Syftet med denna systematiska litteraturstudie är att undersöka upplevelser hos anhörigvårdare till lungcancerpatienter. Artikelsökningar har skett i Cinahl och Pubmed. Tiden för anhörigvårdaren kan se olika ut, kort och intensiv eller lång och utmattande. Upplevelser så som skräck är vanligt förekommande direkt efter lungcancerdiagnosen både för patient och vårdare. Detta för att de anhöriga ställs inför ett klart hot om en kommande förlust samt skrämmande tankar kring döden. Hälsan försämras för anhörigvårdaren under vårdtiden och vissa drabbas av depression. De social relationerna försämras, vissa upphör helt då anhörigvårdaren får en känsla av att de alltid måste vara tillgängliga för den sjuke. Vårdbördan kan vara tung och emotionellt stöd kan vara nödvändigt. Trots det väljer många att inte ta emot eller söka något stöd.Inte bara hälsan förändras under sjukdomstiden utan också mycket annat, den som tidigare haft en passiv roll i hushållet kan bli tvungen att ta en mer aktiv roll i skötseln av hem och ekonomi. Trots att anhörigvårdare ofta känner sig utanför och övergivna väljer de att inte uttrycka sina känslor när de blir tillfrågade eftersom det finns en rädsla att ta fokus från patienten.

O crack é a substância ilícita que mais leva à busca por tratamento para uso de substâncias no Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS). Os usuários frequentemente relatam dificuldades nos seus relacionamentos interpessoais, no entanto ter relacionamentos saudáveis é crucial para o processo de recuperação. As evidências até agora demonstram que além do uso de substâncias psicoativas, outros fatores da vida do sujeito, como características sociodemográficas, dificuldades emocionais, comportamentais e sociais podem se tornar barreiras para o resgate e cultivo de relacionamentos saudáveis. Sendo assim, a presente dissertação teve por objetivo investigar a associação entre severidade dos problemas no funcionamento interpessoal dos usuários de crack e fatores de risco associados, tais como características sociodemográficas, fatores relacionados ao uso de substâncias do paciente, de seus parceiros, familiares e amigos e comorbidades psiquiátricas. Este foi um estudo transversal multicêntrico, com a participação de homens e mulheres (N=407), em tratamento para problemas por uso de crack, na rede de saúde pública de seis capitais brasileiras. A magnitude de associação entre o desfecho (T-score: problemas na área Família/Social) e os fatores em estudo (características sociodemográficas, comorbidades psiquiátricas, exposição a eventos estressores na vida, uso recente de substâncias psicoativas, dados sobre o consumo de substâncias pelos usuários, seu parceiro, familiares adultos e amigos e envolvimento com atividades ilícitas) foi avaliada através da razão de prevalência (RP), estimada pela regressão de Poisson com variância robusta. Ter diagnóstico de abuso de álcool, transtorno de estresse pós-traumático, transtorno da personalidade antissocial, episódio depressivo atual e o número de dias consumindo crack no último mês estava significativamente associado com maior severidade nos problemas na área Família/Social. Os achados deste estudo demonstram uma relação entre maior frequência de uso de crack e co-morbidades psiquiátricas com ter mais problemas nos relacionamentos com parceiros, familiares e amigos. Sendo a reinserção social, uma conquista fundamental para a recuperação, nossos achados apontam que, além do uso de crack em si, outros elementos podem representar barreiras para o bom funcionamento social destas pessoas. Estes resultados advogam em favor do desenvolvimento de intervenções psicossociais que foquem na melhora do funcionamento interpessoal de usuários de crack e a inclusão de familiares e amigos nas abordagens terapêuticas. Além disso, sugere-se o oferecimento de tratamento concomitante para as comorbidades psiquiátricas. / Crack-cocaine is the illicit psychoactive substance that most leads to substance use treatment seeking in the Unified Health System (SUS). Users frequently report difficulties in interpersonal relationships, yet having healthy relationships is crucial to the process of recovery. Evidence so far demonstrate that in addition to psychoactive substance use, other factors in the user’s life, such as sociodemographic characteristics, emotional, behavioral, and social problems, may become barriers to the rescue and cultivation of healthy relationships. Thus, the present dissertation aimed to investigate the association between severity of problems in interpersonal functioning of crack-cocaine users and related risk factors such as sociodemographic characteristics, consumption of psychoactive substances by users, partners, adult relatives and friends, and psychiatric comorbidities. This was a multicenter cross-sectional study, involving men and women (N = 407), undergoing treatment for their crack-cocaine use in public health facilities of six Brazilian capitals. The magnitude of association between the outcome (T-score: problems in the Family/Social area) and factors under study (sociodemographic characteristics, psychiatric comorbidities, exposure to lifetime stressful events, data regarding the use of psychoactive substances by users, their partner, adult relatives and friends and engagement in illicit activities) was evaluated by the prevalence ratio (PR), estimated by Poisson regression with robust variance. Having a comorbid diagnosis of alcohol abuse, posttraumatic stress disorder, antisocial personality disorder, current depressive episode and the number of days of crack use in the last month was significantly associated with greater severity in the problems in the Family/Social area. These findings demonstrate a relationship between higher frequency of use of crack cocaine and psychiatric comorbidities with more problems in relationships with partners, family and friends. Since social reintegration is a fundamental achievement for recovery, our findings indicate that, besides the use of crack itself, other elements may represent barriers to the social functioning of these people. These results support development of psychosocial interventions that focus in the improvement of interpersonal relationships of crack cocaine users and the inclusion of family and friends in the treatment. In addition, it is suggested that interventions should target concomitant treatment for psychiatric comorbidities.

O crack é a substância ilícita que mais leva à busca por tratamento para uso de substâncias no Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS). Os usuários frequentemente relatam dificuldades nos seus relacionamentos interpessoais, no entanto ter relacionamentos saudáveis é crucial para o processo de recuperação. As evidências até agora demonstram que além do uso de substâncias psicoativas, outros fatores da vida do sujeito, como características sociodemográficas, dificuldades emocionais, comportamentais e sociais podem se tornar barreiras para o resgate e cultivo de relacionamentos saudáveis. Sendo assim, a presente dissertação teve por objetivo investigar a associação entre severidade dos problemas no funcionamento interpessoal dos usuários de crack e fatores de risco associados, tais como características sociodemográficas, fatores relacionados ao uso de substâncias do paciente, de seus parceiros, familiares e amigos e comorbidades psiquiátricas. Este foi um estudo transversal multicêntrico, com a participação de homens e mulheres (N=407), em tratamento para problemas por uso de crack, na rede de saúde pública de seis capitais brasileiras. A magnitude de associação entre o desfecho (T-score: problemas na área Família/Social) e os fatores em estudo (características sociodemográficas, comorbidades psiquiátricas, exposição a eventos estressores na vida, uso recente de substâncias psicoativas, dados sobre o consumo de substâncias pelos usuários, seu parceiro, familiares adultos e amigos e envolvimento com atividades ilícitas) foi avaliada através da razão de prevalência (RP), estimada pela regressão de Poisson com variância robusta. Ter diagnóstico de abuso de álcool, transtorno de estresse pós-traumático, transtorno da personalidade antissocial, episódio depressivo atual e o número de dias consumindo crack no último mês estava significativamente associado com maior severidade nos problemas na área Família/Social. Os achados deste estudo demonstram uma relação entre maior frequência de uso de crack e co-morbidades psiquiátricas com ter mais problemas nos relacionamentos com parceiros, familiares e amigos. Sendo a reinserção social, uma conquista fundamental para a recuperação, nossos achados apontam que, além do uso de crack em si, outros elementos podem representar barreiras para o bom funcionamento social destas pessoas. Estes resultados advogam em favor do desenvolvimento de intervenções psicossociais que foquem na melhora do funcionamento interpessoal de usuários de crack e a inclusão de familiares e amigos nas abordagens terapêuticas. Além disso, sugere-se o oferecimento de tratamento concomitante para as comorbidades psiquiátricas. / Crack-cocaine is the illicit psychoactive substance that most leads to substance use treatment seeking in the Unified Health System (SUS). Users frequently report difficulties in interpersonal relationships, yet having healthy relationships is crucial to the process of recovery. Evidence so far demonstrate that in addition to psychoactive substance use, other factors in the user’s life, such as sociodemographic characteristics, emotional, behavioral, and social problems, may become barriers to the rescue and cultivation of healthy relationships. Thus, the present dissertation aimed to investigate the association between severity of problems in interpersonal functioning of crack-cocaine users and related risk factors such as sociodemographic characteristics, consumption of psychoactive substances by users, partners, adult relatives and friends, and psychiatric comorbidities. This was a multicenter cross-sectional study, involving men and women (N = 407), undergoing treatment for their crack-cocaine use in public health facilities of six Brazilian capitals. The magnitude of association between the outcome (T-score: problems in the Family/Social area) and factors under study (sociodemographic characteristics, psychiatric comorbidities, exposure to lifetime stressful events, data regarding the use of psychoactive substances by users, their partner, adult relatives and friends and engagement in illicit activities) was evaluated by the prevalence ratio (PR), estimated by Poisson regression with robust variance. Having a comorbid diagnosis of alcohol abuse, posttraumatic stress disorder, antisocial personality disorder, current depressive episode and the number of days of crack use in the last month was significantly associated with greater severity in the problems in the Family/Social area. These findings demonstrate a relationship between higher frequency of use of crack cocaine and psychiatric comorbidities with more problems in relationships with partners, family and friends. Since social reintegration is a fundamental achievement for recovery, our findings indicate that, besides the use of crack itself, other elements may represent barriers to the social functioning of these people. These results support development of psychosocial interventions that focus in the improvement of interpersonal relationships of crack cocaine users and the inclusion of family and friends in the treatment. In addition, it is suggested that interventions should target concomitant treatment for psychiatric comorbidities.

Although unilateral cochlear implants generally provide good speech understanding under quiet conditions, patients with unilateral cochlear implants frequently report difficulty in understanding speech in the presence of background noise and difficulty in localizing the source of sound. Since these two listening functions require binaural hearing in normal hearing individuals, there has been a growing interest in bilateral cochlear implants as intervention type for people with severe-to-profound bilateral hearing loss. This study investigated the outcomes of bilateral cochlear implants in all the adult recipients of the Pretoria Cochlear Implant Program. All the subjects with BCIs were asked to choose a significant other person to participate in the study. All the subjects (i.e. subjects with BCIs and their significant other people) were asked to participate in a semi-structured interview and to fill out a researcher-generated questionnaire. The subjects with BCIs also underwent audiometric testing. The majority of the subjects with BCIs were found to demonstrate improved ability to understand speech in the presence of background noise and, to some extent, in their ability to localize sound sources. As both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to determine the outcomes, it could be demonstrated that the majority of adult bilateral cochlear implant recipients gain from the auditory benefits in everyday listening situations. The majority of subjects and their significant other people conferred that their improved auditory skills allow them to be more participative in social, cultural, and other activities, which add to the quality of their lives. / Dissertation (MCommunication Pathology)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology / Unrestricted

The purpose of the study was to provide evidence-based outcomes related to a couples adaptive sports event intended to facilitate posttraumatic growth, increase marital satisfaction, leisure satisfaction, feelings of competence in sports, and reduce symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for veterans with PTSD and their significant others. The sample consisted of three groups of couples, experimental Group A had five couples, experimental Group B had six couples, and the Control Group had six couples. ANCOVA analysis indicated significant differences between Group A and the Control Group for overall PTSD and the subscale of hyperarousal. There were also significant increases in marital satisfaction, leisure satisfaction, significant decreases in the symptoms of posttraumatic stress overall, and in all three subscales: re-experiencing, avoidance/emotional numbing, and hyperarousal. Findings supported Kleiber's, Hutchinson's, and Williams' (2002) four functions of leisure in transcending negative life events. Findings indicated participation in a couple's adaptive sports program has positive impacts on the veteran's and their significant other's marital satisfaction and reduces symptoms of PTSD. It is recommended that recreation providers facilitate couple adaptive sports programs for veterans and their significant others to reduce symptoms of PTSD and increase marital satisfaction.

No description available.

The aim of the paper is to explore the dominating perception of the Other after the conflict regarding the Danish Mohammed caricatures. How Swedish newspapers have portrayed Arabs, which role they have been given in society and what problems they are struggling with is going to be the focus of this thesis. As methodological approach I chose discourse analysis, since it presents a view where language defines and structures our understanding of reality. Through the study of various Swedish newspaper articles, this essay tries to illustrate the implicit yet existent negative image of the Arabs as a group and potential alternative ways of understanding the Other. The perception of Arabs is a product of a necessary imaginary foe, a mirror image of the bad and strange in contrast to the idyllic and safe Swedish nationality. The rhetoric’s of the discourse are therefore constructed between a politics of acknowledgement and a will to culturally dominate the Other. To challenge this view the citizens of a nation must accept it as nothing more than an imaginary design.

No description available.

No description available.

The pandemic of alcohol and drug abuse continues to ravage families, communities and societies placing many households, even communities, under siege. For persons living in an addictive home it is like living in a whirlwind where a family member’s substance use disorder (SUD) turns homes into sporadic unpredictable and out-of-control environments. The partner or concerned significant other (CSO) of the partner with the SUD becomes so engrossed in the latter, that they sacrifice their own time, needs, energies and resources to manage the whirlwind, even adopting maladaptive coping skills to survive. When partners with SUDs begin treatment, its modalities primarily focus on treating the partner with the SUD. The non-abusing CSO-partner is mostly conceptualised as an adjunct treatment collaborator for partners with a SUD and therefore instrumental to a successful treatment outcome. The CSO-partner’s own needs for professional treatment go unattended while they themselves seldom receive specialised treatment to heal and recover from the many and varied scars caused by the whirlwind of a partner’s SUD. They are thus deprived of a service to which they are entitled in their own right. This explains a lacuna in home-grown treatment which falls within the ambit of social work for a CSO-partner. Utilising a qualitative research approach, and the collective instrumental case study and phenomenological research designs complemented by an explorative, descriptive and contextual strategy of inquiry, I explored the experiences, challenges and coping strategies of CSOs living with a partner with a SUD with the view of informing guidelines for social work intervention from 12 CSO-partners and their partners with a SUD. These guidelines were informed by their suggestions for social work support. To live with a partner with a SUD was for all the CSO-participants an overall negative and stressful experience in which they felt isolated and trapped. Feelings of anger and frustration; sadness; embarrassment; shame, humiliation; despair, and hopelessness were experienced causing some of them to emotionally disengage from their partners. Their partners’ SUD-related behaviour had a negative effect on them; their relationships and the relationships with their children. The partner’s argumentative attitudes; intimate partner violence; lack of responsibility; erratic, reckless behaviour, manipulation and threatening relapse were highlighted as some of the challenges experienced. A mix of coping strategies that can be categorised as both adaptive and maladaptive, or enabling behaviours, were employed to mitigate and manage the challenges experienced. The CSO-participants also employed external sources of motivation to convince or force their partners to enter treatment. Admitting to the fact that their SUD’s had affected the CSO-partners negatively, both the partners with the SUDs and their CSO-partners offered suggestions for social work support for the CSOs of partners with a SUD. Topics to be covered during social work interventions to support to CSOs included providing information about drugs and its effects; setting of boundaries and personal safety; rebuilding self-esteem; anger-management; relapse management; and parenting and marriage counselling. Ways in which to provide such social work intervention and support suggested was through couple counselling; family counselling and support groups, and a tailor-made programme catering specifically for the CSO-partners. Based on the research findings, guidelines were formulated as recommendations for social work intervention directed at social work practice. Additional recommendations for education and training; continuous professional development, and ideas for future research were also suggested. / Social Work / D. Phil. (Social Work)