Introduction: Gendered practices of working life create gender inequalities through horizontal and vertical gender segregation in work, which may lead to inequalities in health between women and men. Gender equality could therefore be a key element of health equity in working life. Our aim was to analyze what gender (in) equality means for the employees at a woman-dominated workplace and discuss possible implications for health experiences. Methods: All caregiving staff at two workplaces in elder care within a municipality in the north of Sweden were invited to participate in the study. Forty-five employees participated, 38 women and 7 men. Seven focus group discussions were performed and led by a moderator. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the focus groups. Results: We identified two themes. "Advocating gender equality in principle" showed how gender (in) equality was seen as a structural issue not connected to the individual health experiences. "Justifying inequality with individualism" showed how the caregivers focused on personalities and interests as a justification of gender inequalities in work division. The justification of gender inequality resulted in a gendered work division which may be related to health inequalities between women and men. Gender inequalities in work division were primarily understood in terms of personality and interests and not in terms of gender. Conclusion: The health experience of the participants was affected by gender (in) equality in terms of a gendered work division. However, the participants did not see the gendered work division as a gender equality issue. Gender perspectives are needed to improve the health of the employees at the workplaces through shifting from individual to structural solutions. A healthy-setting approach considering gender relations is needed to achieve gender equality and fairness in health status between women and men.

As the staffing agency business is rapidly growing and suffering from accidents resulting in higher sick leave than in other businesses, it is of great interest to analyze which responsibilities prevail between the customer companies and the staffing agencies, when it comes to working environment for hired staff. The purpose of this essay is to clarify the distribution of responsibilities between customer companies and staffing agencies, regarding working environment. I would also like to analyze which consequences this distribution of responsibilities may lead to. To be able to answer these questions, I have chosen to use the legal dogmatic method together with the sociology of law method. I have studied legal sources, literature and also interviewed three persons who are active within the staffing agency business; one person from the Swedish Work Environment Authority, one person from the employers’ side and one person from the employees’ side. The conclusion of my survey is that the SAM-responsibility is divided equally between staffing agencies and customer companies, since the customer company who hires staff is equated with an employer. The employer must also ensure that there is an organized work adaptation and rehabilitation function within the company. According to Working environment regulation, the employer is obliged to immediately report accidents or other harmful incidents to the Swedish Work Environment Authority. Apart from the SAM-responsibility the customer company must also ensure that the hired staff takes necessary protective actions, to be able to safely perform their work and also to give the hired staff access to common facilities under the same conditions as for the other employees.

Arbetsförmedlingen is the Swedish national authority responsible for the work politics, and its main purpose is to create and build a solid and sustainable job market.Economic crises together with changes in the society and in the organization over the past few years mean that the unemployed individuals that come in contact with Arbetsförmedlingen are no longer a homogenous group. A lot of effort is put into helping those who may find it difficult to enter the work environment, such as youths (19 – 26 years old), people who have been unemployed or on sick leave for a long period of time, people with disabilities or immigrants who are newly arrived in Sweden.A harder social and economic climate can lead to frustration among the unemployed which mean that security measures at the offices has had to become adjusted. Local offices now have a public area where they have meetings with their clients and a locked open plan office space to which the public have no access. Working within an open plan office environment can cause health problems, mostly due to the constant background noise that comes from people having conversations on the phone, or with each other. The public areas have been furnished from a safety aspect, and different alarm functions are in place. Interviews with employees at the local Arbetsförmedlingen in Eskilstuna show that staff safety is a high priority with plenty of guidelines and directions to be followed.There are rules regulating the handling of personal information, and strategies need to be in place regarding the IT-structure that the organization is using.

Syftet med föreliggande studie var att beskriva distriktssköterskors reflektioner över arbetsrelaterad stress. Studien hade en beskrivande design och genomfördes som en intervjustudie. Materialet analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Sexton distriktssköterskor verksamma inom hemsjukvård och på hälsocentral intervjuades. Resultatet visade hur distriktssköterskorna utsattes för olika påfrestningar i arbetet som bidrog till upplevelse av stress. Distriktssköterskorna beskrev hur de kände sig otillräckliga, utsattes för störningar, hade svårt att påverka sin arbetssituation samt att det ställdes höga krav på dem i arbetet. Deltagarna beskrev brist på tid och personal samt avsaknad av stöd från sina chefer. Största stödet fann distriktssköterskorna i varandra. Att jobba över var vanligt samt att behöva prioritera bland arbetsuppgifterna. Distriktssköterskorna upplevde fysiska och psykiska symtom till följd av stress på arbetet och hanterade det exempelvis genom fysisk aktivitet. Respondenterna beskrev hur de gjorde misstag på grund av stress, vanligaste var att glömma men det påverkade även distriktssköterskornas patientbemötande och bedömningar. Slutsatsen är att respondenterna upplevde det svårt att påverka sin arbetssituation, att det ställdes höga krav på dem och att det rådde en hög arbetsbelastning. I kombination med bristande stöd ledde det till hög grad av upplevd stress. Stress i arbetet fick konsekvenser för så väl distriktssköterskorna som för patienterna. / The purpose of this study was to describe Primary Nurses’ reflections of work related stress. The study had a descriptive design and was conducted as an interview study. The material was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Sixteen Primary Nurses in home care and primary care were interviewed. The result showed how Primary Nurses were subjected to various strain at work that contributed to the experience of stress. The Primary Nurses described how they felt inadequate, were subjected to interference, had difficulties in affecting their work situation and that there were high demands in their work. The participants described the lack of time and personnel and lack of support from their managers. The Primary Nurses found the greatest support in each other. To work overtime was common and to have to prioritize tasks. The Primary Nurses experienced physical and psychological symptoms as a result of stress at work and coped by example physical activity. The respondents described how they made mistakes because of stress, most common was to forget but it also affected the Primary Nurses’ patient treatment and assessments. The conclusion is that the respondents felt difficulties in influencing their work situation, there were high demands on them and there was a high workload. Combined with a lack of support it led to high levels of perceived stress. Stress at work had an impact as well on the Primary Nurses as on the patients.

Specialists in ergonomics believe that what is good ergonomics is also goodeconomics for many industrial settings. This relationship between ergonomicsand economics is supported by research on several industrial settings. Thisstudy turns to investigate this relationship within the maritime domain.Shipping naturally faces the same work environment problems as commonlyseen on work places ashore. Additionally, there is however a social and culturaldimension to the work environment in what might be the most globalisedindustry of all.This study is performed as a pilot study to a larger project within theeconomics of maritime ergonomics. The aim of this thesis is to review themajor issues in the research of maritime ergonomics and how cost-benefit ofergonomics is calculated in other domains. Furthermore, the thesis also aims atinvestigate which ergonomic factors that are considered the most important bythe shipping industry itself and if the economics of ergonomics is calculated inthe Swedish shipping industry.The review of scientific literature on maritime ergonomics is divided into threeareas of interest: organisation and management, occupational health and safetyand psychosocial work environment. No studies were found on cost-benefitcalculations within shipping. There are however several methods for evaluationand calculation from other domains. The result of the nine qualitativeinterviews shows a predominant occupation in the area of organisation.Important factors mentioned in the interviews that are believed to affect safety,productivity and well-being include leadership and social skills,communication between and within the shorebased organisation and the vessel,as well as knowledge on several levels. A survey among ten Swedish shippingowners shows that beyond the costs of sick-leave, the shipowners do not on aregular basis calculate the costs and benefits of ergonomics.Further research includes a stakeholder analysis; defining the operativemeasurements of productivity, quality and effectiveness for a maritime setting;an accident analysis and the compilation of Best Practise within shipping. / Specialister inom arbetsmiljöområdet är övertygade om att en bra arbetsmiljöockså är bra för ett företags ekonomi. Detta förhållande mellan arbetsmiljö ochekonomi har påvisats i flera studier inom olika branscher. Den här studienundersöker sambandet mellan en god arbetsmiljö och god ekonomi inomsjöfarten. Inom sjöfarten återfinns naturligtvis samma arbetsmiljöproblem somhos andra branscher men i det som kanske är den mest globaliserade branschenav alla finns det också en framträdande social och kulturell dimension iarbetsmiljön.Den här uppsatsen är utförd som en pilotstudie till ett större forskningsprojektinom sjöfart och arbetsmiljöekonomi. Målet med uppsatsen är att undersökainom vilka områden det forskas på inom sjöfartens arbetsmiljö samt attundersöka hur kostnadsnytta av arbetsmiljö beräknas. Dessutom ämnaruppsatsen undersöka vilka arbetsmiljöfaktorer som de olika sjöfartsaktörernasjälva anser vara de viktigaste och om branschen själv räknar på arbetsmiljönidag.Granskningen av den vetenskapliga litteraturen om sjöfartens arbetsmiljö äruppdelad i tre områden: organisation och ledarskap, hälsa och säkerhet, samtden psykosociala arbetsmiljön. Inga studier återfanns som berördearbetsmiljöekonomi inom sjöfarten. Det finns däremot ett flertal metoder ochmodeller för ekonomisk utvärdering och beräkning av arbetsmiljöåtgärder frånandra branscher. Resultatet av nio kvalitativa intervjuer visar fokus påorganisatoriska arbetsmiljöfaktorer. Viktiga faktorer som informanterna anserhar inverkan på säkerhet, arbetsmiljö och produktivitet inkluderar ledarskap;kommunikation ombord och mellan fartyg och landorganisation; och kunskappå olika nivåer. En undersökning hos tio svenska rederier visar att utöverkostnader för sjukfrånvaro räknar företagen inte regelbundet på kostnader ochvinster för arbetsmiljön.Förslag till framtida forskning inkluderar en intressentanalys, att definiera ochbeskriva de operativa rationalitetsmåtten produktivitet, kvalitet och effektivitetför sjöfarten, olycksfallsanalys och sammanställandet av exempel av ”BestPractise” inom sjöfarten.

Syftet var att beskriva arbetstillfredsställelsen hos intensivvårdssjuksköterskor samt undersöka om arbetssituationen förändrats senaste året. Syftet var vidare att se om skillnader förelåg i arbetstillfredsställelsen mellan intensivvårdssjuksköterskor som arbetade treskift och som inte arbetade treskift. Studien var deskriptiv med kvantitativ ansats. Sextiofyra sjuksköterskor deltog och bortfallet var 29 %. Enkäter testade gällande validitet och reliabilitet för arbetstillfredsställelse användes i studien. Arbetstillfredsställelsen var genomgående hög, intensivvårdssjuksköterskorna upplevde sig mötas med respekt av överordnade och samarbetsklimatet var bra. De var en del av ett team, arbetet var intressant och autonomin var hög. Majoriteten upplevde att personaltätheten var otillräcklig för arbetsbelastningen, beslut från överordnade gick inte att påverka och nästan en tredjedel upplevde sig inte få beröm vid bra utfört arbete. Trots genomgående hög arbetstillfredsställelse funderade nästan tjugo procent på att byta jobb. Senaste året hade arbetsbördan ökat med mer administrativt arbete och mindre tid för patientvård. Förtroendet för den offentliga sjukvården hade minskat. Inga signifikanta skillnader fanns gällande arbetstillfredsställelsen mellan intensivvårdssjuksköterskor som arbetade treskift och som inte arbetade treskift. Nattarbetet ansågs behöva värderas högre med mer tid för återhämtning. Konklusion: Arbetstillfredsställelsen var genomgående hög men arbetsbördan hade ökat senaste året, utbrett missnöje förekom gällande återhämtningstiden vid nattarbete. / The objectives were to describe the work satisfaction amongst intensive care nurses, and to investigate if the work situation has changed over the last year. A further purpose was to see if there were any differences in the work satisfaction between intensive care nurses who worked three-shift and those who did not. The study was descriptive with a quantitative approach. Sixty-four nurses participated and the 29 percent decided not to participate. Questionnaires tested regarding validity and reliability for work satisfaction were used in the study. Work satisfaction was overall high; the intensive care nurses perceived themselves as being respected by superiors, and the work situation as good. They felt part of a team; the work was interesting and the levels of autonomy high. The majority perceived that the staffing levels were insufficient for the workload, they could not affect the decisions made by their superiors, and almost a third experienced that they do not get praise for work well done. Despite the overall high work satisfaction almost twenty percent were thinking of changing jobs. During the last year, the workload had increased with more administrative work leaving less time for patient care. The trust in public healthcare had decreased. No significant differences were found regarding the work satisfaction between intensive care nurses working three-shift and those who did not work three-shift. The general opinion was that night work needed to be valued higher, and that more time was needed for recovery. Conclusion: The work satisfaction was overall high, but the workload had increased over the last year, and there was a widespread dissatisfaction regarding recovery time after night work.

Syftet med studien var att utifrån ambulanssjuksköterskors berättelser redogöra för upplevelsen av arbetet med HLR vid ett pre-hospitalt omhändertagande och hur fysiska och psykosociala omständigheter kan påverka deras arbetsmiljö samt att undersöka om det automatiska HLR-systemet LUCAS har påverkat arbetssituationen. En kvalitativ intervjustudie med deskriptiv design har genomförts. Undersökningsgruppen bestod av sex ambulanssjuksköterskor på en ambulansstation i Mellansverige. Intervjuerna genomfördes med semistrukturerade frågor och insamlat material analyserades utifrån en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Utifrån analysen framkom tre kategorier samt temat ”Att känna stöd på arbetsplatsen trots brister i arbetsmiljön”. Resultatet visade att ambulanssjuksköterskorna upplevde arbetsutrymmet i somliga ambulanser så begränsande att det försvårade deras möjlighet att utföra adekvata vårdåtgärder, de upplevde sig vara beroende av LUCAS för att kunna utföra HLR. De upplevde ett svagt stöd från cheferna i frågan om inköp av ambulanser. Vidare framkom att samarbetet med räddningstjänsten var ett viktigt stöd vid HLR samt att en god stämning på arbetsplatsen främjade välbefinnandet. De riktlinjer som ambulanssjuksköterskorna hade att rätta sig efter upplevdes också som ett stöd, samt att det nya HLR-systemet LUCAS till stor del upplevdes avlastande i arbetet med HLR. Författarnas slutsats är att det finns både positiva och negativa upplevelser kring arbetsmiljön bland ambulanssjuksköterskorna och att det behövs mer forskning för att kunna förbättra ambulanssjuksköterskornas arbetsmiljö. / The aim of the study was to describe the ambulance nurses’ own experiences of working with pre-hospital CPR and how the physical and psychosocial factors effected their working environment. To investigate if the automatic CPR-system LUCAS have had any impact on their work situation. This study is based on qualitative interviews with a descriptive design. The study group consisted of six nurses who worked at an ambulance station in the central part of Sweden. The interviews were conducted with semi structured questions and the collected data was analyzed through a qualitative content analysis. The analysis resulted in three categories and a theme. The result showed that the ambulance nurses experienced that the space in some of the ambulances was too limited to be able to provide necessary care for their patients, they experienced being dependent to the LUCAS-device to be able to perform CPR. The ambulance nurses also felt a weak support from the head management when deciding on which ambulance to purchase. Furthermore, it appeared that the cooperation with the emergency services was of a great support when performing CPR as well as creating a good atmosphere between co-workers was of importance for the employee’s wellbeing. The guidelines for the ambulance nurses were also seen as a support as were the new automatic CPR-system LUCAS, which perceived as minimizing the workload on the ambulance personnel during CPR. The authors’ conclusion is that both positive and negative experiences were found in the ambulance personnel´s work environment and that more studies are required in order to improve the ambulance personnel’s work milieu.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate if there are associations between job stress in terms of demand, control, and support and physical inactivity. Method: A cross-sectional design was used in this study which is based on the “Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health” (SLOSH) from 2006. SLOSH includes men and women, between 19-68 years old and from all labor markets sectors. A total of 5 141 participants sent in their survey. Indices of the components in the demand-control-support model were created and multiple regression analyses with physical inactivity as the dependent variable were performed. Adjustment for possible confounders (age, sex, marital status, children, education, physical work, computer work, working hours, shift work, smoking, alcohol consumption, sleep quality and BMI) were made. Result: The main result showed an association between passive work (low demands and low control) in combination with poor support and physical inactivity. This result was statistically significant both unadjusted (OR: 1.38, CI: 1.12-1.71) and adjusted (OR: 1.28, CI: 1.03-1.59) for several covariates. Conclusion: This study suggests that especially passive work (low demands and low control) in combination with poor support from supervisors and colleagues are associated to physical inactivity. Further research needs to establish causality.

The purpose of this research is to examine the influence factors of perceptions of organization politics. Based on the model proposed by Ferris et al.,(1989), the influence factors of perceptions of organizational politics are personal influences,work environment influences,organizational influences . After applying ¡§factor analysis¡¨ of the POPs, it was categorized by three dimensions analysis: ¡§(1) behaviors of superior and subordinate; (2) go along and get ahead; (3) difference between the policies of compensation and promotion and actual practices. This research is to explore the relationship between influence factors and perceptions of organization politics. The sample consisted of 2,559 employees selected from 35 diverse organizations. The data was analyzed by statistical methods are descriptive statistic¡Bfactor analysis¡Breliability analysis¡B correlation analysis and regression analysis. The major findings of this study are as fallow: Perceptions of organizational politics were found have significant relevant with A type personality, Machiavellians and Internal/External lacus of control. Perceptions of organizational politics were found have significant relevant with promotion opportunity & interactive behavior of working environment factor. Perceptions of organizational politics were found have significant relevant with organizational profession, organizational democracy and position hierarchical level of organizational factor. This research provide the management tactics toward the result of empirical analysis.

Abstract The Antecedents of Organizational Politics Perceptions -- A Study of Western and Chinese Organization in Taiwan The purpose of this investigation is based on the model proposed by Ferris et al. (1989)to explore the influence factors of perceptions of organizational politics,including personal influences, work environment influences and organizational influences, and to examine if the perceptions of organizational politics is significant different between western and Chinese organizations in Taiwan. The sample consisted of 196 from western organization and 437 from Chinese organization. The data was analyzed by applying statistical methods, i.e., descriptive statistics analysis, reliability analysis, factor analysis, correlation analysis and regression analysis. Results showed that significant influences were observed for both western and Chinese organization to perceive organizational politics. 1. In personal factors, age, sex and type A behavior demonstrate significant influence to perceptions of organizational politics in Chinese organization but not in western organization 2. In work environment factors, automomy and feedback were found significant negative influence to perceptions of organizational politics in western organization but not in Chinese organization 3. In organization facors, democratization was found significant negative influence to perceptions of organizational politics in western organization but not in Chinese organization