<p>PROBLEM DISCUSSION: Vaggeryd is a small municipality Småland. In addition to its</p><p>strategic position along the main traffic route E4, Vaggeryd is very interesting also because</p><p>of its advanced view on growing of the business sector, in both short and long-term per-</p><p>spective.</p><p>To meet that goal the municipality of Vaggeryd started to invest in “Egenföretagareutbildningen”</p><p>EFU in cooperation with Jönköping International Business School (JIBS). The</p><p>main idea is that students attend the courses that are held by JIBS and during their studies start their own business in a local business incubator called Fenix.</p><p>PURPOSE: To host such education requires a huge amount of energy and resources from</p><p>the municipality, which consequently would like to get answers to questions like “Is it worth investing in the education?” or “What are the results of such education?”</p><p>The aim of this paper is to give the answers to those crucial questions though I believe that</p><p>the time that has passed from the beginning of the education is too short and that the</p><p>number of the students was not large enough to get definitive answers.</p><p>This paper concentrates on a narrow part of the qualitative research methods – an inter-</p><p>view. It is divided into two parts, a theoretical part and the empirical findings.</p><p>FINDINGS: The research showed that six students out of a total of ten from generation 2005 started a new venture, three will take over a family business, and one has not decided</p><p>to start a business yet. Of six students in generation 2003 four have started a business and one of them finished in bankruptcy, one plans to start a business in the future and one does not have a good business idea.</p><p>RECOMMENDATIONS: Answers that the interviews returned gave interesting sugges-</p><p>tions to both the municipality of Vaggeryd and JIBS about how to improve EFU. I would</p><p>emphasise two, I believe, the most important recommendations. First municipality has to</p><p>attract neighbouring municipalities in the EFU project. In addition, a greater effort should be made to help students build a spider’s web of business contacts.</p>

The prevalence of neurodegenerative disease in India is rising. Regenerative medicine (RM) is being developed to treat these conditions. However, despite advances in RM application for neurological disorders (NeuroRM), there is a lack of research on clinical translation of NeuroRM technologies in developing countries. Given that India is one of the first nations to translate in this field, much can be learned on challenges and solutions arising during translation. This study identifies stakeholders involved in such translation and outlines roles of each; it describes India’s regulatory environment concerning NeuroRM translation; and discusses the impact of collaboration in clinical translation. Twenty-three face-to-face interviews with clinicians, researchers and policy-makers within India were undertaken and transcripts subjected to thematic analysis. The study demonstrates that clinical translation of NeuroRM within India is taking place robustly, it identifies barriers and good practices being adopted, and provides recommendations based on participants’ experiences.

Syftet med studien är att beskriva hur enhetschefer på äldreboenden i en svensk kommun beskriver arbetet med äldres välbefinnande och hur de konkretiserar den samma.  Studien har genomförts med en kvalitativ forskningsmetod i form av semi- strukturerade intervjuer tillsammans med 8 enhetschefer. Intervjuerna har transkriberats och kodats genom innehållsanalys. Resultatet har analyserats utifrån tidigare forskning och olika teoretiska ramar till begreppet välbefinnande. Enhetscheferna som deltog i studien valde att beskriva arbetet med personalen som det främsta sättet att bidra till äldre välbefinnande. Detta görs delvis genom utbildning i socialtjänstlagens nya värdegrund, och delvis i det dagliga arbetet då enhetscheferna tillsammans med personalen arbetar för att stärka den äldres självbestämmande och delaktighet. Slutsatsen från analysen tyder på att självbestämmande är lättare att tillgodose till de äldre som klarar av detta fysiskt och psykiskt. De äldre som inte har dessa förmågor får inte samma möjlighet till välbefinnande, eftersom delaktighet och självbestämmande då behövs göras genom personalen. Avslutningsvis behövs det mer resurser i äldreomsorgen både personalmässigt och utbildningsmässigt för att stärka äldres välbefinnande. Om de personalmässiga resurserna utökas kan detta bidra till mer värdefull individuell tid för den äldre. / The purpose of this study is to explore how managers of elderly care accommodations describes well-being for the elderly and the implementation of this. We interviewed eight managers of elderly care accommodations from a community in Sweden. A qualitative research method was used in the form of semi-structured interviews. The interviews were then transcribed and coded by content analysis. The results were analyzed based on previous research and different theoretical models explaining the concept of well-being.                                                               The managers that took part in this study described that well-being was mostly implemented by the care staff. The staffs are given courses about the guideline values for the care of elderly in special housing. This in accordance to the Social act law 5.kap §4 . The managers of elderly care also work together with their care staff to find ways to strengthen the elderly´s participation and decision making of their care. Our conclusion from this study is that the elderly’s decision making is easier to provide for those who have the physical and mentally strengthen for it. Those who haven’t got those abilities don’t get the chance to feel well-being, and the decision making and participation is then removed from the elderly to the care staff. One way to improve elderly’s well-being could be by expanding the care staff resources so that more individual time can be devoted for the elderly.

Bakgrund: De medicinska insatser, omvårdnad och rehabilitering som erbjuds patienter i primärvård idag är vedertagna och vanligtvisevidensbaserade. Patienter kan få diagnos, behandling och ofta bot för många åkommor. En dimension som dock mindre ofta är tillvaratagen är effekterna av en genomtänkt fysisk miljö. Ett respektfullt bemötande i kombination med en genomtänkt vårdmiljö kan beskrivas som en god vårdatmosfär. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur patienter upplever och uppfattar vårdatmosfären vid besök på en rehabiliteringsenhet i primärvård. Metod: Kvalitativaforskningsintervjuer och kvalitativ innehållsanalys Huvudresultat: En vårdatmosfär kan delas in i tre domäner: Fysisk miljö, Bemötande och Organisation. Inom domänerna finns ett antal kategoriermed variationer: Känsla av kontroll, Fysiska förutsättningar för att bli uppmärksammad, Subjektiva upplevelser av miljön, Kunskap om miljöns effekter, Uppmärksammar och bekräftar, Kommunicerar, Helhetssyn, Patienten i fokus, Delaktighet, Empati, Jämlikt möte, Att göradet ‖lilla extra‖, Innehåll och utbud, Tillgänglighet, Kontinuitet, Vårdkedjor och samverkan, Jämlik vård, Patientens rättigheter, Bemötandeandaoch förbättrings-och utvecklingsanda.Temat som framkommit är Att bli sedd, att vara värdefull. Slutsats: Till begreppet vårdatmosfär kan förutom vårdmiljö och bemötande, organisation läggastill. Organisationen ger förutsättningar eller kan försvåra. Ett tema håller samman alla kategorier och det är betydelsen av att bli sedd som ger budskap om att vara värdeful / Background: Medical treatment, care, and rehabilitation offered to patients in primary care settings are established and mostly evidence-based. Patients can receive diagnose, treatment and, quite often, cure. A dimension that receives less attention involves the effects of a carefully planned physical environment. Combined with a carefully planned environment, respectful interaction between patients and health professionals enhancesthe atmosphere of care settings. Aim: This study aimed to investigate how patients experience the atmosphere they encounter when visiting a rehabilitation unit within a primary care unit. Method: Qualitative research interviews and qualitative content analysisResults: The atmosphere in care settings encompasses three domains: physical environment, interaction between patients and health professionals, and the organization. Within these domains, categories include sense of control, physical conditionsfor to attract attention, subjective experience, knowledge of the effects of the environment, attention to and confirmation of the patient, communication, holistic view of the patient, patient in focus, participation, empathy, equality in the meeting, To do ―the little more‖, healthcare content, accessibility, continuity, cooperation, equal care, patient rights, spirit of interaction between patient and health professional, and spirit of improvement and development. The major themes that emerged were the patient’s need to be noticed and valued. Conclusion: Our results suggest that the organization should be added to the concepts of atmosphere in care settings. The organization can create and obstruct careconditions. The overarching theme of these categories is the patient’s need to be noticed and valued / <p>ISBN 978-91-86739-27-0</p>

Divorce has long been described as one of the most stressful experiences that any human being can ever experience. The process of divorce implies numerous sudden and highly stressful changes to any individual affected by it, including children. The literature review of the present study revealed valuable insight regarding the effects of divorce, in particular on children. The studies among them which were found to have identified some of the more detrimental implications of divorce for children in particular, included the studies by Jonsson, Njardvik, Olafsdottir and Gretarsson (2000); Eldar-Avidan, Haj-Yahia and Greenbaum (2009); and Yu, Pettit, Lansford, Dodge and Bates (2010). Despite numerous research studies having been done on the phenomena of divorce both in South Africa and globally, it appears that the majority of these studies mostly focused on its detrimental implications for both children and adults. Few of these studies were found to have focused on possible optimal implications or on effective coping with divorce. Some studies that were found to have touched on the potential optimal effects of parental divorce included the studies by Mullis, Mullis, Schwartz, Pease and Shriner (2007); Graff-Reed (N.D.); and Spalding and Pretorius (2001). One particularly influential study that was, however, identified to have been done on the phenomena of coping with parental divorce, was conducted by Roux (2007) who focused specifically on children’s coping with parental divorce. This study focused exclusively on children and involved interviews with children themselves at the time of their parents’ divorce. No research could be identified on how young adults in South Africa had attempted to cope with their parents’ divorce during their childhood and/or adolescent years. This determination led to an attempt to fill this apparent void in the literature and expand on the study that had been conducted by Roux (2007) by completing the present study. The focus of the present study subsequently fell on how young adults had coped with the divorce of their parents during their childhood and/or adolescent years. The aims of the present study were: * To investigate and obtain a clearer understanding of young adults’ coping with divorce during their childhood and/or adolescent years. * To determine if there were factors that played a role in coping with parental divorce. * To determine what recommendations could be made to the parents of children undergoing divorce. * To determine what recommendations could be made to children while undergoing parental divorce. The research questions that were included in the present study for the aforementioned purpose included the following: * How did young adults cope with the divorce of their parents during their childhood and/or adolescent years? * Were there factors that played a role in their coping and if so what were the factors? * What would they recommend to the parents of children during and after divorce? * What would they recommend to children during and after parental divorce? Semi-structured retrospective interviews were conducted with 15 participants in the completion of the present study. Each of these interviews where transcribed and the relevant data were analysed from these transcriptions by firstly reading of the protocols, followed by dividing them into natural meaning units (NMUs), performing linguistic transformation, integrating the NMUs with related themes, synthesising the data and developing a general description before it was finally documented and published. Selection of the participants was made by means of snowball sampling, as young adults nominated acquaintances whom they believed may also be willing to participate in the research (Whitley, 2002). The value of the present study was that it expanded the knowledge base regarding young adults’ coping with parental divorce during their childhood and/or adolescent years. It also culminated in the creation of a set of recommendations for both children and adults that would promote effective coping among them with parental divorce. It is hoped that these insights and recommendations will enable psychologists, social workers, counsellors, health care practitioners and/or any other individual/s involved with assisting families during divorce, to cope more effectively with this event. It is also hoped that further future research and follow-up studies into this particularly relevant and far reaching phenomenon will continue to be conducted by other researchers both in South Africa and abroad. / PhD (Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Increasingly, gastronomy is playing a role in people’s motivation for travel, and destinations are making food and beverages their main attraction. This study explored the growing field of gastronomic tourism, a type of niche tourism, through the theoretical framework of destination branding theory. Using a qualitative case study research design, this research examined the branding of the emergent region of Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada as a gastronomic niche tourism destination from the perspective of tourism industry players. Findings indicated that the region turned to gastronomic tourism due to its agricultural history and need for economic development. It was also found that tourism industry players utilized the processes of brand identity, product development, collaboration, support and communication to brand the region. This study contributes scholarly and practical knowledge to the areas of tourism and branding, by providing insight into the development, management and promotion of destination brands.

No description available.

Background: In recent years Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has gained increasing status as a promising approach to treating chronic pain physical functioning and psychological well-being. The basic premise of ACT as applied to chronic pain is that while pain hurts, it is the struggle with pain that causes suffering. This approach aims to restore effective and adaptive functioning for an individual within a context of continuing pain so that the individual can live a more vital and meaningful life. There is a growing empirical support for the effectiveness of ACT however research has relied on self-reported quantitative outcomes, focused on addressing changes in pain intensity and the physical and psychological impact of chronic pain. There appears to be a gap in the literature on the exploration of the experience of attending an ACT programme for chronic pain from the patient’s perspective. Aim: This study sought to explore the experience of attending an ACT programme for chronic pain within an outpatient NHS hospital setting. Furthermore the study sought to explore the modulating factors influencing clients learning and understanding of the construct of acceptance from the perspective of the participants. Additionally, the experience of attending a group based ACT intervention was explored. Methodology: A qualitative methodology was chosen for the project. The study used a purposive sample of twelve participants, who had all attended the Luton & Dunstable Hospital ACT 8 week outpatient programme for chronic pain. The participants were interviewed through the use of a semi structured interviews, and the transcripts were transcribed and then analysed using Thematic Analysis. Identified themes were further organised using the tool of Thematic Network Analysis. Results: Three global themes emerged from the analysis of the data. The first global theme encompassed the participant’s pre-programme expectations and this theme highlighted the participant’s feelings of hope and hopelessness prior to attending the programme. The second global theme demonstrated the on-going process of living with chronic pain and highlighted the benefits and barriers to adopting and ACT based approach to chronic pain. Finally the third global theme addressed the experience of a group based intervention and included the positive and negative aspects of this experience for the participants. Clinical Implications & Conclusion: Based on the results of this study a number of clinical implications were highlighted in relation to the future development of ACT programmes for chronic pain. These included suggestions in relation to engaging participants in such programmes. Notably, timing issues, validation of physical symptoms, and consideration of the potential barriers to acceptance and understanding of the benefits of adopting and ACT group based pain management approach were discussed.

Female sexual pain is a common problem affecting women worldwide yet remains a poorly researched area of women’s sexual health. Dyspareunia and vaginismus are two types of sexual pain disorder each having psychological and physical health consequences for women and their partners. Part 1: A literature review of the qualitative research literature exploring women’s experiences of sexual pain disorders and their treatment was conducted adopting a narrative synthesis approach. Searches of psychological and medical electronic databases highlighted the paucity of research exploring women’s experiences of sexual pain disorders. Ten studies met the inclusion criteria for the review. The type of qualitative method and quality varied. Findings highlighted the complexity of women’s experiences of sexual pain. Positive experiences of treatment identified alternative benefits of treatment in addition to the traditional outcome of vaginal penetration and penetration without pain. Existing literature has focussed on dyspareunia, and further research is needed on vaginismus. Part 2: The research study used an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) of women’s experiences of vaginismus. Three women were interviewed about their experiences of vaginismus and the treatment they received. Interview transcripts were analysed using IPA. The findings identified the complexity of experiencing vaginismus, the struggle the women faced when trying to make sense of their vaginismus and the wider impact of these experiences on their identity. The findings highlight the value of psychological therapy with this client group and of the need to raise awareness amongst primary care professionals whom women with vaginismus are likely to consult in the first instance. Part 3: A critical appraisal of the research process is presented with focus on the experience of conducting qualitative research as a trainee clinical psychologist. A discussion of the findings is presented in the context of critical reflections on both the strengths and limitations of the study.

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses have been a central pillar of evidence-based practice and policy-making in healthcare over recent years. Traditionally, this has focused on effectiveness evidence from trials.. There is increasing understanding, however, that other study designs also provide essential information and this has led to interest in developing ways to review and synthesis such evidence. Qualitative research has unique potential to illuminate the patient experience. This research has three aims: 1) To review and compare the proposed methods of systematic review and synthesis of qualitative research. 2) To develop and assess two methods of systematic review and synthesis of qualitative research. 3) To compare these two methods and suggest how they might be used in a policy-making context. In addressing these aims, this thesis substantially contributes to debates about the purpose and practice of systematic review and synthesis of qualitative research, particularly in the context of health technology assessment and related pOlicy-making. I undertake a unique critical comparison of the methods suggested for reviewing and synthesising qualitative research, based on their approach to key stages of systematic review. This is used to produce a comprehensive framework for good practice~ I use the framework in two systematic reviews, one about heavy menstrual bleeding using meta-ethnography, and one about hysterectomy using meta-study. These two reviews allow a comparison of the two methods, and in particular explore the impact of expanding the meta-ethnography approach through meta-study, which adds explicit steps to assess the impact of study methodology and theory on findings. The ability of meta-study to unpack the procedures and theories that produce particular findings is key and illuminates the importance of theory in systematic reviews of qualitative research. Through the two systematic reviews, my thesis also contributes to understanding of these reproductive health topic areas through the creation of new insights and concepts from the synthesis. The synthesis of heavy menstrual bleeding studies produced a detailed patient illness model based on women's experiences. In addition, it allowed an understanding of elements that contribute to women's certainty or uncertainty about whether or not their periods could be seen as problematic and requiring medical help. This helps to establish the limitations of the medical model for doctors, as well as women who suffer from heavy menstrual bleeding. The synthesis of hysterectomy studies produced a detailed description of the journey that women make to, and through, hysterectomy, based on their experiences. I also created a theoretical framework, which shows that hysterectomy needs to be understood in the context of personal, physical experiences, together with sociocultural forces that affect the way in which hysterectomy is experienced, and that the interaction of these micro- and macro-concerns mediate through, and affect, relationships with key other people. Methodology affected the research questions posed and the conclusions of research. Comparing the two methods of review and synthesis showed the importance of taking account of the methods and theories that produce research findings. However this additional detail may be at the expense of certainty and requires additional resources.