"We own the illness”: a qualitative study of networks in two communities with mixed ethnicity in Northern Norway

Background: When people in Northern Norway get ill, they often use traditional medicine. The global aim of this study was to examine the extended family networks’ function and responsibility in cases of illness in the family, in two Northern Norwegian communities with a population of mixed ethnicity. Methods: Semi-structured individual interviews with 13 participants and 4 focus group interviews with total 11 participants were conducted. The text data was transcribed verbatim and analysed based on the criteria for content analysis. Results: The participants grew up in areas where it was common to seek help from traditional healers. They were organized in networks and shared responsibility for the patient and they provided practical help and support for the family. According to the networks, health-care personnel should make room for the entire network to visit the patient in severe and life-threatening situations. Conclusion: Traditional networks are an extra resource for people in these communities. The networks seem to be essential in handling and disseminating hope and manageability on an individual as well as a collective level. Health personnel working in communities with mixed ethnicity should have thorough knowledge of the mixed culture, including the importance of traditional network to the patients

Motivational foci and asthma medication tactics directed towards a functional day

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There appears to be an obvious gap between a medical and patient adherence perspective. Deviating from a medication prescription could be regarded as fairly irrational, but with respect to patients' goals and/or concerns it could be seen as understandable. Thus, the aim was to elucidate adherence reasoning in relation to asthma medication.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This was a qualitative study; data collection and analysis procedures were conducted according to Grounded Theory methodology. Eighteen persons, aged 22 with asthma and regular asthma medication treatment, were interviewed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The emerged theoretical model illustrated that adherence to asthma medication was motivated by three foci, all directed towards a desired outcome in terms of <it>a functional day as desired by the patient</it>. A <it>promotive focus </it>was associated with the ambition to achieve a positive asthma outcome by being adherent either to the received prescription or to a self-adjusted dosage. A <it>preventive focus </it>was intended to ensure avoidance of a negative asthma outcome either by sticking to the prescription or by preventively overusing the medication. A <it>permissive focus </it>was associated with unstructured adherence behaviour in which medication intake was primarily triggered by asthma symptoms.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>As all participants had consciously adopted functioning medication tactics that directed them towards the desired goal of a functional day. In an effort to bridge the gap between a patient- and a medical adherence perspective, patients need support in defining their desired functionality and guidance in developing a person-based medication tactic.</p