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Background: Depression is common and increasing in young people, who seem especially vulnerable, both in the probability of developing depression, and in the resulting negative consequences across the lifespan. Unfortunately, available treatments rarely lead to full remission and even in cases of remission relapse rates are high. Different explanatory models have been proposed, and research indicates a multifaceted etiology. The descriptive DSM-5 has low diagnostic validity in this age-group, especially for depressive disorders, and limited attention has been given to young people’s own experiences of becoming depressed. Hence, there is a risk of missing clinical information that is important for the therapeutic alliance and treatment.

Objective: This study aimed to explore young people’s experiences of becoming depressed.

Method: A qualitative study was performed. Six participants with clinical depression, currently in treatment at child and adolescent psychiatric outpatient clinics in northern Sweden were recruited. Interviews followed a semi-structured manual, and data was analyzed with inductive qualitative content analysis.

Results: Participants described different reasons for their depression, and from their stories four categories were identified: “Being subjected to violence”, “Suffering separation and loss”, “Feeling abandoned”, and “Feeling burdened and vulnerable”. These categories were interpreted in the theme: “Dealing with an overwhelming life situation”.

Conclusions: The participants presented mainly stressful external and relational events preceding their depression. A combination of overwhelming stressors, lack of support and lack of time for recovery was described. This points to the importance of validating the narratives of young patients with depression and to offer trauma-informed treatment approaches in mental health care.

Introduction: Mental disorders among young adults are a major health challenge. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) has in previous research shown positive effects on mental health. However, research evaluating MBSR for young adults with mental disorders is insufficient and qualitative research exploring experiences of the programme is scarce. The aim of this study was to explore experiences of MBSR as a supplementary treatment in psychiatric outpatient care among young adults with moderate to severe mental disorders, from a short- and long-term perspective.

Method: Eleven young adults (aged 18–27 years) who had participated in an MBSR programme were interviewed approximately three months or two years later. The analytic method was Grounded Theory.

Results: The analysis resulted in a theoretical model including one core category and five categories. The model illustrated a learning process, explaining the participants’ short- and long-term experiences of learning to pay attention to the body, regulate emotions, a change of attitude towards oneself, and still using skills two years after the programme.

Discussion: The MBSR programme was experienced as a learning process which improved the longstanding ability to cope with emotional stress in daily life. Tailoring MBSR to individual needs may further enhance its effectiveness.

Conclusion: The experienced short- and long-term health-promotion benefits of an MBSR programme among young adults with mental disorders support its implementation in psychiatric and primary health care. Future research should investigate how to optimise implementation and tailor to individual needs.

Introduction: Depression constitutes one of our largest global health concerns and current treatment strategies lack convincing evidence of effectiveness in youth. We suggest that this is partly due to inherent limitations of the present diagnostic paradigm that may group fundamentally different conditions together without sufficient consideration of etiology, developmental aspects, or context. Alternatives that complement the diagnostic system are available yet understudied. The Power Threat and Meaning Framework (PTMF) is one option, developed for explanatory and practical purposes. While based on scientific evidence, empirical research on the framework itself is still lacking. This qualitative study was performed to explore the experiences of adolescents and young adults with depression from the perspective of the PTMF.

Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 11 Swedish individuals aged 15– 22 years, mainly female, currently enrolled in a clinical trial for major depressive disorder. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed with framework analysis informed by the PTMF.

Results: A complex multitude of adversities preceding the onset of depression was described, with a rich variety of effects, interpretations, and reactions. In total, 17 themes were identified in the four dimensions of the PTMF, highlighting the explanatory power of the framework in this context. Not all participants were able to formulate coherent narratives.

Discussion: The PTMF provides a framework for understanding the complexities, common themes, and lived experiences of young individuals with depression. This may be essential for the development of new interventions with increased precision and effectiveness in the young.

Denna kunskapsöversikt har för avsikt att kartlägga befintlig kunskap omhur fritid och fritidsaktiviteter kan bidra med friskfaktorer för ungas psykiskahälsa. Översikten har ett tydligt ungdoms- och rättighetsperspektiv för attlyfta ungas egna upplevelser av fritid och om fritiden sker på lika villkor. 

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.

Introduction: Mental disorders, such as depression and anxiety with interlinked suicidality, are the leading cause of health-related disability among young men. Knowledge of the interaction between emotional, bodily, social and gendered mental health processes in young men is limited and therefore needed.

Aim: This study aimed to explore young men's lived embodied experiences of mental disorders and suicidality, and to conceptualise these by integrating affective–emotional, physiological, social and gendered processes.

Methods: Semistructured individual interviews were conducted with 13 young men who had sought professional help for mental disorders and suicidality. Grounded theory (GT) was used with a social constructivist perspective.

Results: The results comprise one core category - Living (dys)regulated and alienated young masculinity - with related categories “battling with the emotional body,” “suffering in social silence” and “balancing embodied darkness and distress.” The GT illustrates how young men navigate and manage their embodied and emotional suffering in a context of “regulative” masculine and social norms alongside insufficient social support.

Conclusion: Our results suggest that young men's lived embodied experiences of mental disorders and suicidality can be understood as a dynamic process of internal and external “(dys)regulation and alienation.” The generated GT provides a broad tentative explanation model, contributing to theory development, and serves as a basis for gender-sensitive interventions - in both psychotherapy and physiotherapy - integrating body, mind and the social context.

The World Health Organization states that gender has implications for health across the course of a person's life in terms of norms, roles and relations. It also has implications in rehabilitation. In this article, we argue the need of gender perspectives in the field of physiotherapy; gender matters and makes a difference in health and rehabilitation. We highlight a number of central areas where gender may be significant and give concrete examples of social gender aspects in physiotherapy practice and in diverse patient groups. We also discuss why it can be important to consider gender from an organizational perspective and how sociocultural norms and ideals relating to body, exercise and health are gendered. Further we present useful gender theories and conceptual frameworks. Finally, we outline future directions in terms of gender-sensitive intervention, physiotherapy education and a gendered application of the ICF model. We want to challenge physiotherapists and physiotherapy students to broaden knowledge and awareness of how gender may impact on physiotherapy, and how gender theory can serve as an analytical lens for a useful perspective on the development of clinical practice, education and research within physiotherapy.

The environment in psychiatric inpatient care is key to patient recovery and staff job satisfaction. In this qualitative study of patient and staff experiences of a new spatial design in psychiatric inpatient care, we analysed data from 11 semi-structured interviews with patients and five focus group discussions with staff using qualitative content analysis. The new design contributed to feelings of safety and recovery, but patients and staff also reported some frustration and added stress. The results lead us to conclude that while the new spatial design improves some conditions for recovery and job satisfaction, the design itself is simply not enough. Changes in care environments require that both patients and staff be informed and involved in the renovation to ensure that patients feel respected and staff feel confident in using the new environment before and during treatment and follow-ups

While sexual consent has been a hot topic during recent years in the Swedish context, there is a lack of empirical studies on the issue. The aims of this study were to analyse how adults in Sweden experience and make sense of sexual (non)consent in sexual encounters, and to contribute to a conceptual discussion of sexual consent, especially in relation to a Foucauldian understanding of power and subjectivity.

The analysis is based on 31 interviews with adults living in Sweden. Participants describe consenting to sex due to being exposed to interpersonal forms of power, ranging from violence and clear violations of consent to nagging and being subjected to pressure from others. But they also feel pressure and give consent to sex based on self-regulation and disciplinary forms of power, connected to normative ideals about "the good relationship", monogamy and heterosexuality, men and women, and age. Our Foucauldian analytical lens allowed us to explore and challenge understandings of autonomous, rational subjects who communicate consent on the basis of authentic feelings. It also provided an analytical strategy for analysing and understanding the complex power relations that matter in the negotiation of sexual consent.

Studien undersöker hur sexuellt samtycke förstås, praktiseras och upplevs: Samtycke anses ofta vara en typ av avtal för sexuell aktivitet, men definitionen av sexuellt samtycke är komplex. Tidigare forskning har till stor del fokuserat på amerikanska collegestudenter, och det har saknats svenska empiriska studier som undersöker sexuellt samtycke i befolkningen.

Syftet med den här studien är därför att undersöka hur sexuellt samtycke förstås, praktiseras och upplevs i sexuella relationer bland vuxna i Sverige idag.

Studien är en kvalitativ intervjustudie med 31 sexuellt aktiva personer 23–61 år. Deltagarna rekryterades via annonser i lokaltidningar, breda Facebook-grupper och på stora arbetsplatser. Intervjuerna var semi-strukturerade och berörde sexuell kommunikation, sexuella relationer och erfarenheter av sexuellt samtycke. Intervjumaterialet analyserades med hjälp av tematisk analys.

Samtycke kan placeras in på ett spektrum: Analysen av intervjuerna resulterade i ett huvudtema: Ett spektrum av samtycken: kontextuellaoch kontinuerliga sexuella praktiker. 

Huvudtemat beskriver hur samtycke är mångfacetterat och uttrycks olika beroende av situation,relation och föreställningar om kvinnlig och manlig sexualitet och sexuell praktik. Det beskriver också hur samtycke i sig och hur samtycke kommuniceras är föränderligt och pågående, bådeöver tid och i den sexuella situationen. Huvudtemat beskriver vidare hur deltagarnas förståelse, praktik och upplevelser av samtycke och brist på samtycke kan placeras in på ett spektrummellan fullkomligt samförstånd och avsaknad av samtycke, det vill säga i form av övergrepp och sexuellt våld. Däremellan kan kommunikationen vara bättre eller sämre, och förväntningar på kvinnlig och manlig sexualitet kan spela in i vad som upplevs eller förstås som samtycke. Gråzoner för vad som upplevs som självklart och lustfyllt, eller obekvämt eller tveksamt är en del av samtyckets spektrum. 

Huvudtemat byggs upp av fem underteman:

1. Kommunikation – så tydligt, så svårt belyser deltagarnas syn på tydlig och lyhördkommunikation som en nyckel till ett fungerande sexuellt samtycke och samspel. Samtidigt upplever deltagarna att det är svårt att kommunicera om sex och samtycke, och att de därför kan behöva träna på det och finna forum för att förbättra dessa färdigheter. Vidare beskriver deltagarna att typen av kommunikation skiljer sig åt mellan olika slags sexuella situationer och praktiker. Det som upplevs som tabubelagt kan också försvåra en god kommunikation.

2. Sex och samspel i samförstånd belyser hur sexuellt samtycke när det fungerar bra förstås som självklart och ömsesidigt. Det beskriver hur samtycken kan förändras och fungera olika beroende på situation och utifrån individuella och relationella faktorer. Samtycket är någonting pågående som sker här och nu.

3. Samtyckets gråzoner beskriver upplevelser där deltagarna varit osäkra på sitt eget eller andras samtycke, och erfarenheter av att bristande lust har omvandlats till samtycke efter hand.

4. Avsaknad av samtycke handlar om att samtycke inte uppnås utan på olika sätt överträds, exempelvis i form av sexuellt våld. Temat handlar också om konsekvenserna av att bära med sig dessa erfarenheter. 

5. Att navigera och utmana föreställningar och praktiker för sexualitet belyser hur olika föreställningar om och förväntningar på sexuellt beteende utifrån kön påverkar hur deltagarna förstår, kommunicerar och praktiserar sexuellt samtycke. I temat ingår inslag av att utmana förväntningar på romantisk och tvåsam kärlek. 

Viktiga insikter för arbetet för sexuell hälsa och motsexuellt våld: Kunskapen från studien kan öka förståelsen för hur sexuellt aktiva vuxna kommunicerar, praktiserar och upplever sexuellt samtycke. Detta har både vetenskaplig och samhälleligbetydelse. Insikterna kan bidra till att utveckla det hälsofrämjande arbetet för sexuell hälsa samtutveckla interventionerna i det förebyggande arbetet och de behandlande insatserna vid sexuellatrakasserier och sexuellt våld.