Postnatal quietness - the dilemma of visiting hours. A qualitative interview study with maternity care staff.

BACKGROUND: As part of the Person and Family Centred Care, involvement of relatives is a key concept. This means that an unrestricted visiting policy in hospitals wards is widely accepted and implemented. In maternity care, benefits and drawbacks of unrestricted visiting is still discussed, while it is acknowledged that a quiet environment is important for both new parents and newborns to enhance breastfeeding. The COVID-19 lockdown provided an opportunity to study how the restrictions for visitors influenced the work of maternity care staff in Denmark. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore the experience of maternity care staff on how visitation restrictions for visitors influenced the care of new families in a maternity ward. METHODS: Individual interviews (n = 10) were performed between 20 November 2020 and 25 February 2021. A qualitative descriptive study was performed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: One overarching theme was identified: "Framing time to the experience of becoming a parent". Further, five sub-themes were identified and illuminated in the analysis: "Increasing confidentiality and presence", "Changing availability and space for guidance", "Welcoming peacefulness", "Being gatekeepers", and "Structuring time is caring". CONCLUSION: Restrictions for visitors influenced the care of new families because it encourages the space and place of becoming a parent. The hospital environment was shaped in a calm way, which increased the staffs' bedside time. The experience of an increased confidentiality with new parents led to in-depth conversations, making it easier to identify new parents' needs, focus on the initiation of breastfeeding, and individual guidance.

Hope pictured in drawings by patients newly diagnosed with advanced cancer.

BACKGROUND: Hope is an integral part of a dying person's needs and an important phenomenon that has not been satisfactorily explored. The tension between hope for a cure and the reality of being terminally ill is a paradox, which in the context of palliative cancer care, nurses and health care professionals must take into consideration. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to elucidate the phenomenon of hope and to investigate the lived experiences of hope among newly diagnosed patients with advanced cancer. METHOD: The study used a phenomenological-visual method where drawings and post-drawing interviews were used. The participants were six patients who recently had been offered specialised palliative care treatment. They were five women and one man with different cancer diagnoses and between 30 and 82 years of age (median 65 years). The data consisted of six drawings and individual post-drawing interviews with the participants. The study was reported using the COREQ checklist. RESULTS: The study revealed one main concern 'Being in hope' and hope appeared in four different dimensions; internal, external, relational and transcendental. Hopelessness was present at all times. CONCLUSION: Hope pictured in drawings was expressed through colour, shape, lines, symbols and metaphors, and hope incorporated internal, external, relational and transcendental aspects. Hope was constantly fighting against hopelessness and hope integrated with past, present and future. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Drawings, as well as other visual representations, are suitable tools when trying to understand an ineffable phenomenon such as hope experienced by people newly diagnosed with cancer.