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Forming therapeutic relationships is considered important within psychiatric and mental health nursing. One way of achieving this is through social interaction when engaging in joint activities. However, introducing and using nursing interventions based on joint activities in psychiatric inpatient care has proven challenging. Since staff motivation is important, researching the meaning of engaging in joint activities from the nursing professional's point of view can provide information that is relevant in this area. This study aims to illuminate the meaning of participating in joint activities with patients as narrated by nursing professionals in psychiatric inpatient care. Narrative interviews with 14 nursing professionals with experience from psychiatric inpatient care were conducted. Data were analysed using phenomenological hermeneutics and reported following the consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ) guidelines. Results illuminate that engaging in joint activities means being open to a process of learning. Four themes contributed to this understanding: Struggling with uncertainty, discovering aspects of the other, unfolding paths to self-fulfilment and sharing personhood. Being open to a process of learning means being willing to face uncertainty when engaging in activities as well as being open to learning about oneself as well as the other. Through openness to this process of learning, a sharing of personhood can be achieved, where the nursing professional and the patient approach becoming two persons. Illuminating the meaning of joint activities from the nursing professionals' perspective may provide valuable insights related to introducing and using interventions focusing on joint activities.

Today, the concepts of person-centered and compassionate care are emphasized by both nursing theorists and healthcare policymakers. Respectful and empathetic caring, acknowledging patients as persons, are viewed as essential and are often seen as self-evident. However, fully realizing this ideal appears to be a significant challenge. This presentation aims to highlight some of the challenges to compassionate care, using examples from my own research and that of my doctoral students, as well as to underscore the importance of self-care and self-compassion. The ethical implications of how caregivers perceive their responsibility to provide holistic and person-centered care are explored through research on the interactions between ambulance clinicians and patients in suicidal crises. This research reveals that varying interpretations of professional responsibility significantly impact how these clinicians engage with suicidal patients, which, in turn, patients perceive as influencing their will to live. The consequences of feeling unable to provide ethical and high-quality care are illustrated through studies conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research shows that the ethical stress has sometimes been so overwhelming that nurses have been traumatized, torn between the desire to compassionately care for patients, and the fear of succumbing to the circumstances. A common thread in these situations is that an ethical stance is closely linked to proximity and compassion for the patient. However, such closeness requires that healthcare professionals are able to care for themselves and manage their own reactions. Without this, there is a risk of them distancing themselves from the patient and focusing solely on the technical aspects of care. Thus, self-care and self-compassion among healthcare professionals emerge as equally important for providing quality care as compassion for others. Therefore, I will conclude by discussing several key themes that have proven essential in promoting self-care, and thus contribute to sustainable healthcare for professionals and patients.

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose significant challenges to the welfare system by stress-related ill health and increased turnover rates among nurses.AimThe aim of this study was to explore nurses' lived experiences of stress in the transformed caring reality during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methodological Design and JustificationCaring theory and phenomenological hermeneutical philosophy guided this interpretative study. Findings comprise a broadened understanding of stress experienced by nurses.Ethical Issues and ApprovalEthical approval was granted from the Swedish Ethical Review Authority. All participants provided informed consent to participate beforehand.Research MethodIn-depth audio recorded interviews with 13 nurses were performed and transcribed verbatim. Analysis was guided by the three steps of Lindseth and Norberg: naïve understanding, structural thematic analysis and comprehensive understanding.ResultsIn this study, one main theme Enduring the unbearable emerged, and was illuminated in the major themes: Being deprived of the caring self; Seeing self-neglect as the way forward and Feeling vulnerable and unsupported. The interpreted meaning of nurses' lived experiences of stress during the COVID-19 pandemic accommodates the dilemma of enduring the unbearable whilst being subjected to silencing one's inner ethical, caring compass.ConclusionsThe results underscore the substantial and persistent stress related health risks nurses faced during the COVID-19 pandemic and emphasise the necessity of integrating ethical considerations into policies designed to support nurses' health in future emergencies.

Förståelsen av människan som patient, närstående och personal i vården står i fokus för den här boken. Ambitionen är att underlätta för sjuksköterskan att använda psykologiska teorier med utgångspunkt i sitt eget professionsansvar och det vårdvetenskapliga perspektiv som professionen vilar på. I boken introduceras psykologiska teorier och begrepp från olika psykologiska inriktningar i syfte att bredda sjuksköterskans kunskap om hur människor fungerar psykologiskt och på det viset ge stöd i reflektionen om patienters och närståendes hälsa, ohälsa samt behov av omvårdnad och stöd genom hela vårdprocessen. Boken tar också upp grupprocesser, ledarskap och teamarbete samt sjuksköterskans egenomsorg för att förebygga och hantera stress. Förutom att boken är uppdaterad med forskning inom såväl psykologi som omvårdnad innehåller den också nyskrivna avsnitt om bland annat belöningssystemet, våld i nära relationer och traumamedveten vård. Genom hela boken finns såväl reflektionsfrågor som fördjupande faktarutor samt exempel på hur psykologiska teorier och begrepp använts inom omvårdnadsforskningen och i utvecklingen av omvårdnadsteorier. Psykologi för sjuksköterskor riktar sig främst till studerande i sjuksköterskeprogrammen på grund eller avancerad nivå, men kan även användas av yrkesverksamma. 

Severe dissociative states involving the experience of being in parts, typically associated with diagnosis such as dissociative identity disorder and other specified dissociative disorders, continue to be a controversial and rarely studied area of research. However, because persons with severe dissociative states are at risk of being harmed instead of helped within psychiatric care, their experiences of living with such states warrant further examination, while innovative ways to include them in research remain necessary. Against that background, this study aimed to illuminate the meanings of living with severe dissociative states involving the experience of being in parts. This is a phenomenological hermeneutic study with data collected from three social media sources, one personal blog and two Instagram accounts, in February and March 2023. The results were illuminated in light of four themes; Striving to remain in the world, Balancing exposure and trust, Balancing belonging and loneliness and Owning oneselves. The interpretation of the themes suggests that living with severe dissociative states means being a human under inhuman conditions, striving for coherence and meaning in a world that is often unsupportive. This calls for a trauma-informed care to better support recovery for persons with severe dissociative states.