Umeå universitets logga

Aim: To identify key aspects of recovery-oriented practice in caring for people with mental ill-health in general emergencydepartments.

Design: A modified Delphi study with three rounds.

Methods: A 24-member expert panel was recruited consisting of people with lived experience of mental ill-health, registerednurses working in emergency care, registered nurses specialised in psychiatric and mental health nursing and mental healthrecovery researchers. In the initial round, important aspects of recovery-oriented practice were identified through focus groupinterviews. Thematic analysis generated statements that were then reformulated as a questionnaire for subsequent rounds. Theexperts rated each statement's perceived importance on a 5-point Likert scale. The consensus level was set at ≥ 80%. Descriptivestatistics were used to analyse the data.

Results: Consensus was reached on the importance of 39 of 73 statements, with ≥ 80% deemed 'very important' in recovery-oriented practice in general emergency departments.

Conclusion: The study emphasises the delicate balance between the essential elements of recovery-oriented practice, their prac-tical feasibility and the predominant biomedical perspective in general emergency department care. It proposes strategies toempower nursing staff and managers to adopt recovery-oriented practices that enhance the quality of care for people with mentalill-health. Enabling staff by providing the necessary prerequisites and a care environment that supports reflective practices iscrucial. The responsibility for facilitating these changes needs to be a shared commitment between nursing staff and managers.

Implications for the profession and/or patient care: The identified issues can serve as a framework for interventions, edu-cation and training to support the integration of recovery-oriented practice in general emergency care. They can also be used todevelop tools for evaluating emergency care environments and promoting alignment with recovery-oriented principles.

Objectives: Persons diagnosed with anorexia nervosa (AN) may receive care in general psychiatric inpatient care (GPIC) for several reasons including severity of their condition, comorbidities and lack of access to specialised inpatient care. However, scant research has explored how this specific setting may impact persons with AN, either positively or negatively. Additionally, there is limited evidence regarding the most effective form of care for AN within GPIC. This integrative literature review provides a comprehensive overview of research focusing on care for AN in GPIC settings, shedding light on person-centred care and power within this specific context.

Design: The review was conducted according to the methods of Whittemore and Knafl. We searched the academic databases PubMed, CINAHL and PsycInfo, with the latest search conducted in March 2025, in accordance with a specific search strategy and analysed the data using a constant comparison method. The review is reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses checklist for systematic reviews.

Results: The synthesis revealed three perspectives of care for persons with AN in the context of GPIC: management of the symptoms, treatment of the patient and support for the person. Overall, the findings suggest that GPIC can aid in weight gain, but the impact on recovery is unclear.

Conclusion: Research indicates that GPIC possesses the biomedical knowledge necessary to save lives, but there is a lack of research focusing on the perspectives of persons with AN. This gap in understanding may affect treatment outcomes, the possibility of recovery and the personal experience of care for those with AN in this context.

PROSPERO registration number CRD42023426095.

In Sweden, a lack of accessible specialist mental health services places the sole responsibility for caring for people with mental ill-health in rural areas on primary care. Caring for people with severe mental ill-health can pose challenges for district nurses in rural areas. The aim of this study is to describe district nurse’s experiences of encountering people with mental ill-health in rural primary care. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine district nurses working in primary care in rural areas in Northern Sweden. Interviews were analyzed with qualitative content analysis. The results describe district nurses’ experiences of encountering people with mental ill-health as a strive for a good relationship. They wanted to understand the core of patients’ needs and adjust their approach based on that. However, organizational obstacles and opportunities affected these encounters, particularly the lack of time and the importance of continuity. Being a primary care nurse in a rural setting provides specific challenges and opportunities when caring for people with mental ill health. District nurses would benefit from organizational support in establishing and maintaining good relationships as a foundation for quality care. Providing district nurses with greater autonomy over their time, along with enhanced support and access to resources would acknowledge and reinforce the critical professional role they play in rural healthcare delivery.

Severe dissociative states involving the experience of being in parts, typically associated with diagnosis such as dissociative identity disorder and other specified dissociative disorders, continue to be a controversial and rarely studied area of research. However, because persons with severe dissociative states are at risk of being harmed instead of helped within psychiatric care, their experiences of living with such states warrant further examination, while innovative ways to include them in research remain necessary. Against that background, this study aimed to illuminate the meanings of living with severe dissociative states involving the experience of being in parts. This is a phenomenological hermeneutic study with data collected from three social media sources, one personal blog and two Instagram accounts, in February and March 2023. The results were illuminated in light of four themes; Striving to remain in the world, Balancing exposure and trust, Balancing belonging and loneliness and Owning oneselves. The interpretation of the themes suggests that living with severe dissociative states means being a human under inhuman conditions, striving for coherence and meaning in a world that is often unsupportive. This calls for a trauma-informed care to better support recovery for persons with severe dissociative states.

Objective: To explore experiences of caries prevention in adult patients with recurrent cavities among experienced dentists. 

Method: Five focus group discussions consisting of seven men and nine women, 38-61 years of age, and with working experience as dentists between 5 and 35 years, were conducted. The participants represented Public Dental Health Service clinics and private practitioners. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze data. 

Results: The participants emphasized the importance of effective communication and patient engagement in caries prevention. They described their experiences as an endless trail, making fillings. They expressed their inability to take necessary responsibility and being stuck in the dental care system due to various circumstances. The understanding of caries was contradictory, and an inadequate mandate to control time to fulfill their preventive work was evident. They felt responsible to do the best for their patients, but how to share responsibility with colleagues and patients and having enough time for this seemed difficult and unclear. These problems did not motivate to further education in cariology.

Conclusion: The findings underscore the urgent need for improvement in preventive caries treatment and the necessity of allocating sufficient time for dentists to engage in this crucial aspect of their work.

Introduction: Psychiatric inpatient care (PIC) is often characterised by high pressure and thresholds for admission, brief periods of care and limited time for caring activities. Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a contested diagnosis, and persons with DID are at risk of not receiving adequate support when cared for in PIC. Because the limited literature addressing the topic includes no overview on how persons with DID are cared for in psychiatric inpatient settings, the aim of this scoping review is to map the area of knowledge on PIC for persons experiencing DID. This scoping review will provide an overview with the possibility to elucidate gaps in the evidence base and needs for future research on PIC for persons experiencing DID.

Methods and analysis: This scoping review will follow Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis for Scoping Reviews and steps 1-5 described in the established method for scoping reviews: identifying research question, identifying relevant studies, study selection, charting the data and collating, summarising and reporting results.

Ethics approval: Not applicable.

Dissemination: This scoping review will be submitted for publication in an international, peer-reviewed journal.

Previous research has mainly focused on self-harm among women, defining what it is, what functions it has, how to manage and prevent self-harm, and how to recover from it. A recent review of the literature on self-harm among men concluded that research need to consider both clinical and personal aspects of recovery and pointed out the need to explore recovery from men's point of view. This study aimed to describe men's experiences of recovery in self-harm. Data were collected in Sweden in 2020 using semi-structured interviews. Eleven men who had recovered in self-harm were interviewed. Interviews were analysed using an abductive approach to qualitative content analysis. The analysis involved the application of an established framework for personal recovery in mental illness: connectedness, hope, identity, meaning, and empowerment (CHIME). The analysis identified one main theme: when the time is right, and five sub-themes: finding support in others; trusting that change is possible; getting to know yourself; reaching a new understanding; and developing new strategies to manage life. While the cessation of self-harm might both be a sign of and contribute to recovery, it is not the defining feature of recovery. Mental health professionals should be persistent in providing person-centred, recovery-oriented care for men who self-harm. The CHIME framework can be applied in the context of men's recovery in self-harm. This study is reported in accordance with the COREQ guidelines.

INTRODUCTION: People diagnosed with anorexia nervosa are offered or compelled to undergo various treatments and therapies. In Sweden, the lack of highly specialised eating disorder services means that people with anorexia nervosa might be cared for in general psychiatric wards. However, there has been limited research attention paid to how this specific context might benefit or harm persons with anorexia nervosa. There is also limited evidence regarding which form of care is most effective in anorexia nervosa and which type of treatment is optimal in general psychiatric inpatient care. Our intention is to highlight personal and professional perspectives of care for patients with anorexia nervosa in this context, with a focus on person-centred care, gender and power. This protocol describes an integrative literature review aiming to synthesise existing knowledge on general psychiatric inpatient care for persons with anorexia nervosa.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The study will be an integrative literature review following Whittemore and Knafl. We will search the academic databases PubMed, CINAHL and PsycInfo in accordance with a specific search strategy determined in collaboration with a librarian with expertise on systematic reviews. Data will be analysed using a constant comparison method. Persons with their own experience of anorexia nervosa in general psychiatric inpatient care will be involved as coresearchers.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: As this is a literature review, formal ethical review is not required. The findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publication and presented at conferences related to this field.

AMENDMENTS: If we need to amend this protocol, we will give the date of each amendment, describe the change and give the rationale in this section.

PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42023426095.

Background: Research indicates that good organizational and psychosocial environments are vital to well-functioning workplaces and employee health. Working in the municipal sector and in the rural context may contribute to more health problems, poorer organizational and psychosocial work environments, and higher sick-leave rates.

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore organizational and psychosocial environmental work factors among municipal employees with or without self-rated exhaustion disorder (s-ED) in rural northern Sweden.

Methods: The Modern Work Life Questionnaire and the Self-Rated Exhaustion Disorder Scale were used among 1093 municipal employees.

Results: The results showed that there were significant differences between the s-ED and the non-s-ED group in all but one of the organizational and psychosocial environmental work factors. Various demands, i.e. quantitative, emotional, intellectual, and IT demands were some factors associated with the s-ED group. Social support, resources, and time for work and reflection were some factors associated with the non-s-ED group. Both the s-ED and the non-s-ED groups assessed significantly higher emotional demands and less resources compared to national reference values.

Conclusion: Findings from this study are relevant to a better understanding what organizational and psychosocial work environmental work factor the employer need to pay extra attention to. Addressing risk and protective factors in the work environment could tribute to promote occupational well-being, preventing exhaustion disorder and long-term sick leave among municipal employees in rural northern Sweden.