Craft is the unification of the work of the hand and the work of the mind through material to produce an object with meaning. A craftsman is he or she who engages in the process of making with conscious intent and engagement with material and a broader scope of people and nature. Today, advances in mechanization and industry have allowed us to embrace a passivity that leaves us disconnected from the world and other people. We can look to craft, particularly with wood, as an antidote for this loss of connection. Through material specificity, the way handwork can offer the maker meaning about the place of the self in the world, and the way in which it illuminates the greater network of people, objects, and nature in which the maker exists, craft is a vehicle by which to produce knowledge otherwise unavailable through today’s methods of production and consumption. Through a personal account of the process of making a rocking chair out of wood and an examination of past and current scholarship surrounding craft and ontological aspects of identity, perception, and experience, the following examination, in conjunction with the actual process of making, aims to create a place for dialogue in the space between aesthetic philosophy and craft, creating a new paradigm for the role and definition of hand work today. It is an inquiry into the relationship between making and the production of knowledge. / text

Bakgrund: Gungstolsterapi som omvårdnadsåtgärd är outforskat inom den psykiatriska heldygnsvården. Vetenskapliga studier av den typ av gungstol som här studerats har inte gått att hitta. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att utvärdera gungstolsterapi som omvårdnadsåtgärd vid en psykiatrisk heldygnsvårdsavdelning. Metod: En naturalistisk studie med både kvantitativa och kvalitativa inslag genomfördes. Under studieperioden fick patienter som vårdades på en psykiatrisk heldygnsvårdsavdelning lämna självskattningar på en VAS-skala avseende sitt mående före och efter genomförd gungstolsterapi. Patienterna kunde också lämna en skriftlig kommentar om gungningen. Resultat: Resultatet visar att deltagarna skattat en genomsnittlig förbättring motsvarande 16%-enheter i sitt generella mående efter genomförd gungning. Genomsnittliga gungtid var 33 min/gungtillfälle. Majoriteten av patienterna som deltog i studien har bipolär sjukdom. Många deltagare föredrog att gunga en viss del av dygnet. Innehållsanalysen av kommentarerna ledde till att fem kategorier bildades som sammanfattades i temat "En stol som berör". Den genomförda studien visar att patienterna generellt sett upplevde ett ökat välbefinnande efter gungstolsterapin. Studien visar också att inga allvarliga händelser inträffat vid användningen av gungstolen. Resultatet i de båda delarna av studien harmonierar väl med varandra. Slutsats: Studien ger underlag att rekommendera patienter gungstolsterapi för att förbättra sitt mående eller i symtomlindrande syfte. Genomgången visar att många patienter har individuella preferenser för sitt gungande. Gungstolsterapi bör ses som en hälsofrämjande egenvårdsåtgärd som patienten kan utföra dygnet runt och som kan läggas in i patientens vårdplan. / Background: Rocking chair therapy has been poorly researched. There are no scientific research studies where the current rocking chair was evaluated. Aim: The aim of the study was to evaluate rocking chair therapy as a nursing intervention in an inpatient psychiatric setting. Method: A mixed method design, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches, was used. The participants were asked to rate their well-being in a form by using a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) before and after rocking chair therapy. Participants also had the possibility to leave free text comments in the form. Results: The participants rated a 16% increase in their well-being after using the rocking chair. The average rocking time was 33 minutes. The majority of the participants are diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Many participants preferred to use the rocking chair during a specific time frame every day. The content analysis resulted in five categories and the underlying meaning could be expressed by the theme "Moving emotions". No adverse effects were recorded during the study. Both the quantitative and qualitative analysis show positive results and there are no contradictions in the results. Conclusion: This study support the mental health nurse to recommend psychiatric patients to try rocking chair therapy as a way to increase well-being or reduce distress, it is also a method well suited for self-management. Each patient has his/her own preferences for using rocking chair therapy. The use of rocking chair therapy can easily be included in the patient’s personal care plan.