Mental health nurses' support to caregivers of older adults with severe mental illness: a qualitative study.

Background: Literature has shown the serious impact of severe mental illness on the daily life of caregivers. We studied reported caregiver support practices by mental health nurses for use in the development of a nursing intervention. We aimed to explore current caregiver support practices by mental health nurses.

The parents' ability to attend to the "voice of their child" with incurable cancer during the palliative phase.

Objective: In pediatric oncology, parents want, and are expected, to act and decide in the best interest of their child. A recent qualitative study (PRESENCE study) indicated that parents had difficulty in doing so. The aim of this subanalysis was to describe and offer an explanation for the parents' actions in expressing and handling of "the voice of the child.

Learning opportunities in case studies for becoming a reflective nurse practitioner.

The transition from RN to nurse practitioner presents challenges. Because nurse practitioners require deeper critical decision-making abilities to provide safe and quality health care, the Master in Advanced Nursing Practice curriculum implemented reflective case studies to facilitate active and reflective learning. To identify the learning opportunities, we performed a qualitative interpretative study of 77 reflective case studies written by students enrolled in the program.

Being a parent of a child with cancer throughout the end-of-life course.

Purpose/objectives: To elucidate parents' experiences when caring at home for their child with incurable cancer and to show how parents give meaning to their experiences throughout the end-of-life (EOL) phase.

Research Approach: Interpretative qualitative study.

Setting: Five academic pediatric oncology centers.

Involvement of inpatient mental health clients in the practical training and assessment of mental health nursing students: Can it benefit clients and students?

Even though the central position of the client has been recognized in psychiatric nursing education, the client is seldom formally involved in the feedback provided to students during practical training. This research paper focuses on three questions: (1) What conditions support the gathering of meaningful client feedback to enhance the student's learning process and client's wellbeing? (2) Does the use of the practical model for client feedback lead to positive experiences, and if so, under what conditions? (3) To what extent is a client's feedback on the student's work performance, consistent with feedback from the mentor (nurse from the ward), the teacher and the student? Based on a literature review, participatory observation and contacts with experts, a practical model was developed to elicit client feedback. Using this model in two psychiatric inpatient services, clients were actively and formally involved in providing feedback to four, final year psychiatric nursing students.

The focus of family members' functioning in the acute phase of traumatic coma: part two: Protecting from suffering and protecting what remains to rebuild life.

Aims: The identification and description of the basic psychological process linked with the focus of family members' functioning during the acute phase of traumatic coma.

Background: Earlier research learned that hope is a core category in coping with traumatic coma. Hope seems to be the drive to keep family members going and to enable them to fulfil their main task, namely protecting.

The focus of family members' functioning in the acute phase of traumatic coma: part one: The initial battle and protecting life.

Aims: The identification and description of the basic psychological process linked with the focus of family members' functioning during the acute phase of traumatic coma.

Background: Earlier research learned that hope is a core category in coping with traumatic coma. Hope seems to be the drive to keep family members going and to enable them to fulfil their main task namely protecting.

Strategies to promote adherence to antiretroviral therapy applied by Dutch HIV nurse consultants: a descriptive qualitative study.

This study describes strategies used by Dutch HIV nurse consultants to promote adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) and the assumptions on which these strategies were based. The study used a descriptive qualitative design with individual and focus group interviews. Individual semi-structured interviews (n = 23) focusing on adherence-supporting procedures and case-based focus groups (3 groups with 5-7 participants each) focusing on adherence strategies were held with HIV nurse consultants (n = 19).

Protocols for pressure ulcer prevention: are they evidence-based?

Aim: This study is a report of a study to determine the quality of protocols for pressure ulcer prevention in home care in the Netherlands.

Background: If pressure ulcer prevention protocols are evidence-based and practitioners use them correctly in practice, this will result a reduction in pressure ulcers. Very little is known about the evidence-based content and quality of the pressure ulcer prevention protocols.

Factors influencing parental readiness to let their child with cancer die.

Background: One in four cases of childhood cancer is incurable. In these cases death can usually be anticipated and therefore preceded by a phase of palliative care. For parents, preparing to let their child die is an extraordinarily painful process.

Keeping courage during stem cell transplantation: a qualitative research.

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how patients undergoing stem cell transplantation (SCT) keep courage and pull through this demanding therapy.

Method: A qualitative design using a grounded theory approach was used. Data were collected by participant observation and by conducting 16 semi-structured interviews with patients who had undergone SCT and six interviews with nurses.

The role of HIV nursing consultants in the care of HIV-infected patients in Dutch hospital outpatient clinics.

Objective: In the Netherlands HIV nursing consultants have participated in HIV-care since 1985; their profession has changed with developments in HIV-treatment over time. The study goal was to gather information about their role in HIV-care and to provide an useful example to other (HIV-)care settings over the world.

Methods: Interviews were held with HIV nursing consultants from all AIDS treatment centres.

Parental experience at the end-of-life in children with cancer: 'preservation' and 'letting go' in relation to loss.

Purpose: For children with incurable cancer death usually is anticipated and preceded by a phase of palliative care. Despite recognition that parents have difficulty adapting to a palliative perspective there is little insight into this process. This study explored, from a parental perspective, the process parents go through when cure is no longer a possibility.

Action research: what, why and how?

Action research is a form of research that enables practitioners to investigate and evaluate their own work. It is increasingly used in health care research; it is a research strategy in which the researcher and practitioners from the setting under study work together in projects aimed at generating new knowledge and simultaneously improving practice. This article gives an overview of the theoretical background of action research, its international historical development and explanations of its varied forms and related practical applications.

Adherence to HAART: processes explaining adherence behavior in acceptors and non-acceptors.

In order to explore and clarify the underlying processes which lead to (non)-adherence behavior in patients treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), a qualitative study was conducted. Thirty-seven in-depth interviews were held with 30 Caucasian HIV-positive patients. Additional data were collected by diaries kept by some participants.

Being there: parenting the child with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Aims And Objectives: To gain insight into the lived experience of parenting a child with leukaemia during treatment.

Background: Diagnosis of leukaemia in children leads to an existential shock for parents and a reversal of normal family life. Today, in the Netherlands, after diagnosis, children stay at home most of the time.

Improving decision-making in caring for people with epilepsy and intellectual disability: an action research project.

Aim: This paper is a report of an action research study aimed at improving decision-making concerning risks in people with epilepsy and intellectual disability and the empowerment of participants to sustain this improvement.

Background: Residents of long-stay units in specialized epilepsy centres suffer severe epilepsy and are often intellectually disabled. Professional caregivers have to find a balance between risk-taking and protection, as both can have a negative effect on quality of life.

How does information influence hope in family members of traumatic coma patients in intensive care unit?

Aims: To assess the interplay between hope and the information provided by health care professionals.

Background: Earlier research learned that hope is crucial for relatives of traumatic coma patients. Also it has been reported that the need for information is extremely important for relatives of critically ill patients.

The process and the meaning of hope for family members of traumatic coma patients in intensive care.

In this study, the authors examined the process that family members go through when they are confronted with traumatic coma. They conducted 24 semistructured interviews with 22 family members of 16 coma patients and analyzed the data using the constant comparative method as proposed by grounded theory. Hope was the most prominent theme.

Decision-making about risk in people with epilepsy and intellectual disability.

Aim: This paper reports a study of the process of risk-evaluation and subsequent decision-making in the care for people with epilepsy and intellectual disability.

Background: People with intellectual disability and severe epilepsy are at risk of suffering accidents during seizure, and often need protection. Whether to implement protective measures or to accept risk is a complex decision, burdened with uncertainty.

Pressure ulcer prevention in homecare: do Dutch homecare agencies have an evidence-based pressure ulcer protocol?

Objective: The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the availability and quality of protocols for pressure ulcer prevention in homecare agencies in the Netherlands.

Design: A descriptive study was completed.

Setting And Subjects: Forty-one homecare agencies in the Netherlands that provide nursing care were queried.

Improper intake of medication by elders--insights on contributing factors: a review of the literature.

Elders represent 6.4% of the world's populations, and 60% of them take medication. In one of six hospital admissions of elders, failures in medication intake are involved.

Relapse prevention in patients with schizophrenia: the application of an intervention protocol in nursing practice.

This article describes the results of a survey conducted among nurses who work in psychiatric care. Within the experimental condition of a randomized controlled trial, they executed an intervention protocol to prevent psychotic relapses among patients with schizophrenia. The central objective of this protocol was early recognition of the warning signs of psychosis and timely performance of actions intended to re-establish the equilibrium of the patient.

Encountering the downward phase: biographical work in people with multiple sclerosis living at home.

This qualitative study examines how individuals in an advanced stage of multiple sclerosis (MS) who live at home, accommodate to their illness. The downward phase in the illness trajectory of MS often consists of a lengthy period of gradual decline. According to Corbin and Strauss's framework, accommodation is conceptualized as biographical work that refers to the actions taken to retain control over the life course and to give life meaning again.