Aims and objectives: The aim was to explore how nurses experience compassionate care for patients with cancer and family caregivers in different phases of the palliative pathway.Background: Compassion is fundamental to palliative care and viewed as a cornerstone of high‐quality care provision. Healthcare authorities emphasize that patients should have the opportunity to stay at home for as long as possible. There are, however, care deficiencies in the palliative pathway.Design: This study employed a qualitative design using focus groups and a hermeneutic approach.Methods: Four focus groups with three to seven female nurses in each group were conducted in Mid‐Norway in 2018. Nurses’ ages ranged from 28–60 years (mean age = 45 years), and they were recruited through purposive sampling (N = 21). Compassionate care was chosen as the theoretical framework. Reporting followed the COREQ guidelines.Results: Three themes expressing compassionate care related to different phases of the pathway were identified: (a) information and dialogue, (b) creating a space for dying and (c) family caregivers’ acceptance of death.Conclusions: This study showed that it was crucial to create a space for dying, characterized by trust, collaboration, good relationships, empathy, attention, silence, caution, slowness, symptom relief and the absence of noise and conflict.Relevance to clinical practice: The quality of compassion possessed by individual practitioners, as well as the overall design of the healthcare system, must be considered when creating compassionate care for patients and their family caregivers. Nursing educators and health authorities should pay attention to the development of compassion in education and practice. Further research should highlight patients’ and family caregivers’ experiences of compassionate care and determine how healthcare systems can support compassionate care.

Purpose. This study investigates factors that will affect the chances of long-term sick workers returning to work. Method. The study is based on a representative sample of persons with mental illnesses and musculoskeletal disorders who received a rehabilitation allowance in Norway in 2002. Their occupational status in 2005 and experiences from the rehabilitation process were charted through their responses to a questionnaire in combination with national register data. Our analytical framework is based on three domains: the medical domain, the domain of authoritative bodies and the production domain (working life), as described by Lindqvist (Att sätta gränser: organisationer och reformer i arbetsrehabiliteringen. Umeå: Boréa; 2000). Results. Our main findings are that earlier work experience, age and other members in household, in addition, to influence over one's own rehabilitation process explains whether workers on long-term sick leave return to work. Furthermore, individual factors such as gender and diagnosis (i.e. musculoskeletal disorder and mental illness) do not explain the probability to return to work. Experience and contact with representatives of the medical, the authoritative bodies and the production domain only explain to a small extent the probability to return to work. It is even interesting to note that regular contact with the social insurance office (SIO) has a negative effect on the probability to return to work. This may indicate that contact with the SIO subjects sick workers to a risk of developing a ‘social insurance career’ to secure their income. Conclusions. The findings show that the medical, the authoritative bodies and the production domain might represent different logics that can pull a sick worker in different directions during the rehabilitation process. However, these different logics do not fully explain, which outcome a rehabilitation process takes. It is important to extend the analysis to include how the individuals respond to these logics during the rehabilitation process.

Aim and objective: To explore how working‐age adults experience patient participation in hospital haemodialysis.Background: End‐stage kidney disease is a progressive, chronic condition imposing patients with high treatment burdens and low health‐related quality of life. Patients face multiple medical decisions related to living with kidney failure. Given their frequent interaction with health services, patient participation may be of special value.Design: Qualitative design with a narrative approach.Methods: In 2018, eleven patients aged 35–64 years undergoing hospital haemodialysis participated in individual interviews. All interviews were analysed using a narrative approach. Reporting followed the Consolidated criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research guidelines.Findings: The patients’ narratives of participation comprised three themes following their healthcare trajectory: Informed, but not involved in treatment choices; Duality of care and control; and Frail trust reflecting collaborative deficiencies. The patients received good information about dialysis, but were not involved in choice of treatment modality. Professional work, as well as the nature of treatment, contributed to restricted patient autonomy. Patients’ trust suffered from collaborative deficiency generating delays in their treatment trajectories, and patients extended their responsibility into the coordination of transitions as a way of coping with these issues.Conclusions: The study identified challenges related to patient involvement and interdisciplinary collaboration. Involving patients through dialogue and acknowledging their experiences, preferences and lifestyles may strengthen the mutual patient–professional understanding of treatment. Despite increased focus on seamless trajectories, patients face obstacles regarding interdisciplinary collaboration and coordination of health services.Relevance to clinical practice: The findings indicate a want of individually customised care for people requiring dialysis. Patients need to be involved in the choice of treatment modality as well as decisions related to the current treatment. Information must include potential consequences of the different treatment modalities. Health services need to strengthen collaboration in order to secure treatment continuity and patient involvement.

Purpose: Small-scale enterprises (SSEs) are important for sustainable development in Europe and account for a significant proportion of private enterprises and their large contribution to employment. The purpose of this paper is to explore workplace health management (WHM) from the perspective of managers in SSEs in Norway and Sweden. Design/methodology/approach: In-depth interviews with 18 managers in SSEs were conducted and a stepwise qualitative analysis was used. Findings: The findings are presented as two main patterns: inter-organisational dynamics and participative leadership. Managers discussed opportunities for WHM to foster solidarity and flexibility in the workplace, the potential of employees for self-governance and a cultural environment at the workplace characterized by safety, trust, care, loyalty and humour. The managers employed a process-oriented communicator style, were all-rounders, and demonstrated dedicated and distinct management. Managers in SSEs were lone problem solvers and experienced high and conflicting work demands and work-family conflicts. Research limitations/implications: The findings should be interpreted with caution concerning representation of SSEs generally. The enterprises were recruited from an intervention project focussing on WHM and might, therefore, have a positive attitude. Practical implications: The managers obtain recommended information about what to do and how to address WHM in SSEs. Originality/value: This study adds important knowledge regarding the preconditions for creating health promoting workplaces in SSEs, an area for which limited research exists. The findings provide insights and knowledge about managers’ possibilities and obstacles in WHM. The findings could be transferrable to management in similar contexts if managers develop more awareness and knowledge.

The increasing prevalence of chronic conditions and impairments in the population is putting new demands on health and rehabilitation services. Research on self-help groups suggest that participati...

In recent years researchers have tried to identify important factors that can explain re-integration to work for workers on long-term sick leave. The results indicate that multiple factors can explain whether or not people return to work. The aim of the study was to investigate long-term sick workers' experience of professional support for re-integration to work. Participants were drawn from the database of The National Social Insurance Board in Norway. A random sample was selected of persons with mental illness or musculoskeletal disorders (either p- or l-diagnosis/symptoms related to International Classification in Primary Care), who were in receipt of Rehabilitation allowance. The questionnaire was sent to 1 493 persons of whom 740 responded. The most significant finding is that work training/mastering actions were identified by the majority of the rehabilitation benefit recipients as being of slight or moderate use. This highlights the importance of work training/mastering actions being relevant in proportion to the specific situation the individual is presently within. Delays in waiting for treatment attributed to approximately half of the rehabilitation benefit recipient's problems returning to work. This study also highlights that rehabilitation benefit recipients experience loss of co-ordinated measures from those who are supposed to contribute to simplifying their return to work.