Inner strength - associated with reduced prevalence of depression among older women.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to explore if inner strength is independently associated with a reduced prevalence of depression after controlling for other known risk factors associated with depression. METHODS: A population-based cross-sectional study was performed, where all women living in Åland, a Finnish self-govern island community in the Baltic Sea, aged 65 years or older were sent a questionnaire including the Geriatric Depression Scale and the Inner Strength Scale along with several other questions related to depression. Factors associated with depression were analyzed by means of multivariate logistic regression. RESULTS: The results showed that 11.2% of the studied women (n = 1452) were depressed and that the prevalence increased with age and was as high as 20% in the oldest age group. Non-depressed women were more likely to never or seldom feel lonely, have a strong inner strength, take fewer prescription drugs, feeling needed, being able to engage in meaningful leisure activities, as well as cohabit. CONCLUSION: Our results showed an association between stronger inner strength and being non-depressed. This can be interpreted to mean that inner strength might have a protective effect against depression. These findings are interesting from a health-promotion perspective, yet to verify these results, further longitudinal studies are required.

Patient rehabilitation in hospitals a prioritized discipline after hospital reform: a Norwegian perspective.

AIM: The purpose of the present study was to highlight the effects of hospital reform introduced in Norway 2002 on patient rehabilitation. BACKGROUND: The Norwegian hospital reform is an activity-controlled financing system with diagnosis-related groups (DRG). METHOD: A multi-case study with embedded design methods was used. Document analysis and interviews are sources of evidence. RESULTS: The rehabilitation service offered a treatment service that was inadequately funded. The focus of the rehabilitation team was negatively affected by the lack of organization. The different patient groups did not receive optimal and individualized rehabilitation as required by individual treatment plans. There were two different levels of rehabilitation at the hospitals. CONCLUSIONS: The financing system did not provide for a differentiated treatment service tailored to each patient's individual plan, as stipulated by health policy. An increase in the number of patients receiving rehabilitation in the health authorities was not accompanied by an increase in allocated resources, leading to an insufficient overall rehabilitation service. The organizations included in the case study were not those who finance specialized rehabilitation at specialized rehabilitation centres. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Specially trained nurses are strategically placed to shape and influence funding of rehabilitation programmes through leadership.

Implementation of a government policy programme on Operation Kvinnofrid.

Today, intimate partner violence is addressed by most government authorities, including the government of Aland. In Aland the government required the official organizations to implement an Operation Kvinnofrid Programme. In this study, a descriptive case study design was used to explore the impact of the government's recommendations to the organizations to implement the programme. The organizations responses were limited. They used a top-down approach and almost no resources were allocated to the issue.

On a life-saving mission: Nurses' willingness to encounter with intimate partner abuse.

The main purpose of this qualitative study was to explore in depth selected expert nurses' experiences of the phenomenon of violence against women and the nurses' roles as health care providers to those women. The authors adopted a grounded theory method and produced an emerging theory comprising two key themes: nurses' personal perceptions toward intimate partner violence and nurses' feeling equipped to intervene. The findings showed that violence against women existed in a small local community and raised pitfalls caused by nurses' knowing the inhabitants. Furthermore, the findings indicate the devotion of nurses and the importance of their role in the care of battered women and the sharing of knowledge. Thus, the nurses compensate for a lack of training through personal maturity and security within the social context.

Inner strength as identified in narratives of elderly women: a focus group interview study.

By identifying sources of inner strength, health care personnel can be given valuable information about elderly people's capacities regardless of frailty. The focus of this interview-based study was to explore how inner strength and its dimensions can be identified in narratives of elderly women. The analysis was based on a theoretical model where inner strength is composed of 4 interacting dimensions of connectedness, creativity, firmness, and flexibility. Our findings add nuance to the notion of inner strength and deepen empirical knowledge about the concept.