The aim of this phenomenological study was to explore caring and uncaring encounters with nurses and other health professionals from the perspective of the person who has been diagnosed and treated for cancer. Through thematic analysis of in-depth dialogues with five women and four men in the remission or recovery phase of cancer, three major categories regarding caring and uncaring encounters were identified. The essential structure of a caring encounter was found to be threefold: 1. the nurse/health professional perceived as caring: an indispensable companion on the cancer trajectory; 2. the resulting mutual trust and caring connection; and 3. the perceived effect of the caring encounter: a sense of solidarity, empowerment, well-being, and healing. The essential structure of an uncaring encounter is also threefold: 1. the nurse/health professional perceived as uncaring: an unfortunate hindrance to the perception of well-being and healing; 2. the resulting sense of mistrust and disconnection; and 3. the perceived effect of the uncaring encounter: a sense of uneasiness, discouragement, and a sense of being broken down. The findings emphasize the primacy of competence in professional caring, as well as that of genuine concern, openness and a willingness to connect with others. The often devastating effects of uncaring encounters on the recipient of nursing and health care raises the question whether uncaring as an ethical and a professional problem should perhaps be dealt with as malpractice in nursing and health care.

Having a life-threatening disease like cancer during adolescence poses a number of problems. The purpose of this study was to identify the adolescent's own experience of areas of the life situation affected by the disease and problems related to it. Ten adolescents with varying diagnoses and treatment were interviewed. They also completed a quantitative measurement of problems. The result shows eight domains and 24 subdomains influencing the experience of life situation. Those were disease and treatment (side effects, isolation, medical procedures), identification (others are ill, appearance), feelings and reactions (mood, self-image, meaning, hope), coping (positive thinking, distraction, positive effects), togetherness (family, friends, school), support (family and friends, the youth association, professional support), reactions of the families (parents, siblings), and quality of care (professionalism, information, organization, equipment). The problems mentioned in the interviews are also compared with the quantitative measurement used. The adolescents mentioned 77 problems in the interviews, of which 17 were not on the list of problems. Of those 17, seven dealt with physical problems, and six were problems concerning the quality of care. They ranked wanting and depending on parents as the worst problems for themselves from the list of problems.

The results indicated that the new instrument is sensitive for measuring professional nurses' attitudes towards research and development in nursing. Even if the respondents had a positive attitude towards research and development, there was a poor application in their daily work. Further, the respondent's age, the year of RN examination and acquisition of research skills seemed to be of importance for the attitudes.

A previous study indicated that patient narratives include experiences of suffering caused or increased by health-care encounters. The aim of this study was to interpret and understand the meaning of patients' experiences of suffering related to health care from an ethical, existential and ontological standpoint. Sixteen women with breast cancer in Sweden and Finland took part in qualitative interviews analysed with a hermeneutic, interpretive approach. The outcome showed that suffering related to health care is a complex phenomenon and constitutes an ethical challenge to health-care personnel. The women's experiences of suffering related to health care tended to be of similar seriousness as their experiences of suffering in relation to having cancer. In an ethical, existential and ontological sense, suffering related to health care is basically a matter of neglect and uncaring where the patient's existential suffering is not seen and she is not viewed as a whole human being.

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Through qualitative interviews, the suffering experiences of women with breast cancer and their significant others were disclosed. Seventeen women with different stages of breast cancer and 16 significant others from 4 different care cultures in Sweden and Finland participated. Five of the women had advanced metastatic breast cancer, and 12 had a localized disease. Mean age was 48 years. As a methodology, a team approach, inspired by the Vancouver School of Doing Phenomenology, was used. The findings elucidate how the suffering experience touched the women's inner existence and values. This can metaphorically be described as a "field of force" and affected everything in the women's lives, including their views of themselves and their relationships. Existential questions were raised about life and death and the meaning of life. In their suffering, the women's dependency upon significant others, as well as healthcare personnel, was prominent. Suffering related to healthcare was a strong theme. Different faces of suffering related to breast cancer may still be unknown by healthcare professionals working in cancer care.

Background and Purpose-Patients with any type of stroke managed in organized inpatient (stroke unit) care are more likely to survive, return home, and regain independence. However, it is uncertain whether these benefits apply equally to patients with intracerebral hemorrhage and ischemic stroke. Methods-We conducted a secondary analysis of a systematic review of controlled clinical trials comparing stroke unit care with general ward care, including only trials published after 1990 that could separately report outcomes for patients with intracerebral hemorrhage and ischemic stroke. We performed random-effects meta-analyses and tested for subgroup interactions by stroke type.