Home care patients in four Nordic capitals - predictors of nursing home admission during one-year followup.

The aim was to predict nursing home admission (NHA) for home care patients after a 12-month follow-up study. This Nordic study is derived from the aged in home care (AdHOC) project conducted in 2001-2003 with patients at 11 sites in Europe. The participants in the cohort study were randomly selected individuals, aged 65 years or older, receiving homecare in Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Reykjavik.

Reciprocity: A Predictor of Mental Health and Continuity in Elderly People's Relationships? A Review.

Many studies have demonstrated that social relationships confer mental health benefits. This paper aims to identify whether and how reciprocity in social relationships predicts or is associated with mental health benefits as well as with continuity in elderly people's social relationships. The studies reviewed in this paper show that, among elders, being in a balanced or underbenefited reciprocal position predicts better mental health and life quality than being in an overbenefited position.

Recent visual decline-a health hazard with consequences for social life: a study of home care clients in 12 countries.

Information about recent visual decline (RVD) and its consequences is limited. The aim was to investigate this in an observational, prospective study. Participants were recipients of community home services, >/=65 years, from Ontario (Canada, n = 101618), Finland (the-RAI-database, STAKES, n = 1103), and 10 other European countries (the-Aged-in-HOmeCarestudy (AdHOC), n = 3793).

Cancer in home care: unintended weight loss and ethical challenges. A cross-sectional study of older people at 11 sites in Europe.

The aim of this study was to compare unintended weight loss in cancer patients to other elderly. Home care users, aged ≥65 from urban areas at 11 sites in Europe (N=4010) were assessed with the Resident Assessment Instrument for Home Care. Epidemiological and medical characteristics of clients and service utilization were recorded.

Inclusive and relevant language: the use of the concepts of autonomy, dignity and vulnerability in different contexts.

The article analyses the three terms autonomy, dignity and vulnerability. The relevance and practical application of the terms is tested in two spheres. First, as guiding principles in the area of ethics of medicines and science.

Ethical dilemmas: a resource in public health nurses' everyday work?

The aim of this article is to discuss how ethical dilemmas can be a valuable resource in public health nurses' parent counselling practice. The discussion is based on findings from a study where ten Norwegian public health nurses' narratives about their parent counselling practices are analysed. The context includes intentions and manuals from a state parent counselling program.

Prevalence of vision, hearing, and combined vision and hearing impairments in patients with hip fractures.

Aims And Objectives: To examine the prevalence of hearing and vision impairments in 65+ year-old patients with hip fractures.

Background: Many older people believe sensory problems are inevitable and thus avoid medical assessment and assistance. Furthermore, health professionals often overlook sensory problems, though it is known that sensory impairments can increase the risk of falling and sustaining hip fractures.

Vision and hearing impairments and their associations with falling and loss of instrumental activities in daily living in acute hospitalized older persons in five Nordic hospitals.

Background: Many older people believe sensory problems are inevitably, a part of growing old, and avoid assessment and help. Such problems are often also overlooked by health professionals. The aim of this study was to find the prevalence of hearing and vision impairment and their associations with loss of instrumental activities in daily living (IADL) and risk of falling in patients aged 75 years or older, admitted to a medical ward in an acute hospital in each of the five Nordic countries.

Urinary incontinence and use of pads--clinical features and need for help in home care at 11 sites in Europe.

Aim: The aim of this study was to obtain evidenced-based knowledge about older persons in home care; we conducted a population-based study at 11 sites in Europe (2001/2002). This article focuses on urinary incontinence and need for help in home care.

Methods: A sample of 4010 respondents 65 years or older were assessed by the Resident Assessment Instrument for Home Care.

Doing sexuality in sport.

Based on interviews with Norwegian athletes living as lesbians, gays and bisexuals, this article investigates the possible subversive effect of queer visibility in sport. While female athletes living as lesbians sometimes create queer alternative spaces within mainstream sport contexts, male athletes acting openly as homosexuals challenge heteronormative discourses by attempting to disrupt hegemonic beliefs about homosexual behavior. The sexual practices of both groups confirm as well as challenge the laws of heteronormativity.

Sensory impairment in hip-fracture patients 65 years or older and effects of hearing/vision interventions on fall frequency.

Aim: Examine the effect of nursing interventions to improve vision and hearing, systematic assessment, and referral to sensory specialists on falling.

Methods: Controlled intervention trial targeting hip fracture patients, 65 years and older, living at home and having problems seeing/reading regular print (VI) or hearing normal speech (HI). Intervention group = 200, control group = 131.

Unintended weight loss in the elderly living at home: the aged in Home Care Project (AdHOC).

Objective: To describe associations between unintended weight loss (UWL) and characteristics of nutritional status.

Design: A comparative cross-sectional assessment study at 11 sites in Europe. The target population was a stratified random sample of 4,455 recipients of home care (405 in each random sample from 11 urban areas) aged 65 years and older.

On learning from experience: personal and private experiences as the context for psychotherapeutic practice.

The central idea in evidence-based practice is that it is the therapy that works and not the therapist. However, this article seeks to show how both our private and personal lives are an area for reflection when we are working as psychotherapists, and that personal and private experience can be an important framework for practising psychotherapy. Through looking at elements of the personal and private lives of three different therapists in the light of a therapy session conducted by each, I will try to demonstrate how personal and private experiences may influence clinical practice.

Clients using community occupational therapy services: sociodemographic factors and the occurrence of diseases and disabilities.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to describe sociodemographic factors and the occurrence of diseases and disabilities among a representative sample of clients who were using community occupational therapy services in Norway.

Method: A postal survey of occupational therapists about their last clients (n=168) was carried out in 2001. A survey questionnaire based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) was developed.

Home care needs of extremely obese elderly European women.

Objective: To examine the health and needs of extremely obese women aged over 65 years receiving home care in Europe.

Study Design: A cross-sectional assessment study based on the Aged in Home Care (AdHOC) project recruited 2974 women aged 65 or over who were receiving home care at 11 sites in European countries. Extreme obesity was defined as 'Obesity of such a degree as to interfere with normal activities, including respiration'.

Parents' experiences of collaboration with community healthcare professionals.

Over the last decades there has been a reduction in the number of institutional beds in psychiatric care in Norway. This has led to more psychiatric patients being dependent on community care and consequently an increased need for collaboration with the parents of these patients. In most cases parents are an important source of support in helping patients manage their everyday life.

Indwelling catheter use in home care: elderly, aged 65+, in 11 different countries in Europe.

Objective: To describe possible differences/patterns in the use of indwelling urinary catheters (IUC) in Europe.

Design: A prospective, population-based, assessment study.

Setting: The target population was 4,455 (random sample of 405 from each of 11 countries) aged 65+ receiving home care.