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Background: The aim of this study was to examine the extent of wishes for and realised choices of alternative and conventional birth care in Finland based on survey and registry data., Methods: A population-based national survey to 3000 women of reproductive age and 400 men aged 18-24 and 40-44 in Finland and a cross-sectional analysis of all childbirths in 1990 1995 based on the National Medical Birth Registry (n=390, 943)., Results: In the survey 69% of women and 66% of men chose conventional hospital birth as their preferred alternative. An early discharge birth was chosen by 14% of women and 18% of men and home birth by 6% of women and 3% of men. Childless respondents were more likely than parents to choose an alternative other than conventional hospital birth, yet 16% of mothers and 14% of fathers would choose either home birth or early discharge from hospital in a future birth. The expressed interest in alternatives to conventional hospital care was far greater than what occurs in reality: in the MBR data 99% of births were conventional hospital births, 0.01% were planned homebirths and 0.9 % early discharge births., Conclusions: The study shows a discrepancy between expressed interests and actually realised choices of birth settings. The majority of female and male survey respondents would choose conventional hospital care for birth. However, the fact that even some women who had earlier birth experience preferred some form of alternative to the conventional hospital birth should be taken as a sign of women wanting choices in birth care.

The purpose of the study was to acquire knowledge of the opportunities that expectant mothers had to participate in decision making regarding their care in maternity clinics during their last pregnancy. The study is a part of a larger national survey 'Family planning services in Finland' carried out by the National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health. The rationale for the study were the known benefits of participation in one's care and its emphasis in health policy documents. The subjects were a random sample of women aged between 18 and 44. The response rate was 73% (n = 1289). The data were gathered by a mailed questionnaire and analysed statistically. According to the results mothers had fairly good opportunities to participate in decision making. However, there were statistically significant differences in opportunities between the women. The mothers who were most satisfied were aged 25-29 years, lived in a permanent relationship, had 12 years of basic education and had three children. Opportunities to participate in care have improved from the 1970s to the 1990s. The results have many implications for the development of nursing practice in maternity clinics and the deepening of the knowledge base in nursing education. The study, being the first national survey on this topic, also gives suggestions for further studies.

The aim of this article is to describe Colaizzi's (1978) phenomenological method using as an example a study of good care. The purpose of phenomenological method is to uncover the genuine experience of the phenomenon under investigation; Colaizzi's method consists of seven steps. First informants' descriptions of the experiences are read in order to acquire a sense of the whole. After that significant statements are extracted. Meanings are formulated from the significant statements. Formulated meanings are organised into themes. Themes are integrated into an exhaustive description. The essential structure of the phenomenon is formulated. And finally for validation the informants will evaluate the result of the analysis, if it means the same as their original experiences were. The modification of Colaizzi's method was used in order to conceptualize good care based on the experiences of a population of ex-patients.

The purpose of this study is to describe the current state of research in nursing science and to compare the research done in the USA and Canada with that in other countries. The data consist of 367 research abstracts submitted for conference, which were analyzed in terms of focus, purpose and methodology. The statistical significances of differences were tested using the chi-square test. Most of the research was focused on patients and very little on nursing education or administration. The purpose was in most cases the conceptualization and description of phenomena. A fifth of the abstracts were concerned with the development and evaluation of forms of treatment or interventions, these being more often from the other countries than from the USA and Canada. The data had mostly been gathered by questionnaire, the second most frequent method being interview. Interviews were more often used in the other countries (33%) than in the USA and Canada (24%), where biophysiological measures were used equally often. Most studies were quantitative and only 15% were qualitative. Multivariate analyses were used more often in the USA and Canada than elsewhere. Most of the research analyzed here was carried out in the USA and Canada, and since the group of other countries was very heterogeneous, the results of this study cannot be generalized except in as far as they concern North America.

What is a change? How was the changing process managed in practice while changing from task allocation to primary nursing? What are the approaches and strategies used in the change used? What are preconditions for a successful change? These are topics discussed in this paper. In most cases it takes a lot of time and energy to adopt the principles of primary nursing in units. Planned change is seen to guarantee a successful transition to primary nursing.

The purpose of this study was to examine the nurse-patient interaction. During the study the nursing staff adapted primary nursing and changed multiple level communication model into a simplified one. The data were collected in the medical ward using nonparticipant observation both before the implementation of primary nursing and after. The content of recorded interactions were analyzed according to the initiator, type of communication, level of interaction and topic of discussions. Nurses engaged in more interactions and the quality of the nurse-patient interaction improved in some extent after the implementation of primary nursing. Interaction was evidently more profound, reciprocal information exchange. Only slight differences is seen in the patient's participation, the topics of discussions and in the activities during interaction.

The aim of this investigation was to consider the opinions of the nursing staff concerning the effects of primary nursing before and after the transition to this mode. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire which was answered by 62 registered nurses and practical nurses before the introduction of primary nursing and 58 such nurses five months after its introduction. The nursing staff reported both more favourable and detrimental effects during primary nursing than beforehand, the former including the improved opportunities for nurses to get to know their patients and to provide individual care, and the latter the increase in paperwork. The role of the primary nurse was mainly felt to be positive, but sometimes difficult and laborious.