Bakgrund: Skolsköterskans arbetsuppgifter har förändrats över tid, från medicinska insatser på individnivå till ett fokus på hälsofrämjande arbete på individ-, grupp- och organisationsnivå. Skollag, riktlinjer och kompetensbeskrivning beskriver att skolsköterskan ska arbeta hälsofrämjande och förebyggande på gruppnivå. Trots det sker skolsköterskans arbetsinsatser främst åtgärdande på individnivå. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att belysa skolsköterskors inställning till sitt uppdrag med fokus på hälsofrämjande arbete på gruppnivå. Metod: En kvalitativ metod med induktiv ansats valdes för att besvara studiens syfte. Semistrukturerade telefonintervjuer med tio skolsköterskor på väst- och östkusten i Sverige genomfördes. Datamaterialet analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys på latent nivå. Resultat: Analysen resulterade i två kategorier; Skolsköterskans yrkesroll och rollförändring och Arbetsstruktur och organisation, med fem subkategorier; Fokus från åtgärdande insatser till hälsofrämjande arbete; Skolsköterskans breda hälsofrämjande potential; Inga tydliga arbetsbeskrivningar; Prioritering av arbetsuppgifter och Hela skolans ansvar. Konklusion: Skolsköterskan är en unik kompetens som den enda professionen i skolan som möter samtliga elever utifrån ett medicinskt-, omvårdnadsmässigt- och salutogent synsätt. Skolsköterskor vill arbeta mer hälsofrämjande på gruppnivå än vad som görs idag, men saknar tydliga strukturer och tillräckligt med tid och resurser för det arbetet. Med rätt förutsättningar kan skolsköterskan bli mer delaktig i det hälsofrämjande arbetet på gruppnivå. / Background: The school nurse’s duties have changed over time, from medical contributions at the individual level to a focus on promoting health at individual-, group- and organizational levels. Swedish school law, guidelines and competence description describes that school nurses’ work methods should be promoting health and be preventative at the group level. Nevertheless, today, the school nurse’s work is mainly done on an individual level. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to highlight school nurses’ attitude towards their assignment in focusing on health promoting work at the group level. Method: A qualitative method was used. Semi-structured telephone interviews with ten school nurses in Sweden were conducted. The data was analysed with a qualitative content analysis method and with an inductive approach, on a latent level. Result: The analysis resulted in two categories; The school nurse’s professional role and role change and Work Structure and Organization, with five subcategories; Focus from curative efforts to promote health promotion; School nurse's broad health promotion potential; No clear job descriptions; Priority of tasks and Responsibility of the whole school. Conclusion: The school nurses have unique skills being the only school profession that meets all students from a medical, care and salutogenic perspective. School nurses would like to work more health promotive at group level than what is currently done. With the right conditions, the school nurse would have a greater opportunity to work with health promotion at the group level.

Magister Psychologiae - MPsych / According to the findings of this study, childcare workers caring for HIV-positive children working in a residential care setting, have similar experiences and challenges to nurses, community-based caregivers and primary caregivers, such as coping with loss and contagion fear. Nonetheless, caring for HIV-positive children poses unique challenges for the caregiver, calling for flexibility and situation-dependent coping strategies.

The debate over the legitimacy of Fibromyalgia as a pain syndrome is often highlighted in the literature. The result of this is that patients are left feeling demoralised by the lack of acknowledgement of their symptoms and the innuendos of hypochondria or malingering. This study proposes that professionals move beyond this and into a more solution-focused stage that encourages the examination of predisposing factors and the implementation of means of improving the lives of patients. The aim of this study was to describe the psychological profiles of Fibromyalgia patients in terms of attachment styles, Sense of Coherence, Attributional Style and depression. Twenty-nine patients aged between twenty-two and sixty-four participated in the study, completing the relevant questionnaires. The design is a quantitative one, with both descriptive and inferential statistical procedures being employed to analyse the data. It is argued that key elements in the onset, maintenance and augmentation of Fibromyalgia Syndrome symptoms are to be found by examining the psychological feature of patients with the disorder. Although some research has been conducted into psychological factors in Fibromyalgia, the field is not nearly as well explored as the physical elements. This research is therefore of great importance to the Fibromyalgia knowledge base. Moreover, it offers a Salutogenic perspective, which may be useful in combating the devastating effects of this chronic pain syndrome. The study is limited by its cross-sectional design and lack of control group. Nonetheless, it does give rise to some intriguing findings. If attachment is to be regarded as the working model that an individual maintains of self and other, then it is possible that disorders that are believed to be related to depression (such as FMS) will also be correlated to insecure attachment styles. The research, however, indicates that the FMS patients in this sample do not display the predicted high percentage of insecure attachment styles. An almost even split between those having a high Sense of Coherence and those with a low score was also found. When relating these findings to other psychological parameters (such as Attributional Style and level of depressive symptoms), a discussion is born that allows for more complex interactions than a linear argument does. The research is then lifted from its pathogenic origins to embrace the origins of health. Further research is then prompted by this study and framed in the Salutogenic question: how do some patients with FMS maintain healthy attachment styles and a high Sense of Coherence despite their illness? / Dissertation (MA (Clinical Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Psychology / unrestricted

The thesis is based on a multi disciplinary study involving both particulars regarding military history and certain psychological theories. In order to be able to discuss the psychological experiences of Boers during the guerrilla phase of the Anglo-Boer War, the first chapters of the thesis strive to provide the required background. Firstly an overview of the initial conventional phase of the war is furnished, followed by a discussion of certain psychological issues relevant to stress and methods of coping with stress. Subsequently, guerrilla warfare as a global concern is examined. A number of important events during the transitional stage, in other words, the period between conventional warfare and total guerrilla warfare, are considered followed by the regional details concerning the Boers’ plans for guerrilla warfare. These details include the ecological features, the socio-economic issues of that time and military information about the regions illustrating the dissimilarity and variety involved. In the chapters that follow the focus is concentrated on the psychological impact of the guerrilla war on the Boers. The wide range of stressors (factors inducing stress) are arranged according to certain topics: stress caused by military situations; stress caused by the loss of infrastructure in the republics; stress caused by environmental factors; stress arising from daily hardships; stress caused by anguish and finally stressors prompted by an individuals disposition. Then the psychological theories regarding an individual’s resistance resources (or general resistance resources ─ GRRs) and the means of using these resources to cope with stress are applied to the actual circumstances that the Boers were faced with. This discourse is arranged according to material resources, motivational issues and intrapersonal resources. Subsequently the complete guerrilla warfare phase is considered, the accent being placed on the psychological effect that the Boers’ strategies, as well as the British counter strategies, had on the republican forces. The phase is subdivided into four stages according to the course of the war, while still furnishing an overall account of the guerrilla phase ─ ranging from the initial successes on Boer side, the gradual decline in Boer initiatives to the final months, when the few successful encounters that the Boers launched, came too late to change matters. In the final chapter the impact of the guerrilla warfare on a selected group of Boers is examined in the form of case studies. The group includes President M.T. Steyn, whose health failed him in the end and Generals C.R. de Wet and J.C. Smuts, where their positive conduct is considered from a psychological perspective. The result of the continuous pressure on the young Commandant G.J. Scheepers is examined and the stress related experiences of Chief Field Cornet H.S. van der Walt, Burghers P.J. du Toit and R.W. Schikkerling are analysed. / Thesis (DPhil(History))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Jurisprudence / unrestricted

The study deals with the implementation of specific values in elderly care in the municipality of Hultsfred. The values here are grounded on the interaction between caregivers and caretakers and based on a salutogenetic approach. The aim of this study is to describe and analyse the work with values in elderly care through the understanding how the changes in the organisation have been shaped in the municipality on different levels in organisation of the elderly care through an implementation process. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with care givers, care administrators and managers. National and internal documents were studied. The material was analysed through Fixen et. al (2005) steps in an implementation process. The main findings in the study reveals the importance of a working communication and making every level participate in an implementation process. The study shows an example how popular organisation recipe is translated and used in elderly care. The study was written with support from the Kamprad Family foundation.

Bakgrund: Skolan är en viktig plattform i arbetet med folkhälsa och ska utgå från ett salutogent perspektiv. Det är under skolåren som elevers hälsovanor grundläggs. Skolsköterskor upplever ibland sin profession som osynlig eftersom lärarna kan vara negativt inställda till det hälsofrämjande elevarbetet. Genom det tvärprofessionella samarbetet mellan skolsköterska och lärare främjas elevers hälsa. Syfte: Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka skolsköterskors erfarenheter av samarbete med lärarna i det hälsofrämjande och hälsoförebyggande elevarbetet. Metod: En kvalitativ metod med induktiv ansats har använts. Datainsamlingen har genomförts med semi-strukturerade intervjuer och femton skolsköterskor inom Västra Götaland, Sverige, har deltagit i studien. Som analysmetod till datamaterialet har kvalitativ innehållsanalys använts. Resultat: Resultatet visade att rektors inställning till det hälsofrämjande arbetet var av betydelse för hur samarbetet fungerade på skolan. Skolsköterskan och lärarna behövde ha förståelse för varandras förutsättningar eftersom de utgick från olika kompetensområden. Det var av essentiell vikt att kunna ge och ta i relationen och bjuda in till varandras världar för att uppnå ett bra samarbete. Slutsats: Att samarbeta med lärare är en stor del av skolsköterskans dagliga arbete. Den viktigaste förutsättningen för att främja ett samarbete med lärarna är hur rektor organiserar sin verksamhet till allas bästa. Överlag är skolsköterskorna nöjda med samarbetet med lärarna men att det alltid kan utvecklas till det bättre. / Background: The school is an important place when it comes to public health and must be centered around a salutogenic approach. The health habits of the students' are founded during their early school years. Sometimes, the school nurses feel their profession goes unnoticed, on account of that the teachers, sometimes, have a negative attitude to the health-promotion work. The health of the students will be encouraged through an interdisciplinary collaboration between school nurses and teachers. Aim: The aim of this study was to examine school nurses' experiences of collaboration with teachers regarding the health promotion and health prevention work for the students. Method: A qualitative method with an inductive approach has been used. The data collected was analyzed through a qualitative content analysis. Semi-structured interviews were performed with fifteen school nurses in the district of Västra Götaland, Sweden, participated in the study. Results: The study showed that the attitude which the principal of the school had towards the health promotion work, had a big impact on the collaboration. The school nurse and the teachers had to have an understanding for each other's different professions. To achieve a good collaboration, it was essential for the school nurse and teachers to be able to give and take in their relation. Conclusion: Collaborating with teachers is a major part of the school nurses' daily work. The most important thing for establishing a good collaboration between the school nurse and teachers depends on how well the principal has organized his school to be suitable for every different profession. Overall, the school nurses are satisfied with the collaboration with the teachers but pointed out it can always develop further and get even better.

No description available.

The purpose of the study was to investigate whether being with rabbits affected the well-being of the elderly. Well-being was measured using a quantitative questionnaire answered by caregivers in a somatic home for the elderly, which was divided into two groups: an experimental group (n=5) and a control group (n=5). A Wilcoxon Ranked Sign test showed a significant (p=,043) increase in the well-being of the experimental group, after the rabbits had been introduced to the elderly. Salutogenesis was used as a theoretic model for the significant increase in well-being through strengthened general resistance resources and a stronger sense of coherence. The biophilia hypothesis was used as a theoretic model to illustrate how contact with animals, in this case rabbits, can affect human well-being. / Syftet med studien var att undersöka om samvaro med kaniner påverkade äldres välbefinnande. Välbefinnandet mättes med hjälp av en kvantitativ enkät som besvarades av omsorgstagare på ett somatiskt boende för äldre, som delades in i två grupper: en experimentgrupp (n=5) och en kontrollgrupp (n=5). Ett Wilcoxon signed-rank test visade på en signifikant (p=,043) ökning av experimentgruppens välbefinnande, efter att kaninerna hade blivit introducerade på boendet. Salutogenes användes som förklaringsmodell till den signifikanta ökningen av välbefinnandet genom stärkta generella motståndsresurser och en starkare känsla av sammanhang. Biophiliahypotesen användes som förklaringsmodell för att belysa på vilket sätt kontakt med djur, i detta fall kaniner, kan påverka människors välbefinnande.

Abstract Existing healthcare treatments and services for people living with serious mental illness pose a challenge for both the service provider and the recipient of care. While recovery oriented care is a priority, many healthcare practices and contextual factors pose a barrier to recovery. This study augments our awareness of the authentic lifeworld of people living with serious mental illness with the aim of gaining insights that can be used to develop healthcare practices which support recovery. This study explored the subjective experiences of people living with SMI as they expressed them through co-creative songwriting. Through a hermeneutic phenomenological analysis based in the philosophical groundwork of Heidegger and Gadamer, a thematic representation of the lifeworld of people living with SMI was developed. The findings are described in three parts: becoming broken, becoming whole and experiencing the lifeworld as transformed. Becoming broken is explored in four themes including fragmented inner and outer worlds, pain, despair and suicide. Becoming whole is achieved through catalysts of change that include connection, the sacred, beauty, and resilience. This representation is depicted using a tapestry metaphor to picture the lifeworld as torn, mended and transformed. The findings demonstrate that transformation is a spiritual process. Additionally the potential impact of the study on stigma and perceptions of mental illness is discussed. The findings are considered within the framework of Antonovsky’s theory of salutogensis. A resulting salutogenic model of mental illness and mental health as transformation is proposed. The implications for theory, research and practice are discussed in relation to the areas of recovery, salutogenesis, positive psychology and spirituality. The study recommends greater inclusion of spirituality, creative processes, and a focus on positive psychology as underutilized resources to enhance healthcare for people living with SMI. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The aim of this qualitative study is to examine foster parents’ experiences and view on their perceived challenges with the task, their resources to manage the task and how they achieve well being in their everyday life as a foster parent. The study has been carried out through qualitative semi-structured interviews with eight foster parents. The results were then analyzed through Antonovsky’s salutogenic perspective with the concept sense of coherence (SOC) and generalized resistance resources (GRRs), along with previous research. The study’s result shows that perceived challenges with the task are among other things the constant change of social workers, having an “open foster home” for birth parents and the lack of knowledge of foster parenting when taking on the task. Resources to manage the task are good support from the social services, daily recovery from the task, practical experiences and one’s own personal qualities such as adaptability and understanding. Well being in everyday life as a foster parent can be achieved through involvement in the foster kids life, as well as being able to have one’s own interests. Furthermore the study’s result indicates that the motive to help and support children in need is strongly connected to achieve well being in the role as a foster parent.