Introduction Supervision of degree theses is a central activity in Higher Education. Writing a Bachelor thesis (BT) is often described as a challenging process for undergraduate nursing students. Previous research on academic supervision has primarily focused on individual aspects at the master’s and doctoral levels rather than nursing teachers’ experiences of BT supervision. Objective This study explores nursing teachers’ experiences of Bachelor thesis group supervision in nursing education. Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nursing teachers from four universities in the middle of Sweden . The data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results The overall theme of the analysis is Different ways of organising and structuring supervision, supported by two subthemes: Finding and developing one’s role as a supervisor and Promoting students’ academic learning. Supervisors shape their roles through guidelines, syllabi, insights from colleagues, co-supervision, and personal experience. Supervisors feel a strong sense of personal responsibility and co-responsibility for their students’ progress. Flexibility is necessary, as not everything can be standardised. Conclusion The findings underscore the complexity of the supervisory role and the need for clear organisational frameworks, while flexibility and personal adaptation are key to supporting students effectively. The development of pedagogical supervisory skills is an ongoing process, and organisational support plays a critical role in ensuring supervisors can feel satisfaction and continue to develop in their roles.

OBJECTIVE:Massage during childbearing has been shown to benefit women's health and well-being, such as reducing pain and stress and enhancing satisfaction with the labour experience. Despite these documented benefits, massage is not routinely offered as a complementary method by midwives within standard maternity care in Sweden, leaving women's lived experiences of massage in this context unexplored. Therefore, this study aimed to explore women's experiences of massage during childbearing. METHODS:The research was conducted as a qualitative study using an inductive approach. Semi-structured interviews with 12 women in Sweden were carried out, and data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. RESULTS:Analysis of the data yielded one overall theme-seen, heard and touched-and three categories: being mentally present in the body, a vulnerability needed to be respected and sharing experiences. Massage promoted present-moment awareness, trust and safety and relieved pain and stress. It also strengthened the connection with one's own body and deepened closeness to both partner and unborn child. However, it was associated with vulnerability and the recall of bodily memories. CONCLUSION:Massage during childbearing is a supportive practice that integrates physical and emotional well-being with mental recovery, making women feel seen, heard and touched. For optimal benefits and positive experiences, massage must be provided with respect to boundaries. This is particularly important because it may evoke sensitive memories, which involve a vulnerability that needs to be respected. Massage is a valuable complementary method alongside maternity care.

Weaning patients from mechanical ventilation is a complex process that also affects family members, yet their perspectives remain understudied. AIM:To explore the lived experiences of family members of patients being weaned from mechanical ventilation in intensive care. DESIGN:A qualitative, deductive design was used, inspired by the hermeneutic phenomenological research method described by van Manen. METHODS:Eight family members were purposively included. The data collection consisted of personal diary notes, written during the patients' weaning phase, and individual semi-structured interviews conducted after patient discharge from intensive care. RESULTS:The findings were related to meaningfulness and inherent strength experienced by the family members, which were enhanced by being present at the bedside, near the patient, and involved in care. Family members shaped a temporary structure for their new everyday lives and experienced hope when thinking about the future. CONCLUSIONS:This study explores the lived experiences of family members, emphasising the importance of being near the patient, touching, maintaining contact, and communicating. Family members wish to be involved according to their preferences and capabilities. Such involvement creates meaningfulness, which further promotes family members' inherent strength. Healthcare professionals play a vital role, highlighting the advantages of adopting a person-centred approach towards the family members by considering their resources, capabilities, and suffering, which vary over time and among different persons. To care for family members during patient weaning, healthcare professionals need to understand their needs and contributions, making the delivery of person-centred care essential. This study highlights that person-centred care extends beyond the patient to include family members. Recognising and supporting families as active partners in the weaning process is essential, as their involvement strengthens the well-being of both patients and families. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION AND/OR PATIENT CARE:Healthcare professionals should recognise family members as active partners in the weaning process and adapt person-centred care to their individual needs and capacities. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION:Only the family members of the patients were involved in the study. REPORTING METHOD:This study adhered to the COREQ criteria.

BACKGROUND:Weaning from mechanical ventilation is a complex and central intensive care process. This complexity indicates that the challenges of weaning must be explored from different perspectives. Furthermore, physicians' experiences and the factors influencing their decision-making regarding weaning are unclear. OBJECTIVES:This study aimed to explore and describe the factors influencing physicians' decision-making when weaning patients from invasive mechanical ventilation in Swedish intensive care units (ICUs). METHODS:This qualitative study used an exploratory and descriptive design with qualitative content analysis. Sixteen physicians from five ICUs across Sweden were purposively included and interviewed regarding their weaning experiences. FINDINGS:The physicians expressed that prioritising the patient's well-being was evident, and there was agreement that both the physical and mental condition of the patient had a substantial impact on decision-making. Furthermore, there was a lack of agreement on whether patients should be involved in the weaning process and how their resources, needs, and wishes should be included in decision-making. In addition, there were factors not directly linked to the patient but which still influenced decision-making, such as the available resources and teamwork. Sometimes, it was difficult to point out the basis for decisions; in that decisions were made by gut feeling, intuition, or clinical experience. CONCLUSION:Physicians' decision-making regarding weaning was a dynamic process influenced by several factors. These factors were related to the patient's condition and the structure for weaning. Increased understanding of weaning from the physicians' and ICU teams' perspectives may improve the weaning process by broadening the knowledge about the aspects influencing the decision-making.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to illuminate the experience of caring touch in intensive care from the perspectives of patients, next-of-kin, and healthcare professionals. Design and Method: This study was explorative, and data were collected through qualitative observations (n = 9) with subsequent interviews (n = 27) at two general intensive care units. An inductive approach was embraced to be open-minded to the participants' experiences. Findings: The results are presented in one generic category-caring touch creates presence-which generated five subcategories: to touch and be touched with respect, touch as guidance and communication, touch causes suffering, touch creates compassion, and touch creates security. Conclusion: When the ability to communicate with words is lost, it is body language that reveals what a person is trying to express. Nurses create a way of being present with the patients by touching them, to communicate I am here for you. Caring touch is a tool to show compassion and respect and to protect the integrity of the lived body. The caring touch is soothing and comforting for the patient and next-of-kin and creates security. It also helps to awaken the motivation to get healthy, which is needed in an environment that is foreign.

Aim The aim of this study was to describe the general attributes and competence that nurses in the ambulance’s single responder units are considered to need. Background The development of ambulance care has led to an increased need for new units and working methods. Single responder unit is a single crewed unit that often uses for the patient assessments, to refer patients to the right level of care and to release regular ambulances. There is a lack of description of the needed competence for the nurses within single responder unit. Methods Modified Delphi with three rounds was used. The first round was conducted with focus group interviews and analysed with content analysis. Five competence categories and 19 subcategories were identified. The second and third rounds were conducted through surveys using a 4-point Likert scale and analysed with descriptive statistics. Results The ability to communicate with other healthcare providers to achieve one’s goal, the ability to create a good encounter alone and to have appropriate professional experience were identified as the most important general attributes and competencies. Conclusions A central competence in prehospital emergency care is the ability to independently assess and treat patients with varying care needs in complex environments. To be able to work in SRU requires good communication and collaborations skills with other healthcare providers but it is also a prerequisite for creating a good patient relationship. Work experience of taking care of varying patients and situations is also needed in SRU.

Abstract Background Perceived social support was considered to be an essential resource of individual’s positive consequences (e.g., posttraumatic growth, PTG) during times of stressful conditions. However, there is no evidence on the relationship between perceived social support and PTG at the couple-based level in cancer research. This study aimed to explore the relationship between perceived social support and posttraumatic growth among couples coping with gynecological cancer. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted in China, from May 2019 to March 2020 in two comprehensive hospitals. A total of 126 couples, consisting of women diagnosed with gynecological cancer and their spouses, participated. The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) and the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) were used to collect data. Paired t-tests, pearson’s correlations and actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) were used to analyze data. Results The actor effects of perceived social support on posttraumatic growth were supported (r = 0.419, p < 0.001; r = 0.467, p < 0.001); however, the partner effects of perceived social support on posttraumatic growth were not supported (r = -0.119, p>0.05; r = 0.130, p>0.05). Perceived social support was positively correlated between women diagnosed with gynecological cancer and their spouses (r = 0.244, p < 0.01). Furthermore, spouses’ perceived social support was positively correlated with women’s posttraumatic growth (r = 0.213, p < 0.05). Conclusions The actor effects of perceived social support on posttraumatic growth in couples coping with GC are supported. The findings also highlight that spouses’ perceived social support are positively correlated with women’s perceived social support and women’s PTG. Healthcare professionals should provide couple-based interventions that would increase couples’ identification and use of effective social support, and how to promote their PTG should be focused.

PROPOSE:Registered nurses (RNs) are considered to be a major source of professional supportive care for women diagnosed with gynecological cancer (GC). This study described the level of perceived professional benefits and explored association between perceived professional benefits, sense of coherence (SOC), and coping strategies in Chinese RNs caring for women diagnosed with GC.METHOD:A cross-sectional survey was employed to collect data using the Nurses' Perceived Professional Benefits Questionnaire (NPPBQ), Sense of coherence scale (SOC-13), and Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (Brief COPE). The questionnaires were administered to 250 RNs in China. The correlations between NPPBQ, SOC-13, and Brief COPE were evaluated with Pearson's correlation coefficient. Multiple regression analysis was performed to assess the relative contribution of each possible factor in explaining variance in the increased NPPBQ.RESULTS:The total score for the NPPBQ was 142.4 (range 33.0-165.0). SOC, dysfunctional coping strategies, and problem-focused coping strategies were recognized as predictors of RNs' perceived professional benefit, while, emotion-focused coping strategies were not significantly associated with RNs' perceived professional benefits.CONCLUSIONS:The findings indicate that RNs who have high levels of SOC, dysfunctional coping strategies, and problem-focused coping strategies tend to experience more perceived professional benefit. These findings propose new perspectives for nursing managers to promote RNs' perceived professional benefit by helping RNs to find meaningfulness when caring for women diagnosed with GC, increasing RNs' communication skills to improve their relationship with patients, and training RNs to use coping strategies effectively.

AbstractAimThe aim of this study was to explore the factors that are associated with posttraumatic growth among spouses of women diagnosed with gynaecological cancer.DesignA cross‐sectional descriptive study.MethodsA convenience sample of 312 spouses of women diagnosed with gynaecological cancer was recruited from two comprehensive hospitals in China, from March 2018 to March 2020. Demographic characteristics, cancer‐related characteristics, posttraumatic growth, perceived social support and coping were assessed using self‐reported questionnaires. Descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression analysis were performed. The methods were guided by the STROBE checklist.ResultsThe mean score of posttraumatic growth was 46.7 (standard deviation = 16.7). The associated factors of posttraumatic growth were spouses' age, perceived social support, problem‐focused coping, dysfunctional coping (e.g. denial) and cancer treatment received by partners, which accounted for 34% of total posttraumatic growth score.Patient or public contributionAll participants contributed to the conducting of this study by completing self‐reported questionnaires.

Background: The way health care professionals touch patients and relatives in the intensive care unit plays a significant role. A negative feeling can be caused by being touched in the wrong way, this is why a holistic approach with respect for the patient is important for the ability to make the patient and their relatives feel secure, avoiding unnecessary suffering. Aim: The aim of the study was to describe the meaning of caring touch that is given in the ICU from the health care professionals perspective. Method: Qualitative interview study with health care professionals in the intensive care unit, analysed using inductive content analysis, resulting in two themes and four main categories. Findings: Two themes emerged: Imperative touch and emotional touch and four main categories: touch as a natural tool, create a prerequisite for touch, empathetic touch and conversant touch. Conclusion: Caring touch can be used as a natural tool in the daily work in order to bring comfort and calm to the patient in the intensive care unit. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Background Supervisors play a key part as role models and supporting the learning during residents’ post-graduate medical education, but sometimes lack sufficient pedagogic training and are challenged by high demands in today’s healthcare. The aim of this study was to describe the strengths and areas for improvement identified in the supervision process by residents and supervisors in post-graduate medical education. Methods This study included supervisors and residents working at departments and health centres who have used a web-based questionnaire, as a part of the Evaluation and Feedback For Effective Clinical Teaching (EFFECT) model, during the period 2016–2019. Descriptive statistics and content analysis were used to analyse ratings and comments to describe strengths and areas for improvement in the supervision process. Results The study included 287 resident evaluations of supervisors and 78 self-evaluations by supervisors. The supervisor as a role model, being available, and, giving personal support, were the three most important strengths identified by the residents and supervisors. Residents in primary care also identified the role modelling of general practice competence as a strength, whereas residents and supervisors in hospital departments addressed supervisors as energetic and showing work was fun. The area with the need of most improvement was, Giving and receiving feedback. Conclusions To be able to give feedback, residents and supervisors, needed to see each other in work, and the learning environment had to offer time and space to pedagogical processes, like feedback, to improve the learning environment.

PURPOSE:The experience of cancer could lead to positive psychological changes following the struggle with diagnosis and treatment. Understanding post-traumatic growth and its influencing factors in women affected by gynecological cancer is essential to enhance their possibility of achieving positive changes. The purpose of this study was to describe the post-traumatic growth level and explore the influencing factors of post-traumatic growth in Chinese women diagnosed with gynecological cancer.METHOD:A cross-sectional survey with a convenience sampling method was employed to collect data using the Post-traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI), Distress Disclosure Index (DDI), Medical Coping Modes Questionnaire (MCMQ), and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). The questionnaires were administered to 344 participants recruited from two hospitals in Hefei City, the capital of Anhui Province in China, between March 2018 and March 2019. All statistical analyses were performed using nonparametric tests. The Mann-Whitney U Test was used to distinguish the intergroup differences. Correlations were evaluated with Spearman rank correlation coefficients.RESULTS:Total score for PTGI was 56.5 (range 48.0-68.0). The subscale with the highest centesimal score in the PTGI was appreciation of life and the lowest was spiritual change. The top five items with the highest scores of PTGI belonged to appreciating life, personal strength, and relating to others. Self-disclosure, confrontation, avoidance, acceptance-resignation, perceived social support, education level, cancer type and the place they lived had significant influence on post-traumatic growth.CONCLUSIONS:The findings indicate that women who have high levels of perceived social support, confrontation, avoidance, self-disclosure and education level tend to experience more post-traumatic growth, while, conversely, high levels of acceptance-resignation have a negative influence on promoting post-traumatic growth. These meaningful findings propose new perspectives for promoting post-traumatic growth in Chinese women diagnosed with gynecological cancer.

Objectives: The impact of dental occlusion on the experiences of head and neck cancer patients and their oral, social and psychological functioning has been sparsely investigated. There is a lack of knowledge regarding the experience of tooth loss and dentures among patients treated for head and neck cancer. The aim of this study was to describe the experiences of head and neck cancer patients of prophylactic tooth extractions and temporary removable dentures, 6 months after radiotherapy treatment. Material and methods: An individual interview with 25 patients 6 months after radiotherapy was subjected to a qualitative content analysis. Results: Two categories, Impaired oral function and Belief in the future, and seven subcategories described the patients' experiences of temporary removable dentures during the first 6 months after prophylactic tooth extractions. The temporary removable dentures affected the patients' ability to chew, swallow and speak, caused pain, and were experienced as an enemy. Despite that, the patients were hopeful and had a wish for recovery, which gave them the energy to live. Conclusion: Prophylactic tooth extractions and temporary removable dentures 6 months after radiotherapy treatment affect head and neck cancer patients' recovery and everyday life. However, they have the will to take on these challenges, pertaining not only to themselves, but also to relatives and health professionals. At the individual level, the patient needs individualized professional support to get through the arduous procedure, from the acute situation until the end of the rehabilitation phase.

Background The operating room nurse is, among other things, responsible for patient safety and maintaining an aseptic environment. For hygienic reasons unnecessary traffic in the operating room should be avoided, which may mean that the operating room nurse works long shifts without relief. Operating departments are usually separated, where there might be no daylight opportunities in the operating room. The purpose of the study was to describe operating room nurses’ experiences of limited access to daylight in the workplace. Method Qualitative design with four semi-structured focus groups of totally 15 operating room nurses. The analysis was performed with a content analysis with an inductive approach. Results The study generated two main categories, difference in light and contact with the outer world. Operating room nurses felt that daylight affected them differently from the light from lamps, where daylight was considered important for experiencing well-being. Daylight could lead to a sensation of joy but also increased awareness and energy which seemed to improve the ability to perform at work. The limited access to daylight contributed to fatigue and led to an internal stress that affected the nurses even after work. Having opportunities to look out through windows under a workday was important to experience contact with the outside world and created a sense of time. Conclusion To look out can reduce the feeling of being trapped in the closed context that the operating department entails. It can also lead to increased well-being and comfort in the workplace. We consider that daylight is an important component in the physical work environment that needs to be taken into consideration in further research as well as in new construction of operations departments.

Abstract Aim To evaluate factors associated with parental separation during the parenthood transition. Design Prospective, longitudinal and explorative. Methods This is a quantitative longitudinal study of N784 subjects throughout the pregnancy journey with multivariate regression analysis of survey data derived from three validated measurement scales; the Sense of Coherence scale, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support and the Perceived Quality of the Dyadic Relationship scale conducted 2014–2016. Results N17 participants separated at 2 years. Parental separation was significantly greater for those women and partners with low or changing sense of coherence, perceived social support and perceived quality of the parental‐couple relationship indexes. Partners with a change in sense of coherence (p: .003) and perceived quality of the parental‐couple relationship (p: .020) between 1 week and 2 years were at greater risk for separation. Attending professional preparatory support with a partner for women (p: .013) and attending the “Inspirational Lecture” for partners (p: .046) were, to a lesser extent, associated with a risk of parental separation.

BACKGROUNDHypothermia is a common problem in the surgical context and can lead to serious consequences for the patient and increased costs for society.AIMSTo study day-surgery patients' peripheral and core temperatures during the preoperative phase.METHODSIn total, 50 day-surgery patients participated in the study. Two sets of measurements of temperatures were made: core temperature and peripheral temperatures (two measuring points on the upper body and lower extremities respectively) were measured on arrival at the day-surgery unit, as well as on arrival at the operating theatre. The data were normally distributed and a paired t-test was used for statistical analysis.FINDINGSPeripheral temperatures had significant changes, with measuring points on the upper body decreasing and measuring points on the lower extremities increasing in temperature. The results show no significant change in core temperature.CONCLUSIONThe measurements show that 28% of the patients were below recommended preoperative temperature on arrival at the operating theatre. Further research is needed to study the development of body temperature perioperatively as well as at what point reheating interventions should be introduced.

BACKGROUND:The supervision process is characterized by differences between the supervisors' and the students' expectations before the start of writing a bachelor thesis as well as after its completion. A review of the literature did not reveal any scientifically tested questionnaire for evaluating nursing students' expectations of the supervision process when writing a bachelor thesis. OBJECTIVES:The aim of the study was to determine the construct validity and internal consistency reliability of a questionnaire for measuring nursing students' expectations of the bachelor thesis supervision process. DESIGN & METHODS:The study had a developmental and methodological design carried out in four steps including construct validity and internal consistency reliability statistical procedures: construction of the items, assessment of face validity, data collection and data analysis. SETTINGS & PARTICIPANTS:This study was conducted at a university in southern Sweden, where students on the "Nursing student thesis, 15 ECTS" course were consecutively selected for participation. Of the 512 questionnaires distributed, 327 were returned, a response rate of 64%. RESULTS:Five factors with a total variance of 74% and good communalities, ≥0.64, were extracted from the 10-item STQ. The internal consistency of the 10 items was 0.68. The five factors were labelled: The nature of the supervision process, The supervisor's role as a coach, The students' progression to self-support, The interaction between students and supervisor and supervisor competence. CONCLUSIONS:A didactic, useful and secure questionnaire measuring nursing students' expectations of the bachelor thesis supervision process based on three main forms of supervision was created.

BackgroundThe medical and nursing care of the patient on mechanical ventilation has developed and proceeds in terms of ventilator functions, sedation strategies and patient participation. New data are needed to explore the weaning process from the patients’ perspective. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the meaning of being a patient on mechanical ventilation during the weaning process in the intensive care unit.MethodsThis study used van Manen’s hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Interviews were conducted, including twenty former intensive care patients from three different hospitals in Sweden.FindingsFive themes emerged including thirteen related themes; Maintaining human dignity, Accepting the situation, Enduring the difficulties, Inadequate interaction and A sense of unreality. The experiences differed from each other and varied over time, and the same patient expressed both pleasant and unpleasant experiences. Weaning was not a separate experience but intertwined with that of being on mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit.ConclusionsThe patient’s experiences differ and vary over time, with the same patient expressing various experiences. The favourable experiences were more clearly described, compared to previous research, this might depend on factors related to communication, participation and proximity to healthcare professionals and next-of-kin.