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Mental health problems among adolescents and young adults are increasing worldwide together with loneliness, which is considered a global public health problem. The aim of this study was to explore loneliness through adolescents' and young adults' own descriptions and experiences. The research questions were: (1) How do adolescents and young adults describe and experience loneliness?, (2) What types of loneliness do adolescents and young adults describe? Data were collected through interviews with fifteen Swedish-speaking Finns aged 17–30. Content analysis was used for data analysis. Loneliness was linked to earlier negative experiences, mental illness or physical disorders, self-centred society, social norms and social media. Three different types of loneliness were identified: social loneliness, emotional loneliness and existential loneliness. It is important that adults and professionals are able to identify, interpret and understand signs that adolescents and young adults are experiencing negative feelings, which may indicate underlying loneliness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: For about 40 years, Katie Eriksson developed the caritative caring theory at Åbo Akademi University in Finland. However, a description regarding the most substantial concepts and the relationships between these is lacking and thus needs to be explored. Aims: The aim of the study was twofold: to explore and describe central concepts in the development of caritative caring theory from a postdoctoral perspective and to uncover and explore the relationships between the concepts. Methodology: The design of the study was qualitative with a mixed method approach. The material was collected from a postdoctoral group (n = 38) mainly through electronic questionnaires. The texts were interpreted through manifest and latent content analysis. Findings: The analyses generated five main categories including subcategories. The main categories were 'Caring' 'Ethos', 'Suffering' 'Health' and 'The human being'. The relation between the main concepts compiled as 'A tentative synthesis of the main concepts and the relationships between them'. Conclusion: This study contributes to an understanding of the most fundamental and valuable concepts in the development of caritative theory during its first 40 years according to postdoctoral researchers' perspectives. This study also displays that the concepts ethos and caring have the strongest relationship followed by that between caring and health, indicating the inner core of ethos and love within caring which bears the potential of enhancing the patient's well-being and health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]