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Evidence indicates that while service users are dissatisfied with current ward round practices, studies of how professionals experience this practice are sparse. This study highlights staff view of the once-a-week psychiatric ward round compared to a reformed ward round taking place every weekday. Interviews were conducted at one acute psychiatric ward in north-west England. Our analysis revealed a core theme, 'forming a new way of working', which could be understood from three themes. The theme, 'bound by tradition', emphasized how the traditional ward round represented a double-edged sword: it provided a safe structure, but it also highlighted a shared awareness of an urgent need to leave old ways of working behind. The process of change became discernable in the themes 'juggling the change' and 'light at the end of the tunnel', which showed that restructuring the traditional ward round was both possible and valued. We found that staff views on ward rounds are more complex than had been earlier understood, but new ways of working can be implemented, if the impact of tradition, the process of change, and the time to bed down are taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a guest editorial in this journal, Rahm Hallberg [Rahm Hallberg, I., 2006. Challenges for future nursing research: providing evidence for health-care practice. International Journal of Nursing Studies 43, 923-927] called for research which has greater explanatory power to determine the effectiveness of nursing interventions. In this paper we critique the suggestion made by the evidence-based nursing movement that randomisation per se is the principal route to better quality nursing research. In contrast, we evaluate the new CONSORT criteria for pragmatic RCTs, which assess the quality of strategies to reduce selection, performance, attrition and detection biases, allowing many different types of comparative studies to be covered by application of the checklist. We propose that randomisation alone is a necessary but insufficient strategy and that nursing researchers rise to Rahm Hallberg's challenge by adopting the extended criteria to assist in the critical appraisal, design and reporting of all experimental research in nursing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Pain is one of the most frequent problems among patients diagnosed with cancer. Despite the availability of effective pharmacological treatments, this group of patients often receives less than optimal treatment. Research into nurses' pain management highlights certain factors, such as lack of knowledge and attitudes and inadequate procedures for systematic pain assessment, as common barriers to effective pain management. However, educational interventions targeting nurses' pain management have shown promise. As cancer-related pain is also known to have a negative effect on vital aspects of the patient's life, as well as being commonly associated with problems such as sleep, fatigue, depression and anxiety, further development of knowledge within this area is warranted. Methods/design A quasi-experimental study design will be used to investigate whether the implementation of guidelines for systematic daily pain assessments following a theory-based educational intervention will result in an improvement in knowledge and attitude among nurses. A further aim is to investigate whether the intervention that targets nurses' behaviour will improve hospital patients' perception of pain. Data regarding nurses' knowledge and attitudes to pain (primary outcome), patient perception regarding pain (secondary outcome), together with socio-demographic variables, will be collected at baseline and at four weeks and 12 weeks following the intervention. Discussion Nursing care is nowadays acknowledged as an increasingly complicated activity and "nursing complexity is such that it can be seen as the quintessential complex intervention." To be able to change and improve clinical practice thus requires multiple points of attack appropriate to meet complex challenges. Consequently, we expect the theory-based intervention used in our quasi-experimental study to improve care as well as quality of life for this group of patients and we also envisage that evidence-based guidelines targeting this patient group's pain will be implemented more widely. Trial Registration Number ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01313234

Introduction: Knowledge about long-term care services ability, regardless of if the service is home-based or facility-based, to provide an optimal and comprehensive fundamental nursing care (understood as focusing on physical, relational and psychosocial needs) consistently over time is sparse. Research into nursing indicates the presence of a discontinuous and fragmented healthcare service, and that fundamental nursing care such as mobilisation, nutrition and hygiene among older people (65 years and above) seems to be, regardless of reasons, systematically rationed by nursing staff. Thus, our scoping review aims to explore the published scientific literature on fundamental nursing care and continuity of care targeting older people's needs while also describing identified nursing interventions with the same foci in a long-term care context., Methods and Analysis: The upcoming scoping review will be conducted in accordance with Arksey and O'Malley's methodological framework for scoping studies. Search strategies will be developed and adjusted to each database, for example, PubMed, CINAHL and PsychINFO. Searches will be limited to the years 2002-2023. Studies focusing our aim, regardless of study design, will be eligible for inclusion. Included studies will be quality assessed and data will be charted using an extraction form. Textual data will be presented through a thematic analysis and numerical data by a descriptive numerical analysis. This protocol adheres to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses protocol checklist., Ethics and Dissemination: The upcoming scoping review will take into consideration ethical reporting in primary research as part of the quality assessment. The findings will be submitted to an open-access peer-reviewed journal. Under the Norwegian Act on Medical and Health-related Research, this study does not need ethical clearance by a regional ethical review authority as it will not generate any primary data or obtain sensitive data or biological samples., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Introduction: What nurses do and how they do it can influence older people's experiences of the quality of long-term care. In addition, a clear role definition for nurses supports them in giving patients appropriate basic care. Despite this, there is a lack of a clear role definition regarding policy, work descriptions and expectations. Therefore, the objective of this scoping review is to map the literature on nurses' role, function and care activities and/or nursing interventions, as well as to identify nursing interventions (as models of nursing care, patient care pathways and/or clinical practice guidelines) in relation to older people in long-term care. Hence, to explore how nurse's role, function and care activities in relation to older people's basic care needs are described and understood by key stakeholders (older people, their next of kin, nurses) in long-term care., Methods and Analysis: Arksey and O'Malley's methodologic framework for scoping studies will be used for this upcoming scoping review. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews checklist will be followed. Search strategies will be developed in collaboration with the research team and an experienced librarian. Search strategies will be adjusted for each of the databases: PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL and Scopus. Data will be charted using a pilot extraction sheet. Quantitative data will be described numerically, and qualitative data will be analysed using thematic analysis. The key stakeholders will be consulted for validation., Ethics and Dissemination: The upcoming study will follow All European Academies' principles for good research. The findings will be used to inform the design of future studies aiming to develop a nursing intervention targeting older peoples' basic care needs., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Introduction: Older people receiving healthcare in long-term care contexts (eg, home healthcare, sheltered housing and nursing home contexts) are especially vulnerable to developing frailty and functional decline. Considering the negative effects associated with these conditions and the possibility of preventing them from progressing, it is vital that nurses possess a broad knowledge base related to them. Particularly as prevention related to these conditions lies well within their remit. Such knowledge could guide the development of effective models of care, ensuring continuity and, hence, quality of care. Our objective will be to review published literature on existing models of care targeting frailty and/or functional decline and how these conditions are described by older people themselves, significant others and nurses in relation to long-term care., Methods and Analysis: The scoping review will be conducted in accordance with Arksey and O'Malley's methodological framework. Recent methodological developments will be considered. PubMed, CINAHL and PsycINFO will be searched. Eligibility criteria will be peer-reviewed papers and written in English. All types of study designs will be eligible and included papers will be quality and ethically assessed. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA)-Protocol checklist for protocols and the PRISMA for Scoping Reviews checklist were followed in this paper., Ethics and Dissemination: As the study outlined in this protocol is a scoping review, no ethics approval was needed for this protocol nor for the upcoming study. The findings will be published in an open-access, peer-reviewed journal. Additionally, the findings will guide a research project following the Medical Research Council's framework for developing and evaluating complex interventions. Thus, supporting us in developing a model of care related to the detection and prevention of frailty and/or functional decline among older people in a long-term care context., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Aim: The objective of this scoping review was to review the published literature on existing teaching strategies targeting bachelor nursing students' critical thinking and explore how these strategies are described by students and educators. The research questions were: (i) Which teaching strategies are described in the literature targeting critical thinking among nursing students? and (ii) How are these teaching strategies described and experienced by students and/or nurse educators?, Background: Critical thinking is integrated in the many clinical assignments and responsibilities with which registered nurses are faced. Therefore, it is important that nurse educators implement teaching strategies supporting bachelor nursing students' development of critical thinking to prepare them for their professional responsibilities., Design: Scoping review, Open Science Framework (OSF) registries DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/D89SB., Methods: The scoping review followed the six steps of Arksey and O'Malley (2005). Systematic searches were conducted using the databases PubMed, CINAHL, ERIC, ERC and PsycINFO. Eligible studies were quality assessed and text excerpts answering the research questions were analysed by a thematic analysis., Results: Our findings represent 19 published studies and can be understood according to two themes: the importance of the educational conditions and the impact of implemented teaching strategies. The first theme reflected not only the descriptions of important traits in the educational milieu facilitating the development of critical thinking but also the importance of how the content targeting such skills were delivered and organised. The second theme mirrored descriptions of how the students, through the teaching strategies, realized the need for collaboration to facilitate critical thinking. Further, it showed how the teaching strategies fostered professional growth and learning adaptation, by encouraging the students to question their knowledge and facilitating their development of clinical knowledge., Conclusions: The strategies used in the facilitation of critical thinking need to incorporate collaboration and student-centredness, creating a relaxed climate where the educators can assist through guidance and support. This calls for the implementation of teaching strategies whereby both educators and students are active in facilitating the learning environment., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Patients with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) are often misinterpreted and misunderstood. Studies show that, in general, healthcare professionals have limited knowledge about IDD, and registered nurses (RNs) often report feeling unprepared to support this group of patients. Therefore, more knowledge about how to adequately address care for this patient group is warranted. This qualitative study employs an interpretative descriptive design to explore and describe Swedish RNs' perceptions of caring for patients with IDD, here in a home-care setting. Twenty RNs were interviewed between September 2018 and May 2019, and the resulting data were analysed through an inductive qualitative content analysis. The study adheres to consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ). Our analysis found that nurses' perceptions of caring for patients with an IDD could be understood from three overarching categories: nursing held hostage in the context of care, care dependent on intuition and proven experience and contending for the patients' right to adequate care. Our findings show that the home-care context and organisation were not adjusted to the needs of the patients. This resulted in RNs feeling unable to provide care in accordance with their professional values. They also explained that they had not mastered the available augmentative and alternative communication tools, instead using support staff as interpreters for their patients. Finally, on a daily basis, the RNs caring for this group of patients took an active stance and fought for the patients' right to receive the right care at the right time by the right person. This was particularly the case with issues involving psychiatric care., (© 2021 The Authors. Health and Social Care in the Community published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objective: This study aimed to describe registered nurses' (RNs) experiences of providing respiratory care in relation to hospital acquired pneumonia (HAP), specifically among patients with acute stroke being cared for at in-patient stroke units., Background: One of the most common and serious respiratory complications associated with acute stroke is HAP. Respiratory care is among the fundamentals of patient care, and thus competency in this field is expected as part of nursing training. However, there is a paucity of literature detailing RNs' experiences with respiratory care in relation to HAP, specifically among patients with acute stroke, in the context of stroke units. As such, there is a need to expand the knowledge base relating to respiratory care focusing on HAP, to assist with evidence-based nursing., Design: A qualitative descriptive study., Method: Eleven RNs working in four different acute stroke units in Southern Sweden participated in the current study. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews, and the transcribed interviews were analysed using inductive content analysis., Results: Three overarching categories were identified: (1), awareness of risk assessments and risk factors for HAP (2) targeting HAP through multiple nursing care actions, and (3) challenges in providing respiratory care to patients in risk of HAP. These reflected the similarities and differences in the experiences that RNs had with providing respiratory care in relation to HAP among in-patients with acute stroke., Conclusions: The findings from this study suggest that the RNs experience organisational challenges in providing respiratory care for HAP among patients with acute stroke. Respiratory care plays a vital role in the identification and prevention of HAP, but our findings imply that RNs' knowledge needs to be improved, the fundamentals of nursing care need to be prioritised, and evidence-based guidelines must be implemented. RNs would also benefit from further education and support, in order to lead point-of-care nursing in multidisciplinary stroke teams.

Podcasting is used in higher education so various digital resources can be shared with students. This review aims to synthesise evidence on podcasting in nursing and midwifery education. PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Scopus and ERIC databases were searched using key terms. 242 articles were found and screened. Data extraction, quality assessment and data analysis, underpinned by a Social Media Learning Model, were conducted on relevant studies. Twenty-six studies were included in the review. Three themes emerged; 1) learning and other outcomes, 2) antecedents to learning, and 3) learning process. Students seemed to acquire new knowledge and skills by using podcasts and it also appeared to improve clinical confidence. The organisation of podcasting, digital literacy and e-Professionalism, the personal motivation of learners, and flexible access to the technology seemed to impact the delivery of this educational intervention. Mechanisms that appeared to affect the learning process were the speed of exchange, the type of social media user, the timeframe, quality of information, the functionality of podcasts and other learning activities. This review synthesised evidence on podcasting in nursing and midwifery education. The technology was seen as a positive learning tool but more robust research examining its efficacy in improving learning outcomes is needed., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Studies have highlighted deficiencies in the information given by nurses to surgical patients. Studies also show that the role of the nurse in connection with the discharge of patients after surgery is unclear. The aim of the study was therefore to elicit and to explore registered nurses' conceptions of the phenomenon of nursing care information given to surgical patients in connection with hospital discharge ., Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fifteen nurses at surgical unites at the southern parts of Sweden. The interviews were transcribed and then analysed according to the phenomenographic approach., Result: The analysis resulted into three descriptive categories which conjointly may be said to express the general conceptions of the informants. Thus, according to the informants, the provision of nursing care information in connection with the discharge of surgical patients is: (i) not a nursing priority, (ii) adapted to the context of care, and (iii) a possible enhancement of the nursing process and the quality of care., Conclusion: The result of the study implies that the discharge conversation may be seen as an opportunity for the nursing profession to formalise and to enhance the quality of care in connection with the discharge of surgical patients., Competing Interests: Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interest., (© The Author(s) 2020.)

Aim: This study aimed to illuminate nurses' experience of continence care for older people receiving home care, either in their own home or in an assisted living facility., Background: Registered Nurses (RNs) have a major role to play in identifying and establishing appropriate actions regarding continence care for older people. However, the crucial nursing care pathway for continence care is commonly described as poor., Methods: Interviews were conducted with 11 RNs providing home care, and the transcribed texts were analysed using inductive content analysis., Result: The impressions of RNs were categorised according to four themes: perceptions of continence care, an open approach to continence care, the need for personalised aid fittings and the importance of teamwork in continence care. Key findings were the importance of teamwork; the need for nurses to embrace leadership at the point of care and be more visible in terms of the provision of direct care; substantiation that evidence-based interventions, such as scheduled toileting and prompted voiding, should constitute the norm in continence care within the context of home care; and the need for nurses to support the right of older persons to receive an assessment of their continence problems, deemed to be the minimum standard of quality care., Conclusion: The provision of continence care that is based on key nursing standards, such as evidence-based and person-centred care, as well as individualised continence care that is based on evidenced-based guidelines, would ensure an improvement in the continence care that is presently on offer to older people., Implications for Practice: Nurses need to embrace leadership at the point of care and to be more visible with the provision of direct care in order to improve continence care for older people receiving home care., (© 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Introduction: Applying critical thinking is essential for nursing students both in an academic and clinical context. Particularly, as critical thinking is a vital part of nurses' everyday problem-solving and decision-making processes. Therefore, regardless of the topic taught or the setting in which it is taught, it requires teaching strategies especially targeting students' critical thinking skills and abilities. One challenge with the latter is the difficulties to assess and evaluate the impact of such teaching strategies on the students' critical thinking disposition. Hence, our objective will be to review published literature on; existing teaching strategies and outcomes assessments targeting nursing students' critical thinking skills and abilities., Methods and Analysis: Our scoping review will be conducted in accordance with Arksey and O'Malley's framework for scoping studies. Search strategies will be developed in cooperation with an experienced librarian, and adjusted to each individual database for example, CINAHL, PubMed, PsycINFO, ERIC and ERC. A preliminary search in CINAHL was conducted on the 17 th of July 2019. Peer-reviewed published studies conducted with a qualitative, quantitative or mixed method design and focussing our objectives, will be eligible for inclusion. Included studies will be quality assessed in accordance with their study design. Data will be charted using a standardised extraction form. The qualitative data will be presented through a thematic analyses, and the quantitative data by descriptive numerical analysis. Lastly, nurse educators and nursing students will be consulted for validation of the findings from the scoping review., Ethics and Dissemination: Under the Swedish Ethical Review Act (2003:460) this study does not need ethical clearance by a Regional Ethical Review Authority as it not includes any primary empirical data on biological material or sensitive information. The findings will be used to inform the design of a future study aiming to develop an, and subsequently evaluate it, educational intervention targeting teaching strategies focussing on nursing students' critical thinking skills and abilities., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

It is common to undertake qualitative research alongside randomised controlled trials (RCTs) when evaluating complex interventions. Researchers tend to analyse these datasets one by one and then consider their findings separately within the discussion section of the final report, rarely integrating quantitative and qualitative data or findings, and missing opportunities to combine data in order to add rigour, enabling thorough and more complete analysis, provide credibility to results, and generate further important insights about the intervention under evaluation. This paper reports on a 2 day expert meeting funded by the United Kingdom Medical Research Council Hubs for Trials Methodology Research with the aims to identify current strengths and weaknesses in the integration of quantitative and qualitative methods in clinical trials, establish the next steps required to provide the trials community with guidance on the integration of mixed methods in RCTs and set-up a network of individuals, groups and organisations willing to collaborate on related methodological activity. We summarise integration techniques and go beyond previous publications by highlighting the potential value of integration using three examples that are specific to RCTs. We suggest that applying mixed methods integration techniques to data or findings from studies involving both RCTs and qualitative research can yield insights that might be useful for understanding variation in outcomes, the mechanism by which interventions have an impact, and identifying ways of tailoring therapy to patient preference and type. Given a general lack of examples and knowledge of these techniques, researchers and funders will need future guidance on how to undertake and appraise them., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.)

Background: Depressive symptoms and/or depression are commonly experienced by older people. Both are underdiagnosed, undertreated and regularly overlooked by healthcare professionals. Healthcare facilities for people aged ≥75 years have been in place in Sweden since 2015. The aim of these care centres, which are managed by registered nurses (RNs), is to offer care adjusted to cater to the complex needs and health problems of older people. Although the mental health of older people is prioritised in these centres, research into the experience of RNs of depressive symptoms and/or depression in older people in this setting is limited. Therefore, this study aimed to illuminate RNs, working at care centres for older people, experience of identifying and intervening in cases of depressive symptoms., Methods: The data for this qualitative descriptive study were collected through interviews ( n  = 10) with RNs working at 10 care centres for older people in southern Sweden. The transcribed texts were analysed using inductive content analysis., Results: The participants' experiences could be understood from four predominant themes: (1) challenging to identify, (2) described interventions, (3) prerequisites for identification, and (4) contextual influences. Key findings were that it was difficult to identify depression as it often manifested as physical symptoms; evidence-based nursing interventions were generally not the first-line treatment used; trust, continuity and the ability of RNs to think laterally; and the context influenced the ability of RNs to manage older people's depressive symptoms and/or depression., Conclusions: The process of identifying depressive symptoms and performing an appropriate intervention was found to be complex, especially as older people were reluctant to present at the centres and provided obscure reasons for doing so. A nurse-patient relationship that was built on trust and was characterised by continuity of care was identified as a necessary prerequisite. Appropriate nursing interventions-afforded the same status as pharmacological treatment-are warranted as the first-line treatment of depression. Further research is also needed into efficacious nursing interventions targeting depressive symptoms and/or depression., Competing Interests: Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Little is known about nursing students' experiences of caring for patients from diverse cultures, which is an important factor in educational settings when it comes to understanding whether the teaching strategies applied are successful. Thus, the aim of this study was to conduct a scoping review of the literature, thereby synthesising existing studies to explore nursing students' experiences of caring for patients with different cultural backgrounds from theirs. A systematic article search was done in PubMed, CINAHL and ERIC. A total of 996 studies were found in the searches and finally seven studies met the inclusion criteria and were included. The analysis of the seven included studies was interpreted to represent two overarching themes, namely the challenge of communication and non-mutual language and the challenge of culture and culturally influenced behaviour, representing nursing students' experiences of caring for patients with a different cultural background from theirs. A major challenge for nursing educators appears to be creating pedagogical interventions that cultivate a humble, solicitous and caring curiosity among students, such that they do not perceive only challenges in caring for culturally diverse patients., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In this article we ask our profession to consider whether something is rotten at the core of modern nursing. We will use our own experiences as patients, together with published literature, to ask questions of our profession in perpetrating what one of our colleagues recently, and with great embarrassment, referred to as 'shitty nursing'. Our intention is most certainly not to offend any readers, for this term has been used in literature for more than one hundred years to describe bad situations, including those where events or people's behaviour are of a low standard. Our intention instead, is to challenge ourselves, the profession and you the reader by raising a measured debate which seems at present to be missing within the profession. We examine the potential idea that poor nursing care may not be the exception, but horrifyingly, may be the new normal. We are particularly concerned that patients' fundamental care needs may be falling into an ever widening gap between assistant and registered nurses. Whilst we acknowledge the potential causes of poor nursing care, causes that are often cited by nurses themselves, we come to the conclusion that a mature profession including clinicians, educators, administrators, researchers and regulators cannot continually blame contextual factors for its failings. A mature profession with an intact contract between itself and society must shoulder some of the responsibility for its own problems. We do suggest a way forward, including a mix of reconciliation, refocus and research, underpinned by what we argue is a much needed dose of professional humility. Readers may take us to task for potentially overstating the problem, ignoring non-nursing drivers, and downplaying other significant factors. You may think that there is much in nursing to glory in. However, we make no apology for presenting our views. Our lived experiences tell us something different. As professional nurses our main aim is to ensure that our adverse experiences as patients are statistical anomalies, and our future encounters with nursing care represent all that we know to be excellent in our profession. We leave you to judge and comment., (Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Background: Research suggests that registered nurses (RNs) do not feel adequately prepared to support patients with intellectual disability disorder (IDD). This is unsurprising, as few European health sciences curricula include undergraduate and graduate training courses in IDD. As RNs are often in the front line of care, eliciting in-depth knowledge about how they experience nursing this group of patients is vital. Our aim in this study was to develop a conceptual understanding about RNs' experiences of nursing patients with IDD., Method: We undertook a systematic review and meta-ethnography to synthesise qualitative research studies found in PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, ERIC databases and by manual searching to identify additional studies. We condensed translatable second-order constructs, and developed an idiomatic translation. Finally, we formulated line of argument (LOA) syntheses to capture the core of the idiomatic translations., Results: We included eighteen published studies from eight countries involving 190 RNs. The RNs' experience of nursing patients with IDD were reflected in 14 LOAs. Six of these reflected a tentatively more distinctive and at times unique conceptualisation of RNs' experience of nursing this group of patients. The remaining eight LOAs represented a conceptualisation of nursing per se, a conceptualisation of nursing that was interpreted as a universal experience regardless of context and patient group., Conclusion: Lack of awareness and knowledge are likely breeding grounds for the 'otherness' that still surrounds this group of patients. In encounters between patients and RNs, focusing on the person behind the disability label could be one way to secure relevant nursing care for patients with IDD. Undertaking appropriate under- and postgraduate education alongside the implementation of nursing models focusing on patient-centred care would help RNs in reducing the health and care inequalities this group of patients still face., Trial Registration: PROSPERO 2017: CRD42017077703., Competing Interests: The author declare that they have no competing interest.MA is a doctoral student in Caring Science at the Faculty of Health and Society at Malmö University in Malmö, Sweden. MA also works in the community as an enrolled nurse caring for patients with IDD. Dr. CB is a registered nurse and a senior lecturer at the faculty of Health and Society at Malmö University in Malmö, Sweden. CB also serves as an expert adviser for the Swedish Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Assessment of Social Services. Dr. KP is a registered nurse and senior lecturer at the Faculty of Health and Society at Malmö University in Malmö, Sweden. Her research expertise is the oral health of patients with IDD. Both CB and KP are experienced in systematic reviews. Finally, Dr. GB is a senior lecture and reader in nursing at the Faculty of Health and Society at Malmö University in Malmö, Sweden. Her area of expertise is nursing, older people, quantitative and qualitative designs as well as mixed method designs.Not applicable.Not applicable.Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Background: European research in nursing has been criticized as overwhelmingly descriptive, wasteful and with little relevance to clinical practice. This second triennial review follows our previous review of articles published in 2010, to determine whether the situation has changed., Objective: To identify, appraise, and synthesize reports of European nursing research published during 2013 in the top 20 nursing research journals., Methods: Systematic review with descriptive results synthesis., Results: We identified 2,220 reports, of which 254, from 19 European countries, were eligible for analysis; 215 (84.7%) were primary research, 36 (14.2%) secondary research, and three (1.2%) mixed primary and secondary. Forty-eight (18.9%) of studies were experimental: 24 (9.4%) randomized controlled trials, 11 (4.3%) experiments without randomization, and 13 (5.1%) experiments without control group. A total of 106 (41.7%) articles were observational: 85 (33.5%) qualitative research. The majority (158; 62.2%) were from outpatient and secondary care hospital settings. One hundred and sixty-five (65.0%) articles reported nursing intervention studies: 77 (30.3%) independent interventions, 77 (30.3%) interdependent, and 11 (4.3%) dependent. This represents a slight increase in experimental studies compared with our previous review (18.9% vs. 11.7%). The quality of reporting remained very poor., Linking Evidence to Action: European research in nursing remains overwhelmingly descriptive. We call on nursing researchers globally to raise the level of evidence and, therefore, the quality of care and patient outcomes. We urge them to replicate our study in their regions, diagnose reasons for the lack of appropriate research, identify solutions, and implement a deliberate, targeted, and systematic global effort to increase the number of experimental, high quality, and relevant studies into nursing interventions. We also call on journal editors to mandate an improvement in the standards of research reporting in nursing journals., (© 2018 The Authors. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Sigma Theta Tau International The Honor Society of Nursing.)

Background: Of various chronic diseases, low back pain (LBP) is the most common and debilitating musculoskeletal condition among older adults aged 65 years or older. While more than 17 million older adults in the USA suffer from at least one episode of LBP annually, approximately six million of them experience chronic LBP that significantly affects their quality of life and physical function. Since many older adults with chronic LBP may also have comorbidities and are more sensitive to pain than younger counterparts, these older individuals may face unique age-related physical and psychosocial problems. While some qualitative research studies have investigated the life experiences of older adults with chronic LBP, no systematic review has integrated and synthesized the scientific knowledge regarding the influence of chronic LBP on the physical, psychological, and social aspects of lives in older adults. Without such information, it may result in unmet care needs and ineffective interventions for this vulnerable group. Therefore, the objective of this systematic review is to synthesize knowledge regarding older adults' experiences of living with chronic LBP and the implications on their daily lives., Methods/design: Candidate publications will be sought from databases: PubMed, CINAHL, and PsycINFO. Qualitative research studies will be included if they are related to the experiences of older adults with chronic LBP. Two independent reviewers will screen the titles, abstracts, and full-text articles for eligibility. The reference lists of the included studies will be checked for additional relevant studies. Forward citation tracking will be conducted. Meta-ethnography will be chosen to synthesize the data from the included studies. Specifically, the second-order concepts that are deemed to be translatable by two independent reviewers will be included and synthesized to capture the core of the idiomatic translations (i.e., a translation focusing on salient categories of meaning rather than the literal translation of words or phrases)., Discussion: This systematic review of qualitative evidence will enable researchers to identify potential unmet care needs, as well as to facilitate the development of effective, appropriate, person-centered health care interventions targeting this group of individuals., Systematic Review Registration: PROSPERO 2018: CRD42018091292.

Background: The evaluation and treatment of older people's nutritional care is generally viewed as a low priority by nurses. However, given that eating and drinking are fundamental human activities, the support and enhancement of an optimal nutritional status should be regarded as a vital part of nursing. Registered nurses must therefore be viewed as having an important role in assessing and evaluating the nutritional needs of older people as well as the ability to intervene in cases of malnutrition. This study aimed to illuminate the experience of participating in nutritional care from the perspectives of older people and registered nurses. A further aim is to illuminate the latter's experience of nutritional care per se., Methods: A qualitative, descriptive design was adopted. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews ( n  = 12) with eight registered nurses and four older persons (mean age 85.7 years) in a city in the southern part of Sweden. The subsequent analysis was conducted by content analysis., Result: The analysis reflected three themes: 'participation in nutritional care equals information', 'nutritional care out of remit and competence' and 'nutritional care more than just choosing a flavour'. They were interpreted to illuminate the experience of participation in nutritional care from the perspective of older people and RNs, and the latter's experience of nutritional care in particular per se., Conclusions: Our findings indicate that a paternalistic attitude in care as well as asymmetry in the nurse-patient relationship are still common characteristics of modern clinical nursing practice for older people. Considering that participation should be central to nursing care, and despite the RN's awareness of the importance of involving the older persons in their nutritional care this was not reflected in reality. Strategies to involve older persons in their nutritional care in a nursing home context need to take into account that for this population participation might not always be experienced as an important part of nursing care., Competing Interests: This study was conducted in compliance with the established ethical guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki. Although under the Swedish Ethical Review Act 2003:460 this study did not require ethical clearance, we applied for and received ethical guidance from the Ethical Advisory Board in Southern Sweden (No. HS2016/28). The researcher gave oral and written information and obtained written informed consent from all participants before the interviews. Participation was voluntary, and the participants had the right to withdraw at any time without further explanation. The participants gave consent for direct quotes from their interviews to be used in this paper. To ensure confidentiality, each quotation was assigned a pseudonym in the form of a capital letter. Data were stored securely and anonymously in compliance with the Data Protection Act.The authors declare that they have no competing interest.Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Aims and Objectives: To extend nurses' descriptions of how they understood caring, as reflected in the findings of an earlier study (i.e. the hierarchical outcome space) and to gain additional understandings and perspectives of nurses' views of caring in relation to a coronary care patient case., Background: Scientific literature from the 1970s-1990s contains descriptions of caring in nursing. In contrast, the contemporary literature on this topic--particularly in the context of coronary care--is very sparse, and the few studies that do contain descriptions rarely do so from the perspective of nurses., Design: Qualitative descriptive study., Methods: Twenty-one nurses were interviewed using the stimulated recall interview technique. The data were analysed using deductive and inductive qualitative content analysis., Results: The results of the iterative and integrated content analysis showed that the data mainly reproduced the content of the hierarchical outcome space describing how nurses could understand caring; however, in the outcome space, the relationship broke up (i.e. flipped). The nurses' views of caring could now also be understood as: person-centredness 'lurking' in the shadows; limited 'potential' for safeguarding patients' best interests; counselling as virtually the 'only' nursing intervention; and caring preceded by the 'almighty' context. Their views offered alternative and, at times, contrasting perspectives of caring, thereby adding to our understanding of it., Conclusion: Caring was described as operating somewhere between the nurses caring values and the contextual conditions in which caring occurred. This challenged their ability to sustain caring in accordance with their values and the patients' preferences., Relevance to Clinical Practice: To ensure that the essentials of caring are met at all times, nurses need to plan and deliver caring in a systematic way. The use of systematic structures in caring, as the nursing process, can help nurses to work in a person-centred way, while sustaining their professional values., (© 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Aim: To investigate public health nurses' perceptions and experiences of mental health and of the prevention of mental ill health among women postpartum, within paediatric healthcare services., Background: Although maternal health following childbirth should be a priority within primary care, it is known that women postpartum do not always receive the support they need to adapt to and cope with motherhood. Research implies that postnatal problems lack recognition and are not always acknowledged in routine practice. Few studies have been presented on this topic or from the perspective of nurses., Methods: For this study, eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with public health nurses, and the transcribed texts were analysed through a process inspired by Burnard's description of the four-step qualitative content analysis. Findings Three categories - external influences on postpartum mental health, screening for and preventing postpartum mental ill health and paediatric healthcare services as a platform for support - were interpreted to reflect the nurses' perceptions and experiences of mental health among women postpartum and of the prevention of mental ill health among women postpartum., Conclusion: We found that public health nurses can have an important role in supporting mothers' mental health postpartum. Although caution is warranted in interpreting our results, the findings concur with those of other studies, highlighting that an equal care emphasis on both the mother and child can be an important aspect of successful support. Implementing person-centred care might be one strategy to create such an emphasis, while also promoting the mental health of new mothers. Public health nurses have a unique opportunity to support mothers' transition into healthy motherhood, especially because they are likely to meet both mothers and children on a regular basis during the first year after birth.

Aim: The aim of this study is to illuminate primary health care (PHC) nurses' experiences of physical activity referrals (PARs)., Background: Despite extensive knowledge about the substantial health effects physical activities can produce, fewer and fewer people in our modern society regularly engage in physical activity. Within health care and, particularly, within the PHC arena, nurses meet people on a daily basis who need help to engage in a healthier lifestyle. The possibility of issuing written prescriptions for physical activities, often referred to as PARs, has been introduced as a tool to support such lifestyles. However, even though PHC nurses can prescribe physical activities, studies investigating their experience in this type of nursing intervention are rare., Methods: For this study, 12 semi-structured interviews were conducted with PHC nurses, and the transcribed texts were analysed using a qualitative content analysis., Findings: Two categories--PARs, an important nursing intervention, and PARs, the necessity of organisational support--reflected the nurses' experiences in using PARs., Conclusion: Our findings suggest that viewing the PAR as a complex intervention, with all that this entails, might be one approach to increasing the number of PARs being issued. Simpler systems, more time and the potential for testing the effectiveness of follow-ups could be possible ways of achieving this.

Background: National guidelines are being produced at an increasing rate, and politicians and managers are expected to promote these guidelines and their implementation in clinical work. However, research seldom deals with how decision-makers can perceive these guidelines or their challenges in a cultural context. Therefore, the aim of this study was twofold: to investigate how well Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (PARIHS) reflected the empirical reality of mental healthcare and to gain an extended understanding of the perceptions of decision-makers operating within this context, in regard to the implementation of evidence-based guidelines., Methods: The study took place in the southeast of Sweden and employed a qualitative design. The data were collected through 23 interviews with politicians and managers working either in the county council or in the municipalities. The transcribed text was analysed iteratively and in two distinct phases, first deductively and second inductively by means of qualitative content analysis., Results: Our deductive analysis showed that the text strongly reflected two out of three categorisation matrices, i.e. evidence and context representing the PARIHS framework. However, the key element of facilitation was poorly mirrored in the text. Results from the inductive analysis can be seen in light of the main category sitting on the fence; thus, the informants' perceptions reflected ambivalence and contradiction. This was illustrated by conflicting views and differences in culture and ideology, a feeling of security in tradition, a certain amount of resistance to change and a lack of role clarity and clear directions. Together, our two analyses provide a rich description of an organisational culture that is highly unlikely to facilitate the implementation of the national guidelines, together with a distrust of the source behind such guidelines, which stands in stark contrast to the high confidence in the knowledge of experienced people in authority within the organisational context., Conclusions: Our findings have highlighted that, regardless of by whom guidelines are released, they are not likely to be utilised or implemented if those who are responsible for implementing them do not trust the source. This aspect (i.e. contextual trust) is not covered by PARIHS.

Background: Nursing has come a long way since the days of Florence Nightingale and even though no consensus exists it would seem reasonable to assume that caring still remains the inner core, the essence of nursing. In the light of the societal, contextual and political changes that have taken place during the 21st century, it is important to explore whether these might have influenced the essence of nursing. The aim of this study was to describe registered nurses' conceptions of caring., Methods: A qualitative design with a phenomenographic approach was used. The interviews with twenty-one nurses took place between March and May 2013 and the transcripts were analysed inspired by Marton and Booth's description of phenomenography., Results: The analysis mirrored four qualitatively different ways of understanding caring from the nurses' perspective: caring as person-centredness, caring as safeguarding the patient's best interests, caring as nursing interventions and caring as contextually intertwined., Conclusion: The most comprehensive feature of the nurses' collective understanding of caring was their recognition and acknowledgment of the person behind the patient, i.e. person-centredness. However, caring was described as being part of an intricate interplay in the care context, which has impacted on all the described conceptions of caring. Greater emphasis on the care context, i.e. the environment in which caring takes place, are warranted as this could mitigate the possibility that essential care is left unaddressed, thus contributing to better quality of care and safer patient care.

Background: The 'cohort multiple Randomised Controlled Trial' (cmRCT) design has been proposed as a potential solution to poor recruitment into clinical trials. The design randomly selects participants eligible for experimental treatments from a pre-enrolled cohort of patients, recruiting participants to multiple trials from a single cohort. Controls remain unaware of their participation in specific trials., Methods: We undertook a mixed methods study to determine the ethical acceptability, the proportion of patients in a routine service consenting to cohort participation, the proportion of these who would consent to being hypothetically randomly selected to receive new treatments, and the views of clinicians on the acceptability of the design. We submitted our cmRCT design for ethical review and recruited participants from people with anxiety and depression attending a community mental health service of twenty-one clinicians. We recorded the proportion of patients who were offered participation in the DiReCT study and the proportion that consented to researcher contact, medical record sharing, and who accepted to be randomly allocated to active treatment procedures in future hypothetical unspecified clinical trials. We used a thematic framework analysis to analyse clinician interviews., Results: We obtained a favourable ethical opinion from the UK Health Research Authority. Clinicians approached 131/752 (17%) potentially eligible participants for consent. Of these 131, 84 (64%) initially consented to be contacted by a researcher and all but one consented to being randomised into future trials. We confirmed consent for 71 (54%) of participants approached by clinicians, of whom 69 (53%) consented to being randomised into hypothetical future trials, 9% (69/752) of all potentially eligible patients. The interviewed clinicians described issues impacting on their ability to recruit participants in terms of clinical concerns for patient wellbeing, work pressure, their views of both general research and the specific DiReCT study, and how they viewed patients' responses to being offered participation in the study., Conclusions: The cmRCT system offers the potential to improve the recruitment into clinical trials and is acceptable ethically and to many patients. Overcoming the multiple factors driving the difficulties clinicians experience in patient recruitment is likely to require the application of significant implementation science-informed effort.

Introduction: The adoption of evidence-based guidelines within the mental health field has been slow. Changing inadequate practice is therefore a formidable challenge for mental health-care managers., Aim: To explore decision-makers' attitudes and awareness regarding the national guidelines for psychosocial interventions targeting people with schizophrenia., Method: A questionnaire distributed by e-mail to 592 Swedish decision-makers was analysed using descriptive and comparative techniques., Results: Significantly more of the top-level mental health-care managers than politicians stated that they knew about the national guidelines (i.e. their release and content) and they considered the guidelines to be a good source of support for planning and allocating resources., Conclusion: If those responsible for allocating resources (i.e. politicians) are unaware of the dissemination of national guidelines or their content, and they do not perceive the national guidelines to be a good source of support for planning and allocating resources, this is likely to have a negative influence on the remit of nurse managers as well as nursing practice., Implications for Nursing Management: Top-level mental health-care managers have a vital role to play in the implementation of national guidelines. However, our findings indicate that implementing national guidelines in practice could be virtually impossible without strategic government support., (© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Aim: To report from a study aimed at illuminating how French Registered Nurses experience and engage in nursing research in clinical practice., Background: Nursing research in France is mainly conducted by nurses working at clinical research units rather than by dedicated nurse researchers. Education, i.e. advanced degrees, in the field of nursing research is still in its infancy and not yet consistent with the international context. Outside France, the general perception is that nursing research is a unified part of professional nursing. Consequently, in-depth knowledge about how nurses in a French clinical context might experience and engage in nursing research is still lacking., Design: The design of this study was influenced by an ethnographic approach as described by the French anthropologists Beaud and Weber., Method: Data, participatory observations, field notes and interviews (n = 6) were collected in a teaching hospital between April-August 2012. The field consisted of a wound-care unit and clinical research units. Collected data were analysed based on Beaud and Weber's description of analysis., Results: Three beliefs were identified: being a unified part of a research team, being an integral part of 'crosswise - across' activities and being part of research activities., Conclusion/implication for Research: Commitment to nursing research was strengthened by patient-related issues. Based on this context, nursing research would likely benefit from the support of a naturalized reciprocity between clinical practice and research., (© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

National guidelines are released regularly, and professionals are expected to adopt and implement them. However, studies dealing with mental health-care professionals' views about guidelines are sparse. The aim of the present study was to highlight mental health-care staff's views on the Swedish national guidelines for 'psychosocial interventions for schizophrenia or schizophrenia-type symptoms' and their implementation. The study took place in the southeast parts of Sweden, and data were collected through five group interviews consisting of 16 professionals working either in the county council or in the municipalities. The transcribed text was analysed by content analysis, revealing two categories. The first category 'a challenge to the practice of care as known' reflected that the release of guidelines could be perceived as a challenge to prevailing care and culture. The second category 'anticipating change to come from above' mirrored views on how staff expected the implementation process to flow from top to bottom. To facilitate working in accordance with guidelines, we suggest that future guidelines should be accompanied by an implementation plan, where the educational needs of frontline staff are taken into account. There is also a need for policy makers and managers to assume responsibility in supporting the implementation of evidence-based practice., (© 2013 Australian College of Mental Health Nurses Inc.)

Background: Reviews of nursing research have suggested that most is descriptive; with no more than 15% providing strong evidence for practice. No studies have examined this from the perspective of nursing research conducted in Europe., Objective: The aim of this study was to review reports of European clinical nursing research in the top 20 nursing journals in 2010 to establish a baseline of nursing research activity in the year immediately prior to the launch of a European Science Foundation network to increase the proportion of intervention research in Europe., Methods: We identified eligible reports that were then data-extracted by two independent reviewers. Disagreements were resolved through pair discussion and independent arbitration. We appraised and synthesized topics, methods, and the extent to which studies were programmatic. We synthesized data as proportions of study reports meeting our a priori categorization criteria., Results: We identified 1995 published reports and included 223 from 21 European countries, of which 193 (86.6%) reported studies of primary research only, 30 (13.5%) secondary research, and three (1.4%) a mix of primary and secondary. Methodological description was often poor, misleading, or even absent. One hundred (44.8%) articles reported observational studies, 87 (39.0%) qualitative studies. We found 26 (11.7%) articles reporting experimental studies, 10 (4.5%) of which were randomized controlled trials. We found 29 (13.0%) reports located within a larger program of research. Seventy-six (34.1%) articles reported studies of nursing interventions., Linking Evidence to Action: European research in nursing reported in the leading nursing journals remains descriptive and poorly described. Only a third of research reports concerned nursing interventions, and a tiny proportion were part of a programmatic endeavor. Researchers in nursing must become better educated and skilled in developing, testing, evaluating, and reporting complex nursing interventions. Editors of nursing journals should insist on systematic reporting of research designs and methods in published articles., (© 2014 Sigma Theta Tau International.)

With free movement for citizens within the European Union and with distant parts of our globe becoming more accessible, cultural awareness and cultural competence are becoming important skills for nurses. Internationalisation and raising awareness of other cultural contexts are essential elements in Swedish higher education, thus explaining the variety of student exchange programmes that are available. The aim of this study was to explore Swedish nursing students' perceptions of student exchange and their experiences. Data were collected through group interviews and then analysed following the principles of content analysis. Our analysis resulted in three categories: Preparing to go abroad, Reasons for going abroad and From expectation to experience. Cultural aspects and cultural awareness were emphasised as strong motivational factors, both personal and professional, behind participation in student exchange programmes. Information was also highlighted as a crucial means of reaching potential students as well as the power of knowledge through personal experience. This study highlights the importance of student exchange in expanding the individual student's personal and professional horizons. It also stresses the importance of including a transcultural nursing element in nursing curricula., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Nowadays, gathering and synthesising evidence, i.e. conducting systematic reviews, is considered an important part of any health service research endeavour. Reviewing the literature, however suggest that it is not yet common that PhD students/doctoral candidates publish systematic reviews or even include a high quality review of the literature as a part of their PhD programme or candidature. Implying that systematic reviewing skills might not be acquired by going through an education on a postgraduate level. Additionally, scholars debating systematic reviews 'to be or not to be' as a part of research training seem to be sparse, especially within the field of nursing. In this issue for debate, we would like to propose that the absence of systematic reviews' in this context might severely hamper the 'up and coming' researchers as well as the research conducted. We envisage that this lack can have a negative impact on international nursing practice, and therefore propose that systematic reviews should be considered, whenever appropriate, as a mandatory part of any PhD programme or candidature. We believe that abilities in systematic reviewing will be a sought after research skills in the near future. Including systematic reviews would promote i) refined, well-grounded adequate research questions, ii) PhDs with broad and elevated methodological skills, iii) an increased level of evidence based nursing praxis. However, to make this a reality, supervisors, PhD students, and candidates would need to understand the value of this kind of research activity. Finally, lobbying University faculty boards and grant providers that are not inclined to view literature reviews as 'proper' research or as an important part of health service research, needs to be put on the agenda., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Suffering a myocardial infarction (MI) is a life-threatening event that impacts not only on the individual concerned but also on the next of kin. However, there seems to be a paucity of naturalistic inquiries that focus specifically on midlife next of kin and their experience of being close to a relative who has suffered an MI. This study aims to elucidate the experience of being a midlife next of kin of a relative who has suffered a myocardial infarction., Method: Nine women and four men in midlife participated in the focused interviews, which were conducted and analysed during 2010/2011 using Lindseths and Norbergs' description of the phenomenological hermeneutical method., Findings: Four themes - Solely responsible, Lurking unease, Left out of the picture and Life on hold - formed the basis of the core theme Standing alone when life takes an unexpected turn. The core theme was interpreted as a central phenomenon encompassing the experience of being solely responsible for the well-being of their relative and the family, thus putting their own life on hold. The core theme also reflected the next of kin's experience of being left out of the picture when it came to the relative's care before and after the MI., Conclusion: The next of kin's negative feelings of standing alone were further intensified by their experience of being left out of the picture by the healthcare professionals concerning their relative's care. As a cardiac nurse, it would seem essential to have knowledge about the experiences of next of kin in connection with a relative's MI event. Such knowledge can facilitate the planning and organisation of nursing care and at the same time address the next of kin's role in the recovery and rehabilitation process., (© 2012 The Authors Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences © 2012 Nordic College of Caring Science.)

Background: Nowadays, nursing research is seen as an integral part of professional nursing although implementing knowledge derived from nursing research into the practice setting is still problematic. Current research, conducted mainly with a descriptive quantitative design, highlights the struggle experienced by Registered Nurses (RNs) to use and implement research findings in clinical practice. Therefore, the aim of this naturalistic inquiry was to explore nurses' perception of nursing research and its implementation in a clinical context., Method and Sample: A qualitative approach was chosen, and four focus group discussions were conducted. The groups comprised a total of 16 RNs (three men and 13 women) working in a secondary care setting. The transcribed texts were analysed, inspired by Burnard's description of content analysis., Findings: The texts were interpreted as representing three predominant themes: scholastic, individual and contextual influences highlighted as influential components impacting on the RNs' views on research and its implementation as well as on their readiness to accept and support it. However, the most influential aspect permeating our themes was their educational background--the type of qualification they held. In general, the RNs with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing viewed research and the implementation of knowledge in practice more favourably than those RNs with a diploma., Conclusion: Our findings, although based on a small qualitative study, are congruent with others, indicating that further research is warranted concerning the impact of education on RNs' views of nursing research and its implementation. Hence, it might well be that the RNs' educational point of departure needs to be stressed more than what so far have been anticipated. In the meanwhile, it is possible that a number of strategies could be tested to promote a more favourable view in these issues and where the nursing education has the possibility to influence this endeavour., (© 2012 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences © 2012 Nordic College of Caring Science.)

Background: Registered Nurses (RNs) play an important role in caring for patients suffering from cancer pain. A lack of knowledge regarding pain management and the RNs' own perception of cancer pain could act as barriers to effective pain management. Educational interventions that target RNs' knowledge and attitudes have proved promising. However, an intervention consisting of evidence-based practice is a multifaceted process and demands behavioural and cognitive changes to sustain the effects of the intervention. Therefore, our study aimed to investigate if a theory-based educational intervention could change RNs' knowledge and attitudes to cancer pain and pain management, both four and 12 weeks after the start of the intervention., Methods: A quasi-experimental design with non-equivalent control groups was used. The primary outcome was measured using a modified version of the instrument Nurses' Knowledge and Attitudes Survey Regarding Pain (NKAS) at baseline, four weeks and 12 weeks after the start of the intervention to evaluate its persistence. The intervention's educational curriculum was based on the principles of Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behaviour and consisted of interactive learning activities conducted in workshops founded on evidence-based knowledge. The RN's own experiences from cancer pain management were used in the learning process., Results: The theory-based educational intervention aimed at changing RNs knowledge and attitudes regarding cancer pain management measured by primary outcome NKAS resulted in a statistical significant (p<0.05) improvement of total mean score from baseline to four weeks at the intervention ward., Conclusions: The findings of this study, suggest that a theory-based educational intervention focused at RNs can be effective in changing RN's knowledge and attitudes regarding cancer pain management. However, the high number of dropouts between baseline and four weeks needs to be taken into account when evaluating our findings. Finally, this kind of theory-based educational intervention with interactive learning activities has been sparsely researched and needs to be evaluated further in larger projects., Trial Registration: Clinical Trials. Gov: NCT01313234.

The aim of this study was to elucidate the meaning of the experience of younger people (< 55 years) during their first year following a myocardial infarction. We analyzed 17 interviews using a phenomenological-hermeneutic method. The core theme and central phenomenon was the everyday fight to redress the balance in life, which encompassed an existential, physical, and emotional battle to regain a foothold in daily life. The aftermath of a life-threatening event involved a process of transition while at the same time creating a new meaning in life. Lack of energy and its impact on the complex interplay of midlife combined with unreasonable demands from employers and health care professionals seemed to color the experience of the informants. The knowledge gained in this study can constitute a valuable contribution to overall quality assurance in nursing care and the development of nursing interventions for the cardiac rehabilitation of younger patients.

In Sweden, regulations from the National Agency for Higher Education advocate an education that equips students with independence as well as critical, problem-based thinking, i.e. academic literacy skills. However, some research findings indicate that students may leave higher education without mastering these skills effectively. As part of quality-assuring a nursing programme at a university college in south-east Sweden we explored the nursing student's view of crucial academic literacy skills, such as critical thinking and appraisal and academic writing, by conducting a descriptive, qualitative study. Informants were recruited through an advertisement posted on the university's e-learning tool. Eight focused interviews were conducted during autumn 2010. The transcribed interviews were analysed - inspired by content analysis - and two categories became apparent: constantly questioning and formality before substance. The latter revealed a gap between the student's perception of academic writing and that of the educators, thus implying that nursing students might not be equipped with the tools they need to develop within academia. We suggest that students could benefit in their academic endeavours from theoretical educational models that integrate several academic skills simultaneously and which could be incorporated into the development of syllabuses and curriculums., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)