BREASTFEEDING AND EXPERIENCED EXPOSEDNESS IN PARTNER RELATIONSHIP

Ida Gustafsson RN, RM, Lecturer, PhD-student

Faculty of Caring Science, Work Life and Social Welfare, University of Borås, Borås, Sweden

Gunilla Carlsson RN, PhD, Professor

Faculty of Caring Science, Work Life and Social Welfare, University of Borås, Borås, Sweden

Katarina Karlsson RN, PhD

Faculty of Caring Science, Work Life and Social Welfare, University of Borås, Borås, Sweden

Aleksandra Jarling RN, PhD, Lecturer

Faculty of Caring Science, Work Life and Social Welfare, University of Borås, Borås, Sweden

Lina Palmér RN, RM, PhD, Associate Professor, Docent

Faculty of Caring Science, Work Life and Social Welfare, University of Borås, Borås, Sweden

Background: About 110 000 children are born in Sweden annually. The vast majority of their mothers wish to breastfeed, and also initiate breastfeeding. An important factor for continued breastfeeding is support, especially from the partner. It is likely that lack of support can lead to perceived vulnerability in the partner relationship. Intimate partner violence (IPV) during pregnancy is in Sweden nearly as common as gestational diabetes and the frequency seems to rise postpartum. IPV is multifaceted and encompasses many types and degrees of violence. In a caring science perspective the experience of vulnerability and/or exposedness in partner relationship during breastfeeding (or breastfeeding desire) risks negatively affecting womens health and well-being, regardless of the reason or degree of exposedness. For care to be caring - that is, support health and well-being - knowledge is needed from the perspective of the exposed women. Previous lifeworld theoretical research has shown that breastfeeding may be experienced as an existential challenge and that exposedness to violence during the childbearing period means a long-lasting embodied experience. In this project, these two phenomena are intertwined into a common phenomenon - Breastfeeding in case of experienced exposedness in a partner relationship.

Aim: The purpose of the PhD-project is to develop in-depth knowledge of existential meanings of breastfeeding in case of experienced exposedness in a partner relationship (Study 1-2), and what it means to be cared for (Study 3), as well as to give care and support in this context (Study 4).

Methods: The project has a reflective lifeworld approach. Data has been collected through lifeworld interviews and written lifeworld stories and will be analyzed using a phenomenological or hermeneutical approach.

Results & Conclusion: The results and conclusions of the first study are expected to be completed in the summer of 2023 and will be presented at the conference.

The improvement of mental healthcare services requires patients' experiences to identify problems and possible deficits in care. In this study, we explored the nature and meaning of formal patient complaints about mental healthcare services in one region of Sweden using a descriptive design with a qualitative approach. A systematic random sample of 106 formal patient complaints about mental healthcare services in 1 Swedish county was selected and analysed thematically, based on descriptive phenomenology. Themes identified were: lack of access to mental healthcare services and specialist treatment, problems related to unmet needs and difficulties with healthcare staff, insufficient care and treatment and lack of continuity in care, and experiences of not been taken seriously or feeling abused by staff. The vulnerability of patients already in the system is a greater issue than realized. The human right to health and the healthcare of patients with mental ill health can be strengthened by increased access to care, listening to patients properly, and delivering continuity in care.

This article examines and exemplifies how existential philosophy can provide a deeper understanding of existential issues in a caring context. Existential philosophy, including lifeworld theory, is treated both as an epistemology for the development of research methods and inspiration for analysis and discussions in caring science research. The significance of the lifeworld is also highlighted as a guide to perform and enable caring and caring didactics, along with short descriptions where existential philosophy has previously influenced the development of caring science. The concept of existential caring science is suggested as a research area for research on existential and meaning-oriented phenomena.

In this study, we highlight the importance of methodological creativity when researching existential phenomena in caring science. Our intention is to provide epistemological and methodological support that would encourage researchers to be creative when collecting data. One fruitful way to approach creativity involves basing one’s research on the epistemological and methodological ideas of lifeworld research. We will illustrate the usefulness of lifeworld research via examples from empirical caring science research and show how creativity may contribute to a profound understanding of patients’ experiences. Hopefully, this article will help other researchers be creative without losing epistemological foundations and scientific validity.

What enables well-being when experiencing existential concerns as a young adult is an under-explored area of research. In order to address young adults’ existential concerns and provide caring support that builds their resilience to meet life challenges, the purpose of the study is to describe the meaning of enabling well-being as experienced by young adults living with existential concerns. This phenomenological study is based on a reflective lifeworld research. Seventeen young adults, aged 17–27 years, were interviewed. The results is presented in an essential meaning and further explored with its variations and individual nuances of the phenomenon; enabling well-being. The essential meaning of enabling well-being, when experiencing existential concerns as a young adult, means finding a place to rest. Finding a place to rest means finding both movement and stillness in life to reflect upon one’s life story in order to understand oneself. The results also show that young adults enable their own well-being in many ways when experiencing existential concerns. When their existential concerns feel overwhelming, they need support from healthcare professionals. When young adults seek professional support, the professionals must be open and focus on the young adults’ life story to enable well-being. 

PURPOSE This study aimed to describe community-dwelling older adults’ perceptions of health and well-being in life after retirement.

METHODS This study is part of a larger project using a mixed-methods design to address lifestyles’ influence on community-dwelling older adults’ health. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 older adults in age 70 to 95 years. Data were analysed according to a phenomenographic approach.

RESULTS The results encompass four categories describing variations in community-dwelling older adults’ perceptions of health and well-being after retirement: feeling well despite illness and disease, interacting with and being useful for oneself and others, independently embracing opportunities and engaging in life, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

CONCLUSIONS The absence of illness and disease is not a clear prerequisite for a sense of health and well-being. To promote and preserve health and well-being after retirement, older adults strived for—and coached themselves to uphold—a balance in life, focusing on not burdening others. This life orientation after retirement must be acknowledged by society at large, especially from an ageist perspective, and in health and social care to preserve and promote health and well-being.

Purpose: This study aimed to explain and understand the existential meaning of the finality of life from the perspective of healthy older adults. Method: Participants were recruited from a major project on older adults’ life situations. They were interviewed about their thoughts on the end of life, and their responses were interpreted using a lifeworld hermeneutic approach. Results: The findings showed that thinking about the inevitable finality of life involves feelings of liberation, frightening thoughts, a comforting promise of something beyond death, acceptance of the concept of death as a companion in life and, a desire to live. Philosopher Simone de Beauvoir’s existential ideas about ageing and death were then used to further explain and understand the meaning of the finality of life and to support a comprehensive understanding. de Beauvoir suggests that when the temporal horizon of existence shrinks, one lives closer to the finality of life. For a comprehensive understanding, attributing meaning to the finality of life required the intertwining of reconciliation and displacement. The interpretations were further discussed using ideas from the fields of existential philosophy and caring science in order to develop a basis for caring practice. Conclusions: The conclusions suggested that professional health care for older adults would benefit from a lifeworld-led caring science approach that includes readiness for a caring dialogue that focuses on existential issues.

Introduction

Young men may struggle in life with challenges of various concerns about their identity and who they want to be in life. Many health issues arise from social norms and wider societal determinations and for today’s young men, following such norms poses a risk of losing oneself. An essential part of health are connected to the existential dimensions in life and concerns who you are, and how well you know and understand yourself. However; little is known about what it means for young men to live a life with existential concerns.

Purpose and method

The purpose of this phenomenological study, based on reflective lifeworld research (RLR), is to describe young men’s experiences of living with existential concerns for which they have sought support. Eight lifeworld interviews were conducted.

Results

The results essentially show that young men living with existential concerns describe their situations as living close to a bottomless darkness. This is further described according to four constituents: enduring everyday life, striving for a solution, hearing an inner self-critical voice, and wearing a hard shell.

Conclusion

We conclude that strengthening young men’s health processes requires healthcare professionals to create an atmosphere where young men feel safe talking about existential concerns without feeling exposed and vulnerable.

The participation of patients in their treatment and care is perceived as desirable; however, patients with mental illnesses experience limited opportunities to participate in their own care. As nurses play a key role in taking care of patients with mental illnesses, this study aimed to investigate how nurses within psychiatric care settings experience patients’ participation and howthey act to increase it. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight registered nurses, four of whom worked in apsychiatric institutional care setting and four of whom worked with outpatients. Data were analysed using a qualitative content analysis approach. The analysis identified a theme: a caring relationship is a prerequisite for patient participation. This theme wa sfurther developed through five subthemes. The findings illustrate critical aspects of the caring relationship by which the nurse–patient relationship can either facilitate or impede patient participation. A caring relationship builds trust and increases the patient’s sense of responsibility for their own condition. Because patients with mental illness are cared for in many different contexts, the results of the present study have implications for a broad range of healthcare environments.