The Precarious Space for Mourning: Sick Leave as an Ambiguous Topic in Bereaved Parents' Accounts of the Return to Everyday Life After Reproductive Loss.

This article addresses conflicting concerns related to space for mourning in Norway. It draws on material from qualitative interviews with bereaved parents who have lost a child in stillbirth. Space for mourning, and the need for sick leave, arose as a crucial concern and complex issue in these interviews. Although initiatives have been developed to introduce grief as a valid category in diagnostic repertoires, it is not a legitimate basis for sick leave in the acute phase. Common alternatives have been referrals to psychic instability or depression. Both variations represent a medicalization of the normal with implications that need to be addressed, and which this article discusses from the bereaved parents' point of view. Extended parental leave, and the introduction of grief allowance, are possible alternatives for the provision of space in normal but demanding times of grief. Despite not yet part of the repertoire for gatekeepers in the Norwegian welfare state, they are part of the public discourse. Besides a crucial acknowledgment of the grief of the parents, these options also represent possibilities for preventing a pathologization of what is a normal rite of passage.

Between disruption and continuity: challenges in maintaining the 'biographical we' when caring for a partner with a severe, chronic illness.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive illness that changes the lives of patients and their spouses dramatically. The aim of this paper is to show how spouses of COPD patients integrate their tasks as informal carers with their role as spouses and the tensions and challenges involved in this. The study draws on qualitative interviews with spouses of COPD patients, recruited from the patient pool of ambulatory pulmonary services of two hospitals in Oslo, Norway. The spouses described their great efforts to re-establish normality and continuity in their everyday lives. Accomplishing this was a delicate process because they faced several dilemmas in this work. They balanced the need to sustain the independence and integrity of both parties against the need to ensure safety and deal with the progression of the illness. We propose 'biographical we' as a concept that can highlight the great effort spouses put into establishing a sense of continuity in their lives. In times when healthcare policy involves mobilising informal caregiving resources, an awareness of the complexity of caregiving relationships is crucial when developing appropriate support for informal carers.

Searching for "transformative moments": A qualitative study of nurses' work during home visits to COPD patients and their caregivers in Norway.

AIM: The integration of families into healthcare services is being emphasized increasingly in healthcare polices. The aim of this study was to investigate how professionals during home visits support both patients and caregivers in accepting and accommodating to illness. DESIGN: An explorative qualitative design. METHODS: Participant observations from home visits (N = 20) of pulmonary ambulatory nurses to COPD patients in Norway, followed by interviews with these nurses. RESULTS: Our findings demonstrate the delicate nature of nurses' work during home visits to COPD patients and their caregivers. They support both patients and caregivers in reconciling themselves with the negative consequences of illness, as well as giving legitimation to and potential room for, sustainable arrangements within the scope of the relationship. The nurses address significant issues, having transformative potential concerning attitudes and practices related to the management of illness and adjusting to a complex illness trajectory.