Domestic Violence is a public health issue that is affecting millions of people annually. Police reports can give a unique aspect of cases that involve domestic violence because the narrative is a firsthand report of the violent incident. Using domestic violence case reports gathered from a law enforcement database at a county Sheriff's office in Florida, the current study examines whether alcohol use in domestic violence incidents influences threats that the victim receives during the incident. Logistic regression analysis indicates that alcohol use does not significantly impact threats that the victim receives during a domestic violence altercation. However, the study found that if there is a history of domestic violence mentioned in the police report, it is more likely that threats are also mentioned. The findings suggest that more research should be done on domestic violence cases involving alcohol use and non-violent forms of abuse such as threats.

This qualitative study aimed to explore the connection between experiences of childhood family violence and the perpetration of intimate partner violence. Rooted in an interpretivist methodology, the perceptions and experiences of six male participants were explored via individual interviews. The participants identified having experienced/witnessed family violence. They too stated perpetuating intimate partner violence. The participants were asked questions exploring how they perceived their childhood experiences and/or exposure to family violence to have and continue to impact them into adulthood. Based on the stories of these participants, four major themes were identified; however, ultimately, the importance of adequate and appropriate responses to the external manifestations of the impacts of family violence was emphasized. The discussion urges that current restorative responses to intimate partner violence be evaluated for ones that are preventative in nature, as well as suggested based on the specific needs of each individual. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW)

Abstract The purpose of this study is to explore how intimate partner femicide (IPF) has impacted one family. IPF is well researched and studies are largely centered on indicators of intimate partner violence (IFV) and the impacts of children witnessing violence. There is very little research conducted with family members exploring how they are impacted by the violent death of their loved one. This study concentrates on the impacts experienced by one family who has suffered the loss of a loved one due to intimate partner femicide. This study was conducted via a series of interviews with Gail, who lost her sister. Due to the nature and intensity of the subject matter no other family members were contacted. Our first interview was in person and took place in central Ontario, several hours away from where her sister was killed. I conducted further interviews by phone to obtain additional understanding about her experiences of the loss of her sister. I used feminist theory to explore the dynamics in the victim’s relationship prior to her death. Feminist theory was used because it explores the power imbalances that exist in relationships. This revealed a cycle of violence that existed in her intimate relationship and the challenges this woman faced in her attempts to leave her relationship. As a result of her sister’s death Gail and her children have been very deeply affected. Through a thematic analysis of the data, four main themes emerged: 1) the victim feared for her own safety pre and post relationship; and the family were afraid once the woman went missing; 2) the family members faced and continue to face mental health challenges including a very young child suffering with suicide ideations, depression, and anxiety; 3) ways of coping included concealment of emotions and the use of non-medicinal methods of healing trauma; 4) Gail felt guilty that she did not do enough to help keep her sister safe but eventually coming to the realization that she did as much as could be done. Family stress theory is another important theory used to understand and make sense of Gail’s experiences of femicide. Family stress theory refers to multiple stressors as a “pile up”, a stage that Gail encountered when she struggled with depression, anxiety and financial struggles after taking time off work to care for her own children and grandchildren, resulting from Gail’s daughter’s own mental health breakdown which she sees as tied to the families experience of femicide. Of the many things that came from this study I found the most striking was talk of the “new normal” created as a result of the femicide. The new normal has impacted the whole family as they adjust to life without the one person who was central in bringing the family together to celebrate family events. These gatherings no longer take place. When they do half the family does not participate due in part to their ongoing grief and anger over their loss that their sister is no longer present. These findings of my study bring further attention to the continued struggles and impact that IPF has on families. It highlights that there is still much work to be done to put an end to this heinous crime. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW)

Bakgrund: Hjärt- och kärlsjukdomar var vanligt förekommande och hade kommit att bli ett stort hälsoproblem. Ofta ledde diagnosen till ett försämrat välbefinnande för både den vårdsökande personen och även för partnern. För flertalet var dock sexualiteten en viktig del av välbefinnandet. Risken att välbefinnandet kunde kommit att påverkas var stor då förekomsten av sexuella problem visats vara dubbelt så hög i denna grupp gentemot den allmänna populationen. Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva hur hjärt- och kärlsjukdomen påverkade sexualiteten hos vårdsökande personer och deras partner. Metod: Litteraturöversikt med kvalitativ analys genomfördes. Nio artiklar som söktes fram genom Cinahl och Medline samt en artikel genom sekundärsökning ingick i översikten. Artiklarna var relevanta gentemot syftet och godkändes utifrån ett kvalitetsgranskningsprotokoll. Den kvalitativa analysen resulterade i två huvudteman: Emotionell påverkan, fysisk påverkan och fem sub-teman. Resultat: Enligt litteraturöversiktens resultat framkom det att merparten av de vårdsökande personerna och deras partner upplevde att hjärt- och kärlsjukdomen orsakade försämringar i den sexuella aktiviteten. Sjukdomen innebar begränsningar både i den fysiska förmågan och emotionellt vilket bidrog till försämrat välbefinnande för båda i parrelationen. Det fanns de som  upplevde en fortsatt eller förbättring i den sexuella aktiviteten efter sjukdomens debut. Slutsats: Hos de vårdsökande personerna som levde med en hjärt-och kärlsjukdom samt deras partner förekom stora skillnader i hur sjukdomen påverkat deras sexuella aktivitet. Oro, ångest och rädsla var framträdande faktorer som bidrog till att den sexuella aktiviteten och välbefinnandet förändrats i negativ riktning. I förhållanden där kommunikationen däremot utgjordes av en större öppenhet paren emellan resulterade detta i en fortsatt eller i vissa fall förbättrad sexuell aktivitet. Möjligheten till en tillfredställande sexuell aktivitet fanns trots att det förelåg sjukdom. / Background: Cardiovascular disease was common and had become a major health problem. Often the diagnosis lead to a reduced wellbeing for both the person with diagnose and their partner. For many, sexuality was an important part of wellbeing. There was a risk that the wellbeing could be affected since the prevalence of sexual problems was twice as high in this group in relation to the general population. Aim: The aim was to describe how the cardiovascular disease impacted on the sexuality among people and their partner. Method: A literature review with a qualitative approach was conducted. Nine articles were found through Medline and Cinahl and one article was found through secondary search. The articles were relevant in relation to the aim and were approved by a quality control protocol. The qualitative analysis resulted in two main themes: Emotional impact, Physical impact and five sub themes. Results: According to the literature review, the results showed that the majority of the persons and their partners felt that cardiovascular disease caused deterioration in the sexual activity. The disease meant limitation in both the physical ability and emotional, which contributed to a reduced wellbeing for both individuals in the relationship. Only a few of the couples experienced a continuation or improvement in the sexual activity after the debute. Conclusion: There were major differences in the way the disease affected the sexual activity in both the persons who lived with cardiovascular disease and their partners. Worry anxiety and fear were prominent factors contributing to the negative change in the sexual activity and wellbeing. When communication however included a greater openness in the relationship between the couples, it resulted in a continued or in some cases an improved sexual activity. Despite the existence of the disease there was a possibility of a satisfying sexual activity.

In this thesis, we investigate partner selection schemes in multiuser cooperative networks. In networks, cooperative partners adopt coded cooperation to forward signals. Among the literature, two classes of two namely, centralized partner selections and distributed partner selections, have been proposed to select appropriate relays. Centralized partner selection is able to achieve the global optimization than distributed partner selection. However, centralized partner selections require high complexity, and global channel state information, which demands large amount of overhead and waste radio resources. Especially when the size of network increases, the cost to search appropriate relay for each user dramatically increases. Hence, we consider distributed partner selection scheme in the thesis. Among the existing work, fixed priority selection algorithm is a distributed partner selection algorithm strategy; where partner assignment is based on node indices do not include any channel information. To enhance performance, we exploit the geographical information of all users. Different from other distributed partner selection schemes, we adopt the method of Carrier Sense Multiple Access to exchange local information. We proposed coverage search algorithm, nearest source search algorithm and nearest middle-point search algorithm, the serve as the criteria of partner selection. The contributions of this thesis are to raise SNR, increase the probability that the achievable rate is great than the data rate in the distributed partner selection scheme, and enhance system performance.

Bakgrund: Missfall är en vanlig komplikation i samband med en graviditet. Orsaken till missfall är flera och under ett pågående och hotande missfall finns ingen förhindrande behandling. Händelsen är ofta fysiskt odramatisk, men kan påverka föräldrarna emotionellt. Då det är kvinnan som blir fysiskt drabbad och därmed är patient, blir kvinnans partner i denna händelse ofta bortglömd. Både inom samhället och vården underprioriteras missfall och därmed kan upplevelsen hos föräldrar förbises.  Syfte: Syftet med denna litteraturöversikt är att undersöka föräldrars upplevelse i samband med ett missfall. Metod: En litteraturöversikt som är baserad på tolv vetenskapliga artiklar. De vetenskapliga artiklarna är hämtade från databaserna Cinahl with fulltext, PubMed och Academic Search Premier. Vid sökningen efter relevanta artiklar har ändamålsenliga sökord använts. Dessa har varit: ”miscarriage”, ”miscarriage*” ”abortion, spontaneous”, ”spontaneous pregnancy loss”, ”pregnancy loss”, ”experience”, ”parents”, ”woman*”, ”women”, ”nurse*”, ”partner”, ”partner*”, ”support”, ”social support” och ”Sweden”. Dessa artiklar har lästs igenom upprepande gånger vilket slutligen ledde till en sammanfattning som presenterade och identifierade likheter och skillnader studierna emellan. Sammanfattningen låg sedan till grund för resultatet. Resultat: Resultatet har presenterats i sex huvudkategorier. Den första kategorin är Upplevelsen av graviditeten och de första symtomen på missfall som berör känslor kring det framtida barnet och upplevelsen av chock samt förlusten av kontroll vid det inträffade missfallet. Den andra kategorin är Upplevelsen av missfall som en förlust som belyser missfallet som en förlust av ett barn och framtida förhoppningar. Den tredje kategorin är Föräldrars känslor efter ett missfall vilket behandlar olika känslor som föräldrar upplever efter ett missfall. Den fjärde kategorin är Upplevelsen av vården och personalens bemötande vilket berör betydelsen av ett gott bemötande under sjukhusvistelsen. I Samhällets påverkan på föräldrars upplevelse efter ett missfall belyses samhällets okunskap och attityd gentemot missfall. I Upplevelser av stöd från olika instanser förklaras vikten av ett stödjande socialt nätverk samt negativa och positiva erfarenheter rörande stöd från vården. Diskussion: Resultatet har anknutits till Cullbergs kristeori, Meleis transitionsteori, patientfokuserad vård och konsensusbegreppet människa. Resultatdiskussionen avslutas med att lyfta fram föräldrars liknande upplevelser i samband med ett missfall. Detta relateras till de rådande förväntningarna som finns på kvinnans partner och hur dessa förväntningar kan bli problematiska i förhållande till en jämställd vård. / Background: Miscarriage is a common complication during pregnancy. There are several causes to miscarriage, and no preventive treatment is currently available during an active or threatening miscarriage. The event is rarely physically damaging, but may effect the parents emotionally. As it is the woman who is physically affected during a miscarriage, patient care tend to be focused on her, whereas the potential needs of the partner is often overlooked. Miscarriage remains a low priority within the healthcare sector and community alike, hence, the experiences of the parents are often disregarded. Aim: The purpose of this literature review is to explore parents' experience of a miscarriage. Methods: A literature review, based on twelve scientific papers. The papers have been collected from the databases Cinahl with full text, PubMed and Academic Search Premier. During the search for relevant articles have appropriate keywords been used. These were: ”miscarriage”, ”miscarriage*”, ”abortion, spontaneous”, ”spontaneous pregnancy loss”, ”pregnancy loss”, ”experience”, ”parents”, ”woman*”, ”women”, ”nurse*”, ”partner”, ”partner*”, ”support”, ”social support” och ”Sweden”. These articles have been read repeatedly which ultimately led to a summary that presented and identified similarities and differences between the studies. The summary then formed the basis for the results. Results: The results are presented in sex main categories. The first category is the experience of pregnancy and the first symptoms of miscarriage, affecting feelings about the future child and the experience of shock and loss of control at the incident of miscarriage. The second category is the experience of miscarriage as a loss which highlights the miscarriage as the loss of a child and future hopes. The third category is Parents' emotions after a miscarriage which deals with various emotions that parents experience after a miscarriage. The fourth category is the experience of healthcare and treatment by staff and the impact of good treatment during hospitalization. The Society's influence on parents' experience after a miscarriage highlights society's ignorance and attitude towards miscarriage. In Experiences of support from various instances, the importance of a supportive social network is explained, and negative and positive experiences related to the support of health care staff are presented. Discussions: The result has been linked to Cullberg's theory of crisis, Meleis transition theory, patient centered care and the consensus concept of man. The discussion is concluded by highlighting the common experiences by parents in the event of a miscarriage. This I connected to the existing expectations on the womans’ partner and how such expectations can be problematic in relation to equal care.

In emerging adulthood, the developmental period between ages 18 and 25, romantic relationships last longer and become more intimate and serious. This developmental period also marks the peak of intimate partner violence (IPV) rates across the lifespan. Individuals in this age group also rely on technology more heavily than other age groups, and use this technology as another means by which to perpetrate IPV. The current thesis investigated the impacts of victimization by such technological IPV (tIPV), as well as the importance of technology-related factors in the perpetration of tIPV. Two hundred and seventy-eight (204 female, 74 male) participants in an intimate relationship of at least three months completed an online survey. Participants reported on their perpetration of and victimization by in-person and tIPV as well as on a range of victim impacts and technology-related perpetration factors. Experiencing tIPV victimization was related to increased alcohol use for both men and women, and increased fear of partner for women. For depression, perceived stress, relationship satisfaction, quality of life, social support, and post-traumatic stress, tIPV victimization did not predict impacts above in-person victimization. The amount of technology usage as well as the amount of technological disinhibition both uniquely predicted tIPV perpetration, counter to the hypothesis that technological disinhibition would moderate the relationship between technology usage and tIPV perpetration. In-person IPV perpetration also significantly predicted tIPV perpetration, and when these variables were included, technology usage was no longer significant. Upon further investigation, social media use, but not texting, significantly predicted tIPV perpetration. While these results suggest some unique impacts and contributing factors to tIPV, overall these results highlight that tIPV often occurs within a broader pattern of abuse that includes in-person IPV. These results suggest that tIPV, while a new medium of aggression, is not necessarily distinct from in-person IPV. This means that efforts should be made to integrate tIPV into IPV theory and practice, rather than to create a new field of research and practice based solely around tIPV. / Graduate

<p>Objective: Acute alcohol intoxication has been clearly identified as a risk factor for intimate partner aggression (IPA). There is a critical need for effective IPA interventions that can be applied during episodes of acute intoxication. A self-awareness intervention for general aggression that was designed to be applied during acute intoxication could fill this gap. This intervention is grounded in objective self-awareness and alcohol myopia theories, with the main premise being that intoxicated individuals who are exposed to self-awareness cues should focus on standards of correct behavior, which will serve to inhibit aggression. The purpose of the current study was to apply this intervention to alcohol-facilitated IPA and to examine potential moderators of this effect in order to determine for whom the intervention may be most effective. Method: Participants in the current study included 133 heterosexual community couples with a history of heavy drinking and IPA. Participants took part in a two-session laboratory study investigating the efficacy of this self-awareness intervention. Participants were randomly assigned to the intervention (<i>n</i> = 71) or control (<i>n</i> = 62) condition. During the study, they consumed alcohol and participated in an aggression task ostensibly against their romantic partner. Results: Findings were inconsistent with hypotheses. There was no between-group difference in laboratory aggression, and the moderators investigated in this study did not have an impact on the intervention’s efficacy. Conclusions: Present findings suggest that the self-awareness intervention may be ineffective for reducing alcohol-facilitated IPA. Potential explanations for this finding and implications for future research are discussed. </p>

Bakgrund: I Sverige finns omkring 160 000 personer med någon form av demenssjukdom. Att insjukna i sjukdomen drabbar även partnern vars livssituation förändras drastiskt då denne dagligen lever nära sjukdomen. Genom att belysa upplevelser av att vara partner till en person med demenssjukdom kan detta bidra med ökad förståelse och kunskap till sjuksköterskan. Syfte: Syftet var att belysa upplevelser av att vara partner till en person med demenssjukdom. Metod: Metoden var en systematisk litteraturstudie. Sökningar utfördes i databaserna Cinahl, PubMed och PsycInfo. Nio artiklar kvalitetsgranskades och analyserades Resultat: Resultatet presenterades i fyra kategorier; Partnerns upplevda känslor i samband med demenssjukdomens förlopp, påverkan på parrelationen, påverkan på partnerns “normala” liv samt Partnerns känslor relaterat till framtiden. Ett övergripande tema framträdde; Känslor och upplevelser av en förändrad livssituation. Många partners upplevde sorg och förlustkänslor. Ett ökat ansvar resulterade i brist på kontroll, isolering, sömnproblem och att egna behov fick åsidosättas. Parrelationen förändrades och mindre närhet upplevdes vilket gav minskad gemenskap, ensamhet och kommunikationssvårigheter inom relationen. Känslor för framtiden bestod av rädsla och oro. Slutsats: Många av partnerna genomgick en drastisk livsförändring i takt med att demenssjukdomen fortskred. Personerna med demenssjukdom blev allt mer beroende av partnerns omvårdnad vilket resulterade i en känslomässig och social påverkan för partnern. Med en ökad insikt i partnerns livsförändring kan sjuksköterskan tidigt i sjukdomsförloppet uppmärksamma partnerns behov av stöd och stödjande åtgärder kan ges.

”Kvinnor kan amma, män kan inte” Mäns erfarenhet och upplevelse av amning Sammanfattning Det har visat sig att amningsfrekvensen har minskat i Sverige. Om amning ska fungera är det viktigt att involvera partnern. Partnern har en viktig roll för hur länge kvinnan väljer att amma sitt barn. Trots detta fokuserar vården endast på kvinnan. Syftet med studien är att belysa mäns upplevelse och erfarenhet av amning. Metod för att studera detta ämne gjordes en Kvalitativ intervjustudie. Genom semistrukturella intervjuer har författarna tagit del av mäns erfarenheter och upplevelser av amning. Åtta män intervjuades och kvalitativ innehållsanalys användes som metod när resultatet analyserades. Resultat visade att männen upplevde amning som något naturligt och det bästa för barnet. Männen upplevde att det var kvinnan som tagit beslut om att amma och detta sågs som en självklarhet eftersom män inte kan amma. Det framkom att männen känt sig hjälplösa och utanför den närhet som mamma och barn får genom amning. De upplevde att de varit behjälpliga i den mån de kunnat under amningsperioden. De hade funnits där som stöd för kvinnan genom att utföra både praktiska och emotionella moment. Dock framkom att de känt sig oförberedda och att de önskat mer information och stöd från vården. Upplevelsen var att fokus låg på kvinnan. Slutsats För att männen ska bli delaktiga i amningen är det viktigt att på ett tidigt stadie engagera männen i amningsprocessen. Resultatet visar att mäns status behöver höjas när det kommer till amning och deras betydelse måste synliggöras. Nyckelord: Amning, män, partner, upplevelser, erfarenheter