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This study aims to explore how ninth-grade students perceive their school climate and whether they have encountered critical places and situations at school related to gender equality. Participants engaged in interviews focused on their experiences and perceptions of equality within their educational context. The analysis was conducted using Hirdman’s (1988) two-gender model to specifically examine the dichotomies within the school environment as experienced by students. The findings reveal that students of both genders perceive significant inequalities, identifying distinct gender norms and standards for girls and maybe even more rigid situations for boys. Gender-specific norms reported are traditional: boys are driven by masculinity norms and are accordingly characterized as unruly, while girls act as more well-behaved students which most of them are. The results corroborate previous research, indicating that gender inequalities persist and are reinforced by traditional educational practices where gender-specific norms are deeply embedded. This study underscores the ongoing challenges in improving gender equality in educational settings

Purpose: To describe the meaning of significant others in relation to participation in everyday life of persons with early diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Materials and methods: Fifty-nine persons participated in this interview study. Inclusion criteria were three years’ experience of diagnosis and being of working age. Semi-structured interviews were conducted using critical incident technique (CIT), and the material was analysed using content analysis. Results: Four categories were revealed: (1) My early RA causes activity adaptations for us all, referring to the person and significant others modifying activities. (2) Making the significant others balance between shortfalls and participation, where the participants distinguished between needing help and feeling involved in activities. (3) Physical interactions with significant others, referring to both the problematic and manageable impact RA could have on body contact. (4) Emotions in relation to activities with others, where participants described feelings of failing others, and anxiety about future activities. Conclusions: For persons with early diagnosed RA, significant others can be both hindering and facilitating for participation in everyday life. As a clinical implication, it is valuable to identify how significant others can be involved in the rehabilitation process, to enhance participation in everyday life early in the disease process.Implications for rehabilitation Significant others of persons with rheumatoid arthritis can facilitate as well as hinder participation in everyday life, even early in the disease process. It is important to include the significant others in the rehabilitation process of persons with early diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis. It is of great importance to identify when and how significant others can be facilitators of participation in everyday life for persons with early rheumatoid arthritis. To make it easier for significant others to facilitate participation, there is a need for the healthcare system to explore ways to support significant others with easily accessible information about early rheumatoid arthritis.

Purpose: The aim was to explore experiences of capacity to work in persons working while depressed and anxious in order to identify the essence of the phenomenon capacity to work. Method: Four focus groups were conducted with 17 participants employed within the regular job market. Illness experiences ranged from symptoms to clinical diagnoses. A phenomenological approach was employed. Results: The phenomenon of capacity to work was distinguished by nine constituents related to task, time, context and social interactions. The phenomenon encompassed a lost familiarity with one’s ordinary work performance, the use of a working facade and adoption of new time-consuming work practices. Feelings of exposure in interpersonal encounters, disruption of work place order, lost “refueling” and a trade-off of between work capacity and leisure-time activities was also identified. The reduced capacity was pointed out as invisible, this invisibility was considered troublesome. Conclusions: A complex and comprehensive concept emerged, not earlier described in work capacity studies. Rehabilitation processes would benefit from deeper knowledge of the individual’s capacity to work in order to make efficient adjustments at work. Results can have particular relevance both in clinical and occupational health practice, as well as in the workplaces, in supporting re-entering workers after sickness absence.Implications for Rehabilitation

• The reduced capacity to work due to depression and anxiety is not always understandable or observable for others, therefore, the rehabilitation process would benefit from increased knowledge and understanding of the difficulties afflicted individuals experience at work.

• Identifying tasks that contribute to “refueling” at work might enhance the success of the rehabilitation.

• Rehabilitation programs could be tailored to better address the inabilities that impact on the capacity to work when depressed and anxious.

Objective: Foot impairments are related to reduced mobility and participation restrictions in daily activities in patients with established rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The new biologic medications are effective and reduce disease activity, but not disability to the same extent. Foot impairments are assumed to be related to participation restrictions also in patients with early RA, diagnosed after the introduction of biologic medications. Knowledge of foot impairments needs to be explored further after the introduction of biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs). The aim of this study was to explore the patients’ perspective of foot impairments related to early RA. Methods: The sample included 59 patients (ages 20–63 years) who were interviewed about participation dilemmas in daily life using the critical incident technique. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Data related to foot impairments were extracted and analyzed thematically. A research partner validated the analysis. Results: Patients with early RA described a variety of participation restrictions related to foot impairments: foot hindrances in domestic life, foot impairments influencing work, leisure activities restricted by one's feet, struggling to be mobile, and foot impairments as an early sign of rheumatic disease. Conclusion: There is a need to focus on foot impairments related to early RA, and for health care professionals to understand these signs. A suggestion for future research is to conduct a longitudinal followup of foot impairment related to medication, disease activity, and disability in patients diagnosed after the introduction of bDMARDs. 

How do children (aged 6-12 years) understand and make use of a digital tool that is under development? This article builds on an ongoing interdisciplinary research project in which children, social workers (the inventers of this social innovation) and researchers together develop an interactive digital tool (application) to strengthen children's participation during the planning and process of welfare assessments. Departing from social constructionism, and using a discursive narrative approach with visual ethnography, the aim of the article is to display how the children co-construct the application and contribute with "stories of life situations" by drawing themselves as characters and the places they frequent. The findings show that the children improved the application by suggesting more affordances so that they could better create themselves/others, by discovering bugs, and by showing how it could appeal to children of various ages. The application helped the children to start communicating and bonding when creating themselves in detail, drawing places/characters and describing events associated with them, and sharing small life stories. The application can help children and social workers to connect and facilitate children's participation by allowing them to focus on their own perspectives when drawing and sharing stories.

As injuries are the main health threat for young adults (18-29 years) in industrial countries, a better understanding of injury risk is needed for this population. Using the Critical Incident Technique, this study explores how young people experience situations that have the potential to cause physical injury (i.e., near-injury situations). Clearly, understanding how and why near-injury situations arise can be used to develop strategies to help prevent severe injury. Content analysis was used to categorize the characteristics of the experiences into unexpected risk in ordinary tasks, duty first, and price for learning. Young adults' exposures to new or unusual environmental conditions, especially in unexpected risk in ordinary tasks, should be considered when planning injury prevention strategies. A combination of individual, social, and contextual demands and expectations was identified in both work-and sports-related experiences with near-injury situations. The price for learning, which arises from the added risk involved in learning situations, is another condition that was identified and requires further attention. The Critical Incident Technique proved to be a useful method for identifying near-injury situations that might otherwise have been difficult to recall. Young adults' efforts to display their ability to handle difficult situations at work and in their everyday lives was identified as a major contributor to near-injury situations.

Persons with mental health problems often express a clear desire to work, although whatfactors that contribute to this healthy aspiration are less clear. The purpose of this study thuswas to explore person, healthcare, and work-related factors in relation to desire to work inpersons visiting psychiatric outpatient clinics. The sample consisted of 272 persons visitingone of four psychiatric outpatient centres from two county councils in the south of Sweden.The possible participants were asked if they wanted to participate in research while waitingfor their scheduled appointments. A comprehensive questionnaire consisting of factors inthe research literature as well as factors advocated by patient organisations was used. Theparticipants’ ratings were analysed using non-parametric group comparisons and logisticregressions. Free-text answers were analysed by content. Higher education, better mentalhealth self-efficacy, and more experiences of demands and conflicts at the workplace wereall significantly related to desire to work in bivariate analyses. However, fighting spirit andsocial support at work had the strongest associations with desire to work in the multivariatelogistic analyses. The Nagelkerke R2 was .34. Free text answers indicated the importanceof managers’ role for the psychosocial work climate, and for receiving help with structuringthe workday to allow recovery after sickness absence. In contrast to the traditional prevocationalrehabilitation approach, and in line with a supportive work environment approach,the results points to the possibility to influence a further improved desire to work throughsupportive leadership and an open and communicative psychosocial climate.

The aim is to evaluate the effects of intensive home rehabilitation regarding multidimensional health perceptions and other quality of life domains, physical ability and capacity among older people (65+). The design is a randomized controlled study of a reablement intervention with controls receiving traditional home care. The intervention is goal- and user oriented, home-based, time limited (3 months), and organized by an interprofessional team consisting of the professions nurse, enrolled nurses, physiotherapists, social worker, and occupational therapists. The effects of the intervention are measured by self-reported health and quality of life (EQ-5D-5L, HACT) including psychological well-being (GP-CORE), physical capacity (SPPB, hand dynamometer test), activity performance (COPM), and home care hours needed. Data are collected at inclusion (T1; applying for home care), after the three months intervention (T2), and at six months (T3). Primary outcome analyses will be performed according to intention to treat; 2 x 3 mixed design (group x time) ANCOVA with each dependent variable at T1 as covariate. Based on a medium effect size in favour of the intervention in the pilot study, and a dropout of 20%, the power calculation indicated that 240 persons should be included. The project will contribute with evidence of the effects of interprofessional home rehabilitation for reablement, and consequences for older persons’ bio-psycho-social health. The project is ongoing with more than 120 persons included. The intervention may result in reduced costs for care, but especially individual gains in relation to reduced care needs, maintained independence and good health.

The increased number of older adults who experience longevity requires increased investment in healthcare services. Short-term goal-directed reablement is expected to strengthen the functional capacity and quality of life of older adults, while homecare hours, and thus municipal expenditures, decrease. Facilitation of successful interprofessional collaboration includes not only enhancing coordination structurally, but also establishing a commitment regarding culture that overcomes professionally differentiated attitudes. Nurses have an obvious role in these multi-professional teams and the study explores some aspects' of working in this type of collaboration. The aim was to illuminate the meaning of working with short-term goal-directed reablement of older adults as experienced by an interprofessional team. Data were collected after an intervention with goal-directed time-limited reablement of older people. Written narratives from an interprofessional team were analyzed using a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach. Findings identified four major thematic structures that characterized the meaning: 1) Reliable relationship; including the aspects ‘Confidence between the older adult and staff’, ‘A sense of security’ and ‘Continuity’, 2) Empowered participation, including the following aspects: ‘Listen to the older adult’s desires’ and ‘Put the person in control’, 3) Team with a negotiated approach, including the aspects: ‘Closeness’, ‘Same direction and overarching goal’, ‘Learning from interprofessional dialogue’, 4) Time for growth with the aspects ‘Creating harmony’ and ‘Building the older adult’s self-confidence’. The process of reablement seemed strengthened by the collaborative approach of different professions and their combined efforts. The present study argues that teamwork gives confidence both in terms of general knowledge of reablement but also specific confidence in one’s profession.

Aim: This study aims to describe experiences of the implementation of a new integrated healthcare model for older adults with complex care needs due to multimorbidity, living at home, from a health and welfare personnel perspective. The goal was to diminish hospitalization and still carry out high quality care at home for older adults living with multimorbidity. The model was implemented by two organizations working in cooperation, the municipality, and the region that handles interprofessional social care and healthcare in people's homes. Materials and Method: Open-ended group interviews with personnel were carried out, three of the group interviews preimplementations of the model, and three of the group interviews post -implementation. The interviews were audiotaped and analysed according to the procedure of thematic analysis. Results: The quality of the integrated care model was based on care -chain cooperation, shared professionalism, and creating relations with the patient including closeness to next of kin, which was underlined by the participants. Unencumbered time gave the professionals the possibility to develop quality in integrated healthcare as part of integrated and person -centred care. The coproduction of education, research interviews and the follow-up meeting identified successes in diminishing hospitalization rates according to the participants' experiences of the post -implementation interviews. An identified failure was, however, that shared professionalism was not developed over time, rather the different responsibilities were accentuated according to the information retrieved at the follow-up meeting. Conclusion: Quality aspects of the model were identified in the present study. However, when implementation of a new model is completed, the organizations always have their own interpretation of how to further understand the model in question. Plain language summary: The intention of the present study was to follow the process of working with a new model of providing care at home, thus preventing increased numbers of hospital readmissions, based on the professionals<acute accent> point of view of what quality care is for older adults with complex care needs due to multimorbidity, living in their own home. The professionals were interviewed in group settings on several occasions during the implementation. The result showed hopeful expectations expressed by the professionals before the new model was implemented, such as a hope for getting more time for high -quality care for the older adults with multimorbidity. During the teamwork, the conversation within the team members was praised as a key factor that included shared professionalism from professionals with different levels of education and focus on their work. According to the staff, unnecessary hospital stays were reduced, while the interprofessional care -chain cooperation was improved through the work of the integrated care team. For many team members, the positive difference in both work and care satisfaction was highlighted in comparison to regular home care as they were able to use their multi -disciplinary skills and support.

BackgroundSociety places increased demands on regions and municipalities to jointly carry out activities for multi-diagnosed older persons with extensive coordination needs. Interprofessional collaboration is reported as an important success factor for the overall health care of this group of patients. This project focuses on older persons with multiple diagnoses and their relatives' own experiences of what is most important for safety and security in their homes. The aim of the study was: to illuminate the meaning of success for the ability to stay at home as experienced by older persons with multiple diagnoses and their relatives.MethodsThe project had a descriptive explorative design with a phenomenological hermeneutic approach based on analysis of 14 in-depth interviews with older people and their relatives.FindingsOwn resources were identified such as belief in the future, spiritual belief, social network, having loved ones and pets. Technical aids were seen as helpful resources, working as indoor and outdoor security safeguards. These resources included having good telephone contact with social and professional networks as well as other forms of personal equipment such as a personal alarm. The professional network was a resource, acting as support when the patient's own abilities were not sufficient. Finally, having personnel who had the time and interest to listen was seen as crucial to experience safety.ConclusionsThe main reason for being able to continue homecare was the person's self-care system, their personal, social, and technical resources. Professional care development should anchor team work to the patient's own system of self and informal care.

Background: Older people with multiple diagnoses often have problems coping with their daily lives at home because of lack of coordination between various parts of the healthcare chain during the transit from hospital care to the home. To provide good care to those persons who have the most complex needs, regions and municipalities must work together. It is of importance to develop further empirical knowledge in relation to older persons with multiple diagnoses to illuminate possible obstacles to person-centred care during the transition between healthcare institutions and the persons livelihood. The aim of the present study was to describe nurses' experienced critical incidents in different parts of the intended healthcare chain of older people with multiple diagnoses.

Methods: The sample consisted of 18 RNs in different parts of the healthcare system involved in the care of older people with multiple diagnoses. Data were collected by semi structured interviews and analysed according to Critical Incident Technique (CIT). A total of 169 critical incidents were identified describing experiences in recently experienced situations.

Results: The result showed that organizational restrictions in providing care and limitations in collaboration were the main areas of experienced critical incidents. Actions took place due to the lack of preventive actions for care, difficulties in upholding patients' legal rights to participation in care, deficiencies in cooperation between organizations as well as ambiguous responsibilities and roles. The RNs experienced critical incidents that required moral actions to ensure continued person-centred nursing and provide evidence-based care. Both types of critical incidents required sole responsibility from the nurse. The RNs acted due to ethics, 'walking the extra mile', searching for person-centred information, and finding out own knowledge barriers.

Conclusions: In conclusion and based on this critical incident study, home-based healthcare of older people with multiple diagnoses requires a nurse that is prepared to take personal and moral responsibility to ensure person-centred home-based healthcare. Furthermore, the development of in-between adjustments of organizations to secure cooperation, and transference of person-centred knowledge is needed.

This paper reports a study conducted to illuminate older adults’ perceptions of multiproffesional team's caring skills as success factors for health support in short-term goal-directed reablement. The fact that older adults are given perquisites to live in their own homes puts great demands on the professional care given them at home. An option offered could be short-term goal-directed reablement delivered by an interprofessional team. This means after periods in hospitals to strengthen their multidimensional health, older adults’ reablement processes are supported to return to their daily life as soon as possible. Crucial in making these intentions a reality seems to be identifying the professional's approach that works as success factors for health support in the reablement process. A descriptive qualitative design with a phenomenographic approach based on interviews with 23 older persons who had received short-term goal-directed reablement at home after a period at hospital was used. The study was approved by an ethical board. The analysis revealed four major referential aspects of multiproffesional team's caring skills as success factors for health-support in short-term goal-directed reablement: a motivating caregiver, a positive atmosphere-creating caregiver, a human fellowship-oriented caregiver and a caregiver that goes beyond the expected. In this study, all caring skills in the continuum are perceived as positively loaded necessities in different situations during the reablement process. Caring skills as success factors are initially shown at a practical level, such as how the professional caregivers encourage and motivate the older persons in different training situations. At a deeper level, the caregivers open their hearts and have the capacity to go beyond the expected in the professional caregiver–patient relationship. The multiproffesional team's best fit caring skills during the home reablement process need to be addressed as evidence base in the area of elderly home care.

Background: The high prevalence of alcohol consumption, together with its associated health risk factors, has long-term negative impacts on both society and the economy in Thailand. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of healthcare providers working with people experiencing alcohol addiction and the treatment programs in a Thai hospital. Methods: Qualitative study was applied in this study by conducting focus group interviews with 32 interdisciplinary healthcare providers, most of which were nurses. Content analysis was applied to analyze the verbatim-transcribed data. Findings: Two main topics emerged: (1) the collaborative practices related to alcohol treatment, and (2) the fit of the program, including how the treatment program functions. Obstacles were identified and formulated from several sub-categories. Conclusions: The findings included obstacles linked to the imported (Western) program and the patriarchal structure in Thai culture, which seem to intersect and reinforce each other.

Background: The high prevalence of alcohol consumption, together with its associated health risk factors, has long-term negative impacts on both society and the economy in Thailand. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of healthcare providers working with people experiencing alcohol addiction and the treatment programs in a Thai hospital. Methods: Qualitative study was applied in this study by conducting focus group interviews with 32 interdisciplinary healthcare providers, most of which were nurses. Content analysis was applied to analyze the verbatim-transcribed data. Findings: Two main topics emerged: (1) the collaborative practices related to alcohol treatment, and (2) the fit of the program, including how the treatment program functions. Obstacles were identified and formulated from several sub-categories. Conclusions: The findings included obstacles linked to the imported (Western) program and the patriarchal structure in Thai culture, which seem to intersect and reinforce each other.

Purpose: This study explored the lived experiences of Thai women in relation to alcohol addiction in treatment. Methods: Twelve women aged 20 to 65 years, were participated. The participants were recruited from two special hospitals and one outpatient clinic in a general hospital. Descriptive phenomenology was applied to analyze the transcripts of the individual interviews. Result: The explored phenomenon of Thai women experiencing alcohol addiction included four essential aspects, (1) feeling inferior and worthless (2) feeling physically and emotionally hurt, (3) fearing physical deterioration and premature death, and (4) feeling superior and powerful. Through these different aspects of Thai women's lived experiences, the following essence was synthesized. The essence of the lived experience of alcohol addiction among the studied Thai women was ambivalence between feeling inferior and worthless and feeling superior and powerful when acting as a man. Drinking alcohol lessened life's difficulties and fears; for example, of violence, bodily demolition, premature death and marginalization from family and society. Conclusion: Thai women who experience alcohol addiction are treated with gender-related double standards when trying to undo gender traditional roles. Their marginalization from family and society deepens making them even more vulnerable to the positive side effects of alcohol drinking. 

Background: Men are overrepresented with regard to alcohol addiction and in terms of alcohol treatment worldwide. In Thailand, alcohol consumption continues to rise, but few of those afflicted with alcohol addiction attend alcohol treatment programs, even though there is universal care for all. No comprehensive studies have been done on men's experiences with addiction and alcohol treatment programs in Thailand.Objective: The aim of this study was to explore men's experiences in terms of the 'pros and cons of alcohol consumption' in order to identify the barriers that exist for Thai men with regard to alcohol addiction and the decision to stop drinking. Design: Purposive sampling was applied in the process of recruiting participants at an alcohol clinic in a hospital in Thailand. Thirteen men with alcohol addiction (aged 32-49 years) were willing to participate and were interviewed in thematic interviews. The analysis of the data was done with descriptive phenomenology. Results: Through men's descriptions, three clusters of experiences were found that were 'mending the body', 'drinking as payoff and doping related to work', and 'alcohol becoming a best friend' as ways of describing the development of addiction. Conclusions: The results highlight the importance of addressing concepts of masculinity and related hegemonic ideas in order to decrease the influence of the barriers that exist for Thai men with alcohol addiction with regard to entering treatment and to stop drinking. © 2014 Kulnaree Hanpatchaiyakul et al.

Older persons in Sweden can continue to live at home, assisted by the municipal home care services. Older age raises the risk of emergency situations that require involvement of the emergency medical services (EMS). Such situations intersect two different organizations, the municipal social care services and the regional EMS. The transfer of care between the organizations might impact the older persons´ health, and quality of life or death. Research question: How do municipal care personnel describe their experiences of and actions in situations when older persons are in need of EMS? Design: The study has a qualitative inductive design. Sample: Municipal care personnel (n=19) consisting of home care personnel and security alarm responders. Data collection and analysis: Data was collected through group interviews and free text written critical incidents analyzed according to critical incident technique. Results: Experiences related to the two main areas Lifesaving competence, and Collaborative care, which encompass the four categories Emergency knowledge, Companionship in a vulnerability, Limited caring options and Conditions for EMS collaboration. Actions related to the one main area Adjusting actions to actual conditions, which encompasses the three categories Adapting care to emergency needs, Safeguarding the person, and Adapting actions to EMS leadership.

Background: Since the vast majority of older adults in Sweden live in their private homes throughout life, the emergency medical services need to adapt accordingly. Hence, we aimed to describe characteristic patterns of dyadic staffed emergency ambulance assignments for older adults aged > 70 years compared with adults aged 18–69 years requiring emergency care at home in Sweden. Methods: A descriptive retrospective study was performed using anonymized registry data from the emergency medical services in a region of Sweden during 2017–2018. One-sample χ2 test, one-way analysis of variance, and binary logistic regression models were used for investigating group differences. Variables for analysis were age, gender, clinical assessments, on-scene time, priority levels, result of response, and temporal patterns. Results: Of all included emergency ambulance assignments (n = 28,533), 59.9% involved older adults, of which 53.8% were women. The probability for older adults to receive the highest priority was decreased for both dispatch (p < 0.001, odds ratio [OR] 0.63, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.59–0.66), and transport priorities (p < 0.001, OR 0.74, 95% CI 0.68–0.80). Older adults were more likely to receive dispatch priority levels 2 (p < 0.001, OR 1.48, 95% CI 1.40–1.56), and 3 (p < 0.001, OR 1.73, 95% CI 1.46–2.06). The older adults were similarly more likely to receive transport priority level 3 (p < 0.001, OR 1.40, 95% CI 1.28–1.52) compared with adults. Age had a small but additive effect in relation to on-scene time (p < 0.001, R2 = 0.01, F = 53.82). Distinguishing initial clinical assessments for older adults were circulatory, respiratory, trauma, infection, and nonspecific assessments. Emergency ambulance assignments for older adults were more frequently occurring on Mondays (p < 0.001, χ2 = 232.56), and in the 08:00–11:59 interval (p < 0.001, χ2 = 1224.08). Conclusion: The issues of the lower priority level preponderance, and the decreased probability for receiving the highest priority warrant further attention in future research and clinical practice. 

Purpose This study aimed at describing municipal care personnel's experiences of and actions in situations when older persons need emergency medical services (EMS) at home. Methods An inductive descriptive design adhering to critical incident technique (CIT) was used. Data were collected through interviews and free text written questionnaires, analysed in accordance with CIT procedure. Results Experiences related to the main areas of Lifesaving competence and Collaborative care. Lifesaving competence involved having sufficient knowledge to guide older persons in emergencies without organizational support. The lack of care alternatives carries dependence on inter-organizational collaboration, as well as having to accept the collaborative conditions provided by the EMS. Actions meant Adjusting to situational needs and EMS authority, which involved safeguarding the person while being directed by the EMS. Conclusions Lack of organizational support, care alternatives, and structured collaboration jeopardize care-dependent older persons' health, and ability to influence care when emergency situations occur at home. Municipal care personnel's actions as the older person's representative support human agency, allowing older persons to become active participants in care despite acute suffering. This study underlines the importance of further developing welfare policies that facilitate and regulate inter-organizational responsibilities of health and social care to favour older people.

Background: Patient participation is considered to promote well-being and is, therefore, central in care contexts. Care-dependent older persons living at home constitute a vulnerable population with increased ambulance care needs. Care transfers risk challenging participation in care, a challenge that can be accentuated in situations involving acute illness.Aim: To illuminate meanings of older persons' participation in ambulance care in the presence of municipal care personnel from the perspective of ambulance personnel.Method: A phenomenological hermeneutical method was used to analyse transcripts of narrative interviews with 11 ambulance personnel.Results: The ambulance personnel's lived experience of older persons' participation includes passive and active dimensions and involves a balancing act between an exercise of power that impedes participation and equalisation of power that empowers participation. The main theme 'Balancing dignity in relation to manipulating the body' included the themes Providing a safe haven and Complying with bodily expressions, which means shouldering responsibility for existential well-being and being guided by reactions. The main theme 'Balancing influence in relation to perceived health risks' included the themes Agreeing on a common perspective, Directing decision-making mandate, and Sharing responsibility for well-being, which means shouldering responsibility for health focusing on risks. Influence is conditional and includes performance requirements for both the older person and municipal care personnel.Conclusion: Care-dependent older persons' participation in care from the perspective of ambulance personnel means recognising passive and active dimensions involving human dignity, the ability to influence care, and optimising care efforts through collaboration. This study provides a deepened understanding of the balancing of power involved in ambulance care determining participation, where power is equalised or exercised depending on personal engagement, health risks, and available care options. The knowledge provided holds the potential to improve ambulance care to benefit older persons in critical life situations.

Background: Participation in care is considered to promote safe and qualitative care. Care-dependent older persons ageing in place have increased emergency care needs, which initiate inter-organisational collaboration involving municipal home care and ambulance services. Previous research concludes that uncertainties exist regarding what participation in care means in clinical practice, which necessitates the need to illuminate the phenomenon for older persons in critical life situations.

Aim: This study aimed to illuminate meanings of participation in prehospital emergency care from the perspective of care-dependent older persons experiencing acute illness at home.

Design: This study has a qualitative design with a lifeworld approach.

Method: A phenomenological hermeneutical method was used to analyse transcribed telephone interviews with eleven care-dependent persons aged 70–93 years.

Results: Care-dependent older persons' participation in prehospital emergency care means ‘Entrusting life to professional caregivers’ when being in helpless solitude and existentially unsafe, which emphasises a deepened interpersonal dependence. Meanings of participation in care from the perspective of older persons involve Being reassured in togetherness, Being pliant in trust of emergency expertise, Being enabled through the agency of professional caregivers, and Encountering readiness in the emergency care chain.

Conclusion: Care-dependent older persons' participation in prehospital emergency care is existential and involves interpersonal dependence. Togetherness brings reassurance, safety and opportunity for emotional rest while accessing the professional caregivers' power, competence and abilities which provide opportunities for existence and movement towards well-being and continued living.

Implications for practice: Prehospital emergency care from the perspective of care-dependent older persons transcends organisational boundaries and includes the municipal mobile safety alarm service. The involved municipal and regional organisations need to provide support by implementing lifeworld-led care models and care alternatives that enable professionals to recognise the existential dimension of participation in care.

BACKGROUND: The world's growing population of older adults is one population that needs to be focused more regarding subjective well-being. It is therefore important to evaluate self-report instruments that measures general well-being for this specific group - older adults. The aim of the present study was to investigate psychometric properties of the Swedish translation of the GP-CORE (general population - Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation) in a group of older adults (> 65 years).

METHODS: In this study, a psychometric evaluation of the GP-CORE is presented for 247 Swedish older adults (> 65 years), 184 women and 63 men who applied for home care assistance for the first time.

RESULTS: The psychometric evaluation showed high acceptability; provided norm values in terms of means, standard deviations and quartiles; showed satisfactory reliability in terms of both internal consistency and stability; showed satisfactory validity in terms of convergent and discriminant validity; provided a very preliminary cut-off value and quite low sensibility and sensitivity and showed results which indicated that this scale is sensitive to changes. One gender difference was identified in that women without a cohabitant had a higher well-being than men without a cohabitant (as measured by GP-CORE).

CONCLUSIONS: The GP-CORE showed satisfactory psychometric properties to be used to measure and monitor subjective well-being in older adults (> 65 years) in the general population of community dwelling. Future studies should establish a cut-off value in relation to another well-being measure relevant for mental health in older adults.

Background: Understanding young people's subjective well-being, such as how they experience equality, safety, and supportive environments, is particularly important for identifying possible preventive interventions in the school context. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate similarities and differences between 15-year-old girls’ and boys’ subjective well-being, and its associations with psychosocial factors. Methods: The study was explorative and cross-sectional. A total of 195 adolescent girls and 116 boys in Grade 9 from four Swedish junior high schools completed a questionnaire on subjective well-being; emotional support opportunities; gender equality; experience of emotional, physical, and sexual violence in close relationships; insecurity due to harassment in the school environment or on social media; and pornography consumption. Results: Compared to boys, girls indicated worse subjective well-being and more harassment in school and on social media, and reported that boys received benefits based on gender. Boys reported higher pornography consumption compared with girls. Girls reporting decreased subjective well-being experienced more harassment on social media and in school, and more recent sexual violence. Among boys, with decreased subjective well-being, more psychological risks such as self-harm and suicidal thoughts was reported. Both girls and boys with decreased subjective well-being reported less availability of attachment and insecure close relations. Conclusion: The absence of a safe and supportive environment, such as feeling secure at school, and lack of close and trusting relationships are associated with 15-year-olds’ subjective well-being for the worse, regardless of gender. It is suggested that school personnel extend the relational possibilities in the school context. 

Purpose: This article reports the social and psychological processes that 11 cancer patients receiving palliative home care used to keep their hopealive. Method: The patients described their ways of dealing with hope in interviews and diaries, and it was from these accounts that the processes were extracted, using a grounded theory methodology. Results: Two main processes emerged: maintaining life and preparing for death. When the patients focused on maintaining life, they tried to preserve its meaning and to communicate with others about life and death. They found it helpful to shift their focus and to involve fellow 'travellers' in their journey. To prepare for death was to take responsibility for the future and to see possibilities of living on even after death. Conclusion: This paper revealed two parallel and interdependent processes used by patients in the palliative care phase to maintainhope and respond to living close to death.

Objective: The experience of hope among cancer patients in palliative care is important information for healthcare providers, but research on the subject is sparse. The aim of this article was to explore how cancer patients admitted to palliative home care experienced the significance of hope and usedhope during 6 weeks throughout the last phase of their life, and to assess their symptoms and hope status during 6 weeks throughout the last phase of their lives.Method: Eleven adult patients with cancer participated in 20 interviews and completed seven diaries. The participants were recruited from two palliative care units in the southeast of Sweden. The method used was Grounded Theory (GT), and analysis was based on the constant comparative method.Results: The core category, glimmering embers, was generated from four processes: (1) The creation of "convinced" hope, with a focus on positive events, formed in order to have something to look forward to; (2) The creation of "simulated hope," including awareness of the lack of realism, but including attempts to believe in unrealistic reasons for hope; (3) The collection of and maintaining of moments of hope, expressing a wish to "seize the day" and hold on to moments of joy and pleasure; and (4) "Gradually extinct" hope, characterized by a lack of energy and a sense of time running out.Significance of results: The different processes of hope helped the patients to continue to live when they were close to death. Hopeshould be respected and understood by the professionals giving them support.

Background: Intimate partner violence by men against women has detrimental effects on equality, health and integration. Migrated and ‘imported’ wives experience an increased risk of intimate partner violence. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explore Thai immigrant women’s lived experiences of intimate partner violence in Sweden. Method: Semi-structured interviews based on the critical incident technique with specific questions about experiences of male-to-female intimate partner violence were used to collect data. The participants were Thai immigrant women who had lived in Sweden for more than five years. Qualitative content analysis was used to identify patterns and variations in the transcribed data material. Results: Eighteen interviewees reported psychological, physical, economic and/or sexual violence in their international marriages. These Thai women described being faithful and silent and reliable housewives. However, this did not keep them from being replaced and losing dignity as a result of intimate partner violence, including experiencing broken dreams and deception. Although their dreams were broken, they did not give up their efforts to achieve better lives in Sweden. Conclusions: The vulnerability of imported wives in international marriages needs to be further recognised by health and welfare agencies in Sweden, as elsewhere, to ensure that these women have equal access to human rights, welfare and health as other citizens. From a health promotion perspective, home-based health check-ups are needed to stop the exploitation of imported wives. In Thailand, information and education about the unrecognised negative conditions of the Mia farang role (Imported wife role) need to be disseminated.

Background: Women who are migrants experience discrimination and face major risks, including sexual exploitation, trafficking, and violence, which affect their health and well-being. This study explored critical health incidents experienced by immigrant Thai women in marriage migration. Methods: A qualitative explorative approach with in-depth interviews was used. Forty immigrant Thai women who currently or previously had a Swedish spouse were recruited for the study. An inductive critical incident technique was used to collect and analyze the data as the first step. In a second deductive step, the Newman system model was used to categorize health dilemmas. Results: The women reported 438 critical health incidents in five main areas. Psychological health dilemmas included emotional abuse, feeling overwhelmed due to family responsibilities and the stress of leaving family behind. Sociocultural health dilemmas included transnational family duties or not performing family duties. Physiological health dilemmas included experiencing physical violence and environmental, domestic or work accidents. Developmental health dilemmas included failing health, difficulties upholding the duties expected of a spouse in the target culture and caring for an elderly husband. Spiritual health dilemmas included critical incidents in which the women perceived themselves to have failed in their hopes and duties as a wife, which intensified their dependence on faith, particularly the Buddhist concept of karma. Conclusion: Professionals in health and welfare practices in Thailand together with professionals in Western countries who work with women in marriage migration situations need to recognize the psychological, sociocultural, physiological, developmental, and spiritual health dilemmas experienced by these women. Furthermore, civil organizations that meet Thai women in foreign countries, such as Buddhist cultural associations, would benefit from the multicultural knowledge revealed by the present study. This knowledge can facilitate healthcare and welfare support for women in marriage migration situations. 

Purpose Globalisation provides new opportunities for immigrant women to supply financial benefits transnationally to uphold their families in their home countries. The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of Thai immigrant women regarding transnational family responsibilities effects on their health and wellness. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative data were collected using semi-structured interviews with 40 Thai immigrant women, of which 34 described having transnational family responsibilities. The transcribed data were analysed using a phenomenographic approach. Findings The findings revealed five structural aspects of transnational family responsibilities of Thai immigrant women: being a dutiful daughter, being a caring mother, being a kind relative, being a "giving" person and striving for a wealthy life. The interviewees seldom encountered enough support from the spouse in handling their transnational family responsibilities. In general, a transnational marriage includes family responsibilities that are continuous and that often is the cause of migration. Practical implications This paper illuminates the transnational responsibilities of marriage migration and argues for women's rights of culturally congruent health care. Originality/value Traditionally Thai women's values are based on how they handle family responsibilities and acknowledging own health needs are not. These interviewees perceived doubled burden in terms of family responsibilities and workload in employed work, which contributed to poor health and wellness.