BACKGROUND: Hospitalizations and surgical procedures are unpleasant for both children and their parents. Therefore, postoperative pain assessments and management are less commonly performed in younger children than in adults.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effects of nonpharmacological interventions on postoperative pain and anxiety in children.

METHODS: In this randomized controlled trial, 160 children were randomly allocated to experimental (n=80) and control (n=80) groups. The children in the experimental group received age-appropriate distraction interventions for 3 postoperative days along with usual care. Children in the control group received standard care only. Each patient's pain was assessed using the EVENDOL pain scale, while their anxiety was measured using the modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale. The data were analyzed using SPSS 23.0. Descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation) and repeated-measures analysis of variance were used to analyze the data.

RESULTS: The children in the experimental group showed significantly decreased pain, anxiety, and physiological parameters (heart rate, respiratory rate, and oxygen saturation) compared to those in the control group. Significant intergroup differences were noted in the mean and standard deviation values of the pain, anxiety, and physiological parameters.

CONCLUSION: The distraction interventions provided by nurses reduced the pain and anxiety levels and improved the postoperative recovery of pediatric surgical patients.

Sex education can be described as an important part of health education in school and one way of strengthening health education could be a collaboration between different professionals in the school team. The aim of this study was to describe teachers' and school nurses' experiences and perspectives with regard to sex education among students aged 11-12 years and to explore potential influencing factors. We employed a qualitative design, and the teachers and school nurses were interviewed individually. A thematic analysis was conducted on the interviews and the results showed that the classroom was considered to be the teacher's arena. Tradition and attitudes between professionals could be obstacles that affect collaboration between teachers and nurses and the study showed that there remains much to be done before collaboration at the same level between the groups can be established.

Aim. The COVID-19 pandemic forced many teachers to switch from traditional face-to-face teaching to the use of various digital platforms in a short period of time. The research aimed to find out about teachers' experiences of digital education at nursing faculties in four countries (Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden) which participated in the Erasmus+ Digital Education in Nursing project. Material and methods. Qualitative research with semi-structured group interviews was used. A total of 28 nursing teachers participated. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed inductively, using qualitative content analysis. The interviews were analysed in accordance with the study aim by searching for codes which were grouped into subcategories and then into categories based on the similarity of the content. Results. Three important themes emerged from the analysis of the interviews: "conflicting feelings of teachers when switching to digital teaching", "lack of digital competences", "challenges for digital teaching in the future". Conclusions. Rapidly developing digital technology provides new possibilities and support for both teaching and learning. The research identified the need for further development of the digital competences of teachers, who recommended that a hybrid teaching method is the best for the education of nurses, since certain skills cannot be acquired by students solely in a digital way.

INTRODUCTION: Existential loneliness (EL) is an unavoidable, deeper sense of loneliness. EL has been described as disconnection from life and the universe, experienced even in the presence of family and friends. Meaninglessness, loss of health and significant others seem to trigger older persons EL. Older Arabic-speaking women are a large migrant group in Sweden and there is a lack in knowledge about their experience of EL. Therefore, this study aimed to describe the phenomenon of EL as experienced by older Arabic-speaking female migrants.

METHODS: This study was based on a phenomenological approach known as reflective lifeworld research (RLR). Ten older migrated Arabic-speaking women were included in the study. Lifeworld interviews were conducted to collect data. The data were analysed in accordance with the phenomenological RLR principles of openness, flexibility and bridling.

RESULTS: This study shows that EL is experienced when there is a lack of attachment to place and people. EL is experienced more distinctively in the beginning of the migration process. It was difficult sharing feelings of EL with anyone. Feelings of meaninglessness occurred when entering a new lifeworld and triggered EL. EL was however attenuated when being able to practise their religion.

CONCLUSION: Lack of attachment to place and people as well as feelings of meaninglessness brought existential loneliness to the fore for the older Arabic-speaking female migrants. There was a collision of lifeworlds not at least by the fact moving as a Muslim woman to one of the most secular countries in the world. Practising their religion attenuated their EL. To promote better health for this group of women, it is of importance to be aware of EL and its mode of expression.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: It is crucial to let the voice of older Arabic-speaking female migrants be heard and to be aware of their experience of EL and its mode of expression in order to promote better health. Further, educational training for nursing professionals and nursing students needs to be provided to develop skills how to be aware of and address EL.

Due to the unfamiliarity of the surroundings, children having surgery endure worry and tension. Untreated anxiety in children impairs postoperative healing and causes changes in postoperative behavior. The purpose of this review was to determine the efficacy of distraction therapies on anxiety in children undergoing surgery. The systematic review was reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses standards. PubMed via MEDLINE, CINAHL, ProQuest, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were used to find relevant trials. Full-text papers published in English from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2021 were included. Children undergoing surgery aged 1 to 18 years were included. A data extraction form was created to extract data from the selected studies. According to the Cochrane risk of bias assessment tool, studies were classified as "low risk, " "high risk, " or "unclear risk. " Review Manager software was used to do a quantitative meta-analysis. Thirteen studies looked at the effect of distraction intervention on children. Nine of them were selected for meta-analysis. The distraction interventions included in this review were: handheld video game, play dough and play with blocks and puzzles, tablet-based interactive distraction, animated video, painting and storytelling, age-appropriate video, distraction with video glasses, watching a movie, and bringing favorite toy during hospital stay. Meta-analysis showed that distraction interventions are effective on preoperative anxiety in children (standardized mean difference = -17.07, 95% confidence interval: 27.11-7.02, p = 0.0009).

A hospitalized child experiences anxiety more frequently as compared to non-hospitalized children. Surgery can be emotionally distressing for children, and subsequently their parents and caregivers, this distress can cause profound adverse impacts on children. We aimed to identify the effect of non-pharmacological interventions on children’s (1–18 years) anxiety undergoing surgery. The following databases: Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Proquest, Web" of Science, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were systematically searched for full-text articles. The review included 15 randomized controlled trials. The risk of bias was assessed using Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. The interventions included in the study were preoperative education, puppet play, therapeutic play, distraction activities, parental presence, and clown therapy. The review presents a narrative reporting of the findings. This review identifies that non-pharmacological interventions are effective in reducing anxiety among children undergoing surgery. There are a limited number of studies from developing countries. Further research is required to underpin the use of these interventions with children before surgery. 

Introduction: The World Health Organization has reported that one fifth of all children in the world suffer from poor mental health regardless of cultural differences. Previous studies have shown that working with mental health is an important part of the duties of school nurses in Sweden.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to describe the experiences of school nurses regarding the identification of mental illness among pupils in primary school.

Methods: In this inductive qualitative study, interviews were conducted with 11 school nurses in southern Sweden and analyzed using content analysis.

Results: The results indicate three major themes: (1) the need for shared responsibility, (2) feelings of uncertainty and inadequacy in school nurses, and (3) the importance of establishing relationships.

Conclusion: This study indicates that school nurses feel responsible for their pupils' well-being, but also feel that they need support. A lack of guidance in identifying mental illness emerged from the interviews.

Aim: This study aimed to investigate mothers’ levels of satisfaction with distraction as a post-operative pain management intervention for their child.

Background: Although the number of studies on paediatric pain management has increased over time, research into non-pharmacological post-operative pain management remains inadequate, indicating that more research is required.

Design: A posttest-only control group design was adopted to measure mothers’ levels of satisfaction with distraction as a non-pharmacological post-operative pain management intervention for their child.

Methods: The study included 160 mothers and their children undergoing elective surgery in a paediatric surgical unit. Mothers and children were randomly allocated to intervention and control groups (80 intervention, 80 control). The children in the intervention group received age-appropriate distraction interventions for three post-operative days along with the usual care. Children in the control group received only usual care. Data on parental satisfaction with pain management interventions was assessed on the day of discharge using a parental satisfaction questionnaire.

Results: In the intervention group 48 mothers (60%) were ‘very satisfied’ and 22 mothers (40%) were ‘moderately satisfied’ with pain management interventions for their child. In the control group 27 mothers (34%) were ‘very satisfied’ and 53 (66%) were ‘moderately satisfied. The mean and standard deviation of mother’s satisfaction in the intervention group and control group was 42 ±5.23 and 34 ± 6.64 respectively. The present study identified that there was a significant difference in the level of mother’s satisfaction between the intervention and control groups (p<.05).

Conclusion: The level of satisfaction with pain management intervention for their child was higher for mothers in the intervention group that the control group. The distraction intervention provided for the children during the postoperative period improved the mothers’ satisfaction level.

Backgroud: To become a parent of a child who is born small for gestational age can lead to challenges in addition to the newly accuried parenting role. There is currently a lack of knowledge regarding parents´experiences if having a child born small for gestional age. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the experienve of becoming a parent of a child small for gestional age. Design and method: A qualitativ inductive approach was chosen with grounded theory as a method, a stratagic selection was used and individual interviews wiht open questions were performed. Results: The results showed that the parents expressed quilt over the childs´size and focused on the aility to nourish their child to keep their unexpectedly small child alive. An experienced concern about the childs´food intake could be seen throughout the entire interview material and the need for information was great. A common experience of the parents was that constant feeding of the child dominates their lived. Conclusion: The conclusion is that the unexpectedly small size of the child awakens the parent´s instinct to provide life-sustaining care and the parents need increased support and more information around the child´s condition. This requires well-trained professionals, because parents to children born SGA often harbour feelings of unpreparedness and guilt. Practice implications: Increased understanding and knowledge about parents´experience of having a child born SGA, healthcare sevices can optimize the potential for better attachment between parent and child as well as offer appropritae support.

BACKGROUND: With rapidly ageing population worldwide, loneliness among older adults is becoming a global issue. Older migrants are considered being a vulnerable population and ethical issues are often raised in care for elderly. A deeper sense of loneliness, existential loneliness is one aspect of loneliness also described as the ultimate loneliness. Making oneself understood or expressing emotions, have shown to be particularly challenging for older migrants which could lead to experience of existential loneliness. Ageing and being a migrant are potential triggers for experiencing existential loneliness. There appears to be, however, little known about being a migrant experiencing existential loneliness in old age.

AIM: This study explored older migrants' experience of existential loneliness.

RESEARCH DESIGN: Qualitative study.

PARTICIPANTS AND RESEARCH CONTEXT: Data were collected through interviews (n = 15) with older (>65) migrants' in Swedish nursing homes or senior citizen centres. A thematic analysis was performed to analyse the data.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS: The study was conducted in accordance with the principles of research ethics.

FINDINGS: The result was described in terms of three themes: (1) Choices made in life, (2) seeking reconciliation with life and (3) thoughts about death and dying in a foreign country.

DISCUSSION: Ethical reflection and knowledge about how older migrants' life story can lead to experiencing existential loneliness, could be of use in care for older migrants'.

CONCLUSION: This study indicates that the experience of existential loneliness derived from being a migrant is a long-term and significant process. Migration was a hope of creating a meaningful life, the experience of existential loneliness occurred as migrants sought reconciliation with life, reflected upon their past choices, and thought about death and dying in a foreign country.