Using cognitive behaviour therapy to explore resilience in the life-stories of 16 UK centenarians.

Aim: In 2010, we interviewed 16 UK centenarians about their lives and later published a paper on the socio-emotional aspects of positive ageing. We were struck by their ability to 'move on' from difficult situations which we recognized conceptually as 'resilience'. In the effort to understand aspects of resilience as portrayed in their stories, we re-examined their data.

Cutaneous Adverse Drug Reactions in Dogs Treated with Antiepileptic Drugs.

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurologic disorders in dogs and life-long treatment with antiepileptic drugs (AED) is frequently required. Adverse events of AED targeting the skin are only rarely reported in veterinary medicine and the true incidence and spectrum of cutaneous reactions in epileptic dogs remains unknown. In this study, we hypothesized that cutaneous reactions commonly occur in epileptic dogs and are related to AED treatment.

Staphylococcus aureus proteins Sbi and Efb recruit human plasmin to degrade complement C3 and C3b.

Upon host infection, the human pathogenic microbe Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) immediately faces innate immune reactions such as the activated complement system. Here, a novel innate immune evasion strategy of S.

What does it feel like to be 100? Socio-emotional aspects of well-being in the stories of 16 Centenarians living in the United Kingdom.

Objectives: The purpose of this article was to describe socio-emotional themes in the stories of 16 Centenarians living in the United Kingdom.

Methodology: Sixteen Centenarians were recruited and interviewed face-to-face by members of the research team. Participants were invited to tell the story of their lives in line with the principles of participatory action research (Koch and Kralik, 2006).

Storytelling reveals the active, positive lives of centenarians.

Aim: To present alternative stories of ageing that countered the prevailing negative stereotypes of older people by interviewing centenarians about their lives.

Method: Sixteen healthy U.K.

The process of practice redesign in delirium care for hospitalised older people: a participatory action research study.

Background: In 2007 three researchers completed a 6-month study in one 32-bed acute care medical ward in a large hospital in New South Wales, Australia. The problem drawn to the attention of researchers was that approximately 60% of older people were delirious on arrival or develop incident delirium during their hospital stay. Lack of recognition, underreporting and inadequate care responses to delirium in hospitalised older people signalled a major practice problem.

Delirium and older people: what are the constraints to best practice in acute care?

An Australian research team conducted a six-month acute care pilot study in a medical ward of a large hospital in New South Wales. Aim.  To explore ways health practitioners might redesign their practice to include prevention, early detection and management of delirium in older people based on the best current practice.

Managing the self: living with an indwelling urinary catheter.

Aims: This paper reports the findings of a study that aimed to understand the perspectives of community dwelling adults' who lived with a permanently indwelling urinary catheter. The objectives of the research were to: reveal the participants' perspective of living in the community with a permanent indwelling urinary catheter, raise awareness of the experiences of catheterized men and women and to inform community nursing practice.

Background: Catheter care is a common nursing intervention.

Researching with centenarians.

Aims and objectives.  The objectives were shaped by ways in which to best engage the readers' curiosity about being 100 years old. Background.

The experience of fatigue for adults living with HIV.

Aims: The aim of this study was to go beyond objective clinical assessment and explore the experience of fatigue and self-care strategies with adults who live with HIV.

Rationale: This study responded to a perceived lack of available evidence to inform the practice of service providers about ways fatigue impacts on the lives of people with HIV. Prior understandings of fatigue are derived from survey or instrument-based tools or studies that do not consider the complexities of the personal experience that in-depth interviews can elicit.

Acceptance and denial: implications for people adapting to chronic illness: literature review.

Aim: This paper reports an exploration of the terms acceptance and denial by exploring the literature, with the aim of understanding the implications of using these concepts to categorize people's responses to living with chronic illness.

Background: People learning to live with a chronic illness or condition may be judged and labelled by others as being in denial, particularly when they do not adhere to prescribed treatment regimes.

Method: A literature search for the period between 1989 and 2003 was conducted using the electronic databases Medline, CINAHL, PSYCArticles, Health Source Nursing/Academic Edition, Academic Search Elite and Sociological Abstracts.

Lovestruck: women, romantic love and intimate partner violence.

Intimate Partner Violence remains a significant problem globally despite health promotion aimed at raising awareness. In particular, there is a current trend for many young women to view some abusive/violent behaviours as acceptable in their relationships. Intimate Partner Violence has serious implications for its short and long term impacts on the health of women and children.

Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes: transition between diabetes services.

Aim: The research aimed to develop a sustainable and coordinated approach to facilitating the transition between diabetes services for adolescents. The objectives were to: (1) involve key diabetes health delivery stakeholders in expressing their concerns and issues about current service delivery and ways to improve same, and (2) reveal from the perspective of the adolescents living with Type 1 Diabetes their experiences surrounding the process of transition.

Background: This paper presents research that sought to identify the major concerns and issues that stakeholders had about transition and to reveal the experience of transition for the adolescent with Type 1 Diabetes.

Core elements of programmatic research in nursing: a case study.

In this invited paper Tina Koch and Debbie Kralik present the establishment of a research program outside the precincts of a university and we ask Gary Rolfe to provide a commentary from the perspective of an academic. We argue that a dedicated research unit, with a clearly articulated philosophy and in response to research questions from clients, community and practitioners, provides the focus to drive the program. Although we have infrastructure from the RDNS Foundation, obtaining external funding to support our program is a central activity.

Issues in data generation using email group conversations for nursing research.

Aim: The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the issues we have confronted when generating and analysing dialogue data by using electronic mail.

Background: The decision to use email for our research arose from our developing understanding of some of the consequences of illness that people living with chronic illness confront in their lives. As researchers, we recognized the potential of the Internet for computer-mediated communication using email for communication between researchers and research participants.

The ethics of research using electronic mail discussion groups.

Aim: The aim of this paper is to identify and discuss the ethical considerations that have confronted and challenged the research team when researchers facilitate conversations using private electronic mail discussion lists.

Background: The use of electronic mail group conversations, as a collaborative data generation method, remains underdeveloped in nursing. Ethical challenges associated with this approach to data generation have only begun to be considered.

Women's experiences of fatigue in chronic illness.

Aim: The aim of this paper is to add a qualitative dimension to the body of knowledge about fatigue by revealing the meaning given by women living with chronic illness to the experience of fatigue.

Background: Fatigue is a common symptom experienced by people who live with chronic illness. It pervades every aspect of life and may be experienced in physical, psychological, emotional or social dimensions.

'Moving on': the transition to living well with chronic illness.

This paper describes the process of 'moving on' when living with a chronic illness or condition. The findings of this study emerged from daily email conversations between six women who live with long term illness and the three researchers during a three month period in 2003. In collaboration with the women, researchers have drawn out seven interrelated themes which are seen to constitute the process of 'moving on'.

A Delphi study of district nursing research priorities in Australia.

This study, using a Delphi approach, sought the opinion of a self-selected panel of 320 district nurses regarding research priorities for district nursing in Australia. Over three rounds of questionnaires, the 419 research clinical problem areas requiring research as suggested by the panel were each rated in importance by the panel and then ranked through analysis from high to low average rating scores, thereby, whittling down the list to the top 15% (68) research questions and to a final list of the top 10 research priorities overall. Research questions focusing on discharge planning are dominant in these top 10 priorities, with documentation issues the second most common focus.

Chronic illness self-management: locating the 'self'.

Aim: In this paper, we present the findings of a recent research project in which we explored self- management with older people who were diagnosed with asthma.

Background: Asthma self-management literature has focused on the need for the patient to 'adhere' to prescribed therapies, in particular the taking of medications, monitoring of respiratory function or recognizing and avoiding triggers.

Method: Data were generated during a period of 9 months from three sources; in-depth interviews with 24 older participants, an open-ended questionnaire and two mixed-gender participatory action research groups.

Chronic illness self-management: taking action to create order.

Background: This paper presents research that was framed by our early understandings about the ways that people incorporate the consequences of illness into their lives. The word 'transition' has been used to describe this process. We believed self-management to be central to the transition process but this assertion required further research, hence this paper.

Constipation and the preached trio: diet, fluid intake, exercise.

A survey of 90 older community-dwelling people's constipation experience is reported in part. The focus is the participants' efforts to use diet, fluid intake and exercise as preventive strategies. Most feel that they have been preached to in this regard.

'It's just the way I am': life with schizophrenia.

In this paper we focus on data generated from an in-depth interview with one participant of a larger study, and his voice in the participatory action research groups with other residents of a Supported Residential Facility. Bill describes what life is like when living with schizophrenia, being on anti-psychotic drugs and residing in boarding house accommodation. The aim of telling Bill's story is to reveal the burden of living with this mental illness and how it shapes every aspect of his world.