Why do we do sport? Why do we consider what we eat? Why have our parents done doctor’s checking for us when we were kids?  One answer is to keep our healthiness. Healthiness is a main key in my master degree project. In this project I have explored such daily life behaviors that influence on our physical healthiness. I have looked into the ‘health’ as a main topic and ‘quality of life’ as a sub-topic from three perspectives: medical science, life-style studies, and industrial design. I have collected information from specialists, designers, and target users by use of surveys and interviews besides of literature studies. I have applied the outcomes of the research in designing a lamp in order to adjust the sleeping and awakening time. The health-oriented function of the lamp is based on the colors of light which it provides. In Nordic country there is a special situation in terms of day-light. It is different in north and south parts. But in general in half of the year specifically in few month most of hours of 24 hours are dark and it’s opposite in another half of a year. This situation effects on a human-body biological clock and disturbs times of sleeping and awakening. To re-adjust right timing I have suggested using a lamp which provides a variation of lights from bluish cold to reddish warm.

The medical management of ulcerative colitis in children often requires aggressive pharmacological therapy or colonic resection. We hypothesized that synbiotic therapy, consisting of <i>B. longum</i> R0175 and inulin would improve symptoms and quality of life (QOL) in children diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. Consenting pediatric subjects (8-18 years; n = 9) with ulcerative colitis in remission were provided synbiotic therapy, (Probiotic: <i>Bifidobacterium longum</i> R0175 2.0 x 1010 cfu/day; Prebiotic: 15 g/day of inulin) (n = 4) or placebo (maltodextrin + ascorbic acid capsule; 15 g/day of non-resistant maltodextrin) (n = 5) for ten months in a pilot study (Phase I). After ten months, the study was unblinded and synbiotic therapy was administered to eight pediatric subjects (Phase II). In attempt to increase sample size, three adult subjects with active UC were recruited and provided the synbiotic therapy (Phase III). In all phases of the research, QOL was measured using the Short Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (SIBDQ). The SIBDQ was administered at baseline and every two months. Subjects kept a daily records of symptoms (stool consistency and frequency, presence of blood and mucous, presence of abdominal pain and overall feeling). Phase I QOL scores were significantly better for those receiving the synbiotic therapy versus the placebo (p = 0.014). Severe symptoms occurred in 60% of the control subjects, where as subjects receiving synbiotic therapy did not experience severe symptoms (p = 0.032). Phase II QOL scores were significantly better post-treatment with synbiotic therapy (p=0.034). One subject (steroid dependant) was able to wean off Prednisone® while receiving the synbiotic therapy; she remained in remission and was symptom free for over 26 months. In Phase III, synbiotic therapy did not induce remission in the adult subjects with active UC. No adverse effects were reported.<p>Synbiotic therapy consisting of <i>Bifidobacterium longum</i> R0175 and inulin, when provided in addition to conventional treatment, appears to be a safe and effective strategy for managing pediatric ulcerative colitis in remission.Further clinical trials are warranted to confirm these preliminary results.

The increase in the academic literature concerning the potential impacts that urban park systems can have over the life course of urban residents is beginning to be recognized by professionals in the fields of community quality of life studies, population health and in health geography. Typically urban spaces within Canada are designed to include a component of open space which can facilitate the recreation needs of residents. Within the City of Saskatoon neighbourhoods have such spaces in the form of neighbourhood parks, which are meant to facilitate passive or active recreation. Parks also provide open spaces of vegetation cover as opposed to the concrete and structural components of the city. Parks are meant to positively contribute to the residents lives and to the neighbourhood in which they are located. <p>In community quality of life studies, open spaces, such as parks along with other neighbourhood attributes, are often used to gauge residents perceptions of their immediate surroundings. The Saskatoon Quality of Life Project conducted by the Quality of Life Module at the Community-University Institute for Social Research (CUISR) conducted such a study in 2004 in which park spaces were related alongside other neighbourhood features such as transportation and social activities in order to capture residents perceptions of their community quality of life. <p>The purpose of this study is to look at how residents of differing socio-economic status (SES) neighbourhoods (one high SES and one low SES) perceive their neighbourhood park spaces and if their perceptions affect their perceived quality of life. In order to capture residents perceptions of their neighbourhood parks, face-to-face interviews were conducted with residents. In addition to the resident interviews, interviews were conducted with key informants as well as statistical analysis of secondary data from the 2004 Saskatoon Quality of Life Project was carried out. Results showed residents of different neighbourhood SES status shared common perceptions of their park spaces as well as how neighbourhood parks contributed to their quality of life.

Sammanfattning   Syftet med denna litteraturstudie var att beskriva livskvalitet hos personer som genomgått en amputation av en extremitet utifrån ett fysiskt, psykiskt och socialt perspektiv. Sökning av artiklar har utförts i databaserna Medline, Cinahl och genom manuell sökning i några av artiklarnas referenslistor. Sjutton artiklar valdes för analysen, som genomfördes på ett systematiskt arbetssätt där fynden i artiklarnas resultat grupperades i tre huvudkategorier och nio underkategorier. Artiklarnas kvalitet granskades med hjälp av checklistor. Resultatet visade att patienter som amputerats fick hela sin existens förändrad. Faktorer som gav lägre livskvalitet hos patienterna var smärta, sämre fysisk funktion, minskad rörlighet och psykisk ohälsa. En faktor som gav bättre livskvalitet hos patienterna var användning av protes. Bättre livskvalitet hos patienterna uppmättes i områdena arbetsmiljö och tillfredsställelse inom familjelivet, jämfört med icke amputerade personer. Författarna ansåg att efter en amputation så omvärderade patienten olika delar i livet och uppskattade andra saker mer än människor som var friska, som kanske tog dessa för givet.   Nyckelord: Amputation, Livskvalitet, Funktionshinder / Abstract   The aim of this literature study was to describe the quality of life of persons who have undergone an amputation of a limb from a physical, mental and social perspective. Search through Medline, Cinahl databases and additional manual search in some of the articles reference lists was conducted. Seventeen articles were chosen for the analysis, which was carried out through a systematic approach and the findings in the articles results were grouped into three categories and nine subcategories. The quality of the articles was reviewed using checklists. The results showed that patients who had been amputated had their whole existence changed. Factors that resulted in lower quality of life of patients were pain, worse physical function, decreased mobility and mental illness. One factor that resulted in better quality of life for patients was the use of prosthesis. Better quality of life in patients was measured in the areas of work environment and satisfaction in family life compared to the healthy subjects. The authors believed that after an amputation the patient revalued different aspects of life and appreciated other things more than people who are healthy, who might have taken things for granted.   Keywords: Amputation, Quality of Life, Disability

The aim of the literature review was to describe how persons living with HIV experience their health-related quality of life, and which coping strategies they use. Scientific articles were searched in the databases Pubmed and Cinahl. The keywords used were HIV, nursing, health-related quality of life and coping. A total of 18 articles were included in the study. The main result of the literature review showed that persons living with HIV have lower health-related quality of life than healthy individuals. Variables that affected the health-related quality of life were gender, age, symptom experience, antiretroviral treatment, self-care/coping and circumstances of life. Use of both problem-oriented coping strategies and emotion-oriented coping strategies were identified in persons living with HIV. Problem-oriented coping strategies contained lifestyle changes, social support and knowledge. Emotion-oriented coping strategies contained spirituality and avoiding behavior. In conclusion, this literature review showed that it is important for the general nurse to understand the situation persons living with HIV are going through and provide support. This support should be individually accommodated, but could for example consist of education, social support, satisfying spiritual needs and encouraging lifestyle changes.

The aim of this study was to describe the experience of quality of life among people who had suffered a stroke. The articles were found through searches in Cinahl and a total of 17 articles were included. The result shows three perspectives which effects the stroke survivor´s lives. These three are physical, psychological and social. The result of this study shows that stroke limits a person’s life in many ways, and has a negative influence on quality of life. Feelings like anxiety are common, and also a fear of having another stroke. Another issue is social isolation, often caused by the physical changes. The physical changes can be dysphagia and paralysis. Support and information is extremely important after a stroke. People who have suffered a stroke often feel fear to go out among other people and often feel like they are a burden to their family and friends. All these things change the person’s quality of life in different ways. Keywords: Stroke, Quality of life and experience / Sammanfattning Syftet med denna studie var att beskriva upplevelsen av livskvalitet hos människor som drabbats av stroke. Detta gjordes genom sökningar i databasen Cinahl och resulterade i att 17 artiklar inkluderades. Resultatet av denna studie visar att en stroke medför många begränsningar för den som drabbas och detta kan påverka deras livskvalitet på ett negativt sätt. Känslor som oro och ångest är vanliga, samt en rädsla att drabbas av en ny stroke. Sociala svårigheter och isolering är ytterligare begränsningar. Den fysiska påfrestningen är otroligt påtaglig vilket ytterligare bidrar till den sociala isoleringen. Dessa fysiska påfrestningar kan till exempel vara dysfagi och förlamning. Stöd och information är oerhört viktigt i efterförloppet av en stroke. Människor som drabbas känner en rädsla för att gå ut bland andra och drar sig lätt undan. De har även en känsla av att alltid vara en börda för sina närstående, vilket leder till att de isolerar sig. Dessa delar sammantaget resulterar i försämrad livskvalitet för de flesta som drabbas, även om det finns undantag.Nyckelord: Stroke, livskvalitet och upplevelse

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most prevalent chronic disorders in childhood. The measurement of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) can compliment ADHD behavior rating scales and provide a more comprehensive understanding of the impact of ADHD and its treatment on the child's overall daily functioning and well-being. The purpose of the current study was to assess HRQOL from the perspective of pediatric patient self-report and parent proxy-report and family impact from the perspective of parents in children with ADHD ages 5 to 18 years being seen at a Pediatric Psychiatric Clinic utilizing the PedsQL(TM) 4.0 Generic Core Scales and Family Impact Module. For all PedsQL(TM) 4.0 Generic Core Scales, pediatric patients with ADHD and their parents reported statistically significant worse HRQOL than healthy children, with large effect sizes across all domains. More impaired generic HRQOL was significantly correlated with more severe ADHD symptoms as measured by the NICHQ Vanderbilt Total ADHD Symptom Score for parent proxy-report but not child self-report. More impaired family functioning was significantly correlated with more severe ADHD symptoms. Intraclass Correlations (ICC) between pediatric patient self-report and parent proxy-report across the PedsQL(TM) 4.0 Generic Core Scales were in the poor to fair agreement range. These findings have implications for future research and clinical practice with pediatric patients with ADHD and co-morbid psychiatric conditions and their families. Given the large effect sizes reported between the present sample and healthy children across all HRQOL domains, it is important that interventions designed for children with ADHD and co-morbid psychiatric conditions not only address psychosocial difficulties, but also the physical impairments that may result from medications and/or co-morbid psychiatric diagnoses such as anxiety or depression. Given our finding that greater ADHD symptomatology was significantly associated with greater negative family impact, interventions for this population should focus on mitigating the negative impact of ADHD and co-morbid psychiatric conditions on families, particularly related to the areas of parental worry, family relationships, and daily family activities.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between family functioning, health-related quality of life, and metabolic control in order to identify areas for intervention that can improve medical and psychosocial outcomes for children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Children (N = 45) ages 8-17, both male and female, with type 1 diabetes, along with one caregiver (parent or legal guardian) (N = 45) were asked to complete the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) generic and diabetes-specific form to assess health-related quality of life along with the Diabetes Family Behavior Checklist and the Family Relationship Index of the Family Environment Scale to assess family functioning. Recent Hemoglobin A1c (A1c) was obtained from the physician at their visit or by parent report to assess metabolic control. Results indicated a significant relationship with poorer metabolic control relating to poorer physical health-related quality of life, as reported by children. All reports indicated a significant correlation between metabolic control and both general and diabetes specific health-related quality of life. There was a significant relationship with mother’s educational level on the outcome variables; educational level was therefore used as a control variable in all regression analyses. Child-reported general family functioning accounted for a significant amount of variance in child reported general health-related quality of life. Parent score on the non-supportive scale for diabetes specific family functioning accounted for a significant amount of variance in parent reported general health-related quality of life and diabetes specific health-related quality of life for their child. Results demonstrated the importance of obtaining both child and parent perspectives on issues regarding general family functioning and health-related quality of life and diabetes specific family functioning and health-related quality of life. In addition, they illustrated the importance of assessing health-related quality of life for children with diabetes as opposed to merely looking at the physical effects.

Summary Directed by Military Streamline Program, the missions and organization of Navy shipyards were undergone a great change in recent years. They were transformed from a ships maintenance facility into a district-liked Logistics Support Command. It not only repairs ships, but also takes care of security measurement and utility management that were once operated by Naval District. During the process of transform and changes, the employees and servicemen of the shipyard are playing an important role in transferring skills and assignments. But the inevitable impact and effects also greatly affected these people on every aspect. There are rare academic studies that focused on Navy logistics service personnel, especially on relationship among ¡§work quality¡¨ and ¡§organizational commitment¡¨. Due to these two factors are useful criteria to evaluate the performance of the streamline program. A further study can help to ease the impact on both organization and its people. The core missions of Logistic Support Commands are ships maintenance and repair that was inherited from the shipyards. The work force is mainly comprised by technical sergeants and civilian employee. Technical sergeants can be replaced through recruiting system, but civilian employee are no longer hiring. The aging and declining of work force would increase the workload and stress on existing person. The situation also greatly affects the quality and competence of Navy ships¡¦ maintenance capability. This thesis is to examine the impact on civilian employee of Logistic Support Command during the streamline process. It focuses on the relationship and affection between ¡§work quality¡¨ and ¡§organizational commitment¡¨ during this specified period. It also can present as an indication for planning department on next stage of streamline. The purposes of this research are to uphold employee¡¦s work quality while organizational commitments decreasing, to implement streamline program properly, to promote work effectiveness, and to fulfill mission adequately. The object of this research is civilian employee of Navy Logistic Support Command. There were total of 182 survey have been delivered, and 177 effective feedbacks were received. The analytical methods are factors analysis, descriptive statistical analysis, correlation coefficient analysis, and regression analysis. The outcomes of this research are: 1. Every factors of streamline process should positively connect to ¡§work quality¡¨ and ¡§organizational commitment¡¨, but ¡§group relationship¡¨ does not. 2. Employee who has more conscious about work quality; such as content, condition, and lifestyle of work, is more likely to remain in the organization and committed to it. 3. ¡§Organizational streamline¡¨ and ¡§organizational commitment¡¨ are positively correlated. The suggestions of this research are: 1. Design streamline program appropriately, and emphasize communication repeatedly. 2. Simplified operation process, and focused on work quality. 3. Encourage employee to life-long learning, diversify his own skill. 4. Persuade senior employee to stay longer, pass their techniques to fresh hands, and strengthen organizational commitment as well.

The purposes of this study were 1) to explore the associations between individual factors, disease factors, family factors, social factors and quality of life ( QoL ), 2) to predict QoL in patients with chronic mental illness ( CMI ), and 3) to understand the needs of caregivers. A cross-sectional and cluster sampling was employed. Structured questionnaires, including a living conditions questionnaire and a psychotic symptom assessment scale, Caregiver Burden Scale, 5-item Brief Symptom Rating Scale ( BSRS-5 ), and the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-12 ( MOS SF-12 ) were used to collect data. Totally, 2023 patients were recruited, males 52.9%, females 47.1%, and a mean age of 44.99¡Ó12.09. Most of these cases were high school educated, unemployed, and had been hospitalized. 12.6% had a history of violence, 8.4% had a history of attempted suicide, 10% had substance abuse, and 5.4% had legal related issues. The most common diagnoses were schizophrenia¡]70.5%¡^and affective disorder¡]19.7%¡^. Single-factor analysis showed those who were unmarried, employed, younger, having less psychological problems, and low levels of psychological distress had better QOL. Besides, sex and education were not related to QOL in personal factors. Current psychotic symptoms and positive symptoms were negatively correlated with QOL. Schizophrenic patients and hospitalized patients reported higher QOL than bipolar patients and community patients in disease factors. Caregiver¡¦s attitude and caregiver¡¦s burden were negatively correlated with QOL in family factors. The unstable housing and community life dysfunction were negatively correlated with QOL in social factors. All significantly correlated variables were entered into hierarchical regression analysis followed the sequence of social factors, family factors, disease factors and individual factors. The results showed all four of these dimensions were significant predictors of MCS and PCS of QoL, explained variance 48.2¢H and 21.2¢H, respectively. Conclusions: Individual factors and disease factors are the most important factors in predicting QoL in CMI patients. Second, family factors are more important than social factors in MCS, and social factors are more important than family factors in PCS. The above evidence indicates a wide range of factors must be considered to improve the QoL in CMI patients.