The experience of informal caregivers in providing patient care in hospitals in low- and middle-income countries: A qualitative meta-synthesis.

Objective: In low- and middle-income countries, informal caregivers frequently stay in hospitals and perform patient care tasks typically performed by nurses in other contexts. This article reviews qualitative research on these informal caregivers, to gain insight and understanding of their experiences.

Methods: We undertook a qualitative meta-synthesis.

The big picture of recovery: a systematic review on the evidence of photography-based methods in researching recovery from mental distress.

Background: In the context of a growing body of literature on incorporating visual media in researching well-being and mental health, this systematic review examined the evidence of using photography-based research methods in exploring recovery from mental distress, their outcomes, but also limitations and challenges encountered by researchers.

Methodology: Six cross-disciplinary electronic databases (CINAHL, MEDLINE, Web of Science, Scopus, PsycINFO, Arts & Humanities) were systematically searched resulting in a total of 15 qualitative and mixed-methods studies included in a thematic synthesis.

Results: Photo-elicitation and photovoice were identified as the main photographic methods employed in recovery research along with less common, but nonetheless creative, techniques.

Exploring the barriers and gateways to intersubjectivity in dementia care: A meta-ethnography.

Background: Behaviours that challenge in dementia, often described and diagnosed as behavioural psychological symptoms of dementia, are experienced by 75% of people living with dementia in care homes or hospital environments, with 43% of nurses and care providers reporting these behaviours as moderately or severely distressing to them. During behaviours that challenge moments in dementia, there is the potential for an intersubjective relationship to take place between the people living with dementia and the nurse.

Aims: This review explores and synthesises literature to consider the presence of intersubjectivity in people living with dementia.

Displacement: Critical insights from flood-affected children.

Little is known about how children and young people are affected by evacuation following flooding. Participatory research using creative methods allowed us to elicit flood stories and recovery pathways over time. We found that children's relationships with space and place were severely challenged following evacuation from home.

Silence as an element of care: A meta-ethnographic review of professional caregivers' experience in clinical and pastoral settings.

Background: In interactions between professional caregivers, patients and family members at the end of life, silence often becomes more prevalent. Silence is acknowledged as integral to interpersonal communication and compassionate care but is also noted as a complex and ambiguous phenomenon. This review seeks interdisciplinary experience to deepen understanding of qualities of silence as an element of care.

"We don't snack": Attitudes and perceptions about eating in-between meals amongst caregivers of young children.

Objective: Little is known about caregiver attitudes and perceptions towards snacking by toddlers and preschool children outside of the U.S. This qualitative study examined caregiver attitudes and perceptions towards the provision of both foods and beverages in-between meals, along with what constitutes a snack, or snacking occasion, amongst Swiss caregivers.

Woodland as working space: where is the restorative green idyll?

Much has been written on the beneficial, restorative qualities of 'natural' (non-built) rural or urban 'green' space, including woodland, in promoting mental and physical health when accessed for leisure, sport and education. In contrast, with the exception of rural health studies, there is relatively little debate about the health benefits of 'green space' as work place, especially in woodland and forests. In the developed world, this apparent gap in the literature may be partly due to an assumption of the forest work place as inherently healthy, and also the invisibility of a tiny percentage of the workforce now employed in forestry.

Narrative research methods in palliative care contexts: two case studies.

Narrative methods have played a minor role in research with dying patients to date, and deserve to be more widely understood. This article illustrates the utility and value of these methods through the narrative analysis of semi-structured interview data gathered in a series of interviews with two terminally ill cancer patients and their spouses. The methods and findings associated with these two case studies are outlined and discussed.

A comparative review of palliative care development in six countries represented by the Middle East Cancer Consortium (MECC).

Palliative care development and services were reviewed in the region represented by the six members of the Middle East Cancer Consortium: Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, and Turkey. The multimethod review synthesized evidence from ethnographic field visits to inpatient units, home care hospice teams and free-standing hospices, including interviews with hospice and palliative care clinicians, administrators, volunteers, policy makers and academic researchers. Public health data and relevant literature were collated together with internet-accessed information on services and health care systems.

Restorative places or scary spaces? The impact of woodland on the mental well-being of young adults.

In recent years, there has been a substantial increase in mental health problems amongst young adults in the UK, prompting the British Government to seek to identify services and preventative measures to combat the problem. At the same time, the policy agenda around woodland has shifted away from the agro-forestry agenda that dominated much of the late 20th century toward the development of 'social forestry', defined in terms of multi-purpose, multi-benefit woodland that can contribute to an enhanced quality of life and well-being. Against this background of change and policy response, this paper examines the extent to which childhood experiences of play--particularly in wooded landscapes--may influence access to woodland in young adulthood, and the potential implications for their health and mental well-being.

Digging deep: using diary techniques to explore the place of health and well-being amongst older people.

To date, solicited diaries have been relatively neglected as a social science research method. This is particularly true within the field of health research. Yet, these narrative approaches can provide invaluable insights into the health behaviours of individuals and how these are played out across time and space.

"Cultivating health": therapeutic landscapes and older people in northern England.

While gardening is seen, essentially, as a leisure activity it has also been suggested that the cultivation of a garden plot offers a simple way of harnessing the healing power of nature (The therapeutic garden, Bantam Press, London, 2000). One implication of this is that gardens and gardening activity may offer a key site of comfort and a vital opportunity for an individual's emotional, physical and spiritual renewal. Understanding the extent to which this supposition may be grounded in evidence underpins this paper.