BACKGROUND:In most Western countries, senior workers have increased their participation in the workforce. However, at the same time, early retirement also increases. The reasons behind this early exit from the workforce are still unclear.

OBJECTIVE:This qualitative study aims to explore the antecedents of and experiences with a voluntary exit from working life before the expected retirement age of 65 in Sweden.

METHODS:Data consist of semi-structured interviews with 18 participants who exited working life between the ages of 61–63. In Sweden, these ages are considered as an early exit from working life since, for many years, the expected retirement age has been 65. Qualitative content analysis with an abductive approach was utilized.

RESULTS:The analysis revealed four sub-themes: 1) Health benefits with an early exit from working life (with the categories: own health status, the possibility for recovery time, and avoidance of strain); 2) Having economic conditions that enable an early exit from working life (with the categories: offers from the employer and financial compromises); 3) Social benefits with an early exit from working life (with the categories: enabling more time with my social network and avoidance of unsatisfying social work environment); 4) Self-fulfillment activities during the senior years (with the categories: enabling time for activities beyond work and avoidance of decreased job satisfaction.

CONCLUSION:This variety of antecedents of and experiences with a voluntary early exit from working life before the expected retirement age highlights that the ongoing increased statutory retirement age also increases the risk for extended inequalities among the aging population.

Background

First-line healthcare managers navigate complex organizational demands to ensure a good work environment and quality care. Key factors such as expanded span of control, leadership and management performance, and work-related stress significantly influence their job satisfaction. However, how these factors evolve over time in organizational settings remains unclear.

Objective

To examine expanded span of control, leadership and management performance, work-related stress, and job satisfaction among first-line healthcare managers and assess whether the relationships between these variables remained stable over time.

Methods

A repeated cross-sectional design was used to collect annual data from 2020 to 2023 among first-line managers in a Swedish healthcare organization. The Ottawa Hospital Span of Control tool, the Leadership and Management Inventory, the Health & Safety Executive stress tool, and a single-item job satisfaction measure were used to collect data. Kruskal-Wallis tests and Spearman correlation analysis were performed.

Results

An expanded span of control negatively impacted job satisfaction in certain years. Leadership and management performance showed a positive but inconsistent association with job satisfaction. Factors in work-related stress, particularly high demands and strained relationships, consistently had a negative relationship with job satisfaction, whereas control and support positively contributed to greater job satisfaction.

Conclusions

Work-related stress, driven by high demands and poor relationships, significantly decreases job satisfaction. Leadership and management performance influence satisfaction, but inconsistently. Reducing workload and improving support structures can enhance job satisfaction and managerial effectiveness.

Background

Mental health problems are prevalent among university students, underscoring the need to improve access to effective interventions. Mental healthcare utilization is influenced by general and country-specific factors. This study aimed to identify and compare preferences and barriers to help-seeking for mental health problems among university students in three European countries.

Methods

A cross-sectional, web-based survey was conducted with a sample of 4960 university students from Portugal (n = 3399), Germany (n = 680), and Sweden (n = 881). Depressive symptoms (9-item Patient Health Questionnaire) and overall mental health (5-item Mental Health Index) were assessed. Students responded to questions regarding help-seeking preferences for and barriers to mental health problems.

Results

Rates of moderate to severe depressive symptoms ranged from 37.5 to 51.0 % and were highest among German students. A majority (76.3–89.3 %) of students indicated they would talk to a friend in case of mental health problems. Readiness to seek help was particularly high among Portuguese students. Readiness to use internet-based interventions was low among all students. Up to 51 % of students reported uncertainty regarding where they could seek help. Students with depressive symptoms versus those without were less likely to speak with a friend about emotional problems but were more likely to consider taking medications. Students with depressive symptoms were also more likely to endorse several help-seeking barriers.

Conclusion

Reducing structural barriers, improving awareness of treatment options and increasing acceptance of help-seeking for emotional problems may improve uptake of mental health services among students in these European countries.

Introduction

Effective self-management of fluid intake in hemodialysis relies on self-efficacy. Although regular assessments with valid tools are crucial, no suitable measurement exists for the Turkish population. This study evaluates the reliability, validity, and interpretability of the Turkish version of the Fluid Intake Appraisal Inventory.

Methods

This cross-sectional study collected data from December 2021 to November 2022. It analyzed reliability, validity, and interpretability.

Results

The 202 adults receiving hemodialysis were evaluated. The scale showed high internal consistency with Cronbach α = 0.954 and good test–retest reliability with intraclass correlation coefficients = 0.975, 95% confidence interval: 0.786–0.992, and no measurement error. It demonstrated excellent content validity with scale level content validity index ≥0.90 and good construct validity with a negative moderate correlation to interdialytic weight gain. For structural validity, the model fit indices were χ2/df = 5.7, root mean square error of approximation = 0.15, goodness of fit indexes = 0.58, Tucker-Lewis Index = 0.57, comparative fit index = 0.6, and standardized root mean square residual = 0.10.

Conclusion

This inventory is a valid and reliable tool for assessing self-efficacy in fluid intake among the Turkish hemodialysis population.

Background

The mental health of university students is a global concern, with high rates of depression and anxiety that need to be addressed.AimWe aimed to compare the mental health of Portuguese, Swedish and German university students in the health and social sciences following the Covid-19 pandemic and to analyze the factors associated with depressive and anxious symptoms in each country.

Methods

A cross-sectional study with a sample of students from Portugal, Germany and Sweden was conducted. Data from online questionnaires, including a sociodemographic and clinical questionnaire, the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), the General Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) and the MHI-5 (Mental Health Inventory) was collected from October to December 2022.

Results

The sample was composed of 1670 university students. The prevalence of mild to severe depressive symptoms was 72.7 % in Germany, 62.9 % in Sweden, and 60.3 % in Portugal and the prevalence of mild to severe anxiety symptoms was 78.6 % in Portugal, 73.7 % in Germany, and 66.9 % in Sweden. Being a female student, having a previous mental health disorder diagnosis, and poor academic performance were associated with higher severity of depression and anxiety symptoms in all three countries. Country-specific factors associated with more depressive and/or anxiety symptoms were younger age, smoking, low socioeconomic level and living away from home. Swedish students who do not consume alcohol had more anxiety symptoms and German students who do not consume alcohol had more depressive symptoms.

Conclusion

The high prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms among students in the three countries highlights the need to address modifiable factors that contribute to this mental health burden. Our results, which are in line with international trends, underline the need for policy reforms that target the main determinants of mental health, in particular by improving socio-economic conditions. Addressing these factors could play a crucial role in improving mental health outcomes in this population.

The field of nursing has consistently upheld a strong sense of ethical awareness, which can be assumed to be reflected in the performance of nursing research. Adhering to sound research principles involves prioritizing research integrity. This entails being clear and open in detailing the methods used, allowing others to have confidence in both the methods and the resulting outcomes. This methodological review aimed to provide an overview of how statistical software programs have been reported in nursing studies. We screened articles published in the year 2023 in the five top-ranking and the five bottom-ranking nursing journals and found 311 that were eligible for this review; that is, quantitative/mixed-methods/meta-analyses. The most commonly used statistical software programs in these articles was IBM SPSS Statistics, followed by R. However, one out of 10 studies did not report the software used. Among those that reported the software, the software version was not always reported. Our findings suggest that there is insufficient reporting on the statistical software used for analysing quantitative data in nursing journal publications. From a perspective of maintaining research integrity, this presents an issue, as it jeopardizes transparency, sincerity, and, consequently, the ability to replicate methods and have confidence in the results.

Purpose

Management and leadership in health care are described as complex and challenging, and the span of control is known to be a key component in the manager’s job demands. The implementation of change can be a challenge in health care, and managers often have roles as implementation leaders. Little attention has been given to how managers perceive the process of implementation. Thus, this study aims to explore second-line managers’ perceptions of, prerequisites for and experiences from the implementation of changes in their manager’s work conditions.

Design/methodology/approach

A grounded theory–based qualitative design was used. Data were collected from a purposive sample of nine second-line managers by individual semi-structured interviews. The three stages of initial coding, focus codes and axial coding were used in data analysis.

Findings

Three thematic areas were identified: engagement, facilitation and achievement. The second-line managers’ descriptions suggest that the change work entails a complex challenge with an unclear result. Involvement, consideration for the context and facilitation are needed to be able to conduct a cohesive implementation process.

Originality/value

This study findings outline that to succeed when implementing change in complex organizations, it is crucial that managers at different levels are involved in the entire process, and that there are prerequisites established for the facilitation and achievement of goals during the planning, implementation and follow-up.

Objective: Because antiemetics have become more effective and integrative therapies such as acupuncture are used in combination with antiemetics, people receiving chemotherapy for cancer today might expect less emesis than in the past. It is not previously described if and how people receiving modern antiemetics during chemotherapy experience emesis. The objective of this study was to describe experiences regarding emesis among persons undergoing emetogenic chemotherapy, and how it affects their quality of life, daily life and work. A further aim was to describe views on the significance of treatment expectations and communication with healthcare personnel while undergoing chemotherapy for cancer.

Method: Fifteen participants (median age 62 years, n = 1 man and n = 14 women, with breast (n = 13) or colorectal (n = 2) cancer) undergoing adjuvant or neo-adjuvant highly or moderately emetogenic chemotherapy were interviewed individually. The data were then analyzed using inductive thematic analysis.

Results: Three themes described the participants’ experiences: “Your whole life is affected, or continues as usual,” covering descriptions of emesis limiting some participants’ everyday lives, while others experienced no emesis at all or had found ways to manage it. Overall, participants described satisfaction with their antiemetic treatment. “Experiences and expectations more important than information”, that is, the participants reported wanting all the information they could get about possible adverse effects of treatment, although they believed previous experiences were more important than information in creating expectations about treatment outcomes. The participants reported that being seen as a unique person was of utmost importance: “Meet me as I am.” This creates trust in healthcare personnel and a feeling of safety and security in the situation.

Conclusions: These findings underline the importance of person-centered care and support in creating positive treatment expectations. Future research is called for regarding the potential antiemetic effects of positive communication regarding strengthening positive treatment expectations during emetogenic chemotherapy.

It has been emphasized that future studies aimed at improving adherence to infection prevention guidelines should focus on beliefs in, e.g., self-efficacy. Reliable situation specific measures are needed to measure the phenomenon of self-efficacy, but there seems to be few valid scales available that are suitable for measuring one’s belief in self-efficacy regarding infection prevention measures. The purpose of the study was to develop a unidimensional appraisal scale to capture nurses’ beliefs in their abilities to practice medical asepsis in care situations. When creating the items, evidence-based guidelines for preventing healthcare-associated infections were used together with Bandura’s guide for constructing self-efficacy scales. Face validity, content validity, and concurrent validity were tested in various samples of the target population. Furthermore, dimensionality was evaluated on data collected from 525 registered nurses and licensed practical nurses recruited from the medical, surgical, and orthopaedic wards of 22 Swedish hospitals. The Infection Prevention Appraisal Scale (IPAS) consists of 14 items. Face and content validity were endorsed by target population representatives. The exploratory factor analysis suggested unidimensionality, and the internal consistency was good (Cronbach’s alpha 0.83). The total scale score correlated with the General Self-Efficacy Scale, as expected, and supported concurrent validity. The Infection Prevention Appraisal Scale demonstrates sound psychometric properties supporting a unidimensional measure of self-efficacy to medical asepsis in care situations.