A comparison of the Well Child Clinic services in Norway and the Nurse Family Partnership programme in the United States.

Aim And Objectives: To present a comparison and a discussion of the Well Child Clinic model in Norway and the Nurse-Family Partnership model in the United States.

Background: The Nurse Family Partnership programme in the United States is voluntary and not universal. The Well Child Clinic programme in Norway is voluntary but universally available for Norwegian families.

Nurses' and caregivers' definition of spirituality from the Christian perspective: a comparative study between Malta and Norway.

Aim: The aim of this cross-sectional comparative exploratory study was to explore the term spirituality as defined by four groups of nurses and two groups of caregivers from Malta and Norway.

Background: Spirituality is a complex subjective concept which may or may not contain religiosity. Several factors may influence the individual's interpretation with implications to nursing care and nursing management.

Translation and focus group testing of the WHOQOL spirituality, religiousness, and personal beliefs module in Norway.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe the Norwegian translation of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Spirituality, Religiousness, and Personal Beliefs module.

Design: This is an exploratory study using convenience sampling.

Method: Translation has followed the World Health Organization's standardized protocol.

MRSA: A Challenge to Norwegian Nursing Home Personnel.

In Norway, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is increasing in primary healthcare, associated with imported cases and outbreaks in long-term care. According to Norwegian national guidelines, MRSA-exposed healthcare workers (HCWs) and patients are tested. Carriage of MRSA leads to exclusion from work in healthcare institutions.

Quality of life model: predictors of quality of life among sick older adults.

The aim of this study was to explore how depressive symptoms, physical function, health satisfaction, age, and environmental conditions predict quality of life (QoL) in a conceptual model based on the Wilson and Cleary's Model (WCM). A stratified sample by age, gender, and living area was drawn from the Norwegian population of older adults receiving community health care (mean age of 78.6 years, 94.

Redesigned community postpartum care to prevent and treat postpartum depression in women--a one-year follow-up study.

Aim: To investigate the effect of a redesigned follow-up care programme on prevention and treatment of postpartum depression.

Background: Postpartum depression may have negative consequences on child development, maternal health and the relationship between parents. Early identification and treatment might prevent longer-term depression.

Latching onto life: living in the area of tension between the possibility of life and the necessity of death.

Aim: To present one of the findings from a large-scale hermeneutic research project focusing on promoting a deeper understanding of health and suffering because of serious cancer disease.

Background: Although suffering is a main concern for caring science, there is limited research focusing on the suffering of the patients with a serious cancer disease from the patients' perspective and few studies focusing on the patient's health resources and the dialectic between these.

Design: The study has a hermeneutic design inspired by Gadamer's ontological hermeneutics.

The effect of a solution-focused approach to improve self-efficacy in socially withdrawn school children: a non-randomized controlled trial.

Background: Socially withdrawn children can improve their social skills through increased self-efficacy. Previous studies have shown that socially withdrawn children are prone to low self-efficacy and problems at school. Therefore, we investigated the effects of an intervention on the self-efficacy of these school children.

Norwegian public health nurses' experience using a screening protocol for postpartum depression.

This descriptive qualitative study explores the use of a procedure for postpartum depression (PPD) screening by public health nurses in a Norwegian municipality, and is based on in-depth interviews. The 11 nurses regarded the screening procedure as valuable and felt that the training they had received in its use made them more confident about supporting parents by discussing mental health problems. They found the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale easy to score and easy for the mothers to complete, and they identified PPD more frequently than before.

Quality of life among Norwegian older adults: focus group results.

Fundamental to the nursing profession is understanding what issues are important to quality of life (QoL) for older adults. The aim of this study was to explore issues of importance to older adults and to compare findings with Lawton's theoretical QoL conceptualization. Five focus groups were conducted with healthy and hospitalized adults and health professionals.

Supportive counselling by public health nurses for women with postpartum depression.

Aim: This paper is a report of a study examining the effect of supportive counselling by public health nurses on postpartum depression.

Background: Depression is a common condition following childbirth and may have negative consequences for the child's development, the woman's health and the relationship between the parents. Psychological intervention is a treatment alternative to biological treatment options and may prevent longer-term postpartum depression.

School children's experience of being bullied--and how they envisage their dream day.

Bullying may have a number of negative health impacts on children. Previous studies have mainly explored negative health consequences related to being bullied. A different approach is to explore how these phenomena are related to the school child's quality of life (QOL).

Associations between general self-efficacy and health-related quality of life among 12-13-year-old school children: a cross-sectional survey.

Background: While research on school children's health has mainly focused on risk factors and illness, few studies have examined aspects of health promotion. Thus, this study focuses on health promotional factors including general self-efficacy (GSE) and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). GSE refers to a global confidence in coping ability across a wide range of demanding situations, and is related to health.

Important issues to quality of life among norwegian older adults: an exploratory study.

The increasing numbers of older people and higher expectations of a "good life" within societies, has lead to international interest in the enhancement of quality of life (QoL) among older adults. Understanding whether the same aspects of life are equally important to the life quality of subgroups of older people is important in helping health professionals plan social and health care policy and caring strategies. The purpose of this study was to describe the importance given to 38 areas of QoL among Norwegian older adults and to identify differences in importance ratings by age, gender, marital and health status.

Prevalence of postpartum depression in two municipalities in Norway.

The objectives of this study were (i) to describe the prevalence of postpartum depression (PPD) in two Norwegian municipalities and (ii) to investigate whether mothers' age and parity are related to the development of PPD. A total of 2227 women, 437 from M1 and 1790 from M2 participated in the study. Mothers who had given birth between 1 May, 2005 and 31 December, 2006 completed The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at well baby clinics 6 weeks after delivery.

Infection control and meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in nursing homes in Oslo.

Healthcare workers (HCWs) might be important in reducing healthcare-associated infections but infected or colonised HCWs may still spread pathogenic microbes to others. Norwegian policies for infection control in healthcare environments emphasise infection control programmes for both patients and HCWs. In this study, HCWs from 42 of 55 nursing homes in Oslo participated in an investigation concerning the implementation of infection control programmes during 2006-2007.

Reliability and validity of the Norwegian WHOQOL-OLD module.

The aim of this study was to examine the validity and reliability of the Norwegian WHOQOL-OLD six-facet, 24-item module designed for assessing generic quality of life cross-culturally among the elderly. Using quota-stratified sampling defined on the basis of sex, age and geographical representation, 401 respondents were drawn from Statistics Norway and completed postal surveys. An additional 89 elderly completed personal interviews.

The suitability of the WHOQOL-BREF for Canadian and Norwegian older adults.

The aim of this study was to examine the validity and reliability of the WHOQOL-BREF, a generic quality of life scale, among older people in Canada and Norway. Very similar data from the Canadian and Norwegian Field Trial data (Canada  = 192; Norway,  = 469) were analyzed and compared. Higher negatively skewed mean scores were found for all WHOQOL-BREF domains in Canada.

The suitability of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument-BREF in cancer relatives.

The quality of life of cancer relatives should influence the justification, selection, and modification of nursing interventions in the cancer patient-family dyad. To justify these interventions, relevant, valid, and reliable quality of life assessments are needed. The purpose of this study was to examine the relevancy, validity, and reliability of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument-BREF in a sample of 435 Norwegian cancer relatives.

The conceptualization and measurement of quality of life in older adults: a review of empirical studies published during 1994-2006.

Instruments with acceptable measurement properties that support their application to older adults across a range of settings need to be identified. A narrative literature review of empirical studies investigating the conceptualization and measurement of quality of life (QoL) among older adults from 1994 to 2006 was performed. The review focused on evidence provided for conceptual frameworks, QoL definitions, types of measurements utilized and their psychometric properties.