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To better understand Anglophone elderly experience in accessing health care services in a Francophone area, it is important to look beyond availability of healthcare services near their homes. This study explored factors such as language competence, preference, motivation, reaching and waiting times, as contributors to elderly people's choice. / A questionnaire designed for this study was administered to 199 males and females, aged 55 years and older, recruited from the only Anglophone Seniors' Centre in East-End Montreal. It was found that elderly people with limited French proficiency were more likely to travel out of their area for healthcare services, resulting in significantly longer average travel and waiting times. Of those who would have liked an interpreter, very few were actually able to get one. The most frequently expressed need was for more English or bilingual workers and services. / To improve access and enhance elderly people's quality of life, training and intervention programs need to be developed in collaboration with the government.

<p>The extent of a community experiencing social vulnerability depends on the community&rsquo / s ability to access resources that may contribute to coping mechanisms (either within the household or provided externally by a responsible authority) that decrease the impacts and effects of a disaster. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to identify the existence of social and institutional mechanisms that aim to reduce experiences of water inaccessibility and the causes of social vulnerability, and increase coping mechanisms within Kayamandi. Kayamandi is a low income residential community on the north-westerly periphery of the greater Stellenbosch town in the Western Cape. The research attained&nbsp / responses through questionnaires and surveys from residents, community organisations and responsible personnel. These surveys allowed the researcher to produce raw attribute data for each household that assisted in spatially representing vulnerable households and informing the five priority areas of the Hyogo Framework for Action. Contributing to this method of attaining information, secondary geographic data collection was obtained through the Stellenbosch Local Municipality, the National Geospatial Information Directorate and the National Demarcation Board. The findings of this thesis established that household and public water infrastructure contribute to the risk of experiencing social vulnerability that affects economic standings and quality of health within the community. Contributing to this and due to Kayamandi&rsquo / s politically sensitive and historically fractioned community, social cohesion has also been noted as an area of vulnerability. Although these vulnerabilities are experienced, residents are able to implement technical, social and municipal reliant coping mechanisms. However, although efforts from Stellenbosch Local Municipality do respond to most of the key indicators within the Hyogo Framework for Action, the study found no concrete efforts within the Stellenbosch Local Municipality that illustrate integrated mechanisms to reduce the impacts of disasters and compound effects.</p>

This thesis analyses the policy of curative health service delivery in North Darfur State, Sudan. Several authors have analyzed health service delivery issues, mainly focusing on controlling the spread of common diseases. No work has been done that focuses on the health policy aspect and its contribution to improving curative health service delivery, especially in areas affected by conflict since 2003. This study contributes to the body of knowledge on the nature and the evolution of health service delivery systems management, as well as policy implementation, thereby widening the discussion about the further projections of this field of study. The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate how to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of curative health service delivery systems management, as well as policy implementation, in fostering socio-economic development in North Darfur State. The study focuses on how the national health system and national health policy of Sudan have been managed and implemented in North Darfur State. This thesis identifies the different health sectors, public, private and international NGOs, that provide curative health services in North Darfur State, and the difficulties that have been facing the population in accessing these health facilities. Investigations showed that curative health services are not adequate in the public sector, and that they are very expensive in the private sector. The exception is the NGO sector but it is not guaranteed to be sustainable in providing curative health services to poor and conflict-affected people. This thesis also identifies the mechanisms of health system management and policy implementation, by means of co-ordination and collaboration between the various government sectors, federal, state and district, in a decentralized system working in concert with international NGOs. The results show that there is poor co-ordination between the three levels of government, especially at district level, as well as poor collaboration between government and international NGOs, caused by government‟s lack of human and financial capacity. The potential for improvement in curative health service delivery are explored, particularly at district level. This is essential so that quality curative health services can be delivered to the population, thereby contributing to socio-economic development in North Darfur State. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

Kiekvienas iš mūsų susimąstome, apie savo senatvę ir užduodame sau klausimą: kokia ji bus? Ar mes jausimės mylimi, aprūpinti, nepalikti likimo valioje? Ir šioje vietoje pastariems aspektams didelę reikšmę turi sveikatos priežiūros bei socialinių paslaugų teikimo gerinimas. Vienas iš tokio gerinimo pavyzdžių – vykdytas tarpvalstybinis Improving Access to Community-based Services for Older People Living at Home projektas (toliau IACS).Šio darbo tikslas – išanalizuoti vyresnio amžiaus žmonių prieinamumą prie sveikatos priežiūros ir socialinių paslaugų vietos bendruomenėje. Darbo tikslui ir uždaviniams įgyvendinti pasirinkti atitinkami teorinės analizės metodai, tokie kaip: mokslinė literatūros analizė, loginės analizės metodas, lyginamasis teorinės analizės metodas. Empiriniams duomenims gauti Kauno atvejui buvo atliktas kokybinis tyrimas, pasitelkiant pusiau struktūruotą fokus grupės interviu metodą. Praplečiant tyrimą iki tarpvalstybinio lygmens, kvazi-socialinio eksperimento būdu, bendruomeninių paslaugų patirčių palyginimui buvo gauti kokybiniai duomenys ir iš kitų šalių, t.y. Austrijos bei Lenkijos.Darbe pristatyta socialinės atskirties sąvoka, jos mažinimo būdai Europos Sąjungos ir Lietuvos kontekste. Taip pat nusakytas tamprus ryšys tarp socialinės atskirties, senėjimo politikos bei sveikatos, socialinių paslaugų poreikio pagyvenusiems žmonėms.Socialinės atskirties politika formuojama pagal socialinės politikos modelius. Šia prasme pasirinktinai išnagrinėti Lietuvos bei... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Each of us think about our retirement, and ask ourselves the question: what is it? Will we feel loved, cared of, and not left in the hands of fate? At this point, health care and social services improvement is of great importance for the aforementioned aspects. One of the examples of improvement is the conducted international project Improving Access to Community-based Services for Older People Living at Home (IACS).The goal of the present paper is to analyze community’s health care and social services facilities availability for older people. To accomplish aims and tasks that were set, corresponding theoretical analysis methods were selected: analysis of scientific literature, method of logical analysis, comparative method of theoretical analysis. To collect empirical data for Kaunas, qualitative study using semi-structured focus group interview method was performed. In order to raise study to an international level in a quasi-social experiment way and to compare community service experiences, qualitative data were obtained from other countries, i.e. Austria and Poland. The paper introduced the concept of social exclusion and the ways to reduce it the European Union and Lithuania contexts. Strong relationship between social exclusion, aging policy, health and social services available older people was also articulated.Social exclusion policy is formed by social policy models. In this sense, Lithuanian and Swedish social policy models were arbitrarily selected and examined... [to full text]

Corporations follow different strategies to leverage their existing brands. One of these is brand extension, which is the extension of an existing brand to a new product category. In this strategy, corporations have two alternatives, one of which is the family brand extension. Here, the new product is introduced under the corporate name along with the extension’s category name (e.g. Sony mobile, Nestlé mineral water, and Gillette shampoo). The second alternative is the brand endorsement. In this alternative, the extension is given a new name. Moreover, the corporation’s name is presented as the endorser in the extension brand structure and communications (e.g. Scandic by Hiliton, Courtyard by Marriott). However, the focus will be on the extension brand name, rather than the corporate name. The endorser’s main role is to provide credibility and substance to the endorsed brand, while maintaining the endorsed brand’s freedom to establish its unique associations and personality. It is well-known that, in the family brand extension, the perceived fit between the parent brand and the extension product category moderates consumers’ judgement of the extension (i.e. the new product which is introduced under the parent name). However, widely-diversified corporations (e.g. Nestlé, Unilever) often endorse their products to leverage their corporate credibility. The proliferation of using a corporate name to endorse products in the case of corporations with diversified product portfolios puts the importance of the fit on the corporate endorser, and the endorsed product brand under scrutiny. Specifically, it raises the following questions: to what extent is the perceived fit between the corporate brand endorser and the endorsed brand really important in an endorsement context? What is the relative importance of fit and endorser credibility in an endorsement context, and why? In the current research, it is proposed that both corporate credibility and fit affect consumers’ judgement in an endorsement context. However, the endorser credibility is more important. It is also proposed that corporate credibility is more important than fit because it is more diagnostic, which makes the endorser credibility more recallable for the consumer. The current research results have shown that, when consumers can easily recall information related to the endorser credibility and the fit between the endorser and the endorsed brand, both endorser credibility and fit has an effect on the endorsed brand. However, endorser credibility has a stronger effect on the endorsed brand judgement than fit. Moreover, the results have shown that fit moderates the effect of corporate credibility only when the endorser credibility is high. When consumers have difficulty recalling information, fit does not moderate the effect of the endorser credibility on the endorsed brand. The current research findings have been obtained by conducting two experiments. In Experiment One, corporate credibility and perceived fit were manipulated in an endorsement context. Consumer judgement of the endorsed brand was measured by the perceived quality and purchase intention. Experiment Two was conducted to study the impact of the information accessibility on the effect of the endorser credibility and fit on the endorsed brand judgement. Endorser credibility, fit and information accessibility were manipulated in an endorsement context. Perceived quality and purchase intention of the endorsed brand were also used to measure the consumers’ judgement of the endorsed brand.

Over the past years, mental health has attracted increased attention throughout the world, in the form of initiatives, programs, support groups, etc. all with goals to increase awareness and support of mental health. The stark discrepancy between the vision driving this mental health movement and our reality comes from a basic misunderstanding. While there are both legislative and cultural efforts in place to reform our mental health system, the two must work hand in hand in order to affect substantial change. Rather than producing a collaborative effort, our legislators and society tend to ignore each other, resulting in isolated attempts at reform that are doomed to failure without the support of the other side. This thesis examines the obstacles that mentally ill individuals face in the U.S. today after receiving formal “mentally ill” diagnoses. In our current system, these individuals face limited options, all of which include a number of steep costs. This thesis proposes a shift toward a more collaborative approach in order to transform the costs and fear of diagnosis into benefits and desire for diagnosis. However, an approach such as the one suggested can only be successful after a fundamental shift in the perception of mental illness occurs. Whether or not such a shift is possible – and if so, how? – is a question too large to explore in the confines of this thesis, but one that the reader should consider.

The aim of the thesis is to describe and analyse the population redistribution in Sweden at different geographical levels from the beginning of the 19th century to the end of the 20th century. The analysis is approached in three different ways. First, the redistribution at different geographical levels is analysed (papers I and II). Second, the changing accessibility between people (interpersonal accessibility) is analysed from the beginning of the 19th century to the end of the 20th century (paper II). Third, the impacts of fertility, mortality, internal migration, international migration and geographical variations in age composition on population distribution are analysed for the last decades (papers I, III and IV). Measurements of concentration have been used in order to analyse the changing population distribution. For the analysis of changing interpersonal accessibility the average population within the daily reach has been calculated for different times. In order to analyse the impacts of fertility, mortality, migration and geographical variations in age composition the actual redistribution of the population is compared with the redistribution generated by a number of counterfactual scenarios. To analyse the impact of international migration the changing distribution of the population in different immigrant groups is compared to the distribution of the Swedish population. Some conclusions drawn from the thesis are: 1. There is no overall trend in the population redistribution towards either concentration or dispersion. The redistribution pattern depends on the time perspective and the geographical level chosen. The population has been both concentrated and dispersed since the beginning of the 19th century. This applies to all investigated geographical levels. In the five identified phases of the redistribution the most common pattern is that concentration and dispersion of the population exist simultaneously on different geographical levels. The total effect of the redistribution between 1810 and 1990 is that today the population is more dispersed at macro-regional level, while it is more concentrated at local and regional level. 2. Based on assumptions about the daily reach, an average person today has access to about 100 times more people locally compared with the beginning of the 19th century. The most important process for the increased accessibility has been the redistribution of the population. The process that has had the least impact is the assumed increase in daily reach. However the importance of the investigated processes changes over time. Since 1950 the increasing reach has been the most important process. However, the rate by which interpersonal accessibility increases has slowed down since 1950. 3. The main demographic factor behind the redistribution since 1970 is the geographical differences in age composition and its effects on the natural population change. It is demonstrated that this factor lies behind the trend towards increasing concentration in Sweden, while the impact of migration affects the fluctuations from this trend to a greater extent. 4. The study shows that immigration concentrates the population, while the internal migration during the 1970s and periodically during the 1980s dispersed the population. However during the 1990s the internal migration has had a concentrating effect on the spatial distribution of the population. / <p>Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Umeå universitet, 2000, härtill 4 uppsatser</p> / digitalisering@umu

In this study I have explored the profession sales people and how they use social media. I have also studied their needs for further education and how it can be addressed in social media, in order to learn how a B2B-company that educates in sales training can meet sales people in social media. It’s an empirical study based on individual interviews with a semi-structured interview template. Respondents were of mixed age, both men and women. The theoretical framework consists of a model containing the three elements needed to communicate effectively: opportunity, accessibility and trust. The model was published by authors Anna Katarina Berglund and Pia Boson in 2010. The research problems are based on the theoretical framework: Which attitudes, needs and requirements for further education and inspiration do sales people have and how can they be fulfilled by social media? The results of the study showed, among other things that the theory is truthful and correct. The conclusion is that the needs for further education vary between different sales people, mainly because of age and experience. These needs may at several cases be fulfilled threw social media, especially YouTube. Although when it comes to deeper knowledge, they rather get it threw lectures or coaching mainly, but also threw books. / I den här studien har jag undersökt yrkeskåren säljare och hur de använder sig av sociala medier. För att se hur ett B2B-företag som säljer försäljningsutbildningar kan bemöta säljare i sociala medier har jag också studerat deras kompetensbehov och hur det kan bemötas i sociala medier. Det är en empirisk kvalitativ studie baserad på enskilda samtalsintervjuer med en semistrukturerad intervjumall. Respondenterna har varit av blandad ålder, både män och kvinnor. Den teoretiska basen består av en modell där tre delar behövs för att kommunicera effektivt: tillfälle, tillgänglighet och tillit. Modellen publicerades av författarna Anna Katarina Berglund och Pia Boson 2010. Problemformuleringen som studien lutar sig mot är: Vilka attityder, behov och önskemål för kompetensutveckling och inspiration finns bland säljare och hur kan dessa uppfyllas via sociala medier? Resultatet i studien visade bland annat på att teorin i högsta grad stämmer. I de fall respondenterna nämner vad som tilltalar dem så har alla tre delarna funnits och i de fall respondenterna antyder att de inte är nöjda med en form av kommunikation så har någon av de tre delarna saknats. Slutsatsen är att det finns ett varierat behov av kompetensutveckling och inspiration bland olika säljare, ofta baserat på ålder och erfarenhet. Dessa kan i flera fall uppfyllas via sociala medier, främst YouTube. Men när det gäller mer djupgående kompetensutveckling så vill säljarna få detta via föreläsningar och coachning främst, men även via böcker.

The extent of a community experiencing social vulnerability depends on the community’s ability to access resources that may contribute to coping mechanisms (either within the household or provided externally by a responsible authority) that decrease the impacts and effects of a disaster. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to identify the existence of social and institutional mechanisms that aim to reduce experiences of water inaccessibility and the causes of social vulnerability, and increase coping mechanisms within Kayamandi. Kayamandi is a low income residential community on the north-westerly periphery of the greater Stellenbosch town in the Western Cape. The research attained responses through questionnaires and surveys from residents, community organisations and responsible personnel. These surveys allowed the researcher to produce raw attribute data for each household that assisted in spatially representing vulnerable households and informing the five priority areas of the Hyogo Framework for Action. Contributing to this method of attaining information, secondary geographic data collection was obtained through the Stellenbosch Local Municipality, the National Geospatial Information Directorate and the National Demarcation Board. The findings of this thesis established that household and public water infrastructure contribute to the risk of experiencing social vulnerability that affects economic standings and quality of health within the community. Contributing to this and due to Kayamandi’s politically sensitive and historically fractioned community, social cohesion has also been noted as an area of vulnerability. Although these vulnerabilities are experienced, residents are able to implement technical, social and municipal reliant coping mechanisms. However, although efforts from Stellenbosch Local Municipality do respond to most of the key indicators within the Hyogo Framework for Action, the study found no concrete efforts within the Stellenbosch Local Municipality that illustrate integrated mechanisms to reduce the impacts of disasters and compound effects. / Magister Artium - MA