In the context of organizational development, surveys are important tools for learning about employees’ experiences in the organization. Organizational practice is faced with two main challenges to the successful implementation of surveys. First, the increasing use of surveys may lead to survey fatigue potentially negatively impacting employees’ motivation to engage in surveys. Second, survey results serve as a basis for strategic decision-making in organizations and thus need to be adequate for linkage research or benchmarking practices. The presented research aims to address these two challenges by taking a respondent-centered approach focusing on motivational and cognitive aspects of employees’ experiences while taking surveys. First, it introduces the new construct of survey experience as a respondent- centered criterion of successful survey design (Paper 1). A short-scale is theoretically developed based on user experience theory (Hassenzahl, Platz, Burmester, & Lehner, 2000) and empirically tested and validated in two studies. It, therefore, contributes to the understanding of survey design influences on participant’s motivational processes of survey response. Additionally, the short-scale equips practitioners with a reliable and economic lever to counter possible effects of survey fatigue by creating enjoyable and usable surveys tailored to specific target groups. Second, the presented research addresses cognitive and motivational aspects of survey processing and potential implications for the comparability of results. It, specifically, examines item-wording effects on response behavior on the example of intensifiers in Likert-type item stems of employee attitude surveys (Papers 2 and 3). It, further, considers the role of the organizational setting in determining employees’ response behavior (Krosnick, 1991) in the response process (Tourangeau & Rasinski, 1988) of employee attitude surveys (Paper 3). It, thereby, contributes to the understanding of employees’ response processes in this particular setting and provides practical advice for item-wording practices in organizations. Overall, the three papers bridge the previous literature by considering the survey itself, participants’ motivational and cognitive processes of survey response, and the survey setting in the context of employee attitude surveys together. The results of the presented research highlight the need for a contextual approach to researching and designing surveys that considers interactions between the survey, the participants, and the setting. It, thereby, contributes starting points to enable a more sophisticated approach to understanding survey response in employee attitude surveys.

Bakgrund: Vid forskningsgenomgång framkom det i internationell forskning att det finns kunskap om sjuksköterskans arbetsbelastning, om stressfaktorer på arbetsplatsen och dess negativa påverkan på sjuksköterskans hälsa. Sjuksköterskan upplever en stark arbetsrelaterad stress, där tidspress och hög arbetsbelastning är återkommande fenomen på akutvårdsavdelningar. En kunskapsbrist råder kring sjuksköterskans upplevda hälsa, specifikt i relation till hennes upplevda möjlighet att ge god omvårdnad. Syfte: Studiens syfte var att undersöka sjuksköterskans upplevda hälsa i relation till hennes upplevda möjlighet att ge god omvårdnad i en akutvårdskontext. Metod: Enkätundersökning av empirisk deskriptiv design med kvantitativ ansats. Resultat: Utifrån sjuksköterskornas skattning av hälsa och god omvårdnad sorterades frågorna in i rubrikerna: sjuksköterskans upplevda hälsa, omvårdnadens atmosfär, sjuksköterskans upplevda möjlighet att underhålla omvårdnadens kvalitet och stressorer i arbetsmiljön. Slutsats: Studien illustrerar ett gott exempel på sjuksköterskans upplevelse av hälsa och upplevelse av god omvårdnad i relation till varandra och KASAM. Sjuksköterskan kan ha en hög KASAM eller låg KASAM beroende på hög begriplighet och hanterbarhet men låg meningsfullhet, eller låg begriplighet och hanterbarhet men hög meningsfullhet. Det vill säga att en sjuksköterska väl kan ha god hälsa utan att hon har relation till god omvårdnad om begriplighet och hanterbarhet finns. Likaså kan sjuksköterskan uppleva avsaknad av hälsa med att detta är i relation till att uppleva god omvårdnad om meningsfullhet finns. Klinisk betydelse: Det krävs en insikt om vad relationen hälsa och välmående hos sjuksköterskan, satt i sammanhang med huvuduppgiften, det utförda omvårdnadsarbetet, egentligen kräver. / Background: Internationally, there is an existing knowledge about nurses’ workload, stress factors in workplaces and its negative impact on nurses’ health. In acute care settings, the nurses experience a strong work-related stress, where time pressure and heavy workload are recurring phenomena. A lack of knowledge exists about the nurse's perceived health, specifically in relation to her experienced ability to provide good care. Aim: The aim of this study was to examine nurses’ experienced health, in relation to her experienced ability to provide good nursing, in acute care settings. Method: A survey of empirical descriptive design with quantitative approach. Result: Based on nurses' estimates of health and good nursing, the questions were arranged under the following headlines: experienced health – good nursing, lack of health – absence of nursing, experienced health – absence of nursing and lack of health – good nursing. Conclusion: The study is a good example of the relation between a nurse's experienced health, her cognition of well performed nursing and sense of coherence. The nurse may have a high or low sense of coherence due to high comprehensibility and manageability but low meaningfulness, or low comprehensibility and manageability but high meaningfulness. Due to high comprehensibility and manageability the nurse can experience good health, but it may not be related to good nursing. The nurse can also experience a lack of health but perform good nursing, due to high meaningfulness. Clinical significance: The study indicates that it requires an understanding for the relation between health and well-being of the nurses, put in context with the main task, the nursing.

This study is set out to conduct a comparative analysis of mainstream and alternative media to understand how The Cape Times mainstream newspaper and GroundUp alternative online media outlet framed the 2017 “service delivery protests” in Cape Town, South Africa. Scholarly literature has demonstrated that the mainstream media marginalises the voices of certain communities and that the alternative media can fill this gap. Often, marginalised communities use protests to attract media coverage, as a way of reaching both the public and elected officials. Ultimately, numerous protest groups find it difficult to get the attention they desire, while news coverage of the social conflict is framed within a protests paradigm. The study analyses differences in the two media outlets’ coverage of social conflict, including the use of delegitimising devices such as the prominent use of official sources for quotes, while using dramatic frames that tend to ridicule protest action and portray them as violent. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used in a multimethod approach. The data was found in the SA Media news clippings database, supplemented by searches on Google and the GroundUp search engines. Coverage of the protest in GroundUp was in line with the literature, which states that the horizontal nature, bottom-up and fluid traditions of alternative media may be a more appropriate conduit for protest communications and social movement (Van De Donk et al, 2004; Dahlberg, 2007). The key finding of this study was that the mainstream Cape Times deviated from the protest paradigm, using the protesters as sources in preference to officials. This finding is a departure from the reviewed literature, which indicated that the mainstream media has a habit of following the protest paradigm when covering protests events, marginalising and dehumanising protesters and relying on official sources (Mcleod & Hertog, 1999). It also links to previous scholarship that has established a strong connection between the commercialisation of the media and the robust representation of official sources in the media.

Senior executive leaders face ongoing challenges assessing whether their leadership teams have the competencies to respond to rapidly changing business conditions resulting from negative leader-employee interactions. The purpose of this qualitative single-unit case study was to explore strategies that team leaders at an online, for-profit high school education system located in Delaware, used to sustain positive leader-employee relationships to increase employee productivity. The population consisted of 5 current team leaders (faculty members and executives) at the study site who had experienced team member losses, yet had implemented effective strategies to sustain positive leader-employee relationships and increased employee productivity. The conceptual frameworks that grounded this doctoral study were path-goal and transformational leadership theories. Thematic analysis was used to analyze data collected through semistructured interviews, note taking, and company documents, with member checking implemented to validate the findings. Four themes emerged from the analysis: leadership styles and strategies, motivation, goal setting, and employee engagement and productivity. The implications for positive social change include the potential for top executives, stakeholders, and team leaders to increase the number of positive leader-employee relationships resulting in increased productivity, a favorable organizational reputation, and lower turnover rates, contributing to the financial stability and prosperity of not only employees but also communities and families.

Collaboration is one of the most significant components of inclusive education, according to professional literature. The purpose of this study was to understand the perceptions of intervention specialists in terms of collaboration with general education teachers in elementary school inclusive classrooms and administrative support of collaboration. The collaboration and the community of practice theories were used for the conceptual framework in this study to understand how collaboration is an ongoing interaction between people to achieve a common goal. Research questions were designed to understand the perceptions of intervention specialists who work in inclusive classrooms regarding collaboration and administrative support by documenting their experiences through interviews. In this basic qualitative study, 9 intervention specialists were interviewed. Interview data were analyzed using thematic coding. The results of this study indicated that each participant was a part of a weekly collaboration meeting with teachers, an administrator, and an instructional coach. Most participants reported that they had to complete a 5-step form, and it was not a good source of time because it did not directly focus on students' needs. Most participants also reported that they did not receive training in college or professional development at work on how to collaborate or work in inclusive classroom settings. Participants reported that their administrators were supportive, but some classroom teachers were not. The implications of social change for this study include insight on the importance of collaboration in inclusive classrooms and insight on how administrators can create training programs for the collaboration of all teachers who work in inclusive classrooms.

During the last several decades, venous thromboembolism (VTE) has been identified as a preventable health condition. The gaps in clinical practice have led to an increased incidence of VTE. The lack of using existing evidence-based VTE prevention guidelines in practice has limited the implementation of VTE risk assessment stratifications and affected the appropriateness and timeliness of addressing pharmacologic and mechanical prophylaxis. The purpose of the scholarly project was to educate practitioners on existing VTE prevention practice guidelines. The practice-focused question explored whether an educational learning activity on evidence-based VTE prevention guidelines improved the awareness, knowledge, and compliance with existing evidence-based VTE guidelines of practitioners that assess and treat patients at risk for VTE. The theoretical framework for the project was Lewin's change process theory. A total of 38 participants comprised registered nurses (82%), physicians (5%), nurse practitioners (2%), and nonclinical personnel (11%). A program evaluation was provided to determine the effectiveness of the project. The findings showed that practitioners participated in the learning activity to improve knowledge (48%), increase VTE awareness (43%), and would change the management and treatment of patients at risk for VTE (39%). Hospitalized patients at risk for VTE can benefit from the results of this project through a change in clinical practice that might decrease the incidence of VTE and potentially bring about social change by reducing the number of preventable deaths.

Lower socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and race are associated with reduced health care use in the United States. Patients who continually miss their appointments suffer significant negative results, including a disruption in continuity of care, complications with their chronic illnesses, and an increase in hospital readmissions. The health belief model was used as the theoretical support for this project that investigated the underlying causes of no-shows at an urban hospital-based outpatient clinic in the United States. It used a quantitative, descriptive design and examined a minority, underserved, and underinsured population that was receiving care at the research site and had a fairly consistent 30% no-show rate. Data was collected by anonymous survey from 151 patients and 22 health care providers and analyzed via means, t tests, and an ANOVA. Female patients were significantly more likely than male patients to approve of the current scheduling system at the site, in which patients simply call the clinic for an appointment (p = 0.040). White (non-Hispanic) patients in general had a statistically lower interest in receiving appointment reminders via text compared to the rest of the population (p=0.024). Patients who were 29 years old and younger were significantly less likely than patients who were 30 years old and over to indicate that they did not show up to appointments due to a lack of insurance (p '? 0.001). This project promoted positive social change by increasing patient, staff, and stakeholder awareness of the reasons patients miss their appointments. The findings of this project can be used to improve appointment scheduling, reduce patient wait times, increase patient satisfaction, and increase cost savings to the clinic.

For many years seed growers have thought that definite relationships existed between seed production and the weather. When this subject is approached there is little unity of opinion, even among neighboring seed growers. This lack of unity would indicate that growers generally are aware of some cause which affects seed setting, but they are not certain that any particular condition of the weather is the chief contributing factor. Scientific writers1 on the subject are also confident that weather is probably one of the major factors influencing seed production.

This study has been made in response to some of the problems observed in the general music program of the Logan City School District during the five-year period 1960-1965. As the number of classroom units increased during these years, the function of the elementary music supervisor was modified. Supervision as a "visiting music teacher" on a bi-monthly schedule gradually changed to supervision as a "teacher consultant" whose scheduled classroom visits were once a month or less. During these scheduled visits, the classroom teacher planned and presented two or more music lessons for observation. Other scheduled contacts were either teacher-supervisor consultations, or were supervisor demonstrations int he classrooms, prepared in response to the teacher's requests and needs. More and more supervision time was spent in an effort to help the teacher to teach music, rather than in helping the pupils to sing. This shift of responsibility for teaching the general music program, from the supervisor to the classroom teacher, fostered many problems. Most of these problems were consequence are commented upon in this study. The problem of the "low-singer" crossed classroom and school boundaries and seemed to reflect the values of the whole social climate rather than poor teaching in any one area. Pressures which placed value on little boys as prospective athletes also seemed to push them into shamed avoidance of their soprano child's voice. Boys reached for deep, adult bass tones with avid dedication and ignored the demands of the melody and whatever harm they were doing to their ability to hear and to sing accurately. Some school-room factors seemed to aggravate this problem; teachers and administrators observed accurate singers become progressively more offended by the quality of music made by groups which included out-of-tune singers. When musically oriented pupils began to take private piano lessons, they seemed to realize that they would learn all about music through regular practice on their instrument, and soon abandoned all but token participation in the classroom music period. They pretended to be bass singers, joined the out-of-tuners, and encouraged other boys to do the same. This process accelerated under an idealized man teacher, who was able to sing in a comfortable low voice, or under musically permissive teachers who did not know what musical standards to expect or how to achieve them.

This exploratory study investigated how four independent variables, namely post-marital residence, length of time in a single parent family, gender and change in relative age position in the family, affect the closeness of stepsibling relationships. This research focused primarily on families in which stepsiblings lived together in the same household; however, individuals who had stepsiblings living in another location were also included in the study. A sample of 139 people was generated through a purposive method of requesting names of eligible persons from county extension agents in four Western states (Utah, Idaho, Oregon and Arizona), and from ten introductory classes in Family and Human Development and Sociology during the fall and winter quarters of the 1984-1985 school year.Questionnaires were mailed out. Ninety surveys were returned, yielding a response rate of 65 percent . Seventy-five of the instruments were usable (N=75). The analysis consisted of a two way analysis of covariance for the first three variables. A Kruskal-Wallace was used for the dethronement variable given the small numbers in each of the cells. Post-marital residence and gender of the respondents had no discernible effect on the dependent variable in this study. While the variable months in a single parent family did not have a significant effect on the feelings of closeness towards stepsiblings, a positive trend was noted between the two. A strong but non-significant relationship was discovered between the variable of dethronement and the dependent variable. Further analysis was conducted on a separate independent variable, whether or not the respondents were informed about the parental remarriage, and on two dependent variables as follows: feelings towards stepsiblings at the time of remarriage as well as feelings about the actual remarriage, loving relationships between stepsiblings. A significant difference was noted between informed and non-informed respondents and the first dependent variable. A strong but nonsignificant relationship was discovered between the same groups of respondents and the second dependent variable. Implications for therapy were generated from the results of the study. Suggestions for the optimum times to introduce therapy were also given, as well as strategies that would be useful in enhancing stepsibling functioning.