PURPOSE: (1) Investigate supportive care needs and preferences of parents of children with cancer (2) Assess the feasibility and preliminary outcomes of a Parent Support Group Intervention (PSGI). METHODS: One-hundred and eight parents completed the Parent Support Survey (PSS). Data were utilized in the creation of a PSGI. The PSGI consisted of eight 1.5-hour sessions encompassing guided group discussion. As part of feasibility, acceptability, recruitment/retention and preliminary outcomes were assessed. Parents completed outcome measures assessing knowledge of disease/treatment management, community/hospital/family resources, perception of social support and feelings of distress/anxiety. RESULTS: From the PSS, 86/108 (80%) of parents expressed interest in a PSGI. Fourteen parents attended the PSGI only once and 14 parents attended the PSGI more than once. Outcome measure results depict favourable changes after group attendance. Recruitment and retention data highlight challenges. CONCLUSIONS: Information gained from this study will be used to improve planning and delievery of future PSGI’s.

In recent years, studies have discussed the abusive supervision behavior in the organizations. Especially, supervisors¡¦ abusive supervision behaviors were believed to have negative effects on subordinates. However, the relationship between supervisors¡¦ abusive supervision behaviors, subordinates¡¦ work-family conflict, and deviant behavior remained unclear. For this reason, this study intends correlating supervisors¡¦ abusive supervision behaviors and subordinates¡¦ work-family conflict with deviant behavior. In this study, abusive supervision is the independent variable; Deviant behavior is the dependent variable; Work-family conflict is the mediator. Besides, we defined social support (family-supportive policies, perceived organizational work¡Vfamily support, and perceived coworker support) as a moderator not only between supervisors¡¦ abusive supervision behaviors and subordinates¡¦ work-family conflict, but also between work-family conflict and deviant behavior. The subjects of the study who are selected by convenience sampling and the data are collected using dyad-approach are common enterprise employees from manufacturing, high-tech industry, and service industry in Taiwan. Two hundred and twelve effective questionnaires (106 supervisor-subordinate dyadic data) of the survey are retrieved. Moreover, the analytic tools such as descriptive analysis, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), linear structural relation, hierarchical regression analysis, and sobel test are utilized to analyze the result of the survey and to verify the assumptions of the study. The findings of the study are as follows. (1) Abusive supervision correlates positively with work-family conflict. (2) Work-family conflict also has significantly positive correlation with deviant behavior. (3) Mediating effect of work-family conflict is significant. (4) Family-supportive policies moderate the relationship between Abusive supervision and work-family conflict. The findings highly support the hypothesis I made, and also testify some researcher¡¦s suggestions. Further from this research, I also offer some suggestions for management and practice to the issue and following related research.

The dramatic changing societal demographics, increasing globalization and knowledge economics have contributed to the transformation of work family patterns. The demands of work and family roles are becoming increasingly difficult and the growing importance in organizations to develop strategies for talent attraction and retention accordingly. Given the raise of knowledge workers and who have been recognized to probably provide the competitive advantage in the coming century, this study wanted to learn more insights of knowledge workers in Taiwanese Hi-Tech Services Industry as well as their organizations on how to better manage and support the demands from both work and family domains that yield the higher degree of organizational commitment and lower the work family conflict, and further support for the business case with concrete suggestions to the companies when developing family supportive strategies and creating family supportive working environment. To summarize the purposes of the study with 3 focus areas that were to (1) investigate the correlates of work¡Vfamily benefit utilization and work¡Vfamily culture. (2) determine whether work¡Vfamily benefit availability and supportive work¡Vfamily culture were related to organizational commitment and work¡Vfamily conflict. (3) and how both work and personal characteristics impact the relations between work family conflict and organizational commitment. One of the important results was consistent with literature that work family conflict was most affected by perceptions of a positive work family culture and by support from a worker¡¦s manager. High commitment working systems and individuals¡¦ desire for segmentation moderated the practices and outcomes. Thus, the most effective organizational responses to work family conflict and organizational commitment are those that combine multiple elements, including family supportive benefits, work family culture as well as implementation of related working systems with developing a better understanding of the implications of practices for how people managing the boundary between work and non-work lives.

To this point research on firms’ political behavior has contributed knowledge concerning large firms’ relationships and strategies with political actors and their surrounding environment. Less is known about small firms’ behavior towards political organizations. As a matter of fact, the fields of international marketing, international business and corporate political science have left the political behavior of small firms almost untouched. Therefore, extant literature assumes that small firms due to their resource constraints are passive receivers of political initiatives. About 99 percent of all firms within the European Union are small firms, and it is therefore questioned whether all these firms are passive receivers of political initiatives. The intention with this thesis is to challenge some assumptions regarding how small firms manage their relationships with political actors concerning EU related rules and regulations. Consequently, the study raises the overarching research question; how do small firms manage their political environment? Theoretically, the study takes a network perspective on business political interaction to examine both individual and/or collective political behavior of small firms. It develops a theoretical view constituted of knowledge, commitment and legitimacy. Methodologically, two sequential stages are followed: first an in-depth qualitative case study of three successful cases is presented and second, the in-depth understanding is broadened to a wider population of firms based on a quantitative survey. A central contribution of this thesis is to aid research on the political behavior of small firms. It is found that small firms, in contrast to prevailing assumptions, do possess political resources. They are not passive receivers of political initiatives. Instead, the findings show that small firms are active and can exercise influence. This, however, is shown to be dependent on the firm’s political commitment, political knowledge and competency and business-political legitimacy. It is also shown that small firms mobilize these critical resources not only directly, but also indirectly through various intermediating actors. Besides the theoretical contributions, these conclusions are important not just because of the managerial implications but also, and perhaps more importantly, for the policy implications that can be drawn from the study. Being exploratory and opening up the black box of small firm’s political behavior, the thesis ends with a number of future research directions.

Hjärtsvikt är en av Sveriges största folksjukdomar och en vanlig orsak till sjukhusvistelse. Kvalificerad professionell vård i hemmet kan minska antalet inneliggande vårddygn för den hjärtsviktssjuke. Lyfts inte hjärtsviktssjuka personers behov av stödjande insatser fram finns risk för att professionella vårdare i hemmet inte uppmärksammar den sjukes behov av psykosocialt stöd. Syftet med litteraturstudien var att beskriva behovet av psykosocialt stöd för den hjärtsviktssjuke personen som vårdas i hemmet. Systematisk litteraturstudie valdes där 19 artiklar analyserades genom kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Det framkom två huvudkategorier; professionella stödet och det informella stödet. Resultatet beskriver behovet av stödjande insatser i form av psykosocialt stöd den hjärtsviktssjuke erfar i hemmet. Då den professionella vården gjorde en helhetsbedömning av den hjärtsviktssjuke uppmärksammades psykosociala behov hos den sjuke. Genom att stärka den inneboende förmågan med stödjande insatser kunde den sjuke hantera de psykiska symtom som hjärtsvikt medförde. För det professionella stödet var delaktighet av största vikt, delaktighet ökade känslan av att bemästra sjukdomssituationen och stärkte värdigheten hos den sjuke. Litterturstudien riktar sig främst till distriktsköterskor i kommunal hemsjukvård och är överförbar på personer med andra palliativa sjukdomar. Vidare forskning för att få en helhetsbild av den hjärtsviktssjukes vård i hemmet skulle vara att undersöka hur atienternas copingförmåga påverkar deras psykosociala välbefinnande. / Heart failure is one of the most common diseases and a major cause of hospitalization in Sweden. Professional health care provided at home might decrease the number of days of hospitalization for the heart failure patient. If not the heart failure patient´s need for support takes into consideration, there is a risk that professional caregivers in the home do not pay attention to the patient`s need of psychosocial support. The purpose of this study was to describe the heart failure patient's need for psychosocial support while being cared for in the home. A systematic literature review was chosen, 19 articles where selected and analyzed by qualitative content analysis. Two main categories revealed: professional support and informal support. Results of the study describe the supportive services in the form of psychosocial support on heart failure patient experience in the home. The professional care made a holistic assessment of the patient and they noticed psycho-social needs. By enhancing the inherent ability with supportive services, the patient could cope with the mental symptoms of heart failure. For the professional support the involvement of the supporting effort was of paramount importance. If the heart failure patient felt participating in the care, the patients feeling of mastering the disease situation and strengthening of the dignity increased. The literature study caters mainly to district nurses in municipal home care and is transferable to persons with other palliative diseases. Further research is needed to gain an overall picture of the heart failure patient's home care would be to examine how patients' coping, affect their psychosocial well-being.

This practicum project is an investigation of the importance of providing a supportive and restorative temporary accommodation facility for breast cancer patients who are traveling from rural areas of Manitoba to receive treatment in Winnipeg. Exploring key areas of restorative and healing design in the literature review allowed for a comprehensive analysis and examination into three main areas. The key themes of restorative design are; Biophilic Design, Theory of Supportive Design, and supportive domestic environments. It is through this exploration of restorative design that a design for the Centre will be proposed.

ABSTRACT THE EFFECTS OF HOSPITAL UNIT NURSE LEADERS’ PERCEIVED FOLLOWER SUPPORT ON NURSING STAFF PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES by JOY BAILEY Hospital unit nurse leaders are increasingly expected to deliver high quality patient outcomes at less cost yet very little is known about how they accomplish these goals while meeting work force demands and the needs of the organization. Whereas the literature is replete with studies about the work environment of nurses in general, very little has been published that examines the work environment of unit nurse leaders even though, by virtue of their role, they are inextricably linked to both staff performance and patient outcomes and ultimately the success of hospital organizations. The purpose of this study was to examine nursing support relationships (unit nurse leaders’ perceived follower support (PFS), nursing staff perception of leader supportive supervision (SS) and unit nurse leaders’ perceived organizational support), unit nurse leaders’ work stressors (role conflict, workload and span of control) and nursing staff outcomes of work team cohesion (WTC), job satisfaction, absenteeism and turnover intent on the acute care hospital nursing unit. Thirty-two unit nurse leaders from nine urban hospitals, along with 397 of the staff they supervised were surveyed. Seventy-seven percent (n = 305) of the nursing staff were registered nurses; the remaining 23% (n = 92) were nursing assistants and unit secretaries. The average nurse leader’s span of control was 41staff members (SD=43.5; range: 24-135). Most nurse leaders were affiliated with academic medical centers. Results showed that leaders with higher levels of PFS were more likely to display higher levels of SS of their staff and that higher levels of SS were associated with greater WTC, higher staff job satisfaction and increased staff intent to remain with the organization. Supportive supervision mediated the relationship between PFS and staff work team cohesion, job satisfaction and turnover intent. Also the negative effects of nurse leader role conflict on SS weakened with higher PFS. This preliminary study lays the ground work for more expansive studies on supportive interactions between unit nurse leaders and their staff, with potential to inform nurse administrators about the importance of the unit leader/staff relationship and its influence on nursing staff performance outcomes and ultimately patient outcomes.

Women treated for a gynecological cancer report longstanding post-treatment difficulties for which they rarely seek or receive help. Few intervention studies have successfully improved global sexual health within this population. Research in this domain is challenging due to inconsistent measurements of sexuality, low response rates and high attrition rates. The overarching study objectives were: (a) To contribute to the advancement of research on supportive care needs (including sexual health needs), desire for help, and predictors of needs; and, (b) To inform the development of services for gynecological cancer survivors. In Study 1, a qualitative interview study explored the experiences of 15 gynecological cancer survivors. Interviews were conducted and analysed based on the Interpretive Description approach . In Study 2 (for which results were analyzed in two parts), a descriptive, cross-sectional needs assessment was conducted to measure supportive care needs, desire for help, sexual health and vaginal changes, and service format preferences in 113 patients. In Part 1 of Study 2, descriptive and regression analyses explored patient needs, desire for help and potential predictors of these variables. In Part 2, a descriptive analysis explored sexual health needs and vaginal changes, desire for help with sexual health needs, and their associations with sociodemographic and medical variables. Qualitative results from Study 1 suggested that psychological, emotional and relational aspects of sexuality were as important to the participants as physiological sexual response. In the needs assessment, the strongest predictors of greater unmet needs and increased readiness for help were younger age and shorter time since treatment. Moderate to high sexual and social needs were equally prevalent in women recently treated and those treated several years prior to the study, suggesting that sexual and social needs may remain unaddressed over time. Further, many women who reported a need did not desire help, demonstrating the subjectivity of needs and distress, as well as the potential presence of barriers to seeking help. Both studies revealed a common finding, where sexual health needs were a product of the discordance between participants’ current sexual experiences and their perceptions of ideal sexual health. Overall, the two studies indicate that a significant subgroup of patients experience unmet needs in cancer survivorship, most of which are non-physical; also, while some needs were higher following treatment, unmet social and sexual health needs show little relationship with time since treatment. Ambivalence about receiving help with unmet needs is related to beliefs about the role of the health care team in meeting non-physical needs, as well as other perceived barriers. Patient’s perceived sexual health needs and barriers to receiving help should be evaluated within a comprehensive framework of needs and discussed one-on-one. Future research should explore the added predictive value of other groups of medical and psychological variables.

Darbo tikslas. Įvertinti Kauno miesto bei rajono Slaugos ir palaikomojo gydymo ligoninių slaugos darbuotojų pasitenkinimą darbu. Tyrimo metodika: tyrimas buvo vykdomas penkiose Kauno miesto bei rajono Slaugos ir palaikomojo gydymo ligoninėse 2012 m. liepos – rugsėjo mėnesiais, apklausiant bendrosios praktikos slaugytojus ir slaugytojų padėjėjus. Tyrimui buvo naudojama anoniminė anketa, kurią sudarė 21 klausimas. Gautos 126 pilnai užpildytos anketos ir tai sudarė 72,4 proc. visų išdalintų anketų. Taip pat buvo naudojamas kokybis tyrimas, užduodant 5 interviu klausimus, 4 slaugos administartorėms. Statistinė duomenų analizė buvo atlikta naudojantis programiniu statistinių duomenų analizės paketu ,,SPSS Statistics 20.0“. Rezultatai. Tyrimo metu nustatyta, kad slaugos darbuotojai yra vidutiniškai patenkinti savo profesine veikla (vid. 5,14 balo). Nustatyta, kad statitiškai reikšmingai savo profesinę veiklą palankiau vertina bendrosios praktikos slaugytojai, nei slaugytojų padėjėjai (p=0,001). Slaugos darbuotojai nėra patenkinti gaunamu atlyginimu (vid. 3,58 balo), darbo krūviu (vid. 3,45 balo), karjeros galimybėmis (vid. 3,93 balo). Palankiausiai buvo vertinamas atostogų (vid. 5,73 balo) ir darbo grafikas (vid. 5,63 balo). Darbo pasitenkinimui didžiausią įtaką turi: geri santykiai su bendradarbiais (71,4 proc.), geros darbo sąlygos (59,5 proc.), gaunamas atlyginimas (53,2 proc.), komplimentai iš pacientų ir jų artimųjų (52,4 proc.). Respondentų nuomone, optimalus aptarnaujamų... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Aim of the study. To evaluate the job satisfaction by the nursing staff of the nursing and supportive treatment hospitals in Kaunas city and Kaunas district. Methods: The survey was carried out in 5 nursing and supportive treatment hospitals in Kaunas and its district from July to September, 2012. An anonymous questionnaire, consisting of 21 questions, was used for the survey and its respondents were nurses and nurse‘s assistants. The total number of 126 nurses and nurses‘assistants took part in the study, which was 72.4% of all distributed questionnaires. Furthermore, the qualitative study was done by asking four nursing administrators 5 interview questions. The statistical analysis of data was performed by the application of statistical package SPSS Statistics 20.0. Results. The study showed that the nurses and their assistants are approximately satisfied with their professional activity (average 5.14 score). It was found out that the nurses were more satisfied with their job than the nurses’ assistants (p=0.001). The nursing staff are not satisfied with the payment (average 3.58 score), workload (average 3.45 score), career opportunities (average 3.93. score) whereas holidays (average 5.73 score) and work schedule (average 5.63 score) were assessed sympathetically. The study showed that the main reasons affecting the job satisfaction should be good relations with colleagues (71.4%), good working conditions (59.5%), payment (53.2%), compliments from patients (52.4%)... [to full text]

Darbo tikslas: ištirti palaikomojo gydymo ir slaugos ligoninės sveikatos priežiūros specialistų požiūrį į saugos kultūrą. Uždaviniai: ištirti palaikomojo gydymo ir slaugos ligoninės sveikatos priežiūros specialistų požiūrį į saugos kultūros sritis; išanalizuoti palaikomojo gydymo ir slaugos ligoninės sveikatos priežiūros specialistų požiūrį į saugos kultūrą, atsižvelgiant į sociodemografinius ir profesinius veiksnius; nustatyti palaikomojo gydymo ir slaugos ligoninės sveikatos priežiūros specialistų požiūrio į saugos kultūrą skirtumus, atsižvelgiant į gydymo įstaigos charakteristikas. Tyrimo metodika. 2013 metų kovo – gegužės mėnesiais atlikta vienmomentinė kiekybinė apklausa, naudojant JAV Pitsburgo universitete sukurtą Požiūrio į saugą klausimyną (The Emergency Medical Services Safety Attitudes Questionnaire – EMS-SAQ). Tyrime dalyvavo 138 sveikatos priežiūros specialistai, dirbantys penkiose palaikomojo gydymo ir slaugos ligoninėse (atsako dažnis – 80,8 proc.). Tyrimui atlikti gautas LSMU Bioetikos centro leidimas. Rezultatai. Vyriausieji respondentai (>49 m.), lyginant su 30–39 m. grupe, reikšmingai didesniais įverčiais vertino pasitenkinimo darbu, komandinio darbo ir saugos klimato sritis (atitinkamai p<0.05). Sveikatos specialistai reikšmingai dažniau pasitenkinimo darbu ir komandinio darbo sričiai skyrė teigiamo vertinimo balus, t.y. ≥75, kai jų darbo stažas dabartinėjė ligoninėje buvo >11 metų, lyginant su tais, kurie dirbo trumpiau. Komandinio darbo sritis vertinta... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Aim of the study. To analyse the attitudes of health care professionals towards safety culture in nursing and supportive treatment hospital. Objectives: to explore the attitudes of health care professionals in nursing and supportive treatment hospital towards safety culture; to analyse the attitudes of health care professionals towards safety culture in relation to their socio-demographic and professional characteristics; to determine the differences in attitudes towards safety culture among health care professionals in relation to institutional characteristics of the hospitals. Methods. The cross-sectional quantitative survey was conducted from March to May, 2013, using the Emergency Medical Services Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (EMS-SAQ) that was developed in Pittsburgh University, USA. The study included 138 health care professionals from five nursing and supportive treatment hospitals with the response rate of 80.8 %. Permition to perform this study was issued by the LUHS Bioethics Centre. Results. The attitudes towards the job satisfaction, teamwork and safety climate was evaluated significantly higher by the oldest respondents (> 49 y.), compared with the group of 30-39 y., p<0.05. Health care professionals significantly more often have got positive attitudes towards the job satisfaction and teamwork, i.e. ≥ 75, when their work experience in the current hospital was over 11 years, compared with those who have been employed for shorter periods of time. The teamwork... [to full text]