Animal-assisted therapy had its large breakthrough in the 1960-ties when a psychiatrist named Boris Levinson discovered the great advantages of involving animals in the treatment of patients. Therapy with animals involves that animals are used in a systematic way, in a person's process of treatment. The most distinguished companion animal used within this area is the dog, but horses, cats, rabbits, birds, dolphins and the most common farm animals are used in animal-assisted therapy. Most animals that are to be used for this specific purpose need to be trained in order to maintain their physical and mental health, but also to minimize the risks for the people that are involved. Most studies within this research area are focused on the positive effects on the patients and less on the effects on the animals.

Background A lot of children live in families where a parent is suffering from some kind of mental illness. As nurses we have to notice these children, when we meet patients with mental illnes.Aim The overall purpose of this study was to examine if and how the district/ psychiatric nurse acknowledge the child?s situation, when a parent is suffering from mental illness.Method A qualitative approach was chosen for this study. Six psychiatric nurses and seven district nurses were interviewed. Content analysis was used for the analysis.Result Four main themes appeard in the result: dialogs of different character, family focus, collaboration and report duty.

The aim of this study was to map out the quality of the treatment in the forensic outpatient care unity in Malmoe from a patient point of view. This target group, seriously mentally disordered law-offenders, has been neglected in the scientific research. This investigation will hopefully contribute to a positive change in this subject. To achieve a good understanding of this field a methodological triangulation was conducted which included an observational study, a pilotstudy and semistructured interviews. 14 patients and 10 staff members were interviewed.

Author: Madeleine Ahlström and Hanna PuontiTitle: To meet the invisible population - A qualitative study of men with deliberate self-injury [Att möta de osynliga - En kvalitativ studie om killar med självskadebeteende]Supervisor: Anders ÖstnäsAssessor: Jan Petersson This study aims to provide a picture of the underlying causes why men deliberately hurt themselves. It also aims to provide a picture revolving how men self-harm and what the direct effects are from their self-harm. The study describes their behaviour and how the behaviour has evolved over time. There is also a focus in the study to illustrate how society´s operative approach towards men makes their self-harm invisible, and make them an invisible population that neither the scientists nor the general population chooses to see. Self-injury is strongly associated with girls and their way of harming themselves.

Background Nightingale attention that hygiene was an important task to prevent health- related infection. Today there are guidelines how hand hygiene should be followed, to prevent health- related infection. Good knowledge and education in hand hygiene and its consequences if it?s not followed is of great importance. Hand hygiene should be performed before and after the clean and the unclean work with patients and materials.

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: Individuals in pain is something that most nurses encounter on a daily basis. Chronic physical pain is often followed by psychological pain. The total effects of chronic pain are felt by the patient as well as by close ones. The findings showed that life changed radically after getting chronic pain. Individuals and closeones both had to take every day as it came, because the degree of pain was hard to predict and could worsen at any time off the day.

The purpose is to illustrate the phenomenon of self-harm from a social psychological and sociological perspective. The purpose is furthermore to examine the role social relationships play in the individuals´ self- imagine and what role does identification play for anyone who harm themselves? We want to examine in what way social relationships are important and how they function for individuals who harm themselves, both once they have started to harm themselves, and if the relationships in any part caused the cutting to begin with.Questions:How do individuals shape their identity based on self- harm? Which self-image do individuals have who self-harm? Is there anything in the person's previous social relationships that have caused them to begin to hurt themselves?Method:In this paper we have analyzed five autobiographies. We have used open coding from grounded theory as analytical method and subject positions based on discourse analysis.Theory:We have used the Cooley concepts looking glass self, Foucault's theory of power, Giddens' concept of ontological security and existential anxiety.Results and Analysis:We found six different categories that we thought were central. These were negative self-image, guilt, lack of family support, negative experiences of others' views, the protective identity as self- harmer and insecure social relationships in school.Conclusion:The self-harming is a very complex behavior.

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.

Background: People who is close to patients suffering from incurable diseases experiences both suffering and grief. It is hard to be there for someone and at the same time handle your own grief. This can create feeling of anxiety, stress and guilt. Problem: Near related persons might not accept the further loss of someone near, the hope remains until it is final. They may not know the whole width of the situation, not acknowledge to the patient or himself how it is going to end.

Background: Throughout life, sexuality is a central aspect of being human and to experience a full and healthy. Several diseases and treatments can cause problems related to sexuality and sexual health. Despite this, research has shown that nurses, for various reasons choose not to take up the subject with their patients. Aim: The aim of this literature-based study was to illuminate nurses' experiences of talking with patients about sexuality and sexual health. Method: A literature-based study where both qualitative and quantitative studies, have been used.

Introduction: Breast pain, mastalgia, is a common problem for many women. The pain can cause so much concern that the woman seeks help in health care. The cause of concern is often that that the pain may be due to breast cancer. Women with mastalgia are referred for mammography to investigate the cause of the pain. Experience says that the mammography is mostly normal.Aim: The aim of the study was to get an overall picture of the results of the mammograms performed on Mammography SU / Sahlgrenska in 2011.

The purpose is to illustrate the phenomenon of self-harm from a social psychological and sociological perspective. The purpose is furthermore to examine the role social relationships play in the individuals´ self- imagine and what role does identification play for anyone who harm themselves? We want to examine in what way social relationships are important and how they function for individuals who harm themselves, both once they have started to harm themselves, and if the relationships in any part caused the cutting to begin with.Questions:How do individuals shape their identity based on self- harm? Which self-image do individuals have who self-harm? Is there anything in the person's previous social relationships that have caused them to begin to hurt themselves?Method:In this paper we have analyzed five autobiographies. We have used open coding from grounded theory as analytical method and subject positions based on discourse analysis.Theory:We have used the Cooley concepts looking glass self, Foucault's theory of power, Giddens' concept of ontological security and existential anxiety.Results and Analysis:We found six different categories that we thought were central. These were negative self-image, guilt, lack of family support, negative experiences of others' views, the protective identity as self- harmer and insecure social relationships in school.Conclusion:The self-harming is a very complex behavior.

The purpose of this essay was to investigate the care personnel's experience, and thoughts concerning the elderlies use of sedatives and sleeping tablets. The purpose was also to make a comparison between different forms of living, in an attempt to find out if the form of living in itself was a factor that affected the use of sedatives and sleeping-tablets.In order to investigate this, the main questions of this essay became:- To what extent do the patients use sedatives and sleeping tablets?- What is the care personnel's experience of, and thoughts about the patients' use of sedatives and sleeping tablets?To obtain answers to my questions I interviewed care personnel working at different types of homes for elderly people and working with elderly people still living at home.I came to the conclusion that where you live may also have an influence on the use of sedatives and sleeping tablets. This could be seen when a group of elderly people lived together, and some of them were suffering from dementia. Then it could happen that the elderly with dementia where given sedatives and sleeping tablets, not just in order to calm them, but also to give the others a better environment to live in..

This Master?s thesis is connected to an interdisciplinary field between humanities and health care; ?humanistic medicine? or ?humanistic nursing?. The object of the investigation is nursing students? experiences of reading fiction and autobiographies as course literature. In semi-structured interviews a group of students talk about their reading.