The purpose of this study was to look at the experiences of midwives in maternalhealth care encounters with non-european-born women and men, and to determine ifmidwives deem any special competence necessary to handle these encounters well.We gathered information by means of qualitative interviews and semi structuredquestions with eight midwives all of whom matched the inclusion criterias and gavetheir personal consent. Midwives from four district health care centers in Uppsalawere included. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed by means of qualitativecontent analysis.The results reveal the experiences from encounters with non-european patients to betwofold. On one hand the encounter is a positive, exiting experience with anopportunity to learn more about a foreign culture and exchange experiences. On theother hand complications can occur as patients may have unexpected expectationsregarding the health care, have great difficulties with the language or haveexperienced traumatizing incidents, all on top of coming to Sweden alone withoutrelatives.In the encounter with non-european-born patients the midwives consider it importantto have special competence in form of knowledge of other cultures and religions asthis provides a greater understanding of the reasoning behind the patients? decisions.Cultural competence is also important as it helps avoid inadvertently insulting thepatient during the encounter.The special competence held by the midwives has been attained from their basic andspecialist education as well as from self acquired experiences and interests.

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.

Background: Palliative care is a type of care, which does not cure but eases the suffering caused by the disease. The goal of palliative care is not to extend or shorten the patient's life, but to relieve pain and distressing symptoms and to promote the patients? quality of life (QOL). QOL can be understood as a subjective sense of happiness of existence, which means that the patient is experiencing life when her total life situation is consistent with her ??wishes.

Background: Contracting asexually transmitted disease is strongly associated with stigmaand shame. Stigma associated with these diseases has a significant impact on self-image andpropensityto seek care. Despitehigh incidencethere is a generallack of awareness about therisks and theeffectsthatthese diseases have on both mental and physical health. Health carepersonnel are experiencing difficulties to meet and care for these patients. Aim: The aim ofthis studyisto describe patients'experiences of health care after they were diagnosed with asexually transmitted disease.

When going through a stem cell transplantation a patient is forced to undergo protective isolation to inhibit risk of opportunistic infections related to the low leucocyte count as a result of aggressive pre-transplant chemotherapy treatment. Protective isolation has shown to have an impact on patient experiences during treatment and the aim of this study is to elucidate experiences of protective isolation of patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and to deduce patient perceptions of the role of nurses in protective isolation care. The presented study was performed as a mixed qualitative and quantitative survey at a hematopoietic ward in Sweden. Results were analyzed by Mayring (2000) and by descriptive frequency charts and show that patients in protective isolation experience alienation, necessity, safety and anxiety with regards to their protective situation. Considering the role of nurses patients perceive their role to be attendant, informant and acting as an executioner of medical implementations.

Background:The concept of transition means a change in a person's life where he or she is forced to adapt. There are different phases in life that results in different adaptations. In this essay, transition is described as the physical and mental journey between the home and an elder care facility. The Aim was to describe elderly people's experiences of transition when moving from their previous home into an elder care facility. The Method used was a literature review.

ABSTRACTIntroduction: An increasing number of patients in Sweden receive epidural anaesthesia (EDA) in connection to surgery. Caring for patients with acute pain is a responsibility that is strongly established within the profession of the nurse anaesthetist. If the care provided by the nurse anaesthetist for patients who receive epidural anaesthesia is to evolve then further insight and knowledge is required regarding the individual´s experience.Aim: To describe patients' experiences in receiving epidural anaesthesia based on an earlier perioperative start-up of the EDA.Method: Based on a qualitative approach, the aim is to conduct semi-structured interviews with patients who receive EDA in connection to abdominal or gynaecological surgery. Research subjects' statements in the context of the interviews will be transcribed and then analysed using qualitative content analysis. In order to evaluate the chosen method regarding data collection and analysis model an exploratory pilot study was conducted.

Background: Contracting asexually transmitted disease is strongly associated with stigmaand shame. Stigma associated with these diseases has a significant impact on self-image andpropensityto seek care. Despitehigh incidencethere is a generallack of awareness about therisks and theeffectsthatthese diseases have on both mental and physical health. Health carepersonnel are experiencing difficulties to meet and care for these patients. Aim: The aim ofthis studyisto describe patients'experiences of health care after they were diagnosed with asexually transmitted disease.

Elderly patients experiences of palliative care ? a rewireThe purpose of this paper was to study elderly patient?s experience of palliative care with present knowledge as starting point. The questions were; what criteria do the elderly, dying person think is most important to fulfill in palliative care? and how satisfied is the elderly, dying person with the palliative care that are giving to him/her? The information were collected by a data based search trough science magazines and technical literature. Four relevant studies were found; Costello (2001), Heyland (2005), Wilson (1999) and Formiga (2004).

Elderly patients experiences of palliative care ? a rewireThe purpose of this paper was to study elderly patient?s experience of palliative care with present knowledge as starting point. The questions were; what criteria do the elderly, dying person think is most important to fulfill in palliative care? and how satisfied is the elderly, dying person with the palliative care that are giving to him/her? The information were collected by a data based search trough science magazines and technical literature. Four relevant studies were found; Costello (2001), Heyland (2005), Wilson (1999) and Formiga (2004).

Background:There are approximately 45 000 people in the ages over 65 years dies outside the health facilities of the hospitals in Sweden in every year. Previous research has shown lacking knowledge in taking care of the next of kin during and after a sudden death. However, conducted research has emphasized that ambulance nurses often are the next of kin?s first contact with the health care system during sudden death at home. Research has also shown that the mourning of the next of kin is affected by the ambulance nurses? way of announcing the next of kin when someone close dies.

The focus of our study was to examine personal assistants and group home assistants experiences of stress at work, how they cope with stress and how it affects the relationship with the care recipient. The study is made out of a qualitative frame and based on interviews with two personal assistants and four group home assistants. Our theoretical perspectives consist of Aaron Antonovsky?s SOC theory, Richard Lazarus theory about coping and also sociologist Johan Asplund?s theory about social interaction. The result indicates that the experiences of stress are individual and varied among the participants while the presence of stress at work is a shared apprehension.

Background: Almost every 20th child is borne premature in Sweden, before the parents are ready to care for a new family member. The parents need to cope with the stress and anxiety of having their newborn child in the neonatal ward and influenced by nursing care of neonatal staff grow their parental role.Purpose: The aim of this study was to illustrate experiences of parenthood within the care of premature at the neonatal ward.Method: A review where 18 articles between 2000 and 2005 were chosen and examined. The articles were analysed according to VIPS, which facilitates the practical use of the result.Result: The study reveals that parenthood is experienced as a time dependent process with three phases, primary, secondary and tertiary, where the parent?s needs and experiences changed character. The parents experienced that they developed from passive to active in the care of the premature child when the neonatal staff guided their participation, gave information/education and support.

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.

Background: Cancer is the most common cause of death among children in Sweden. The disease and the treatment cause suffering among the children, which also affects their parents. Research has shown that parents of children with cancer have poorer health. It is the nurse?s responsebility to help, not only the child, but also the parents in their difficult situation.