Forskningsartikler

This scoping review was commenced as a collaboration within the Nordic Health Promotion Research Network (NHPRN). The overall aim was to explore how research under the label ‘health promotion’ was undertaken in a Nordic context. The search for dissertations published in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden was limited to the years 2008 to 2018. Manual searches of university websites, as well as different databases in the Nordic countries, were required for collecting dissertations from all universities. The collection of dissertations was more difficult than expected. There were 56 published PhD dissertations from 6 universities in Denmark, 51 from 8 universities in Finland, 0 from Iceland, 53 from 7 universities in Norway and 193 from 22 universities in Sweden. Almost half of the analysed dissertations combined qualitative and quantitative methods. About one-third of the dissertations had a settings approach, followed by a societal approach and individual approach. Finland and Sweden presented more intervention studies than the other countries. A majority of the intervention studies included individual lifestyle issues. Based on the analysis of the research approaches, more dissertations embracing societal perspectives and broader determinants of health may be recommended for future Nordic dissertations.

Andrea Eriksson, Heidi Myglegård Andersen, Charli Eriksson, Aud Johannessen, Nina Simonsen, Nicole Thualagant, Steffen Torp, Anne Trollvik, Bo J.A. Haglund

Background: Dementia is a care intensive disease, especially in the later stages, implying in many cases a substantial carer burden. This study assesses the use of formal and informal care resources among persons with dementia during the last month before nursing home admission. It also describes main providers of informal care and assesses the extent of informal care rendered by the extended social network.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we collected data about persons with dementia that were newly admitted to a nursing home in Norway. Information about the amount of formal and informal care during the last 4 weeks preceding nursing home admission was collected from the primary caregivers. Clinical data were collected by examining the patients, while sociodemographic data was collected from the patients’ files.
Results: A total of 395 persons with dementia were included. The amount of informal care provided by the family caregiver was 141.9 h per month SD = 227.4. Co-resident patients received five times more informal care than non-co-residents. Informal care from the extended social network was provided to 212 patients (53.7%) with a mean of 5.6 (SD = 11.2) hours per month and represented 3.8% of the total informal care rendered to the patients. Formal care was provided to 52.7% of the patients with a mean of 18.0 (SD = 50.1) hours per month. Co-residency was significantly associated with more informal care, and the associations varied with respect to age, relation to the caregiver, and the caregiver’s working situation. Good/excellent general health was associated with less formal care.
Conclusion: Persons with dementia on the verge of admission to a nursing home are mainly supported by the family caregiver, and the use of informal care is particularly high among co-residents. In order to delay nursing home admission, future research should explore the unrealized care potential in extended social networks, as well as the potential for increasing the number of recipients of formal care services.

Arnt Egil Ydstebø , Jurate Šaltytė Benth, Sverre Bergh, Geir Selbæk and Corinna Vossius