Parent's perception of their children's health, quality of life and burden of diabetes: testing reliability and validity of 'Check your Health' by proxy.

Aim: To test the validity and reliability of the 'Check your Health by proxy' instrument in parents to children with diabetes aged 8-17 years.

Methods: One hundred and ninety-one caregivers and their children, aged 8-17 years, were included. All completed the 'Check your Health' questionnaire measuring quality of life and burden of diabetes, DISABKIDS self- or proxy version, and 45 completed the same questionnaires 2 weeks later.

Check your health validity and reliability of a measure of health and burden of diabetes.

Check Your Health was constructed as four-two-sided vertical thermometers (0-100) measuring physical and emotional health, social well-being and quality of life today and before onset of diabetes. Burden of diabetes was calculated as the difference between the two scores (today and before onset of diabetes). The aim was to examine concurrent and discriminant validity and reliability of Check Your Health in a convenience sample of 180 people with diabetes, who visited the diabetes clinic during a 3-month period.

Validation and test-retest reliability of a health measure, health as ability of acting, based on the welfare theory of health.

The aim of this study was to conduct a validation and assess the test-retest reliability of the health questionnaire based on Nordenfelt's Welfare Theory of Health (WTH). The study used a questionnaire on health together with the Short Form 12-Item Health Survey (SF-12) questionnaire, and 490 pupils at colleges for adult education participated. The results of the study are in accordance with Nordenfelt's WTH.

The Swedish National Survey of the Quality and Organization of Diabetes Care in Primary Healthcare--Swed-QOP.

Aim: To describe the quality and organization of diabetes care in primary healthcare in Sweden regarding resources and ways of working.

Method: A questionnaire was used to collect data from all 921 primary healthcare centres (PHCCs) in Sweden. Of these, 74.

Self-perceived health and burden of diabetes in teenagers with type 1 diabetes: psychometric properties of the Swedish measure 'check your health'.

Unlabelled: The aim of this study was to test the psychometric properties of the instrument 'Check your health' in teenagers with type 1 diabetes. The instrument measures 'self-reported health' and 'burden of diabetes'. A convenience sample of 199 teenagers, 12-17 years of age, completed the questionnaires 'Check your health' and DisabKids when visiting the diabetes clinic.

Teenagers' perceptions of factors affecting decision-making competence in the management of type 1 diabetes.

Aims: Decision-making is an important prerequisite for empowerment. The aim of this study was to explore teenagers' perceptions of factors affecting decision-making competence in diabetes management.

Background: A previous study that assessed an empowerment programme for teenagers with diabetes showed no effects on metabolic control or empowerment outcomes, which is not in accordance with results from studies on adult diabetes patients.

Does patient education facilitate diabetic patients' possibilities to reach national treatment targets? A national survey in Swedish primary healthcare.

Objective: To describe how patient education is arranged in Swedish primary healthcare (PHC) and to assess whether the type of patient education and individual goal setting have an impact on diabetic patients' possibilities of reaching national treatment targets.

Design: A Swedish national survey.

Setting: Swedish PHC.

Health related quality of life and sense of coherence in Sudanese diabetic subjects with lower limb amputation.

Quality of life is an important outcome measure in diabetic patients with lower limb amputation (LLA). The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of lower limb amputation on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in Sudanese diabetic subjects. Additionally the Sense of Coherence scale (SOC-13) and a symptom check list was used in subjects with LLA.

Student nurses' ability to perform pain assessment.

The objective of this study was to investigate student nurses' ability to handle a pain assessment situation. A systematic way of working based on knowledge within the area is emphasised in nursing education today. The performance of 32 student nurses at a university college in Sweden took place in an arranged assessment situation that closely simulated clinical practice.

Teenagers with diabetes: self-management education and training on a big schooner.

The aims of this study are to evaluate whether diabetic teenagers participating in a group educational programme, 'the schooner programme', differ from non-participants in attitudes towards diabetes and self-care, and to evaluate the impact on the attitudes, HbA1c and treatment of the programme. Ninety teenagers aged 14-18 years attended the programme. Attitudes towards diabetes and self-care were measured with a validated questionnaire.

Type 2 diabetic patients' experiences of two different educational approaches--a qualitative study.

Objective: The aim of the current study was to explore patients' experiences of participating in an empowerment group education programme or receiving individual counselling.

Method: In total, 28 patients from seven primary care centres were interviewed. Of these, 14 had received individual counselling and the remaining 14 had also participated in 4-5 empowerment group sessions.

Psychometric properties of the Swedish Diabetes Empowerment Scale.

Objective: This study was conducted to determine the psychometric properties of the Swedish version of the Diabetes Empowerment Scale (Swe-DES-23).

Research Design And Methods: A convenience sample of 195 patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes completed the Swe-DES-23 questionnaire. To establish discriminant validity, Swe-DES subscales were compared with the Semantic Differential in Diabetes scale (SDD) and a general health scale (EVGFP).

Patients' experiences of being delirious.

Aim: The aim was to describe patients' experiences of being delirious.

Background: Delirium is a serious psychiatric disorder that is frequently reported from hospital care settings, particularly among older patients undergoing hip surgery. It involves disturbances of consciousness and changes in cognition, a state which develops over a short period of time and tends to fluctuate during the course of the day.

Assessment of an empowerment education programme. A randomized study in teenagers with diabetes.

Aims: To determine the effects of an empowerment programme on glycaemic control and empowerment, and to study the role of parental involvement.

Methods: The wait-list design is a randomized controlled trial lasting for 6 months, after which the control group participate in the same education programme as the intervention group. After 6 months, data from the two groups are analysed together (pre/post).

Understanding work contextual factors: a short-cut to evidence-based practice?

Background: It has become increasingly clear that workplace contextual factors make an important contribution to provider and patient outcomes. The potential for health care professionals of using research in practice is also linked to such factors, although the exact factors or mechanisms for enhancing this potential are not understood. From a perspective of implementing evidence-based nursing practice, the authors of this article report on a study examining contextual factors.

Health in patients with Type 2 diabetes: an interview study based on the Welfare Theory of Health.

Background: In his Welfare Theory of Health Nordenfelt describes health as a person's ability to fulfil vital goals in different life areas. In order to use the theory in nursing, a semi-structured interview guide was constructed including questions about which vital goals Type 2 diabetic patients have and believe are important for their own welfare in different life areas.

Aim: The aim of the study was to carry out preliminary validation of the interview guide.

Patient education in type 2 diabetes: a randomized controlled 1-year follow-up study.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the impact of empowerment group education on type 2 diabetes patients' confidence in diabetes knowledge, self-efficacy, satisfaction with daily life, BMI and glycaemic control compared with the impact of routine diabetes care on the same factors at a 1-year follow-up. In this randomized controlled trial, conducted at 7 primary care centres in central Sweden, 101 patients were randomly assigned either to empowerment group education (intervention group) or to routine diabetes care (control group). Out of these, 42 patients in the intervention group and 46 in the control group completed the 1-year follow-up.

Teenagers with type 1 diabetes--a phenomenological study of the transition towards autonomy in self-management.

Background: Becoming autonomous is an important aspect of teenagers' psychosocial development, and this is especially true of teenagers with type 1 diabetes. Previous studies exploring the everyday problems of teenagers with diabetes have focused on adherence to self-care management, how self-determination affects metabolic control, and the perception of social support.

Objective: The aim of the study was to elucidate lived experiences, focusing on the transition towards autonomy in diabetes self-management among teenagers with type 1 diabetes.

Sickness absence in Swedish parents of children with Down's syndrome: relation to self-perceived health, stress and sense of coherence.

Background: The aims of present study were to study sickness absence among Swedish parents of children with Down's syndrome (DS) and to compare their rates of absence with those of control parents. Sickness absence data for 165 DS parents were compared with those for 174 control parents; all data were for the period 1997-2000. Sickness absence rates were also related to parental self-perceived health, stress and sense of coherence.

Competence of newly-graduated nurses--a comparison of the perceptions of qualified nurses and students.

Aim: This paper reports a study that compares opinions of final year nursing students, rating their own competence, with the opinions of experienced nurses on the competence of newly-graduated nurses.

Background: The transition of nursing preparation into higher education is regarded as positive, although it has led to differences in opinion about the competence of newly-graduated nurses and their readiness to enter the nursing profession. There are studies showing that newly-graduated nurses perceive themselves as holistically focused, professional practitioners, while other nurses are concerned that newly-graduated nurses do not have necessary skills.

Trauma patients' encounters with the team in the emergency department--a qualitative study.

Background: Encounters in emergency departments have been described from different perspective and with different research approaches. On reviewing the literature, along with medical skills, interpersonal skills such as the ability to create a relationship with the patient was considered significant. Patients exposed to high-energy violence arrive at the emergency department in a vulnerable condition.

Testicular cancer and testicular self-examination: knowledge and attitudes of adolescent Swedish men.

The main objective of this study was to assess the knowledge of and attitudes toward testicular cancer (TC) and the prevalence of testicular self-examination (TSE) among senior high school male students in Sweden. Another aim was to describe to what extent the students had received information about TC and TSE prior to this study. Seven hundred twenty-seven (70.

Barriers identified by Swedish school nurses in giving information about testicular cancer and testicular self-examination to adolescent males.

The purpose of this study was to investigate to what extent school nurses in Sweden inform adolescent men about testicular cancer (TC) and testicular self-examination (TSE). A questionnaire was completed by 129 school nurses from 29 randomly selected municipalities. All respondents were women, with a mean age of 42 years.

Sense of coherence and power among people with blindness caused by diabetes.

The aim of the present study was to analyze whether strong sense of coherence (SOC) or power or the combination of strong SOC and power was related to blind diabetic patients' self-perceived health, burden of diabetes, glycaemic control and self-care among blind people. In some variables we wanted to compare subjects with diabetes-related blindness with people who were blind for other reasons than diabetes. The present descriptive study included 39 blind subjects from three ophthalmic outpatient clinics who agreed to participate; 23 were blind due to diabetes and 16 were blind for other reasons.

Self-perceived health and self-care among diabetic subjects with defective vision: a comparison between subjects with threat of blindness and blind subjects.

The aim of this study was to compare self-perceived health among diabetic patients who experienced threat of blindness with those who had already gone blind. Another aim was to explore different aspects of self-care in relation to self-perceived health among the subjects. Twenty-one diabetic patients under threat of becoming blind and 23 with diabetes-related blindness agreed to participate in the study.