No description available.

Inelastic price responses, demand hardening, and poor public awareness reduce the effectiveness of demand side strategies on water savings. This project quantified phycological household’s factors of attitudes, peer support, opportunities on water conservation with two social-environmental management strategies of encouragement and peer pressure. An agent-based model was populated with data for Logan, Utah using surveys, municipal billing, aerial imagery, weather monitoring stations, and flow, frequency, and durations of appliance use data. Results indicated those households with higher attitudes, peer support and opportunities saved the most water while peer pressure saved more than encouragement when using small and diverse social networks that could better regulate the behavior of outlier households within the network. Combined peer pressure and encouragement saved the most water as each strategy complimented one other. Managers can use results to identify and target large use households. Managers should recommend opportunities to conserve water through monthly bills and provide platforms for households to share their water use stories and information with each other.

Polyvictimization across contexts has been found to be associated with negativepsychological adjustment among adolescents. This study aimed to explore the differences inpsychological adjustment outcomes amongst adolescents who experience victimization andpolyvictimization in a single context. Another aim was to investigate the possible moderatingeffect of peer support on psychological adjustment outcomes. Cross-sectional data from theYouth and Sports Project was used, with a sample of 675 Swedish adolescents in 7th grade(Mage= 13.1). Through cluster analysis, separate groups of adolescents were identified basedon their victimization experiences. Two of these groups were classified as experiencingpolyvictimization. The main findings showed that polyvictimized youth reported higherlevels of depressive symptoms and school stress, as well as lower levels of self-esteem andpsychological well-being, compared to non-victimized youth and those experiencing oneform of victimization. The results also showed that polyvictimized youth did not benefit frompeer support in relation to the psychological adjustment variables, compared to nonvictimizedyouth and those experiencing one form of victimization. This suggests thatpolyvictimization in a single context is associated with negative psychological adjustmentwhich is not buffered by peer support.

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No description available.

Sekundär traumatisering beskriver ett tillstånd som kan uppstå till följd av att arbeta med traumatiserade människor. Konsekvensen av att drabbas av sekundär traumatisering kan ge livslånga psykiska och fysiska besvär hos den drabbade. Studien syftar till att undersöka uppkomsten och upplevelsen av sekundär traumatisering hos socialsekreterare, detta då tidigare forskning visat på att socialarbetare anses vara i riskzon för att utsättas för sekundär traumatisering. En kvalitativ metod har använts med semistrukturerade intervjuer. För att få ett fördjupat perspektiv på syndromet sekundär traumatisering samt socialsekreterarnas upplevelse har teorierna coping och KASAM använts, då de kan tänkas besvara hur människan hanterar utsatta situationer samt ger en bakgrund till hur dessa känslor kan komma uppstå och hanteras. Studien baserades på fem semistrukturerade intervjuer av socialsekreterare som arbetar i två olika kommuner inom våld i nära relation i Sverige. Resultatet av studien visade att socialsekreterarna upplevde negativa känslor till följd av andrahandsexponering av klienternas trauman, orsaken var bland annat bristen på reflektion, detta till följd av hög arbetsbelastning och personalomsättning. En skyddsfaktor som gick att finna var att socialsekreterarna kunde hantera uppkomsten av sekundär traumatisering med hjälp av copingstrategier samt känsla av meningsfullhet (KASAM), vilket bidrog till ökat förståelse för socialsekreterarnas upplevelser.

Black women have long traditions of peer support and self-advocacy that has been advanced by the current digital age. Social media and online platforms have become spaces where Black women share and connect with other Black women, and campaign for their own needs regarding health care access and navigation. Drawing on the findings emerging from a focus group discussion between six Black women that explored their experiences in Ontario based health care settings, this paper describes women’s suggestions for increasing access to Black and women-centered virtual health-related support and advocacy. Findings reveal that despite being young, Canadian-born and university educated, anti-Black racism and sexism permeates the health care encounters of all Black women; that Black women engage in emotionally taxing labour to have their health care needs met; and that Black women’s positive and challenging experiences inform their suggestions for support and advocacy online with other Black women. The women’s visions for health care support and advocacy expose an urgency for race and gender-specific online health care support and health care reform that acknowledges the legacies of Black patients and goes beyond structural competency. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW)

Bakgrund: Efter en särskild händelse, som till exempel barnhjärtstopp eller oväntade dödsfall, kan sjuksköterskor uppleva en negativ påverkan på sitt emotionella välbefinnande och sin yrkesmässiga förmåga. För att mildra de påfrestningar sjuksköterskan utsätts för i arbetet visar forskning att någon form av stöd är viktigt, men det saknas konsensus om vilket som är det optimala stödet efter en särskild händelse. Forskning indikerar att bristande välmående hos sjuksköterskor kan ge empatitrötthet, vilket kan ge en negativ påverkan på patientvården. Syfte: Att beskriva sjuksköterskors upplevelser efter en särskild händelse på akutmottagning. Metod: En kvalitativ metod med induktiv ansats användes och genomfördes genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med sjuksköterskor på en akutmottagning i södra Sverige. Urvalet var ändamålsenligt och resulterade i tolv informanter. Graneheim och Lundmans innehållsanalys användes för att analysera och sortera data i gemensamma kategorier.   Resultat: Det övergripande temat var mänsklig sårbarhet och stödets inverkan, vilket framkom i den latenta analysen. Den bygger på den manifesta analysen där tre kategorier framkom; Känslomässig påverkan; Behovet av stöd och avlastning och Utmaningen i att få adekvat stöd. Slutsats: Slutsatsen är att det är viktigt att sjuksköterskor får tillgång till direkt avlastning och stöd för att mildra de känslomässiga påfrestningar som kommer efter en särskild händelse. / Background: After a critical incident, such as pediatric cardiac arrest or unexpected death, nurses may experience a negative impact on their emotional well-being and professional ability. Research indicates that some form of support is important to mitigate the stress that nurses experience at work, but there is no consensus on what the optimal support after such an event is. Research suggests that nurses' poor well-being can lead to compassion fatigue, which can negatively affect patient care. Aim: To describe nurses' experiences after a critical incident in the emergency department. Method: A qualitative method with an inductive approach was used and conducted through semi-structured interviews with nurses at an emergency department in the southern region of Sweden. A purposive sampling method was selected and resulted in twelve participants. Graneheim and Lundman's content analysis was used to analyze and sort data into common categories. Results: The overarching theme was human vulnerability and the impact of support, which emerged in the latent analysis. It is based on the manifest analysis where three categories emerged: Emotional impact; Need for support and relief; and Challenges of obtaining adequate support. Conclusion: The conclusion shows the importance of providing nurses access to immediate counseling and support to mitigate the emotional stress that follows a critical incident.

This study examined disabled people’s access to independent living in Scotland and Norway. At the time of the field work for this research in 2012, the literature revealed no comparable social enquiry combining the concepts of citizenship, independent living and governance. Within disability studies, independent living denotes a perspective that recognises the interconnected nature of life areas that affect lived experiences of disablement and inclusion of disabled citizens. From the independent living movement, Centres for Inclusive Living emerged as unique governance structures with full service-user involvement and run by disabled people for disabled people. This study focused upon to what extent the organisational governance structures in the Glasgow Centre for Inclusive Living (GCIL) and Uloba Centre for Independent Living (Uloba) in Norway facilitate or impede disabled people’s access to independent living. The methodology adopted a mixed methods approach. The central method involved organisational case studies with GCIL and Uloba. This enabled an in-depth qualitative exploration through semi-structured interviews with the case study employees, service-user/co-owners and key experts within each country. In addition, an online survey was distributed to other organisations that operated within the disability field. The analytical framework used an integration of the social relational model of disability (Thomas, 1999) and meso level governance analysis (Lowe, 2004). The social relational model of disability provided structural (macro) and agency (micro) level interpretations and an emphasis on psychosocial elements of disability. It also enabled the synergy of a theory of impairment alongside a theory of disability. Meso (organisational) governance analysis focused attention on the connections between organisations in society. This focus revealed the lateral relationships with other meso level bodies, macro institutions and micro individual action. Research participants prioritised the areas of peer support, accessible housing and personal assistance. Peer support was found to take both informal and formal manifestations and acted as a foundation for the other two areas of independent living. The findings highlighted that Centres for Inclusive Living provide facilitation for access to independent living across macro, meso and micro tiers of society. In particular, empowerment, peer support and user led governance formed key strategies that enhanced disabled people’s access to independent living in Scotland and Norway.

Emotions are a part of social work, and how the employees manage and process them can affect the quality of the services that they provide. It is therefore of importance to explore how social workers can manage and process their emotions and which support and possibilities to do so their organizations provide. This study is based on Hochschild´s theory of emotional labour, using her concept deep acting and surface acting. The aim of this study has been to examine similarities and differences in managing emotions between two different social work practices, one social services unit and one treatment unit. In order to explore this we conducted two focus group interviews, one at each unit. The study showed that both units were affected emotionally by their work and the actions of their clients. The treatment unit appears to primarily use deep acting and the social services unit appears to primarily use surface acting. The need to process their emotions is fulfilled in both places, primarily through collegial support and because they themselves creates the time to process, but the organization does not create any specific space for this.