Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has made visible the scale of health disparities in society, highlighting how the distribution of infection and deaths differs between population subgroups within countries. Asylum seekers represent a potentially vulnerable group; early in the pandemic, concerns were raised about their housing situation, usually involving overcrowded, camp-like accommodations, and the effects of COVID-19 in relation to this. Hence, this study aimed to explore asylum seekers' experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic while living at accommodation centers. Methods: In this qualitative study, 14 semi-structured interviews were conducted with asylum seekers at two accommodation centers in Sweden. Participants represented a diverse group of asylum seekers in regard to age, educational background, and gender. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Experiences related to COVID-19 were highly dependent on the living situation at the accommodation centers and the experience of feeling unsafe in shared spaces. This was enhanced by the experiences of a challenging mix of COVID-19 messages where different understandings of COVID-19 and related measures existed, together with a feeling of loss of control and safety in shared rooms. Additionally, participants felt more isolated from the outside society and missed prior social activities. Adding to this experience of isolation was an increasing mistrust regarding the authorities' pandemic response. Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of understanding the specific challenges and vulnerabilities of asylum seekers at accommodation centers during the pandemic, shaped by their housing situation and legal status. The findings underscore the need for context-specific support, holistic disease prevention approaches, and tailored health communication strategies using diverse formats. Additionally, the findings emphasize the crucial need to identify and mobilize existing community resources in planning and implementing pandemic control measures. Furthermore, the study emphasizes governmental responsibility in providing secure housing, and to address long-term vulnerabilities beyond pandemics.

Background: Forced migrants fleeing conflict and violence face a high risk of mental health problems due to experiences before displacement, perilous journeys, and conditions in the new host societies. Asylum seekers seem to be in particularly vulnerable situations, indicated by higher prevalence rates of mental health problems compared to resettled refugees. Asylum seekers’ mental health is highly influenced by the conditions they face in host countries while awaiting a decision on their case. In Sweden, 40% of asylum seekers reside in state-provided accommodation centers during the asylum process. Collective accommodation centers for asylum seekers have been said to impose restrictive social conditions and to be associated with poorer mental health outcomes than other housing forms (e.g., self-organized housing). However, there seems to be a scarcity of qualitative studies exploring the experiences of asylum seekers in different contexts. The aim of this study was therefore to explore the experiences of asylum seekers and how they manage their mental wellbeing while living at accommodation centers in Sweden.

Methods: Fourteen semi-structured interviews with asylum seekers were conducted at two accommodation centers in Sweden. Participants were recruited using purposeful sampling and represented a diverse group of asylum seekers regarding age, background, and gender. The data was analyzed using content analysis.

Results: Three overarching categories were identified; 1) Frozen life, 2) Constant worrying and “overthinking”, and 3) Distractions and peer support. Participants experienced a state of being that could be characterized as a frozen life, which was associated with intense feelings of psychological distress, mostly described as manifesting itself in consuming patterns of ruminative thoughts, for instance overthinking and constant worrying. However, despite high levels of distress, participants demonstrated agency in managing negative mental health outcomes through self-care practices, peer support, and the development of care practices in caring for others in need.

Conclusion: This study offers new insights into the everyday challenges that asylum seekers at accommodation centers face. Furthermore, it offers valuable observations of how asylum seekers at accommodation centers cope through self-care practices, peer support, and care practices in caring for peers in need. In order to enable sustainable and empowering support, mental health and psychosocial support services must identify and address both challenges and strengths, be grounded in the lived reality of asylum seekers, and build on existing resources. Moreover, further policy work needs to be done to enable faster asylum processes.

The purpose of this study was to describe the psychosocial experience of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies' nurses upon their return from deployment at an Ebola Treatment Center during an Ebola virus disease outbreak in Kenema, Sierra Leone, between 2014 and 2015. The following three psychosocial aspects related to pre-, during, and postdeployment were explored: stress management, sociocultural exposure, and attitudes from others. This is a descriptive qualitative study with a cross-sectional design. Questionnaires were administered to 50 nurses, of which 44 responded. Eight themes were identified in relation to the three psychosocial aspects of interest: professional- and self-confidence, pragmatism, wellness activities, human contact, cultural competency, professionalism, pariah, and/or hero. One of the most important findings in this article relates to the essential mental health support pre- and during deployment with an emphasis upon return when the risk of isolation and stigmatization is greater. In conclusion, more research is needed about the psychosocial challenges met by nurses to prepare and support them as increasing threat of emerging infectious diseases puts pressure on global health systems.

Bakgrund I mitten på 2010-talet befann sig runt 65 miljoner människor på flykt runt om i världen på grund av krig, katastrofer och väpnade konflikter. Många människor flydde för sina liv och sökte skydd och fristad i Europa och Sverige. På lokal nivå anlitades ofta rödakorskretsar i det humanitära bemötandet och omhändertagandet av dessa människor. Delvis var detta en ny situation och erfarenhet för frivilligarbetare. Syfte Syftet med forskningsprojektet var att undersöka hur frivilliga beskriver och resonerar kring lokala och globala utmaningar relaterade till demografiska förändringar, med fokus på personer som är på flykt och är i behov av humanitära frivilliginsatser. Metod Data har samlats in via fokusgruppsintervjuer i tre olika kretsar i Mellansverige. Intervjuerna genomfördes på tre olika nivåer i varje krets, med frivilliga, frivilligledare och kretsstyrelse. Resultat De transkriberade intervjuerna analyserades tematiskt och följande teman identifierades; Erfarenheter från flyktingströmmen 2015, Kärnan i frivilligt arbete inom Svenska Röda Korset, Förvalta och bevara, men också tänka nytt, Tredje sektorns betydelse och frivillighet under ansvar, Tankar framåt och fortsatt arbete i rödakorskretsarna. Slutsatser och framåtblickar Några paradoxer och framtida utmaningar identifierades. Utmaningarna tycks ligga i att kunna överbrygga och tänka ”både och” i stället för ”antingen eller” vad gäller frivilligas traditionella villkor i relation till vad som kan utvecklas, i en tid där frivilligverksamhet kommer att få en alltmer betydande roll i det svenska samhället.

Alongside a globalized world and a demographic shift in Sweden, future nurses must provide globally significant nursing care based on relevant knowledges and skills. To contribute to the global nursing discourse, this article aims to describe the process undertaken in developing and implementing a global nursing approach and curriculum in the Swedish Red Cross undergraduate nursing program. A comprehensive process of educational change was carried out, targeting both faculty and students with various academic activities. The new global-oriented curriculum was evaluated positively by nursing students, and a definition of global nursing was disseminated among educators. Nursing students at the Swedish Red Cross University College are now encouraged to advocate for vulnerable persons in need of healthcare services and to counteract inequalities and social injustice in sustainable ways. It is suggested that a global nursing framework is what is required when educating nurses to meet tomorrow’s nursing care needs.

Background: Positioned to face increasing issues relating to the growing and aging population, ill health, climate change, natural disasters, and humanitarian crises, nurses play a crucial role in responding to the challenges of globalisation. With nurses rising to meet these challenges, the term ‘global nursing’ has been coined. Given the ongoing proliferation of the term, it seems relevant to explore the key relationship of the concepts of ‘global’ and ‘nursing’ within the milieus provided through the internet.

Aim: To describe how global nursing as a concept is visualised in images on the internet.

Method: A cross-sectional observational design based on netnographic methodology was conducted. By searching the term ‘global nursing’ in the Google search engine, a total of 973 images illustrating ‘global nursing’ were collected and stored on one specific search occasion. The inclusion of data covered all regions but no other search limits.

Results: The results show that global nursing, first and foremost, is visualised as an academic discourse, as a nursing activity, and as an approach to target sustainability. Further, the results also highlight that global nursing has manifested as a Western discourse, targeting students with access to resources and a humanitarian interest. Conclusion: By paying attention to global nursing as it is presented in this study, it has been possible to provide valuable insights about colonial boundaries in the nursing discourse relating to globality. Based on these results, we stress that the nursing paradigm would benefit from a greater postcolonial awareness and some reflexivity connected with the global issues that nurses are facing.

Impact statement: Global nursing is paradoxically visualised as something distant, connected to ideas of ‘otherness’, and of not belonging to the Western nursing community

This study seeks to describe how the composition of the physical care environment conditions relatives' involvement in nursing home institutions. It is well known that the physical care environment in institutions has a significant impact on the well-being of residents and the work satisfaction of nursing staff. Less explored is how physical care environmental factors are related to the involvement of relatives in nursing homes. A visual analysis of 52 photographs from three nursing homes in Sweden shows how the physical environment acts to condition the involvement of relatives through the use of design, information displays, and cultural symbols. Although various aspects of the physical environment promoted participation of relatives, that engagement was based on certain limited concepts of involvement. This suggests that other conceptual frameworks of involvement in nursing homes are possible, and that these might encourage other aspects of involvement from the relatives of nursing home residents.