Intensive care units are stressful environments and can bring negative psychological outcomes among critical care nurses. The aim of the present study is to describe critical care nurses’ characteristics and perceptions of health in relation to sex, and also provide their description of a healthy and sustainable work environment in intensive care units using a person-centred practice framework. A cross-sectional design was employed with 136 participants who responded to a questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and qualitative content analysis were used. Regardless of sex, critical care nurses perceived their current health to be significantly lower than their health before the COVID-19 pandemic. They described effective staff relationships and a supportive organization as being essential for a healthy and sustainable work environment. Critical care nurses have recovered to their perceived pre-pandemic health to some degree. Well-functioning teams and a supportive organizational system might nurture a healthy and sustainable work environment. 

Cold baths have been used in various cultures for centuries, with modern scientific interest growing over the past few decades. The aim of this phenomenological hermeneutic study was to explore the meaning of outdoor cold bathing of people who regularly engage in that practice. Nine people, seven women and two men aged 44 to 70, who regularly cold bathed in Sweden participated in the study. They were interviewed during the winter-spring of 2025. Participants described cold bathing as a powerful coping mechanism during periods of stress and life transition, often beginning in midlife when facing personal or professional challenges. Cold bathing was described as a powerful practice that not only challenges the body but also uplifts the mind, often becoming a valued ritual for both physical recovery and emotional renewal. Being in nature was an important part of the holiness of the experience.

Sauna bathing has gained increasing attention in medical and nursing research for its potential health-enhancing properties. It may be a valuable self-care practice for women, complementing conventional healthcare in prevention of diseases and promoting health and well-being. Since most studies focus on male participants, it is important to explore women's experiences with sauna bathing and its significance for their health and well-being. The aim of this study was to examine women's perceptions of sauna bathing and its impact on their health and well-being. A cross-sectional study was conducted using an online questionnaire comprising 17 items and four open-ended questions, which formed a subset of a larger questionnaire. A total of 384 women sauna users participated. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and qualitative content analysis. Women described a range of health and well-being experiences, with sauna bathing perceived as restorative and emotionally grounding, promoting improved sleep and reduced bodily pain, yet occasionally associated with social insecurity and counterproductive effects.

Introduction: Being critically ill in need of intensive care, lead to a challenging way back after survival, so also for survivors of COVID-19. The process to recovery can be long. Objectives: The aim of our qualitative study was to elucidate meanings of recovery for people who were once critically ill with COVID-19. Method: We conducted qualitative individual interviews with 13 individuals who had been critically ill with COVID-19, following a narrative approach. The data collected from the interviews, were analyzed according to phenomenological hermeneutic interpretation. Results: The participants, although feeling alone in the process of recovery, had willpower to return to normal life but struggled to keep pace with others. They strived for balance in everyday life and to regain strength despite being exhausted after having COVID-19. The participants were grateful for their survival but displayed a need to understand what had happened. They longed for social contact, expressed feelings of abandonment, and wished for follow-up dialogues with healthcare professionals to better understand their situation. However, because support from healthcare was insufficient, the participants ultimately needed to develop their own strategies to cope with their questions, fears, and weakness. Conclusion: Meanings of recovery for people once critically ill with COVID-19, is to strive for balance in everyday life. In their recovery process, healthcare professionals should seek to understand what the illness means for the ill person, and in mutual understanding support them based on their needs. 

Frequent sauna bathing has been associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and proposed as a mediator for improved health. Therefore, the aim was to describe and compare sauna bathers with non-sauna bathers in northern Sweden based on their demographics, health and life attitudes, and to describe sauna bathers’ sauna habits. Questions on sauna bathing habits were included in the questionnaire for the participants in the Northern Sweden MONICA (multinational monitoring of trends and determinants in cardiovascular disease) study, conducted during spring of 2022, inviting adults 25–74 years living in the two northernmost counties of Sweden (Norr- and Västerbotten), randomly selected from the population register. Of the 1180 participants in MONICA 2022, 971 (82%) answered the question about sauna bathing. Of these, 641 (66%) were defined as sauna bathers. Sauna bathers reported less hypertension diagnosis and self-reported pain. They also reported higher levels of happiness and energy, more satisfying sleep patterns, as well as better general and mental health. Sauna bathers were younger, more often men and found to have a healthier life-profile compared to non-sauna bathers. Additionally, the results suggest that the positive effects associated with sauna bathing plateaued from 1–4 times per month.

Introduction: Moral distress increases the risk that critical care nurses will lose the ability to provide quality nursing care. Aims: To describe person-related conditions and perceptions of moral distress, health and intention to leave among critical care nurses in intensive care units, and to examine the relationship between person-related conditions, moral distress, health and intention to leave. Method: Cross-sectional, with 220 critical care nurses in 15 Swedish ICUs, and data gathered via a self-reported questionnaire. Results: Highest moral distress scores were reported in futile care and poor teamwork and 21% reported entertaining an intention to leave. Self-reported health was lower than before the COVID-19 pandemic and 4.1% reported pronounced exhaustion disorder. Self-reported health, reduced capacity to tolerate demands under time pressure, emotional instability or irritability, physical weakness, or being more easily fatigued and with decreased well-being were factors that had a relationship with futile care. Sleeping problems and intention to leave had a relationship with poor teamwork. Conclusions: Different strategies are needed to reduce moral distress and the leadership is crucial for managing crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Introduction The demands of the pandemic such as staff shortages and limited resources combined with new guidelines regarding infection control may have required the prioritizing of nursing interventions. Objectives The aim of this study was to describe critical care nurses' experiences of prioritizing nursing interventions for patients with COVID-19 in intensive care units (ICUs) during the pandemic. Method A qualitative descriptive study was gathered from open-ended questions included in a cross-sectional online questionnaire. Characteristics were presented using descriptive statistics, and open-ended questions were analyzed using qualitative content analysis with an inductive approach. The study was conducted in Sweden and focused on critical care nurses working in ICUs during spring 2021 and the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results During the COVID-19 pandemic, 87% of the critical care nurses had provided orientations for new co-workers, and 52% had supervised intensive care nursing students. In all, 70 answered the question of whether they had prioritized nursing care differently during the pandemic; 86% reported that they had and 14% had not. The qualitative analysis resulted in one theme, Institutional constraints as an obstacle for nursing interventions, with three categories: Prioritizing lifesaving interventions, Performing nursing interventions less frequently, and Not able to provide the nursing care I wish to provide. Conclusion Institutional constraints as an obstacle for nursing interventions is the overall theme. It illustrates how critical care nurses have been forced to prioritize, thereby not being able to provide the nursing interventions they wanted to do provide, and it describes their feelings in this situation. The nurses need recovery and possibilities for reflection. The organization must also recover and not only return to how it was before the pandemic but also to learn from recent events and take actions to reduce the long-term effects on staffing.

The aim of this study was to elucidate the meaning of critical illness for people with COVID-19. This study used a qualitative design. Thirteen people who were critically ill with COVID-19 during 2020 and admitted to a COVID-19 intensive care unit in northern Sweden participated in the study. Data collection was conducted as individual interviews with a narrative approach, and data were analyzed with phenomenological hermeneutic interpretation. The participants did not think they would get critically ill with this unexpected illness. They experienced terrible nightmares where their relatives had been killed, and they missed their relatives both in their dreams and in reality, as they had not been allowed to be with them due to the virus. Gratefulness was described for surviving. Participants described thoughts of not being able to imagine going through this again. They felt fear and loneliness, as a terrifying unreality had become a reality.

Aim: The aim of the study was to deductively study person-centred care, based on critical care nurses’ experiences during the first phase of the CoViD-19 pandemic. Design: The study used a qualitative design. Method: Data collection was conducted as individual interviews and was analysed with qualitative content analysis with a deductive approach. Participants: Six critical care nurses working in a special CoViD-19 intensive care unit during the first phase of the pandemic participated. Findings: The findings are presented within the four domains of person-centred practice: the prerequisites, the care environment, person-centred processes and person-centred outcomes. While the ambition and knowledge about how to work in accordance with person-centred practice were high, there were several obstacles to perform it. Conclusion: We need to prepare ahead of time so that nurses have optimal organisational prerequisites to be able to work in accordance with person-centred practice, also during pandemics and other crisis, which means to be able to give nursing care in accordance with the ill person's needs and resources.