Fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis, and multiple chemical sensitivity can be considered contested illnesses. The questioning of the status of these conditions as real diseases reduces feelings of legitimacy in those affected. The purpose of this study was to analyze subjectivity construction processes in people with these diseases. A qualitative exploratory study was conducted from the perspective of hermeneutic phenomenology and ethnosociology. We used life stories for compiling data (13 informants were interviewed face-to-face), and sociological discourse analysis was developed. Three main categories were identified: (a) self and grieving; (b) images and practices relating to fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis, and multiple chemical sensitivity; and (c) relationships with health professionals. This study shows that daily experiences of people living with these diseases are marked by stigmatization processes. The ultimate purpose of nursing care for people with these conditions should be to reduce their vulnerability and exclusion.

The frequent attendance is a worrying phenomenon for the health systems of Western countries, due the high work load it generates and its high costs in material and human resources. This work aims to study the meanings, categories and practices that general practitioners build around the frequent attendance. Qualitative study, based on a socio-subjective approximation, through in-depth interviews. Eight interviews were conducted with Primary Health Care physicians in Madrid. The discourses were examined from a pragmatist perspective. The figure of the Primary Health Care physician is at the intersection of professional and institutional contradictory logic, which generates high levels of professional malaise. The social and psychological aspects appear in a confused way, due the consideration of the non-physical aspects as outside the realm of medicine. Frequent attendance is problematic because: it is situated in the center of the sign-symptom dichotomy. its management requires so much time. it requires a comprehensive approach. it avoids the medical performance as a professional who diagnosed and establishes an etiological treatment. These problems eventually can lead to conflict in the professional-patient relationship. The meanings for the frequent attendance will vary significantly depending on the socio-subjective positions, so the approach proposed here could help to understand the complexity of a problem that is built within the relationships between particular subjects crossed by different institutional dynamics, labour disputes, career paths and ideologies.

Background and objectives: Stress in nursing students is a very common experience, especially when they face clinical practice. The aims of this study were to perform a transcultural adaptation and to examine the reliability and repeatability of the Instrument for the Assessment of Stress in Nursing Students for a Spanish population. Methods: A test–retest analysis was carried out in two face-to-face sessions with the students with a lapse of 10 days between the two sessions. A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out between the months of May and June 2018. Sixty-four nursing students were recruited with a consecutive sampling method that targeted individuals in the freshman class. Results: A good internal consistency was shown for the total score (α = 0.8861) and for each of the six domains. The test–retest reliability, using the Wilcoxon paired test, was not significant, indicating no differences between the total scores or the domain scores (p ≥ 0.05). Finally, Bland and Altman plots of visual distributions did not show differences between the total scores and the domain scores. Conclusion: The Instrument for the Assessment of Stress in Nursing Students was shown to be a reliable tool for measuring stress factors among Spanish nursing students.

Following a coronary ischaemic event, it is essential to promote empowerment in self-care decision making. Primary care nursing is crucial for intensive follow-up to promote adherence to the therapeutic regimen. Objective: To ascertain whether adherence to a protocolised follow-up programme, with the support of a patient notebook, improves compliance behaviours in terms of physical activity, prescribed diet and medication. This is a quasi-experimental multicentre pre/post study. Population: Individuals aged 40–70 years, diagnosed with cardiac ischaemia in the last 18 months with a follow-up from March 2017 to January 2019, were included in a protocolised follow-up programme consisting of 11 visits over 12 months. A total of 194 patients started the programme and 132 completed it. Of these, 67.4% exhibited good adherence to follow-up, 31.8% exhibited medium adherence, and 0.8% exhibited poor adherence. Therefore, the patients were recoded into two variables: Medium–Low Adherence and High. The Nursing Outcomes Classification variables were significantly different between the Poor–Medium and Good Adherence groups and were always higher in the Good Adherence group (p-values < 0.05 t-student). There was a significant relationship between level of adherence and compliance behaviour. Good adherence to a follow-up plan led by primary care nurses improves compliance behaviours in terms of prescribed diet, physical activity, and medication. Early, intensive and protocolised follow-up by primary care nurses is essential to improve adherence to the therapeutic regimen and compliance behaviour among individuals with cardiac ischaemia. The use of a cardiovascular self-care notebook promotes adherence.

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