The topic of spirituality and job satisfaction is of growing interest in management literature. Researchers have examined whether spirituality improves or enhances job satisfaction, productivity, retention, and reduces burnout. The findings in various studies have supported the hypothesis that there is a positive relationship between spirituality and job satisfaction. This dissertation investigated the relationship between spirituality and job satisfaction of African American, Anglo, and Hispanic Protestant clergy. The preliminary research questions for this study are: What degree do the determinants of spirituality correlate with the determinants of job satisfaction for African American, Anglo, and Hispanic protestant clergy? Is there a significant difference between the degree of spirituality and job satisfaction among protestant clergy ethnic groups (African American, Anglo, and Hispanic)? Do female clergy experience a higher level of spirituality and job satisfaction than their male counterparts? The study used a sample group of 475 participants who were full-time pastors from a mainline Protestant denomination in the United States. The research tools used to examine the relationship between spirituality and job satisfaction were the Spirituality Assessment ScaleTM, the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire, and a demographic questionnaire. The survey data was analyzed and hypotheses testing performed by using SPSS' (2009) PASW® Statistics GradPack 17.0 For Windows. The Spearman's Rho Correlation Analysis, Mann-Whitney U test, and Kruskal-Wallis One-way Analysis of Variance were the utilized in order to perform hypotheses testing. A review of the findings indicated a support for the hypothesis that there is a relationship between spirituality and job satisfaction. The findings also support the hypothesis that there is a difference (p = 0.009) in definitive spirituality when it comes to ministerial standing within the organization. Finally, the findings in this study support the hypothesis that there is a significant difference in definitive spirituality between African-American, Anglo, and Hispanic Protestant clergy (p = .000).

Introduktion: Varje år omkommer cirka 800 000 personer i suicid vilket gör det till en av de ledande dödsorsakerna världen över. Den suicidala problematiken och dödsfallen i suicid skiljer sig mellan män och kvinnor. Män tenderar att vara överrepresenterade världen över när det gäller mortalitet till följd av suicid. Däremot är kvinnor överrepresenterade när det gäller morbiditet. Tidigare studier har visat att hälsan hos både män och kvinnor påverkas av faktorer avseende jämställdhet. Karolinska Institutet (2021) och Svenska Yle (2021) rapporterar att kvinnors suicid ökar i Sverige och Finland. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka trenderna i suicidincidens under perioden 1990 – 2019 hos män och kvinnor i länderna Norge, Danmark, Finland och Sverige. Vidare är syftet att undersöka förhållandet i suicidincidens mellan män och kvinnor samt vilka associationer det finns mellan suicidincidensen i dessa länder och variablerna arbetslöshet, arbete och utbildning. Detta för att få kunskap om vilka faktorer som påverkar suicidincidensen.  Metod: Studien genomförs som en kvantitativ nordisk komparativ epidemiologisk studie med ett postpositivistiskt förhållningssätt och en abduktiv forskningsansats. Vidare har tidsserieanalyser med simpelt glidande medelvärde tillämpats som metod för att undersöka trenderna i suicidincidens inom respektive kön och land samt förhållandet i suicidincidens mellan könen. Pearson’s r korrelationstest har använts för att undersöka korrelationerna mellan de oberoende variablerna arbetslöshet, arbete och utbildning och den beroende variabeln suicidincidens. Simpel och multipel linjär regressionsanalys har använts för att undersöka associationerna mellan dessa variabler. De oberoende variablerna för respektive land och kön har testats mot suicidincidensen för samma land och mot samma kön.  Resultat: Resultatet ger ingen tydlig bild av hur variablerna arbetslöshet, arbete och utbildning påverkar suicidincidensen i de olika länderna och det är inte heller möjligt att göra några generaliseringar. Pearson’s r korrelationstest tyder på att det förekommer korrelationer mellan de oberoende variablerna arbetslöshet, arbete och den beroende variabeln suicidincidens. Resultatet varierar dock kopplat till olika grupper och olika perioder.  De statistiskt signifikanta simpla regressionsanalyserna tyder på att uppåtgående trender i arbetslöshet och utbildning förutspår uppåtgående trender i suicidincidensen. De simpla regressionsanalyserna tyder också på att uppåtgående trender i arbete förutspår nedåtgående trender i suicidincidensen, förutom i grupper kvinnor i Norge under perioden 1990 – 2019 och 1990 – 2001 där uppåtgående trender i arbete förutspår uppåtgående trender i suicidincidensen. De statistiskt signifikanta multipla regressionsanalyserna tyder på att uppåtgående trender i arbetslöshet och arbete förutspår uppåtgående trender i suicidincidensen. De multipla regressionsanalyserna avseende utbildning tyder på att uppåtgående trender förutspår nedåtgående trender i suicidincidensen, förutom i gruppen kvinnor i Sverige där uppåtgående trender i utbildning förutspår uppåtgående trender i suicidincidensen. I både de simpla och multipla regressionsanalyserna varierar resultatet i olika grupper och under olika perioder. Resultatet visar också att suicidincidensen har minskat under perioden 1990 – 2001 i samtliga länder men att det under perioden 2002 – 2019 ökat i länderna Norge och Sverige och att förhållandet i suicidincidens mellan män och kvinnor varierar i olika länder under olika perioder.  Konklusion: Studiens huvudfynd är att suicidincidensen visar nedåtgående trender inom båda könen i Norge, Danmark, Finland och Sverige under perioden 1990 – 2001. Under perioden 2002 – 2019 visar suicidincidensen däremot uppåtgående trender i länderna Norge och Sverige och det är framförallt den kvinnliga suicidincidensen som ökar under denna period. Studien visar att förhållandet i suicidincidens mellan män och kvinnor minskar i Finland och Norge under perioden 1990 – 2001 och i Norge, Sverige och Danmark under perioden 2002 – 2019. Det finns en association mellan arbetslöshet, arbete och utbildning samt suicidincidens, men denna association varierar inom olika länder, mellan olika kön och under olika perioder.  Studien visar att suicid är ett komplext fenomen som inte kan förstås genom att enbart undersöka enskilda faktorer eller variabler. För att det ska vara möjligt att nå en förståelse för det suicidala perspektivet behöver ett helhetsperspektiv antas. Endast då kan ett lyckat preventivt arbete nås. Vidare finns det flera olika teorier som kan användas för att förstå suicidproblematiken. / Introduction: Every year, about 800,000 people perishes due to suicide, making it one of the leading causes of death in the world. The suicidal behavior and deaths due to suicide differs between men and women. Men tend to be overrepresented worldwide in terms of mortality as a result of suicide. However, women are overrepresented in terms of morbidity. Previous studies have shown that the health of both men and women is affected by factors regarding gender equality. Karolinska Institutet (2021) and Svenska Yle (2021) report that women who perishes due to suicide are increasing in Sweden and Finland. The purpose of this study is to investigate the trends in suicide incidence during the period 1990 – 2019 in men and women in the countries Norway, Denmark, Finland and Sweden. Furthermore, the purpose is to investigate the relationship in suicide incidence between men and women, as well as which associations there are between suicide incidence in these countries and the variables unemployment, labour force and education. This is done to gain knowledge about which factors that affect the suicide incidence.  Methods: The study is conducted as a quantitative Nordic comparative epidemiological study with a post-positivist approach and an abductive research approach. Furthermore, time series analysis with a simple moving average have been applied as a method for examining the trends in suicide incidence within each gender and country, as well as the gender ratio in suicide incidence between the sexes. Pearson's r correlation test has been used to examine the correlations between the independent variables unemployment, labour force and education and the dependent variable suicide incidence. Simple and multiple linear regression analysis have been used to investigate the associations between these variables. The independent variables for each country and gender have been tested against the suicide incidence for the same country and against the same sex.  Results: The results do not provide a clear picture of how the variables unemployment, labour force, and education affect the suicide incidence in the different countries, nor is it possible to make any generalizations. Pearson's r correlation test indicates that there are correlations between the independent variables unemployment, labour force and the dependent variable suicide incidence. However, the result differs in relation to different groups and during different periods.  The statistically significant simple regression analysis indicates that upward trends in unemployment and education predict upward trends in suicide rate. The simple regression analysis also indicates that upward trends in labour force predict downward trends in suicide incidence, except in the group women in Norway during the period 1990 – 2019 and 1990 – 2001 where upward trends in labour force predict upward trends in suicide incidence. The statistically significant multiple regression analysis indicates that upward trends in unemployment and labour force predict upward trends in suicide incidence. The multiple regression analysis regarding education indicate that upward trends predict downward trends in suicide incidence, except in the group of women in Sweden where upward trends in education predict upward trends in suicide incidence. In both the simple and multiple regression analysis, the results vary in different groups and during different periods. The results also show that the suicide incidence has decreased during the period 1990 - 2001 in all countries, that it has increased in Norway and Sweden during the period 2002 - 2019 and that the differences in suicide incidence between men and women varies in different countries during different periods.  Conclusions: The main finding of the study is that the suicide incidence shows downward trends in both sexes in Norway, Denmark, Finland and Sweden during the period 1990 – 2001. During the period 2002 – 2019, the suicide incidence shows upward trends in the countries Norway and Sweden and it is mainly the female suicide incidence that increases during this period. The study shows that the ratio of suicide incidence between men and women decreases in Finland and Norway during the period 1990 – 2001 and in Norway, Sweden and Denmark during the period 2002 – 2019. There is an association between unemployment, labour force and education and suicide incidence, but this association varies within different countries, between different genders and during different periods.  The study shows that suicide is a complex phenomenon that can not be understood by merely examining individual factors or variables. In order for it to be possible to reach an understanding of the suicidal behavior, a holistic perspective needs to be adopted. Only then can successful preventive work be achieved. Furthermore, there are several different theories that can be used to understand the suicide problem.

The purpose of this study is to understand which challenges women politicians on Gotland face and how they perceive themselves in their political work. We aim to highlight existing gender norms and how these translate into challenges within an island setting. This research further highlights the identity work women politicians at a local level engage in. The theoretical frameworks used include feminist political theory, feminist institutionalism, identity, and political identity. The empirical data was gathered through 13 semi-structured interviews with local women politicians on Gotland. Taking on a feminist approach, our study underscores and engages with the complexity of the stories, emotions, and experiences of our participants. Our findings underline several challenges women politicians face, including Part of a quota?, Motherhood and Double standards. Our findings also stress that the notion of femininity, such as motherhood and emotionality, need to be the base for restructuring and reframing current political systems to allow for true gender equality. Additionally, our findings reveal three identity facets, (1) The Holistic Caretaker, (2) The Freedom Fighter, and (3) The Game Player, which women politicians take on depending on the political context and while aiming to navigate through the political landscape. Lastly, we have identified the paradox Women vs Women. Our study sheds light on the intertwined and complex nature of gender related challenges in local politics and reveals the paradoxical nature of women’s attempt to move up the political staircase, while simultaneously trying to challenge pre-existing systemic structures.