Nurses' experience of loss, grief, family health and care targeting patients and families in long-term cancer illness: A qualitative study.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to explore the experiences of registered nurses in hematology departments and primary care settings regarding loss, grief, and family health in adult patients and their families during long-term cancer illnesses. METHOD: A qualitative study was conducted taking a phenomenological hermeneutic approach. Data were collected between February and March 2023 through individual, semi-structured interviews with 12 nurses working in hematology departments and primary care settings in Denmark. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: The analysis resulted in the identification of four main themes with related subthemes: (1) Patients' individual losses leading to grief reactions, (2) Nurses' experience of families grieving the loss of former daily living, (3) Supporting families with family health as an implicit concept, and (4) Overcoming barriers through nurses' care interventions targeting family health. Results showed that nurses encountered various losses and grief reactions affecting both patients and families. Barriers such as experience levels and working conditions affected care quality. Despite challenges, nurses addressed these by utilizing communication, involving families, and directing them to additional healthcare services. CONCLUSION: The study unveiled limited nurse awareness of family health, acknowledging its significance in patient and family care. The findings highlight the importance of improving nurses' comprehension of effectively supporting families as a cohesive unit in the context of long-term cancer illnesses.

Children with otitis media in Greenland - A qualitative study of parental experiences.

INTRODUCTION: The Greenlandic population has one of the world's highest prevalence of otitis media (OM). Approximately 9-14% of all children suffer from OM during childhood. Due to the climate, lack of infrastructure, and minimal access to specialist services, the Greenlandic healthcare system operates under significant challenges. To support treatment implementation, we explored parental experiences of having a child with recurrent acute otitis media (rAOM) and chronic suppurative otitis media in Greenland (CSOM). METHODS: We applied a qualitative methodology with semi-structured interviews, to investigate parents' individual experiences. We included parents from six selected towns and settlements in Greenland, who were primary caregivers to minimum one child who had suffered from rAOM or CSOM. The interviews followed a semi-structured interview guide. RESULTS: Eight interviews were conducted with ten parents (nine mothers, one father) to 13 children (nine girls, four boys) aged two to 20 years (median age five years). We carried out a hermeneutic-phenomenological, Ricoeur-inspired text analysis of data. The first episode of OM was associated with uncertainty about the condition, including pain relief and treatment. However, recurrence led to symptom recognition and a changed disease perception among the parents: from being a simple case of childhood OM to a recognition of a chronic condition that might lead to delayed linguistic development and hearing impairment. CONCLUSION: Under difficult healthcare situations, parents represented a unique resource in care and treatment implementation. Parents often feel alone with the responsibility of care and had concerns for their child's hearing and language development, and they wished for their experiences and observations to be actively included in consultations.

Perceptions of haemodialysis nurses regarding patients' and families' loss and grief.

BACKGROUND: The experience of loss and grief in patients' lives with life-long treatment in haemodialysis, and in their families' lives is a major cause of mental health problems. In practice, nurses often describe a lack of time and limited knowledge of how to provide nursing care in situations of loss and grief, thus finding out from nurses' perspectives of what competencies they need to provide care would be useful for the development of nursing practice. OBJECTIVES: To develop knowledge in a nursing perspective of competencies to provide care for patients and their families, who experience grief linked to loss due to kidney failure, haemodialysis and/or death. DESIGN: The study took a phenomenological-hermeneutical approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted 12 nurses caring for patients receiving haemodialysis with no kidney transplantation option and family members. Ricoeur's interpretation theory involving naïve reading, structural analysis and critical interpretation and discussion was used for analysis. RESULTS: Four themes emerged of nurse's experiences: (1) patient's loss and grief in everyday life, (2) dealing with supportive conversations when caring for patients, (3) families' losses are resulting in grief reactions and (4) importance of close relationships when caring for families. CONCLUSIONS: To nurses, patients on haemodialysis and their families have multiple loss and grief experiences. Nurses' working in kidney care need to develop competencies to support patients and families to cope with grief and loss. Further research is needed to develop these competencies and then to implement in education and practice.

Exploring digital interventions to facilitate coping and discomfort for nurses experiencing the menopause in the workplace: An international qualitative study.

INTRODUCTION: The global nursing workforce is predominantly female, with a large proportion working in the 45-55 age group. Menopause is a transition for all women, and; therefore needs recognition as it can impact work performance and consequently staff turnover. BACKGROUND: Women will go through the menopause, but not all women are affected. The menopause transition presents a range of signs and symptoms both physical and psychological which can impact the quality of life and individuals' work/life balance. The nursing workforce is predominantly women that will work through the menopause transition. OBJECTIVES: The study explored perspectives on digital health interventions as strategies to support menopausal women and to understand the requirements for designing health interventions for support in the workplace. DESIGN: A qualitative explorative design. SETTINGS: Nurses working in a range of clinical settings in England, Finland, Denmark, New Zealand, Australia and USA. METHODS: Nurses (n = 48) participated in focus groups from six different countries from February 2020-June 2022 during the pandemic from a range of acute, primary care and education settings. Nurses were invited to participate to share their experiences. Thematic analysis was used. RESULTS: All participants were able to describe the physical symptoms of menopause, with some cultural and possible hemisphere differences; more noticeable was the psychological burden of menopause and fatigue that is not always recognized. Four themes were identified: Managing symptoms in the workplace; Recognition in the workplace; Menopause interventions; and Expectation versus the invisible reality. These themes revealed information that can be translated for implementation into digital health interventions. CONCLUSIONS: Managers of nursing female staff in the menopausal age range need greater awareness, and menopause education should involve everyone. Finally, our results demonstrate design attributes suitable for inclusion in digital health strategies that are aligned with likely alleviation of some of the discomforts of menopause. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: No patient or public contribution.

Translation and Cross-Cultural Validation of the Danish Version of the Family Health Scale-Long Form: A Psychometric Study.

OBJECTIVES: The Family Health Scale is a new instrument for evaluating family health. The instrument is reported as valid and reliable in investigating family health among different types of adult family members. This study aimed to translate the Family Health Scale into Danish and investigate its validity and reliability in families with a family member affected by chronic or serious illness. DATA SOURCES: Translation was performed through forward and backward bilingual practice consisting of 10 steps. A cross-sectional study included 406 participants, of whom 94 also participated in a follow-up study within 3 weeks for the test-retest. Content validity was examined by conducting cognitive interviews with nine family members. Internal consistency reliability was assessed using Cronbach α. The test-retest reliability was evaluated using intraclass correlation coefficients. Model fit was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis. CONCLUSION: The Family Health Scale demonstrated good content validity and a moderate model fit. Both Internal consistency reliability and test-retest reliability were satisfying. Cronbach α ranged from 0.73 to 0.89, while the intraclass correlation coefficient value was 0.88. The confirmatory factor analysis estimated a satisfying model fit, with an acceptable root-mean-square error of 0.076 and a moderate comparative fit index of 0.794. IMPLICATION FOR NURSING PRACTICE: The Family Health Scale instrument has the potential to identify vulnerable families or families affected by chronic or serious illnesses, such as cancer. The assessment tool can consequently be used to target interventions to promote family health and improve the health of both the individual and his/her family.

Nursing care and nurses' understandings of grief and bereavement among patients and families during cancer illness and death - A scoping review.

PURPOSE: Grief and bereavement is often present among patients and families during courses of cancer. Offering support for both patients and families is essential in the context of cancer nursing. Present scoping review offers an overview of existing knowledge, which can be used for inspiration in cancer-nursing. Hence, the objective of this study was to identify understandings of grief and bereavement, which is present in a cancer-nursing context and to develop insight on existing knowledge about nursing interventions targeted patients and their families' experiences of grief and bereavement due to cancer illness. METHOD: The scoping review is conducted, inspired by the methodology of Joanna Briggs Institute. Sources of evidence are retrieved from a large number of databases and resources. RESULTS: Twenty-two studies are included in the scoping review. The studies are retrieved from eight different countries. Findings are mapped in nine categories. Eight categories related to nursing care targeted patients and/or families experiencing grief and/or bereavement; One category related to understandings of grief and/or bereavement targeted patients and families. CONCLUSION: Nursing interventions to support patients and their families during grief and bereavement covers a broad spectrum of interventions. E.g. communication; using artwork; cultural and spiritual care; bereavement care; supporting coping strategies. Different models and theoretical understandings were identified. E.g. The dual process model of coping with bereavement; A Divorced Family-focused Care Model; Family Strengths-Oriented Therapeutic Conversation (Fam-SOTC); and understandings of children's grieving process.

Early recognition method for patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder in community mental health care: Illness insight, self-management and control.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVE: To investigate how participating in the early recognition method treatment strategy affect illness insight and management, in patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder in community mental healthcare. BACKGROUND: The current practice in mental healthcare focus on shared decision-making and self-managing capacity, but poor insight is a predictor of poor adherence and dropout. Engagement in illness management and recovery predict the treatment response. DESIGN: Semi-structured interviews with a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach. METHODS: We conducted 36 semi-structured interviews with 26 patients. The interviews were conducted before and after participating in the intervention using the early recognition method strategy. The analysis was based on Ricoeur's theory of interpretation: Naive reading, structural analysis, interpretation and discussion. The COREQ checklist was used as reporting guideline. RESULTS: The experience of participating in treatment as usual and early recognition method revealed two main themes. The first theme 'patient care' describes how dialogue and collaboration increase awareness of the illness and how to gain control. The second theme 'insight and experience' describes how illness affects personality and self-image, and how insight entails control and self-confidence. CONCLUSION: Managing life with severe mental illness is complex and challenging. However, the experience of guidance, support and collaboration between patient and nurse are essential to improve these circumstances. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: A systematic approach to the patient' symptoms, as in the early recognition method strategy, enhances knowledge of the individual patient' symptoms, both for nurse and patient. A knowledge that is significant for meeting individual treatment needs. Therefore, applying this strategy is likely to enhance collaboration and improve treatment outcome.

Parental death in young adults with divorced compared to non-divorced parents: The effect on prolonged grief and mental health.

This cross-sectional survey compares the risk of mental health problems like poor well-being, complicated and prolonged grief, and mental disorders between young adults experiencing a divorced or non-divorced parent's death. 190 participants were recruited from Facebook via the Danish National Center for Grief. Well-being was measured using WHO-5, prolonged grief using PG-13 and complicated grief using BGQ, and common mental disorders using CMDQ. Findings confirmed deleterious effects on mental health in young adults experiencing parental death, but higher risk, when losing a divorced parent compared to a non-divorced parent, was associated to prolonged grief, complicated grief, bodily distress syndrome, and alcohol misuse.

Double bereavement, mental health consequences and support needs of children and young adults-When a divorced parent dies.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To explore how children and young adults from divorced families experience double bereavement when they lose a divorced parent with cancer and how the double bereavement influences their mental health consequences and need of support. BACKGROUND: Children and young people who are confronted with the cancer and death of a parent is a highly stressful life event, which is associated with an increased risk of mental health problems, especially when children experience divorced parental cancer and death. DESIGN: Participant observations and interviews with a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach and COREQ standards for reporting qualitative research. METHODS: We conducted 340 hr of participant observations within nine different support groups totalling 27 children and young adults from divorced families and included 28 interviews with participants and relatives. Analyses are based on Ricoeur's theory of interpretation: naïve reading, structural analysis, interpretation and discussion. RESULTS: The experiences with double bereavement identified three main themes: 1. navigating through multiple transitions and disruptions within two family worlds; 2. consequences for mental health including stress overload and disruptions to well-being; and 3. need for accessible support derived from close relationships and professionals within and in-between family worlds. CONCLUSION: Children and young adult's double bereavement includes multiple transitions and disruptions often related to stress overload and mental health problems. Support from close relationships and professionals is experienced as helpful in the prevention and mitigation of mental health problems. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: There is a need for targeted accessible support availability to children, young adults and their families when a divorced parent is dying of cancer in clinical practice. Our findings suggest that specific health policies for health professionals should be developed to target improved support for these families.

The Divorced Family-Focused Care Model: A Nursing Model to Enhance Child and Family Mental Health and Well-Being of Doubly Bereaved Children Following Parental Divorce and Subsequent Parental Cancer and Death.

The experience of parental death concomitant with parental divorce occurs for 46% of Danish children and 50% of American children who lose a parent to death. This experience of loss and double bereavement compounds increased risk of mental health problems. The aim of this study was to explore nursing interventions for double bereaved children that promoted their well-being. A phenomenological-hermeneutic approach was used to conduct 20 interviews with nurses in family cancer care. Ricoeur's theoretical framework was followed with naïve reading, structural analysis, and critical interpretation, resulting in the formulation of a new model of nursing care for these children: the Divorced Family-Focused Care Model. Four themes were apparent: (a) collection of information about family structure, (b) assessment of support needs, (c) initiation of well-being support, and (d) coordination and follow-up focused on the child's well-being. The new intervention model has implications for health care education and implementation of health care policies.