Reasons for declining extended information visit on prenatal screening among pregnant women and their partners.

Objective: A two-step model on information on prenatal screening consists of brief information at the first visit at the Maternal Health Care Centre and an offer of extended information at a separate visit. There is a lack of knowledge why some pregnant women and their partners refrain from the extended information visit. The aim of this study was to explore their reasons.

"The unpredictable death"-The last year of life for patients with advanced COPD: Relatives' stories.

Objective: The end stage of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is described as prolonged, and the symptom burden for patients with COPD is often high. It progresses slowly over several years and can be punctuated by abrupt exacerbations that sometimes end in sudden death or a recovery of longer or shorter duration. This makes it difficult to identify the critical junctures in order to prognosticate the progress and time of death.

Decision-making process of prenatal screening described by pregnant women and their partners.

Background: Pregnant women are often faced with having to decide about prenatal screening for Down's syndrome. However, the decision to participate in or refrain from prenatal screening can be seen as an important decision not only for the pregnant woman but also for both the partners.

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the couples' processes of decision making about prenatal screening.

Pregnant women's and their partners' perception of an information model on prenatal screening.

Objective: Extended verbal information on prenatal screening was given when combined ultrasound and biochemistry screening test was offered at Örebro County Council, Sweden, in 2008. The aim of this study was to describe pregnant women's and her partners' perceptions of this information model.

Method: The interviews were semi-structured, and altogether, 26 interviews were performed with pregnant women and partners.

Learning about oneself through others: experiences of a group-based patient education programme about irritable bowel syndrome.

Background: People with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) often experience severe illness-related troubles in their everyday lives. Many persons also perceive their disease-related knowledge to be insufficient, and they feel dissatisfied with their inability to improve well-being. Previous research about patient education and IBS has emphasized biomedical outcomes of symptoms, health-promoting behaviours, coping and health-related quality of life, rather than people's experiences.

Identification and documentation of persons being in palliative phase regardless of age, diagnosis and places of care, and their use of a sitting service at the end of life.

Background: Older persons and persons with diseases other than cancer are often discriminated against when applying for palliative care despite growing numbers of both older persons and individuals with chronic diseases. An intention for palliative care in Sweden is that all persons in the final stage of life, irrespective of age, domicile, diagnosis, and care place shall have access to palliative care on equal terms. One way to support these persons in final stage of life and their relatives is to offer sitting service.

Shifting life rhythms: Couples' stories about living together when one spouse has advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Aim: This study examines couples' experiences of living together when one partner has advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Method: Repeated qualitative interviews with four couples over an eight-month period, where one spouse in each couple suffered from advanced COPD. The final dataset comprised 19 interviews.

Four aspects of self-image close to death at home.

Living close to death means an inevitable confrontation with one's own existential limitation. In this article, we argue that everyday life close to death embodies an identity work in progress. We used a narrative approach and a holistic-content reading to analyze 12 interviews conducted with three persons close to death.

Struggling to retain living space: patients' stories about living with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Aim: This paper is a report of a study of the experience of living with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and long-term oxygen therapy when living alone.

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease affects an increasing number of people. Breathlessness, fatigue and dejection are common symptoms during the last years of life.

Being me and being us in a family living close to death at home.

We used interpretive description to describe how everyday life close to death was experienced and dealt with in families with one member who had a life-threatening illness. We performed 28 individual, couple, and group interviews with five families. We found two patterns, namely, "being me in a family living close to death" and "being us in a family living close to death.

Maintaining power: women's experiences from labour onset before admittance to maternity ward.

Background: In Sweden pregnant women are encouraged to remain at home until the active phase of labour. Recommendation is based on evidence, that women who seek care and are admitted in the latent phase of labour are subjected to more obstetric interventions and suffer more complications than women who remain at home until the active phase of labour. The aim of this study was to obtain a deeper understanding of how women, who remain at home until the active phase of labour, experience the period from labour onset until admission to labour ward.

Learning to live with irritabel bowel syndrome. The influence of a group-based patient education programme on peoples' ability to manage illness in everyday life.

Background: Living with chronic irritable bowel syndrome sets limitations in peoples' everyday lives. This is due to bad health and the difficulty to find strategies that will manage their problem. In encounters with health care providers, these people feel that they are not getting the appropriate support to manage their illness-related troubles, and they perceive themselves to be insufficiently informed about the disease.

The modified self: family caregivers' experiences of caring for a dying family member at home.

Aim: The aim of this study was to explore situations in daily life that challenge caregivers' self-image when caring for a dying family member at home. Background.  Caregiving affects the health and daily lives of family caregivers.

Being in the patient position: experiences of health care among people with irritable bowel syndrome.

The purpose of this study was to gain in-depth understanding of what it is like for a person with irritable bowel syndrome to be in the patient position in encounters with health care providers. We conducted qualitative interviews with nine individuals. Our analysis, guided by interpretive description, revealed experiences of unsupportive and supportive encounters.

Perceptions of urinary incontinence among Syrian Christian women living in Sweden.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the perception of urinary incontinence (UI) among Syrian women living in Sweden.

Design: A qualitative, descriptive design with focus group discussions (FGDs) was used and analyzed with content analysis. Fourteen Syrian women were interviewed in three FGDs.

Accepting and adjusting: older women's experiences of living with urinary incontinence.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to describe experiences of living with urinary incontinence (UI) among persons who do not desire further assessment and treatment.

Methods: This was a qualitative, descriptive interview study, and the method was phenomenological. Eleven women were interviewed; all had been in contact with a district nurse to obtain a prescription for sanitary protection.

Closeness and distance: a way of handling difficult situations in daily care.

Aims And Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe how care team members caring for patients with advanced cancer describe how they handle difficult situations in daily care. In this paper 'difficult situations' refers to those situations team members themselves describe as difficult.

Background: Serious illness and impending death involve great changes in a person's life.

Urinary incontinence--why refraining from treatment? A population based study.

Objective: To investigate why persons with urinary incontinence (UI) refrain from seeking care and treatment.

Material And Methods: A population-based study was undertaken in which a public health survey and a specific UI questionnaire were sent to 15 360 randomly selected residents (age 18-79 years) of Orebro County, Sweden. For all persons reporting UI, the expressed wish for treatment or no treatment was analyzed in relation to relevant variables from both inquiry forms using binary logistic regression analysis.

Complexity in caring for patients with advanced cancer.

Background: The gap between nursing research and practice is readily acknowledged in literature, with a variety of strategies suggested for reducing this gap. It is necessary not only to address problems of research implementation in practice, but also to find strategies that strengthen the influence of practitioners on research agendas through more collaborative relationships in order to have an impact on care of patients. A multi-centre research project was therefore initiated by two universities and three health care facilities, aiming to improve quality of care for patients with advanced cancer through a knowledge-exchange programme between nurse researchers, practitioners and students.