The distress thermometer (DT) is a screening tool designed to measure the level of stress in oncology patients. Clinical oncology nurses (CONs) at the local site lacked knowledge and training on how to administer and apply the DT. Because of this practice gap, patients were not receiving referrals to the necessary support services. The purpose of this project was to design and validate a CON staff education program on the use of the DT. The diffusion of innovation theory along with the theory of interpersonal relations served as the conceptual framework for the project. The project was organized into a 5-step process, consisting of interviewing stakeholders, conducting a literature review, developing a staff education module on the DT, validating the content of the DT module, and creating an implementation. Five local experts with at least 5 years of experience in oncology nursing participated in the validation of the staff education program. All the participants strongly agreed or agreed that the educational module provided CONs the necessary knowledge to use the DT to identify and refer patients in distress. Module changes made after expert responses were the following: separating the slides to ensure that the slides were not overwhelming for the readers, inserting screenshots of the questions from the electronic health record into the educational module, adding a distressed patient scenario, and adding test questions after each DT question. Implementation of these changes may help CONs to better understand module content. Stakeholders support the module implementation for all CONs in the oncology clinic, which may result in less distress among oncology patients. Module implementation has the potential to promote social change through increased staff knowledge on the use of the DT for the identification of patient distress and the required support service referrals

This study is an exploratory look into the use of text-based slang, or textisms, in modern communication. People use textisms in multiple media of communication, whether it is in text messages, emails, and various types of social media. This study asked a focus group about their uses and gratifications from textisms. The focus group delved into their appreciations as both users and receivers. Participants reflected on their personal experience and preferences with textisms for their personal communications as well as their opinion for various types of businesses using them in their larger message design efforts. The participants were comprised of youthful twenty to twenty-two year olds in undergraduate studies at the University of South Florida. Each was currently enrolled in a media studies course at the time of the discussion group. Each member of the nine person group provided information. Each was asked as an individual to reflect on specific questions while also adding their own opinion to the larger group discussion. General themes pulled from the discussion was the creation of an author's personality, textisms use as a way to create tone, and the varying levels of context needed within personal communication. Participants were in agreement that an individual could be characterized by his or her message design, especially through that individual's use of textisms. By establishing the author's personality, textisms created expectations from the audience. They help reinforce the relationship of those engaged. Tone is often removed from simple text-based communication. Through the use of textisms, or lack of, tone is able to be added to short messages with the use of a single textism. Playfulness, sarcasm, and seriousness are all able to be quickly established by an author with the additive of a textism. Context is always something to be aware of when interacting with any audience. Gender, generational, formality, and overall relationship are all aspects that impact the interpretation of a message, especially a message that contains textisms. Being aware of how a gender, an age group, or an individual will receive a message further add to the relevance of that message. More information is always best, but if there are limitations, then there are general approaches that can be used to help develop the most salient message. Businesses had a specific set of expectations from the discussion group that shaped their responses. The consensus for this group was that textisms should be refrained from use within any business context. The group did allow for leeway when it came to more casual style businesses ranging from fast-food restaurants to youth-targeted products, but ultimately said there could be a confusion if a company with an older demographic was using textisms, as it would be appear to be targeting a younger audience. As this group is comprised of young people with a vision for their futures within the business world, their approach to textisms in business was also attached to that vision. They see business as very formal, and that formality is expected to translate into all areas, including communications. This study pulled valuable overall themes for an exploratory study. The specific details of a small sample group could and should be tested for greater validity, such as the strong and opposing reaction to varying types of smiley faces. The group had conflicting expectations for certain types of textisms and these expectations were from a narrow set of demographics. Further inquiry into this topic will lead to a better understanding of how language is evolving and how those changes are being used in today's and tomorrow's communication.

The ability to attract and retain customers through providing excellent service quality is a necessity for any business in every field. However, before a firm can expect to consistently provide high quality service, it must first know how to measure and identify areas of needed improvement. While service quality research has been conducted in most of the major sectors of the economy, the residential real estate brokerage industry is only beginning to incorporate existing knowledge of service quality management. This is especially disconcerting given that real estate is such a large part of local and national economies around the world. The purpose of this thesis is to identify the best instrument that can be used to measure service quality in the residential real estate brokerage industry. The findings reveal that the reliability, responsiveness and empathy dimensions significantly lead to increases in the overall evaluation of service the firm provides. The empathy dimension also significantly causes homebuyers to recommend the firm to others. Additionally, empathy significantly causes the client to use the firm again. Finally, as hypothesized, overall satisfaction leads to both repeat uses of the firm and recommending the firm to a friend. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

ABSTRACT   Title (English): New technologies, same needs? A qualitative research of media usage in two generations, in the light of modern uses and gratifications research   Title (original): Ny teknik, samma behov? En kvalitativ undersökning av två generationers mediebruk i ljuset av den moderna bruks- och belöningsforskningen   Language: Swedish   Author: Frida Ivansson   Tutor: Sven Ross   Course: Media and Communication Studies, Bachelor's Thesis.   Period: Spring term 2013   University: Department of Journalism, Media and Communication (JMK) at Stockholm University   Purpose/Aim: The purpose of this paper is to, in the light of todays uses and gratification research, highlight the differences in media use in adolescents and adults. I focus on the informants' television viewing and I compare this cross-generational, and in relation to other media use.   Material/Method: The method I used in this thesis is qualitative interviews. My choice fell on this method because I believe it to be the most suitable for obtaining the data needed.   Main results: Media use differs between young people and adults, primarily at two levels. The younger generation tend to engage in a parallel media use when they consume television, while the older look more actively and undisturbed from other stimuli. Furthermore, the younger generation state that they largely talk about television shows with their friends, something the adults say is quite uncommon for them. In these differences, however, I found similarities. The audience is still looking to meet the same needs as they always have. The uses and gratification tradition have in the last years developed new concepts and models for audience research. However, the same basic needs still seem to apply, we need to acquire information, and relate to people around us.   Keywords: Uses and gratifications, new media, television, audience research, audience, cross-generational.

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The internet and social media have had a significant impact on recipients’ media consumption. As the converging media environment recipients face today offers not only more media products but also new practices of using certain media products, this study focuses on how the social micro-blogging service Twitter impacts the watching of television series. The presented study aims at explaining a new form of media reception by employing a multi-method approach. A content analysis case study of tweets about the US-American series “Homeland” and the German series “Tatort” will give insight into the Twitter content on two different series. Further, qualitative semi-standardized interviews and a survey will shed light on the situational aspects and motivational factors to use Twitter while watching television series. The uses and gratification theory is used as a backdrop to study the motivations to use Twitter while watching television series. The results of the content analysis on the two series indicate that there is a strong focus on the series itself within the tweets. Nevertheless, both series provide somewhat differing Twitter content. While tweets on “Tatort” are more critical and realistic towards the series, tweets about “Homeland” are more likely to be referential. The situation of tweeting while watching television series seems to be characterized by the usage of a second screen. The major motivational factors identified in this study are socializing at a distance and exchanging social information. All in all this study presents a fascinating new form of media reception and furthermore offers description and explanation of its application. Additionally it provides suggestions as to how to approach such a fast-changing, new media environment.

The internet brings a great impact to the magazine industry no matter in the reading way or media form which also pushes magazines to setup their own websites. Through websites, magazines can provide readers 24 hours information and online service and will help to improve their brand image. We use the uses and gratifications theory to discuss the motivation and satisfaction of the content of the business magazine websites and the result shows the ¡§practicability¡¨ of the content is the key motivation for readers. The ¡§correct¡¨, ¡§immediate¡¨ and ¡§diversity¡¨ of the content of the magazine websites just fit users¡¦ expectation, however, the ¡§practicability¡¨, ¡§uniqueness¡¨, ¡§trust¡¨, ¡§easy-to-understand¡¨, ¡§profession¡¨ and ¡§In-depth¡¨ of the content still need to be improved, especially most of the magazine websites lack ¡§uniqueness.¡¨ Comparing to male users, female users are more willing to read the content which is practical, trustful, professional or has depth. The result also shows, ¤Ñ¤UÂø»xºô¯¸is the most popular business magazine website for users. Through this research we intend to show how users think of the content quality of the business magazine websites and provide useful suggestions for magazine industry.

With the popularity of the Internet and the growing trend of Web2.0, interaction and knowledge exchanges among the Internet users become active. Facebook, currently the world's most successful social networking website of Web2.0, functions as a social entertainer and further develops as a marketing business platform. In particular, many enterprises and organizations focus on operating the function of Fan Page for the purpose of marketing strategy. The research will be conducted from the users' viewpoints and the examples of consumption on Facebook and entertaining Fan Pages will be provided to investigate the specialties and functions of the website, causing the users to organize and participate in the Fan Pages, and the behaviorial motives and the gratification obtained from the process. Substantial and virtual random samplings are utilized in conducting the questionnaire survey. The result shows the obvious difference in the motives of the Fan Page participants based on various levels of education. It also verifies the critical influence of media characteristics on the participation of Fan Page. And, it helps us realize that users with different motives obtain different satisfactions through the participation of Fan Page. In the end, the research investigation can be considered as a basis of enterprise marketing strategies theoretically and practically.

Abstract The thinking of subverting the Internet world is ubiquitous. In Taiwan, a wave of ¡§Happy Farm¡¨ made FACEBOOK popularity soar. Community management of this site includes dynamic sharing, online chat, Club management, Fan zone, and many other online games. It also lets the application designers enrich the site content in an open way. ¡§The Facebook¡¨ operated from February 2004 to the present. Now review the Facebook site, and it¡¦s not difficult to find the design term constantly updates connotation philosophy to match up the various types of users. The study of the social networking sites shows that the ages are on the downward trend. For now, from the 13-year-old junior high school students to the general public are included. In Taiwan, ther e are 12,107,600 population using the Facebook.(101.7.5 Ministry of the Interior statistics). Taiwan¡¦s population accounts for about 23,261,747. It means half of Taiwan¡¦s population using the Facebook. The proportion is quite popular, which is an important reference for the study of nation also of information technology in Taiwan. The research focused on the junior high school students¡¦habits of using the Facebook. We also cited the junior high school teachers¡¦ observation and interviewed development applications industry to construct the overall architecture which can be used to observ how the habits influence the students¡¦ lives and know the changes brought about by the community website. The conclusion is to give parents , teachers, and the community one note about the junior highschool students¡¦ use of the community network. The results of the following four conclusions. 1. FACEBOOK is the website of the ¡§Interpersonal Community¡¨. 2. FACEBOOK advantage is high interaction, free, and diverse functions. 3.Woman users¡¦rate of response on website message is high than men¡¦s. 4. Higher grade students who use FACEBOOK have better interpersonal relations.

Peer-to-peer file sharing has overturned the traditional way to communication, and has great impacts on society. But as so far, there are only few researches concerning this problem from users¡¦ point of view, why and how users take use of it is still equivocal. Therefore in this research, I examined the motivations and behavior of P2P uses with uses and gratifications approach, and further more, whether motivations for P2P uses explain users¡¦ behaviors and considered the contribution of individual characteristics are also examined. As for motivations, a factor analysis revealed five motivations to use P2P file sharing software: Information seeking, Convenience, Library storage, Interpersonal communication and Self-achievement. Motivations are related to individual characteristics, including gender, age, the duration of internet use and P2P use, income, and education. Several motivations and individual differences predict P2P use. And grouping users with cluster analysis, this research found three types of users: highly involved users, low involved users, and those who just want to download files. Highly involved users launch software frequently, have the strong motivations and are willing to share files with others. On the contrary, low involved users use less frequently, and have the relatively weak motivation of P2P use. Those who just download files are unwilling to share files with others.