Does coercion matter? Supporting young next-of-kin in mental health care.

Background: Coercion can cause harm to both the patient and the patient's family. Few studies have examined how the coercive treatment of a close relative might affect young next-of-kin.

Research Questions: We aimed to investigate the views and experiences of health professionals being responsible for supporting young next-of-kin to patients in mental health care (children-responsible staff) in relation to the needs of these young next-of-kin in coercive situations and to identify ethical challenges.

The silent world of young next of kin in mental healthcare.

Background:: Young next of kin to patients with mental health problems are faced with many challenges. It is important to focus on the special needs of children and adolescents as next of kin to ensure their welfare and prevent harm.

Research Questions:: We aimed to investigate young next of kin's need for information and involvement, to examine the ways they cope with situations involving coercion related to the treatment of their relative, and to identify ethical challenges.

Harm in the absence of care: Towards a medical ethics that cares.

The aim of this article is to investigate the concept of care in contemporary medical practice and medical ethics. Although care has been hailed throughout the centuries as a crucial ideal in medical practice and as an honourable virtue to be observed in codes of medical ethics, I argue that contemporary medicine and medical ethics suffer from the lack of a theoretically sustainable concept of care and then discuss possible reasons that may help to explain this absence. I draw on the empirical studies of Carol Gilligan on care and connectedness as ontologically situated realities in human life.

Care for nurses only? Medicine and the perceiving eye.

In this paper I introduce a theoretical framework on care developed by the Norwegian nurse and philosopher Kari Martinsen, and I argue that this approach has relevance not only within nursing, but also within clinical medicine. I try to substantiate this claim by analysing some of the key concepts in this approach, and I illustrate the potential clinical relevance of this approach by applying it in relation to two care scenarios. Finally, I discuss some of the concerns that have been raised in relation to the aim of highlighting care in medicine.