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This study aims to explore the perceptions of quality of life among older Thai adults with hypertension.

A descriptive qualitative design was used. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 40 older adults. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data.

The analyses were divided into six major themes: happiness in life; health and functionality; activity in social relationships; religion anchor; autonomy to manage their own life; and security in finances and environment.

The findings can guide health care professionals and policymakers when planning and implementing interventions and policies for improving the quality of life of older adults, particularly that of rural older adults with low incomes.

The findings showed minor differences between urban and rural older adults in financial security, where the rural participants expressed greater financial insecurity than the urban counterparts. However, no other major differences emerged.

The purpose of this paper is to describe family caregivers’ experiences of providing care for older people with a tracheostomy during hospitalization.

A descriptive phenomenological approach was used in this study. A total of 40 family caregivers were interviewed face-to-face in medical-surgical wards. Data was analyzed using Giorgi’s phenomenological method.

Family caregivers described meanings of providing care, learning how to provide care, caring activities, impacts of caregiving, support needs and qualities of being a caregiver. Meanings included filial responsibility, spousal attachment and end of life care. Caring activities were varied. Impacts experienced were reported as physical, psychological, social and financial. Caregivers expressed the need for information from the nursing team and assistance from their relatives. Positive caregiver qualities that were described included loving to provide care for older people and confidence and sincerity in caregiving.

Although caring for older people with a tracheostomy was difficult and came with challenging impacts, family caregivers were willing to support their loved ones due to feelings of family responsibility.

The paper addresses family participation in providing care for people with a tracheostomy. They experience physical, psychological, social and financial consequences of caregiving. Therefore, health-care professionals should support family caregivers with education, training and awareness of supports and resources for dealing with problematic impacts and other expressed needs.

This paper aims to assess how patient safety culture and incident reporting differs across different professional groups and between long-term and acute care. The Hospital Survey On Patient Safety Culture (HSPOSC) questionnaire was used to assess patient safety culture. Data from the organizations’ incident reporting system was also used to determine the number of reported patient safety incidents.

Patient safety culture is part of the organizational culture and is associated for example to rate of pressure ulcers, hospital-acquired infections and falls. Managers in health-care organizations have the important and challenging responsibility of promoting patient safety culture. Managers generally think that patient safety culture is better than it is.

Based on statistical analysis, acute care professionals’ views were significantly positive in 8 out of 12 composites. Managers assessed patient safety culture at a higher level than other professional groups. There were statistically significant differences (p = 0.021) in frequency of events reported between professional groups and between long-term and acute care (p = 0.050). Staff felt they did not get enough feedback about reported incidents.

The study reveals differences in safety culture between acute care and long-term care settings, and between professionals and managers. The staff felt that they did not get enough feedback about reported incidents. In the future, education should take these factors into consideration.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate a development process aimed at increasing registered nurses’ (RNs) working time use in value-adding patient care by applying a modified Transforming Care at the Bedside (TCAB) program at inpatient units of two tertiary hospitals.

Basic data for the development process were collected on RNs’ working time use via external observation in 2011 (RNs = 113). Nursing work was redesigned and implemented by 12 multi-professional teams during 2012-2013. The development process was evaluated by repeating the collection of RNs’ working time use data in 2013 (RNs = 95) and by analyzing the memos of the development teams via deductive content analysis (N = 64).

RNs’ working time use showed statistically significant increases in value-adding care and direct patient care but decreases in non-value-added work and miscellaneous work. Changes in the nursing work model, division of labor and the nursing work environment all affected RNs’ working time use.

The development process progressed distinctively in each unit, as shown by the results of the development work. Clinical RNs had key roles as innovators and change agents, yet the engagement of nursing managers was most essential for the success of the development work.

Even minor changes in nurses’ daily work profile can have considerable effects on RNs’ work. The TCAB program was shown to be a useful method in developing RNs’ work also in psychiatric units.

Reports on a study that examined the issues related to health promotion in the 30 Finnish comprehensive schools participating in the European Network of Health Promoting Schools (ENHPS). The data were collected from school representatives in January 1998, at a national ENHPS event, using a questionnaire developed for the study. The response rate was 100 per cent. The results show that the school representatives considered that a general infrastructure for health promotion existed in schools, and that the clarification of the mission of health promotion in schools was well developed. Networking within the communities that surrounded the schools was reported as being uncommon.

This paper aims to present the baseline results of a research and development project targeted to improve the occupational well‐being of school staff and maintain their ability to work, in Finland and Estonia. It reveals the most problematic factors in the various aspects of the school community and professional competence and outlines development needs in the school communities.

The overall project design is action research, conducted during 2009‐2013 in the SHE (Schools for Health in Europe) network in Finland and Estonia. The baseline survey data were collected in 2009‐2010 with a web‐based Well‐being at your work index questionnaire and analysed statistically using descriptive statistics, sum variables of factors and Mann‐Whitney tests.

The general opinions of the Finnish school staffs were more affirmative than those of Estonian school staffs regarding their own personal occupational well‐being in comparison with the best in the profession (p=0.000). However, the Finns were more critical than the Estonians when estimating the general well‐being of the staff in their working community, maintenance of their ability to work, the aspects of the school community and professional competence and development needs in the school communities.

The results cannot be widely generalised due to the geographically defined samples, but they can be suggestive in comparable situations in Finland and Estonia.

There is a need to develop the occupational well‐being of school staff and maintenance of their ability to work in the school communities: specific interventions will be developed on the basis of the results obtained from the project schools.

The purpose of this paper is to present the baseline results of a school development project where the aim was to improve school community staff's occupational wellbeing in co‐operation with occupational health nurses.

The Wellbeing at Your Work index form for school staff developed for the study aimed to account for occupational wellbeing and satisfaction in terms of the activities maintaining the ability to work as well as the working conditions, working community, worker and work and professional competence and the need to develop them.

The most problematic factors of occupational wellbeing were the urgency and pace of work at school and the problems in working space, postures and equipment. In addition, the activities supporting resources, including stress control, exercise, relaxation and mentoring, were inadequate at work.

The sample of school staff (n=271) consisted of 12 schools in Eastern Finland, and the results cannot be generalised widely due to the small and geographically defined sample. However, the results are suggestive for other schools elsewhere in Finland.

The content model for the promotion of occupational wellbeing presented in the article and the results obtained provide a broad and practical approach to the development of school staff's occupational wellbeing. Occupational health care services are meant to support school communities, and they should therefore provide better information of their services and develop their competence based on the content model of occupational wellbeing.

The work index form based on the content model serves as a good tool for schools and occupational health care in evaluating and developing occupational wellbeing.

This paper aims to present the process evaluation for a two‐year (2008‐2010) participatory action research project focusing on home‐school partnership in health learning, undertaken within the Schools for Health in Europe (SHE) in Eastern Finland.

Two intervention schools and two control schools (grade 5 pupils, parents, and selected school personnel) participated in a study. Process evaluation data were collected from intervention schools after 10 months of participation, by interviewing two classroom teachers and three families. In addition, program documents and relevant statistics were collected from schools during the intervention.

Teachers' opinions on the development process varied from more concrete expectations (School A teacher) to overall satisfaction to implementation (School B teacher). Parents believed that their children would benefit from the project later in life. The context and differences of the school environments were likely to affect the development process at the school level.

This paper demonstrates a process evaluation in two schools and, therefore, limits the generalizability of the findings.

The process evaluation was an essential part of this intervention study and may provide a useful structure and an example for process evaluation for future school‐based health intervention studies.

This study highlights the importance of planning the process evaluation structure before the start of the intervention, brings out the relevance of systematically assessing the process while it is ongoing, and illustrates process evaluation in an action research project.

Describes how school nurses estimated their goal attainment in view of the contents and methods of health counselling and their roles and possibilities as health promoters in the school community. Data were collected from the school nurses (n=31) of the Finnish European Network of Health‐Promoting schools, using a semi‐structured questionnaire specifically developed for the study. The response rate was 77 per cent (n=24). The results show that the traditional aspects of health counselling were mostly covered well. Counselling on sexual health was partly achieved well, but contraception and the prevention of sexually transmitted disease were less emphasised in school nurses' health counselling. To foster the empowerment of pupils, parents and teachers, there is a need for the school nurse to adopt a more active participatory role as a health promoter in the whole school community.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the views of school staff on a nutrition health project implemented via an ICT‐based learning environment in a secondary school (7th to 9th grades).

The study was a part of the wider European Network for Health Promoting Schools programme (ENHPS; since 2008, Schools for Health in Europe SHE) in Finland, and particularly its sub‐project, From Puijo to the World with Health Lunch, which sought to renew secondary schools' nutrition health education by developing and utilising an ICT‐based learning environment using participatory action research. The data were collected by means of recall interviews conducted with 12 teachers, two school health nurses and two school catering managers after the nutrition health project ended. The data were analysed with qualitative content analysis using Atlas.ti software.

The findings regarding the views of the school staff – teachers, school health nurses and school catering managers – on the nutrition health project implemented via an ICT‐based learning environment at the end of the three‐year educational development project revealed five main categories: the basis of multidisciplinary education in nutrition health, motivation to lifelong nutrition health learning, school community support of nutrition health activities, operational ICT culture in the nutrition health project and ICT for the nutrition health project process.

The sample of school staff consisted of two secondary schools in Eastern Finland, and the results cannot be generalised widely due to the small, geographically defined sample. However, the results are suggestive for other schools elsewhere in Finland.

Development of a nutrition health project via an ICT‐based learning environment as a project involves the entire school staff and all the pupils. It also enables renewing of the nutrition health curriculum. Pupils use ICT in their everyday activities, thus the school staffs have to manage and update their knowledge and skills in ICT and new action environments to promote pupils' nutrition health learning today and in the future.