The present study focuses on the phenomenology of the violent encounter, and is to be understood as the study of the violent encounter as a phenomenon, i.e. as experienced. The overall aim is to elucidate, analyse and describe violent encounters within psychiatric care as experienced by carers and patients. Moreover, the study aims at promoting the development of a phenomenological research approach in caring science in general and elucidating tacit caring knowledge in particular. The thesis includes three empirical studies and one methodological study. The research is guided by a phenomenological and lifeworld theoretical approach. Research data consist of narratives and qualitative interviews, as well as reenactment interviews with carers and patients. Data are analysed for meaning. The analysis and synthesis of meaning are aimed at openness and meaning sensitivity through a reflective attitude characterised by the intent to bridle the process of understanding. The goal of the analysis is to describe the general structure of the phenomenon and its meaning constituents. The result shows that violence and threat do not evolve in “naked” caring, characterised by encounters where carers are able to touch their patients at the same time as being touched, speaking both literally and figuratively. It is through “naked” caring and caring touch that the carers are able to reach the patients and to give undisguised invitations to genuine presence. The possibilities of touch rely on the carers’ capacity to be authentic and to genuinely wish well. Violence is on the contrary nourished by touch without caring intention, or non-touch, i.e. caring where the reciprocity of touching and being touched is missing between patients and caregivers. In the discussion, the different meanings of the violent encounter are related to the philosophy of Merleau-Ponty and Lévinas. The philosophical dimensions of touch are investigated and it is discussed how the “naked” encounter can be understood from a phenomenological ethical standpoint. The discussion focuses on the caregivers’ vulnerability and the high demands they are subjected to. It is also argued that a foundation of caring science is needed in caring practice in order to make possible a development of a caring attitude that prevents violence.

Aim The overall aim of this thesis is to create knowledge about caring and learning as an intertwining phenomenon at a Dedicated Education Unit and how it can be developed. Approach and method A lifeworld approach, based on the phenomenological philosophies foremost derived from Husserl and Merleau-Ponty was used and carried out in lifeworld interviews and with meaning-oriented analysis in accordance with reflective lifeworld research. The participants were: 13 student nurses (study I), 11 patients (study II), 8 supervisors (study III) all from the same DEU in orthopedic care and 10 managers from various DEUs (study IV). Main findings Intertwined caring and learning is most evident in genuine encounters between students and patients, supported by supervisors and managers. The intertwining is created in appealing challenges where students feel safe and ready. In the encounter with the patient they gain a sense of the whole where they can find their personal style. Patients, who feel invited to participate, could describe the encounter with students as genuine and a new dimension in nursing care. These encounters are characterized by closeness, thoroughness, accessibility, acknowledgement and sensitivity. When the encounter is less genuine, supervisors constitute an essential support for stabilizing the care.  Supervisors constantly move in order to either stay close to or stand back, adjusting to the students’ and patients’ needs. Their demanding task as reflective supervisors requires pauses in order to maintain motivation. The managers’ daily struggle in a stressful and challenging reality is influenced by them either having or taking responsibility. Differences in approaches are shown in terms of more or less involvement and commitment in caring environment and educational issues.  Conclusions Genuine encounters are characterized by the core of both caring and learning and will thereby benefit both the students and the patients. Identifying and supporting genuine encounters is necessary for students, supervisors and managers. It is time to find ways to develop a unified view of how caring and learning can be intertwined.

Syrén, Susanne (2010). Det outsagda och ohörsammade lidandet. Tillvaron för personer med långvarig psykossjukdom och deras närstående (Being in the world with long term psychotic illness – the unspoken and unheard suffering), Linnaeus University Dissertations No 6/2010. ISBN: 978-91-86491-07-9. Written in Swedish with a summary in English. Aim: The overall aim of the thesis was to describe the lived experience of being in the world with long term psychotic illness. This is described from three perspectives; the perspective of persons diagnosed with long term psychotic disorder; the perspective of their relatives; and a family perspective. Method: Three studies were conducted guided by a reflective lifeworld approach grounded in phenomenology. The data were generated through individual, group, and family interviews. Data were analyzed for essential meanings of being in the world. Results: Persons with long term psychotic illness live in a borderland of paradoxes between the usual and unusual. For the ill persons the existence is incomprehensible and defenceless with feelings of not being at home in the body and in the world. They search for themselves in a care context that is contradictory, simultaneously good and hostile. These experiences are mostly unspoken, a struggle with doubts about having health or illness, what is good or evil, and about being usual or unusual. The relatives exist in a dilemma of the possible and impossible, a continual infinite struggle. Co-existing with their ill family member is a communion and a longing for togetherness is prominent. Relatives struggle with responsibilities for themselves and for their ill family member. In these unheard struggles the relatives yearn for participation in the formal care context. Family interviews with persons with long term psychotic illness and their relatives revealed a co-existence hovering between chaos and boredom while striving for a peaceful and quiet life. Thefamilies search for constancy and predictability in the presence of incomprehensible and threatening dangers. The experience of being a We balances the unshared meanings of being in the world and the loss of being able to experience and do things together. The experience of being a We keeps their individual existence and co- existence from falling apart.Conclusion: Persons with long term psychotic illness and their relatives have to withstand extensive existential suffering, which is unspoken and unheard. Formal caring should be existential caring, supporting the ill person’s comprehensibility and understanding of life, and feelings and experiences of being at home. Further, relatives should be acknowledged both as persons and carers and invited to participate in formal care. These results also point to the importance of strengthening feelings of togetherness and of being a We through systemic oriented existential conversations, where the ill person, their relative and a formal carer converse together.

Wireklint Sundström, Birgitta, 2005. Prepared to be unprepared. A phenomeno-logical study of assessment with a caring approach and how it can be learned in the ambulance services.A focal point in this dissertation is that there is knowledge in the ambulance ser-vice that is experience-based, which has not always been made explicit, and that provides the foundation for the caregivers’ assessment of the patients and their needs for care. The first aim of the study was to describe and analyse the ambu-lance services with a focus on the phenomenon of assessment from the lifeworld perspective in the caring sciences. The second aim of the study was of an educa-tional nature where the object was to be able to draw conclusions about the learning process in the ambulance service in the light of the knowledge generat-ed by the empirical findings. Thus the aim was to create a synthesis consisting of didactic ideas that are based on the caring sciences and describing how assess-ment can be learnt and can support future caregivers in the ambulance services.Assessment in the ambulance service entails, on an overall level, having a natu-ral caring attitude that includes striving in two directions at the same time. These are that on the one hand the caregivers strive to bring order to that which is dis-ordered as soon as possible, to structure the unstructured, and in short define the indefinite in order to provide medical assistance. There is a need to quickly as-sess the patient’s condition and which measures are necessary. On the other hand the caregivers strive to let the indefinite wait a while in order to be able to meet the patient’s suffering. There is thus a desire to listen attentively to the individual patient.The essential meaning of assessment of patients in the ambulance services is that there are conflicting demands on assessment and care, which entails that the caregiver adapts him/herself to the prevailing care situation in a way that means being flexible and adaptable to the patient’s medical condition. The caregivers also have a flexibility and adaptability in relation to their colleague, which leads to a mutual interplay in the assessment. Assessment in the ambulance services also means that the caregivers are paradoxically prepared at the same time as be-ing unprepared, i.e. they are prepared for the unprepared. The assessment thus starts before the caregivers have reached the patient and the actual situation. Even if they “know” what awaits them, they do not really “know”. It becomes a dynamic struggle between on the one side the expectancy that feels certain and on the other the unknown in every new situation. The struggle contains a desire for control and effectiveness in a care practice full of surprises. / Kunskapscentrum PreHospen vid Högskolan i Borås, Institutionen för vårdvetenskap.

The thesis describes the phenomenon women’s health and illness experiences following a myocardial infarction (MI). The purpose of the thesis is to explore women’s experiences of their care and health processes, as well as their experiences of body, lifeworld and meaningful relationships related to the illness. A reflective lifeworld approach, based on phenomenological philosophy, is used. The thesis is comprised of four studies; three are based on interviews with a total of 26 women following an MI, followed by a fourth, theoretical, study. The first study explores women’s experiences of care and health processes following an MI, with a particular focus on well-being and participation (I). The findings show that an MI is an event that suddenly interrupts the ordinary life of the women. Participation is a sense of being involved in their own health and care processes, which may also encourage them to take responsibility for health promoting activities in a healthy and meaningful way. The second study explores women’s lifeworld experience of their bodies and lives following an MI (II). This study finds that an MI, as a major event in the women’s lives, influences and restricts their everyday activities over a long period of time. Following the illness, they live with an existential uncertainty about their life and the heart, and this feeling entails suffering for them. The third study explores the meaning of close relationships and sexuality to women’s health and well-being following an MI (III). The mmeaning of close relationships appears to be vitally intertwined with their long-term health process; both health processes and relationships are affected after an MI. The suffering following an MI can be compared to taking a fall, where meaningful close relationships can function as a safety net that catches the women in their fall. The fourth study is a concept development aimed at elucidating the meaning of the concepts uncertainty, control, secure and risk in relation to the thesis phenomenon and the findings of the empirical interview studies (IV). The existential uncertainty is an important matter in the women’s health processes. In these processes the concepts control, secure and risk play a central role. Women who have suffered an MI want to be as safe as possible in order to live well. The analysis illuminates a paradox, that the women’s ambition to achieve greater safety may lead them into an even greater experience of uncertainty. The conclusion is that women’s experiences of health and illness can be described as a journey characterized by existential uncertainty. The women’s lives go through different existential phases following an MI, which is a major event. They are not prepared for the reactions that this event causes and are in need of support and guidance to manage their illness experiences. If acknowledged and well met, the significance and meaning of the women’s reactions and experiences can give impetus and energy to their health processes.

The present study focuses on the caring of patients who have sexually abused children. To do research in a field that has been considered taboo has not been without problems. The conclusive factor for the decision to carry out the research was the fascinating and interesting paradox that, in spite of the caregivers having a mandate from the judicial system to do care for these patients, they do not understand how this care is to be given. The understanding of what caring for these patients can entail is based on the perspectives of the lifeworld of both the patients and the caregivers. The theoretical perspective in this dissertation is that of the caring sciences while the epistemological framework is phenomenology. Research data consist of qualitative interviews. The aim of the first study is to describe the patients’ suffering, and the aim of the second study is to describe the caregivers’ experiences of caring for these patients. The essential meaning of the suffering felt by the patients is described in terms of the patients’ acknowledgement and then betrayal of their yearning to be part of a close human fellowship. The meaning structure of “caring”, can be understood as being lost in an obscure and unknown landscape. It challenges the caregivers and occasionally arouses strongly unpleasant but also strongly threatening feelings. However when the caregivers gain clarity on how to care they are able to find their caring courage and hope, even for these patients. The findings thus show that caring for patients who themselves do not see any opportunity of taking a place among other adults is a great challenge. The study also shows that the support that is needed to be successful in caring for these patients is a caring culture that can permeate both patients and caregivers. These patients, whose criminal acts appear to be bizarre and strange, need to learn to be able to bear their suffering without losing their humanity. The philosophical intermediate chapter shows that it is the body image of the patients that prevents them from becoming whole, i.e. existing fully, by it playing the existential drama that leads to sexual abuse. It appears from this dissertation that in order for caring to be able to relieve the suffering felt by these patients, and thus prevent them from further abuse of children, then it is important as a caregiver to be able to allow the patients just to “be”. The research also shows that in order for caregivers to be able to understand what they receive from the patients they need support from both caring science and existential reflections. Such methods can help to clarify caring and to give possibilities for a freer and more creative thinking. Encountering and understanding different lifeworlds is necessary in order to give care based on a caring perspective. The patient group in the present study have been able to demonstrate this in a clearer way than has previously been done.

Aim: The overall aim of the thesis was to describe the experiences of awake patients during surgery under regional anesthesia. In addition, the aim was to develop a model for intraoperative care that can support and enhance patients’ well-being during the intraoperative period.   Methods: Study I was a patient interview study guided by a reflective lifeworld approach. In study II a philosophical reflection of the findings from study I was carried out. In study III a hermeneutic approach inspired by Ricoeur and Gadamer was used in order to interpret video recorded material. In study IV a hermeneutic approach inspired by Gadamer was used to synthesize the findings in studies I-III transformed into an intraoperative caring model.  Overall main findings: The analysis shows that being awake during surgery can be compared with walking a tightrope because of ambiguous feelings. The proximity and presence of the nurse anesthetist (NA) anchors the patient in the present and strengthens the patient’s feeling of trust. The temporary disruption in the relationship between the body and the world due to regional anesthesia means that the patient’s being in the world is exposed to revolutionary experiences. Gaps between the patient’s experiences and the situation can be bridged over when the NA acts as the patient’s bodily extension and links the patient as a subject to the world in the intraoperative situation. From the patient’s perspective this calls for the NA’s proximity and genuine presence in the ‘intraoperative caring space’. When the NA’s performance of his/her professional duties clashes with the patient’s existential being in the intraoperative situation the need of present presence from the NA is crucial. Conclusions: The findings contribute to knowledge development about intraoperative care and raise awareness that care for the awake patient cannot be performed on formal routines that might disregard the uniqueness of each patient’s situation. The model can be used as a tool to encounter awake patients’ existential needs in the intraoperative situation and to further enlighten NAs about the possible impact of their proximity, interaction and communication behavior in the delivery of intraoperative nursing care.

To be sentenced to care in the forensic psychiatric services can be seen as one of the most comprehensive encroachments society can make on a person's life and being, as it entails a limitation of the individual's freedom but with no time limit. The aim of this dissertation is to describe caring in forensic psychiatry based on how it is experienced by those who perform the caring and by those are cared for in a maximum secure unit. A reflective lifeworld approach, based on phenomenological philosophy, has been applied. The data has been collected in interviews that have been analyzed by use of a meaning analysis searching for the essence of the phenomenon. The results of the research are presented in two empirical studies and a general structure based on the empirical findings. The dissertation also contains an excursus, a philosophical intermediate chapter containing further analysis of the results of the studies. The results show how the forensic psychiatric care is experienced as being non-caring by the patients with only small "pockets" of good care. Caring consists of corrective techniques that are unreflected and contradictory, where the conditions are determined by the caregivers and the ward culture. The correcting takes place through the modification of the patients' behaviour with the aim of the patients having to adapt themselves to the terms of the care provision. This care results in the patients trying, by use of different strategies, to adapt them-selves to the demands of the caregivers in order to gain privileges. At the same time the patients long to get away from the care system and are lacking real, meaningful and close relationships. To be the subject of care entails struggling against an approaching overwhelming sense of resignation and to care entails experiencing both power and powerlessness in performing the care. A destructive power struggle is being waged within forensic psychiatric care that suppresses the caring potential and true caring is thus elusive. The characteristics of forensic psychiatric care, based on the results of the research, are clarified in the dissertation's excursus. These include the corrective and disciplinary nature of forensic psychiatric care, its power and how this is materialized in care situations as well as the influence of tradition on current forensic psychiatric care in the light of the work of the French philosopher Michel Foucault. The dissertation shows that if the caring potential is to be able to be developed and form a caring nucleus for forensic psychiatric care then education levels need to be further developed. A caring culture and caring environment is needed where true caring can gain a foothold. In order for this to become a possibility the current caring culture and environment must be clarified, questioned and examined. The prevalent fundamental ideas in forensic psychiatric care have to be "jeopardized" and challenged by new scientifically based ideas on what constitutes true caring in this context.

Bakgrund: Äldre människor är en återkommande patientgrupp på akutmottagningen. Vid sjukdom har den äldre ofta nedsatt förmåga och är sårbar. Det finns då en risk att autonomin inte tillgodoses och att värdigheten kränks. Forskning i ämnet visar att det finns en stor kunskapsbrist där ny forskning skulle kunna bidra till att förebygga orättvis behandling av äldre som drabbas av akut sjukdom. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att beskriva förhållningssätt till den äldre patientens autonomi när denne vårdas på akutmottagningen utifrån sjuksköterskors levda erfarenheter. Metod: Studien genomfördes med en reflekterande livsvärldsansats grundat i den fenomenologiska kunskapsteorin. Fenomenet i studien är “hantera autonomi”. Data samlades via intervjuer från två akutmottagningar. Resultat: Essensen av fenomenet att hantera den äldre patientens autonomi på akutmottagning är att brista i kunskap om autonomi, brista i förmåga till kritiska reflektioner avseende etiska problem och brista i förståelse av hur patientdelaktighet kan främjas i en otillåtande vårdmiljö. Förhållningssätt som främjar den äldre patientens autonomi och delaktighet är sköra och hindras av den försvårande vårdmiljön vilket skapar känslor av otillräcklighet. Resultatet beskrivs med innebördstema: Att prioritera i en stressig vårdmiljö, Att sträva att bevara autonomin, Att bedriva övertalning för patientens bästa, Att i akuta situationer tvingas bortse från patientens autonomi, Att ta beslut utifrån egna värderingar, Att ta beslut utan tillgång till patientens samtycke, Att utesluta och kränka patienten. Slutsats:  Utifrån studiens resultat dras slutsatsen att sjuksköterskor på akutmottagningen behöver kunskapsutveckling i ett etiskt förhållningssätt samt förutsättningar i vårdmiljön för att kunna utföra god och rättvis vård. / Background: Older people is a recurrent group of patients at the emergency department. The older patient often has impaired abilities during illness and is vulnerable. There is a risk that their autonomy isn’t satisfied and their dignity breached. Research shows that there is a gap in knowledge and new studies could contribute to prevent non equitable treatment of older people with acute illness. Aim: The aim of the study is to describe the approach to the autonomy of the older patient when cared for in the emergency department from the perspective of  lived experience of nurses. Methods: The study was conducted with a reflective lifeworld approach based on a phenomenological knowledge theory. The phenomenon in this study is “handling of  autonomy”. Data was collected through interviews from two emergency departments Findings: The essence of the phenomenon to deal with the older patients autonomy in the emergency department is lack of knowledge of autonomy, lack of ability of critical reflection regarding ethical problems and lack of understanding how patient participation can be encouraged in an non permissive care environment. Approaches that encourages the older patient’s autonomy and participation are fragile and are prevented by the aggrevating environment which creates feelings of inadequacy. The results are described by content themes: To prioritise in an stressful care environment, To strive to retain autonomy, To conduct persuasion for the patient’s best, To disregard patient autonomy due to emergent situations, To make decisions based on personal values, To make decisions without access to patient consent, To exclude and violate the patient. Conclusions: Based on the result of the study the conclusion is that nurses in the emergency department need knowledge development with an ethical approach as well as proper preconditions in the care environment to be able to perform good and equitable care.

This thesis 'The Symphony of Care' consists of four studies focusing on care relationships between patients and professional caregivers. Care relationships are central to the health process and a fundamental element in caregiving. The term care relationship is widely used in caring science but lacks a clear definition, which can create misunderstanding and can constitute an obstacle when attempting to optimize care relationships. The aim of this thesis is to describe the phenomenon of care relationships in order to add to the body of knowledge in caring science.The main research questions are: • What is a care relationship within the caring science field? • How can a care relationship be optimized to improve its caring function, in order to promote health? The ontological foundation of this thesis is caring science. Phenomenology and Lifeworld theory are used as its epistemological bases. Reflective Lifeworld Research is used as a methodological approach. The four studies were conducted in different contexts and cultures- the first two empirical studies were performed in China and the remaining two, a metasynthesis and a secondary analysis, were carried out in a Swedish context. The results show that care relationships are temporary intentional relationships between a person who needs help and a helper. The purpose of this relationship is to support the patient in his/her dynamic health process, which is unique for each person in different times and contexts. Care relationships are fragile because the patient is vulnerable and the demand on the helper is great. It is an inter-human relationship between equals, which can at the same time be an asymmetric relationship due to the professionalism with the caregiver and the vulnerability with the patient. A care relationship is not independent, but is affected by internal factors such as the two individuals' lifeworlds and external factors such as health policies, organization, economics, health culture and environment. To optimize the effectiveness of caring, the relationship and its surrounding need to be in harmony. The view of care relationships should be broadened to include the external resources in order to optimize their caring potential.