Bakgrund: KOL är en relativt vanlig och obotlig sjukdom som orsakar en gradvis försämring på andningen. Hur man upplever sjukdomen kan skilja sig åt mellan individer och mellan olika stadier av sjukdomen. Det är därför av stor vikt att sjuksköterskan får insikt i dessa upplevelser för att kunna erbjuda god omvårdnad till dessa personer. Syfte: Syftet med litteraturstudien är att beskriva personers upplevelser av att leva med KOL samt att beskriva vilka datainsamlingsmetoder som använts i de inkluderade artiklarna. Metod: Litteraturstudie med en deskriptiv design. De 12 inkluderade artiklarna är av kvalitativ ansats och söktes fram via databaserna Cinahl och PubMed. Innehållet i artiklarnas resultat granskades för att urskilja likheter och skillnader samt de inkluderade artiklarnas datainsamlingsmetod.Huvudresultat: Resultatet i litteraturstudien påvisade att personer med KOL upplevde psykiska, fysiska och sociala aspekter som påverkade personernas liv. Den psykiska påverkan gjorde att personerna fick göra många förändringar i livet. Andningssvårigheterna gjorde att den fysiska förmågan blev nedsatt. Sjukdomen påverkade även den sociala samhörigheten med andra människor. För att hantera och underlätta livet med KOL använde personerna sig av olika strategier. Den vanligaste datainsamlingsmetod som framkom i artiklarna var semistrukturerade intervjuer. Slutsats: Personerna med KOL påverkades psykiskt, fysiskt och socialt av att leva med sjukdomen. Personerna använde sig av olika strategier för att hantera sitt liv med sjukdomen. Det är viktigt som sjuksköterska att ha kunskap om personernas upplevelser av att leva med KOL eftersom det gör att det blir lättare att bevara personernas integritet, värdighet, och autonomi som kan öka personernas välbefinnande. / Background: COPD is a relative common and incurable disease that causes a progressive deterioration of breathing. How to experience the disease may differ between individuals and between different stages of the disease. It is therefore essential that nurses gain insight into these experiences to provide good care to these people. Aim: The aim of this study was to describe people's experiences of living with COPD. Furthermore, the aim of this study was to describe the included articles data collection method. Method: A literature study with a descriptive design. The 12 included articles are of qualitative approach and sought out through the databases CINAHL and PubMed. The contents of the articles results were reviewed to identify similarities and differences and also the included articles data collection method. Main result: The results of the literature study showed that people with COPD experienced psychological, physical and social aspects that affect people's lives. The psychological impact was that the people had to make many changes in life. Breathing difficulties made the physical ability to reduce. The disease also affected the social affinity with other people. To manage and facilitate life with COPD people used different strategies. The most common data collection method that emerged in the articles were semi-structured interviews. Conclusion: The people with COPD were affected psychologically, physically and socially to live with the disease. The people used different strategies to manage their life with the disease. It is important that nurses having knowledge of people´s experience of living with COPD because it makes it easier to preserve people´s integrity, dignity, and autonomy that can increase people's well-being.

Varje år drabbas ungefär 900 barn i Sverige av diabetes typ 1. Det är en komplex sjukdom som påverkar hela individen och dennes livsvärld. Diabetes typ 1 är en autoimmun sjukdom som gör att kroppens egna immunsystem attackerar betacellerna i bukspottskörteln. Detta gör att cellerna inte kan producera det livsviktiga hormonet, insulin. Det kan leda till allvarliga följdkomplikationer och i värsta fall döden. Syftet med examensarbetet är att beskriva barns upplevelse av att insjukna i och leva med diabetes typ 1. Metoden är en analys av kvalitativ forskning där vi sammanställer och analyserar data utifrån flera studier. I resultatet presenteras nio kvalitativa artiklar, publicerade mellan år 2009-2017 som på olika sätt belyser vilken innebörd en diabetesdiagnos medför för patienterna. I resultatet urskiljs två huvudkategorier med medföljande subkategorier. I resultatet framkommer det att barn känner sig annorlunda och ensamma. Diabetessjukdomen innebär stora utmaningar för barnen i form av dagliga moment som blodsockerkontroll och insulinadministrering. Barnen har en strävan att vara självständiga och detta sätts på prov i vardagen då barnet förväntas sköta sin diabetessjukdom själv. I diskussionen läggs fokus på vilka utmaningar som barnen ställs inför. Detta diskuteras i relation till föräldrarnas syn för att ge en nyanserad bild av hur de ser på utmaningarna som barnet ställs inför. Slutsatsen är att barn som lever med diabetes typ 1 upplever rädsla, ensamhet och en känsla av att vara annorlunda.

The delivery of psychosocial support (PSS) services to children living with HIV and AIDS (CLHA) by PSS service providers, such as community-based organisations (CBOs) in resource-poor settings, ensures the availability of consistent and sustainable support to children living with HIV and AIDS. These children face various psychological and social challenges associated with living with HIV and AIDS, such as drug adherence to HIV medication, stigmatisation and distress, among others. This qualitative study explored the critical factors that influence the delivery of community-based PSS services to CLHA younger than 15 years of age in a resource-poor setting by a community-based organisation. Multiple data-collection tools were adopted. The findings revealed the critical factors that contributed to the delivery of community-based PSS services to CLHA, and also ways in which these important services could be improved. / Social Work / M.A. (Social Behaviour Studies in HIV/AIDS)

Abstract This study was inspired by the need to develop awareness about what is going on in Mozambique regarding to the issue of HIV/AIDS. The research examined how and why the organizations of PLWA ( People Living with HIV/AIDS) in Mozambique are emerging and developing, compared the particularities of the existing organizations of people living with HIV/AIDS in three province of this country (Maputo, Manica and Zambezia), and finally examined how they function, and interact with governmental and non- governmental institutions. The study made use of the ethnographic method to design and generate a rapid "picture" of the social culture around this HIV community. The focus on this method provided further in-depth qualitative insights. Behavioral surveys were designed to provide rapid key data on sexual behavior, condom use and STI1s. Together, these sources of data provided a spatial, quantitative and qualitative overview of the research. The results from this study turned that the associations of PLWA and its members face many problems such as discr imination and stigma that is attached to the scourge. But notwithstanding these problems, these associations are showing an incredible dedication to addressing the issue of HIV/AIDS. In the three provinces where this research was conducted it transpired that the associations of PLWHA are a new phenomenon, where the members are looking for their own space in order to tackle the problem that is being posed by HIV/AIDS. The research reveals, furthermore, that there are no significant differences between HIV/AIDS associations in these three provinces. There are more similarities than there are differences. The associations have in common issues such as unemployment, low level of schooling, uncontrolled urbanization, prostitution, lack of resources to support their family members, etc. Other types of similarities are shaped by patterns of formation of these associations which were similar, what invites one to think that may have been formed by the same people. As combating HIV/AIDS seems an important tool in poverty eradication, Government, civil society and the media should step up its efforts of reducing discrimination and stigmatization of PLWA through information campaigns. They should also redesign the messages in the information campaigns to ensure that they achieve the targeted audience, and add messages that promote PLWA associations and the benefits of joining them. 1 Sexual transmitted infections

Thesis advisor: Rosanna DeMarco / The purpose of this study was to explore the Zimbabwean women's experiences of being diagnosed and living with HIV/AIDS on a daily basis. This phenomenological study used the van Manen (1984, 1997) method of phenomenological inquiry and approach to phenomenological analysis to uncover the women's experiences and meaning of being diagnosed and living with HIV/AIDS. Seventeen HIV positive women participating in a development of antiretroviral therapies (DART) clinical trial in Harare, Zimbabwe, were recruited through snowball sampling and by word of mouth were interviewed. The study revealed that women experienced the dread of living with suspicion prior to a confirmed HIV diagnosis, pain and suffering when diagnosed, renewal and rebirth from the effects of antiretroviral medications and DART clinical trial while simultaneously experiencing the burden of living with HIV/AIDS. With time the women came to terms with their HIV positive statuses, and used their experiences to help others. The themes living with suspicion of HIV/AIDS and sensing the engulfing anguish of HIV/AIDS were found to be the core essence of being diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. The themes knowing the restorative power of antiretroviral medications, the heavy burden of HIV, and finding meaning in being HIV positive were found to be the core essence of living with HIV/AIDS on a daily basis. The findings inform health care providers on the trauma and suffering of being diagnosed and living with HIV/AIDS, and the benefits of antiretroviral medications. These study findings have significant implications for Zimbabwean nurses and other health care personnel committed to improving the lives of women, their families and their communities. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Connell School of Nursing. / Discipline: Nursing.

Bakgrund:Njurarnas huvudfunktioner har en vital roll och är en förutsättning till att upprätthålla kroppens balans. Kronisk njursvikt orsakar en kraftig reducering av funktionerna och i värsta fall kan njurarna helt sluta att fungera. Tillståndet leder till döden om inte dialysbehandling eller njurtransplantation genomförs. Under flera decennier har det skett en ökning av patienter som utvecklar kronisk njursvikt och därmed får dialysbehandling. Att leva med kronisk sjukdom orsakar svårigheter och förändringar i livet. Genom en god vård kan sjuksköterskan främja patientens livskvalitet och välbefinnande trots kronisk njursvikt och ett liv med hemodialys.  Syfte: Syftet med litteraturöversikten var att belysa hur patienter med kronisk njursvikt upplever livet med hemodialys.  Metod: Litteraturöversikten baserades på tolv vetenskapliga originalartiklar som analyserats. Metoden innefattade att identifiera likheter och skillnader som sedan bildade nya teman till litteraturöversiktens resultat. Artiklarna inhämtades från databaserna CINAHL Complete och PubMed.  Resultat: Under analysen identifierades femhuvudteman: En förändrande process, Ett liv som begränsar, Hemodialys som en fängslande frihet, En oförutsägbar framtid och Upplevelsen av vårdmiljö & vårdpersonal. En förändrande process kompletterades med två underteman; Emotionell påverkan och Vägen till acceptans. ÄvenHemodialys som en fängslande frihet kompletterades med två underteman; Dialysmaskinen, en vän eller en fiende? och Kroppsliga förändringar.  Diskussion: Resultatdiskussionen tolkar huvudfynden i en större helhet med hjälp av Katie Erikssons vårdvetenskapliga teori, annan forskning samt författarnas egna reflektioner. / Background: The main functions of the kidneys have a vital role and are essential for maintaining the balance of the body. Chronic kidney disease causes a steep reduction in the kidney´s functions, in the worst-case scenario the kidneys may cease to function entirely. The condition leads to death unless treated with hemodialysis or kidney transplantation. For decades, there has been an increase in patients developing chronic kidney disease and thus receive dialysis treatment. Living with chronic disease causes difficulties and changes in life. Through good care, the nurse can promote the patient´s quality of life and well-being despite of chronic kidney disease and a life with hemodialysis. Aim: The aim was to elucidate how patients with chronic kidney disease experience life with hemodialysis. Method: The literature review was based on twelve scientific original articles that were analyzed. The method involved identifying similarities and differences that then formed new themes for the literature review results. The articles were obtained from the databases CINAHL Complete and PubMed. Results: During the analysis five main themes were identified: A changing process, A life that limits, Hemodialysis as a captivating freedom, An unpredictable future, and Experience of care environment & healthcare staff. A changing process was supplemented with two sub-themes; The emotional impact and Path to acceptance.Additionally, Hemodialysis as a captivating freedom was supplemented by two sub-themes; The dialysis machine, a friend or an enemy? and Bodily changes.  Discussion: The results discussion interprets the main findings in a larger whole with the help of Katie Eriksson´s health science theory, other research, and the author´s own reflections.

Bakgrund: Endometrios är en sjukdom som drabbar ungefär 10% av kvinnor med livmoder i fertil ålder. Orsaken till uppkomsten av endometrios är inte helt klarlagd, det finns flera teorier. Kunskapen om endometrios är bristfällig. Som sjuksköterska är det viktigt att vara uppmärksam på symtom som kan relateras till endometrios. Vanliga symtom vid endometrios är menstruationssmärtor, kronisk bäckenbottensmärta och samlagssmärtor. Endometrios kan påverka kvinnors fertilitet.  Syfte: Syftet var att belysa kvinnors upplevelser av att leva med endometrios.  Metod: Metoden som användes var en litteraturöversikt enligt Friberg (2017) som baserades på tio vetenskapliga artiklar som hämtas från databaserna CINAHL Complete och PubMed. För att hitta artiklar användes sökorden Endometrios, Leva med och Upplevelser. Sju av artiklarna var av kvalitativ metod och tre av artiklarna var av kvantitativ metod.       Resultat: Resultatet presenteras i tre huvudteman med totalt fyra underteman. I dessa påvisas att smärta påverkar alla aspekter av kvinnors liv. Endometrios påverkar även kvinnors upplevelser av den egna identiteten. Arbete, sociala sammanhang och relationer påverkas även det av endometriosen. Hur vården bemöter kvinnor som lever med endometrios är en faktor som påverkar hur kvinnor upplever sin situation. Diskussion: Kvinnors upplevelser av bristande kunskap och förståelse kring endometrios diskuteras mot tidigare forskning, litteraturöversiktens bakgrund och författarnas reflektioner. Kvinnors upplevelser av endometrios diskuteras utifrån Katie Erikssons definitioner av lidande och hälsokorset. / Background: Endometriosis is a disease that affects about 10% of women with uterus in fertil age. The reason for the emergence of endometriosis is not fully clarified, there are several theories. Knowledge of endometriosis is inadequate. As a nurse, it is important to pay attention to symptoms that may be related to endometriosis. Common symptoms of endometriosis include menstrual pain, chronic pelvic pain and dysparanuea. Endometriosis can affect women's fertility. Aim: The aim was to illustrate women’s experiences of living with endometriosis.  Method: The method used was a literature review according to Friberg (2017), based on ten scientific articles retrieved from the CINAHL Complete and PubMed databases. To find articles, the keywords Endometriosis, Living with and experiences were used.Seven of the articles were of qualitative method and three of the articles were quantitative. Results: The result is presented in three main themes with a total of four sub themes. In these, it is shown that pain affects all aspects of women's lives. Endometriosis also affects women's experiences of their own identity. Work, social contexts and relationships are also affected by the endometriosis. How healthcare treats women living with endometriosis is a factor that affects how women experience their situation. Discussion: Women’s experiences of lack of knowledge and understanding of endometriosis is discussed against previous research, the background of the litterature rewiev and the authors’ reflections. Women’s experiences of endometriosis are discussed based on Katie Eriksson’s definitions of sufferings and the health coursework.

The lifetime prevalence of clinical depression in patients living with human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is approximately 22% compared to 3% to 10% in the primary care population. The nursing practice problem at the project site concerned nurses' lack of knowledge and understanding of procedures to help ensure that all patients living with HIV/AIDS were properly screened for depression and referred for further evaluation and treatment. The purpose of this project was to implement a staff education module to address the use of the PHQ-9 screening tool to identify depression in people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. The theoretical framework for this educational module was the theory of planned behavior. The practice-focused question explored the extent to which the implementation of an evidence-based practice education model in a primary care clinic treating patients living with HIV/AIDs would increase staff knowledge on the use of the PHQ-9 tool to screen for depression. A staff education project incorporating a pretest and posttest design was conducted to determine whether a significant change existed in the test scores of the participants between the pretest and the posttest. After completion, the posttest measures showed an improvement of 35%. The implications of this project for social change might include improvement in the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of the nurses in the treatment of depression in adults living with HIV/AIDS.

Thesis (M.A. (Clinical psychology) --University of Limpopo, 2009. / The study aimed at assessing and understanding the unmet needs and well-being among people living with HIV/AIDS. People living with HIVAIDS experience many challenges. Challenges may be characterized by medical, social and psychological challenges. Method: A cross sectional design was used. A total of (N = 200) young and adult age ranged from 20-71 years ( = 43.70, SD = 12.420) women (62%) and 75 men (37, 5%) living with HIV/AIDS who attend HIV/AIDS clinic/unit in Polokwane/Mankweng hospital complex was selected with purposive sample. Results: Four hypotheses were tested with one-way ANOVA. The findings indicated that social support (p < .001) and age (p < .04) plays a significant role in the psychological well-being of people living with HIV/AIDS. Medical challenges and gender revealed no significant results. Conclusion: It is concluded that PLWHA attend some form of support groups which will aid in alleviating the psychological distress associated with HIV/AIDS.

The aims in this Straussian grounded theory inquiry were to gain better understanding of the meaning of spirituality and of the process of spiritual development in people living with HIV/AIDS in the Thai context. In Western contexts, spirituality has been described as the essence of human existence. However, in the Thai context, where Buddhist teachings underpin the understanding of life as body and mind, rather than as body, mind and spirit, the concept of spirituality is little understood by lay people. This gap in understanding called for an inductive approach to knowledge generation. HIV/AIDS is a life-altering and deeply stigmatized disease that results in significant distress and calls into question the meaning and purpose of life for many who are diagnosed with the disease. Nevertheless, some Thai people living with the disease successfully adjust their lives to their situation and are able to live with peace and harmony. These findings raise questions firstly as to the process by which those participants achieved peace and harmony despite the nature of the disease and the limited access to ARV drugs at the time of that study; and secondly as to whether or not the peace and harmony that they described could be linked to the Western concept of spirituality. Data were gathered from 33 participants from the South of Thailand, who had lived with HIV/AIDS for 5 years or more, were aged 18 years or older, and were willing and able to participate in this study. Purposive, snowball and theoretical sampling techniques were used to select participants. Data collection using in-depth interviews and participant observation methods was undertaken over a nine-month period in 2006. The process of data analysis was guided by Strauss and Corbin’s grounded theory and resulted in the development of a substantive theory. The substantive theory of Achieving Harmony of Mind comprises two categories: struggling to survive and living life. Each category has two subcategories: encountering distress (tukjai) and overcoming distress (longjai), and accomplishing harmony in oneself and discovering an ultimate meaning in life respectively. The metaphor of ‘an eclipse’ was used to describe the process of the development of mind of people living with HIV/AIDS and represents the extent to which the individual’s mind is overshadowed by the diagnosis of HIV/AIDS and its consequences. Diagnosis of this disease turns participants’ lives upside down. Yet selective disclosure of one’s HIV status, resulting in the receiving of support and connectedness with others, enables participants to find meaning and purpose in life that enables them to recover the will to live and to attempt to stabilise their lives by learning to live with HIV/AIDS. Most participants were able to adjust their mind to accept their new situation and find new self value enabling them to feel free from the shadow of HIV/AIDS and live life with HIV/AIDS as normal. Fewer participants found an ultimate meaning in life – consistent with Buddhist teachings about suffering and uncertainty, and the impermanence of life that links with an understanding of ‘nonself’ – that enabled them to obtain peace and harmony of mind (kwarmsa-ngobjai). It is this latter stage that represents spirituality in Buddhist terms. This form of spirituality differs significantly from that found in other religions because it does not involve an engagement with a divine and transcendent reality. The findings of this study enhance knowledge about spirituality in the Thai context, and provide a guide for health professionals and education curricula with the aim of achieving more holistic care for patients.