Background: To support and strengthen parenting skills, it is mandatory for municipalities in Sweden to offer parental education programmes to all parents. One such programme is the Circle of Security-Parenting (COS-P), in which parents participate in eight weekly group sessions, each lasting 90 minutes. COS-P helps parents recognise and respond to their child’s emotional needs for attachment. The programme focuses on enhancing parents’ understanding of their child’s behaviour, enabling them to address emotional needs effectively and foster security to benefit the child’s overall development.

Objective:  This study aimed to explore parents’ experiences of participating in COS-P parental education programme from a health-promotive perspective.

Design: Qualitative design using an inductive approach.Setting:The COS-P programme was conducted in a medium-sized town in Sweden.

Method: Nineteen semi-structured interviews were conducted and analysed using qualitative content analysis.

Results: The analysis of the data resulted in one latent theme: from uncertainty and chaos to consciously empowering qualities; and five categories with it – parents’ understanding of the child needs developed; parents learned to handle conflicts and set boundaries; parents’ ability to reflect increased; parents’ inner security and calmness was strengthened; and parents’ stress was reduced.

Conclusion: The findings show that the COS-P is a relevant programme for municipal authorities to offer parents as the result point at the programme’s ability to empower parenting and strengthen the attachment between parent and child. The programme contributed to increased self-efficacy, well-being and confidence in parenting and could therefore be seen as a useful health promotion intervention.

This article is based on narratives from 20 women who have experienced domestic violence and abuse (DVA). Based on in-depth interviews, we explored their lived experiences of the mechanisms and meanings of loneliness in the context of DVA. The women experienced social and existential loneliness, not as passive consequences of victimization, but through active isolating and lonely-making tactics inflicted on them by the abusers, as well as through responses from personal and professional networks and institutions. We present the concept lonelification to offer a framework for the understanding of lonely-making as a core aspect of DVA, which targets women's sense of self, reality, and connectedness.

My friends, family, relatives … One by one they had to go. But it was always my decision to make. He indoctrinated me that they were so dirty and bad - one was a whore and the other one was a whore. But I was always the one who had to make the decision, and he always said in the end that “Yes, but you must decide for yourself.” He wanted to make it look like it was me, even though he was the one who decided. And little by little everyone disappeared, and eventually, I had no contact with anyone.

The woman quoted above participated in the interview study on which this article is based, where we explored experiences of loneliness among victim-survivors of domestic violence and abuse (DVA). The quote captures loneliness, not as a passive consequence, but as an active process orchestrated by the abuser through tactics that disrupt the woman's sense of self and reality. The focus of this article is to decode the processes, mechanisms, and meanings of loneliness based on victim-survivors’ lived experiences of DVA.

Aim: To investigate children's experiences of the intervention Me and my Family. Me and my Family is an intervention, for families with parental substance use problems (SUP) provided by Swedish social services outpatient care, includes eight weekly sessions where family members communicate how the SUP affects the family. Method: Data consists of 17 qualitative interviews with children, 7 to 19 years old. The qualitative data were analysed using a thematic approach, initially inductively and then discussed by adding salutogenic perspective. Results: The results are presented in three themes. Regardless of the children's varying ages, the results indicate that participating in the intervention has helped the family break the taboo surrounding parental substance use and enabled the young participants to communicate with their family members differently. The intervention also contributed to stronger bonds between children and their parents.

Parental suicide in childhood increases the risk of mental ill-health, substance use and premature mortality, particularly through suicide. Postvention supports tailored to the well-being and functioning of suicide-bereaved children and their remaining parents are thus of critical importance to counteract negative development. This explorative cross-sectional study seeks clinically relevant knowledge by investigating posttraumatic stress (PTS), sense of coherence (SOC) and family functioning among children (n = 22), adolescents (n = 18) and parents (n = 40) before their attendance at a family-based grief support program. The results demonstrate critical health outcomes for children and parents, and in particular for adolescents. Clinically relevant symptoms of PTS were found in 36% of children, 65% of adolescents, and 37% of parents. All groups showed lower SOC than the norm. Adolescents reported dysfunctional family functioning for the dimensions Communication and Affective Responsiveness. Psychoeducational and trauma-informed support is recommended where family communication and meaning construction of suicide is given special attention.

This study explores how children describe their experiences of family interaction with parents who had taken part in parenting training. 11 children between five and nine years participated in semi-structured interviews which were analysed using a qualitative content analysis method. The children described themselves as active participants in family life, identifying strategies that they used to safeguard their subjective selves on one hand and to enhance communication with their parents on the other. The analysis displayed three main approaches in everyday life: withholding thoughts and hiding, extending limits for personal agency, and putting trust in their parents to guide and protect them in their stride. While handling these processes the children showed a willingness to take part in democratic family decisions by compromises and compliance. Towards their parents they expressed understanding and forbearance with adult shortcomings such as absentmindedness. Their reasoning involved issues of integrity and relational closeness. Conclusively, the children balanced their own selves with an undemanding respect for parental care and adult competence. The study contributes to awareness of and respect for how children position themselves as relational agents in a generational order. The results suggest that future research should further explore children’s perspectives on family life in a parenting training context. Children’s views should be drawn on to inform future developments in parenting training.

Social relatedness and connectedness in time and space are essential for our fulfillment of basic needs and sense of self. Access to social resources and support is of particular importance for abilities to cope with hardships and recover from trauma. However, in the case of domestic violence and its aftermath, social isolation and disconnection appear to be central aspects. In this study we explored women’s lived experiences of social and existential loneliness related to domestic violence, from a response based approach. The purpose was two-fold: (1) to study mechanisms of loneliness in the context of domestic violence and its aftermath, and (2) to study the meaning that loneliness had in the women’s everyday lives. In-depth teller-focused interviews were conducted with 20 women who had been subjected to domestic violence by a previous partner. The interview data was analyzed through thematic analysis. We found that women experienced social and existential loneliness, not as a passive result of victimization, but through active isolating and ‘lonely-making’ tactics inflicted on them by the abusers, but also through the responses from authorities, pre- and post-separation. To describe these mechanisms, we present a model of the concept we call lonelification. The model illustrates how abusive tactics on a relational level, such as limitation of the woman's autonomy in time and space, and disruption of her sense of self and reality, are aimed at making women socially and existentially lonely. Furthermore, it describes how corresponding mechanisms on an institutional level reinforces abusers’ power and control. This study provides insights into the lived experiences of loneliness among women subjected to domestic violence and post-separation abuse. It also offers a framework for the understanding of loneliness as an integral aspect of domestic violence, illustrating how institutional responses may contribute to and prolong post-separation abuse. 

On 30 January 2020, the disease covid-19 was declared by the World Health Organization to be an international threat to human health and on 11 March 2020, the outbreak was declared a pandemic.The aim of this study was to analyse policy strategies developed by the five Nordic countries during the first 3 months of the pandemic from a health promotion perspective in order to identify Nordic responses to the crisis. Although the Nordic countries have a long tradition of co-operation as well as similar social welfare policies and legislation, each country developed their own strategies towards the crisis. The strategies identified were analysed from a health promotion perspective emanating from five principles: intersectorality, sustainability, equity, empowerment and a lifecourse perspective.Denmark, Finland and Norway had lockdowns to varying degrees, whereas Sweden and Iceland had no lockdowns. Iceland implemented a test and tracking strategy from the very beginning. All countries based their recommendations and restrictions on appeals to solidarity and trust in institutions and fellow citizens. The analysis showed that the strategies in all countries could be related to health promotion principles with some differences between the countries especially regarding equity and sustainability. The Nordic governments took responsibility for protecting their citizens by developing policy strategies based on restrictions and recommendations congruent with the principles of health promotion. The findings also identified issues that will pose challenges for future pandemic strategies.

This study aims to examine posttraumatic growth and its associations with parental bereavement among adolescents and young adults. Fifty-five young adults who had lost a parent to cancer at least 2 months earlier and were about to attend a support group at a palliative care service were recruited. Data was collected through questionnaires before support group participation, about 5–8 months after the loss and at a 6-month follow-up, about 14–18 months after the loss. The result shows that the young adults experienced posttraumatic growth, mostly in the domains Personal strength and Appreciation of life. Posttraumatic growth was associated with bereavement outcomes, especially life satisfaction, a feeling of meaning in future life and psychological health. The result is of value for health care professionals as it adds information about the importance of supporting constructive rumination to enhance the possibility to positive psychological change after a parent’s death.

Objectives

Critical illness is a life-threatening condition for the patient, which affects their family members as a traumatic experience. Well-known long-term consequences include impact on mental health and health-related quality of life. This study aims to develop a grounded theory to explain pattern of behaviours in family members of critically ill patients cared for in an intensive care unit, addressing the period from when the patient becomes critically ill until recovery at home.

Research methodology/design

We used a classic grounded theory to explore the main concern for family members of intensive care patients. Fourteen interviews and seven observations with a total of 21 participants were analysed. Data were collected from February 2019 to June 2021.

Setting

Three general intensive care units in Sweden, consisting of a university hospital and two county hospitals.

Findings

The theory Shifting focus explains how family members’ main concern, living on hold, is managed. This theory involves different strategies: decoding, sheltering and emotional processing. The theory has three different outcomes: adjusting focus, emotional resigning or remaining in focus.

Conclusion

Family members could stand in the shadow of the patients’ critical illness and needs. This emotional adversity is processed through shifting focus from one’s own needs and well-being to the patient’s survival, needs and well-being. This theory can raise awareness of how family members of critically ill patients manage the process from critical illness until return to everyday life at home. Future research focusing on family members’ need for support and information, to reduce stress in everyday life, is needed.

Implications for Clinical Practice

Healthcare professionals should support family members in shifting focus by interaction, clear and honest communication, and through mediating hope.