Meeting own needs and supporting ability to care: Family caregivers' and health care professionals' perspectives on professional support provided through a potential mobile application.

BACKGROUND: A majority of persons with dementia in Sweden live in their own homes and are often cared for by family members. Caring for a family member may be a positive experience. It may, however, also be a negative experience as symptoms like disturbing behavior and delusions may be difficult to encounter. The burden of being a family caregiver has been shown to affect the caregivers' quality of life. OBJECTIVE: To explore stakeholders' perspectives on a potential mobile application through which family caregivers could be supported by healthcare professionals in caring for a person with dementia living at home. METHOD: Eight individual interviews with family caregivers and a focus group with eight healthcare professionals specialized in dementia care were analyzed using content analysis method. RESULTS: The findings suggest that a mobile application can support family caregivers to meet their own needs in terms of finding structure in everyday life, how to get information and support in their own pace, and how to care for themselves. The findings also suggest the necessity of accessing relevant contact networks to be supported in the ability to care for a family member with dementia. CONCLUSION: Healthcare and social services mediated support provided through user-friendly mobile application has the potential to support family caregivers both in taking care of a person with dementia and caring for themselves. Moreover, it is important that the information provided to family caregivers is personalized according to the needs of the family caregivers as the family member's dementia advances.

"Just Throw It Behind You and Just Keep Going": Emotional Labor when Ethnic Minority Healthcare Staff Encounter Racism in Healthcare.

Encountering racism is burdensome and meeting it in a healthcare setting is no exception. This paper is part of a larger study that focused on understanding and addressing racism in healthcare in Sweden. In the paper, we draw on interviews with 12 ethnic minority healthcare staff who described how they managed emotional labor in their encounters with racism at their workplace. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The analysis revealed that experienced emotional labor arises from two main reasons. The first is the concern and fear that ethnic minority healthcare staff have of adverse consequences for their employment should they be seen engaged in discussing racism. The second concerns the ethical dilemmas when taking care of racist patients since healthcare staff are bound by a duty of providing equal care for all patients as expressed in healthcare institutional regulations. Strategies to manage emotional labor described by the staff include working harder to prove their competence and faking, blocking or hiding their emotions when they encounter racism. The emotional labor implied by these strategies could be intense or traumatizing as indicated by some staff members, and can therefore have negative effects on health. Given that discussions around racism are silenced, it is paramount to create space where racism can be safely discussed and to develop a safe healthcare environment for the benefit of staff and patients.

Care of family caregivers of persons with dementia (CaFCa) through a tailor-made mobile app: study protocol of a complex intervention study.

BACKGROUND: Globally, family members account for the main source of caregiving of persons with dementia living at home. Providing care to family members with dementia often has negative health consequences for caregivers such as stress, depression and low quality of life. Yet, formal support for family caregivers (FCs) is limited. Telehealth technology has the potential to provide health care and social support to FCs. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of providing support by healthcare professionals (HPs) through a mobile app in reducing stress, depressive symptoms and loneliness, and improving mental health and quality of life of FCs of persons with dementia. METHODS: Using a pragmatic intervention design, this study will use pre- and post-intervention assessment to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed intervention in a sample of 78 FCs of persons with dementia (PWD). The intervention will be implemented by approximately 5 HPs specialized in dementia care based in the municipalities in Sweden. The main thrust of the intervention is to provide professional support, with help of an interactive mobile app, to family members in their caregiving role for PWDs. Qualitative interviews with HPs and FCs form the groundwork of the development of the mobile app. By using the app on smart phone or tablet, the FC, in groups of 8-10, will communicate with peers and a HP exchanging ideas on how to deal with PWD's behavioral and cognitive changes and get support. They will also be able to discuss stressful events and access mindfulness exercises focused on themselves. Quantitative data will be collected before and at three time points after the 8-week intervention to assess changes in the health outcomes of the FCs. In-depth interviews will be conducted after the intervention to capture the experiences of FCs and HPs regarding the ease of use and acceptability of the app. DISCUSSION: This tailor-made mobile app has the high potential to be a practical platform for supporting FCs to alleviate stress and improve mental health irrespective of distance to the nearest health care or social service center. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN, ISRCTN46137262 . Registered 10 October 2019.

Do insulation products of man-made vitreous fibres still cause skin discomfort?

BACKGROUND: Man-made vitreous fibres (MMVFs) are used in products for insulation and as reinforcement in materials. Contamination of the skin may arise through direct or indirect contact, and from the deposition of airborne fibres. The scientific basis regarding the effects on skin of MMVFs dates from 1970-1980. OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether currently used insulation MMVF products still cause skin discomfort. METHODS: Focus group interviews and structured interviews were performed among workers engaged in insulation tasks and among do-it-yourself consumers with a recent experience of MMVF products. RESULTS: A majority of interviewees experienced skin discomfort when handling MMVF products. Complaints caused by traditional (yellow) glass fibre products were more severe than those caused by products of rock or slag wool fibres. The wrists, forearms, neck and face were the locations where the skin was most affected. The situations causing problems varied between occupational tasks, but working with the hands over the head or in narrow spaces were described as the worst situations. Building construction apprentices performed insulation tasks more often than senior workers. CONCLUSIONS: MMVF insulation products do still cause skin discomfort. Updated knowledge about people's experiences of work with such products should influence legislation.

Patients' views on care and treatment after phototherapy for psoriasis and atopic eczema including a gender perspective.

BACKGROUND: Psoriasis and atopic eczema are reportedly as common among women as among men and are not known to differ in severity between sexes. Research has shown that men get more treatment with ultraviolet (UV) light for longer periods than women. This fact, together with ongoing efforts to improve patient satisfaction with care and treatment at our department, prompted us to gather information from our patients. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore patients' views of dermatological care and treatment methods. METHOD: A questionnaire-based survey was carried out, complemented with qualitative interviews. RESULTS: The main findings fall under three areas of clinical relevance: information to patients must be individually designed with a gender perspective; men and women have different attitudes towards greasing which must be kept in mind in clinical practice; and women often appear to be under-prescribed UV treatment. CONCLUSION: The information from our study can form a basis for new therapeutic strategies, taking a gender perspective into account.