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Aim: The aim of the present study was to elucidate health-promoting and -impeding aspects of peer-learning by examining nursing students' descriptions of learning together as peers, and how this might interact with their health. Background: Peer-learning is a useful strategy for teaching and learning in nursing students' clinical practice education. In the research, benefits such as improved cooperation and increased self-confidence have been described and labelled as health-promoting. Design: A qualitative descriptive approach Method: Thirteen first-year nursing students aged 22-45 years, who had completed their first clinical practice education on a medical or surgical hospital ward, participated in one-on-one semi-structured interviews. The interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Result: Working as a pair was primarily described as positive, as the peers felt basic support from each other, even though they described negative experiences that limited their own development and challenged their patience. Conclusion: Peer-learning as a model for supervision in clinical practice incorporates valuable health-promoting aspects, as the students felt safe, supported, increased self-confidence, and participation. The interaction between peers helped them grow as human beings, and the mutual support the peers felt was a vital health-promoting aspect that limited the impact of the described health-impeding aspects, which included sometimes finding peer-learning trying, stressful and irritating.

A personal assistant has to promote equality in living conditions for persons with severe disabilities. The aim of this study was to explore how personal assistants experience their work and what strategies they employ to alleviate work-related stress. Thirty personal assistants were interviewed and latent content analysis was performed. The findings regarding the experiences of work-related stress could be brought together under the theme of “difficulties of being in a subordinate position,” and those regarding management strategies could be brought together under the theme of “coming to terms with the work situation.” There is a need to empower personal assistants through training programs including tailored education, working communities, and coaching.

Personal assistance is a type of home care common to many countries even though entitlement and legislative framework may vary from country to country. At present, there exists no knowledge about the family members' experiences of such assistance; therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate family members' experiences of personal assistance given to a relative of working age with a functional disability. Twenty-five family members who had a relative with a severe neurological disease in Sweden were interviewed about the significance of personal assistance, and the qualitative interviews were subjected to qualitative latent content analysis. The overall findings verify the close connection between the family members' experiences and their perception of the quality of the caring relationship between the personal assistant and the person with disability. The main finding was an appreciation of the personal assistance on the part of the family members. However, in situations where the encounter between the assistant and the relative with disability was perceived negatively, the family members experienced great anxiety. The shortcomings were the inability to maintain a private life with assistance and the limitation of choice because of the shortage of personal assistants. Beyond these general findings, this study found that personal assistance was experienced by the family members in terms of dignity and empowering care. This theme was generated from seven subthemes: Insight into private life, Security through the close relation, Social life through freedom of movement, Influence over the organisation of assistance, Self-determination and understanding, Friendship and mutual respect and Adaption to the dependency on assistance. The findings indicate that responsible officials, work leaders and assistants need constantly to improve the implementation of the law. In such efforts, the experiences of family members described in this study are a source of knowledge.

PURPOSE: To describe perceptions of the transition from receiving the diagnosis recessive limb-girdle muscular dystrophy to becoming in need of human support to manage daily life and using a wheelchair for ambulation, from the affected young adults' and their parents' perspectives.

METHOD: A qualitative and descriptive study design was used. Semi-structured interviews were held with 14 young adults diagnosed with recessive limb-girdle muscular dystrophy and 19 parents. Phenomenography was used for data analysis.

RESULTS: The diagnosis was described as being a shock and difficult to comprehend but also as a relief and a tool for information. Beginning to use a wheelchair was perceived to be mentally difficult but it also provided freedom. New ways of living involved physical, emotional, practical, and social difficulties as well as experiences of learning to adapt to the disease. The transition was overshadowed by concern about disease progression and influenced by facilitating factors, which were young adult being seen as a person; supportive family and friends; mobilized internal resources; meaningful daily activities; adapted environment; and professional support.

CONCLUSIONS: The different perceptions expressed in this study highlight the importance of identifying personal perceptions and needs in order to optimize support provided by healthcare professionals.

Implications for Rehabilitation

• The different perceptions described in this study emphasize the need for person-centered care for young adults living with recessive limb-girdle muscular dystrophy and their parents.
• Regular controls and professional support to cope with the disease and its consequences should be offered, not only at the time of diagnosis but also throughout disease progression.
• Beginning to use a wheelchair can be a psychologically distressing process, which has to be acknowledged by healthcare professionals when introducing it.
• Healthcare professionals should not only recognize the importance of having social relations and activities that are meaningful but also be a link to authorities in society and to interest organizations that can help to facilitate the person's management of the disease.

Adolescent girls with eating disorders experience unattainable and contradictory expectations in daily life, which create stress and negatively affect their self-evaluation. Disordered eating may function as a way of seeking control and consistency. In order to make progress in the understanding of eating disorders, the aim of this study was to describe how adolescent girls with eating disorders reflect upon ways of dealing with sociocultural pressures in daily life. Eighteen interviews with girls aged 15–19 years were analyzed using a phenomenographic approach. The results were summarized into three conceptions: ‘Striving to be oneself" (conception A) was described as the most desirable, but also the hardest. "Adapting to various situations’ (conception B) was used without much reflection, as long as it worked, but when this way of dealing with everyday expectations was unsuccessful it was evaluated negatively. "Presenting oneself in a positive light" (conception C) was described negatively even when it was successful. Within these conceptions, the participants described various strategies that could be used more or less effectively depending on the circumstances. A common theme was their difficulties in finding a balance between trying harder to live up to perceived expectations from others on one hand, and trying to accept the situation as it was, without trying to change themselves or the situation, on the other hand. The participants believed that their eating disorder was partly a result of being unable to deal with sociocultural pressures in an effective way, and they experienced a conflict between societal values of being assertive and values of being interpersonally oriented. Implications for treatment are discussed.

The aim of this study was to describe the variation of perceived expectations in daily life of adolescent girls suffering from eating disorders. Eighteen interviews with girls between the age of 15 and 19 years were analyzed according to the phenomenographic approach. The results could be summarized into three categories: expectations from others, self-imposed expectations, and conflicting expectations. Each of these could be further subdivided into two conceptions. Conflicting and unattainable expectations were severe stressors in the participants' lives. Many participants had problems identifying expectations that were not explicit. The participants internalized these expectations and interpreted them to be self-imposed. Clinical implications are suggested.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine longitudinally the role of characteristics measured by the Eating Disorder Inventory-Child version (EDI-C) to find early predictors that might constitute risk and protective factors in the development of disordered eating.

Method: Participants were divided into three groups based on eating attitudes at T2: disordered eating (n = 49), intermediate eating concern (n = 260), and healthy eating attitudes (n = 120). EDI-C from T1 (four to five years earlier) was then analyzed to find predictors of group classification at T2.

Results: Drive for thinness and body dissatisfaction emerged as risk factors at T1, while drive for thinness, body dissatisfaction, and interoceptive awareness emerged as protective factors after controlling for initial eating concerns and body mass index.

Discussion: Eating disorders should not be seen as a result of a premorbid personality type. Rather we should take a more social-psychological perspective to explain how individual and sociocultural factors work together in the development of these conditions.

The aim of this study was to examine personal standards, self-evaluation and perceived benefits of thinness in Swedish females 14-21 years with disturbed eating (DE) and to compare these to a group with other psychosocial problems and to a symptom free group. Seventy subjects with DE-group, 65 subjects with psychosocial problems and 70 symptom free subjects were compared regarding items selected from four questionnaires. High personal standards expressed in a competitive way were specific for the DE-group. In comparison with the other groups the DE-group also reported significantly more perceived benefits of thinness and they more frequently believed that thinness would make them more popular. The DE-group also reported a more negative self-evaluation, although this was a trait shared with the subjects with other psychosocial problems and consequently not specific for the DE-group. Identifying specific factors that perpetuate DE habits is important in order to improve our understanding and enhance the treatment of eating disorders.

The aim of this study was to longitudinally examine the role of personal standards, self-evaluation, perceived benefits of thinness and attitudes to eating and weight in the development of healthy versus disturbed eating in adolescent girls. In a longitudinal study, girls who participated in two assessments, four to five years apart, were divided into three groups according to the attitudes to eating that they manifested at the second evaluation: those with disturbed eating patterns (DE-group, n = 49), those with intermediate concerns about eating (IE-group, n = 260) and those with healthy eating attitudes (HE-group, n = 120). Variables concerning attitudes to eating and weight and physical self-evaluation emerged as risk factors, whereas personal standards or self-evaluation in general did not. Protective factors were a low BMI, healthy eating attitudes, an accepting attitude towards body size and a positive self-evaluation, particularly with regard to physical and psychological characteristics. The results of this study contribute to the understanding of early risk and protective factors for eating disturbances in girls.