<p>The main purpose of this thesis was to take part of girl’s descriptions and experiences of their treatment for deliberate self-harm and to investigate whether they still experience effects of the treatment today. Our main research questions where; how do the girls describe their experiences of the treatment method, do the girls describe that they still experience any effects of the treatment, and finally how do the girls look back on their treatment today? In order to answer these questions, we carried out eight qualitative telephone interviews with girls that had undergone treatment in a specific treatment centre. We chose to analyze the material from the salutogenic theory and the concepts of SOC (sense of coherence) and with a hermeneutic approach. Our result showed that the treatment methods that where most important where dialectic behaviour therapy, horse therapy and finally environmental therapy. Several of the girls could see remaining effects of the treatment today, while other girls could not see any of these effects. A couple of the girls expressed that they should have been dead if they had not been taken care of by the treatment centre while other girls meant that the treatment did not make any difference.</p>

<p>Kan kulturaktiviteter vilka erbjuds genom arbetet, resultera i ett ökat välmående för den anställde och eventuellt även en ökad känsla av sammanhang? Detta är utgångspunkten för uppsatsen, som tar sin början i Antonovskys salutogena perspektiv och KASAM, vilket mäts kvantitativt på två grupper där Grupp 1 utgjordes av anställda på arbetsplatser där kulturaktiviteter regelbundet erbjöds och Grupp 2 av anställda på en arbetsplats utan kulturaktiviteter. Genom deltagarnas resultat på KASAM formuläret, utlästes att kulturaktiviteter och ett deltagande i dessa visar ett samband med en ökad KASAM hos individen. Uppsatsen diskuterar sedermera hur kulturkonsumtion kan vara en bidragande mental hälsofaktor av lika vikt som den av arbetsplatser mer erkända uppbyggnaden av fysisk hälsa, genom träning för förebyggande av sjukdom och ohälsa.</p>

Ill health is unevenly distributed across different groups in society, with the disadvantaged groups displaying higher rates of ill health than the more advantaged groups. The aim of the thesis is to study work-related inequalities in health, and to focus on how income, aspects of the physical and psychosocial work environment, and sense of coherence, individually or jointly, generate inequalities in a number of health outcomes in the Swedish working population. The studies are based on survey data and national registers during the period 1990-2003. For cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevalence and mortality, the impact of income was stronger than that of work environment factors. The psychosocial work environment (women and men) and income (men only) were associated with psychological distress. Income (women) and the psychosocial work environment (men) were associated with musculoskeletal pain. Thus, both income and work environment are important in generating health inequalities in the working population. A strong sense of coherence (SOC) moderated the effect of physical demands on musculoskeletal pain in both genders. SOC moderates, yet not consistently, the impact of adverse working conditions on psychological distress and musculoskeletal pain. Hence, the results do not fully support the hypothesis that sense of coherence is a global health-protective factor. However, differential vulnerability in terms of the strength of SOC contributed to work-related inequalities in health. The risk of stroke was higher for women and men in occupations with low job control than for those with high job control. The risk of intracerebral hemorrhage was highest in women in low job-control occupations, while low job control did not significantly increase the risk of brain infarction in women. Job control was related to mortality from stroke in women, but not in men. The effect of job control on stroke mortality in women was consistent in all classes except for upper non-manuals.

Begreppen coaching och empowerment har blivit mycket populära. Coaching är att hjälpa människor att lyckas. Empowerment översätts på svenska med egenmakt och maktmobilisering. Syfte med denna studie är att undersöka hur coaching kan hjälpa till att främja empowerment och därmed bidra till att öka människornas hälsa. Frågeställningar är: Vilka samband finns det mellan coaching och empowerment? Hur påverkar empowerment människornas hälsa? Kan man öka individens hälsa med coaching? Uppsatsen grundas på en litteraturstudie. I resultatet analyseras elva vetenskapliga artiklar. Resultatet visar att empowerment och coaching har mycket gemensamt och att båda främjar människornas hälsa. Coaching kan förbättra självförtroendet (själv-efficacy), självkänslan (self-esteem), självmanagement, coping, autonomi, empowerment, smärt- och stresshanteringen, ledarkompetensen och den emotionella intelligensen. Coaching leder till en attitydförändring som underlättar livsstilsförändringar och höjer livskvalitén. Coaching främjar människans Känsla Av SAMmanhang (KASAM) som innebär mer hanterbarhet, begriplighet och meningsfullhet i livet. Studiens slutsats är att coaching är ett sätt att göra empowerment. Diskussionen behandlar skillnaderna mellan empowerment och paternalism, emotionell intelligens och dess betydelse och hur coaching påverkar hälsan. Dessutom diskuteras sambandet mellan psyke och kropp, betydelsen av coping och hur coaching främjar ledarkompetenserna. Slutligen behandlas coaching i kontexten till empowerment och Känslan Av SAMmanhang (KASAM). / The concepts of coaching and empowerment have become very popular. Coaching enables people to make positive changes in their lives. The Swedish translation for empowerment is “the mobilization of power”. The aim of this study is to explore how coaching can help to promote empowerment and thereby help to increase people's health. The research investigates the following questions: What is the link between coaching and empowerment? How does empowerment improve people's health? And finally: Is it possible to increase the individual's health with coaching? The essay is based on a literature review. It analyzes the results of eleven scientific articles. The results show that empowerment and coaching have a lot in common and that both promote people's health. Coaching can improve self-confidence, self efficacy,self-esteem, self-management, coping, autonomy, empowerment, pain management, stress management, management skills and emotional intelligence. Coaching leads to a change in attitudes that facilitate lifestyle changes and improve the quality of life. Coaching encourages people sense of Coherence (SOC), which means more manageability, comprehensibility and meaningfulness in life, which leads to the conclusion that coaching is one way to do empowerment. The discussion deals with the differences between paternalism and empowerment, emotional intelligence and its importance and how coaching affects health. It discusses the relationship between mind and body; the importance of coping and how coaching promotes leadership abilities. Finally coaching is treated in the context of empowerment and the sense of coherence (SOC).

Kan kulturaktiviteter vilka erbjuds genom arbetet, resultera i ett ökat välmående för den anställde och eventuellt även en ökad känsla av sammanhang? Detta är utgångspunkten för uppsatsen, som tar sin början i Antonovskys salutogena perspektiv och KASAM, vilket mäts kvantitativt på två grupper där Grupp 1 utgjordes av anställda på arbetsplatser där kulturaktiviteter regelbundet erbjöds och Grupp 2 av anställda på en arbetsplats utan kulturaktiviteter. Genom deltagarnas resultat på KASAM formuläret, utlästes att kulturaktiviteter och ett deltagande i dessa visar ett samband med en ökad KASAM hos individen. Uppsatsen diskuterar sedermera hur kulturkonsumtion kan vara en bidragande mental hälsofaktor av lika vikt som den av arbetsplatser mer erkända uppbyggnaden av fysisk hälsa, genom träning för förebyggande av sjukdom och ohälsa.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the young caregivers thoughts of the elderly caretaker. A qualitative method was chosen when interviewing young caregivers in order to get an insight of how they perceive and speak of the elders. The main questions of the study are: How do the caregivers believe that the elders perceive their day-to-day life and situation? Is it possible to distinguish if the young caregiver’s thoughts about the elders affect their work with the elderly caretaker? Is it possible to notice any common factors that the young caregivers perceive as important in their work with the elderly caretaker? The criteria for inclusion in this study are caregivers aged 18 to 25, who are working with elderly at special accommodation. The theories chosen for this study are the salutogenetic perspective, the activity theory and the theory of gerotranscendence. From the outcome of the study the conclusion is that the interaction between the elder and the caregiver seem to be decisive for how the young caregiver think of the elders and their life situation. The caregivers in this study experience that activities give the elderly a meaningful life.

The purpose of this study was to investigate and expand the knowledge of how bereaved spouses in palliative care handled their grief. Attempts were also made to distinguish common patterns among the experiences that the bereaved spouses expressed.  Furthermore the study aimed to understand how the bereaved spouses handled their grief, and to understand what helped them to move on. A qualitative method was used in this essay, related to the purpose of investigating the spouses’ emotional experiences. The questions used to reach an understanding of the matter were: How did the bereaved experienced their grief? Were there important contributing factors worsening their grief or making it easier? How did the bereaved persons handle their grief, and what helped them to work things through and carry on with their lives? The result was analyzed by using Antonovsky’s theory; a feeling of coherence, Lazarus’ coping theory combined with Folkman’s revised coping theory. The results were also analyzed by the findings of continuing bonds derived from Ainsworth’s attachment theory. The seven strategic picked out respondents in this study, constituted from a development project, financed by Cancerfonden, which took place in the palliative unit of Stockholms sjukhem in 2007. The results showed that the sense of coherence had an effect on the bereaved spouses’ way to handle their grief. The respondents’ ability of awareness and mental preparation were significant. As it turned out, the time extent of the disease did not have a major effect on the bereaved spouses’ experience of their grief. Furthermore the study showed that the context was very significant, and that the bereaved spouses to a great extent used positive reappraisal.

The main purpose of this thesis was to take part of girl’s descriptions and experiences of their treatment for deliberate self-harm and to investigate whether they still experience effects of the treatment today. Our main research questions where; how do the girls describe their experiences of the treatment method, do the girls describe that they still experience any effects of the treatment, and finally how do the girls look back on their treatment today? In order to answer these questions, we carried out eight qualitative telephone interviews with girls that had undergone treatment in a specific treatment centre. We chose to analyze the material from the salutogenic theory and the concepts of SOC (sense of coherence) and with a hermeneutic approach. Our result showed that the treatment methods that where most important where dialectic behaviour therapy, horse therapy and finally environmental therapy. Several of the girls could see remaining effects of the treatment today, while other girls could not see any of these effects. A couple of the girls expressed that they should have been dead if they had not been taken care of by the treatment centre while other girls meant that the treatment did not make any difference.

AIMS: The aim of this study was to find variables related to positive attitudes to physical education (PE) and strong sense of coherence (SOC) among adolescents. METHODS: The study included three parts: seven physical tests; a questionnaire which included ways of living, attitudes to PE, and subjective health, the 13-question version of SOC; and information on every student's grades. The study group comprised 301 teenagers (131 girls and 170 boys, aged 16-19 years) attending upper secondary school. Positive odds ratio was used in the logistic regression analyses with SOC and attitudes to PE as dependent variables. RESULTS: Variables related to positive attitudes to PE were strong SOC, high physical capacity, high leisure-time physical activity (PA), high grades in PE, and little time spent watching TV. Variables related to strong SOC were positive attitudes to PE, high grades in PE, very good subjective health, and feeling comfortable in school. Highest physical capacity, highest mean grades, and highest grades in PE were found among adolescents who reported exercise four times or more per week. CONCLUSIONS: An interrelation between attitudes to PE and SOC was shown. The relation between positive attitudes to PE and high scores in SOC indicated that past experiences of PA and PE could contribute to the development of SOC, and actual levels of SOC could influence the persistent attitudes to PE and be important for lifelong PA. One means of identification of favourable or unfavourable health behaviour among young people might be through PA patterns, and relations between attitudes to PE and SOC.

Bakgrund: Kvinnor har högre sjukfrånvaro än män och inom undersköterskeyrket, som är kvinnodominerat, märks detta tydligare. Det finns därmed anledning att uppmärksamma och kartlägga vad som upplevs främja kvinnors arbetsnärvaro och arbetsförmåga i detta yrke. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att utforska äldre kvinnliga undersköterskors upplevelser av betydelse för bibehållen arbetsförmåga inom kommunal äldreomsorg. Metod: Studien genomfördes som en beskrivande kvalitativ intervjustudie med kvalitativ manifest innehålls-analys. Sex friska undersköterskor mellan 55-58 år i kommunal äldreomsorg valdes genom ändamålsenligt urval till semistrukturerade individuella djupintervjuer. Fynd: Under-sköterskorna har förmåga att identifiera och verkställa egna behov. De gör anpassningar, framför allt i privatlivet, och når välbefinnande genom meningsfull tillvaro. Deras beteende kan kopplas till känsla av sammanhang, empowerment och intern känsla av kontroll. Nio kategorier identifierades: Hälsa och fysisk aktivitet, Fysisk arbetsmiljö, Organisation, Samverkan och kommunikation, Medveten anpassning, Arbetstillfredsställelse, Meningsfull tillvaro, Inställning och attityd samt Samhällsnivå. Konklusion: Det är huvudsakligen aspekter av psykosocial karaktär, med inslag av fysisk aktivitet, som upplevs främja arbets-förmåga hos de kvinnliga undersköterskorna. Fynden kan skapa underlag för hälsostödjande arbete där ett beteendemedicinskt synsätt kan vara av värde för förståelsen av hur biopsyko-sociala faktorer samverkar för bibehållen arbetsförmåga. / Background: Women have higher sickness absence rates than men especially within the female dominated profession of assistant nurses. Hence, there is reason to draw attention to and identify what is perceived to promote women’s work attendance and work ability within this profession. Aim: The aim of the study was to explore older female assistant nurses’ experiences of importance for the maintenance of work ability in municipal elderly care. Methods: A descriptive qualitative interview study was conducted and analysed with qualitative manifest content analysis. Six healthy assistant nurses between 55-58 years in municipal elderly care were selected through purposive sampling for semi-structured in-depth interviews. Findings: The assistant nurses are able to identify and implement needs of their own. They adapt, mainly in the private life, and achieve well-being through a meaningful existence. Their behavior can be linked to sence of coherence, empowerment and internal locus of control. Nine categories were identified: Health and physical activity, Physical work environment, Organisation, Collaboration and communication, Intentional adaptions, Work satisfaction, Meaningful existence, Preference and attitude and Societal level. Conclusion: Mainly aspects of psychosocial nature, with elements of physical activity, are perceived to promote work ability by the female assistant nurses. The findings can contribute to form a basis for promotional work where a behavioral medicine approach can be of value in the understanding of how biopsychosocial factors interact for the maintenance of work ability.