<p>The overall purpose with this study was to examine the influence elderly people have over their granted home help. Specifically, the aim was to examine in what extent the image of the elderly as a <em>unique individual</em> emerges in the plans where the home help is described [“genomförandeplaner”]. A plan which is personally designed is used as an indicator of personal influence. A text analysis inspired by Michel Foucault’s discourse concept, was carried out and the study adopts the concepts <em>standardization</em> and <em>categorization</em> as well as the theory of “Sense of coherence”. The result showed that the content of the plans mainly lacks a personal imprint, which is to be understood as a form of standardization. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that the content that is excluded and included creates an image of the elderly as someone who is not a unique individual. This study highlights the value of establishing more salutogenic infused plans. Also other studies, emphasize that elderly in need of care wants to be able to predict and influence the help they receive, which in turn is a condition for the elderly to achieve a Sense of coherence.</p>

<p>Research about social support and social networks has mostly concerned the impact on a person’s wellbeing and health. However an aspect largely neglected is how social support within the social networks can affect the process of giving up a drug abuse. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of what role the social support within different relationships can have on the process of giving up drug abuse. Furthermore the aim is to examine how a self-help group can provide social support in the transitional period after leaving a drug abuse. The study is based on qualitative interviews with staff and participant from a self-help group. System theory and social network theory has been used to interpret the empirical results. The main result shows that the social support from the social networks are viewed as important by all women. However the social support given to the women from close relationships is not necessarily constructive in the process of rehabilitating from a drug abuse. In addition the result has shown that distrust and inequality in power relationships can lead to lack of support within the professional network. In accordance to earlier tudies, a self-help group can be seen as complementary in the rehabilitation of a drug abuse.</p>

<p>Syfte: Syftet med denna studie var att beskriva socialsekreterares uppfattning om och klienters upplevelse av en hjälp- och stödverksamhet riktad till utsatta barn. Intentionen med studien var dessutom att undersöka vilka förslag dessa har på framtida förändringar av verksamheten.</p><p>Metod: Tre personliga intervjuer med två målgrupper genomfördes. Målgrupp 1 var klienter som tidigare deltagit i insatser hos hjälp- och stödverksamheten och målgrupp 2 var socialsekreterare med minst fem års erfarenhet inom det sociala yrkesområdet.</p><p>Resultat: Resultatet visade en samstämmighet mellan målgrupperna, gällande stödverksamhetens positiva effekter gentemot utsatta barn. De mest framträdande positiva effekterna var att barnet gavs kunskap om sin omkringliggande problematik och en insikt i att de inte är ensamma i sin livssituation. De aspekter där de två målgrupperna hade olika syn på denna form av insats var huruvida insatsen är lämplig och tillräcklig för alla utsatta barn. En framtidsvision som framkom var att båda grupperna ansåg att ett införande av ett personligt ombud skulle vara positivt för utsatta barn.</p><p>Slutsats: Den slutsats som framkommit under denna studie är att hjälp- och stödverksamheten är en betydelsefull insats utifrån ett barnperspektiv, men att det inte är en åtgärd som kan ses som en slutlig lösning av ett problem. Således bör denna insats kombineras med fler insatser som rör familjeproblematiken från andra synvinklar, för att på så sätt nå ett helhetsperspektiv.</p> / <p>Objective: The objective with this study was to describe social welfare sekretaries opinion of and former clients experience of one help and support programme for vulnerable children. An additional intention was to examine the informants’ suggestions of future changes of the programme.</p><p>Method: Three personal interviews were made with two interview groups. Interview group 1 was former clients of the help and support programme and interview group 2 was social welfare secretaries with at least five years of experience in the profession of social work.</p><p>Results: The result of the study shows consensus between the interview groups according to the positive outcomes of the programme for the vulnerable children. The most appearing positive effects were that the children were given knowledge of the problems in their families and an insight in the fact that they are not alone in their situation. The aspects where the interview groups had different points of view concerning this form of effort were whether this contribution is suitable or enough for all the vulnerable children. One future vision that came through was that both groups considered that it would be positive for the vulnerable children to introduce a personal representative for their cause.</p><p>Conclusion: The conclusion of this study was that this form of help and support programme is an important contribution from the children’s perspective, but not a final solution of a problem. Therefore, this contribution should be combined with more efforts that involve the problems in the family from other points of view, to reach a perspective of entirety.</p>

<p>Urinary incontinence is a prevalent condition; nevertheless few women seek professional help. One aim of this study was to investigate all women aged 18-70 years in a Swedish community regarding (a) the prevalence rate and risk factors of urine leakage and (b) the quality of life for women with and without urine leakage, for women with stress incontinence versus urge incontinence, and for women with urine leakage who had or had not sought help. A second aim was to study all women aged 18-46 years from the same population four years later regarding (a) the quality of life and natural history of urine leakage, (b) why some women with persistent urine leakage seek help and others do not, and (c) how they deal with their urine leakage.</p><p>Every fourth woman aged 18-70 years was found to have urine leakage. The number of women with urine leakage increased with increasing age, the number of deliveries, the presence of urinary tract infection, and the use of oestrogen substitutions. Women with urine leakage had a lower quality of life in all eight dimensions of the SF-36 as compared with women without urine leakage. Furthermore, in women with urge incontinence the quality of life was lower compared with women with stress incontinence in all dimensions of the SF-36. Women with urine leakage who had sought help had lower quality of life in seven of eight SF-36 dimensions as compared with women with urine leakage who had not sought help.</p><p>At the four-year follow-up the quality of life had deteriorated in five of eight SF-36 dimensions in women aged 18-46 years with persistent urine leakage as compared with women with persistent continence. The mean annual incidence and remission rates of urine leakage were on the same low level (4%). Most women with slight or moderate long-term urine leakage had not sought professional help, largely because they considered their leakage a minor problem. Pelvic floor exercises was the most commonly used management method for all participants.</p>

The purpose of this study was to identify the specific advanced clarinet techniques in which further knowledge is required and to provide a resource for band directors to aid in the instruction of these techniques. In order to determine results, a survey was administered to high school band directors who are members of the Florida Bandmasters Association (N = 131). Sixteen band compositions were selected based on survey responses for analysis of technical challenges ranging from grade levels 4-6 on the Florida Bandmasters Association Concert Music List. The results of the band composition analysis and the survey responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics and topics to be included in the guide were chosen based on these results. The first part of this essay details the need for the study, a review of literature, the method of the study, the results of the study and a summary/conclusions section which includes implications for further research. The second part of this essay is the resource guide for band directors. The topics that were selected to be included in the guide are: Embouchure, Tone, Intonation and Tuning, Hand Position and Finger Technique, The Break, Altissimo, Articulation, Auxiliary Clarinets and Reeds, Equipment and Care. An appendix is also included which provides further resources for solo repertoire, method and etude books and a discography.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Delaware, 2005. / Principal faculty advisor: Ruth E. Fleury-Steiner, Dept. of Individual & Family Studies. Includes bibliographical references.

Urinary incontinence is a prevalent condition; nevertheless few women seek professional help. One aim of this study was to investigate all women aged 18-70 years in a Swedish community regarding (a) the prevalence rate and risk factors of urine leakage and (b) the quality of life for women with and without urine leakage, for women with stress incontinence versus urge incontinence, and for women with urine leakage who had or had not sought help. A second aim was to study all women aged 18-46 years from the same population four years later regarding (a) the quality of life and natural history of urine leakage, (b) why some women with persistent urine leakage seek help and others do not, and (c) how they deal with their urine leakage. Every fourth woman aged 18-70 years was found to have urine leakage. The number of women with urine leakage increased with increasing age, the number of deliveries, the presence of urinary tract infection, and the use of oestrogen substitutions. Women with urine leakage had a lower quality of life in all eight dimensions of the SF-36 as compared with women without urine leakage. Furthermore, in women with urge incontinence the quality of life was lower compared with women with stress incontinence in all dimensions of the SF-36. Women with urine leakage who had sought help had lower quality of life in seven of eight SF-36 dimensions as compared with women with urine leakage who had not sought help. At the four-year follow-up the quality of life had deteriorated in five of eight SF-36 dimensions in women aged 18-46 years with persistent urine leakage as compared with women with persistent continence. The mean annual incidence and remission rates of urine leakage were on the same low level (4%). Most women with slight or moderate long-term urine leakage had not sought professional help, largely because they considered their leakage a minor problem. Pelvic floor exercises was the most commonly used management method for all participants.

Tinnitus is common, and some individuals with tinnitus display high levels of distress. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is effective in reducing tinnitus distress, but is rarely available. CBT-based self-help, with or without guidance, has yielded positive results in other problem areas, and one initial randomized controlled trial (RCT) has shown promising results for tinnitus. This thesis is based on four studies; Study I showed that Internet-based self-help treatment with e-mail guidance alleviated tinnitus distress among consecutive patients and was rated as credible as traditional treatments. Active participation in treatment predicted outcome. Study II, an RCT, showed that an extended and more interactive version of the Internet-based self-help treatment with e-mail therapist support appeared to be equally effective as a group treatment. In study III, another RCT, a self-help book with weekly telephone support was superior to a wait-list control group. No strong evidence for the importance of telephone contact on outcome was found. In both study II and III, the positive outcome remained after one year and self-help approaches appeared more therapist time-effective compared to group treatment. Also, the received treatment-dose for patients in guided self-help was not lower than in the group treatment. Study IV found that the ‘Stages of Change’, from the transtheoretical model, are probably not the right theoretical framework to use with tinnitus patients. Predictors of outcome were found, but they were not in line with the theory behind the Stages of Change. The predictors were better understood when conceptualized as coping, showing that helplessness and less coping before treatment correlated with better outcome. In sum, guided cognitive behavioural self-help can decrease tinnitus distress. It appears to be therapist time-effective and shows effects comparable to or slightly below traditional CBT for tinnitus. Effects remain one year after treatment and generalize to a routine clinical setting.

The overall purpose with this study was to examine the influence elderly people have over their granted home help. Specifically, the aim was to examine in what extent the image of the elderly as a unique individual emerges in the plans where the home help is described [“genomförandeplaner”]. A plan which is personally designed is used as an indicator of personal influence. A text analysis inspired by Michel Foucault’s discourse concept, was carried out and the study adopts the concepts standardization and categorization as well as the theory of “Sense of coherence”. The result showed that the content of the plans mainly lacks a personal imprint, which is to be understood as a form of standardization. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that the content that is excluded and included creates an image of the elderly as someone who is not a unique individual. This study highlights the value of establishing more salutogenic infused plans. Also other studies, emphasize that elderly in need of care wants to be able to predict and influence the help they receive, which in turn is a condition for the elderly to achieve a Sense of coherence.

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie var att beskriva socialsekreterares uppfattning om och klienters upplevelse av en hjälp- och stödverksamhet riktad till utsatta barn. Intentionen med studien var dessutom att undersöka vilka förslag dessa har på framtida förändringar av verksamheten. Metod: Tre personliga intervjuer med två målgrupper genomfördes. Målgrupp 1 var klienter som tidigare deltagit i insatser hos hjälp- och stödverksamheten och målgrupp 2 var socialsekreterare med minst fem års erfarenhet inom det sociala yrkesområdet. Resultat: Resultatet visade en samstämmighet mellan målgrupperna, gällande stödverksamhetens positiva effekter gentemot utsatta barn. De mest framträdande positiva effekterna var att barnet gavs kunskap om sin omkringliggande problematik och en insikt i att de inte är ensamma i sin livssituation. De aspekter där de två målgrupperna hade olika syn på denna form av insats var huruvida insatsen är lämplig och tillräcklig för alla utsatta barn. En framtidsvision som framkom var att båda grupperna ansåg att ett införande av ett personligt ombud skulle vara positivt för utsatta barn. Slutsats: Den slutsats som framkommit under denna studie är att hjälp- och stödverksamheten är en betydelsefull insats utifrån ett barnperspektiv, men att det inte är en åtgärd som kan ses som en slutlig lösning av ett problem. Således bör denna insats kombineras med fler insatser som rör familjeproblematiken från andra synvinklar, för att på så sätt nå ett helhetsperspektiv. / Objective: The objective with this study was to describe social welfare sekretaries opinion of and former clients experience of one help and support programme for vulnerable children. An additional intention was to examine the informants’ suggestions of future changes of the programme. Method: Three personal interviews were made with two interview groups. Interview group 1 was former clients of the help and support programme and interview group 2 was social welfare secretaries with at least five years of experience in the profession of social work. Results: The result of the study shows consensus between the interview groups according to the positive outcomes of the programme for the vulnerable children. The most appearing positive effects were that the children were given knowledge of the problems in their families and an insight in the fact that they are not alone in their situation. The aspects where the interview groups had different points of view concerning this form of effort were whether this contribution is suitable or enough for all the vulnerable children. One future vision that came through was that both groups considered that it would be positive for the vulnerable children to introduce a personal representative for their cause. Conclusion: The conclusion of this study was that this form of help and support programme is an important contribution from the children’s perspective, but not a final solution of a problem. Therefore, this contribution should be combined with more efforts that involve the problems in the family from other points of view, to reach a perspective of entirety.