This study sought to better understand program evaluation capacity and competency amongst public health nurses. Program evaluation plays a vital role in public health and is an identified core competency for public health practice (Canadian Public Health Agency). In Part One, I conducted a scoping review to systematically map the current literature on this topic and to identify important areas for future research. Twenty-three articles were selected based on pre-established exclusion and inclusion criteria and the assistance of a secondary reviewer. The articles highlighted the value of program evaluation in public health and its importance as a nursing skill amidst the evolving health care sector. Themes identified included: a broader lack of public health competencies (including program evaluation) among all public health professionals; the complexities and challenges of evaluating public health interventions; and the uncertainty of what constitutes adequate evaluation competency in public health. Furthermore, my review noted inconsistent terminology to describe a public health nurse and the need for further exploration around the specific evaluation capacity of public health nurses. In Part Two, I explored the stated or expected evaluation competencies for public health nurses through a document review of relevant Canadian public health nursing core competencies, guidelines, and standards for practice. The identification of 52 stated evaluation competencies, demonstrates the assumption that public health nurses have competency and or capacity related to program evaluation and contrasts with the themes identified in my scoping review. Furthermore, the documents I reviewed included no specific reference to the Canadian Evaluation Society (CES), however some of the included content did align with the CES Program Evaluation Standards. This study demonstrates a misalignment between the discourse in the literature reviewed related to evaluation competency amongst public health nurses and the stated or assumed evaluation competencies put forth in leading public health nursing documentation. In the absence of any standardized evaluation training and preparation for public health nurses, further exploration is needed around what these broad evaluation competencies mean in practice and how they can be objectively assessed, exhibited, and better integrated into public health nursing education and evaluation capacity building activities. These questions warrant further investigation to ensure public health interventions are properly evaluated and that public health nurses have the competencies required for effective public health practice.

No description available.

Bakgrund: I Sverige lider 20 % av den äldre befolkningen av någon form av psykisk ohälsa. En av de vanligaste diagnoserna är depression och kan klassas som en folksjukdom. Risken för att drabbas av depression ökar med stigande ålder. Samsjuklighet kan leda till att diagnostik och behandling kompliceras. Depression sänker den drabbades livskvalitet och ökar risken för mortalitet även vid lindriga sjukdomstillstånd. Hos de äldre kan symtombilden på depression skilja sig från den yngre och medelålders patientgruppen. En obehandlad depression medför ett onödigt lidande för den drabbade. Sjuksköterskans kärnkompetens samverkan i team blir en viktig komponent för att kunna erbjuda patienten en god och personcentrerad omvårdnad.  Syfte: Syftet med litteraturstudien var att belysa vårdpersonals erfarenheter av att vårda äldre patienter med depression. Metod: Litteraturstudien grundades på studier med kvalitativ ansats. Databassökningarna utfördes i Cinahl, PubMed och PsycInfo. Efter urval och kvalitetsgranskning valdes tio vetenskapliga studier med kvalitativ ansats. Artiklarnas resultat analyserades enligt Fribergs analysmodell.  Resultat: Under analysarbetet framkom tre teman och två subteman under vartdera temat. Första temat var Identifiering av depression med subteman Vikten av att vara lyhörd och Att skapa en tillitsfull vårdrelation. Andra temat var Organisatoriska förutsättningar med subteman Tidsbrist och prioritering och Avsaknad av rutiner. Tredje temat var Olika behandlingsmetoder med subteman Främja aktivitet och grundläggande behov och Varierande uppfattning om läkemedelsbehandling.  Konklusion: Litteraturstudien visade att vårdpersonalen upplevde brister i vården av äldre patienter med depression. Vårdpersonalen önskade tydligare struktur och rutiner inom organisationen. Ökad kunskap om depression hos äldre var även något som vårdpersonalen efterfrågade för att kunna identifiera sjukdomen och ge en god omvårdnad. / Background: In Sweden 20 % of the elderly suffer from mental illness. One of the most common diagnoses is depression and it can be seen as a common disease. The risk of developing depression increases with increasing age. Co-morbidity can complicate diagnosis and treatment. Depression lowers the patient's quality of life and increases the risk of mortality even in mild illnesses. In the elderly, the symptom picture of depression may differ from the younger and middle-aged patient group. An untreated depression causes unnecessary suffering for the patient. The nurse's core competence collaboration in teams will be an important component to be able to offer the patient good and person-centered care.  Aim: The aim of this literature review was to illustrate healthcare professionals’ experiences of treating older people with depression. Method: The literature study was based on studies with a qualitative approach. The database searches were performed in Cinahl, PubMed and PsycInfo. After selection and quality review, ten scientific studies with a qualitative method were included. The results of the articles were analyzed according to Friberg's analysis model.  Results: During the analysis work, three themes and two sub-themes emerged under each theme. The first theme was Identifying depression with following subthemes; The importance of being responsive and Creating a trusting care relationship. The second theme was Organizational conditions with sub-themes Lack of time and prioritizing and Lack of routines. The third theme was Different treatment methods with sub-themes Promoting activity and basic needs and Varying perception of drug treatment.  Conclusion: The literature review showed that the healthcare professionals experienced shortcomings in the care of elderly patients with depression. The healthcare professionals wanted a clearer structure and routines within the organization. Increased knowledge about depression in the elderly was also something that the healthcare professionals requested in order to be able to identify the disease and provide good care.

Bakgrund: För att ge god vård behövs ett gott bemötande. Barn har lika stor rätt som vuxna att bli bemötta utifrån sina individuella behov. Sjuksköterskan ska stödja barn till att vara delaktiga i sin vård för att barnens rättigheter ska kunna tillgodoses. Kommunikation och att vårda utifrån livsvärlden är viktiga aspekter i bemötandet och föräldrar utgör en stor del av barnets livsvärld. Syfte: Att beskriva vårdpersonalens bemötande av barn, utifrån ett föräldraperspektiv. Metod: Studien genomfördes som en enkätstudie med kvalitativ analys. Resultat: Resultatet synliggör betydelsen av ett gott bemötande för att barn ska känna sig trygga och involverade i sin vård. Fyra huvudkategorier formulerades, vilka är: Vikten av riktad och barnanpassad kommunikation, tonlägets betydelse, pedagogiska förhållningssättets betydelse för delaktighet och tid är en faktor. Konklusion: För att möjliggöra ett gott bemötande bör sjuksköterskan se varje barn som en unik individ och utforma bemötandet utifrån varje barns unika behov. Sjuksköterskan behöver även ha kunskap om barns utveckling och förståelse relaterat till mognad, och vara flexibel i bemötandet. / Background: To provide good care, good treatment is needed. Children have as much right as adults to be treated well based on their individual needs. Nurses must support children's involvement in their own care so that the children's rights can be met. Communication and caring based on the lifeworld are important aspects of the treatment and parents make up a large part of the child's lifeworld. Aim: To describe healthcare professionals treatment of children, from a parent's perspective. Method: The study was conducted as a questionnaire study with qualitative analysis. Results: The results highlight the meaning of good treatment for children to feel safe and involved in their care. Four main categories were formulated, which are: The importance of directed and child-adapted communication, the importance of tone, the meaning of the pedagogical approach for participation and time is a factor. Conclusion: To enable good treatment, the nurse should see each patient as a unique individual and tailor the treatment based on each child's unique needs. The nurse also needs to have knowledge of children's development and understanding related to maturity, and adjust treatment accordingly.

Automation recently implemented for some and awaiting to be implemented for others is set to revolutionize the field of accounting, as well as the roles and responsibilities of those who work in it. This study will present and analyze the impacts of current emerging technologies on the accounting profession through first-hand interviews with current accounting professionals. Secondary data obtained will provide the reader with the proper context and background of these technologies, while the primary data acquired from the interviews will explain the implications such technologies will have or are currently having in their respective companies/firms. The results of this study are meant to further inform, educate, and provide clarity as to what current or aspiring accounting professionals can expect as they venture into a transformed accounting landscape.

Worldwide, changes in the family have become more evident. Many of the traditional roles that families used to play are now performed by other institutions, such as schools, churches, a variety of welfare agencies and non-governmental organizations. Families in South Africa are no exception, as many South African families are faced with challenges that have a negative impact on their ability to sustain themselves and their members. The previous Minister of Social Development, Doctor Zola Skweyiya, rightly acknowledged that, in order to address the needs of vulnerable groups in our communities effectively, we need a particular focus on the role of the family, both as a developmental and as a supporting institution. In responding to these challenges, the Department of Social Development developed a new Manual on Family Preservation Services (Department of Social Development, 2008b), with the aim of training social service professionals to deliver family preservation services. In order for the programme envisaged by the developers of the Manual to be implemented efficiently, the Norms and Standards Policy on Developmental Social Welfare Services (Department of Social Development, 2007a:52-57) mandates the roll-out of the training and education by all provinces. Thus all social service professionals are mandated to implement family preservation services as stipulated by the Norms and Standards Policy on Developmental Social Welfare Services (Department of Social Development, 2007a) and the Draft National Family Policy (Department of Social Development, 2008a). In her role as one of the trainers on family preservation services who was also responsible for monitoring and evaluating these services in the provinces, the researcher observed the inadequacy and inconsistency of the concept of family preservation services in reporting among social service professionals despite the training and capacity-building carried out by the Department of Social Development. The researcher therefore investigated, first, whether the formulation of the Manual on Family Preservation Services lacks clarity relating to the theoretical framework and operational definition of key concepts which are supposed to assist social service professionals in rendering effective family preservation services. Second, she interviewed 20 social workers regarding their experiences on the formulation and implementation of the Manual. This is a small sample in terms of representing social workers in the country. In total, 37 social workers were originally interviewed, but, because it transpired that they had never attended any training on the Manual for Family Preservation Services, their data were excluded from the empirical study, even though they are implementing these services. The researcher was therefore interested in analysing the formulation of the Manual on Family Preservation Services and also analysed the experiences of social workers regarding the formulation and implementation of the Manual, with the aim of identifying gaps and improving service delivery to families. The researcher reviewed prior literature on systems theory, which is fundamental in addressing family dynamics, the family life cycle and its stages. She also considered literature on family preservation services on four levels of service delivery, the stages of the policy cycle and the overview of the Draft National Family Policy, as well as the Manual of Family Preservation Services. In this study, the researcher adopted an explanatory design, which is a form of mixed methods research. The overall purpose of an explanatory design is to gather qualitative data that help to explain or build upon initial quantitative results from the first phase of the study. In order to collect quantitative data, the researcher used a checklist for a content analysis of the formulation of the Manual on Family Preservation Services. She then conducted semi-structured interviews to collect qualitative data about social workers’ experiences regarding the formulation and implementation of the Manual on Family Preservation Services in eight provinces. The researcher did a pilot test of the semi-structured interview schedule, which helped her to refine two questions that were understood differently by the two social workers who participated in the pilot test. After latent coding, the quantitative data were analysed manually, while the qualitative data were coded according to Creswell’s model for qualitative data analysis. The quantitative empirical results revealed some limitations in the formulation of the Manual on Family Preservation Services. Such limitations include an unclear definition of the concept of family preservation services, the omission of objectives from the Manual, confusion with regard to the theoretical frameworks applied, a lack of clarity on the role of volunteers, the process of providing training and capacity-building to social service professionals, monitoring and evaluation plan. These findings were confirmed by the social workers who were interviewed. They exposed the confusion that exists on the definition of family preservation services, the objectives, the theoretical frameworks, the role of volunteers, high case-loads, which they linked to a shortage of social workers and the fact that resources, training and capacity-building on family preservation services are not prioritized. It was therefore recommended that the issues highlighted above be addressed and be included in a revised Manual, and that relevant material also be provided to social service professionals who need to implement family preservation services. / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / tm2015 / Social Work and Criminology / DPhil / Unrestricted

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The value of accountability as a key feature of strengthening health systems and reducing maternal, newborn and child mortality is increasingly emphasised globally, nationally and locally. Frontline health professionals and managers play a crucial role in promoting maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) services in an equitable and accountable manner. They are at the interface between higher-level health system management and communities, facing demands from both sides and often expected to perform beyond their available means. Although accountability is a central topic in the governance of MNCH literature, it has mostly been approached at global and national levels, with little understanding of how accountability is integrated into the routine functioning of local health systems.

Syftet med denna studie är att med narrativet i fokus undersöka hur fem sjuksköterskor ser på sittarbete och hur de navigerat sig igenom det under COVID-19 pandemin. Det empiriska materialetbestår av semistrukturerade kvalitativa intervjuer som hölls med fem sjuksköterskor som alla vårdatcovidpatienter. Materialet analyserades genom tematisk narrativ analys och strukturell narrativ analys.Den tematiska analysen identifierade ett antal övergripande teman i sjuksköterskornas berättelser;bakgrund, tillbakablickande, nya arbets- och förhållningssätt, kollegialt stöd, samarbete ochreflektioner samt ovisshet och kunskapsbrist. Sjuksköterskornas berättelser har analyserats genombegreppet meningsskapande samt med Labov och Waletzkys modell om narrativets struktur. Urresultaten framkom att sjuksköterskorna behövt orientera sig genom händelser de inte vetat hur de skaagera inom. För att orientera sig har samtliga informanter påbörjat en meningsskapande process för atttillmäta förståelse till situationen där berättandet haft en central funktion i att göra detta. / The aim of this study is to with focus on narratives examine how five nurses view their work and howthey’ve navigated through it during the COVID-19 pandemic. The empirical data consists ofqualitative semi-structured interviews with five nurses who have been caring for patients diagnosedwith COVID-19. The material was analysed through a thematic narrative analysis and structuralnarrative analysis. The results from the thematic analysis identified a number of general themesretrieved from the nurses’ narratives: background, retrospection, new modes for operation and approach, collegial support, teamwork and reflections as well as uncertainty and knowledge-deficiency. The nurses’ narratives have been analysed through the concept of sensemaking as well as Labov and Waletzky’s model about narrative structure. The results showed that the nurses’ have beencompelled to adjust to events that they lack previous knowledge within. In order for the informants toadjust, they have begun a sensemaking process to allot understanding of the situation in whichnarrating has played a central part.

Bakgrund: Stigmatisering mot överviktiga personer är vanligt världen över och formas av fördomar och okunskap. Att leva med fördomar gentemot sin överviktiga kropp kan skapa en känsla av skuld och skam samt påverka det sociala livet. En stor del hälso- och sjukvårdspersonal uppvisar en avvisande attityd för att vårda patienter med övervikt och många patienter möter viktstigma i sin kontakt med vården. Syftet med litteraturstudien var att undersöka konsekvenserna för överviktiga patienter av stigmatiserat bemötande från hälso- och sjukvårdspersonal. Metoden var en allmän litteraturstudie där resultatet byggdes på tio vetenskapliga artiklar. Resultatet i artiklarna belyste patienters upplevelse om de konsekvenser ett stigmatiserat bemötande inom hälso- och sjukvården kan innebära för dem. Resultatet visar att ett stigmatiserat bemötande ifrån hälso- och sjukvårdspersonal medför flera negativa konsekvenser för den överviktiga patienten. Resultatet mynnade ut i fem teman, en känsla av skuld och skam, oönskade råd och rekommendationer, den skambelagda kroppen, undvikande av hälso- och sjukvården samt bristande kommunikation. Slutsatsen visar att den personcentrerade vården var bristfällig. Till följd av tidigare vårderfarenheter som präglats av viktstigma valde patienter att inte söka vård vilket ses som den mest allvarsamma konsekvensen i resultatet. För att främja hälsa och ge en personcentrerad vård behöver sjuksköterskan vara medveten om de konsekvenser det stigmatiserade bemötandet medför och aktivt arbeta för en förändring. / Background: Stigmatization against people with overweight is common today worldwide and is an outcome of prejudice and ignorance. Living with prejudice against the overweight body can create guilt or shame and affect social life. Many healthcare professionals show a dismissive attitude towards caring for overweight patients, and many patients encounter weight stigma in their contact with healthcare. The aim of the literature study was to investigate the consequences for overweight patients of stigmatized approach from healthcare professionals. The method used was a general literature study based on ten scientific articles. The articles' results highlighted the overweighted patients' experiences of the consequences of a stigmatized approach in healthcare could bring. The results show that a stigmatized approach from healthcare professionals has several negative consequences for an overweight patient. The result contains five themes, a feeling of guilt and shame, unwanted advice and recommendations, the disgraced body, avoidance of health care and lack of communication. The conclusion shows that the person-centered care was inadequate. As a result of previous healthcare experiences containing weight stigma, patients chose not to seek care, which is seen as the most serious consequence in the result. In order to promote health and provide person-centered care, healthcare professionals need to be aware of the consequences of the stigmatized approach and actively work for a change.

Magister Scientiae (Nutrition Management) - MSc(NM) / In South Africa, healthcare professionals (HCPs) are at an increased risk of developing non-communicable diseases due to their unhealthy lifestyle behaviours, which mainly consist of excessive alcohol drinking and smoking, physical inactivity, and unhealthy diets. Attitudes towards healthy eating, a healthy lifestyle, and physical activity (PA) of individuals contribute towards individuals engaging in these health behaviours.