Parent’s experiences of feeding their preterm infant in Neonatal Units in Sweden. : Ethnographic design

Introduction: Studies have shown that having a preterm infant may cause stress and powerlessness for parents. It is important to support parents around the feeding situation, and that the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) has appropriate space and place to help the family to bond to each other. For the healthcare professionals it is important to promote skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding; particularly for preterm infants. There are many studies on parent’s experiences of NICUs and a few studies on parent’s experiences of feeding their infant in the NICU. Objective: The objective of this study was to explore parents experiences of feeding their infant in the NICU. Design: The study was conducted using an ethnographic design. Results: A global theme of ‘The journey in feeding’ was developed from four organising themes: ‘Ways of infant feeding’; ‘Environmental influences’; ‘Relationships’ and ‘Emotional factors’. These themes illustrate the challenges mothers reported with different methods of feeding. The environment had a big impact on parent’s experiences of infant feeding. Some mothers felt that breastfeeding seemed unnatural because their infant was so tiny but breastfeeding and skin-to-skin contact helped them to bond to their infant. The mothers thought it was difficult to keep up with the milk production by only pumping. Routines were not inviting parents to find their own rhythm. They also felt stressed about the weighing. Healthcare professionals had positive and negative influences on the parents. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that while all parents expressed the wish to breastfeed, their ‘journey in feeding’ was highly influenced by method of feeding, environmental, relational and emotional factors. The general focus upon routines and assessing milk intake generated anxiety and reduced relationality. Midwives and neonatal nurses need to ensure that they emphasise and support the relational aspects of parenting and avoid over-emphasising milk intake and associated progress of the infant

Older people's experience of utilisation and administration of medicines in a health- and social care context

BACKGROUND: People living at home who lack ability to manage their medicine are entitled to assistance to improve adherence provided by a home care assistant employed by social care. AIM: The aim was to describe how older people with chronic diseases, living at home, experience the use and assistance of administration of medicines in the context of social care. DESIGN: A qualitative descriptive study. METHODS: Ten participants (age 65+) living at home were interviewed in the participants' own homes. Latent content analysis was used. FINDINGS: The assistance eases daily life with regard to practical matters and increases adherence to a medicine regimen. There were mixed feelings about being dependent on assistance; it interferes with self-sufficiency at a time of health transition. Participants were balancing empowerment and a dubious perception of the home care assistants' knowledge of medicine and safety. Physicians' and district nurses' professional knowledge was a safety guarantee for the medicine process. CONCLUSIONS: Assistance eases daily life and medicine regimen adherence. Dependence on assistance may affect self-sufficiency. Perceived safety varied relating to home care assistants' knowledge of medicine. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: A well-functioning medicine assistance is crucial to enable older people to remain at home. A person-centred approach to health- and social care delivery is efficient and improve outcome for the recipient of care.

Can therapy dogs evoke awareness of one's past and present life in persons with Alzheimer's disease?

BACKGROUND: Persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD) sometimes express themselves through behaviours that are difficult to manage for themselves and their caregivers, and to minimise these symptoms alternative methods are recommended. For some time now, animals have been introduced in different ways into the environment of persons with dementia. Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) includes prescribed therapy dogs visiting the person with dementia for a specific purpose. AIM: This study aims to illuminate the meaning of the lived experience of encounters with a therapy dog for persons with Alzheimer's disease. METHOD: Video recorded sessions were conducted for each visit of the dog and its handler to a person with AD (10 times/person). The observations have a life-world approach and were transcribed and analysed using a phenomenological hermeneutical approach. RESULTS: The result shows a main theme 'Being aware of one's past and present existence', meaning to connect with one's senses and memories and to reflect upon these with the dog. The time spent with the dog shows the person recounting memories and feelings, and enables an opportunity to reach the person on a cognitive level. CONCLUSIONS: The present study may contribute to health care research and provide knowledge about the use of trained therapy dogs in the care of older persons with AD in a way that might increase quality of life and well-being in persons with dementia. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The study might be useful for caregivers and dog handlers in the care of older persons with dementia.

The Tastes of a Nation: M.F.K. Fisher and the Genre of Culinary Literature

This project works to situate this gastronomic revolution within a historical context, arguing at greater length that our contemporary food culture in the United States is in part the legacy of the body of food representations. Here we witness the evolution of a particular culinary sensibility that appealed to readers differently in different historical moments, as exhibited by the variety of ways that Fisher’s body of work was publicly received. By the end of the twentieth century, Fisher’s ethos reigned supreme, because Americans began to view food with less fear and anxiety as they slowly became more comfortable expressing their physical appetites and desires. By the millennium, Americans began to respect and honor the physical appetite and give more consideration to the quality and origin of the foods that they consumed. Feelings of guilt associated with the enjoyment of food began to diminish as well.

Non-Participatory Poverty

In a capitalistic market society, all individuals should have an equal opportunity to participate, with varying extents, in consumerism. Democracy entitles one to political participation but people have come to value consumer participation as having more importance as shopping and the exchange of goods and services have become an important part of everyday living. Yet not everyone can participate in consumerism and they end up suffering, especially the children living in poverty. These children internalize the message that since they cannot participate in a society based on material consumption, they cannot belong. Poverty not only causes individuals to experience their lives differently, but also affects the development of one’s physical, cognitive, social, and emotional identity. Many of the consequences of poverty have been scrutinized and studied to try to explain the experiences of such children. What has not been closely examined however is the relationship between the inability to participate in a consumer society and the bodily being, thoughts, actions, and feelings of impoverished children. I will discuss how these effects of poverty result in the inability of children to participate in society.

Psychological and biochemical mechanisms of schizoprenia

Schizophrenia is a disease whose physical cause is unknown despite the attempts of several research teams to discover a physical basis for it. Some success has been gained in genetic studies which indicate that schizophrenia is an inherited disability. However, since research tools are at present so sadly inadequate, the value of pursuing a genetic line of reasoning is questionable. To compensate for the lack of biochemical certainties in treating mental illness, psychological theories have been constructed to explain the schizophrenia syndrome. Normal personality is seen as the resultant of environmental and inherited influences. Involved in the formation of personality are the processes of differentiation and integration, maturation of inherited traits, and the learning processes. As personality develops. consciousness of the self, inferiority feelings, and compensatory mechanisms, and the transformation of interests into drives exert a decided influence upon personality growth. Finally, in the mature personality, an integrating philosophy of life, a large variety of interests, and the possibility of self-objectification become evident.