Public health nurses' professional dignity: An interview study in Finland.

BACKGROUND: Dignity is a central human value supported by nurses' professional ethics. In previous studies, nurses in clinical practice have experienced that dignity increased their work well-being and pride of work. Dignity is also strictly interweaved to professional identity in the different nursing' roles, but little is known about dignity among public health nurses and primary care settings. PURPOSE: This study aimed to describe the perceptions of nursing's professional dignity of public health nurses in primary care in Finland. RESEARCH DESIGN: An inductive qualitative descriptive approach with semi-structured focus group interviews was utilised. PARTICIPANTS AND RESEARCH CONTEXT: Twenty-seven Finnish public health nurses were interviewed via eight semi-structured focus group interviews in primary health care settings. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS: Before data collection, research permissions were obtained from participating health care centres. This type of research in Finland, with competent adult participants, does not require ethical pre-assessment but written and oral informed consent obtained before the interviews. FINDINGS: Based on our findings, public health nurses perceived that professional dignity was (1) part of their self-respect, an observed daily value based on their acknowledged competence. Besides, they perceived that (2) service users' trust in public health nurses was a strong expression of professional dignity, and it could be uncovered when recipients of care utilised their services. In addition, public health nurses experienced that (3) professional dignity was an expression of different intertwined interprofessional and social factors. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Professional dignity is simultaneously an essential prerequisite and an outcome of public health nurses' work. In future, more information would be needed to implement strategies in primary health care to foster nurses' professional dignity also in international public health arenas.

Older people's perceived autonomy in residential care: An integrative review.

Autonomy has been recognised as a key principle in healthcare, but we still need to develop a consistent understanding of older people's perceived autonomy in residential care. This study aimed to identify, describe and synthesise previous studies on the perceived autonomy of older people in residential care. Ethical approval was not required, as this was a review of published literature. We carried out an integrative review to synthesise previous knowledge published in peer-review journals in English up to September 2019. Electronic and manual searches were conducted using the CINAHL, Philosopher's Index, PubMed, SocINDEX, Scopus and Web of Science databases. The data were analysed using the constant comparison method. The review identified 46 studies. Perceived autonomy referred to the opportunities that older people had to make their own choices about their daily life in residential care, and achieving autonomy promoted both health and quality of life. Autonomy was linked to older people's individual capacities, including their level of independence, physical and mental competence, personal characteristics, and whether relatives shared and supported their perceived autonomy. Professionals could facilitate or hinder older peoples' autonomy in a number of ways, including providing opportunities for autonomy, how daily care needs and activities were managed, and controlling older people's choices. Professionals' characteristics, such as education and attitudes, and the older people's living environments were also associated with their perceived autonomy and included organisational characteristics and physical and social care facilitators. Older people's perceived autonomy promoted health and quality of life in residential care. However, their autonomy was associated with a number of protective and restrictive individual and environmental factors, which influenced whether autonomy was achieved.

Parents' perspective on their responsibilities with regard to adolescents' use of alcohol.

BACKGROUND: Parents have responsibilities when their adolescent offspring use alcohol, but little is known about their views on the topic. This knowledge would help healthcare organisations to develop practices to help parents meet their responsibilities. AIM: The aim of this study was to describe parents' perceptions and experiences of their responsibilities and what support they needed to tackle underage drinking. DESIGN AND METHODS: This Finnish study was carried out in 2017. It used a qualitative descriptive method that involved carrying out semi-structured interviews with 20 parents of adolescents aged 14-15 years. The data were analysed using inductive content analysis. RESULTS: Parents described that it was their responsibility to prevent problems that could have a negative impact on their adolescents' well-being. When it came to their responsibilities with regard to adolescents using alcohol, parents saw these as guiding and protecting their child, being aware of how parents used alcohol themselves, the way they communicated with adolescents and the rules they set about experimenting with alcohol. Parents said that receiving collaborative support from peers, community and professionals working in health and social care services would be useful. This could help them to prevent adolescents using alcohol, tackle problems that occurred when adolescents drank and enable parents to play a responsible role in their local community. CONCLUSION: Parents recognised that they had responsibilities to prevent alcohol having a negative impact on adolescents' well-being. They wanted to ensure that adolescents made sensible and responsible decisions when it came to using alcohol. Parents described that the most important form of support was peer support from other parents. The findings of this study can be used to inform the development of preventive healthcare services and support parents to meet their responsibilities with regard to tackling underage drinking.

How Adolescents and Parents See Their Moral Responsibilities With Regard to Adolescents Using Alcohol-A Deductive Secondary Analysis.

BACKGROUND: This study described how adolescents and the parents saw their moral responsibilities with regard to adolescents using alcohol. METHODS: This was a deductive secondary analysis, based on Hart's taxonomy of moral responsibility. The primary studies were based on 19 group interviews with 87 adolescents aged 14-16 and 17 interviews with 20 parents. Voluntary participants were recruited by purposive sampling from two public schools in Finland. RESULTS: Role responsibilities comprised of adolescents taking care of themselves and parents providing authority figures and helping adolescents to make rational decisions about alcohol. Capacity responsibilities referred to adolescents' abilities to make independent decisions on using alcohol and their developing abilities to control their actions. Parents required abilities to get involved in and show an interest in their children's everyday lives. Causal responsibilities focused on ensuring that adolescents did not cause harm when they used alcohol, and parents had to acknowledge and react to the consequences. Liability responsibilities were about the law on alcohol use and responsibilities for any legal consequences. The role schools could play was important. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents and parents had wide-ranging responsibilities related to the adolescents' using alcohol and school nurses could play an important role in healthy decisions.

Adolescents' Perceptions and Experiences of Their Responsibilities for Their Alcohol Use-A Group Interview Study.

Young people often experiment with alcohol during adolescence, which is a period of their life that is characterized by increasing responsibility. Knowing how adolescents perceive responsibilities with regard to their alcohol use could prevent their alcohol consumption and help them to take responsibility for this aspect of their lives. This study describes adolescents' perceptions and experiences of their responsibilities for alcohol use. We used a qualitative descriptive method that focused on 87 adolescents aged 14-16 years, from two schools. They took part in semi-structured interviews in 19 groups in Finland in 2017. The data were analyzed using inductive content analysis. The adolescents described alcohol as harmful, but tempting, and said that they were developing a sense of responsibility for their alcohol use. They were responsible for their own wellbeing, behaving responsibly if they drank and intervening in peers' alcohol use. They talked about how their parents had unquestionable responsibilities to care about whether adolescents drank alcohol. Their parents' responsibilities related to the guidance they gave, how strict they were and how they responded to adolescents using alcohol. Anonymous and intense support from authorities encouraged adolescents to learn to take responsibility. Identifying and focusing on their responsibilities could help adolescents to develop into healthy individuals and increase their awareness of the need to avoid alcohol. Parents may also need support to meet their responsibilities.