New results from the Pierre Auger Observatory

Recent results from the Auger Observatory on the energy spectrum of high-energy cosmic rays and on the search for correlation with extragalactic objects are presented and discussed. The excess of high-energy events with arrival direction pointing to the region of Centaurus A is discussed in some detail

How is leadership experienced in joy-of-life-nursing-homes compared to ordinary nursing homes: a qualitative study

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How is leadership experienced in joy-of-life-nursing-homes compared to ordinary nursing homes: a qualitative study

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativeco mmons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.Background: Nursing homes are under strong pressure to provide good care to the patients. In Norway, municipalities have applied the ‘Joy-of-Life-Nursing-Homes’ (JoLNH) strategy which is based on a health-promoting approach building on the older persons’ resources. Meanwhile job satisfaction is closely related to less intention to leave, less turnover and reduced sick leave. The knowledge about adjustable infuences related with job satisfaction might help nursing home leaders to minimize turnover and preserve high quality of care. This study explores leadership in Norwegian nursing homes with and without implementation of JoLNH: How does leadership infuence the work environment and how is leadership experienced in JoLNH compared to ordinary Nursing Homes? Method: We used a qualitative approach and interviewed 19 health care personnel working in nursing homes in two Norwegian municipalities. The analysis was conducted following Kvale’s approach to qualitative analysis. Results: The main categories after the data condensing were [1] the importance of leadership, and [2] the importance of leadership for the work environment in a municipality with (a) and without (b) an implementation of the JoLNH strategy. Conclusions: The health care personnel in the municipality with an implementation of JoLNH emphasize that the leader’s infuence may lead to increased motivation among the staf and better control of changes and implementation processes. Our fndings may indicate that the employee from a JoLNH municipality experience a more trustful relationship to the leader.publishedVersio

Will an implementation of “Joy of Life in Nursing Homes” have positive effect for the work culture? A comparison between two Norwegian municipalities

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A qualitative study of bereaved family caregivers: feeling of security, facilitators and barriers for rural home care and death for persons with advanced cancer

Background For cancer patients and their family, an important factor that determines the choice to die at home is the caregivers’ feeling of security when caring for the patient at home. Support to caregivers from healthcare professionals is important for the feeling of security. In rural areas, long distances and variable infrastructure may influence on access to healthcare services. This study explored factors that determined the security of caregivers of patients with advanced cancer who cared for the patients at home at the end of life in the rural region of Sogn og Fjordane in Norway, and what factors that facilitated home death. Methods A qualitative study using semi-structured in-depth interviews with bereaved with experience from caring for cancer patients at home at the end of life was performed. Meaning units were extracted from the transcribed interviews and divided into categories and subcategories using Kvale and Brinkmann’s qualitative method for analysis. Results Ten bereaved caregivers from nine families where recruited. Five had lived together with the deceased. Three main categories of factors contributing to security emerged from the analysis: “Personal factors”, “Healthcare professionals” and “Organization” of healthcare. Healthcare professionals and the organization of healthcare services contributed most to the feeling of security. Conclusion Good competence in palliative care among healthcare professionals caring for patients with advanced cancer at home and well- organized palliative care services with defined responsibilities provided security to caregivers caring for advanced cancer patients at home in Sogn og Fjordane.publishedVersio

Despite symptom severity, do nursing home residents experience joy-of-life? The associations between joy-of-life and symptom severity in Norwegian nursing home residents

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Evaluation of a positive psychotherapy group intervention for people with psychosis: pilot randomised controlled trial

Aims. Third-wave psychological interventions have gained relevance in mental health service provision but their application to people with psychosis is in its infancy and interventions targeting wellbeing in psychosis are scarce. This study tested the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of positive psychotherapy adapted for people with psychosis (WELLFOCUS PPT) to improve wellbeing. Methods. WELLFOCUS PPT was tested as an 11-week group intervention in a convenience sample of people with psychosis in a single centre randomised controlled trial (ISRCTN04199273) involving 94 people with psychosis. Patients were individually randomised in blocks to receive either WELLFOCUS PPT in addition to treatment as usual (TAU), or TAU only. Assessments took place before randomisation and after the therapy. The primary outcome was wellbeing (Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale, WEMWBS). Secondary outcomes included symptoms (Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale), depression (Short Depression-Happiness Scale), self-esteem, empowerment, hope, sense of coherence, savouring beliefs and functioning, as well as two alternative measures of wellbeing (the Positive Psychotherapy Inventory and Quality of Life). Intention-to-treat analysis was performed. This involved calculating crude changes and paired-sample t-tests for all variables, as well as ANCOVA and Complier Average Causal Effect (CACE) Analysis to estimate the main effect of group on all outcomes. Results. The intervention and trial procedures proved feasible and well accepted. Crude changes between baseline and follow-up showed a significant improvement in the intervention group for wellbeing according to all three concepts assessed (i.e., WEMWBS, Positive Psychotherapy Inventory and Quality of Life), as well as for symptoms, depression, hope, self-esteem and sense of coherence. No significant changes were observed in the control group. ANCOVA showed no main effect on wellbeing according to the primary outcome scale (WEMWBS) but significant effects on symptoms (p = 0.006, ES = 0.42), depression (p = 0.03, ES = 0.38) and wellbeing according to the Positive Psychotherapy Inventory (p = 0.02, ES = 0.30). Secondary analysis adapting for therapy group further improved the results for symptom reduction (p = 0.004, ES = 0.43) and depression (p = 0.03, ES = 0.41) but did not lead to any more outcomes falling below the p = 0.05 significance level. CACE analysis showed a non-significant positive association between the intervention and WEMWBS scores at follow-up (b = 0.21, z = 0.9, p = 0.4). Conclusions. This study provides initial evidence on the feasibility of WELLFOCUS PPT in people with psychosis, positively affecting symptoms and depression. However, more work is needed to optimise its effectiveness. Future research might evaluate positive psychotherapy as a treatment for comorbid depression in psychosis, and consider alternative measurements of wellbeing

Associations between BMI and the FTO Gene Are Age Dependent: Results from the GINI and LISA Birth Cohort Studies up to Age 6 Years

Objective: The association between polymorphisms in intron 1 of the fat mass and obesity associated gene (FTO) and obesity-related traits is one of the most robust associations reported for complex traits and is established both in adults and children. However, little is known about the longitudinal dynamics of these polymorphisms on body mass index (BMI), overweight, and obesity. Methods: This study is based on the 2,732 full-term neonates of the German GINI-plus and LISA-plus birth cohorts, for whom genotyping data on the FTO variants rs1558902 (T>A) or rs9935401 (G>A) were available. Children were followed from birth up to age 6 years. Up to 9 anthropometric measurements of BMI were obtained. Fractional-Polynomial-Generalized-Estimation-Equation modeling was used to assess developmental trends and their potential dependence on genotype status. Results: We observed no evidence for BMI differences between genotypes of both variants for the first 3 years of life. However, from age 3 years onwards, we noted a higher BMI for the homozygous minor alleles carriers in comparison to the other two genotype groups. However, evidence for statistical significance was reached from the age of 4 years onwards. Conclusions: This is one of the first studies investigating in detail the development of BMI depending on FTO genotype between birth and the age of 6 years in a birth cohort not selected for the phenotype studied. We observed that the association between BMI and FTO genotype evolves gradually and becomes descriptively detectable from the age of 3 years onwards

Joy-of-life in cognitively intact nursing home patients : the impact of the nurse-patient interaction

Background The nursing‐home population is at a high risk of declined well‐being and quality of life. Finding approaches to increase well‐being among older adults in nursing‐homes is highly warranted. Responding to this need, the approach framed ‘Joy‐of‐Life‐Nursing‐Homes’ (JoLNH) was developed in Norway. Aim To investigate the association between nurse–patient interaction and joy‐of‐life in the nursing‐home population. Methods Cross‐sectional data were collected in 2017 and 2018 using the Nurse–Patient Interaction Scale and the Joy‐of‐Life Scale. A total of 204 cognitively intact nursing‐home residents met the inclusion criteria and 188 (92%) participated. A structural equation model (SEM) of the relationship between nurse–patient interaction and joy‐of‐life was tested by means of STATA/MP 15.1. Ethical approval was given and each participant provided voluntarily written informed consent. Results The SEM‐model yielded a good fit with the data (χ2 = 162.418, p = 0.004, df = 118, χ2/df = 1.38, RMSEA = 0.046, p‐close 0.652, CFI = 0.97, TLI = 0.96, and SRMR = 0.054). As hypothesised, nurse–patient interaction related significantly with joy‐of‐life (γ1,1 = 0.61, t = 7.07**). Limitations The cross‐sectional design does not allow for conclusions on causality. The fact that the researchers visited the participants to help fill in the questionnaire might have introduced some bias into the respondents’ reporting. Conclusion Relational qualities of the nurse–patient interaction should be essential integral aspects of nursing‐home care. Consequently, such qualities should be emphasised in clinical practice, and research and education should pay more attention to nurse–patient interaction as an important, integral part of the caring process promoting joy‐of‐life and thereby well‐being.publishedVersionUnit Licence Agreemen