Diabetes mellitus is a common chronic disease all over the world. Self-management plays a crucial role in diabetes management. The purpose of this systematic review was to summarize what is known about the interactions between adult persons with diabetes, their family, and diabetes self-management. MEDLINE, CINAHL, PSYCHINFO, LINDA, and MEDIC databases were searched for the years 2000 to 2011 and for English language articles, and the reference lists of the studies included were reviewed to capture additional studies. The findings indicate that family members have influence on the self-management of adult persons with diabetes. The support from family members plays a crucial role in maintaining lifestyle changes and optimizing diabetes management. Diabetes and its treatment also affect the life of family members in several ways, causing, for example, different types of psychological distress. More attention should be paid to family factors in diabetes management among adult persons.

In a clinical context, nurses should be aware of the symptoms of violence, and they should have skills in dealing with intimate moral and spiritual issues.

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Future research is needed about mothers' experiences using supplementation methods, test-weighing, exploring experiences of mothers of late-preterm infants, and the validity of the concept of coping with this phenomenon.

The results have a number of practical applications for nursing, both for clinical practice and research. The results can be used in paediatric hospital wards caring for chronically ill children and their families. The five domains of family health promotion described here should be tested in other paediatric wards and in other geographical locations.

The purpose of this study was to generate knowledge of the interaction between an adult patient's family members and nursing staff from the staff's perspective. Data were collected from nursing staff (n = 155) working on the wards and out-patient departments for pulmonary, rheumatic, neurological and gastroenterological diseases at a university hospital by using a new questionnaire based on earlier research and the literature. The questions explored the staff's views of interaction with the adult patient's family members. In this study, interaction is seen as an umbrella concept which encompasses giving information to relatives, discussion, contacts between staff and significant others and working together. The instrument included questions about personal and telephone discussions, the provision of written instructions and factors facilitating and complicating interaction. The response rate was 55%. The data were analysed using SPSS software and examined using frequency and percentage distributions and cross-tabulation. The open-ended questions were analysed using qualitative content analysis by reducing, grouping and abstracting the data inductively. Discussions with relatives while they visited the patient in hospital were the commonest form of interaction. The majority of respondents perceived the interaction with the patient and knowing his or her family members as important. Less than one-fourth of the respondents started discussion with family members, while the majority expected family members to initiate interaction. The majority of respondents perceived the patient's presence in discussion as important, but sometimes they thought it was necessary to discuss with family members without the patient. The staff discussed with family members mainly in the ward office or in patient rooms, which were, however, not perceived as peaceful. Discussions primarily pertained to the patient's condition, discharge from hospital and planning of continued treatment. The majority of respondents reported that the opportunity for discussion offered by staff, the patient's positive attitude towards discussion with the family and family members' own interest facilitated interaction. The staff's haste and shift-work, family members' shyness of approaching the staff and the absence of a peaceful place for discussion serve to complicate interaction. Family members are primarily seen as informants and recipients of information. The staff's ability to recognize the importance of family members to successful patient care is relatively adequate. However, insufficient attention is paid to family members and their need for support.

A family is a complex system and research with families need flexible, sensitive and practical methods. Family research should also aim at developing new methods for data collection and analysis.

Women, especially those expecting their first child need a great deal of information about mood changes after childbirth and the opportunity to discuss the changes brought about by the birth of a child.