Bakgrund: Sjuksköterskor har ett etiskt ansvar för sina handlingar och bedömningar i vården. Etisk kompetens utgör en del av sjuksköterskans profession. Syfte: Syftet med denna litteraturöversikt var att undersöka hur den etiska kompetensen hos sjuksköterskan beskrivs. Metod: Denna litteraturöversikt grundas i tolv vårdvetenskapliga artiklar vilka har lästs upprepade gånger. Nyckelfynd har kunnat identifieras avseende den etiska kompetensen hos sjuksköterskan. En sammanfattning av varje studie utfördes för att sedan utmynna i en sammanställning där två huvudteman urskildes. Därefter bildades nya underteman vilka presenterar resultatet. Resultat: I resultatet beskrivs den etiska kompetensen med dess komponenter. Det framkom i resultatet att etiska värderingar ofta underskattas på grund av att sjuksköterskor i högre grad prioriterar medicinska åtgärder, vilket ledde till att god omvårdnad i vissa fall försummades då det tenderade att inte erkännas och därmed inte sågs som något produktivt. Upplevelser av hinder för tillämpning av etisk kompetens förekommer i en majoritet av studierna vilket anses bero på tidsbrist och hög arbetsbelastning. Sjuksköterskor har teoretisk kompetens om vad som är etiskt rätt att göra men omsätter inte alltid denna i det dagliga arbetet. Sjuksköterskor får heller inte möjlighet att lyfta fram etiska frågor i daglig vårdkontext. Sensibiliteten visar sig vara en återkommande aspekt i utövandet av god vård. I flera studier framkommer att det föreligger ett behov av etisk kompetensutveckling. Diskussion: Resultatet diskuteras med stöd i Lévinas teori om etisk sensibilitet samt konsensusbegreppet vårdande. / Background: Nurses' have an ethical responsibility for their actions and assessment within health care. Ethical competence is part of the nurses profession. Aim: The purpose of this literature review was to examine how nurse’s ethical competence can be described. Method: This literature review is based on twelve scientific articles on nursing that have been read repeatedly and key findings were identified regarding nurses´ ethical competence. Each study was summerized and results concluded two main identified themes. Subsequently, new sub-themes arose where results are presented. Results: The results explain the ethical competence and its components. It appears in the results that ethical values are underestimated because nurses’ seem to value medical priorities higher, which in turn leads to a lack of focus on providing good care because it tends to be unrecognized and therefore not seen as something productive. Perception of barriers for the use of ethical competence appears in a majority of the studies. The main factors identified are lack of time and heavy workload. It was also clear that nurses’ have theoretical knowledge on what is ethically correct but have problems applying this in their daily work. Nurses’ are not given the opportunity to highlight ethical issues in a daily care context. Sensitivity is an important aspect in the practice of giving high quality care. In several studies, the need for further education within ethical nursing was identified. Discussions: The results are discussed on the basis of Lévinas theoretical approach comprising of ethical sensibility, and caring.

For young children, a primary component of social competence is establishing effective interactions with peers during play. To inform the development of practices that promote this competency starting in early childhood, quality assessment measures are needed. These instruments must have the capacity to establish linkages between the home and school as well as utilizing multiple informants. A promising early childhood assessment measure is the Penn Interactive Peer Play Scale (PIPPS), which is a rating scale created with parent and teacher versions. Previous research has established its validity for preschoolers from among various populations. The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of the PIPPS system in a population of preschool children, by investigating: (1) the concurrent validity of parent and teacher versions of the PIPPS and a standardized assessment measure of social competence (PKBS-2 Social Skills Scale); (2) the relationship between teacher/parent ratings and child gender; (3) the relationships between the teacher and parent versions of vi the PIPPS; and (4) the predictive validity of teacher and parent ratings on the PIPPS and PKBS-2 with level of communication between the two parties. To meet inclusion criteria, teachers and parents had to have contact with preschool students ages 3-5 years enrolled in a preschool classroom for at least 4 months, and who were proficient in either English and/or Spanish. In total, across the three participating preschool centers, 50 students were found eligible to participate in this study and 32 students returned with completed packets parent rating scales (64%). Results indicated some relationship between the parent and teacher versions of the PIPPS and PKBS-2 Social Skills rating systems as well as the influence of communication level. However, there were no statistically significant findings for the influence of gender on these ratings. There were several limitations to the external validity of the results of this study. Limitations included sample bias and the use of self-report questionnaires. Implications and future directions for research are discussed.

This Report addresses the importance of intercultural communicative competence among foreign language learners and the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) technology to achieve this goal in the classroom. CMC technology provides learners a unique opportunity to interact with students of different cultures, a situation that allows for experiential learning to occur and which has been shown to lead to gains in intercultural communicative competence. The work begins with a definition of culture and intercultural communicative competence, followed by a review of general approaches used to facilitate such competence in students, and finally a review of the literature on the positive and negative aspects of using CMC for cross-cultural learning. As the aim of this work is to offer teachers a resource and guidance for implementing intercultural exchanges via the use of CMC tools, the Report concludes with suggestions on best practices for using CMC in the foreign language classroom. / text

Standard-setters believe high-quality internal audit functions (IAFs) serve as a key resource to audit committees for monitoring senior management. However, regulators do not enforce IAF quality or require disclosures relating to IAF quality, which is in stark contrast to regulatory requirements placed on boards, audit committees, and external auditors. Using proprietary data, I find that a composite measure of IAF quality is negatively associated with the likelihood of management misconduct even after controlling for board, audit committee, and external auditor quality. A difference-in-differences analysis suggests that misconduct firms improve IAF quality after misconduct is revealed by increasing IAF competence. Finally, IAF quality is a predictor of accounting-related management misconduct even after controlling for other observable predictors of misconduct. These findings suggest that regulators and audit committees should consider ways to improve IAF quality and that investors would benefit from disclosures relating to IAF quality. / text

During the postpartum period, new mothers may experience physical changes, mental disturbances, and adaptation to the maternal role. However, relationships between these three concepts have not been explored as a whole and their influencing factors are not fully studied. Especially for Chinese mothers, social support may be viewed negatively when it comes from parents-in-law. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to understand health and its influencing factors among Chinese mothers. This study involved a cross-sectional and correlational design. The conceptual framework guiding this study integrated a health model and the theory of stress. Well established instruments were used to measure perceived global stress, personal stress and support, importance of support and support received, general physical health, health conditions, depressive symptoms, and maternal competence. The effects of stress and social support on health outcomes were tested. A total of 150 Chinese mothers who were in their first year postpartum completed the survey. Results showed that mothers did not rate their health as good and they experienced an average of 5.03 and 3.91 kinds of health conditions within and after 2 months postpartum, respectively. Mothers did not have high maternal confidence and about 23.5% of mothers had a potential of being depressed. Mothers did not experience high level of stress and did not receive much social support. Mothers living with Chinese in-laws or not did not differ in level of stress and health measures. Mothers’ general physical health, health conditions, depressive symptoms, and maternal competence were correlated with each other. Perceived global stress had effects on all health measures. Support received had effects on general physical health and depressive symptoms, while importance of support had effects on depressive symptoms and maternal competence. Social support had moderating effects on stress and depression, and on stress and general physical health. The results suggested that culturally relevant postpartum care, which includes assessments of maternal health, maternal stress, and social support, should be provided to Chinese mothers. Future studies can focus on interventional studies in promoting maternal health with mothers of ethnic minorities and model testing on the conceptual framework used in this study. / text

The aim of the study is to learn more about the way preschool teachers work with Information and Communication Technology(ICT). More specifically, this study aims to explore how preschool teachers describe their experience of ICT, the conditions and opportunities to work with ICT, and their own knowledge and competence in the use of digital tools with preschool children. The research method consists of interviews with preschool teachers and observations at five municipal preschools in Stockholm as well as an analysis of the relevant passages in the Curriculum for the Preschool and the Curriculum of Stockholm city. This study shows that there seems to be great variation in the amount of ICT tools present in preschools. Preschool teachers expect a lot from ICT, and the improvements that it can make on their work. They express that the preschool has to meet the demands of an ever-developing society with respect to information and technology. They also recognize the importance of letting children use ICT tools, which are already familiar in the home environment. In the preschool, ICT is used as a part of the teacher-led activities and in theme work with the child group. Experience-based activities are also created with ICT tools. The rules and norms regulating ICT at the preschools include how the new devices, especially the tablets, should be used in preschool activities and what the mutual approaches at the preschools should be. These discussions are still active in this study and the preschool teachers seem to be looking for a quick fix, a simple manual that can lead them forward in their work with ICT.

The relationship between language and culture has long been acknowledged, defined and discussed in the literature on foreign language learning and teaching (Kramsch, 1997; Krasner, 1999; Omaggio, 2001), though the integration of culture into foreign language learning has been inconsistent. Linguistic competence alone is not enough for learners to be competent in that language, and language learners need to be aware of the culturally appropriate ways to address people, express gratitude, make requests, and agree or disagree with someone. Language must be used with other culturally appropriate behavior to be successful. Despite the critical relationship between language and culture in effective foreign language instruction, postsecondary foreign language education lacks benchmarks, best practices or empirical standards for cultural integration. This forces college instructors of foreign language without guidance about how and when to integrate culture into their instruction. This descriptive case study examines the ways in which culture is integrated into a Basic Russian language university course. Through direct classroom observation, interviews with the instructor and a review of the textbook, the researcher examined the integration of big “C” culture and little “c” culture into foreign language instruction. The observations affirmed the general assertion that cultural infusion in college-level language instruction is limited and often delivered only as incidental additions to grammar and mechanics. Further, it was noted that instructors lack guidance about how to effectively integrate culture into their teaching, and this was further affirmed through a review of the class textbook. The study concludes with recommendations for further study into effective practices for cultural infusion into foreign language instruction and recommendations for improving foreign language teaching through the integration of culture. / text

The essay aims to generate deeper understanding of leadership competences in a multinational organization in China, i.e. what competences that are required for managing professionals in a cross-cultural context. Previous research within this field of study discuss this topic from the perspective of Western or Chinese expatriate managers, but the authors of this study regard that it is of interest to study Chinese employees in a Western organization in China in order to understand how the global Western culture interacts with the local Chinese culture. The research questions were thus formulated to study what competences that are required in a managerial position in a multinational organization in China according to different organizational actors and documents, and what differences there are in the meaning of the various descriptions. The study has been conducted with a qualitative approach and the results indicate that To Manage, To Have Expertise and To Communicate are the most important competences needed in the managerial role. The results also indicate that the different sources are very similar in the description of cross-cultural leadership competence, which can be understood as the influence of a strong organizational culture. Finally, one can see that the younger employees differ slightly in expectations of leadership, which can be understood as leadership not being formed only by national culture but also by generational culture. In other words, the results from the study show that the meaning of cross-cultural leadership competence in this specific context is not merely restricted to the necessity of understanding national culture when exercising leadership; it is also about generational differences in culture.

In this study, I explore the potential impact of differing educational policies and reform efforts that influence state and federal standards-based assessments and their interpretations. Specifically, I examine the educational policies of Arizona (Structured English Immersion [SEI]) and Texas (bilingual education) for their effect on the belief systems of students, parents, and teachers. I also examine the role of identity and language in the motivation to learn and student disposition toward school among English Language Learners (ELLs). In support of a co-regulation model of emerging identity, acculturation, acculturative stress, and student perceptions of scholastic competence, student disposition toward school, and student motivational dynamics contributed to the accurate prediction of 77.5% of the participants' group membership in either SEI or bilingual education. ELLs in bilingual education had higher perceptions of scholastic competence than ELLs in SEI (d = .54). Four types of dispositions toward school, Pride in Achieving, Participation and Belonging, Literacy, and Math, were higher for ELLs in bilingual education than for ELLs in SEI. Contrary to the hypothesized results, however, there were no differences in the Rigid and Right disposition between ELLs in SEI and bilingual education. In reference to motivation, scores on Disengaged and Distracting were higher for ELLs in SEI (Arizona) than for ELLs in bilingual programs (Texas). However, contrary to the hypotheses, Good Worker/Engaged Learner, and Struggling and Persistent were higher for ELLs in SEI than for ELLs in bilingual programs. I conclude by discussing the potential impact of differing educational policies and reform efforts on the belief systems of ELLs, their parents, and teachers.

Literature pertaining to English-speaking L2 learners of Arabic on study abroad programs in the Arabic-speaking world is almost nonexistent. This may be due to the fact that not even one out of a hundred American students chooses to study abroad in the Arabic-speaking world each year (Gutierrez et al., 2009). The small number of American students studying in the Arabic speaking world is at odds with the MLA's most recent language report in which Arabic enrollments increased more than any other language from 2002 to 2006 (Furman, Goldberg & Lusin, 2007). With the increase in Arabic enrollments it is probable that more and more American students will desire to study Arabic in the Arabic-speaking world. The benefits of study abroad have long been praised (Carroll, 1967; Kinginger & Farrell, 2004; Berg et al., 2008). Not all studies, however, have been congruent (Freed, 1995). This dissertation investigates L2 learners of Arabic on study abroad programs in the Arabic-speaking world. The primary countries in this research are Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Syria, and Yemen. This research focuses on issues related to acculturation, language variety preference, proficiency and the use of technology in learning Arabic among students of Arabic on study abroad programs in the Arabic-speaking world. Particular attention is paid to the binary nature of Arabic as manifest in a host of spoken colloquial varieties. For example, the spoken colloquial Arabic in North Africa differs to a great extent from the Arabic spoken in the Levant. This feature of Arabic is referred to as diglossia (Ferguson, 1959a).Over 90 L2 learners of Arabic participated in this research, though not all of them answered every question. These learners completed an extensive online survey pertaining to their cultural experiences and interaction, language situations and functions, proficiency in Arabic, and which technologies they or their teachers used to assist in learning Arabic. It is hoped that this research will provide empirical insights pertaining to the cultural and linguistic experiences of L2 learners of Arabic in the Arabic-speaking world. General implications for Arabic programs are also presented.