<p>Dental involvement with oral cancer patients during their treatment and rehabilitation can be long and intense. How can dental personnel better understand their role in the treatment of these patients? How does treatment affect the patients and their spouses? In searching for answers, the theories of phenomenography, phenomenology and hermeneutics are used to describe and interpret the experiences of the hospital dental treatment teams, oral cancer patients, and their spouses. </p><p>Study I reveals that hospital dental treatment teams perceive the encounter with head and neck cancer patients in three qualitatively different ways; as an act of caring, as a serious and responsible task, and as an overwhelming emotional situation, indicating that they are not always able to lean on education and professional training in dealing with situations with strong emotional impact. Study II gives insight into the lifeworld of oral cancer patients, and how the patient becomes embodied in a mouth that is increasingly `uncanny´, as it slowly ceases to function normally. Study III shows that oral cancer puts a hold on the lifeworld of the patients’ spouses which can be described as `living in a state of suspension´. These findings suggest that the support needs of patients and spouses appear to be greatest at treatment end, when, upon returning home, they are faced with the accumulated impact of the patients’ sickness and treatment. Study IV gives insight into what it may mean to live with the consequences of oral cancer, revealing a silent physical, emotional and existential struggle to adjust to a changed way of living. </p><p>This thesis raises the question if todays’ organisation of oral cancer care can meet the varying emotional and existential needs of treatment teams, patients and spouses that were brought to light.</p>

Dental involvement with oral cancer patients during their treatment and rehabilitation can be long and intense. How can dental personnel better understand their role in the treatment of these patients? How does treatment affect the patients and their spouses? In searching for answers, the theories of phenomenography, phenomenology and hermeneutics are used to describe and interpret the experiences of the hospital dental treatment teams, oral cancer patients, and their spouses. Study I reveals that hospital dental treatment teams perceive the encounter with head and neck cancer patients in three qualitatively different ways; as an act of caring, as a serious and responsible task, and as an overwhelming emotional situation, indicating that they are not always able to lean on education and professional training in dealing with situations with strong emotional impact. Study II gives insight into the lifeworld of oral cancer patients, and how the patient becomes embodied in a mouth that is increasingly `uncanny´, as it slowly ceases to function normally. Study III shows that oral cancer puts a hold on the lifeworld of the patients’ spouses which can be described as `living in a state of suspension´. These findings suggest that the support needs of patients and spouses appear to be greatest at treatment end, when, upon returning home, they are faced with the accumulated impact of the patients’ sickness and treatment. Study IV gives insight into what it may mean to live with the consequences of oral cancer, revealing a silent physical, emotional and existential struggle to adjust to a changed way of living. This thesis raises the question if todays’ organisation of oral cancer care can meet the varying emotional and existential needs of treatment teams, patients and spouses that were brought to light.

Author: Elisabeth Wahlberg   Title: “…I’ll just get mum to help me” About Young Adults’ Strategies for Coping with Reading and Writing Difficulties in Daily Life     This study investigated how seven young adults, who during senior high school underwent a syllable based intervention due to reading and writing difficulties, developed their literacy skills, and what strategies they used to try to overcome reading and writing problems, whether at work, during studies or in their leisure time. The period from when the participants had left school ranged between three and eight years. Qualitative as well as quantitative data was compiled for the study. Qualitative data consisted of  semistructured interviews and quantitative data of tests performed before the intervention and on two occasions after, in order to compare results over time. The study was a longitudinal case study with a phenomenological lifeworld approach and looked to increase awareness of the realities of living with reading and writing difficulties. It analysed how the participants dealt with their problems and what strategies they employed, in order to overcome them. Study results showed that even as participants improved their literacy skills compared to pre-intervention, reading and writing remained an issue. All participants were forced to adjust to the fact that they were affected in their daily lives, whether in choice of career or further education, or more everyday tasks involving reading and writing and also the inclination to read for pleasure. They avoided to expose their shortcomings if at all possible. Still, the participants all strived to tackle their reading and writing problems by applying elements from the syllable based intervention in conjunction with inventing individual strategies.

In Swedish nursing education, student nurses should gain a bachelor degreein the main field of study. However, five designations of the main field ofstudy exist among the higher education institutions and the present thesisfocuses on the main field of study caring science. Former studies show thatthe acquisition of knowledge in caring by student nurses is characterized bytroubles, uncertainty and confusion. The aim was to describe how growingin caring is experienced by student nurses during education.The theoretical perspective was caring science with focus on caringscience didactics, while the epistemological frame constituted of a phenomenological lifeworld approach. Data was gathered with interviews andwritten narratives at different occasions during the education in order tograsp the general structure of growing in caring.The findings illuminated that growing in caring means a struggle forone’s own caring beliefs to exist and survive in a world filled with diverseexpectations of caring. Through recognizing expectations of caring, studentnurses discover the complexity of caring. In this complexity, they understand themselves as being different and the otherness appears. The otherness consists of unique beliefs about caring based on former experiences. Inorder to give evidence for the otherness, concepts from caring theories thatagree with one’s own caring beliefs are found, which transform the concepts from being meaningless to being essential in caring. The conceptsstrengthen the student nurses’ growth in caring and constitute a support intheir discussions about caring. In this struggle for gaining access with theirotherness, they become convinced that they can make changes for the patient and strength arises to fight for their otherness.The study showed that the otherness appears as the hub in the studentnurse’s world, which gains nourishment to discover paths to think, feel andact in a caring manner. This gives an incentive that innovative learningstrategies that both grasp the student nurses’ lifeworld as well as bringknowledge in caring into awareness for them are needed to be developed.

Aim: The overall aim is to create knowledge about how nursing students’ learning in pairs can be supported in order to create prerequisites for encounters that provide caring and learning support during clinical practice. Approach and method: A reflective lifeworld research (RLR) approach founded on the epistemology of phenomenology and hermeneutics was used. Based on interviews, diary entries and observations with patients, students and supervisors, descriptive and interpretive analysis in accordance with the RLR approach was performed. Main findings: Students’ learning in pairs is based on encountering and caring for the patients together. The responsibility of caring for the patients, which is given to the students by their supervisors, is based on supportive relationships that are characterized by movements between independence and cooperation. Supporting students learning in pairs is characterized by a reflective approach focusing on learning in togetherness, where the individual student is also reached and seen, providing opportunities for developing important abilities for learning and caring. Depending on the ability to show respect and to take responsibility a more or less supportive relationship between the patients, the students and the supervisors is created within the learning space. Conclusions: Supporting students’ learning in pairs is complex due to it taking place in a caring context, where respect must be given towards the patients, the students, the supervisors and other participants who are closely connected to the learning space. Since learning in pairs affects and interweaves learning and caring environments, a reduction to either one of them, learning or caring, is not possible but instead the learning space must be understood as a whole. Optimal conditions for learning in pairs are based on dynamic movements, which require a reflective supervising approach. If these conditions are missing, there is a risk of creating both fragmented caring and learning, where the patients ́ vulnerability and safety needs to be taken into account. Keywords: caring science; clinical practice; learning space; learning support; pairs of nursing students; reflective lifeworld approach

The present study explores the reception of historical feature films in history education. It is concerned with how pupils experience the films as well as the significance of the feature film for their understanding and interpretation of history. The study incorporates empirical data from classroom projects in two different Swedish upper secondary schools where film was used as an educational tool. Observations of classroom activities were made and interviews with twelve pupils and their history teachers were conducted. The study applies a phenomenological approach. The lifeworld of the pupils is in focus, specifically the aspect of the lifeworld they live and experience in history class when film is used as a means of understanding the past. The phenomenon studied is thus how the pupils experience the film, and through the film, history itself. Theoretical notions from film reception studies and history didactics are used as analytic tools. The study shows how emotional and cognitive processes converge in the pupils’ meaning making of the films. The embodiment of the films’ narrative is an important factor that contributes to both the understanding of the film as well as of history. The pupils experience the films emotionally, feeling both empathy and antipathy for the various characters, physically through sight and sound as well as embodied reactions, and cognitively through an understanding of the film’s narrative. Embodied experience is fundamental for history to become materialized. The audiovisual portrayal and materialization of the past becomes embodied in the pupils so that the experience of the film and of the historical lifeworld presented therein becomes part of their lifeworld. Generally, pupils consider the films to be trustworthy, though this perceived accuracy depends on how authentically the narrative is performed and the pupils’ previous store of historical knowledge.  A didactic dilemma to consider when using historical feature film in the classroom is the contradiction between the aesthetic experience of a feature film and its use as a tool for understanding the past. The captivating character of feature film evokes empathy and engagement with the films’ characters regardless of the degree of historical accuracy. This is a critical issue for teachers; there needs to be balance between respect for the pupils’ aesthetic experience of the film and the need to guide them to develop for example the skills of historical empathy, where distance is necessary for the pupils to be able to consider different perspectives.

The present study explores the reception of historical feature films in history education. It is concerned with how pupils experience the films as well as the significance of the feature film for their understanding and interpretation of history. The study incorporates empirical data from classroom projects in two different Swedish upper secondary schools where film was used as an educational tool. Observations of classroom activities were made and interviews with twelve pupils and their history teachers were conducted. The study applies a phenomenological approach. The lifeworld of the pupils is in focus, specifically the aspect of the lifeworld they live and experience in history class when film is used as a means of understanding the past. The phenomenon studied is thus how the pupils experience the film, and through the film, history itself. Theoretical notions from film reception studies and history didactics are used as analytic tools. The study shows how emotional and cognitive processes converge in the pupils’ meaning making of the films. The embodiment of the films’ narrative is an important factor that contributes to both the understanding of the film as well as of history. The pupils experience the films emotionally, feeling both empathy and antipathy for the various characters, physically through sight and sound as well as embodied reactions, and cognitively through an understanding of the film’s narrative. Embodied experience is fundamental for history to become materialized. The audiovisual portrayal and materialization of the past becomes embodied in the pupils so that the experience of the film and of the historical lifeworld presented therein becomes part of their lifeworld. Generally, pupils consider the films to be trustworthy, though this perceived accuracy depends on how authentically the narrative is performed and the pupils’ previous store of historical knowledge.  A didactic dilemma to consider when using historical feature film in the classroom is the contradiction between the aesthetic experience of a feature film and its use as a tool for understanding the past. The captivating character of feature film evokes empathy and engagement with the films’ characters regardless of the degree of historical accuracy. This is a critical issue for teachers; there needs to be balance between respect for the pupils’ aesthetic experience of the film and the need to guide them to develop for example the skills of historical empathy, where distance is necessary for the pupils to be able to consider different perspectives.