Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Brent Chamberlain / The physical environment influences mental health and inevitably well-being. While exposure to natural environments shows salubrious health benefits among those who maintain a consistent connection, little is known about how urban environments impact mental health. As urbanization increases worldwide, it is essential to understand the linkages between urbanized environments and public health. This project is guided by the research question: How do different environmental characteristics affect stress-related responses in users? The study will guide individual subjects (n > 30) to walk a designated route, exposing them to different architectural and environmental elements in downtown Manhattan, Kansas. Physiological biofeedback sensors, including electrodermal activity (EDA) and heart rate sensors, will be used monitor physiological behavioral changes; GPS will provide spatial location; and a GoPro camera will provide real-time first-person experience. Data from these sensors will be integrated into a temporal-spatial analysis to ascertain correlations between architectural and environmental elements in space and associated stress responses. Upon completing the walk, participants will take a brief survey asking for their perceptions, both quantitatively and qualitatively, of the different environments they encounter on the walk. Raw data collected from the biofeedback devices will be refined and analyzed spatially using GIS mapping software. This will allow us to visualize any associations between design characteristics and the elicited behavioral responses in order to determine the environmental characteristics that may illicit heightened stress responses. Analysis of the survey data will seek to identify any correlations between physiological and perception-based responses. The intent of the research is to provide a foundation for further studies into how public policy can be better informed and augmented to mitigate potential public health issues caused by urban design. Results will also inform architectural and engineering decision-making processes to further improve urban design by identifying characteristics that may improve or decrease mental health of those living and/or frequenting urban environments.

Skolsköterskor kommer ofta i kontakt med huvudlöss i sin yrkesroll. Hen är ofta en nyckelperson i arbetet med att bekämpa huvudlöss då skolsköterskan kommer i kontakt med både skolan, hemmen och de berörda barnen Studiens syfte var att belysa vilka faktorer i skolsköterskans arbete som är viktiga vid utbrott av löss, bland barn mellan 6 och 9 år. Metod: En kvalitativ intervjustudie genomfördes. Skolsköterskor (n=9) verksamma inom den kommunala skolhälsovården intervjuades om sina erfarenheter av att arbeta med huvudlöss i skolan. Materialet analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat: Skolsköterskornas erfarenhet av arbete med huvudlöss i skolan framträdde i två huvudkategorier. Preventivt arbete vid löss utbrott som beskriver skolsköterskans arbete innan det faktiska arbetet börjar med att bekämpa huvudlössen och har tre underkategorier, Ha kunskap om faktorer som främjar löss, Kännedom om förekomst av löss samt Betydelsen av att ha kunskap. Kunna ge råd och stöd vid löss utbrott beskriver skolsköterskans arbete under det faktiska huvudlöss utbrottet och har tre underkategorier Utbildning till barn, föräldrar och personal, Anpassa interaktionen med barn, föräldrar och lärare efter behov samt Användning av olika Omvårdnadsstrategier Slutsats: Arbete mot huvudlöss är en del av skolsköterskans arbete och det kan skapa en stor frustration hos de berörda barnen och dess familjer. Uppsatsen belyste att det finns områden att förbättra i arbetet med huvudlöss utbrott i skolan. / School nurses often come into contact with head lice in their professional capacity. The school nurse is often a key figure in efforts to combat head lice when the school nurse comes in contact with both persons in the school, in the home and the children concerned. The study's purpose was to illustrate which factors in the school nurse's work that are important to the outbreak of lice among children between 6 and 9 years. Methods: A qualitative study was carried out. School nurses (n = 9) active in the municipal school health were interviewed about their experiences of working with head lice at school. The material was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: School nurses' experience of working with head lice in the school appeared in two main categories. Preventive work for lice outbreaks that describes the school nurse's work before the actual work begins with combat head lice, and has three sub-categories, Have knowledge of factors that promote lice, Knowledge of the outbreak and The importance of having knowledge. To give advice and support during lice outbreaks describes the school nurse's work during the actual head lice outbreak and has three subcategories Education to children, parents and personal, adapting the interaction with the children, parents and teachers as needed and have different caring strategies. Conclusion: Work against head lice is part of the school nurse's work and it can create a big frustration for the affected children and their families. The paper highlighted that there are areas to improve the work of head lice outbreak in school.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurological autoimmune disease. The disease affects most young people between 20-40 years of age, mainly women. There are about 2.5 million people worldwide are affected by MS. The most common symptoms that a patient with MS suffers from are the fatigue (tiredness), pain, depression, sleep disturbance, balance disorder, dizziness, palsies (paralysis) and heat intolerance. There are also other physical and mental dysfunctions. Aim: The purpose of this study was to describe patients' experiences of MS disease symptoms and the nurse's possible role in disease progression. Method: A literature study based on nine scientific articles. Articles were searched in the databases CINAHL and PubMed in the fall 2015th.   Results: This study showed how the experiences of the symptoms for patients with MS affected their health, social life and quality of life in a negative way. The study also showed that nurses have an important informative, supportive and integrated role for the patient and family, during the course of the disease. Conclusions: MS disease affects the sufferer's life in a negative way, both physically and mentally. The disease usually means that the patient is facing uncertain and unpredictable future, and suffers unpleasant symptoms. These experiences involve not only a part of the body but the whole person. The assistance of the care and especially the nurse is of great importance to facilitate the patient's situation and help the patient to preserve their quality of life as good as possible. The nurses’ informative and caring role is a great support to patients with MS. Better understanding of patients' experience can be valuable for a better communication and care.

Bakgrund: Smärta är en individuell upplevelse och smärta är en stor orsak till att befolkningen söker vård. För att ge säker och god vård krävs det att sjuksköterskor ska kunna bedöma och utvärdera patienternas smärta. Sjuksköterskors upplevelser kan orsaka ett flertal hinder som kan göra att en god och säker vård inte kan uppnås. Syfte: Att beskriva sjuksköterskors upplevelser av att vårda patienter med smärta. Metod: Litteraturöversikt som är baserad på 15 vetenskapliga artiklar med både kvalitativ- och kvantitativansats. Resultat: Denna litteraturstudies resultat visade att sjuksköterskor upplever kunskapsbrist när det gäller att vårda patienter med smärta. Sjuksköterskor upplever sig otillräckliga och frustrerade över att inte kunna ge en optimal smärtlindring samt en stor rädsla att starta ett missbruk hos patienterna. Slutsats: Det är viktigt att fortsätta forska på sjuksköterskors upplevelser för att kunna tydliggöra eventuella hinder som försvårar arbetet med att ge god och säker vård till patienter med smärta. / Background: Pain is an individual experience and pain is a major cause of people seeking care. To provide safe and good care requires the nurse´s to assess and evaluate patients' pain. The nurse's experiences can cause a number of obstacles that can make a good and safe care can´t be achieved. Objective: To describe nurses ' experiences of caring for patients with pain. Method: Literature review based on 15 scientific articles both kvalitativ- and quantitative batch. Results: This literature study's results showed that nurses are experiencing a lack of knowledge when it comes to caring for patients with pain. The nurse´s is experiencing inadequate and frustrated not to be able to provide optimal pain relief and a great fear to start an abuse of patients. Conclusion: It is important to continue research on nurses' experiences in order to clarify any obstacles that hinder efforts to provide good, safe care to patients with pain.

ALS är en förkortning av Amyotrofisk lateral skleros. Nervceller som styr kroppensmuskulatur förtvinas och leder till förlamning. Till slut påverkas andningsmuskulaturen och man får svårigheter med andningen, vilket till sist leder till döden. Sjukdomen delas in i grupper och det skiljer sig åt i symptom och aggressivitet dock är utgången densamma. Överlevnaden är vanligtvis 3-5 år. Det bedrivs mycket medicinsk forskning men än så länge har man inte hittat botemedel. Orsaken är oklar men det finns vissa teorier. Behandlingen går ut på att lindra symtom och bromsa sjukdomförloppet. Syftet med denna studie är att belysa upplevelsen att leva med ALS.  Därför gjordes en litteraturstudie ur ett vårdvetenskapligt perspektiv, utifrån nio forskningsartiklar. Sökningar har gjorts i databaserna Cinahl, PubMed och Medline.I analysen framkom två teman: Förändrad livsvärld och Välbefinnande. Under Förändrad  livsvärd  framkommer  tre  underteman:  Lidande,  Skuld  och  skam  samt Vården av en anhörig. Under Välbefinnande hittades två underteman: Finna mening i livet och Konsten att leva i nuet. Studien visar att ALS skapar mycket lidande och existentiella funderingar både för patient och anhöriga. Den visar också att det är de anhöriga som står för den mesta vården och tar ett stort ansvar för patienten. Mitt i allt lidande kan man trots allt finna glädje och välbefinnande, vilket familj och vänner bidrar till.

Bakgrund: anorexia nervosa har under de senaste decennierna ökat i Sverige och liknande trend ses även i andra länder. Sjukdomens mångfacetterade och ibland svårförstådda natur baseras på dess upplevda för- och nackdelar. Behandling mot ätstörningar har förhållandevis hög andel som avslutar den i förtid och det påvisas att många uppvisar motvilja till att delta. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att belysa erfarenheter av att leva med anorexia nervosa. Metod: En litteraturbaserad studie baserad på nio kvalitativa forskningsartiklar. Resultat: Ur analysen av datamaterialet framträdde tre kategorier; Ambivalens mellan gott och ont, Ett pendlande känsloliv samt Att andra människor påverkas och påverkar med fyra underkategorier. Slutsats: Att få kunskap om erfarenheter från de som lever med sjukdomen kan öka förståelsen om dess komplexitet. Därmed kan sjuksköterskor förmedla det stöd som behövs för att ge patienten ökad motivation till att bli frisk. / Background: during the last decades anorexia nervosa has had a rising incidence in Sweden as well as in other countries. The disorder may sometimes be difficult to understand due to its multifaceted nature of experienced pros and cons. Furthermore, reluctance toward treatment is frequent among people suffering from anorexia nervosa and treatment for eating disorders have rather high drop-out rates. Aim: The aim of this study was to highlight experiences of living with anorexia nervosa. Method: A literature based study consisting of nine qualitative research articles. Results: Three categories emerged from the analysis; the ambivalence between good and evil, varying emotions and other people are influenced and influences the person with four subcategories. Conclusion: Emphasis on achieving increased knowledge of the lived experiences of anorexia nervosa to enhance understanding for its complexity, might enable nurses’ support-providing to enlarge the patient’s motivation to recovery.

Bakgrund: Bröstcancer är den vanligaste formen av cancer bland kvinnor i Sverige. Att diagnostiseras med bröstcancer är en omvälvande händelse som kan leda till en livskris för den drabbade kvinnan. Både fysiska och emotionella biverkningar uppstår till följd av behandlingen för sjukdomen. När kvinnan lever i ett förhållande påverkas även partnern och sjukdomen utgör en stor påfrestning på relationen. Syfte: Syftet med studien vara att belysa kvinnors erfarenheter av vad som påverkar relationen till partnern vid bröstcancer. Metod: Litteraturbaserad studie baserad på elva vetenskapliga artiklar med kvalitativ ansats. Resultat: Ur analysen framkom tre kategorier; Förändringar i det intima samlivet, samspelet med partnern samt obalans i förhållandet med sju underkategorier. Diskussion: Det är viktigt att sjuksköterskan har kunskap om de fysiska och emotionella förändringar som kan uppstå i samband med bröstcancer och därmed även kan påverka relationen. Genom att uppmärksamma problemet kan sjuksköterskan göra kvinnorna medvetna om de möjliga aspekter av påverkan som sjukdomen kan utgöra på relationen och därmed bättre rustade att hantera dem. Slutsats: Öppen och konstruktiv kommunikation i förhållandet är en förutsättning för att tillsammans kunna bearbeta de emotionella reaktioner som uppstår och genom det utgöra ett stöd för varandra. / Background: Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer among women in Sweden. A diagnosis of breast cancer is a life-changing event that can cause a crisis for the woman. The treatment for breast cancer causes both physical and emotional side effects. When in a relationship the disease also affects the partner of the woman and puts a severe strain on their relationship. Aim: The aim was to illustrate women’s experience of what affects the relationship to their partner while living with breast cancer. Method: A qualitative literature study based on eleven research articles of qualitative approach. Results: Three categories emerged from the analysis; changes in the intimate relationship, the interaction with their partner and imbalance in the relationship, with seven subcategories. Discussion: It’s important that the nurse has knowledge of the physical and emotional changes that can occur due to breast cancer and therefore affect the relationship to the partner. The nurse can then address the topic and make the women aware of possible relationship outcomes and thereby better equipped to handle them. Conclusion: Open and constructive communication is a presumption in mutually handling the emotional reactions that emerge and ability to support one another.

BAKGRUND: Mer än var tionde kvinna drabbas av bröstcancer under sin livstid, vilken är den vanligaste cancertyp som drabbar flest kvinnor. Trots den höga incidensen har antalet friskförklarade ökat de senaste åren. Kvinnor med bröstcancer får en förändrad självbild efter diagnos och behandling, vilket generellt skapar specifika omvårdnadsbehov. Det är viktigt att hantera dessa konsekvenser av bröstcancer, då de är starkt sammankopplade med livskvaliteten. Detta medför ett ökat behov av holistisk omvårdnad med fokus på livskvalitet.  SYFTE: Att belysa sjuksköterskans stödjande roll i omvårdnaden av patienter med bröstcancer. METOD: Undersökningen genomfördes som en litteraturöversikt och utgår från artiklar baserade på kvalitativa studier. RESULTAT: Bröstcancerpatienter i olika stadier, från diagnos till efter avslutad behandling, uttrycker att sjuksköterskan varit en viktig resurs genom hela vårdprocessen. Framför allt betonas hantering av information, stöd och kompetenta sjuksköterskor. Sjuksköterskan har förmedlat emotionellt stöd, hjälpt till att navigera i systemet som omger vårdprocessen, varit kompetent, varit kunnig inom cancervård samt har förmedlat information.  SLUTSATS: Litteraturstudien visar att sjuksköterskor i de flesta fall möter bröstcancerpatienter i deras behov av stöd, information, kliniska färdigheter samt kunskap om hur systemet i hälso- och sjukvården fungerar. Det framkommer att de flesta patienter och närstående är nöjda med vården och att de har känt förtroende för sjuksköterskan. För att ett salutogent hälsoperspektiv ska kunna råda behöver de här patienterna inte bara hjälp med den fysiska vården relaterad till bröstcancer utan detta förutsätter vård i ett holistiskt perspektiv. / BACKGROUND: More than one in ten women get diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime. Breast cancer is currently the most common type of cancer amongst women. Despite the high incidence the number of women who are declared healthy in recent years, increase. Women with breast cancer experience an altered self-image after diagnosis and treatment which generally creates specific nursing-needs. It is important to handle these impacts of breast cancer since they are strongly connected with life quality. This increases the need of holistic nursing with a quality of life focus. PURPOSE: To highlight the nurse´s supportive role in the care of patients with breast cancer. METHOD: The survey was conducted as a literature review and based on qualitative studies. RESULT: Breast cancer patients at various stages, from diagnosis to after completed treatment express that the nurse has been an important resource throughout the care process. In particular, they emphasize managing information, being supportive and is knowledgeable. The nurse has conveyed emotional support, helped to navigate in the system surrounding the care process, owned skills and knowledge in cancer care and that supplied information. CONSLUSION: The literature review show that nurses in the majority of cases meet patients in their needs for support, information, clinical skills and knowledge of how the system of health care functions. It appears that most patients and their relatives are satisfied with the care and they have trusted the nurses. To be able to provide care with a salutogenic perspective in interest, the patients not only need physical care, they need care with a holistic perspective.

Heidegger was not always preoccupied, as he himself would later come to believe, with the question regarding the sense of being. Eight years before he published his magnum opus, Sein und Zeit, in 1927 he was totally devoted to finding a systematic way to bringing “life” as the ultimate source of meaning to explicate itself. In the years between 1919-1923, “life”, and not “being”, is the matter of philosophy par excellence, only to be disregarded, even refuted as a “proper” matter of philosophy in the subsequent years. In this paper I examine the philosophical motives that led Heidegger from life to being. The purpose of this project isto trace the emergence of the “thinking of being” in “life philosophy.” I will show that the transition from “life” to “being” is not at all as radical as Heidegger wants it to be whenever he voices his concerns about the metaphysical grounds of life philosophy. When “life” is understood in the exact terms in which Heidegger himself understands it in the years between 1919-1923 then, I argue, the transition to being is more a radicalization, and by no means an abandonment, of life philosophy. In the process of elaborating an understanding of life so fundamentally sympathetic to life that it can claim itself to be life’s own self-understanding, Heidegger comes gradually to realize the importance of life’s own way of living understandingly, the performative sense in which it [life] itself understands itself to be, for the very effort to understand life. Life is now interpreted as a way of being for which this very being, its way of being, is an issue for itself. In the first chapter I go back to the original motives that led Heidegger to choose life, lived experience, as the proper topic of philosophy. It is here that Heidegger discovers that philosophy is ultimately about an entity that is somehow concerned with itself already in being-engaged to “something” other than itself. Intentionality is interpreted as the manner in which an entity is playing itself out, as it were, in engaging a world. In the second chapter, I follow his elaborations of this newly discovered topic, the “personal” character of experience, with a focus on the unique way in which he develops it by both rejecting the Neokantian approach to life and by critically appropriating Dilthey’s conception of lived experience. The third chapter presents Heidegger’s “insights” into life – which will remain unchanged, only put to different uses when the topic changes from life to being. The fourth chapter takes up the issue of how life is (and is itself)in being referred to its own past. Here I show how life is found to be “in need” to appropriate what it has been as the way in which it can be itself. Chapters five and six delve into the proper relation between living and philosophizing by focusing on how life is living-in-understanding. It is shown here how Heidegger elaborates, unfortunately insufficiently, his method of “formal indicators” which will enable him to interpret life as a “way of being.” Such interpretation leaves open the possibility, however, of either interpreting life as the manner in which being itself can be experienced or, as Heidegger does in the first early years, or interpreting being as the manner in which life can come to itself. Early Heidegger can only justify the former interpretation: in developing for itself a sense of being which can only be performed as a way in which life lives, life develops a genuine self-understanding.

Diagnosis of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) presents a multifarious problem. Late stage diagnosis, uncertainty regarding appropriate clinical treatment, as well as the high potential for disfigurement and functional loss resulting in diminished quality of life, contributes to anxiety, stress, fear, and uncertainty throughout the cancer treatment experience. This qualitative study sought to explore the cancer treatment experience of adults with newly diagnosed HNSCC, including laryngeal, esophageal, and oral cancers. Study participants were recruited from the University of Kentucky Ear Nose and Throat Clinic in Lexington KY. Participants agreed to be interviewed after receipt of their cancer diagnosis and again after completion of their cancer treatment. Socio-emotional Selectivity Theory, and Leventhal’s Self-Regulation Model provided the theoretical foundation for exploring the ongoing emotional, psychological, and physical aspects of the cancer experience while also recognizing the role of age and time perception. Forty-one patients completed two in depth semi- structured interviews. Transcripts were coded for key themes. Findings indicated that HNSCC in older patients is often preceded by lifelong alcohol, tobacco, and substance use. Despite frequent interaction with health and substance abuse treatment professionals, very few patients had prior knowledge of HNSCC risk or had been screened for these cancers. Experience with addiction treatment programs and perceptions of time seem to influence cancer treatment experience. The following themes were identified: (1) dynamic time perspectives including taking time, making time, junk time and time out; (2) recovery vs. cure from disease; (3) the role of reconciliation, hope, self-inventory, reflection, and spirituality in navigating the cancer experience; (4) the role of healing vs. cure; and (5) patient's moving forward to a life after cancer. Findings from this investigation suggest that patients with a history of lifelong substance use could benefit from earlier detection and improved awareness and knowledge of HNSCC risk. Findings can be applied to improve access to cancer screening through addiction and cessation programs, reduce lags in diagnosis, improve prognosis and contribute to the development of clinical tools. Additionally, the intersection of advancing chronological age, comorbidity, and perception of time warrants further investigation.