https://www.mdu.se/

Background

Thai older adults are valuable resources in their society. The Thai health service system is challenged when it comes to ensuring that older Thai adults can continue to live healthy and independent lives in society. It is of great value to support independence and improve older people’s active ageing. Promoting lifestyle changes by applying the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle (PDSA cycle), at group meetings in a municipality context, is a way of focusing on active ageing. This study aims to describe older adults´ experiences of lifestyle change six months after finishing group meetings applying the PDSA cycle.

Methods

A qualitative approach with individual interviews and a qualitative content analysis were used with 12 Thai older adults who participated in the meetings applying the PDSA cycle.

Results

Six months after finishing applying the PDSA cycle, some older adults kept their individual goals and were influenced by their family surroundings. They also formulated additional goals. Three categories and six sub-categories emerged: Keeping individual goals, influenced by the surroundings, and formulation of additional goals were the overall categories.

Conclusions

These Thai older adults showed that they had the ability to make lifestyle changes with the support of the PDSA cycle, but not all maintained their planned activities after six months. The question is how healthcare professionals and the surroundings, may further support and motivate these people to maintain these changes based on their own preferences in a sustainable way.

Nursing students require resilience to navigate the complexities of clinical practice. This characteristic is essential for managing demanding workloads, unpredictable patient situations, and emotional stressors while maintaining performance and well-being. Fostering resilience helps students develop the capacity to adapt to adversity, overcome setbacks, and remain committed to providing high-quality patient care. This qualitative study explores the challenges and supports influencing nursing students’ resilience during clinical education. Interviews with 28 Thai nursing students revealed two key themes: the “experience of vulnerability” and the “experience of meaningfulness”. The sub-themes of vulnerability included “navigating uncertainty”, “transcending professional struggles”, and “being exposed to diverse encounters”. The sub-themes of meaningfulness focused on restoring strength through social interactions and engaging in positive transformation. This study highlights the need for comprehensive support systems that address personal and professional vulnerabilities. Integrating caring theory principles could further enhance resilience by emphasizing compassionate care and fostering student empathy. This suggests that instructors and stakeholders can significantly impact student well-being by creating supportive environments built on collaboration, empathy, and mentorship, all of which are aligned with caring theory.

Resilience aids nursing students in dealing with adversities during their nursing education. This study examined the relationship between nursing students’ resilience and relevant variables in the context of clinical education. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to collect data from 319 undergraduate nursing students in Northeast Thailand. The Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, the Learning Experience Scale or the Personal Responsibility Orientation to Self-Direction in Learning Scale, and the Stressors in Nursing Students scale were administered. A multiple regression analysis was performed for factors presumed to be associated with resilience. Results reported that Thai nursing students’ average resilience score was 71.79 ± 16.33. Multiple regression analysis indicated factors associated with resilience, in which social support (β = 0.354, p < 0.001, 95%CI: 0.240 to 0.469) and self-directed learning (β = 0.787, p < 0.001, 95%CI: 0.606 to 0.968) showed a positive association, while stress (β = −0.083, p = 0.025, 95%CI: −0.083 to −0.006) had a negative association. The final model accounted for 43.4% of the variance in the resilience score. In conclusion, self-directed learning, social support, and perceived stress among nursing students during clinical education are associated with their resilience.

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has made visible the scale of health disparities in society, highlighting how the distribution of infection and deaths differs between population subgroups within countries. Asylum seekers represent a potentially vulnerable group; early in the pandemic, concerns were raised about their housing situation, usually involving overcrowded, camp-like accommodations, and the effects of COVID-19 in relation to this. Hence, this study aimed to explore asylum seekers’ experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic while living at accommodation centers.

Methods

In this qualitative study, 14 semi-structured interviews were conducted with asylum seekers at two accommodation centers in Sweden. Participants represented a diverse group of asylum seekers in regard to age, educational background, and gender. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.

Results

Experiences related to COVID-19 were highly dependent on the living situation at the accommodation centers and the experience of feeling unsafe in shared spaces. This was enhanced by the experiences of a challenging mix of COVID-19 messages where different understandings of COVID-19 and related measures existed, together with a feeling of loss of control and safety in shared rooms. Additionally, participants felt more isolated from the outside society and missed prior social activities. Adding to this experience of isolation was an increasing mistrust regarding the authorities’ pandemic response.

Conclusion

This study highlights the importance of understanding the specific challenges and vulnerabilities of asylum seekers at accommodation centers during the pandemic, shaped by their housing situation and legal status. The findings underscore the need for context-specific support, holistic disease prevention approaches, and tailored health communication strategies using diverse formats. Additionally, the findings emphasize the crucial need to identify and mobilize existing community resources in planning and implementing pandemic control measures. Furthermore, the study emphasizes governmental responsibility in providing secure housing, and to address long-term vulnerabilities beyond pandemics.

Background

In 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) broke out worldwide, leading to a pandemic. Studies have shown that COVID-19 patients in intensive care units (ICUs) require more nursing care than other patients. ICU nurses who care for patients with COVID-19 have shown signs of psychological and physical strain.AimThe aim of this study was to illuminate ICU nurses' experiences of caring for patients with COVID-19 in ICUs during the first wave of the pandemic.DesignA qualitative, descriptive and inductive approach was used.

Method

A total of 70 blog posts from 13 bloggers in the United States, Great Britain, Finland and Sweden were analysed using qualitative inductive manifest content analysis.

Results

The results reveal an overall theme: ‘An overturned existence under extreme conditions’. Furthermore, three categories—‘the virus caused changes in work and private lives’, ‘unreasonable demands’, and to hold on to caring ideals thanks to the support of others’—and seven subcategories were identified.

Conclusion

Caring for patients with COVID-19 during the first wave of the pandemic was demanding because of a lack of knowledge about the disease and the severity of the illness. This led to ICU nurses experiencing extreme conditions that affected various aspects of their lives. Support from colleagues and teamwork were revealed to be particularly important for how nurses dealt with the demands of working during a pandemic, as was sufficient recovery time between work shifts.

Relevance to Clinical Practice

Work in ICUs was challenging and demanding, even before the pandemic. This study contributes to an understanding of the complex work environment that existed in hospitals during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The knowledge obtained from this study can be used to revise working conditions and identify health interventions for ICU nurses.

Nursing education has historically been designed in harmony with societal development. However, the world is becoming increasingly complex, and we face ongoing global challenges. A new, progressive step towards a global nursing curriculum is needed. This development is anticipated, and nursing students often request knowledge and perspectives that will prepare them to care in a sustainable way. To provide this and ensure equal health, intersectional perspectives must be at the foundation of future caring activities. There is thus a societal shift that makes it necessary to take a decisive step towards rethinking health through the lens of a sustainability paradigm.

Using blogs to describe Intensive Care nurses’ experiences of caring for patients in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: In 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) broke out worldwide, causing a pandemic. Research shows that patients with COVID-19 in intensive care units (ICUs) require more nursing care than other patients in ICU. The ICU nurses who care for these patients have shown signs of psychological and physical strain and experienced a lower sense of work satisfaction and feelings of helplessness. Analysis of blog posts has been conducted, to illuminate ICU nurses’ experiences of caring for patients with COVID-19.

Method: To acquire a deeper understanding of ICU nurses’ experiences of caring for patients with COVID-19 during the first wave of the pandemic, analyzing text from ICU nurses’ blog posts was suitable.

Seventy blog posts from 13 bloggers in the United States, Great Britain, Finland, and Sweden were analyzed using a manifest qualitative content analysis.

Results: The results revealed an overall theme: “An overturned existence under extreme conditions.” Furthermore, three categories – “The virus caused changes in work and private life,” “Unreasonable demands,” and “To hold on to caring ideals thanks to the support of others”, were identified.

Conclusion: Collecting data through blogs makes it possible to obtain information from a wide geographic area at almost no cost. Based on the overwhelming situation at ICUs, during the pandemic, analyzing blogposts was suitable to catch ICU nurses experiences without taking any time or focus from the participants during their work.

Caring for patients with COVID-19 during the first wave of the pandemic was demanding, and support from colleagues and teamwork were important.

This integrative review aimed to examine empirical research on resilience among nursing students in the context of nursing education. Resilience helps nursing students handle challenges, such as changing learning styles and experiencing their first clinical practice.DesignAn integrative review.MethodsThe search terms focused on resilience and health in nursing students and nursing education. The database used in this review were CINAHL Plus, PubMed and MEDLINE. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool appraised the studies' quality.

ResultsThis study explored 52 records and revealed three current research focuses related to nursing students' resilience: (1) the concept and description of resilience, (2) the characteristics affecting resilience and (3) the mediating role of resilience in maintaining holistic health. Recommendations include adding a resilience topic to the nursing curriculum, providing resilience enhancement programs, examining the relationship between resilience and holistic health and exploring the influence of resilience about global health crises.

Public Contribution Resilience among nursing students plays a vital role in helping them to overcome adversities during their nursing education. Additionally, after graduation, nursing students can continue contributing to society as resilient Registered Nurses in the future.

Background: Forced migrants fleeing conflict and violence face a high risk of mental health problems due to experi-ences before displacement, perilous journeys, and conditions in the new host societies. Asylum seekers seem to bein particularly vulnerable situations, indicated by higher prevalence rates of mental health problems compared toresettled refugees. Asylum seekers’ mental health is highly influenced by the conditions they face in host countrieswhile awaiting a decision on their case. In Sweden, 40% of asylum seekers reside in state-provided accommodationcenters during the asylum process. Collective accommodation centers for asylum seekers have been said to imposerestrictive social conditions and to be associated with poorer mental health outcomes than other housing forms (e.g.,self-organized housing). However, there seems to be a scarcity of qualitative studies exploring the experiences ofasylum seekers in different contexts. The aim of this study was therefore to explore the experiences of asylum seekersand how they manage their mental wellbeing while living at accommodation centers in Sweden.Methods: Fourteen semi-structured interviews with asylum seekers were conducted at two accommodation centersin Sweden. Participants were recruited using purposeful sampling and represented a diverse group of asylum seekersregarding age, background, and gender. The data was analyzed using content analysis.Results: Three overarching categories were identified; 1) Frozen life, 2) Constant worrying and “overthinking”, and3) Distractions and peer support. Participants experienced a state of being that could be characterized as a frozenlife, which was associated with intense feelings of psychological distress, mostly described as manifesting itself inconsuming patterns of ruminative thoughts, for instance overthinking and constant worrying. However, despite highlevels of distress, participants demonstrated agency in managing negative mental health outcomes through self-carepractices, peer support, and the development of care practices in caring for others in need.Conclusion: This study offers new insights into the everyday challenges that asylum seekers at accommodationcenters face. Furthermore, it offers valuable observations of how asylum seekers at accommodation centers copethrough self-care practices, peer support, and care practices in caring for peers in need. In order to enable sustainableand empowering support, mental health and psychosocial support services must identify and address both chal-lenges and strengths, be grounded in the lived reality of asylum seekers, and build on existing resources. Moreover,further policy work needs to be done to enable faster asylum processes.

The purpose of this study was to describe the psychosocial experience of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ nurses upon their return from deployment at an Ebola Treatment Center during an Ebola virus disease outbreak in Kenema, Sierra Leone, between 2014 and 2015. The following three psychosocial aspects related to pre-, during, and postdeployment were explored: stress management, sociocultural exposure, and attitudes from others. This is a descriptive qualitative study with a cross-sectional design. Questionnaires were administered to 50 nurses, of which 44 responded. Eight themes were identified in relation to the three psychosocial aspects of interest: professional- and self-confidence, pragmatism, wellness activities, human contact, cultural competency, professionalism, pariah, and/or hero. One of the most important findings in this article relates to the essential mental health support pre- and during deployment with an emphasis upon return when the risk of isolation and stigmatization is greater. In conclusion, more research is needed about the psychosocial challenges met by nurses to prepare and support them as increasing threat of emerging infectious diseases puts pressure on global health systems.