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Biomedical subjects

S Halldorsdottir

Publications and source records attributed to S Halldorsdottir.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1996

Journeying through labour and delivery: perceptions of women who have given birth.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore the essential structure of the lived experience of childbearing, as seen from the perspective of women who have given birth. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: The phenomenological perspective of qualitative research theory guided the methodological approach to the study, in which interactive interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample of fourteen mothers of healthy babies in Akureyri and Reykjavik, the two most inhabited places in Iceland. FINDINGS: The metaphor of a woman journeying through labour and delivery was chosen to symbolize the lived experience of giving birth to a healthy baby. This encompasses four major categories: influences of circumstances and expectations before the journey's commencement; a sense of self during the journey which encompasses a sense of being in a private world, the sense of control, the need for caring and understanding and the need for a sense of security; the journey through labour and delivery itself; and finally the first sensitive hours of motherhood and the perception of the uniqueness of birth as a life experience at the journey's end. The study has the potential of increasing the knowledge and understanding of giving birth as a life experience, and therefore, has implications for midwives and nurses, as well as for women and their supporters. KEY CONCLUSIONS: The lived experience of giving birth is a powerful life experience which is coloured by circumstances and expectations of the woman, her sense of self during the journey, the journey itself, as well as the first sensitive hours of motherhood. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The study has the potential of increasing the knowledge and understanding of giving birth as a life experience, and therefore, has implications for midwives/nurse, as well as for women and their supporters.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Experiencing existential changes: the lived experience of having cancer.

This phenomenological study was designed to explore the lived experience of having cancer, as perceived by people who have been diagnosed and treated for cancer. The aim of the study was to add to the knowledge and understanding of this complex human phenomenon. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with nine people who were in the remission or recovery phase of cancer. The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim for each participant. Through intersubjective interactions and thematic analysis, the essential description of the lived experience of having cancer was constructed. The overriding theme of the lived experience of having cancer is "experiencing existential changes." Five basic subthemes were identified in the participants accounts, all of which are part of the existential changes involved in the lived experience of having cancer. These are: uncertainty, vulnerability, isolation, discomfort, and redefinition. The study can increase the understanding of what it is like to have cancer.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1989

Intradermal challenge of Icelandic horses with extracts of four species of the genus Culicoides.

Twenty-three Icelandic horses were challenged with extracts of four species of biting midges: Culicoides pulicaris, C chiopterus, C obsoletus and C impunctatus. Fourteen of the tested horses were affected with summer eczema. The horses were challenged intradermally with 0.1 ml of whole-body extracts of midges at a concentration of 0.01 or 0.005 per cent weight/volume. The skin reactions were measured after 30 minutes, 60 or 180 minutes and four, 24 and 48 hours after injection. Antigen titration showed that the reaction was dependent on the antigen concentration. Eight of nine unaffected horses failed to respond to any of the four antigens; the remaining animal responding to two of the four antigens. Ten of the 14 affected horses responded to at least three of the four antigens, while two of the animals in this group failed to respond to any. The mean responses to C chiopterus, C obsoletus and C impunctatus, read after 30 minutes, 60 minutes and four hours were significantly higher in the affected horses than in the unaffected horses. A significant difference was also found in the mean response to C chiopterus and C impunctatus, read after 24 hours.

Animals↗