The acquisition of relational concepts plays an integral role and is assumed to be a prerequisite for analogical reasoning. Language and token-trained apes (e.g. Premack, 1976; Thompson, Oden, and Boysen, 1997) are the only nonhuman animals to succeed in solving and completing analogies, thus implicating language as the mechanism enabling the phenomenon. In the present study, I examine the role of meaning in the analogical reasoning abilities of three different primate species. Humans, chimpanzees, and rhesus monkeys completed relational match-to-sample (RMTS) tasks with either meaningful or nonmeaningful stimuli. For human participants, meaningfulness facilitated the acquisition of analogical rules. Individual differences were evident amongst the chimpanzees suggesting that meaning can either enable or hinder their ability to complete analogies. Rhesus monkeys did not succeed in either condition, suggesting that their ability to reason analogically, if present at all, may be dependent upon a dimension other than the representational value of stimuli.

Det inledande resonemanget leder fram till att meningsskapande förankringsarbete är viktigt men att detta ofta saknas i kliniskt arbete med ångest och depression. Från detta följer syftet att göra meningsskapande processer tillgängliga i det kliniska arbetet med ångest- och depressionsliknande lidanden genom att svara på frågeställningen: Hur söker vi efter och skapar övergripande och meningsfulla värden? Skriftliga beskrivningar från tre deltagare samlades in och analyserades utifrån en deskriptiv fenomenologisk metod vilket möjliggjorde identifierandet av den psykologiskt relevanta processtrukturen. Bland åtta identifierade delprocesser fanns till exempel ifrågasättandet och övergivandet av tidigare värden och följandet och definierandet av nya värden. Förslag ges till hur ett meningsskapande förankringsarbete skulle kunna se ut i en klinisk tillämpning. Sist ges även förslag till vidare forskning. / The introduction highlights the importance of working with meaning-making processes and argues that this work is lacking in clinical work with anxiety and depression. The aim in this study is to render meaning-making processes available to clinical work with anxiety and depressionlike afflictions by answering the research question: How do we search for and create meaningful values? Written descriptions from three participants were gathered and analyzed with a descriptive phenomenological method which made possible the identification of a psychological process structure. Among eight identified partial processes, questioning and abandonment of earlier values and following and defining of new values were found. How to work with meaning-making processes in a clinical setting is suggested. Last, suggestions for future research are presented.

While meanings of leisure have been widely studied from Western perspectives, to date, few researchers have explored the meanings of leisure in non-Western cultural contexts. However, in an era of globalization, it is particularly significant to explore leisure experiences of people from non-Western cultures. This study is then designed to investigate the role leisure plays in a Chinese culture context. Specifically, Chinese university students’ leisure experience and the values they ascribe to leisure in relation to their lives as a whole is examined. Their ideology of work and its impact on leisure participation is addressed in particular. In a Chinese university, criterion sampling method was first applied to recruit Chinese students who could provide information-rich stories about their leisure participation. Snowball sampling method was also used to find more information-rich cases for this exploratory study. 11 participants were engaged in this study. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted to discover leisure experience of these students. Data analysis was guided by a constructivist grounded theory approach to understand the participants’ perceptions and meanings of their leisure experience. The data analysis resulted in three major themes. The first theme “Valuations of Work” addressed that the students placed high valuation on work and their life was ruled by work. The second theme “Two Spheres of Leisure” illustrated the students’ ideology of leisure and its impact on their leisure experience. The last theme “Causes for the Subordinate Role of Leisure”revealed two underlying causes that shaped the subservient role of leisure in the students’ daily lives. The emerged themes reflected that the students’ lives were centered around work; and they gave little consideration to their leisure participation. Holding such work-leisure ideology, the students’ leisure participation cannot always contribute to their well being. Therefore, this study advocates the implementation of leisure education in China, which may facilitate the Chinese people to build a balanced and healthy life style.

Children of alcoholics (COAs) are those who grow up in a home where one or more parent is an alcoholic; once adulthood is achieved, they are referred to as adult children of alcoholics (ACOAs). Several risk factors have been identified as a potential result from exposure to an alcoholic environment; however there is a dearth of literature exploring resilience in this population. Descriptive Narrative Inquiry was used to explore the question, Describe the qualities, processes, or internal motivational factors which have facilitated resilience for adult children of alcoholic parents. Two ninety-minute life history interviews were conducted with four participants, including the researcher. The participants were female, middle class, university students who considered themselves to be adult children of alcoholics who are resilient. A composite narrative was used to depict the results of this study, combining the data from each participants life story. The narrative was written in the first-person through the character of Sophie, and the data included is the result of a narrative analysis from the transcripts of the participants data. The narrative depicts the developmental stages of the participants lives, including childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and the present. Their experiences of growing up in an alcoholic home were documented at each stage. A thematic analysis was conducted, extracting the common themes, meaning made, and personal characteristics that were generated within and across participants that contributed to their development of resilience. The results are discussed in four major themes: Being in Relation: Others Create a Difference; Belief Systems: Spirituality, Religion, and Values; The Self: An Evolving Being; and Alcoholism: Meaning in Itself. It is through the dialogue of the participants experiences of resilience that awareness creates opportunity for advocacy for children and adult children of alcoholics. The implications of this research in relation to the experiences of resilience are discussed for children and adult children of alcoholics, educators, and counsellors. Directions for future research are addressed.

Bakgrund: Palliativ vård syftar till att lindra symtom vid livshotande sjukdom och innefattar en helhetsvård av patienten och dess familj samt en tydlig vårdfilosofi. Då arbetet rymmer en hög komplexitet och sjuksköterskan utsätts för emotionell påfrestning i mötet med sorg och död kan motivationen att stanna kvar i yrket komma att ifrågasättas.Syfte: Syftet är att beskriva sjuksköterskors upplevelser och hantering av svårigheter inom palliativ vård. Metod: En litteraturöversikt med analys av tio vetenskapliga artiklar har gjorts. Utifrån detta har två teman, upplevelser av svårigheter vid vård i livets slutskede samt hantering av svårigheter vid vård i livets slutskede framträtt med tre respektive fyra åtföljande kategorier.Resultat: Svårigheter blev framträdande i möten med patientlidande, död och sorg samt i anslutning till gränssättande. Meningsskapande var ett starkt motiv i sjuksköterskors val att stanna inom yrket och hantera de svårigheter som uppstod. Ett stödjande team och tidigare erfarenheter underlättade i arbetet med döende människor där de ansåg emotionell balans vara viktig att finna.Diskussion: Svårigheter och dess hantering är beroende av varandra. Meningsskapande bildar ett sammanhang genom ökad förståelse för svårigheter och går att härleda till KASAM komponenten begriplighet. Resurser för att möjliggöra meningsskapande bidrog med hanterbarhet. Det finns anledning att betrakta modellen 6S som ett redskap för sjuksköterskor i hanteringen av svårigheter inom vård i livets slut, då säkerställandet av en god död för patienten även ökar möjligheten till sjuksköterskors tillfredställelse i arbetet. / Background: The aim of palliative care is to alleviate symptoms that occur with life-threatening disease and involves a holistic care of the patient and family and a clear philosophy of care. As the work holds a high complexity and the nurse is exposed to emotional strain in the meeting with bereavement and death, the motivation to stay in the profession can be compromised.Aim: The aim of this study is to describe nurse’s experiences and management of difficulties in palliative care. Method: A literature overview containing an analysis of ten scientific articles has been done. Out of this two head themes emerged, experiences of difficulties in end of life care and managing difficulties in end of life care. Three and four subcategories came out of the two head themes.Result: Difficulties were prominent in the meeting with patient suffering, death and bereavement and in accession to limit setting. Finding meaning where a strong motive to nurses choice to stay in the profession and managing difficulties that occurred. A supportive team and past experiences facilitated the work with dying people where finding an emotional balance were important.Discussion: Difficulties and its management is interdependent. Finding meaning create coherence through increased understanding towards difficulties and is possible to trace to the component comprehensibility in Sense Of Coherence (SOC). The resources to enable finding meaning contributed to manageability. There is reason to consider the model of 6S as a tool for nurses in the management of difficulties in end of life care, since ensuring of a good death increases the possibility of work satisfaction for the nurses.

Executive summary Purpose: Current research [1] compared the differences in terms of perception of trustworthiness and emotional appeal of traditional and consumer generated marketing media and [2] evaluated the correlation between factors of the recently developed relationship communication framework (Finne & Grönroos, 2009) with the perception of a marketing action by actual customers of a firm, to see whether these factors should be considered in firm’s marketing communication strategy. Additionally, the researchers compared the correlations between traditional and consumer generated media types to the relationship communication factors, effectively combining the two researched subjects.        Design and execution: The research utilized quantitative research approach relying on simple random sampling technique within fitness and recreational settings.   Findings/Implications: Data analysis confirmed that there is a consistent difference between traditional and consumer generated media in terms of perception of trustworthiness and partial and not consistent difference in terms of emotional appeal. Mild correlation between consumer unique factors of relationship communication framework (Finne & Grönroos, 2009) and perception of the marketing action have been confirmed, with these correlations remaining consistent between traditional and consumer generated media. The findings suggest that traditional and consumer generated media have varying impacts on consumer’s perception of marketing action and that incorporating consumer unique factors of relationship communication framework (Finne & Grönroos, 2009) in marketing communication strategy may benefit the firm in relationship building and integrated marketing communication.

Lönearbete utgör en väsentlig del av de flesta människors liv. Därför är det viktigt för individen och samhället att det finns mening med arbetet, och att det upplevs som meningsfullt. Barnmorskor tillhör en yrkeskategori som upplever sitt arbete som meningsfullt. Syftet med denna kvalitativa intervjustudie var att undersöka vad sex kvinnliga barnmorskor upplever som meningen med sitt arbete ur ett individ- och samhällsperspektiv samt vad de upplever som meningsfullt i arbetet. Genom en fenomenologisk metod framställdes essensen från barnmorskornas upplevelser. Med begreppet Mening i studien avses syftet eller värdet med arbetet och begreppet meningsfull betyder att arbetet har en djupare innebörd. Den teoretiska och begreppsliga referensramen bygger på tre övergripande meningar med arbetet, att arbeta för: 1) Ekonomiska resurser. 2) Sociala behov och självförverkligande. 3) Andra människors behov. Resultatet av studien visar att ur ett individperspektiv upplevde barnmorskorna att meningen med arbetet var att det var omväxlande, vilket innefattar variation i arbetstempo och möten med olika kollegor och patienter. Meningen med arbete ur ett samhällsperspektiv var att skapa positiva upplevelser, som handlar om ett gott bemötande av patienter, vilket skapar positiva bilder i samhället av vården och att få barn. Upplevelser av meningsfullhet består av att det finns ett behov av barnmorskornas kompetens, och att de är involverade i andra människors unika händelse i livet. Barnmorskorna värdesätter att arbeta för andra människor och samhällets nytta, vilket gör att de intar en altruistisk attityd till arbetet. Barnmorskorna arbetar nära livet självt och med sin kompetens gör de viktig skillnad i människors liv, något som bidrar till upplevelsen av ett meningsfullt arbete. / Paid work is a major part of most people’s life. It is therefore important for individuals, and society as a whole, that there is meaning in the work being performed and it is perceived as meaningful. Midwives belong to a category of workers who perceive their work as meaningful. The intention of this qualitative interview study was to explore what six female midwives perceived as the meaning of work from an individual and society perspective. The aim was also to reveal what they perceived as meaningful in their work. By using a phenomenological method the essence of the midwives experiences was revealed. The concept of meaning in this study is to be understood as the aim or value of work. Meaningfulness is the concept used to describe a deeper meaning of work. The theoretical framework is based upon three generalised work aims, working for: 1) Financial resources. 2) Social needs and the need for self fulfilment. 3) Other people’s needs. The result shows that on an individual level the midwives experienced meaning in their work due to its changeable nature, which includes variations in tempo and encounters with different colleagues and patients. The meaning of work on a societal level was to create positive experiences among patients based on how there were treated. Good treatment generates positive images of the health care system and also of having children. Experiences of meaningfulness are based in the patient´s need for the midwives competence, and their involvement in other people’s unique life experience. Midwives value working for other people and benefiting society; this gives them an altruistic attitude towards work. They work with the intimacies of life, and their role influences other people’s lives, which contributes to the midwives feeling of having a meaningful job.

Every day brings changes that influence on the whole process of development in society. As a result, there are many challenges for business in this turbulent time. Factors like: sustainability, government influence, cooperation, eco-friendly products and others define new ways of doing business. I provide understanding of innovation based on leadership view. This dimension is significant important for todays’ organizations in order to be on the market and to have success. Leaders have to know possibilities based on many internal and external factors that can be seen as opportunities for organization. Innovation is an essential part that should be taken into consideration by leaders. Innovation without leadership has less value or even can lose this value at all. The main components of innovation investigated by a big variety of interviews and dialogues with experts in the field of innovation, based on appropriate literature sources and represented in this paper.

Purpose: Corporate communication strategies have a central role in disseminating and creating meaning to the organizations’ visions, strategies and goals. But many employees do not know the organization’s overall strategies and goals, nor how well the organization achieves these. The aim of this study was to investigate and describe perceptions about internal communication, primarily focusing on communication about strategies and goals. The aim was also to show similarities and differences in ideas about internal communication, and to indentify where any potential problems and deficiencies may occur. Methodology: Three semi-structured interviews were made, two with persons in a management position and one group interview with employees. Nine people in three different hierarchical levels within the same department were interviewed. All interviewees were males aged 35 – 60 years. Findings: The results showed that corporate communication in the organization was characterized by a transmission view of communication, that the employees was nonparticipative in the process of strategy- and goal-setting, and that generally formulated goals and strategies were not sufficiently translated and broken down to local level. / Syfte: Strategisk kommunikation har en central roll i att sprida och skapa innebörd åt organisationers visioner, strategier och mål. Men många medarbetare känner inte till organisationens övergripande mål och heller inte hur väl organisationen lyckas uppnå dessa. Denna studies syfte var att undersöka och beskriva hur den interna kommunikationen uppfattas inom en organisation, främst med fokus på kommunikation gällande strategier och mål. Syftet var även att visa på likheter och skillnader i synen på internkommunikation, samt synliggöra vart eventuella problem och brister kan uppstå. Metod: Tre halvstrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes, två med personer i chefsposition och en gruppintervju med medarbetare. Sammanlagt intervjuades 9 personer på tre olika hierarkiska nivåer inom samma avdelning. Samtliga intervjupersoner var män i åldern 35 – 60 år. Resultat: Studien visade att den strategiska kommunikationen inom organisationen präglades av en transmissionssyn på kommunikation, att medarbetarna inte varit delaktiga i mål- och strategiprocesser samt att övergipande och allmänt formulerade mål och strategier inte översatts och brutits ner till lokal nivå i tillräckligt stor utsträckning.

This dissertation is an exploratory research that analyzes the representation of the state and its relationship with society in the meaning worlds of the Turkish bureaucrats. Accordingly, the research question of this dissertation has to do with political representation in the mindsets of bureaucratic actors. Regarding this question, we focused on the theory of representative bureaucracy and addressed its inadequacies in analyzing the issue of bureaucratic representation. In our view, representation is a phenomenon related to a particular mode of understanding that creates commonsense. It involves the contextual varieties of taken for granted knowledge that constitutes the basis of one&rsquo / s social world, which the theory of representative bureaucracy fails to question. In this respect, our research intended to discover how do bureaucrats order and arrange the meaning of state-society relationship in their minds. We conducted our research in the Capital Markets Board of Turkey, the Ministry of Finance, and the Turkish Military Academy. We used the methods of multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis to reveal the latent meaning patterns in the meaning worlds of the bureaucrats. The results of our analysis pointed out two major findings. Our first finding indicated the reductionism of the theory of representative bureaucracy in understanding and interpreting the meaning worlds of the Turkish bureaucrats. Our second finding involved the significant similarities as well as the differences in the meaning worlds of the bureaucratic organizations. These variations demonstrated how the organizations of the same state might differ due to distinct organizational ideologies.