Background: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most prevalent childhood malignancy. To improve long-term health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in adult survivors of childhood ALL, more longitudinal studies are needed to assess outcomes and risk factors throughout treatment and survivorship. The aim of this study was to examine the long-term changes in HRQOL, self-efficacy, and social support among adult survivors of childhood ALL and to explore the temporal relationship between HRQOL, self-efficacy, and social support. Procedure: The study includes 148 adult childhood ALL survivors who responded to a questionnaire assessing HRQOL (SF36), self-efficacy (General Self-Efficacy Scale, GSE), and quantitative and qualitative social support (AVSI and AVAT in SS13) in 2012 and 2021. Changes in the HRQOL, GSE, and social support were calculated using paired t-tests. Bayesian path models were specified, and separate models were estimated for each relationship between GSE and AVSI, and AVAT and HRQOL. Cross-sectional associations, autoregressive effects within constructs over time, and cross-lagged effects between two variables over time were specified within each model. Results: The mean of six of the eight HRQOL dimensions, as well as quantitative and qualitative social support, deteriorated during the 9-year follow-up. Self-efficacy was unchanged. Temporal positive relationships were found between baseline GSE and the HRQOL dimension of social functioning, as well as between social support and the HRQOL dimensions of physical functioning, vitality, and mental health at follow-up. Conclusion: The findings highlight the importance of self-efficacy and social support as potential buffering factors for HRQOL in adult survivors of childhood ALL over time. © 2025 The Author(s). Pediatric Blood & Cancer published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.

Purpose: Adults who had acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) as children and were treated with allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (aHSCT) may have been affected in their lives due to several long-term complications. From a clinical point of view, it is of interest to study how survivors describe their perceptions of their childhood today. The aim was therefore to describe how adults perceived their childhood and the influences of being treated for ALL with aHSCT as a child.

Method: Semi-structured telephone interviews were undertaken with 18 adults who had been treated for childhood ALL with aHSCT and were included in a national cohort of childhood ALL survivors, diagnosed between 1985 and 2007 at an age between 0 and 17 years. A phenomenographic analysis was used.

Results: Three categories emerged: Feeling different, Feeling security and Feeling guilty. The informants felt that they had been different from other children but had felt security with the healthcare professionals and in care. They felt guilty because both their siblings’ and parents’ lives had been affected, but at the same time many perceived that they and their family members had become closer to one another.

Conclusions: The results emphasised that adults who had been treated for childhood ALL with aHSCT were affected both in negative and positive ways during their childhood. This indicates the importance for early psychosocial care interventions directed to children during their treatment, but also the need for person-centred psychological care in long-term outpatient clinics. © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Background: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common malignancy in childhood, but the prognosis has remarkably improved over the last 50 years in high-income countries, and thus, there is a focus on long-term health outcomes following survival and how to best provide health care support to adult long-term survivors of childhood ALL to prevent and handle potential health problems. Digital health interventions are promising to deliver feasible health promotion and prevention programs. This is particularly relevant for ensuring long-term follow-up in cases where continuous contact with oncology care may be disrupted. Moreover, these interventions are beneficial in reaching geographically dispersed target groups and overcoming the time constraints of everyday life that often hinder participation in such programs. Objective: This study aimed to fill the gaps in existing research on adult long-term survivors of childhood ALL and provide formative data that can inform the development of formalized follow-up services designed to meet the needs of these survivors in ways that align with their preferences for digital health interventions. Methods: In this cross-sectional national study, adult survivors (aged ≥18 years) of childhood ALL for over 10 years after diagnosis were compared to their siblings in terms of mental and physical health-related factors, including sleep, stress, anxiety, and depression (Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale 21 [DASS-21]); several dimensions of fatigue (Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory 20 [MFI-20]); work ability (Work Ability Index); chronic pain; and prevalences of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, headache or migraine, and rheumatic disease. Results: Overall, 426 of 855 eligible ALL survivors responded (mean age 30.9, SD 7.7 years), and they participated at an average of 24 (SD 6.9) years after ALL diagnosis. Siblings (n=135; mean age 31.5, SD 7.7 years) acted as controls. Sleep quality, sleep quantity, and mean work ability scores were significantly lower, and physical fatigue, reduced motivation, and reduced activity scores were higher in ALL survivors than in siblings. There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of BMI and prevalence of chronic pain, depression, anxiety, or stress. Physical and psychological complications were more frequent among adult ALL survivors who had received hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) than among those who had not received HSCT. Conclusions: Our nationwide cross-sectional study addressed the scarcity of knowledge regarding the self-reported health outcomes of adult long-term survivors of childhood ALL. We highlighted significant disparities within this population and emphasized the potential of comprehensive digital interventions that target vitality, sleep quality, fatigue, and psychosocial well-being to enhance well-being and bolster the capacity for managing chronic health conditions in this target group. Such an intervention would align with the needs of this target group, which is a prerequisite for successfully incorporating technology into the daily lives of survivors of childhood ALL. © 2024 JMIR Publications Inc.. All rights reserved.

Insomnia is common among frail older people living in nursing homes. The aim of the study was to explore how frail older people with insomnia experience the use of a weighted blanket. The study was conducted in nine nursing homes in Sweden. A total of 19 people (4 men, 15 women) aged 67 years and older were included. The study had an inductive qualitative design. Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) was utilized as a checklist to ensure transparency and comprehensiveness and enhance reliability by guaranteeing that all relevant aspects of the research process are thoroughly documented. The semi-structured interviews were analyzed with qualitative content analysis. The results formed four categories: Experiencing proximity, which raised older people’s encounters with the weighted blankets; Changes in sleeping patterns, where older people encountered the weighted blanket’s influence in changing sleep patterns; Experiencing conditions for use, where frail older people experienced the right conditions; and Stimulating senses, where frail older people experienced changes in their senses. Frail older people experienced that weighted blankets could provide comfort, positively influence sleep patterns, and reduce anxiety. This intervention can be considered valuable and offers a possible alternative to medication for frail older people with insomnia. © The Author(s) 2024.

Background: Wellness is a holistic, multidimensional, and process-oriented property on a continuum. It has been used interchangeably with and is undifferentiated from concepts such as health and well-being without an in-depth clarification of its theoretical foundations and a reflection on its meaning. The concept of wellness is frequently used, but its definition remains unclear.

Aim: To conceptually and theoretically explore the concept of wellness to contribute to a deeper understanding in caring science.

Method: Rodgers' evolutionary concept analysis was applied to the theoretical investigation of data from publications of international origins. The focus was on antecedents, attributes, consequences, surrogate and related terms, and contextual references. A literature search was performed through a manual review of reference lists and an online search in CINAHL and PubMed via EBSCO, and in ProQuest. Abstracts were examined to identify relevant studies for further review. The inclusion criteria were peer-reviewed papers in English; papers published in scientific journals using the surrogate terms ‘wellness’, ‘health’, ‘health care’, and ‘health care and wellness’; and papers discussing and/or defining the concept of wellness. Twenty-six studies met the inclusion criteria.

Results: Based on the findings from this concept analysis, a definition of wellness was developed: ‘a holistic and multidimensional concept represented on a continuum of being well that goes beyond health’. Implications for nursing practice were correspondingly presented.

Conclusion: Wellness is defined as a holistic and comprehensive multidimensional concept represented on a continuum of being well, that goes beyond health. It calls attention by applying the salutogenic perspective to health promotion in caring science. It is strongly related to individual lifestyle and health behaviour and is frequently used interchangeably with health and well-being without an in-depth clarification of its theoretical foundation. © 2023 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Nordic College of Caring Science.

Objectives: Sleep problems are a common issue among frail older people living in nursing homes. Among other causes, these problems can be due to age-related changes and chronic medical conditions. Weighted blankets can be used as an alternative to medication in treatments aimed at improving the sleep of frail older people. This study aimed to investigate the effect of weighted blankets on sleep patterns in frail older people living in nursing home.

Methods: A quasi-experimental design was adopted. The study included 65 frail older people > 65 years of age who lived in nursing homes in southwestern Sweden. Sleep was measured using actigraphy, which helped monitor time in bed, total sleep time, sleep onset latency, wake after sleep onset, sleep efficiency (in per cent) and the number of nocturnal awakenings. Health was self-rated using the EuroQol visual analogue scale (EQ-VAS), and insomnia was self-rated using Minimal Insomnia Symptom Scale (MISS).

Results: Frail older people in nursing homes benefited from the use of weighted blankets to improve their sleep quality. Frail older people experienced fewer nocturnal awakenings and fell asleep faster. Weighted blankets also improved overall experience of health.

ConclusionS: Weighted blankets can improve the sleep quality and overall health of frail older people in nursing homes. More research is needed to understand the full effects of these blankets and establish individual guidelines for their use.

Introduction: Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is the most common form of cancer in children. Although treatment methods have improved and resulted in significant improvement of survival and reduction in late effects and late mortality risk, the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of survivors might be affected. To introduce new interventions in clinical practice with the potential to support positive HRQOL outcomes, more knowledge is needed on how HRQOL in this group is constructed and stimulated. The purpose of this study is to investigate how HRQOL is affected in adults treated for paediatric ALL, in a long-term perspective and possible factors influencing this relationship.

Methods and analysis: This cohort of young adult ALL survivors allows for investigations of factors influencing HRQOL outcomes on a national level. Eligible participants are obtained from the Swedish Childhood Cancer quality registry. Data collection includes both a follow-up of data collected in 2012 (n=224) and recruitment of new eligible participants to the cohort (n=601). The cohort will cover survivors of paediatric ALL, diagnosed between 1985 and 2007, at an age between 0 and 15 years. Data will be collected using validated, multidimensional, self-administered instruments, designed to measure HRQOL (SF-36), social support, sense of coherence and resilience.

Ethics and dissemination: The study will be carried out in accordance with the ethics permit obtained from the Swedish ethics review authority (Dnr 2019-05181). Dissemination of study results will take place through research articles and reports to the national patient organisation and the national network for consultancy nurses for this target group and to the working group for the Swedish national long-term care programme for childhood cancer. Results will also reach practical application within the follow-up clinic for adult childhood cancer survivors at Sahlgrenska Hospital in Gothenburg. © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

Purpose

The most common treatment for resident’s health problems is pharmacological. Little research has been done on how an intervention with a non-pharmacological method, such as a weighted blanket, Through the nursing staff view, we can learn how weighted blankets influence resident’s health in nursing homes. The aim of this study was to explore nursing staff’s experiences of how an intervention with weighted blankets influenced resident’s expressions of health.

Methods

The study had a descriptive qualitative design with semi-structured interviews with 20 nursing staff working in nursing homes, and an inductive content analysis was applied.

Results

The nursing staff expressed that the weighted blanket positively influenced resident’s health in the areas of sleep, physical activity, and psychological behaviour. The weighted blanket made them fall asleep faster, sleep was uninterrupted andthey felt more rested in the morning. The nursing staff observed an increased level of activity as the resident became more energetic . The nursing staff also experienced reduced negative psychological behaviours like anxiety and worrying.

Conclusion

This study indicated that the weighted blanket changed the health expression of resident in several crucial areas. Deep pressure treatment indicates an alternative health-improved treatment for resident in nursing homes. © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Background: An increasingly aging population is a global phenomenon. While considered a positive step forward, vulnerability to age-related health problems increases along with the ageing population. The aim of the study was to investigate weighted blankets’ effect on health regarding quality of life (QoL), sleep, nutrition, cognition, activities of daily living ADL and medication in older people living in nursing homes. Methods: In total, 110 older people were involved in an intervention with weighted blankets, and 68 older people completed the intervention. Measures before and after were performed regarding quality of life; QoL-AD, EQ-VAS, sleep; MISS, nutrition; MNA, cognition; S -MMSE (ADL) and medication. Comparative statistical analyses were applied. Results: After intervention with weighted blankets, health in general, such as QoL, improved. Sleep also improved significantly, especially with respect to waking up during the night. Nutrition was enhanced, health as a cognitive ability improved, and medication in the psychoanaleptic group decreased. The effect size varied between small and large. Conclusions: A weighted blanket seems to be an effective and safe intervention for older people in nursing homes, as several improvements were made regarding the health of older people. © 2022 by the authors.