Purpose

This study aimed to examine how young people living with Home Mechanical Ventilation experience the transition from childhood to young adulthood in relation to everyday life, perceived health and transition into adult professional healthcare.

Methods

Nine young adults (three females and six males aged 18–31) were interviewed, and data was primary analysed using phenomenological hermeneutics. In the actual study, data was reworked using secondary analysis as described by Beck. Two interviewees were ventilated invasively and six non-invasively, and one was treated with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP).

Results

The results are presented in two main categories. First; moving towards adulthood; and second, To handle changes in health and healthcare contacts. The study highlights the importance of ongoing social relations and being part of a socializing and physically active community. The transfer from paediatric to adult healthcare was solid and worked out well but was a process in which the participants struggled to find their own voice.

Conclusions

The transition into adulthood is a sensitive and challenging time for young people with HMV, but stable, close relationships and a well-organized transfer can enable this group to feel safe and able to find and use their own voice.

Purpose

An increasing number of children and young adults with complex medical conditions and respiratory failure are treated with home mechanical ventilation (HMV). The current study aimed to describe how young adults using HMV experience their everyday life with the ventilator, their physical impairments and their opportunities for an educational and professional career.

Materials and methods

Data were collected via narrative interviews with nine young HMV users (3 females and 6 males, aged 18–31 years) in their homes. Two were ventilated invasively, six were ventilated non-invasively and one was treated with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) via facemask. Data were analysed using a phenomenological hermeneutical method.

Result

A multi-professional team contributed to participants’ safety and ability to participate in society through higher education and professional work. A good and valuable life, mostly feeling healthy were experienced but also prejudice and stiffened social society structures.

Conclusion

The findings of this study prove the importance of having long-standing access to a competent and supportive available multi-professional healthcare team when living with a long-term complex condition. These teams provided well-functioning human and technological support in everyday lives.

Implications for Rehabilitation

· An increasing number of children and young adults are treated with home mechanical ventilation due to respiratory failure.

· The home mechanical ventilation treatment provided rest from breathing and improved sleep quality in such a way that work and higher studies could be managed.

· Longstanding access to a supportive multi-professional healthcare team provided feelings of being safe, which in turn boosted self-confidence in life and preparedness to meet new challenges.

In late April, the Nordic College of Caring Science (NCCS) held their fourth international scientific conference. The theme for the conference was ‘Caring in a changing world’. The conference began 26th April with a pre-conference designed for PhD students within the academic field of caring sciences. The NCCS annual board meeting was also held on that date. The venue for the conference was Mälardalen University, situated in a new but also renovated and integrated environment in the central city of Eskilstuna, Sweden. The seats of learning received the Swedish Government'srights and status as a university in 2022. The university offered a fantastic environment for knowledge exchange and socialisation with research colleagues and friends. During the annual meeting with the NCCS board discussed the work and development of the journal. Additionally, the new board was elected, and Associate Professor Mats Holmberg became NCCS's new chairperson.

Background

In this paper, we share our experiences of using ‘photovoice’ methodology as a way to generate data in intensive care units concerning the place and space of care. We have adapted and modified ‘photovoice’ in researching people's lived experiences of ICU. Researching lived experiences in an intensive care context is challenging because of the complex nature of critical care.

Aim

This study aims to explore and discuss photovoice methodolgy in ICU as a data collection method. Materials and Methods: Photos and interviews collected from patients, loved ones and staff collected in a previous research proejct.

Results

Although there are challenges in using cameras and photographing the environment in the ICU, due to ethics and the voiceless patients therein, many advantages are presented to the researchers in capturing the meaning of lived experiences of various phenomena in the lifeworld in general and in the meaning of place and space. This paper offers applications and reflection over ontological, epistemological and methodological concerns and also offers a detailed approach on how to employ photovoice for successful and rich data generation.

Discussion

developing and adapting scientific methods and methodologies contributes to knowledge development in caring science and is therefore an important subject of matter.

Conclusions

Photovoice also presents a powerful tool in disseminating the findings as it opens up the closed world of ICU to the public and increases people's understanding of the significance of place and space of caring practice.

Objective: The aim of this integrative review was to identify facilitators and barriers to patients’ well-being when being cared for in an ICU setting, from the perspective of the patients.

Background: To become critically ill and hospitalised in an ICU is a stressful, chaotic event due to the life-threatening condition itself, as well as therapeutic treatments and the environment. A growing body of evidence has revealed that patients often suffer from physical, psychological and cognitive problems after an ICU stay. Several strategies, such as sedation and pain management, are used to reduce stress and increase well-being during ICU hospitalisation, but the ICU experience nevertheless affects the body and mind.

Design; Methods: Since research exploring patients’ sense of well-being in an ICU setting is limited, an integrative review approach was selected. Searches were performed in CINAHL, Medline, Psych Info, Eric and EMBASE. After reviewing 66 studies, 12 studies were included in the integrative review. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the studies. The PRISMA checklist for systematic reviews was used.

Results: The results are presented under one main theme, ‘Well-being as a multidimensional experience—interwoven in barriers and facilitators’ and six sub-themes representing barriers to and facilitators of well-being in an ICU. Barriers identified were physical stressors, emotional stressors, environmental disturbances and insecurity relating to time and space. Facilitators were meeting physical needs and activities that included dimensions of a caring and relational environment. Conclusion: Our main findings were that experiences of well-being were multidimensional and included physical, emotional, relational and environmental aspects, and they were more often described through barriers than facilitators of well-being.

Relevance for clinical practice: This integrative review has shown that it is necessary to adopt an individual focus on patient well-being in an ICU setting since physical, emotional, relational and environmental stressors might impact each patient differently.