Growing old should be the golden years of your life, being able to do whatever you want to do. Instead these years are often combined with both physical and psychological illness. Neither the body or mind are what they once were. It has been shown through empirical studies that many elderly people don?t have any social support at all.

Background: To suffer from diabetes type II affects peoples new situation of life and therefore even their experiences of quality of life. Aim: The aim with this study was to describe how people with diabetes's type II experiences their quality of life. Method: The method that was used was a literature study with describing and deductive approach, where people?s experiences have come forth on the basis of Rustoens (1993) definition of quality of life. In total we analyzed 16 scientific articles that were categorized in four themes through a systematic content analysis (Evans, 2003) which resulted in four themes and nine subthemes.

The aim of this study was to increase the knowledge about and deepen our understanding for people who are treated with dialysis in aspects of quality of life and coping strategies. The research questions were: How does the scientific literature describe quality of life and coping strategies from people?s perspective who are treated with dialysis? How does dialysis affect patients and their lives? How/what can the nurses do for people who are treated with dialysis to keep or improve their quality of life. The result is based on eight scientific articles and after interpretation of the result we found six themes that describes how patients have to restructure their lives to a new normal life, how they adapt to a life with dialysis treatment, how dialysis affect their physical condition, witch meaning does the family and others have, how they keep their self-esteem in relation to the dependence of dialysis treatment and which factors are associated with a long life with dialysis..

Aim: Through the review of scientific articles, this study aimed to identify which oral health-related quality of life instruments that have been used in studies to measure the oral health-related quality of life in older individuals and the application of such instruments.Method: The study is based on a systematic literature review, where 14 articles have been chosen and evaluated against a checklist. Result: The oral health-related quality of life instruments that have been used on individuals, 65 years and older, are OHIP-49, OHIP-14, OHIP-20 or OHIP-EDENT, GOHAI and OIDP. The instruments are used to examine factors associated with the oral health-related quality of life. Significant associations have been identified, among other things, between the number of teeth in static occlusion, dry mouth and the quality of the dentures, and oral health-related quality of life. Social and cultural associations have also been revealed.Conclusions: Today there exist several well functioning instruments that are used for research purposes.

Aim: To investigate the quality of life and the social life situation, with special focus on the consequenses of fear of hypoglycemia (FoH), in Islet transplanted patients.Method: 11 patients were included, four women and seven men, who have been Islet tranplanted at Uppsala University Hospital during the years 2001-2009. Two questionaires, Short Form 36 (SF-36) and the Swedish version Hypoglycemia Fear Survey (Swe-HFS) were used to investigate the quality of life, in relation to fear of hypoglycemia. Also, telephone interviews were conducted to investigate the patients social life situation in relation to FoH, after Islet transplantation and were analysed using content analysis method.Results: The mean value for quality of life was lower than that in the normal population. Three out of ten patients experienced FoH. Three predominant themes were revealed, one theme associated with pre- transplant, was ?Struggle for control of Social Life Situation? and two themes associated with post-transplant, were ?Regain power and controll of  Social Life Situation? and ?At Peace with the balance between the Present and the Future?.Conclusion: The patients experienced improved control over social life situation and quality of life in relation to FoH may been improved following islet tranplantation..

Aim: Through the review of scientific articles, this study aimed to identify which oral health-related quality of life instruments that have been used in studies to measure the oral health-related quality of life in older individuals and the application of such instruments. Method: The study is based on a systematic literature review, where 14 articles have been chosen and evaluated against a checklist. Result: The oral health-related quality of life instruments that have been used on individuals, 65 years and older, are OHIP-49, OHIP-14, OHIP-20 or OHIP-EDENT, GOHAI and OIDP. The instruments are used to examine factors associated with the oral health-related quality of life. Significant associations have been identified, among other things, between the number of teeth in static occlusion, dry mouth and the quality of the dentures, and oral health-related quality of life. Social and cultural associations have also been revealed. Conclusions: Today there exist several well functioning instruments that are used for research purposes.

The aim of our study is to examine experience of the quality of life for elderly people with assisted living from their own, and caretakers, perspectives. We also aim to examine how elderly people in assisted living, and caretakers, experiences that they could affect the elderly people´s quality of life. The study is based on a qualitative method and the data is collected by interviews with four recipient of care and three care takers. The result shows that there are many factors that have an importance when it comes to quality of life for the recipient of care. It has shown in the study that the recipient of care and the caretakers put emphasize in the same factors. These factors are health, the affect of assisted living, happiness, relationships and self-determination. The result has shown that the assisted living has a major importance when it comes to the quality of life for the recipient of cares..

There are many good reasons to ponder about what it is that makes life worth living. To observe and reflect on what it is that gives a person a good quality of life is arguably the essential core of social-work. The aim of this research was to investigate how 15-year old youths interpret quality of life. The key areas that we explored in order to meet the research aims were: what did the youths interpret as a good quality of life for a 15-year old and for an adult, how did they view their own quality of life, and did they think that the regional context (i.e. if one lives in a big city or in a small town) affects how one interpret quality of life.The studywas based on interviews with four boys and four girls.

This study is based on interviews with heads of unit, care staff and senior representatives from a total of six people. We have in this study directed our focus on care quality in the elderly as a concept in development. It appears, when the elderly do not have any dependents, it is even more important that staff supports some extra where no relatives are involved.Quality of life is the broader concept of good quality care and where a good quality of care is a necessary condition for a good quality of life. According to the social services care is the target that older people will live a good life and be allowed to live in a safe environment, which we intend to investigate in this study. Opportunity for greater influence should now be given to older people and their families on how interventions should be designed and implemented.

The aim of the study was to describe how women and men with diagnosed heart disease experience their health-related quality of life and what differences there is between genders in their quality of life and also describe problems after receiving the diagnosis. The study also aimed to describe rehabilitation of patients with heart disease. The study was a descriptive literature study based on scientific articles. It emerged that both women and men with heart disease experienced lower quality of life compared to normative data. There was a significant difference between women and men both one year and three years after receiving the diagnosis heart disease, which showed that women experienced lower quality of life than men.

Background: There are many people waiting for a kidney transplant. To get a kidney from a living donor has many advantages. The gift is about giving and receiving. The decision is characterized by life-philosophy of the donor.Aim: To highlight the experiences of the kidney donation process.Methods: A systematic literature review in which 11 articles were included, seven qualitative and four quantitative. The articles are quality and ethically reviewed, the results are analyzed according Granskär & Höglund and Polit & Beck.Results: The results were gathered under two themes: the decision-process shows the path from idea to decision and implementation-process treats the donation and confirmation of the gift.

Background: Quality of life is a concept of individual meaning which is perceived differently depending on the person experiencing it. To have a chronic disease in the lung, such as asthma, has an effect on the quality of life. Asthma affects people of all ages. It is a disease that causes a constriction in the patients? airways which leads to a feeling of suffocation which in turn produces a feeling of anxiety.Aim: The purpose is to illuminate which factors affect the quality of life in adult patients with asthma.Method: This is a literary review based on ten articles, both quantitative and qualitative, from four different continents.

Aim: The aim of this study was to describe what nurses experienced in connection with waiting time related frustration among patients and relatives in the emergency department and also what strategies nurses use to manage waiting time related frustration.Background: The numbers of emergency department visits are increasing and lead to waiting times which can cause frustration among patients and relatives, a frustration that nurses encounter in their everyday work and need strategies to deal with.Methods: This is a descriptive qualitative study. Interviews are conducted with five nurses, transcribed and analyzed by qualitative content analysis.Findings: The nurses feel inadequate and powerless when they meet patients and relatives frustration. In order to deal with patients and relatives frustration, they use the strategy of participation, which implies to involve and meet patients and relatives needs for information and to be seen. In order to prevent themselves becoming frustrated they use adaptability, by creating an inner calm, not take it personally and to distance themselves from the frustration.Conclusion: The result highlights the importance of managing the activity to reduce waiting time related frustration, for example through reflection and working for reducing waiting times. Further research is also needed..

The purpose of this randomized controlled study was to investigate the effect of internet- administered guided self-help for women suffering from psychological problems following traumatic childbirth. The eight-week treatment program consisted of written chapters based on cognitive behavioral therapy. 56 participants were randomly assigned to a treatment group (n = 28) or a waiting list group (n = 28).The results showed that post-traumatic symptoms decreased as a result of the treatment, with large within-group effects measured by both the Traumatic Event Scale (TES) (d = 1.33) and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) (d = 1.3). The difference between the groups was only significant when measured by the IES-R in which case the between-group effect was large (d = 0.97). The proportion of the participants who showed clinically significant improvement was considerably greater in the treatment group than in the waiting list group.

The purpose of this study was to describe how women with fibromyalgia experienced their quality of life. The method used was a literature study with a descriptive design. The search for scientific articles was done by the databases Academic Search Elite, CINAHL, Medline via PubMed and Cohrane Library. The articles were quality-tested and the content studied, resulting in four categories as follows. Research involving the physical aspects of the quality of life showed that sleeplessness, tiredness and pain was commonly occurring symptoms in women?s daily life which affected their life-situation.