The aim of the thesis is to explore how parents' life experience can become a resource to strengthen teaching about, and for, cultural diversity with the help of homework assignments and teacher feedback. Two of the four articles included are based on data from the Läxprojektet (2004-2006) [The Homework Assignment Project], which was a practicebased, collaborative research project at a multi-lingual and multi-cultural secondary school. The material collected from project and used in this thesis consists of collaborative homework assignments, audio recorded lessons, student texts and interviews with parents, students and teachers. Article A concerns teachers' feedback during classroom discussions. Results consist of seven categories of feedback and show that all feedback, in contrast to previous research, does not support students' learning. Article B show that collaborative lessons that are based on parents' life experience may fulfill the function of boundary objects (Star &amp; Griesemer 1989) between home and school. Article C deals with the relationship between homework and feedback, which is studied in a research review. Article D revealed that issues concerning how cultural diversity was highlighted at the municipal level and in school planning were primarily featured in the municipalities with the highest proportion of multilingual immigrant students. Thesis results suggest that: Feedback is a challenge for teachers when the content of what the students present is unknown. Parents' life experiences can be a resource in a content-based partnership between home and school. Teaching about cultural diversity is facilitated by the existence of cultural diversity among students and parents. In summary, results indicate that there are several factors that influence whether and how content and teaching about, and for, cultural diversity succeeds in schools. These factors affect the individual level, the classroom level and partially also the municipal level. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defence the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: In Press; Paper 3: In Press; Paper 4; Submitted.</p>

This investigation proposes to employ the use of the mood management theory to examine the role of emotions in the entertainment experience, and how the emotions an audience member experiences while watching a movie can influence their overall ratings of it. Researchers will separate the components of the mood management theory into two experiments: one to explore how the difference in the experience of positive and negative affect influences audience ratings and the other to explore how the degree to which an individual experiences positive emotion influences their ratings for a movie. Using two movies of differing quality, researchers will measure the experience of emotion in participants and examine how it influences their ratings of the movie they watched. Researchers should expect to find significantly higher results across the board from participants who watched the movie Argo, which would indicate that higher quality movies adhere to the mood management theory in that they elicit both more instances of positive affect than negative affect and stronger emotional experiences in audience members.

Bakgrund: Abort innebär att en redan etablerad graviditet avbryts. Planerad abort avser en abort som är framkallad. Livmodern utryms via läkemedelsinducerad metod eller med ett kirurgiskt ingrepp. Abort styrks av abortlagen som innebär att abort får utföras till och med graviditetsvecka 18. Efter graviditetsvecka18 krävs ett godkännande från Socialstyrelsen. Moraliska aspekter kan knytas an till abort och kvinnor som söker abort kan vara moraliskt plågade av vad som är rätt och fel. Sjuksköterskor medverkar i en stor del av abortprocessen som innefattar rådgivning, administration av läkemedel, smärtlindring och efterkontroller. Sjuksköterskor får inte påverka kvinnans beslut till abort. Syfte: Syftet med denna litteraturöversikt var att beskriva sjuksköterskors upplevelser av att vårda kvinnor som genomgår en planerad abort. Metod: En litteraturöversikt i enlighet med Friberg har gjorts. Åtta vetenskapliga artiklar valdes. Samtliga visade sig vara av kvalitativ forskning och design. Resultat: Sjuksköterskor upplevde abortvården som utmanande, både emotionellt och moraliskt. Återkommande och sen abort är något som tycks påverka sjuksköterskor. Trots detta så strävar sjuksköterskor efter att driva en kvinnocentrerad vård med fokus på kvinnan som patient och inte fostret. De accepterar och stödjer kvinnans beslut och förhåller sig till att det är kvinnans rättighet att få en önskad abort utförd. Brist på stöd och support upplevdes,samtidigt som sjuksköterskor upplevde att  de går mot en mer aktiv roll med ökad involvering inom abortvården. Diskussion: Metod och resultatet diskuteras och utvärderas. Resultatet diskuteras utifrån nya artiklar samt med förankring i Joyce Travelbee’s omvårdnadsteori. / Background: Abortion implies that an established pregnancy is terminated. An abortion is performed by a drug-induced method or by a surgical intervention whereby the uterus is deflated. Abortion is legally attainable up until and including the 18th week of pregnancy, after which an abortion is subject to a required approval from the National Board of Health and Welfare. However, ethical aspect is associated with the concept of abortion; women pursuing abortion are exposed to the risk of being morally tormented owing to the nature of their conduct. Nurses participate in an extended part of the abortion process, including counseling, drug administration, pain management, and post-abortion examinations. However, nurses are not allowed to influence the decision of whether to pursue abortion. Aim: The aim of the present literature review was to describe the nurses’ experience of caring for the woman undergoing a planned abortion. Method: The literature review was performed in accordance with Friberg. Eight articles were studied and all of them were based on a qualitative research design. Results: Nurses perceived abortion care as challenging, both emotionally and morally. Recurrent and late abortion seemed to affect nurses. Nevertheless, nurses strived to provide a women-centered care, with focus on the woman as a patient, not the fetus. Accordingly, nurses accepted and supported the decision of the women, as justified by the right of the women to receive the abortion treatment. However, with nursesincreased involvement and therefore increased involvement in the abortion care, lack of support was experienced. Discussion: The method and result were discussed and evaluated. The result was discussed based on new articles and anchored in Joyce Travelbee’s nursing theory.

This study examined the local needs of individuals accessing an adult community psychology service, using a cross sectional view of those waiting for the service. This service mapping exercise aimed to gather a better understanding of how the service was operating and the local differences in need. The results showed 163 individuals were waiting to access the service, with the majority (131) waiting for the stand-alone service. The different levels of demand resulted in varying waiting times across the service, with the stand-alone bases accruing the longest and the South-East and West areas producing the biggest relative need. Individuals waiting for the CMHT service were more likely to have two or more presenting problems than those waiting for stand-alone psychology (62.5% and 38.2% respectively). Social phobia and bipolar were more prevalent in the CMHT service, in comparison the stand-alone service had a higher percentage of individuals with depression, obsessive compulsive disorder and post traumatic stress disorder, however the proportions differed between areas. The second part of the study explored the effect on estimated waiting times of improving access to the stand-alone service by devolving it to local CMHT areas. Waiting times varied according to the resource deployment criteria used; relative need proved the most promising. The proposed advantages and disadvantages of reconfiguration demonstrated the complex implications involved, reinforcing the need for clear rationale when considering service restructuring. In conclusion this project highlighted the need for the service to continue tracking demand and individuals’ needs and keep systematic waiting time information for all parts of the service. The results provided a useful starting point to inform future service development, whilst emphasising the necessity for longitudinal data too.

Background: According to the existing evidence base, the experience of ending therapy, from the perspectives of adolescents who are looked after, is substantially under researched. Moreover, the ending of therapy is highlighted as an important phase of the therapy process and previous research into ending therapy indicates this as a valuable area of research. The available literature indicates that those with a history of loss may find the ending phase particularly challenging. It was hoped that the research findings may assist Clinical Psychologists and other therapists to make sense of how young people experience ending therapy, and may also highlight ways in which therapists can support looked after young people through this transition. Aims: The study aims to provide an in-depth understanding of the way in which young people who are looked after make sense of ending psychological therapy. Methodology: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six looked after adolescents who had recently ended psychological therapy. The transcripts of the interviews were then analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Results: Four master themes emerged from analysis: inextricable link between therapy and therapy relationship, ambivalence, means of coping and moving on from therapy. Implications and Conclusion: This study highlights the need for careful and on going consideration of the ending phase of therapy with this population. It also gives further support to the significance of the therapeutic relationship and consideration of this at the end of therapy. Areas for future research are highlighted, notably the value of conducting further research with looked after young people, to explore factors such as culture and gender on the experience of ending therapy.

Consumer brand preference is an essential step to understand consumer choice behaviour, and has therefore always received great attention from marketers. Brand preferences reveal the type of attributes a brand possesses, to strengthen its position and increase its market share. Moreover, it forms a critical input in developing a company’s successful brand strategy, and gives insight for product development. However, the shift to experiential marketing broadens the role of the brand from a bundle of attributes to experiences. Experiential marketing also considers both, the rational and irrational assumptions of consumer behaviour. The technological advancement helped increasing the similarities between the brands attributes and product commoditisation. Consequently, consumers cannot shape their preferences among brands using rational attributes only. They seek the brand that creates experience; intrigue them in a sensorial, emotional, and creative way. Companies’ competitiveness in such market has, therefore become increasingly difficult. Their survival requires building their competitive advantage by delivering memorable experiences, which would influence consumers’ brand preferences, and consequently stimulate consumers’ purchase decisions. In the marketing literature, the traditional models are uni-dimensional, and addressing the brand preferences by consumers’ cognitive judgement of brand attributes on a rational basis. The role of experience is limited to the impact of its type on shifting preference level. Most of prior studies are partial and focusing on one or two antecedents of brand preferences. In addition to these drawbacks, the studies also ignore consequences determining the consumer purchase decisions. Based on these limitations in the literature, a lack of understanding of how consumers develop their brand preferences was identified. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to develop a model that provides an understanding of how brand knowledge and brand experiences determine brand preferences and to investigate its impact on brand repurchase intentions. In this model, the brand knowledge is defined by attribute-based beliefs, referring to consumers’ salient beliefs about the brand intrinsic cues, and non-attribute beliefs, reflected in the price, appearance, brand personality, and self-congruity. Therefore, the relative importance of brand knowledge factors contributing to brand preference is determined. Furthermore, the model addresses the interactions between the brand knowledge and brand experience in shaping brand preference. Thus, addressing how the experiences reflect embedded value in the brand offerings influencing consumer preferences. To achieve the aim of this study, a sequential mixed-method methodology combining both qualitative and quantitative research was adopted. The aim of the first qualitative phase is exploratory, using focus groups, to refine the proposed model and generate items for questionnaire development. The second phase, quantitative research, is the survey conducted using self-administrated questionnaires. The structural equation modelling (AMOS) software is used to analyse the data. The findings confirm that brand knowledge and brand experience are key sources of brand preferences. In addition, all the factors of brand knowledge have a direct positive impact on brand preferences. However, the role of brand personality on brand preference is realised through brand experience. The findings also support that the impacts of the general brand attributes and appearance on brand preference are partially mediated by brand experience. Furthermore, brand preference positively impacts repurchase intentions. The ultimate contribution of this study stems from revealing that both cognitive information processing and experiential responses form the bases of developing brand preferences, which form the link to future psychological reactions. Methodologically, the study measures the multi-dimensional constructs, brand experience and brand personality, at the aggregate level. In addition, it validates the “big-five personality” as a measure of brand personality. Pragmatically, the study suggests three levels for building brands of technological products to win consumer preferences. At the first level lies the brand functional attributes, at the second level, are the brand symbolic attributes reflected in the imagery associations and aesthetic appearance while at the third level is the brand experience. Noteworthy, these experiences are private in nature and cannot be commoditised. This model extends the notion of brand experience on preference development and can be extended in future research to build long-term consumer-brand relationship.

No description available.

I dagens samhälle blir människor allt äldre och sjukare. Antalet människor med diabetes och högt blodtryck ökar successivt i samhället vilket på sikt kommer medföra att fler människor insjuknar i kronisk njursvikt. För patienter som lever med kronisk njursvikt och dialysbehandling kan livskvaliteten påverkas. Det är därför av vikt att sjuksköterskan uppmärksammar patientens livssituation och anpassar omvårdnaden utefter individens behov. Att drabbas av kronisk njursvikt innebär en försämrad eller helt utebliven njurfunktion. Syftet med litteraturstudien var att beskriva patienters upplevelser av att leva med dialysbehandling vid kronisk njursvikt. Resultatet är baserat på 13 vetenskapliga artiklar. Efter analys av artiklarna framkom tre teman av patienternas upplevelser: Det förändrade livet, det sociala livet och livet som patient. I resultatet framkom att beroende på dialysmetod upplever patienter olika hinder eller möjligheter som respektive behandling medför. Många patienter beskriver att dialysbehandlingen begränsar det vardagliga livet samtidigt som behandlingen är en livlina. Dialysbehandlingen kan påverka yrkeslivet såväl som resmöjligheter och sociala relationer. Patienter upplevde att de ofta hamnar i en beroendeställning till dialysbehandlingen och sina anhöriga. Upplevelsen av sjuksköterskans bemötande var mestadels positiv och sjuksköterskan har en viktig roll i vårdandet. Litteraturstudien kan användas för att belysa patienters upplevelser av att leva med dialysbehandling. / Today, people are getting older and sicker. The amount of people with diabetes and high blood pressure is gradually increasing, which will ultimately lead to a higher number of people diagnosed with chronic renal failure. The quality of life affects patients living with chronic kidney disease and dialysis treatment. It’s important that the nurse observes the patients life situation to adapt nursing to each individual’s needs. The purpose of the literature review was to portray patients experiences of living with dialysis treatment when living with chronic renal failure. The result consists of 13 articles. Three themes were revealed: the changes of life, the social life and life as a patient. The result showed that patients experienced various barriers and opportunities of the treatment. Dialysis treatment restricts the daily life of the patient but is considered as a lifeline. Dialysis treatment may influence the career, opportunities to travel and social relationships. Patients felt that they often end up in a position of dependence to the dialysis treatment and their relatives. The experiences of care were mostly positive and the nurse had an important role. The literature review can be used to shed light on patients experiences of living with dialysis treatment.

Bakgrund: Årligen insjuknar runt 250-300 barn och unga i Sverige i cancer. Att som ung drabbas av en svår sjukdom är en ny och omvälvande situation som påverkar hela livet för både den drabbade och alla andra i dennes närhet. Sjuksköterskans kunskaper om erfarenheter av att leva med cancer kan förhoppningsvis leda till omvårdnad som främjar barns och ungdomars hälsa och välbefinnande. Syfte: Beskriva barns och ungdomars erfarenheter av att leva med cancer Metod: En litteraturstudie baserad på 8 kvalitativa studier. Resultat: Resultatet presenterades i 2 kategorier vilka var: “barns och ungdomars behov” och “barns och ungdomars känslor” med tillhörande 7 underkategorier. Resultatet visade att barn och ungdomar som på grund av cancer förlorat sitt vanliga liv kände sig annorlunda, oroliga och ensamma samtidigt som de också erhöll känslan av tillfredsställelse. Barn och ungdomar med cancer har ett uttalat behov av stöd, aktivitet och lek och information för att skapa kontroll. Konklusion: För att främja behov av aktivitet, stöd samt kontroll, respekt och information antas lek- och gruppterapi vara värdefullt, liksom för att stärka barnens och ungdomarnas känsla av sammanhang. Lekterapi ger yngre barn verktyg till att hantera sin situation meningsfullt medan gruppterapi kan stärka samhörigheten hos ungdomar. Avslutningsvis behövs mer forskning kring barns och ungdomars erfarenheter av cancer.

The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences and preferences of preschool teachers in Mathematics, and analyze how they apply their visualization of Mathematics in preschool. The study aims to examine how the teachers' own perceptions form their mathematical subjectivity and mathematical skills. Data collection was done through interviews. Six preschool teachers from two different preschools participated in the survey. The teachers spoke about their own mathematical experiences in school and talked about their experiences in working with preschool children. The results show that the participants have a positive attitude towards preschool mathematics. It also shows how their mathematical subjectivity changed over time due to increased knowledge and experiences that they create through working with children. Before the curriculum was introduced in 1998, the preschool teachers' understanding of mathematics comprise only of children learning to count. With the new curriculum, the preschool teachers were able to have the opportunity to develop their understanding about preschool mathematics. The participants in this study did. All six preschool teachers in this study showed that they have a mathematical awareness with a varying degree in competence development depending on the individual's interests, commitment and experiences.