Tanken med den här studien är att ur ett brukarperspektiv lyfta och problematisera den höga personalomsättning som råder och så har gjort under ett par år på många av landets socialkontor. Studien är kvalitativ och fem intervjuer har gjorts med personer som har erfarenhet av att byta socialsekreterare. Studien belyser vad som anses vara viktigt för en god relation, vad som är gynnsamt för personer i ett förändringsarbete samt hur tid med samma person kan påverka tilliten till den personen. Den specifika målgruppen för studien är personer som har kontakt med socialtjänsten på grund av egen beroendeproblematik. Uppsatsen inleds med en presentation av socialtjänsten som organisation samt med en bakgrund till socialtjänstlagen för att ge läsaren en överblick av den organisation som problemet grundar sig i. Detta följs av ett avsnitt tidigare forskning där fokus ligger på vad som är gynnsamt för att bygga goda relationer och att bygga tillit samt vad som visat sig vara hjälpsamt för att ta sig ur ett beroende. Den ur intervjuer insamlade empirin analyseras sedan med hjälp av Honneths teori om Erkännande samt med Prochaska och Di Clementes teori Stage of changes, även tidigare forskning används som analysverktyg. Resultatet visar att en hög personalomsättning på socialtjänstens kontor ger en bristande kontinuitet för klienterna vilket föga förvånande visade sig inte vara gynnsamt för deras återhämtning. Vidare upplevde respondenterna att många praktiska saker inte fungerar på grund av personalomsättningen, vilket de ansåg vara både stressande och problematiskt. Å andra sidan visade det sig även att de som haft sin socialsekreterare en relativt kort period ändå kunde ha ett stort förtroende för denne.

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the effect that attribution style and presenting symptoms has on the self-reported readiness to change of female survivors of childhood sexual abuse. The aim was to demonstrate that the stages of change are a useful concept in understanding how to approach treatment with female child sexual abuse survivors seeking psychotherapy. One factor that influences the effectiveness of psychotherapy is a client's degree of motivation. The concept of "stage of change" has been used as a measure of client motivation. Stage of change consists of four basic stages; precontemplative, contemplative, action, and maintenance. Prior research has demonstrated that assisting clients in transitioning from a lower to a higher stage of change early in psychotherapy can improve outcomes. Assigning clients a "readiness to change" score is a simple method of categorizing their stage of change. There are many variables that could impact a client's readiness to change. The two selected for this study were attributional style and presenting symptoms. The statistical analysis consisted of using correlation to determine the strength of the relationship between readiness to change, overall attribution styles, and presenting symptoms. Multiple regression was used to see how much of the variance in readiness to change could be accounted for by different levels of attributions or symptomatology. No correlation was found between readiness to change and the other variables, although internal attribution style, external attribution style, and symptomatology were all correlated with each other. Likewise, the different levels of attribution and symptomatology did not account for a significant amount of variance in readiness to change. A secondary analysis into the relationship between total attributions endorsed and symptomatology provided evidence that individuals who make more attributions report significantly more presenting symptoms than individuals who make fewer attributions. The conclusions drawn from this study focus on the importance of utilizing client motivation in the initial sessions of therapy, and propose that focusing on reducing the number of attributions made could be more beneficial to clients than helping them move from one attribution style to another.

Motorised countries have more fatal road crashes in rural areas than in urban areas. In Australia, over two thirds of the population live in urban areas, yet approximately 55 percent of the road fatalities occur in rural areas (ABS, 2006; Tziotis, Mabbot, Edmonston, Sheehan & Dwyer, 2005). Road and environmental factors increase the challenges of rural driving, but do not fully account for the disparity. Rural drivers are less compliant with recommendations regarding the “fatal four” behaviours of speeding, drink driving, seatbelt non-use and fatigue, and the reasons for their lower apparent receptivity for road safety messages are not well understood. Countermeasures targeting driver behaviour that have been effective in reducing road crashes in urban areas have been less successful in rural areas (FORS, 1995). However, potential barriers to receptivity for road safety information among rural road users have not been systematically investigated. This thesis aims to develop a road safety countermeasure that addresses three areas that potentially affect receptivity to rural road safety information. The first is psychological barriers of road users’ attitudes, including risk evaluation, optimism bias, locus of control and readiness to change. A second area is the timing and method of intervention delivery, which includes the production of a brief intervention and the feasibility of delivering it at a “teachable moment”. The third area under investigation is the content of the brief intervention. This study describes the process of developing an intervention that includes content to address road safety attitudes and improve safety behaviours of rural road users regarding the “fatal four”. The research commences with a review of the literature on rural road crashes, brief interventions, intervention design and implementation, and potential psychological barriers to receptivity. This literature provides a rationale for the development of a brief intervention for rural road safety with a focus on driver attitudes and behaviour. The research is then divided into four studies. The primary aim of Study One and Study Two is to investigate the receptivity of rural drivers to road safety interventions, with a view to identifying barriers to the efficacy of these strategies.

This cross-sectional investigation examined characteristics of ecstasy use during college and associations between ecstasy use during college and demographic factors, family functioning, mental health, and stage of change for ecstasy use. In addition a multivariate model was developed to predict characteristics of ecstasy use during college. An electronic survey was sent to all undergraduate students enrolled at a large urban university in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States during the spring of 2007. Demographic factors and characteristics of ecstasy use were examined using standardized measures employed in national drug use surveys and by the World Health Organization. Measures associated specifically with ecstasy use during college were developed for this investigation. Family functioning was measured with the Parent Adolescent Communication Scale. Mental health was measured with the K6 screening instrument for nonspecific psychological distress. Stage of change was measured with a five-stage algorithm. The final sample for analysis consisted of 194 participants who reported ecstasy use during college and 2849 participants who reported no ecstasy use during college. Data were described using conventional descriptive statistics, chi-square statistics and non-parametric statistics. A logistic regression model was used to identify variables associated with ecstasy use during college. Based on the results, the following generalized conclusions were drawn: ecstasy continues to be used by college students at large urban universities in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States; because the majority of college students reported using ecstasy for the first time during college and also reported using ecstasy for up to two years, it appears that the college environment is a contextual factor for ecstasy use; lower family communication is associated with ecstasy use during college; psychological distress is associated with ecstasy use during college; being white (versus non-white), male (versus female) and having low or moderate (versus high) family communication each is independently associated with ecstasy use during college; differences in stage of change for ecstasy use among ecstasy users and the demographic profile of ecstasy users compared to non-ecstasy users suggest that prevention, education and intervention efforts should be designed to match the unique factors associated with ecstasy use during college. / Public Health

<p>The overall aim was to study factors that affect behaviour related to CVD (cardiovascular diseases). Study I tested whether gender, education and so-cioeconomic status correlated to knowledge about risk factors, and Study II studied knowledge and risk behaviour from a national perspective (Sweden versus Poland). Furthermore, Study III examined whether obese people dif-fered from people of normal weight regarding knowledge about risk factors, and Study IV examined whether risk behaviour is affected by personal ex-perience of illness and family history of CVD. </p><p>The studies are population-based with cross-sectional design. Data were obtained by questionnaires and by screening results of risk factors related to CVD. The studies were carried out among 50-year old men and women in Västmanland, Sweden (n=1011) and in Wroclaw, Poland (n=1043).</p><p>The results show that women are more knowledgeable than men about the risk factors for CVD, and that low education is associated with insufficient knowledge about CVD (Study I). The discrepancy between knowledge and behaviour was greater among the Poles than it was among the Swedes (Study II). Obese individuals did not differ significantly from individuals with a normal weight regarding knowledge of cardiovascular risk factors when education was controlled for (Study III). Individuals with a personal experience of illness may be more inclined to change smoking behaviour than the average person (Study IV).</p><p>In conclusion, knowledge about risk factors for CVD varies with education, gender and, to a certain degree, nationality. However, knowledge does not only consist of the conditions of behaviour change. The results in the thesis substantiate theories suggesting that change in risk behaviour is a process over time. Predictors of risk behaviours on the individual level as well as national level are of importance, and needs to be considered in the every day practice of health care professionals.</p>

The overall aim was to study factors that affect behaviour related to CVD (cardiovascular diseases). Study I tested whether gender, education and so-cioeconomic status correlated to knowledge about risk factors, and Study II studied knowledge and risk behaviour from a national perspective (Sweden versus Poland). Furthermore, Study III examined whether obese people dif-fered from people of normal weight regarding knowledge about risk factors, and Study IV examined whether risk behaviour is affected by personal ex-perience of illness and family history of CVD. The studies are population-based with cross-sectional design. Data were obtained by questionnaires and by screening results of risk factors related to CVD. The studies were carried out among 50-year old men and women in Västmanland, Sweden (n=1011) and in Wroclaw, Poland (n=1043). The results show that women are more knowledgeable than men about the risk factors for CVD, and that low education is associated with insufficient knowledge about CVD (Study I). The discrepancy between knowledge and behaviour was greater among the Poles than it was among the Swedes (Study II). Obese individuals did not differ significantly from individuals with a normal weight regarding knowledge of cardiovascular risk factors when education was controlled for (Study III). Individuals with a personal experience of illness may be more inclined to change smoking behaviour than the average person (Study IV). In conclusion, knowledge about risk factors for CVD varies with education, gender and, to a certain degree, nationality. However, knowledge does not only consist of the conditions of behaviour change. The results in the thesis substantiate theories suggesting that change in risk behaviour is a process over time. Predictors of risk behaviours on the individual level as well as national level are of importance, and needs to be considered in the every day practice of health care professionals.

Introduction: According transtheoretical model the processes of change in the patterns of behavior of adolescents related to physical activity goes through a series of stages and are influenced by different factors. Aim: to verify through the stages of behavior change the prevalence and factors related to physical activity among adolescent students Methods: participated these survey study 3.992 students (2.448 female and 1.544 male) aged 14-19 years from the State of Sergipe, Brazil. The living conditions (demographic, educational, work/income) and health behaviors (alcoholism, tobacco, expose to sedentary behavior, stress and health self evaluation) were verified through a self-report questionnaire. Statistical analysis of Binary logistic regression and Chi-square was used. Results: In general, the students showed high prevalence of inactive behavior (77.8%). The girls had twice as likely than boys to be inactive (OR 2.69; 95% CI 2.30-3.16). This high prevalence in female students was mostly verified in precontemplation (68.7%) and contemplation (77.3%) stages. Factors as living in the rural zone (OR=1.49; 95% CI 1.25-1.78), lower parent schooling and household income, stress and negative health self evaluation (OR= 1,81; IC95% 1,51-2,18) and not have religion was been associated to physical inactivity. Conclusion: the inactivity behavior was prevalent in students adolescent and has been associated to living conditions and inadequate health behaviors. It necessary, therefore, the implementation of health programs that tap these important factors related to physical activity practice in adolescent. / Introdução: Segundo modelo transteórico os processos de mudança nos padrões de comportamento dos adolescentes relacionadas com a atividade física passa por uma série de etapas e são influenciados por diferentes fatores. Objetivo: Verificar através dos estágios de mudança de comportamento a prevalência e fatores associados à atividade física entre adolescentes estudantes Métodos: Participaram destes estudo de levantamento 3.992 alunos (2.448 do sexo feminino e 1.544 do sexo masculino) com idades entre 14-19 anos do Estado de Sergipe, Brasil. As condições de vida (demográficas, educacionais, de trabalho / renda) e comportamentos de saúde (alcoolismo, tabagismo, exposição a comportamento sedentário, auto avaliação de estresse e de saúde) foram verificados através de um questionário auto-administrado. Foi usada análise estatística de regressão logística binária e Qui-quadrado. Resultados: Em geral, os alunos mostraram alta prevalência de comportamento inativo (77,8%). As meninas tiveram duas vezes mais probabilidade de comportamento inativo do que os meninos (OR 2,69; IC 95% 2,30-3,16). Esta alta prevalência em estudantes do sexo feminino foi verificada principalmente nos estágios de pré-contemplação (68,7%) e contemplação (77,3%). Fatores como viver na área rural (OR = 1,49; IC 95% 1,25-1,78), não ter religião, escolaridade dos pais e baixa renda das famílias, estresse e auto-avaliação negativa da saúde (OR= 1,81; IC95% 1,51-2,18) foram associados à inatividade física. Conclusão: O comportamento inativo foi prevalente em escolares adolescentes e tem sido associado a condições de vida e comportamentos de saúde inadequados. É necessário, portanto, a implementação de programas de saúde que tratem desses fatores importantes relacionados com a prática de atividade física em adolescentes.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.