vilket resulterade i 13 artiklar.Resultat: Patienter med KOL beskriver att oro och ångest över de fysiska begränsningarna som kommer med sjukdomen kan ha en negativ inverkan på livskvaliteten. Genom att delta i fritidsaktiviteter samt att umgås med familj och vänner höjdes välmående och livskvaliteten. Trots att de flesta patienterna var påverkade av symtom, sjukdom och oförmåga att delta i aktiviteter ansåg sig de flesta ha en god livskvalitet. För sjuksköterskan är det viktigt att inge hopp, ge stöd och stärka patienternas hanteringsförmåga.

AbstractBackgroundWorking in primary care with chronic leg ulcers is both time-consuming and difficult. There is a large category of patients with leg ulcers, that is expected to increase in a number of years, and many of them will probably come to a district nurse for help.AimThe aim of this study was to describe the district nurses' experiences of caring for patients with chronic leg ulcers in primary care.MethodThe approach was qualitative. The study was done with a phenomenological life-world approach. Seven district nurses working in primary care were interviewed. The phenomenological perspective focuses on the respondents? own life-world and has openness to the interviewee's own experiences.

There is much research into the reasons why a temporary pain, in some individuals, becomes chronic. Many of the causal factors linked with pain also seems to coexist with social anxiety, public self-consciousness and, to some extent, private self-consciousness. The purpose of this study was to investigate and identify possible patterns of self-consciousness (private and public), social anxiety and pain. This was done by a cross-sectional study in which a questionnaire was distributed to students at Örebro University. A total of 302 completed questionnaires were received.

Bakgrund: Kronisk obstruktiv lungsjukdom (KOL) är en världsomfattande sjukdom. År 2012 dog mer än tre miljoner människor världen över till följd av sjukdomen. Av de dödsfall som sker till följd av sjukdomen, sker 90 % i låg- och medelinkomstländer. Den huvudsakliga orsaken till att sjukdomen utvecklas är rökning. Sjukdomen kan leda till b.la.

Kronisk obstruktiv lungsjukdom (KOL) är en vanlig sjukdom och sjuksköterskan möter dessa patienter i olika samanhang. Då det finns ett starkt samband mellan KOL och rökning upplever många personer med KOL skuld, skam och stigmatisering. Personer med KOL har omfattande kontakt med vården. Att denna kontakt inte förstärker upplevelserna av skuld, skam och stigmatisering är därför av stor vikt. För att kunna möta behoven hos personer med KOL behöver sjuksköterskan förstå innebörden av dessa känslor.

The objective of this study was to assess validity and reliability for five different owner-completed instruments evaluated to assess chronic musculoskeletal pain in cats. All of the instruments were questionnaires, three asking about behavioral changes, one about the degree of pain and one about quality of life. One of the instruments was written originally in Swedish, the other four instruments were translated into Swedish before use. Data available were records from 57 cats with no signs of pain and 11 cats with different pain-related diagnoses. The diagnoses were ensured by clinical examination including palpation and manipulation of joints, gait testing on a force-plate and X-ray scans. Instrument 1 was completed by 57 pain-free and 11 pain-affected cats.

Kroniskt Obstruktiv Lungsjukdom (KOL) är en progressiv folksjukdom som drabbar mer än 10 procent av Sveriges befolkning, där ungefär hälften av alla äldre rökare uppfyller de spirometriska kriterierna för sjukdomen. Muskeldysfunktion är en känd systemisk effekt vid KOL. Handgreppsstyrka har visat sig korrelera starkt med muskelstyrka och muskelmassa i både övre och nedre extremitet hos personer med KOL. Det finns indikationer på att rehabilitering är mer effektiv vid ett tidigt stadium av sjukdomen jämfört med ett sent stadium, därför är en tidig identifikation av en muskeldysfunktion av värde. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att undersöka handgreppsstyrka hos personer med KOL i jämförelse med personer utan obstruktiv lungfunktionsnedsättning i ett populationsbaserat material.

Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain disorder. It affects muscles and connective tissue. It's a very complex disorder that has no adequate treatment or cure. The research has progressed but there are still some questions to be answered. Quality of life for these patients is decreased and leads to suffering.