Individualized Care

Riitta Suhonen (PhD, RN) is Professor in Nursing Science and has a speciality in Older people nursing science since 2011 in the University of Turku, Finland. She worked as a quality and development manager in a health care district, and as a ward manager, registered nurse in surgical care unit. She is experienced in leading and participating in international cross-cultural studies and currently is a co-researcher in many projects. She is the Associate editor of Nursing Open (Wiley) and Nursing Ethics. She has been a principal investigator and coordinator of the Individualized Care Project since 2002, which evaluates the realization of individuality in patients’ care from patients and nurses' point of view in different clinical fields including national and international parts. The aim of the project is to develop quality of services and care processes for older people and their caregivers. Other research topics are nursing ethics, nursing education and nursing management. She teaches topics such as older people nursing care, research methodology, instrument development, academic writing, quantitative research methods in nursing science and research ethics.Minna Stolt (PhD) is a teacher in the department of Nursing science at University of Turku, Finland. Her professional background is in podiatry and research expertise in foot health. Moreover she has research expertise in the evaluation of health care quality in the field of older people nursing research, ethics and competence of professionals. Her teaching profile includes instrument development, literature reviews and academic writing. She has published several scientific articles and presented her research in national and international conferences. In the field of societal interaction, she is an active advocate for foot health promotion in different age groups and has published plenty popular articles and one textbook.Dr Evridiki Papastavrou(PhD) is an Assistant Professor at the Cyprus University of Technology, Department of Nursing, and she has a long experience as an Educator, Consultant and Chair of the Cyprus Regulatory body for Nursing and Midwifery. She contributed to the foundation of the Cyprus University of Technology Ethics Committee and she was appointed as a member of the Cyprus National Bioethics committee. She is also a consultant to the development and evaluation of the Nursing Curriculums of several Universities in Cyprus as well as a mission member of the TAIEX (A European body Technical Assistance and Information Exchange). She also has been actively involved in the care and welfare of patients with dementia by being a member of the National Multidisciplinary Committee for Alzheimer’s disease. Her research interest focuses on: a) the aspect of care as a multidimensional and complex phenomenon and b) the effects of care of chronically ill patients on their family careers, especially in dementia care. DrPapastavrou has a record of 113 publications in peer reviewed Journals (with more than 1500 citations).

• Forewords.- Chapter1. Introduction.- Section I Theoretical framework for individualized care.- Chapter 2. Understanding the basics/importance  of individualized care / philosophy.- Chapter 3. Individualized care (concept, definitions), related concepts – What individualized care is about.- Chapter 4. Individualized care – ethical considerations, value basis.- Section II Research framework: The Individualized Care Scale.- Chapter 5. Measuring individualized care (available versions – how to develop an instrument).- Chapter 6. The use and cultural adaptation of the ICS in different languages.- Chapter 7. Validity and reliability of the Individualized Care Scale.- Chapter 8. Experiences of using the scale and analysing the results - Use of the ICS in the outcome measure in intervention studies.- Chapter 9. Other instruments measuring individuality.- Section III Research Evidence: The delivery of individualized care.- Chapter 10. Individualized care in acute care/ surgery/operative care.- Chapter 11. Individualized care in older people care.- Chapter 12. Individualized care in cancer care.- Chapter 13. Individualized care in mental health and psychiatric care.- Chapter 14. Individualized care and rehabilitation.- Chapter 15. Individual’s foot health.- Chapter 16. Individualized care related to other nursing concepts.- Section IV The organisational framework for the delivery of individualized care.- Chapter 17. Supporting individualized nursing care by nursing interventions.- Chapter 18. Supporting individualized nursing care by leadership (professional practice environment).- Chapter 19. Environment supporting individuality.- Chapter 20. The ethical climate and its’ relation to individualized care.- Chapter 21. Summary.- Chapter 22. Challenges and future directions