From symptoms to surgery-A pathway through uncertainty and hope: An interview study of women facing ovarian surgery.

Background: Diagnosis of an adnexal mass might be a sign of ovarian cancer, with an overall poor prognosis. This study aimed to explore women's experiences and perceptions of facing ovarian surgery due to an adnexal mass, and expectations on life after surgery.

Methods: Individual in-depth interviews with 15 women facing ovarian surgery due to an adnexal mass.

Social support and ovarian cancer incidence - A Swedish prospective population-based study.

Objective: Low social support is associated with worse prognosis for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) patients. However, few studies have explored the relation between low social support and incidence of EOC. The aim of this prospective nested case-control study was to examine whether self-perceived low social support was associated with the incidence of EOC.

Increasing possibilities - Increasing dilemmas: A qualitative study of Swedish midwives' experiences of ultrasound use in pregnancy.

Objective: to explore Swedish midwives' experiences and views of the use of obstetric ultrasound in clinical management of pregnancy, and in situations where maternal and fetal health interests conflict.

Design: an exploratory qualitative study based on focus group discussions (FGDs) was undertaken in 2013 as part of the CROss Country Ultrasound Study (CROCUS). Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis.

Two sides of the same coin--an interview study of Swedish obstetricians' experiences using ultrasound in pregnancy management.

Background: The extended use of ultrasound that is seen in maternity care in most Western countries has not only affected obstetric care but also impacted on the conception of the fetus in relation to the pregnant woman. This situation has also raised concerns regarding the pregnant woman's reproductive freedom. The purpose of this study was to explore Swedish obstetricians' experiences and views on the role of obstetric ultrasound particularly in relation to clinical management of complicated pregnancy, and in relation to situations where the interests of maternal and fetal health conflict.

'Women think pregnancy management means obstetric ultrasound': Vietnamese obstetricians' views on the use of ultrasound during pregnancy.

Objective: To explore Vietnamese obstetricians' experiences and views on the role of obstetric ultrasound in clinical management of complicated pregnancy and in situations where maternal and fetal health interests conflict.

Design: Seventeen obstetricians in northern Vietnam were interviewed as part of the CROss-Country Ultrasound Study (CROCUS) project in 2013. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis.

A routine tool with far-reaching influence: Australian midwives' views on the use of ultrasound during pregnancy.

Background: Ultrasound is a tool of increasing importance in maternity care. Midwives have a central position in the care of pregnant women. However, studies regarding their experiences of the use of ultrasound in this context are limited.

Ultrasound's 'window on the womb' brings ethical challenges for balancing maternal and fetal health interests: obstetricians' experiences in Australia.

Background: Obstetric ultrasound has become a significant tool in obstetric practice, however, it has been argued that its increasing use may have adverse implications for women's reproductive freedom. This study aimed to explore Australian obstetricians' experiences and views of the use of obstetric ultrasound both in relation to clinical management of complicated pregnancy, and in situations where maternal and fetal health interests conflict.

Methods: A qualitative study was undertaken as part of the CROss-Country Ultrasound Study (CROCUS).

'Ultrasound is an invaluable third eye, but it can't see everything': a qualitative study with obstetricians in Australia.

Background: Obstetric ultrasound has come to play a significant role in obstetrics since its introduction in clinical care. Today, most pregnant women in the developed world are exposed to obstetric ultrasound examinations, and there is no doubt that the advantages of obstetric ultrasound technique have led to improvements in pregnancy outcomes. However, at the same time, the increasing use has also raised many ethical challenges.

Female urinary incontinence: patient-reported outcomes 1 year after midurethral sling operations.

Introduction And Hypothesis: Although midurethral slings have become standard surgical methods to treat stress urinary incontinence (SUI), little is known about women who still have urinary incontinence (UI) after surgery. This study assesses and compares the patient-reported outcome 12 months after tension-free vaginal tape (TVT), tension-free vaginal tape-obturator (TVT-O), and transobturator tape (TOT), with a special focus on women who still have urinary leakage postoperatively.

Methods: This study analyzed preoperative and 12-month postoperative data from 3,334 women registered in the Swedish National Quality Register for Gynecological Surgery.

How do urinary incontinence and urgency affect women's sexual life?

Objective: To investigate the impact of urinary incontinence and urgency on women's sexual life and the prevalence of urinary leakage during sexual activity. A further aim was to explore factors affecting sexual desire and satisfaction with sexual life.

Design: A semi-structured questionnaire study.

Impact of female urinary incontinence and urgency on women's and their partners' sexual life.

Aims: To assess the impact of female urinary incontinence (UI) and urgency on women's and their partners' sexual life in sexually active couples and to elucidate the concordance of answers within couples.

Methods: Women aged 18-74 years with UI and/or urgency (n = 206) were consecutively recruited from four outpatient clinics. Those with a partner (n = 170) completed a questionnaire regarding relationship and sexual life and gave a similar questionnaire to him.

Experiences of working with induced abortion: focus group discussions with gynaecologists and midwives/nurses.

Background: While there exists an extensive amount of research regarding the medical aspects of abortion, there is a great lack of studies investigating staff's views and experiences of working in abortion services.

Aims: To elucidate gynaecologists' and midwives'/nurses' experiences, perceptions and interactions working in abortion services, their experiences of medical abortions and abortions performed at the woman's home. An additional aim was to illustrate gynaecologists', midwives' and nurses' visions of their future professional roles within the abortion services.

Home abortion - experiences of male involvement.

Objective: To gain knowledge about the male partner's experience of being present during an induced home abortion.

Methods: Twenty-three couples, whose male partner had been present when the woman aborted at home, were interviewed one to two weeks post-abortion.

Results: Each of the men supported his partner in her decision to have a home abortion, as this gave him the possibility of being near and of caring for her needs on the expulsion day.

"Keeping up a front": narratives about intimate partner violence, pregnancy, and antenatal care.

Nine women who had been subjected to severe intimate partner violence during pregnancy narrated their ambiguous and contradictory feelings and the various balancing strategies they used to overcome their complex and difficult situations. Because allowing anyone to come close posed a threat, the women mostly denied the situation and kept up a front to hide the violence from others. Three women disclosed ongoing violence to the midwives, but only one said such disclosure was helpful.

Urinary, climacteric and sexual symptoms 1 year after treatment of cervical cancer without brachytherapy.

Objective: Prospective studies elucidating the impact of the treatment of cervical cancer on urinary and climacteric symptoms and sexual life are relatively rare. The aim of this study was to seek information about the occurrence of urinary, climacteric and sexual symptoms in women with cervical cancer before and 1 year after treatment without brachytherapy.

Methods: This prospective study evaluated 39 women treated for cervical cancer.

Home abortion implies radical changes for women.

Objective: To gain knowledge about women's experiences, views and reactions regarding having a home abortion (medical abortion with the use of misoprostol at home).

Methods: One hundred women were interviewed one week post-abortion; this yielded both quantitative and qualitative data.

Results: The overwhelming majority of the women experienced wellbeing and were satisfied with their choice of abortion method.

The impact of female urinary incontinence and urgency on quality of life and partner relationship.

Aims: To examine the impact of female urinary incontinence, urgency and frequency on quality of life, and partner relationship in women (18-74 years) and their partners, and make comparisons with the corresponding age groups in a Swedish population-based study.

Methods: Women with urinary incontinence, urgency and frequency (n = 206) completed specific questionnaires concerning medical history and the Bristol Female Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms questionnaire. Women who had a stable relationship (n = 170) also answered a questionnaire regarding psychosocial situation, partner relationship and sexual life, and were asked to give a similar questionnaire to their partner.

The Law of Communicable Diseases Act and disclosure to sexual partners among HIV-positive youth.

In Sweden, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is included among the venereal diseases covered by the Law of Communicable Diseases Act. HIV-positive (HIV(+)) people are required to inform their sexual partners about their infection and adopt safe sex behaviours. However, it is unclear how the law is perceived.

Violent men: ordinary and deviant.

This article deals with discourses of intimate partner violence and is based on interviews with professionals who meet violent men. The professionals emphasized the importance of men taking unreserved responsibility for their violent behavior. Intimate partner violence was viewed not only as "power and control" but as the result of complex situations and interplays.

Midwives' experiences of encountering women seeking an abortion.

In order to gain knowledge about midwives' clinical and emotional experiences of working with termination of pregnancy (TOP) and their perception of women's motives for having an abortion questionnaires were mailed to a representative sample of Swedish midwives (n = 258), and 84% responded. Responses to 17 statements were studied and interpreted. It was found that every third midwife had not at all worked with TOP, and every fifth had not done so in the preceding two years.

"Eyes Wide Shut"--sexuality and risk in HIV-positive youth in Sweden: a qualitative study.

Aims: This study explores the perception of sexual risk-taking behaviour in young HIV+ women and men in Sweden and their understanding of why they caught HIV.

Method: In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 HIV+ women and men aged 17-24 years, 7 born in Sweden and 3 immigrants. Interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed according to the stages of grounded theory.

Concepts of risk among young Swedes tested negative for HIV in primary care.

Objective: To explore why young adults test for HIV, how they construct the HIV risk, and what implications testing has for them.

Design: Six tape-recorded focus-group interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed according to a grounded theory approach.

Subjects And Setting: Women and men between 18 and 24 years of age were recruited from a youth clinic in northern Sweden in 2004-05 after being tested and found to be HIV negative.

A population-based study of Swedish gynecologists' experiences of working in abortion care.

Background: Legal abortion is a recurrent part of gynecologists' work. The aim of the study was to describe Swedish gynecologists' clinical and emotional experiences when working in abortion care. Further aims were to elucidate their perception of women's motives for having an abortion as well as looking for possible demographic and gender differences.