On average half of the sows in Swedish piglet producing herds are culledannually. A significant portion of the sows are euthanized because of lameness orparalysis. Young sows and gilts are overrepresented in the category of animals,culled due to injuries in the musculoskeletal system. These injuries cause pain tothe animals. Early culling of sows/gilts also have economical consequences forthe producers.

HIV/AIDS is a chronic disease that has increased and will continue to increase. Most health care workers will one way or another come into contact with it. The purpose of this literature review was to describe factors contributing to nurses' attitudes towards patients with HIV/AIDS. Sixteen articles were analyzed and quality assessed. The results revealed gaps in knowledge among nurses.

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.

Approximately one third of all patients in primary care have a psychosocial component to their illness that requires adequate professional treatment. However, primary care is insufficiently prepared for these patients. The aim of this case-study was to evaluate a pilot project in primary care offering psychotherapy as a treatment alternative. The data collected includes 1) data from 352 referred patients regarding demographics, diagnosis, treatment duration and pre- and post health status, 2) a patient-satisfaction questionnaire and 3) interviews with six therapists and five medical doctors. The treated patients improved significantly and showed a high degree of satisfaction.

Långvarig smärta är en upplevelse som är förknippad med emotionella och psykologiska reaktioner och som inte kan mätas objektivt. Det är ett fenomen som ofta orsakar personer sociala och funktionella inskränkningar. Syftet med denna litteraturstudie var att beskriva upplevelsen av att leva med långvarig ickemalign smärta. Studien är baserad på tio vetenskapliga artiklar som publicerades mellan 1996-2006. Artiklarna analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys.

People with positive affect seem to have great advantages in life. Goal achievement, the main cause of well-being for all organisms, seem to be a typical trait of these people. The purpose of this study was to examine (i) what influences positive affect, (ii) the relation between positive affect and goal achievement, and (iii) characteristics of individuals with positive and negative affect. Five individuals with self-rated positive affect and two with negative were interviewed. The responses were classified in fifteen themes.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic respiratory disease with an estimated incidence of 3-6 cases per 100 000 inhabitants in Sweden. There is no cure for the disease, which inevitably leads to death. A similar disease has been found among terrier dogs, with an especially high prevalence in the West Highland White Terrier (WHWT). Dogs with pulmonary fibrosis become lethargic with exercise intolerance, and in some cases they develop cough and respiratory distress. This thesis gives a brief review of the field of pulmonary fibrosis and presents a method for analyzing surfactant proteins in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) in the dog.

Många äldre personer med kronisk sjukdom vårdas i det egna hemmet och behöver ofta insatser från öppenvården. Syftet var att belysa upplevelser av kommunikation för den äldre personen med kronisk sjukdom i mötet med öppenvården. Studien genomfördes som en litteraturstudie med 10 vetenskapliga artiklar. Betydelsen av att få tid och av att vårdpersonal lyssnar aktivt framstod som viktigt. Vidare vill de äldre personerna med kronisk sjukdom känna medkänsla genom att få uppmärksamhet och vänligt bemötande.

Background: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease that mainly strikes young people in working age, twice as many women than men falls ill. Approximately 85 % suffers from MS-related fatigue that divides itself from common fatigue in that way that it is persistent and does not disappear in spite of sleep. This fatigue is experienced of many as one of the most difficult symptoms, which has considerable impact on the everyday life. Aim: The aim with the study was to elucidate how MS-related fatigue was experienced by persons with MS. Method: The study has been implemented as a literature study through systematic review of scientific articles.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between mental illness and socioeconomic factors such as education, age and gender among drug users. Descriptive and ANOVA analysis were performed to 68 structured interviews (Addiction Severity Index basic). Analysis addressed associations between drug usage and level of education, age and gender. Results showed gender differences in self-rated mental health with women drug users rating their mental health lower than men. In addition, there was no association between age, educational level and self-rated mental health.

This is an examinaton of welfare officers and patients experiences of a course in mindfulnessbased stressreduction in primary care. The authors used a qualitative method and a phenomenological hermeneutics scientific philosophical position. The analys of the data appeared by using three theoretical perspectives; cognitive, coping and Antonovskys Sence of Coherence. The purpose was to get a deeper understanding of what mindfulness is, how a course in mindfulnessbased stressreduction can be arranged and how it is comprehended by the welfare officers and previous participators of the course. To get an opinion of the issue the authors wanted to know the welfare officers intention of the course, to which patients they provide the course, what the participators thought about their situation before and after the attendence and if they had assimilated the knowledge and if so how it was applicable.

Diabetes mellitus type 2 and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) are two of the most common diseases in the world and the amount are increasing. The treatments of these diseases are self care and a change of lifestyle. For this to be successful there is a need for the person to have knowledge about the diseases and a motivation for making changes in his or her lifestyle. Most of this information is given by the district nurse at the health centre. It is important to get a better knowledge of these persons experiences and how they used the information given to them.

Bakgrund: I dagens samhälle lever många människor med medicinskt oförklarlig smärta. Oförklarliga symtom kan förklaras som fysiska symtom som trots medicinsk utvärdering förblir odefinierade. För att stödja patienten är det viktigt att se personen som en helhet för att tillgodose den drabbades behov och för att bidra till en god omvårdnad. Syfte: Att beskriva personers upplevelser av att leva med oförklarlig smärta. Metod: En allmän litteraturstudie som genomförts baserad på kvalitativa vetenskapliga artiklar.

Samtalsgrupper anordnas av PatientForum tillsammans med olika vårdavdelningar på UMAS och vänder sig till personer som blivit nydiagnostiserade med en kronisk sjukdom. Reumatoid Artrit, RA är en autoimmunsjukdom och det finns idag inget botemedel mot den. Data inhämtades genom sju intervjuer med samtalsdeltagare. Syftet med studien var att undersöka vad det betyder för en individ med RA, att delta i en samtalsgrupp samt hur deltagaren upplever det att få diagnosen RA. Resultatet visade att deltagarna tyckte att samtalsgruppen kan vara en positiv aspekt i behandlingen av RA. I samtalsgruppen fann deltagarna en trygghet och gemenskap.

The purpose of this essay is to identify the costs of illness in different organizations, and compare the calculated result with the actual result in their annual reports.We collected information thru interviews with the personnel manager in the selected organizations, and used the annual reports to add necessary information.When we applied our model, we found that the selected organizations, in some cases, have a cost of illnes which is up to seven times higher than shown in their annual reports. It?s, in general, the costs that aren?t related to the salary (additional costs), which are much higher than shown.The absence of a model that calculates the costs of illnes can result in wrongful decisions. If a model would be applied in an organization, it should increase the awearness of the actual costs of illnes, which can lead to better decisions througout the whole organization.This report is written in Swedish..