The home should represent safety and security for the person who lives there, and this is an important factor for independence and autonomy in very old age. With aging populations, the needs for long-term care increase, care provided by spouses and/or from the growing home care sector. Injuries among these groups are common. In this study, an ergonomics perspective was applied in the analysis of some basic daily activities performed by old persons and by home care workers, assisting. The postures and movements of home care staff assisting at toilet visits, and transferring persons from wheelchair to toilet, were measured and analysed. Some daily activities related to making food and washing clothes, performed by a group of persons between the age of 75 and 100, were measured and analysed. The task of getting up from the floor – on your own and with the help of a walker equipped with a lifting device – was analysed with the help of older persons and nursing staff. The design was built on the knowledge gained from analysing how older people get up from floor. Requirements for access with a four-wheeled walker in the local built environment were investigated. Observations were made with the help of video recording. Postures were recorded with the CUELA measurement system. The VIDAR ergonomics evaluation instrument was used to register the participants’ experiences of discomfort and pain during getting up from the floor with or without the walker with a lifting device. Structured interviews were used to find out about older peoples’ experience of using the four-wheel walker. It is concluded that ageing at home requires improved architectural and technical bathroom design and improved access in the local built environment. / <p>QC 20140124</p>

This research explores home supervision requirements (HSRs) in Scotland; as well as the views about, and experiences of those who are affected the most by this type of compulsory intervention – young people, their parents and social workers. Home supervision requirements are a type of legal supervision order at home which is unique to the Scottish system of child legislation. Despite being the most common type of disposal used by the Children’s Hearing little is known about how HSRs work in practice. There is some evidence that young people who are subject to a HSR are likely to leave school with fewer qualifications than their peers – including young people who were ‘looked after’ away from home. Concerns with this gap in our understandings, combined with concerns for the poorer educational outcomes of young people who are subject to a HSR, has lead the Scottish Government, in collaboration with the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), to set up and fund this case studentship. The research was conducted in a relatively large urban local authority in Scotland and used a multi-method approach in order to find out more about the nature, scope and outcomes of HSRs; as well as young people’s, their parents’ and social workers’ views about, and experiences of HSRs. I have conducted secondary analysis of data obtained from the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA). SCRA provided aggregated data on all 98 young people who were subject to a HSR in Thistle city for 12 months or more at 31st of December 2008. This information provided a ‘profile’ of young people subject to a HSR as well as a charter of their involvement with the Hearing System. This highlights the similarities between young people who are subject to a HSR and those who are subject to other types of supervision requirements (SRs) in Scotland. I also carried out documentary analysis of young people’s social work case files. Social work case files contain a number of different documents which provide qualitative information in narrative form about young people and their families, as well as a history of contact with social services. What gets recorded, how and to what effect is the result of the same system that they describe and influence. Case files are therefore of interest not because of what they record but how they construct subjects and facilitate the management of individuals and populations – in this case young people and their parents. Finally, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 young people, nine parents, one carer and 10 social workers. All of the young people interviewed had been known to social services for a considerable length of time, with some having been on and off different types of supervision requirements for five years or more. The interviews revealed a great deal of ambivalence towards HSRs from all stakeholders, and a lack of clarity about the nature and scope of the intervention. Drawing on post-theories critique on the rationalist, reductionist assumptions of modern discourses that dominate social policy and practice this study concludes that rather than asking whether HSRs are successful or not, we should first consider what HSRs are for. I propose that HSR is a disciplinary technique which aims to facilitate the management of individuals and populations. Social control should not however be understood as exclusive of disciplinary powers but as an inevitable and irreducible characteristic of all social relations. It is important therefore to explore how practice exercises control; how this is contested, resisted and transformed; and to what effect.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact the primary caregiving role had on men's perceptions of leisure. The Assessment of Leisure and Recreation Involvement (Ragheb, 2002) was used to examine men's leisure. Twenty-five stay-at-home dad groups were solicited via e-mail; 81 men submitted usable responses to an online survey. Respondents considered themselves the primary caregiver for children in the household and at least one child was younger than 12. Descriptive data were collected about the experience of being a primary caregiving father, demographics, and how the caregiving role affects the men's perceptions of leisure. Caregiving fathers in the sample resembled the perceptions of many primary caregiving mothers. Perhaps the "caregiving" role, rather than gender, is a more distinct variable explaining perceptions of leisure by parents.

A função de trabalho de escritório e suas atividades pertinentes, cada vez mais se fundem com a rotina da vida doméstica dos grandes centros urbanos, impulsionados pelas novas tecnologias de comunicação e informação, pelas novas modalidades de relações trabalhistas e pela condição de mobilidade urbana cada vez mais caótica. Os lançamentos imobiliários recentes adotaram o Home Office em seus prospectos de vendas como mais um atrativo na decisão de compra do cliente, o que pode ser analisado como uma tendência de que o mercado promotor de unidades habitacionais esteja indo de encontro com as necessidades e exigências dos usuários e o Escritório Residencial é uma delas. Em um primeiro momento, este trabalho investiga as inserções dos espaços para o trabalho de escritório nos lançamentos imobiliários com o objetivo de identificar quais os ambientes que cederam área física ou que coexistem com as atividades desta função; e, posteriormente investiga as condições dos postos de trabalho no que se refere a algumas questões ergonômicas, estudando estas condições à luz de parâmetros de conforto pré estabelecidos. / The office work and its activities are mixing with the routine of the domestic life of the great urban centers, stimulated by new communication and information technologies, new modalities of working relationships and the chaotic conditions of urban mobility. The recent real estate launchings had adopted the home office in its sales prospects as one plus attractive in the customers decision of purchase, what it can be analyzed as a trend of that the promotional market of dwelling units target is to supply the necessities and requirements of the users and the home office is one of them. This research investigates the insertions of the spaces for the office work in the residential real estate launchings with the objective to identify to which the environments that had yielded physical area or that they coexist with the activities of this function; and, later investigates the work place conditions, analyzing some human factors questions, comparing these conditions with the comfort standards.

IKEA is a unique home furnishing retailer in selling water washable slip covers for living room sofa.The aim of this research is to set product requirements for sofa covers in accordance with the usage at home by customers.This was done by conducting consumer survey to understand need, reviewing existing quality, test methods and proposal of new requirements and test methods. The overall objective is every day quality guarantee and better communication with customers in store. / Program: Magisterutbildning i Applied Textile Management

A função de trabalho de escritório e suas atividades pertinentes, cada vez mais se fundem com a rotina da vida doméstica dos grandes centros urbanos, impulsionados pelas novas tecnologias de comunicação e informação, pelas novas modalidades de relações trabalhistas e pela condição de mobilidade urbana cada vez mais caótica. Os lançamentos imobiliários recentes adotaram o Home Office em seus prospectos de vendas como mais um atrativo na decisão de compra do cliente, o que pode ser analisado como uma tendência de que o mercado promotor de unidades habitacionais esteja indo de encontro com as necessidades e exigências dos usuários e o Escritório Residencial é uma delas. Em um primeiro momento, este trabalho investiga as inserções dos espaços para o trabalho de escritório nos lançamentos imobiliários com o objetivo de identificar quais os ambientes que cederam área física ou que coexistem com as atividades desta função; e, posteriormente investiga as condições dos postos de trabalho no que se refere a algumas questões ergonômicas, estudando estas condições à luz de parâmetros de conforto pré estabelecidos. / The office work and its activities are mixing with the routine of the domestic life of the great urban centers, stimulated by new communication and information technologies, new modalities of working relationships and the chaotic conditions of urban mobility. The recent real estate launchings had adopted the home office in its sales prospects as one plus attractive in the customers decision of purchase, what it can be analyzed as a trend of that the promotional market of dwelling units target is to supply the necessities and requirements of the users and the home office is one of them. This research investigates the insertions of the spaces for the office work in the residential real estate launchings with the objective to identify to which the environments that had yielded physical area or that they coexist with the activities of this function; and, later investigates the work place conditions, analyzing some human factors questions, comparing these conditions with the comfort standards.

Questionnaires were administered to 118 Secondary College students in the A.C.T. to obtain quantitative data about the students' self perception, about their friendship groups, their relationships with the other members of their family, their attitudes to their education and their employment experiences and expectations. The data also identified away from home students and at home students. The data obtained from these two student groups was analysed. The away from home group of students were then interviewed individually and qualitative data analysed for recurring themes and a profile of the away from home Year 12 student emerged. The away from home students in this A.C.T. study had been through periods of unstable accommodation, poverty, family distress, leaving school or changing schools and had made a conscious decision to complete their Year 12 Certificate to improve their employment opportunities. As a result of this study predictive indicators for an away from home student were generated. Following these findings an understanding of the specific issues and needs of away from home students can be encouraged among student welfare groups, parents and other educational/ welfare bodies. This in turn should assist the student achieve his or her educational outcomes and academic success.

This study seeks to explore the predictors of female project managers’ salary in the construction industry, and to analyze their impacts on determining the salary. Experience, age, marital status, motherhood, having children at home, and the number of children at home were selected as the independent variables. Snowball sampling method was used to identify the potential participants, and surveys were sent to participants to collect data. 206 responses were collected and comprehensive descriptive and statistical analyses were performed on the responses. The study finds that experience and age have a positive relationship with female project managers’ salaries. Being married and having children at home have significant negative impacts on female project managers’ salaries. A regression model is also built to determine the prediction power of variables. Fifty-one percent of the variability in salary can be accounted for by the variables included in this model.

De allra äldsta i samhället är människor med lång livserfarenhet och med nästan ett helt liv bakom sig. Hur resten av deras liv kommer att gestalta sig beror mycket på dem själva, deras anhöriga och på samhällets insatser. Det är av största vikt att samhället ger de insatser som gör att de allra äldsta känner sig ansvariga, självständiga och trygga. Syftet är att ta reda på vad de allra äldsta själva uppfattar är betydelsefullt för dem, när det gäller att bo kvar i sitt eget hem. Tio personer deltog i en kvalitativ intervjustudie. De allra flesta i vår studie vill fortsätta bo kvar i sitt hem och de känner sig trygga, fria och tillfreds där. De beskriver på olika sätt hur de tar ansvar för sina liv och att de gör det de kan själva, med hjälp av teknik och hjälpmedel. De får hjälp med resten av hemtjänst eller anhöriga. För våra informanter är det viktigt att vara aktiva utifrån sina egna förutsättningar. Intressanta områden att undersöka vidare kan vara hur bemötandet i vård och omsorg påverkar de allra äldstas liv och hur stöd och handledning från arbetsterapeut till omvårdnadspersonal gör skillnad. / The oldest old in our society have a long life experience. How well they can live the remaining part of their lives depends not only on themselves, but also on their relatives and societal contributions. Our society must provide a setting in which the elderly are given a sense of responsibility, independence and safety. The aim of this study was to identify the self-reported factors that are of importance for the oldest old to continue to live in their own home. Ten individuals participated in qualitative interviews. The majority of the respondents wanted to remain in their homes where they felt safe, free and peaceful. They described how they took responsibility for their lives and did what they could by themselves or with technical aid. They received help from home-help services and relatives in areas they could not manage by themselves. That they continued to be active on their own conditions was of great importance to the respondents. Interesting fields for future research would be how the interaction with health care has an influence on the lives of the oldest old, and whether support and guidance from an occupational therapist to health care personnel makes a difference.

Work and family are the most important spheres of human¡¦s life. These two spheres are not independent of each other. Work-family conflict arises when negative attitudes intrude into the other domain, or when experiences and intense involvement in one domain interfere with active participation in the other domain. It may cause absenteeism or turnover intentions. However, employees whose organizations provided work-family support report less work-to-family conflict. Telework is a common work-family supportive strategy. Teleworkers can periodic work out of the principal office, one or more days per week either at home, in a client¡¦s site, or in a teleworker center and aided by computer and telecommunication. Moreover, SOHO (Small Office, Home Office) is another popular work arrangement nowadays. Comparing with teleworkers, they are self-employed. Although combining work and family may help employees balance their work and family, the blurring of the boundary always make them feel even they are home they can¡¦t get away from work. The aim of this study is to gain an understanding of the work-family conflict, sex division of labor, job involvement and work-family conflict of these working-at-home employees. Below are the discoveries of this thesis: 1.The boundary between work and family is dynamic. When the life cycle of work and family changes the boundaries also changes. 2.Homeworkers did perceive work-family conflicts. Within six types of work-family conflicts, time-based work-to-family conflicts, strain-based work-to-family conflicts and strain-based family-to-work conflicts were the biggest problems for them. 3.The reasons why they choose working at home were work-related. Even women with children didn¡¦t work at home for family-related reasons. Moreover, almost all couples shared responsibility for housework. But working at home was not the only reason for the change of the sex division of labor. 4.Almost all homeworkers admitted that their job involvements were too high. The high job involvements might due to their work values, family values and family support.