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Physical touch between educators and children in preschool settings is a sensitive issue in many countries. The aim of the study is to examine how future and newly graduated preschool teachers relate to touch between preschool teachers and children in the Swedish preschool context. The study was conducted using: 1) a questionnaire study (n = 204) and 2) semi-structured interviews (n = 20). The results illustrate the informants' desire to combine physical care of children with awareness of and respect for children's bodily integrity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Technology is widely used in school to assist students with visual impairments. Drawing with traditional methods is still difficult for those users. In this paper, we present and discuss an evaluation of a haptic and sound interactive drawing program (HIPP). OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to identify what aspects of the technological aid support the drawing skill development in children with visual impairment. METHODS: Interviews, observations and video recordings of use situations were used for data gathering. Our analysis is based on cultural-historical activity theory, and examines the mediation between the child and the object of their activity, their drawings, as well as the roles of teachers, classmates, assistants, and family. RESULTS: The haptic and audio drawing program supports the steps (doodling, interpretation, planning, and more intentional drawing) observed in visually-acquired drawing, although possible improvements have also been identified. Observations of the drawing program in use showed that its mix of dynamic multimodal interaction and a stable drawing feedback, enable visually impaired students and sighted teachers to jointly access a shared representation. CONCLUSIONS: Successful long-term use, together with the presented results of our analysis show how multimodal dynamic and stable interaction can successfully support drawing activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examines adult-child touch and its functions in a Swedish preschool (for 1 to 5-year-old children). The data are naturalistic observations and video-recorded data of everyday preschool activities. The study describes the frequently occurring functions of educators’ haptic conduct (control, affectionate, affectionate-control, assisting and educative touch), discussing them in relation to the children's age, gender and type of the preschool activity. It reveals the complexity of touch, demonstrating that physical contact is used for a variety of purposes in the educators’ daily work. The educators employed touch without force, and the children did not respond with explicit and forceful resistance (such as pushing back or otherwise protesting). Adult-initiated haptic behaviour served a continuum of social purposes - from social-relational work, such as establishing and building affectively positive, caring, social relations, to practical and educative organisational efforts to manage the complex and busy preschool life. The distribution of adult-child touch categories brings attention to the bodily aspects of the early childhood educational setting and highlights some of the ways in which the requirements of the Swedish curriculum for Preschool and its focus on educare are actualised in the educators’ embodied conduct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examines young children’s distress management in situ, focusing on situations of crying and caregivers’ embodied—haptic—soothing responses in preschools in Sweden. The adults’ responses to crying involve embraces, stroking, and patting. Haptic soothing is managed by calibrating the bodily proximity and postural orientations between the participants, including haptic—embracing or face-to-face—formations that are coordinated with particular forms of talk. Haptic formations configure specific affordances for embodied participation by actualizing the availability of tactile, aural, and visual modalities. The interactional organization of soothing in an embracing formation involves: an initiation/invitation and response, submergence of two bodies into a close haptic contact, and coordinated withdrawal from haptic contact. The embracing formation temporarily suspends the requirements for the distressed person to act like a responsive listener and speaker. The caregiver uses the face-to-face formation to reestablish conditions for the child’s interactional co-presence. Data are in Swedish and English translation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose: Symptoms described in previous studies indicate that electrical injury can cause longstanding injuries to the neurosensory nerves. The aim of the present case series was to objectively assess the profile of neurosensory dysfunction in electricians in relation to high voltage or low voltage electrical injury and the "no-let-go phenomenon".Methods: Twenty-three Swedish male electricians exposed to electrical injury were studied by using a battery of clinical instruments, including quantitative sensory testing (QST). The clinical test followed a predetermined order of assessments: thermal perceptions thresholds, vibration perception thresholds, tactile gnosis (the Shape and Texture Identification test), manual dexterity (Purdue Pegboard Test), and grip strength. In addition, pain was studied by means of a questionnaire, and a colour chart was used for estimation of white fingers.Results: The main findings in the present case series were reduced thermal perceptions thresholds, where half of the group showed abnormal values for warm thermal perception and/or cold thermal perception. Also, the tactile gnosis and manual dexterity were reduced. High voltage injury was associated with more reduced sensibility compared to those with low voltage.Conclusion: Neurosensory injury can be objectively assessed after an electrical injury by using QST with thermal perception thresholds. The findings are consistent with injuries to small nerve fibres. In the clinical setting thermal perception threshold is therefore recommended, in addition to tests of tactile gnosis and manual dexterity (Purdue Pegboard). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patients who sustain a motor vehicle accident may experience long-term distress, even if they are uninjured or only slightly injured. There is a risk of neglecting patients with minor or no physical injuries, which might impact future health problems. The aim of this study was to explore patients' subjective experiences and perspectives on pain and other factors of importance after an early nursing intervention consisting of “caring touch” (tactile massage and healing touch) for patients subjected to a motor vehicle accident with minor or no physical injuries. Methods: A mixed method approach was used. The qualitative outcomes were themes derived from individual interviews. The quantitative outcomes were measured by visual analogue scale for pain (VAS, 0-100), sense of coherence (SOC), post-traumatic stress (IES-R) and health status (EQ-5D index and EQ-5D self-rated health). Forty-one patients of in total 124 eligible patients accepted the invitation to participate in the study. Twenty-seven patients completed follow-up after 6 months whereby they had received up to eight treatments with either tactile massage or healing touch. Results: Patients reported that caring touch may assist in trauma recovery by functioning as a physical “anchor” on the patient's way of suffering, facilitating the transition of patients from feeling as though their body is “turned off” to becoming “awake”. By caring touch the patients enjoyed a compassionate care and experience moments of pain alleviation. The VAS pain ratings significantly decreased both immediately after the caring touch treatment sessions and over the follow-up period. The median scores for VAS (p < 0.001) and IES-R (p 0.002) had decreased 6 months after the accident whereas the EQ-5D index had increased (p < 0.001). There were no statistically significant differences of the SOC or EQ-5D self-rated health scores over time. Conclusions: In the care of patients suffering from a MVA with minor or no physical injuries, a caring touch intervention is associated with patients' report of decreased pain and improved wellbeing up to 6 months after the accident. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Id: NCT02610205. Date 25 November 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study was to illuminate the nursing staff’s lived experiences and meaning in giving tactile massage (TM) while caring for patients in short-term emergency ward. Method: Data were collected through individual qualitative interviews with six nurses and eight assistant nurses working with TM in short-term emergency wards in two hospitals in Sweden. The narratives were analyzed using a phenomenological hermeneutical method. Findings: Nurses experienced providing TM to patients as a present awareness in connection with compassion for the patient. TM provided the nurses with a tool to ease patient suffering and pain. Three dimensions were found where touch became a tool of doing, was an aware presence as a mindful being, and was embodied in a human-to-human connection with a changed caregiver. Conclusion: Given the current high-tech health care system with overcrowded units and a shortage of nursing staff, TM could be included as a caring tool to improve the caring in caregiving, allowing nurses to act in aware presence by touch to encourage health and well-being for both the patient and themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study describes the phenomenon of caring touch from the patients' perspective in an anthroposophic clinical context where caring touch is often used to promote health and alleviate suffering. The aim of the study was to explore and phenomenologically describe the phenomenon of caring touch from the patients' perspectives. The study has been carried out with a Reflective Lifeworld Research approach in order to understand and describe human existential phenomena. Ten female patients were interviewed in an anthroposophic clinic in Sweden. The findings show how caring touch has multifaceted meanings and makes the patients' feel present and anchored in a meaningful context. The patients' feel that they are seen, accepted and confirmed. Furthermore, touch creates a caring space where the patients become receptive for care and has the power to alleviate the patients' suffering, as well as to frighten and cause or worsen the suffering. In order to take advantage of the caring potential, the patient needs to be invited to a respectful and sensitive form of touch. An interpersonal flexible space is necessary where the touch can be effective, and where a dynamic interplay can develop. In conclusion, caring touch is an opportunity for carers to support well-being and health. The carers need to approach their patients in both a sensitive and reflective way. A caring science perspective can serve as a help to further understand touch as a unique caring act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adults sometimes accompany the directives they issue to children about their actions and movements with bodily contact (for example, shoving, guiding, or pushing). This article explores the interactional uses and meanings of such combinations of spoken directive and bodily contact that involves touch in data from families and primary educational settings in Sweden. The focus is on how the timing and coordination of haptics (communicative acts of touch), speech, and contextual factors produce communicative meanings. Findings reveal how touch and talk are synchronized to achieve the child’s compliance to directives. Laminated (that is, multimodal) directives combine concurrent use of imperatives with adults’ own haptic acts, signaling and enforcing the onset and/or trajectory of the required movement. They constitute the prevalent pattern of use, as compared to the use of control touch without accompanying verbalization. Haptic control formats are usually responsive to the child recipient’s noncompliant responses. The data are in Swedish with English translation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores nonverbal behaviors in the form of gestures and touch during elite handball matches. Based on a coding scheme, 616 postshot periods following a goal, stemming from 18 matches, were analyzed. Results revealed that, on average, 2.77 nonverbal behaviors were displayed after scoring. Play-off matches resulted in a higher average of nonverbal behaviors than league matches. The more a team was leading by, the higher the overall number of nonverbal behaviors; meanwhile, the overall amount of nonverbal behaviors declined over the course of a match. The results pinpoint to the situation specificity of nonverbal behaviors during ongoing matches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to articulate the essence and constituents of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurses' experiences in enacting skin-to-skin care (SSC) for preterm newborns and their parents. SSC is commonly employed in high-tech NICUs, which entails a movement from maternal-infant separation. Parents' opportunities for performing the practice have been addressed to NICU staff, with attitude and environment having crucial influence. The study was carried out with a reflective lifeworld research approach. Data were collected in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway by open-dialogue interviews with a purposive sample of 18 NICU nurses to achieve the essence of and variation within the phenomenon. NICU nurses experience balancing what they consider preterm newborns' current and developmental needs, with readiness in both parents for SSC. They share an experience of a change in the history of NICU care to increased focus on the meaning of proximity and touch for the infants' development. The phenomenon of enacting SSC is characterized by a double focus with steady attention to signals from both parents and newborns. Thereby, a challenge emerges from the threshold of getting started as the catalyst to SSC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a lack of standardized and quantifiable measures of touch function, for clinical work. Furthermore, it is not possible to make accurate diagnostic judgments of touch function before normative values are estimated. The objectives of this study were to establish adult norms of the perceptual threshold of touch (PTT) for the hands and feet according to age and gender and to determine the effect of right/left side, handedness, height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) on the PTT. The PTT was assessed by using a high-frequency transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulator (Hf/TENS) with self-adhesive skin electrodes in 346 adults. The PTT was identified as the level registered in mA at which the participants perceived a tingling sensation. The PTT for all participants was a median of 3.75 mA (range 2.50-7.25) in the hands and a median of 10.00 (range 5.00-30.00) in the feet. With increasing age an increase of the PTT was found. Men reported higher PTT than women. The right hand had higher PTT than the left. Handedness, height, weight, and BMI did not affect the PTT. Adult norms of the PTT in the hands for age, gender, and right/left side are presented for four age groups. The present study's estimate of the PTT in the hands could be used as adult norms. Adult norms for the feet could not be estimated because the PTT values in the feet showed a great variance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The presented research aims to depict shoppers' touching behaviour in relation to the introduction of visual and olfactory sensory cues at point-of-purchase in a retail setting. In the field of retailing research, there is a paucity of knowledge on how visual and olfactory sensory cues impact on consumers' touch behaviour. Design/methodology/approach – The author presents a review of theoretically relevant work from retailing and consumer psychology, and an original study examining the impact of visual and olfactory sensory cues on consumer touch behaviour. The study was a field experiment in the glass department of the Swedish retailer IKEA. The design was quasi-experimental with a convenience sample of shoppers assigned to a control group (n=451) and an experimental group (n=435). Findings – In the reported study, the author finds significant differences between shoppers' touching behaviour in a manipulated point-of-purchase compared to a conventional one. The findings show that visual and olfactory sensory cues have a positive impact on shoppers' touching behaviour, purchase intentions and total sale. Research limitations/implications – The findings demonstrate that sensory cues exert a positive impact on consumers' desire to touch. Sensory cues frame consumers' affective responses and decision making through involving the sense of touch. Practical implications – The findings provide guidelines for managers of retail and service outlets, concerning the benefits of sensory cues in enhancing shoppers' touching behaviour at point-of-purchase. Originality/value – The research demonstrates that the introduction of visual and olfactory sensory cues impact consumers' touch behaviour at point-of-purchase in a retail setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on research which was conducted to investigate prognostic indicators which could be used to determine the length of a hospital stay which would be needed in stroke patients aged 65 and older five days after their strokes. Researchers evaluated 115 stroke patients. They found that a quickly performed test which featured a medical appraisal and the Rivermead mobility index could be used to predict the length of stay for stroke patients as early as five days after stroke onset.

Age-related sensory impairment is a slow and gradual progress, which affects multiple modalities. Two contradictory hypotheses exist about the age-related decline of sensory thresholds. The common factor theory assumes one underlying factor-which accounts for the loss of several sensory modalities simultaneously-and the specific factor theory predicts that the sensory decline is uncorrelated between different modalities. In this study, we aimed to explore whether (i) there is a common factor of sensory thresholds in older people, (ii) older people assume that sensory decline in one modality also affects other modalities, (iii) there is a relation between sensory threshold and the subjective assessment of sensory function. This was accomplished by collecting both threshold measures and self-reported ratings for smell, hearing, taste, vision, and touch function in a group of 104 older people (mean age: 67.2 years; SD: 9.85; range: 50-100 years). Results indicated that there was no common factor of sensory thresholds, hence an impairment in one modality did not necessarily imply a shortfall in other modalities. In contrast, our results suggested one or two common factor(s) for the participants' ratings. Participants who reported a diminished function in one sense tended to generalize this rating to the other senses as well. The correspondence between subjective ratings and sensory thresholds was relatively good for vision and audition, although no correlations were observed for the other domains. These findings have implications for clinicians, suggesting that subjective measures should be combined with sensory threshold measurements when evaluating sensory dysfunction. Also, these data convey a positive message for older people and their physicians by showing that loss in one sensory modality does not necessarily generalize to losses across all sensory modalities., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Aims: To compare the diagnostic usefulness of tuning fork, monofilament, biothesiometer and skin biopsies in peripheral neuropathy in individuals with varying glucose metabolism., Methods: Normoglycaemic, impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) individuals were recruited. Nerve conduction studies (NCS) and thermal threshold tests were performed. Vibrotactile sense was tested with a biothesiometer and a 128-Hz tuning fork. Touch/pressure perception was examined with a 10-g monofilament. Skin biopsies were performed and intraepidermal nerve fibres were quantified. Distal symmetric polyneuropathy (DSPN) was defined as neuropathy disability score ≥2 and abnormal NCS. Thermal threshold tests were used to define small nerve fibre neuropathy (sDSPN) in cases where NCS (large nerve fibres) were normal., Results: The prevalence of DSPN and sDSPN in the whole group (n=119) was 18% and 23%, respectively. For the biothesiometer, a cut-off of ≥24.5V had a sensitivity of 82% and specificity of 70% (AUC=0.81, 95% CI 0.71-0.91) when evaluating DSPN. An intraepidermal nerve fibre density cut-off of ≤3.39fibres/mm showed a sensitivity of 74% and specificity of 70% in the detection of sDSPN, whereas the sensitivity of the tuning fork and the biothesiometer were relatively low, 46% and 67%, respectively. When combining skin biopsies with the tuning fork, 10 more sDSPN cases were identified. Adding skin biopsy to the combination of the tuning fork and biothesiometer increased the sensitivity of finding sDSPN cases, but not DSPN, from 81% to 93%., Conclusion: Using a biothesiometer in clinical routine might be a sensitive method to detect large nerve fibre dysfunction in the lower extremity, whereas skin biopsies in combination with methods measuring vibrotactile sense could increase the diagnostic sensitivity of detecting peripheral neuropathy at an early stage., (Copyright © 2013 Primary Care Diabetes Europe. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: This study investigated possible influences of medical interventions during labor on maternal blood pressure during a breastfeed 2 days postpartum., Subjects and Methods: Sixty-six primiparae with normal deliveries were consecutively recruited. Blood pressure was measured at -5, 10, 30, and 60 minutes during a morning breastfeed 2 days postpartum. Five treatment groups were formed based on the medical interventions received during labor: Non-medicated mothers (Control group, n=21); mothers receiving epidural analgesia (EDA) with oxytocin (OT) stimulation (EDA(OT) group, n=14); mothers receiving EDA without OT stimulation (EDA(non-OT) group, n=7); mothers receiving OT stimulation only (OT intravenously [iv] group, n=9); and mothers receiving 10 IU of OT intramuscularly (im) only (OT im group, n=15)., Results: Baseline diastolic, but not systolic, blood pressure differed between the groups as displayed by significantly lower diastolic blood pressure in the EDA(non-OT) group compared with the Control group, the OT iv group, and the EDA(OT) group (p=0.045, p=0.041, and p=0.024, respectively). Both systolic and diastolic blood pressure fell significantly during the breastfeeding session in the Control group (p=0.001 and p=0.004, respectively), the OT im group (p=0.006 and p=0.001, respectively), and the EDA(OT) group (p=0.028 and p=0.002, respectively), and the fall in diastolic blood pressure tended to be significant in the OT iv group (p=0.050). The duration of skin-to-skin contact before breastfeeding correlated positively with the decrease in systolic blood pressure in the OT im group (R(s)=0.540, p=0.046)., Conclusion: Administration of EDA during labor lowers baseline diastolic blood pressure and abolishes the fall in blood pressure in response to a breastfeed 2 days after birth.

Background: Cesarean section is associated with delayed mother-infant interaction because neither the mother nor the father routinely maintains skin-to-skin contact with the infant after birth. The aim of the study was to explore and compare parent-newborn vocal interaction when the infant is placed in skin-to-skin contact either with the mother or the father immediately after a planned cesarean section., Methods: A total of 37 healthy infants born to primiparas were randomized to 30 minutes of skin-to-skin contact either with fathers or mothers after an initial 5 minutes of skin-to-skin contact with the mothers after birth. The newborns' and parents' vocal interaction were recorded on a videotape and audiotape. The following variables were explored: newborns' and parents' soliciting, newborns' crying and whining, and parental speech directed to the other parent and to the newborn., Results: Newborns' soliciting increased over time (p=0.032). Both fathers and mothers in skin-to-skin contact communicated more vocally with the newborn than did fathers (p=0.003) and mothers (p=0.009) without skin-to-skin contact. Fathers in skin-to-skin contact also communicated more with the mother (p=0.046) and performed more soliciting responses than the control fathers (p=0.010). Infants in skin-to-skin contact with their fathers cried significantly less than those in skin-to-skin contact with their mothers (p=0.002) and shifted to a relaxed state earlier than in skin-to-skin contact with mothers (p=0.029)., Conclusions: Skin-to-skin contact between infants and parents immediately after planned cesarean section promotes vocal interaction. When placed in skin-to-skin contact and exposed to the parents' speech, the infants initiated communication with soliciting calls with the parents within approximately 15 minutes after birth. These findings give reason to encourage parents to keep the newborn in skin-to-skin contact after cesarean section, to support the early onset of the first vocal communication.

Aim: To explore factors that promote or hinder skin-to-skin contact (SSC) during the first days after birth between parents and healthy fullterm infants., Methods: A total of 117 postnatal mothers and 107 fathers/partners attending two childbirth settings, where Kangaroo mother care (KMC) was implemented as a standard routine of care, one in Sweden and one in Norway, were recruited consecutively and answered questionnaires two weeks postpartum., Results: Satisfaction with support for SSC in postnatal care and being a mother in the Swedish setting was found to promote SSC during the first day postpartum; previous knowledge about SSC increased the practice also during the 2nd and 3rd days. Receiving visitors apart from partner and siblings emerged as a hindering factor. SSC was known of and practised to a larger extent in the Swedish setting, whereas parents in the Norwegian setting received more visitors and were more satisfied with the received information and support for SSC in postnatal care., Conclusions: The results highlight the need for caregivers to give parents adequate support for practising SSC with their newborn healthy fullterm infants and indicate the importance of developing information routines during the antenatal period as well as in relation to the birth of the child, to effectively introduce and implement SSC.

Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe how care team members caring for patients with advanced cancer describe how they handle difficult situations in daily care. In this paper 'difficult situations' refers to those situations team members themselves describe as difficult., Background: Serious illness and impending death involve great changes in a person's life. The care of patients with advanced cancer is complex and many different factors influence each care situation. This places demands on the way care team members handle problems and difficulties in daily care., Design: Qualitative descriptive study., Methods: The study is based on 16 focus group discussions with care team members who were caring for patients with advanced cancer at three different care units in two Swedish cities. The focus group discussions included 77 participants. The procedure for data analysis was inspired by the phenomenological method., Findings: The results show that care team members handled difficult situations by balancing between being close and distancing themselves. In most situations their choice of strategy seemed spontaneous rather than being a conscious decision, although it was sometimes described as a more conscious approach. Variations of closeness and distance that were identified were Identity, Meaning, Limit-setting and touching, Prioritization, the Team and the Organization. These could also be seen as tools that could facilitate or impede the use of closeness and distance., Conclusions: The results show that care team members have a need to reflect over daily care and to become aware of what governs different care actions., Relevance to Clinical Practice: If the experienced difficult situation is not handled in a way that is beneficial to the care team member, patient and relatives, it is assumed that this can result in stress, burnout and, above all, non-optimal care.

Aim: To illuminate the experience of being a patient and cared for in an acute care ward., Background: Patients may be the best source of information for assessing the quality of care in acute care wards. Studies often show that patients' satisfaction with their hospital stay is interpreted by managers and care providers as a measure for quality of care., Design: Ten patients were interviewed as part of a comprehensive investigation by four researchers into the narratives of five enrolled nurses (study No. 1--published in Nursing Ethics 2004), five Registered Nurses (study No. 2 published in Nursing Ethics 2005) and 10 patients (study No. 3) about their experiences from an acute care ward at one university hospital in Sweden., Method: A phenomenological hermeneutical method (inspired by the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur) was conducted in all three studies., Findings: The patients are very satisfied with their treatment and care. They also tell about factors that they do not consider as optimal, but which they explain as compromises, which must be accepted as a necessary part of their stay in the ward. This study demonstrates a close connection between patient satisfaction and vulnerability., Conclusions: It is important for all health care providers not to be complacent and satisfied when patients express their satisfaction with their treatment and care. This can result in losing the focus on the patients' vulnerability and existential thoughts and reflections which are difficult for them, and which need to be addressed., Relevance to Clinical Practice: The findings can be seen as a challenge for the health care providers as well as the organization to provide quality of care to patients in acute care ward. When listening to the patients' voice it makes it easier to be aware of the content of their vulnerability.

Objectives: A literature report described significantly raised vibration threshold within the territory of the median nerve in a group of office workers and concluded that the results indicated a change in the function of large sensory fibres. The aim of the present cross-sectional study was to compare vibrotactile perception thresholds and nerve conduction measurements in the upper extremity between female computer users (secretaries) and female non-users (nurses)., Methods: Eighty-two secretaries, aged 25-65 (median 44) years and 35 nurses, aged 24-57 (median 46) years went through nerve conduction measurements on the dominant hand and also a vibration threshold test with readings over the hand at five sites which tested cutaneous innervation of the median, ulnar, and radial nerves., Results: There was no significant difference in any parameter of the nerve conduction testing and there was no significant difference in any parameter of the vibration threshold test between secretaries and nurses. The numerical differences between groups were small and in both directions and thus do not indicate a power problem., Conclusions: We saw no signs of early neural deficits of large sensory fibres in subjects who intensively use computer keyboard equipment.

Touch is central to nursing and health care workers frequently touch their patients, consciously or unconsciously in their interactions with them. Most literature has studied touch from a patient perspective, thus inquiry about professionals' experiences are rare. The aim of this study was to illuminate meanings of giving touch in nursing care of older patients. To understand the meaning of lived experiences of giving touch in care of older patients, interviews with 12 health care professionals in northern Sweden were analysed using a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach influenced by the philosophy of Ricoeur. The findings show that giving touch in the care of older patients is a transforming experience, where one suddenly perceives oneself as both a valuable person and professional who no longer powerlessly confronts patients' haunted and disrupted bodies, but who, by means of touch, has gained power to ease this suffering. The experience also transforms the way one regards older patients. Instead of seeing a severely demanding patient suffering from dementia and/or pain, one is able to see the person behind the disease as a human being, like oneself. A relationship described as calm, friendly and humane is created between caregiver and patient when giving touch, a relationship that transcends the moment of touch and influences one's way of caring. This understanding is presented using the theoretical framework of the philosophy of Marcel. Giving touch has the power to shed new light on health care professionals' experiences of caring for older patients suffering from dementia and/or pain, giving them the power to be a valuable person and professional.