Introduction: Compassion fatigue is an extreme state of tension and preoccupation with the suffering of those being helped and affects those who work in caring professions. Helping people in distress can traumatise the helper because of their empathetic ability. Nurses who work in ARV clinics witness the suffering of their patients when they listen to their patients' descriptions of the trauma that they have to cope with. The patients get the chance to let go of the trauma and to share their concerns. Unfortunately the nurses often absorb some of the emotional pain of their patients and not all nurses are equipped to handle the situations in such a way that they do not become secondarily affected by the trauma of their patients and therefore, become vulnerable to develop compassion fatigue. If compassion fatigue is not identified in time and addressed adequately, the affected nurses may develop feelings of hopelessness in their ability to take care of their patients with detrimental effect on the quality of nursing care to these patients. Aims: Firstly, to explore and describe the extent of the manifestation of compassion fatigue amongst nurses working in antiretroviral clinics; and secondly, to develop a wellness programme to aid in the identification and management of episodes of compassion fatigue as well as the prevention of future occurrences of such episodes of compassion fatigue amongst nurses working in antiretroviral clinics. Methodology: The researcher conducted the study in two phases. In Phase one, a single embedded case study design, with three sub-units situated within the case, namely nurses who work in the adult, ante-natal and paediatric ARV clinics in a tertiary public hospital, was used. Purposive sampling was used to select seven nurses. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews. The researcher used content analysis as described by Elo and Kyngäs (2008) to analyse the transcribed interviews. The themes identified include the risk to develop compassion fatigue, manifestation of compassion fatigue and strategies to prevent and manage compassion fatigue. For document analysis the researcher used professional and enrolled nurses' job description and the employee health and wellness programme for public service. In Phase two, the researcher developed the wellness programme to aid in the identification, prevention and management of compassion fatigue amongst nurses who work in antiretroviral clinics and the Delphi Method was used to refine the wellness programme. Findings: Nurses working in the ARV clinics are at risk of developing compassion fatigue due to work environment issues such as challenges created by the health care system, lack of support from management, and their overwhelming work load. The cost of the nurse-patient relationship also contributed to nurses being at risk of compassion fatigue. Aspects that were identified that relate to the cost of a relationship with patients who are HIV positive include caring for traumatised patients, vicarious exposure to traumatic experiences of patients, and the influence caring for patients who are HIV positive has had on nurses' personal lives and their families. Nurses can traumatise their family members by continually not being available for them through emotional withdrawal. Nurses presented with physical, psychological, spiritual symptoms and changes in their behaviour that are indicative of compassion fatigue. Various strategies to prevent and manage compassion fatigue were identified: both what nurses can do, and what they expected from management. Nurses' job description is generic and does not spell out their role and function within antiretroviral clinics. The implementation of the health and wellness programme is lacking. The findings of Phase one and related literatures formed the bases from which the researcher developed the wellness programme to aid with the identification, prevention and management of compassion fatigue. Conclusion: Nurses are at risk of developing compassion fatigue due to the cost of the nurse-patient relationship with patients who are HIV positive. The key to prevention of compassion fatigue is awareness and a number of strategies that can aid in the identification, prevention and management of compassion fatigue have been identified and included in the wellness programme. Managerial support and practicing of self-care is important to maintain the health and well-being of nurses who work in antiretroviral clinic. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Nursing Science / PhD / Unrestricted

Researchers use the policy Delphi method to explore a complex topic with little historical context that requires expert opinion to fully understand underlying issues. The benefit of this research technique is the use of experts who have more timely information than can be gleamed from extant literature. Additionally, those experts place researchers in a specific moment, thus increasing the possibility of capturing change over time. One limitation of the policy Delphi is the difficulty in developing an accurate initial questionnaire to start the process. The purpose of this article is to identify benefits and limitations of this research method.

No description available.

Compassion is related to the work of counselors, yet scholars have not agreed upon a standard definition of compassion beyond a superficial dictionary explanation. A Delphi study was conducted to discover the opinions of a panel of counseling experts on the subject of compassion. The purpose of the study was to identify and define compassion as it relates to the context of professional counseling, as well as identify associated skills, attributes, and behaviors. The study also explored how experienced counselors distinguish compassion as it is experienced or expressed professionally and personally. Fifteen panelists participated in three rounds of data collection via online survey. Panelists also received feedback from subsequent rounds. Themes emerged on perceptions of compassion, skills and abilities that convey compassion, situations that create compassion obstruction, and support of knowledge, training, and education on compassion. The results indicate that assumptions exist on understanding what compassion is and how to express it in a professional manner. Results further show that compassion is an understudied and unnoticed concept that needs more examination. / Doctor of Philosophy / People generally understand compassion to be an act of understanding the pain and suffering of another person with a desire to ease their pain. However, applying the concept to the work professional counselors do can be problematic because of the codes of conduct and principles needed to keep both the counselors and clients safe. Compassion is at the heart of counseling with the goal being to help individuals and families positively focus on their mental health to improve many areas of their lives. Currently, the counseling profession recognizes the importance of compassion but needs to research this concept more fully. This study used a Delphi methodology to learn from a group of expert counselors and counselor educators how they define compassion specific to the occupation of counseling. An additional purpose was to identify things counselors do and know that express or communicate compassion in counseling settings. The group of experts revealed that counselors know the healthy boundaries needed to keep the relationships between the client and themselves healthy. Counselors also know what may get in the way of showing or feeling compassion with their clients. The results of the study did define compassion in counseling, identified ways counselors show compassion, and helped set up a way to develop compassion over the occupational lifespan.

The problem for this study was to identify standards desirable for faculty when four-year hospitality management education programs are accredited. A modified Delphi technique was used to determine standards and reach agreement among a panel of hospitality professionals concerning desirable standards to be used to evaluate faculty during the self-study section of the specialized accreditation process. Nine faculty qualifications identified in the literature as being common to the self-study section of specialized accreditation constituted the framework of the study. These qualifications included academic preparation, scholarly productivity, applied professional experience, involvement in professional associations, competency in area of specialization, teaching effectiveness, interest in curricular experimentation, ability to work with students, and public service. A professional panel consisting of 15 hospitality management education administrators/faculty and 12 hospitality management industry representatives developed standards for each of the above qualifications. The panel rated the desirability of the standards using a Likert-type scale (4=very desirable, 3=desirable, 2=undesirable, l=very undesirable). All standards receiving a total of two-thirds of the responding panel members' votes in the very desirable and desirable categories were included in a proposed accreditation model of faculty standards. Unexpectedly, the panel questioned the inclusion of the qualification of public service and agreed to omit the evaluation of faculty on this qualification during specialized accreditation. It was recommended that eight of the qualifications and their corresponding standards be used by The Council on Hotel Restaurant and Institutional Education (CHRIE) to form criteria necessary for the self-study section of specialized accreditation. It was also recommended that the developed standards be used by hospitality management faculty as a means of self-evaluation. Finally, it was recommended that hospitality management education administrators use the standards as (a) guidelines when hiring and evaluating faculty and (b) a means for assessing faculty needs prior to faculty development programs. / Ed. D.

The issue of standards for household latrines is complex because discussions related to standards for latrines in literature from the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector tend to focus on the negative aspects of standards and highlights cases where the miss-application of standards in the past has caused problems. However, despite concerns about the constraints that standards can seemingly impose, there is an acknowledgement that standards can play a more positive role in supporting efforts to increase access to household latrines. The World Health Organisation has long established and widely recognised standards for water supply quality and quantity but there are no equivalent standards for sanitation services and there is currently no guidance that deals with the topic of standards for household latrines. Household latrines are a small component of the wider sanitation system in a country and by considering how standards for household latrines operate within this wider sanitation system the aim of this research is to understand what influences standards can have on household latrines and explore how the negative perceptions about standards and latrine building can be overcome. The development of guidance on how to develop well written standards is the core focus of this research. This research explores the factors that can influence the development and use of a standard for household latrines in Rwanda using three data collection methods. Document analysis using 66 documents, including policies and strategies, design manuals and training guides from 17 countries throughout Sub-Saharan Africa was used in conjunction with the Delphi Method involving an expert panel of 27 from Rwanda and 38 semi-structured interviews. The research concludes that perceptions about standards for household latrines are fragmented and confused with little consensus in Rwanda on what need a standard should meet and what role it should play. The study has found that the need for a standard must be considered in the context of the wider sanitation system otherwise it can lead to duplication of efforts and increased confusion for all stakeholders. The study also found that there is an assumed link between standards and enforcement of standards through regulation and punishments which creates the negative perceptions about standards in Rwanda. However, despite this aversion to standards, there are still intentions to promote the standardisation of latrine technologies and designs, led by national government in Rwanda and in other Sub-Saharan African countries. The contribution to knowledge of this research includes a decision process presented at the end of the study which can be used by decision makers who are interested in developing a standard for household latrines. The decision process acts as a tool for outlining how a standard can operate within the national sanitation system. This understanding provides decision makers with the basis for continuing the debate on what a well written standard looks like in the national context and supports the development of a standard that is fit for purpose and provides a positive contribution to the sector.

published_or_final_version / Transport Studies / Master / Master of Arts

We are living a new and emerging technological wave that is mainly based on Artificial Intelligence. It is being led by the great IT corporations and could potentially bring transformation and disruption in large scale to the economy, industries, businesses, organizations, and people in the years to come. Frey & Osborne (2017)\'s research was an important milestone in evaluating the impact of AI and automatization in the future of employment and their key conclusion that 47% of total U.S. employment was at risk of being potentially extinguished in a decade or two had an enormous impact on the mass media. Therefore, the objective of this study is to evaluate what could be the key impacts of Artificial Intelligence on Organizations and Work. In doing so, we scrutinize the authors\' research and propose an alternate ranking of occupation\'s susceptibility based on a different method and grounded on experts\' opinions. We also evaluate Frey & Osborne (2017)\'s key finding regarding to employment impact by technologies and identify key positive and negative qualitative impacts of AI on organizations and work, occupations and labor market. Taking into account the nature of this research, which is forward-looking, experimental and propositional, focused on current and future implications of Artificial Intelligence, we performed field research with experts supported by a Delphi Method, which is complemented by other techniques. Delphi is a robust and proven method commonly used in future research to assess the direction of long-range trends, with special emphasis on science and technology, and their probable effects on our society and our world. Among our key conclusions, we evaluate bottlenecks applied in to the occupation context and compare them to those identified by Frey & Osborne (2017). We also create our susceptibility ranking that takes into account an integration complexity factor, derived from Metcalfe\'s Law, which shows that occupations with less integration complexity, like clerks and assistant positions, are more likely of being replaced, while the ones that demand higher integration of abilities are practically not at risk. These results help in elucidating the current and future situation of this theme and allow us to suggest some possible suppositions. One of the most important is that no occupation will reach the 100% susceptibility index in twenty years, contrary to Frey & Osborne (2017)\'s research, which means that few occupations can be entirely replaced with acceptable quality by machines that combine Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and related technologies. Yet, our most relevant finding is this research is related to complexity and integration of occupations. Technologies may emulate individual abilities to a higher extent in the future, but more important than that is being able to harmonically combine these capabilities and make them work together with synergy to achieve even basic tasks of occupations. This integration challenge in association with Autor (2015)\'s Polanyi\'s paradox corroborates the fact that no matter how advanced technology might be in a specific ability, it takes more than that for machines to successfully replace humans in an occupation, which we understand confirms the future scenario of collaboration, complementation and synergy between humans and machines, rather than the replacement and displacement / Vivemos uma nova e emergente onda tecnológica que é principalmente baseada em Inteligência Artificial. Ela está sendo liderada pelas grandes corporações de TI e pode trazer transformação e rupturas em grande escala para a economia, indústrias, empresas, organizações e pessoas nos próximos anos. A pesquisa de Frey & Osborne (2017) foi um marco importante na avaliação do impacto da IA e da automatização no futuro do emprego e sua conclusão fundamental de que 47% do emprego dos EUA está em risco de ser potencialmente extinto em uma década ou duas, teve um enorme impacto nos meios de comunicação de massa. Assim, o objetivo deste estudo é avaliar quais podem ser os principais impactos da Inteligência Artificial sobre as organizações e o trabalho. Ao fazer isso, examinamos a pesquisa dos autores e propomos um ranking alternativo da suscetibilidade das ocupações com base em um método distinto e fundamentado em opiniões de especialistas. Também avaliamos as principais conclusões de Frey & Osborne (2017) em relação ao impacto no emprego pelas tecnologias e identificamos os principais impactos qualitativos positivos e negativos da IA em organizações e trabalho, ocupações e mercado de trabalho. Levando em conta a natureza desta pesquisa, prospectiva, experimental e proposicional, focada nas implicações atuais e futuras da Inteligência Artificial, realizamos uma pesquisa de campo com especialistas apoiados pelo método Delphi, que é complementado por outras técnicas. O Delphi é um método robusto e comprovado, comumente usado em pesquisas com orientação futura para avaliar a direção de tendências de longo prazo, com especial ênfase em ciência e tecnologia, e seus prováveis efeitos em nossa sociedade e em nosso mundo. Entre nossas principais conclusões, avaliamos os gargalos aplicados no contexto das ocupação e comparamos com aqueles identificados por Frey & Osborne (2017). Também elaboramos nosso próprio ranking que leva em conta um fator de complexidade de integração, derivado da Lei de Metcalfe, que mostra que ocupações com menor complexidade de integração, como assistentes, têm maior probabilidade de serem substituídas, enquanto as que exigem maior integração entre habilidades estão praticamente fora de risco. Estes resultados ajudam a elucidar a situação atual e futura deste tema e nos permitem sugerir algumas possíveis suposições. Uma das mais importantes é que poucas ocupações atingirão o índice de suscetibilidade de 100% em vinte anos, contrariamente à pesquisa de Frey & Osborne (2017), o que significa que nem uma única ocupação pode ser totalmente substituída com um nível de qualidade aceitável por máquinas que combinem Inteligência Artificial, Robótica e outras tecnologias. No entanto, nosso achado mais relevante nesta pesquisa está relacionado à complexidade e integração de habilidades para ocupações. As tecnologias podem emular habilidades individuais em maior escala no futuro, mas mais importante do que isso, é poder combinar harmonicamente essas capacidades e fazê-las trabalhar em sinergia para alcançar tarefas básicas de ocupações. Este desafio de integração associado ao Paradoxo de Polanyi de Autor (2015) corrobora o fato de que não importa quão avançada seja a tecnologia em uma habilidade específica, é preciso mais do que isso para que máquinas substituíam com sucesso humanos em uma ocupação, o que entendemos que confirma o cenário futuro de colaboração, complementação e sinergia entre humanos e máquinas, ao invés de substituição e deslocamento

Background – As we live in a more digitized world, technological advancements have already taken place and have reshaped many different industries. One of these industries is the audit profession, which is a profession where the digitalization can contribute immensely. The digitalization is an on- going process within the field of audit and have resulted in improved tools and more efficient auditing. However, new emerging risks, such as IT-risks, have progressed along the digitalization. Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore how the digitalization affects the auditing in Sweden, and more precise, how it affects the audit process and the risk that emerges from the digitalization. Furthermore, the study will examine if there are any perceived differences among small and big audit firms in the concept of digitalization. Method – The Delphi method has been used to gather the primary data needed for the study. Practitioners from both the Big 4-firms and the smaller firms have been selected to take part of the study as experts by participating in a brainstorming session and by answering a questionnaire. This classification of the firms will be the two panels of experts within the study. Conclusion – The results indicates that the perception of digitalization of the audit process and the audit risks within the Big 4-firms and the smaller firms are somewhat alike but not ultimately. The two panels agree that the effects of the digitalization have been substantial and that the auditing in the future will be even more efficient. Regarding the risks the panels have more differentiated opinions, where the second panel, consisting of the smaller firms, believes that the digitalization has affected the risks to a larger extent than the first panel. As this thesis aimed to investigate, there is indeed a perceived difference among the Big 4-firms and the smaller firms regarding the digitalization effect on the audit process, although not a substantial one.

O presente estudo busca fornecer subsídios para a evolução da qualidade de seleção da fiscalização da Compensação Financeira da Exploração Mineral (CFEM) visando a propiciar um aumento na recuperação de créditos em cada fiscalização. Pretende-se mensurar os parâmetros que possam ser utilizados na definição da priorização de empresas a serem auditadas in loco, com a construção, através de pesquisa exploratória por meio de análise documental e entrevistas com especialistas do setor da matriz de priorização. Com esta pesquisa, espera-se contribuir na otimização da arrecadação das receitas públicas, assim como melhorar os resultados através do aumento da eficácia das fiscalizações, ou seja, aumentando o grau de acerto das fiscalizações e reduzindo o número de fiscalizações sem resultado. A Auditoria Fiscal realizada pelo DNPM em empresas de mineração pode ser dividida nas seguintes etapas: Seleção da empresa; Observação dos Processos Operacionais da Empresa; Inspeção da Documentação Contábil, Fiscal e Gerencial; Relatório de Fiscalização; Lavratura da Notificação Fiscal de Lançamento de Débitos para Pagamento (NFLPD). Nesta pesquisa, foram utilizados métodos primários (entrevistas com especialistas do setor) e secundários de pesquisa como a revisão da literatura. O método Delphi foi utilizado para coletar a opinião dos especialistas do setor. Quanto à técnica, utilizou-se a matriz GUT (Gravidade, Urgência, Tendência) que tem como objetivo estabelecer as prioridades das ações entre diversas alternativas, em que são atribuídos graus de importância nos valores de 1 a 5 para cada um dos problemas que compõe essa matriz. Na fase de entrevistas, identificou-se o nível de consenso e a prioridade dos critérios para seleção de empresas para fins de auditoria da CFEM. Concluiu-se que a adoção de critérios para direcionamento das auditorias externas da CFEM é mais eficiente do que a seleção aleatória realizada atualmente na SUP/DNPM/RS. Propõe-se que essa conclusão seja considerada em futuros planejamentos na SUP/DNPM/RS, para produzir melhorias em termos de arrecadação da CFEM e para tornar o processo de seleção eficiente. / The present study seeks to provide subsidies for the evolution of the selection quality of the Financial Compensation for Mineral Exploration (FCME) supervision in order to provide an increase in the recovery of credits in each inspection. It is intended to measure the parameters that can be used to define the prioritization of companies to be audited in loco, with the construction, through exploratory research through documentary analysis and interviews with specialists of the sector of the prioritization matrix. With this research, we hope to contribute to the optimization of the collection of public revenues, as well as to improve the results by increasing the efficiency of the inspections, that is, increasing the degree of correctness of the inspections and reducing the number of inspections without result. The Fiscal Audit carried out by DNPM in mining companies can be divided into the following stages: Company selection; Observation of the Company's Operating Processes; Inspection of Accounting, Tax and Management Documentation; Inspection Report; Drawing up of the Tax Notification of Debits for Payment (TNDP). In this research, primary (interviews with industry experts) and secondary research methods were used as the literature review. The Delphi method was used to gather the opinion of industry experts. As for the technique, the GUT (Severity, Urgency, Tendency) matrix was used to establish the priorities of the actions among several alternatives, in which degrees of importance are assigned in the values from 1 to 5 for each of the problems that compose this matrix. In the interview phase, the level of consensus and the priority of the criteria for company selection for FCME audit purposes were identified. It was concluded that the adoption of criteria to guide FCME's external audits is more efficient than the current random selection performed at SUP/DNPM/RS. It is proposed that this conclusion be considered in future SUP/DNPM/RS planning to produce improvements in terms of FCME collection and to make the selection process efficient.