Raising issues about children’s overweight – maternal and child health nurses’ experiences

Title. Raising issues about children’s overweight – maternal and child health nurses’ experiences. Aim. This paper is a report of a study carried out to describe maternal and child health nurses’ experiences of communicating and raising issues with parents about children’s overweight. Background. Children's overweight and obesity are rapidly increasing in many countries around the world. Maternal and child health nurses are in a unique position to influence parents, but studies of their experiences in communicating with parents about overweight are lacking. Method. Ten maternal and child health nurses in culturally diverse rural and urban areas in Melbourne, Australia, were interviewed in 2007. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis to identify key categories. Findings. During the analysis, eight categories were identified. In summary, nurses described it as difficult to raise weight issues, especially if parents were overweight themselves. The growth chart was felt to be an essential tool in discussions about weight and nurses often described themselves as holding ‘expert’ roles in conversations. Denial, defensiveness and excuses about children being overweight were common reactions among parents and were described as difficult to deal with. However, a strong nurse–parent relationship was experienced as facilitating conversations about weight. Conclusion. Raising issues about weight can be difficult, especially if parents are overweight themselves. Further research in communications is needed to understand and approach parents better – especially overweight parents – about their children’s weight. Interventions involving patient‐centred approaches in this context have potential, but the area is still relatively unexplored. Maternal and child health centres could be important contributors in such future interventions.     

Is it time to abandon paper? The use of emails and the Internet for health services research – a cost‐effectiveness and qualitative study

Rationale A multidisciplinary primary care clinic in Sydney, Australia, was planning to use electronic questionnaires to measure patient‐reported outcomes. Methods Semi‐structured interviews with 20 patients were undertaken to explore, among other things, practical issues regarding different questionnaire formats. The response rates and costs of email versus postal invitations were also evaluated. Results Compared with postal invitations, email invitations offered a cost‐effective and practical alternative, with a greater proportion of patients volunteering for an interview. Assuming the interface is well‐designed and user‐friendly, many patients were happy to use the Internet to answer questionnaires. Most patients thought alternate formats should also be offered. Patients discussed advantages and disadvantages of the Internet format. Although more younger patients and females had given the clinic an email address; both sexes, and young and old patients, expressed strong preferences for either wanting or not wanting to use the Internet. Conclusion Researchers should consider using email invitations as a cost‐effective first‐line strategy to recruit patients to participate in health services research. Internet questionnaires are potentially cheaper than paper questionnaires, and the format is acceptable to many patients. However, for the time being, concurrent alternate formats need to be offered to ensure wider acceptability and to maximize response rates.     

“We are always asked; ‘where are you from?’”: Chilean women’s reflections in midlife about their health and influence of migration to Sweden

Scand J Caring Sci; 2010; 24; 445–453
“We are always asked; ‘where are you from?’”: Chilean women’s reflections in midlife about their health and influence of migration to Sweden Aim: This study explored how Chilean immigrant women living in Sweden perceived and related their life situations and health status during midlife to their migration experiences. Method: Three focus group discussions (FGDs) were performed with 21 middle‐aged Chilean women (40–60 years) who had lived in Stockholm for at least 15–20 years. In‐depth interviews were held with three key informants. A combination of manifest and latent content analysis was performed to structure and categorize the tape‐recorded and transcribed data. Findings: Three main themes emerged from the data: (i) Chilean women’s reflections about migration and resettlement; (ii) Health during midlife; perceptions of Chilean women living in Sweden; and (iii) Strategies to manage their lives and to gain social acceptance and position. The Chilean women reflected about the discrimination they had met in the Swedish society and within the health care system along with health changes they had had during midlife. They connected some of their health related problems to their hardships of migration. They also expressed confusion about the health care they had received in Sweden including conflicting and mistrusting relationship with some health care providers. Important for their way of coping with their own health seemed to be a recognition of their own space, level of independence, self‐acceptance and awareness of power relationships. Conclusion: The results illuminate the importance of awareness of influence of gender and socio‐cultural aspects, power relationships and communication skills among health care providers on women’s health. Complementary interventions to the biomedical paradigm are needed and should be addressed in Swedish health staff educational programmes as well as in clinical training.     

Left alone – Swedish nurses’ and mental health workers’ experiences of being care providers in a social psychiatric dwelling context in the post‐health‐care‐restructuring era. A focus‐group interview study

Scand J Caring Sci; 2010; 24; 427–435
Left alone – Swedish nurses’ and mental health workers’ experiences of being care providers in a social psychiatric dwelling context in the post‐health‐care‐restructuring era. A focus‐group interview study The professional role of nurses and mental health workers in social psychiatry is being re‐defined towards a recovery, client‐focused perspective. Approximately 0.7 percent of the adult population in Sweden suffers from severe mental illness leading to a need for community services. The primary aims of the Mental Health Reform in 1995 in Sweden were to improve the quality of life for people with severe, long‐term mental illness and, through normalization and integration, enhancing their opportunities to communicate with and participate in society. This study examines nurses’ and mental health workers’ views and experiences of being care providers in a municipal psychiatric group dwelling context when caring for clients suffering from severe mental illness. Three focus group interviews were made and thematic content analysis was conducted. Four themes were formulated: ‘Being a general human factotum not unlike the role of parents’, ‘Having a complex and ambiguous view of clients’, ‘Working in a mainly ‘strangled’ situation’, and ‘Feeling overwhelming frustration’. The staff, for instance, experienced a heavy workload that highly involved themselves as persons and restricted organization. The individual relational aspects of the nursing role, the risk of instrumentalizing the staff due to an organizational economical teleopathy (meaning a pathological desire to react goals), and the high societal demands on accomplishing the Mental Health Reform goals are discussed. To redefine the professional role of nurses and mental health workers in the community, in Sweden known as municipality, they need support in the form of continuously education, supervision, and dialogue with politicians as well as the public in general.