Video-guided exercise after stroke: a feasibility randomised controlled trial.

Background: Facilitating self-directed upper-limb exercise in people after a stroke whilst not in therapy sessions may increase therapy intensity and improve outcomes. Objectives: To investigate the feasibility and acceptability of video-guided exercise for facilitating upper-limb exercise after stroke.

Methods: A single-blind feasibility randomized controlled trial with embedded qualitative study in stroke wards at a large teaching hospital in the United Kingdom.

Quality of life among adults following bariatric and body contouring surgery: a systematic review.

Background: Weight loss following bariatric surgery is associated with significant improvements in obesity-related comorbidities, body satisfaction and psychosocial outcomes, at least in the short term. However, in the context of extreme weight loss, body image and appearance may worsen again because the "excess" or "loose" skin can lead to both functional and profound dissatisfaction with appearance. These concerns have led to an increasing uptake of post-bariatric surgery, "body-contouring" procedures but the implications for quality of life (QoL) have not been thoroughly considered.

Changing Body Image and Well-Being: Following the Experience of Massive Weight Loss and Body Contouring Surgery.

This paper reports on the perception of changing body image and well-being for patients who had undergone plastic surgery following massive weight loss. The exploratory, qualitative study was undertaken with 20 patients from one teaching hospital in the south of England. Semi-structured interviews were carried out and a thematic analysis of the data undertaken.

Identity transformation and a changed lifestyle following dramatic weight loss and body-contouring surgery: An exploratory study.

This article reports on two major quality-of-life perception changes for patients who had undergone plastic surgery following dramatic weight loss. The exploratory, qualitative study was undertaken with 20 patients from one teaching hospital. In-depth interviews were conducted, and a thematic analysis of the data was undertaken.

Body image concerns amongst massive weight loss patients.

Aims And Objectives: To explore body image matters amongst patients following massive weight loss.

Background: In contemporary health care, a growing number of morbidly obese patients are seeking surgical solutions such as bariatric surgery or in other cases engaging with radical lifestyle changes. Massive weight loss can leave patients with a huge excess of lax overstretched skin that in some cases can trigger major body image dissatisfaction or depression.

Contemporary cosmetic surgery: the potential risks and relevance for practice.

Aims And Objectives: To examine and critique the risks of cosmetic surgery and consider implications for practice.

Background: Cosmetic surgery is a growing industry with a significant global phenomenon. Feminists have been critical of aesthetic surgery practice, offering a range of representations in regard to 'identity', 'normality', 'cultural and social pressures', 'agency' and 'self-enhancement'.

Day surgery: patients' felt abandoned during the preoperative wait.

Background: The rapid expansion in day surgery has facilitated a shift in surgical nursing intervention. The evolving evidence base has a major part to play in influencing nurse-led preassessment, information provision, pain management and postoperative intervention. However, the literature is characterised by a number of deficits: poor attention to patient experience from admission to discharge, anxieties evoked and the potential needs of patients are not well articulated.

Contemporary day surgery: patients' experience of discharge and recovery.

Aim: To explore and reveal patients' perceptions of discharge arrangements and recovery following day surgery.

Introduction: Contemporary day surgery is increasingly being used to carry out elective surgical procedures enabling patients to be discharged on the same day. The Department of Health and government modernization programmes in the UK have encouraged this rapid growth.

Day surgery: patients' perceptions of a nurse-led preadmission clinic.

Background: Previous research studies have demonstrated that nursing intervention is often lacking in the provision of adequate information and psychological support, and fails to meet the holistic needs of patients in the preassessment for day surgery.

Aim: The aim of this study was to elicit patients' perceptions of the preassessment preparation they received prior to day surgery.

Method: A hermeneutic phenomenological research approach was utilized to elucidate the participants' experiences of the preassessment process and to collect data.

Barriers to communication between health practitioners and service users who are not fluent in English.

This paper reviews the main barriers to effective communication between practitioners and those service users of minority ethnic backgrounds who may not be fluent in English. Barriers are reviewed at an interpersonal level, concerning discrepancies of attitudes and beliefs, and communication skills. Consideration is given to the impact of organisational factors on practitioner-client communication, focusing on provision of bilingual health workers.