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Biomedical subjects

U Lundh

Publications and source records attributed to U Lundh.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2002

'Entering a New World': empathic awareness as the key to positive family/staff relationships in care homes.

Despite an almost universal policy of community care, placing a relative in a care home will be an increasingly common event as population ageing continues. Studies suggest that most families wish to remain involved in care following placement but that they often experience difficulties in establishing relationships with staff. This paper reports on the fifth phase of a Swedish study exploring the experience of placement from a temporal perspective and including the views of all the key actors (relatives, staff in the community, staff in care homes). The focus here is placed on the perceptions of care home staff and their perceived role in relation to spouses who have recently placed a partner. The study adopted a grounded theory approach and data were collected from in-depth interviews with 16 staff members of varying grades and positions. Analysis of the data suggested 3 levels of awareness amongst staff: empathic awareness, guarded awareness and limited awareness. The characteristics of empathic awareness are outlined and its implications briefly considered.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed2002

The role of community staff in care home placement in Sweden.

The role of community staff in placing a relative in a care home is a relatively unexplored area of practice. Interviews with a variety of community staff in Sweden suggest that they play a significant role in helping family carers, particularly spouses, research the decision about the need for placement. This role can include recognition that placement is required (seeing the need), initiating and sustaining discussions about placement (sowing the seed and nurturing the seed) and legitimating the decision. However, once the decision has been made relatively little attention is given to the emotional consequences of the move and attention is focused largely on instrumental aspects. Despite showing sensitivity in the decision-making phase, community staff could do more to help carers deal with the guilt they experience and to initiate contact with the care home.

Aged↗
PubMed2001

Placing a spouse in a care home: the importance of keeping.

Despite a universal policy of community care, the number of frail older people entering care homes is likely to increase in the future. There have been relatively few studies exploring the experience of spouses who have placed a partner in care. Due to a lack of preparation, the placement process is often ad hoc, with little attention being given to spouses' emotional reactions or their efforts to maintain their relationship with their partner. The relationship between care home staff and families is often superficial and strained. There is a need for more proactive efforts to facilitate a partnership between care home staff and families.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2000

'I don't have any other choice': spouses' experiences of placing a partner in a care home for older people in Sweden.

The main aim of this paper is to consider the experiences of Swedish spouses who have placed a partner in a care home for older people. Data were gathered from semi-structural interviews with 14 spouses (11 wives and 3 husbands) who had been involved in a care home placement within the previous 6 months. The results reported here are from the first component of a larger grounded theory study, the aim of which is to explore, describe and understand the experience of care home placement from a variety of perspectives and to identify the implications for policy and practice in Sweden. The focus here is on the experience of spouses, relating to the decision-making process, the move into care and subsequent contact with the care home. Four themes emerged from the data - making the decision, making the move, adjusting to the move and reorientation. The results show a lack of planning for the elder person's entry to a care home, and professional dominance of this stage of the process. The largely ambivalent emotional responses to the move that spouses experience and the difficulties in initiating and sustaining relationships with staff in the home are discussed in the light of previous research.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1997

The challenges of improving discharge planning in Sweden and the UK: different but the same.

Discharge of older people from hospital has been an area of concern for over 20 years. The present emphasis on rapid throughput of patients in acute care settings is likely to exacerbate existing problems. Improving current practice will mean addressing a number of complex issues to do with communication between agencies and professions. Despite different welfare systems, many of the challenges of discharge planning are shared in different countries. This paper describes attempts to involve patients and carers in discharge planning in Sweden and the UK and identifies a number of areas which require attention if the ideals of patient and carer empowerment are to be achieved.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Aging and quality of life. 1: Towards a better understanding.

This article, the first in a two-part series, considers a number of factors that influence quality of life in older age. It highlights the tensions between objective and subjective dimensions regarding the quality of life. It emphasizes the differences between those definitions used by professionals and those employed by older people themselves. The authors argue that there is a need to gain a broader understanding of how people adjust to and interpret their own ageing before the appropriate services can be designed. Assimilation, accommodation and immunization are presented as useful concepts to improve understanding in this important area.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Ageing and quality of life. 2: Understanding successful ageing.

Older people are being maintained in their own homes for longer periods and at increasing levels of frailty since the widespread introduction of community care policies across Europe. In order to sustain a good quality of life such individuals are more reliant on support from both informal (family) and formal sources. If appropriate assistance is to be provided then there is a need for a better understanding of how older people maintain their self-esteem. This article provides additional empirical support for the processes of accommodation and immunization and illustrates how knowledge of these concepts is important to the development of improved services for older people.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Nursing's knowledge base: does it have to be unique?

An International Seminar held at the University College of Health Sciences, Jonkoping, Sweden, in May 1996, was the stimulus for this article. The purpose of the seminar was to consider the contribution that nursing theory has made to the development of the profession and to identify ways in which this contribution could be enhanced. This article briefly traces the emergence of nursing theory and argues that despite its relatively short history, theory has failed fully to inform practice and is increasingly seen as irrelevant. It is suggested that two trends--the abstract and esoteric nature of much nursing theory and the desire to create a unique' body of nursing knowledge--must be countered before theory can establish its value. It is argued that these are manifestations of professional and academic insecurity which nursing must overcome before it can reach maturity.

Diffusion of Innovation↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Family carers. 2: Sources of satisfaction among Swedish carers.

This is the second of four articles about family caregiving in Sweden. The previous article in the series (Vol 8(9): 582-8) considered the difficulties and problems that carers experience, highlighting the often stressful and demanding nature of care. In contrast, this article focuses on a relatively neglected area of the caregiving literature--the potential satisfactions and rewards of care. The data suggest that sources of satisfaction are numerous and diverse and that, contrary to popular belief, the majority of carers experience some feelings of reward. While not seeking to deny the difficult aspects of caring, it is important to understand potential satisfactions if a more complete picture of the caring dynamic is to emerge.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Family carers. 3: Coping strategies among family carers in Sweden.

This is the third of four articles considering various aspects of family care giving in Sweden. The previous articles (Vol 8(9): 582-588; Vol 8(10): 647-652) have looked at the difficulties carers face and their sources of satisfaction from what they do. This, the final empirical article, presents data from the same group of carers on the coping strategies and tactics that they use. It demonstrates that carers often employ a complex range of coping behaviours and it is suggested that healthcare professionals, particularly nurses, must be aware of and seek to complement carers' coping patterns if more appropriate and sensitive services are to be developed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Family carers. 4: Designing services to support family carers in Sweden.

This, the last of four articles focusing on family caregiving in Sweden, considers ways in which services can be designed to better support and complement care provided by the family. Drawing on the results presented in the previous three articles (Vol 8(9): 582-8; Vol 8(10): 647-52; Vol 8(11): 735-40) the need to provide flexible and responsive services will be highlighted. While acknowledging the importance of services which help with the physical aspects of caring, emphasis will be placed on the need to develop an expanded range of interventions which recognize and respond to the social and emotional impact of caring.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Job satisfaction among Swedish nurses and laboratory technologists.

Concerns about recruitment and retention of nursing staff are currently increasing in a number of countries. This article describes a study which identifies sources of job satisfaction among nurses and medical laboratory technologists in Sweden. A previously validated questionnaire was translated into Swedish and sent to all relevant staff working at a large hospital in southern Sweden. Analysis of responses suggests that while staff still found their work interesting, rewards are potentially decreasing and sources of stress increasing. Comparisons are made with literature from the UK and USA and the need for action to address a number of concerns is highlighted.

Burnout, Professional↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Family carers. 1: Difficulties and levels of support in Sweden.

Sweden has a well developed welfare system and until fairly recently the needs of family carers have received limited attention. However, there is now a growing acceptance of the need to provide better and more sensitive support services. Using questionnaires validated in the UK and translated into Swedish, this series of four articles considers the difficulties, satisfactions and coping mechanisms of a sample of Swedish carers, identifying the implications of the results for the design and delivery of healthcare interventions. This article focuses on carers' perceived difficulties and their satisfaction with existing levels of help.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Impact on professional carers of structured interviews with families.

This article describes a Swedish study exploring the impact of a structured assessment process on both family and professional carers. A total of 20 professional carers conducted in-depth assessments with 245 family carers and were later interviewed about their experiences. The interviews indicated that the assessment process had provided valuable new insights and had challenged many existing preconceptions. They also afforded carers the opportunity to explore difficult emotional issues, suggesting the need to develop services to help carers deal with their feelings.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗