The purposeof the study was to investigate whether occupational therapists find that therapy dogs can affect the relationship with the client and client´s participation in activity. The methodused was a qualitative study with ten participants who were contacted via recommendations and via the social network Facebook. The questions concerned the occupational therapists' experience of working with therapy dogs and their experiences of whether the therapy dog ​​can be a tool to help create relationship with the client and motivate for activity. The resultshowed that the experience was predominantly positive and that the therapy dog ​​made the client contact stronger. The occupational therapists experienced that they could go further in their interventions with the help of the dog and that the clients opened up more and were more motivated to participate in activities when the dog was present. It also showed that education, planning, goal setting and journaling were important to demonstrate the effect of therapy dogs. Conclusion:The result showed positive situations in which the therapy dog ​​was an aid for the occupational therapists' success in the intervention. The study showed that contact with the client was strengthened with the help of the therapy dog ​​and that the motivation to participate in activities increased. / Syftet med studien var att undersöka omarbetsterapeuter upplever att terapihundarkan påverkarelationen till klienten samtklientensdelaktighet i aktivitet. Metodensom användes var en kvalitativ studie med tiodeltagare som kontaktades via rekommendationer och via det sociala nätverket Facebook. Frågorna berörde arbetsterapeuternas upplevelse kring att arbeta med terapihund och deras erfarenheter om huruvida terapihunden kan vara ett hjälpmedel för att hjälpa till att skapa relation till klienten och motivera till aktivitet. Resultatetvisade att erfarenheterna var övervägande positiva och att terapihunden gjorde att klientkontakten blev starkare. Arbetsterapeuterna upplevde att de kunde komma längre i sina interventioner med hjälp av hunden och att klienterna öppnade upp sig mer och var mer motiverade till att delta i aktiviteter närhunden var närvarande.Det visade också att utbildning, planering, målsättning och journalföring var viktigt för att visa på terapihundarnas effekt.Slutsats: Resultatet visade positiva situationer där terapihunden varit ett hjälpmedel för arbetsterapeuternas framgång i interventionen. Studien visade att kontakten till klienten stärktes med hjälp av terapihunden och att motivationen att delta i aktiviteter ökade

Pasaulyje ir Lietuvoje populiarėja šiaurietiškas ėjimas, masinės mankštos atvirame ore ir kt. Lietuvos mokslinės literatūros šaltiniuose nėra išsamių analizių dėl aerobinės veiklos (šiaurietiško ėjimo) poveikio fizinei, psichosocialinei sveikatai, gyvenimo kokybei vyresniame amžiuje. Todėl gimė mintis, jog tyrime turėtume įrodyti, kad vyresnio amžiaus moterų fizinis aktyvumas veikia gyvenimo kokybę, motyvaciją bei fizinę ir psichosocialinę sveikatą. Tyrimo objektas – šešių mėnesių šiaurietiško ėjimo treniruočių poveikis 70–80 metų amžiaus moterų fizinei būklei ir gyvenimo kokybei. Tyrimo probleminis klausimas – kokia optimali fizinės veiklos trukmė norint pagerinti vyresnio amžiaus moterų fizinę būklę? Ar fizinė veikla gali pakeisti motyvus fiziniam aktyvumui? Tyrimo hipotezė – šešių mėnesių šiaurietiško ėjimo treniruotės reikšmingai pagerina 70 – 80 metų amžiaus moterų fizinę būklę, gyvenimo kokybę, fizinio aktyvumo motyvaciją. Tyrimo tikslas – įvertinti kaip veikia šešių mėnesių šiaurietiško ėjimo treniruotės 70 – 80 metų amžiaus moterų fizinę būklę, gyvenimo kokybę, fizinio aktyvumo motyvaciją. Uždaviniai: Nustatyti ir įvertinti šešių mėnesių šiaurietiško ėjimo poveikį 70 – 80 metų amžiaus moterų fizinei būklei. Nustatyti ir įvertinti šešių mėnesių šiaurietiško ėjimo poveikį 70 – 80 metų amžiaus moterų gyvenimo kokybei Nustatyti ir įvertinti šešių mėnesių šiaurietiško ėjimo poveikį 70 – 80 metų amžiaus moterų fizinio aktyvumo motyvacijai. Išvados: 1. Šešių... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Nordic walking, mass exercise in the open air, etc. are becoming more and more popular worldwide, including Lithuania. No detailed analysis of the effect of aerobic activity (Nordic walking) on the physical, psychosocial health or quality of life of senior people is available in the Lithuanian scientific literature sources. The positive effect of Nordic walking on the physical activity, quality of life, motivation and physical and psychosocial health of the elderly women were to be checked. Research object – the effect of six month Nordic walking trainings on the physical fitness and quality of life of 70-80-year-old women. Research problem – what is the optimal duration of the physical practice to improve the physical fitness of the elderly women? Can physical practice change motivation for physical activity? Research hypothesis – statistically significant improvement of the physical fitness, quality of life and physical activity motivation of the 70-80 year-old women already after six month Nordic walking trainings. Research purpose – to identify and estimate the effect of six month Nordic walking trainings on 70-80-year-old women’s physical fitness, quality of life and physical activity motivation. Tasks: 1. To identify and estimate the effect of six month Nordic walking trainings on 70-80-year-old women physical fitness. 2. To identify and estimate the effect of six month Nordic walking trainings on 70-80-year-old women quality of life. 3. To identify and estimate the... [to full text]

Expectations regarding the contributions of academics to entrepreneurial activity in addition to their primary role of carrying out teaching and research have increased in recent years. Nevertheless, research on academic entrepreneurship has, to date, been carried out mainly in developed nations and there has been little emphasis on developing countries, particularly low income ones. Developing countries, when compared with developed nations, have been reported to face relatively high levels of resource scarcity that involve shortages of skills, finance, physical infrastructure, technology, and institutions needed for innovation and entrepreneurship. This gap in our knowledge leads to the main objective of this study, which is to investigate academic entrepreneurship in a resource constrained environment. Referring to the entrepreneurship and diversification literature, the current study argues that, as a strategy to extract value from a resource constrained environment, academic entrepreneurs may diversify their entrepreneurial engagements, which is named in this research as ‘plural activity’. In order to achieve the main objective, this thesis derives four specific objectives; namely, investigating the ‘plural activities’ of academic entrepreneurs, studying the motivations of academic entrepreneurs, examining the influence of multilevel causal factors on ‘plural activities’, and investigating the impacts of academic entrepreneurship on universities and wider economy. Sequential mixed methods were adopted in three stages; namely, an initial context specific data gathering stage, an on-line survey, and in-depth interviews. Initial context specific data were used to design two subsequent data collection phases. This approach was believed to improve the construct validity of the study. The main purpose of the on-line survey was to obtain a broad understanding of the entrepreneurial engagements of academics, while that of in-depth interviews was to obtain detailed context specific data, required to achieve research objectives. This sequential mixed method design of a survey being followed up by in-depth interviews was also considered to improve the internal validity of this research.The results suggested that entrepreneurial activity was a means of overcoming resource barriers in a resource constrained environment as opposed to resources are a means of becoming entrepreneurial in a resource rich environment. The majority of academic entrepreneurs had overcome resource and opportunity constraints by diversifying their entrepreneurial engagements. ‘Plural activity’ was found to generate synergies between multiple academic entrepreneurial activities. Diversifying into a greater number of different activities was found to generate more synergistic effects than diversifying into a limited number of similar activities. Nevertheless, there remained synergies between those who adopted different diversification strategies. Moreover, academic entrepreneurship was found to enable the overcoming of resource barriers to university teaching and research as well as deliver positive outcomes to universities and wider economy. Furthermore, it was evident that academics were initially motivated by ‘push’ motives and over time the influence of ‘push’ factors declined, while the impact of ‘pull’ motives increased. As a result of a lack of research capabilities of industry and funding for universities, there was a higher mutual interdependence between universities and industry. However, due to the unavailability of supportive mechanisms or formal institutional infrastructure to promote academic entrepreneurship, university-industry interactions were driven by individuals, and thus, were scattered and isolated. Policy implications and future research avenues were considered in conclusion.

This diploma thesis elaborates on the topic of informal learning within volunteering activities with children and youth. It is based on the concept of lifelong learning and describes characteristics of informal learning and volunteer work. It pays attention to types of motivation for volunteering and shows the possibilities of informal learning within volunteering activities with children and youth. The empirical research uses the questionnaire to examine the forms of self-directed learning. In particular, it examines the areas in which the self-directed learning is most frequently carried out and the impact of the most frequently held function on choice of areas of self-directed learning. The research also focuses on the impact of reciprocal motivation on the proportion of self-directed learning realized within volunteering activities and on the perception of selected activities as the source of new incentives and information. The ending part of the thesis contains interpretation of results and recommendation for future research in the field.

L’activité physique (AP) induit des nombreux bénéfices sur la santé. Cependant, le niveau d’inactivité reste important : 42% des Français ne pratiquent aucune AP de loisir. Plusieurs facteurs déterminent l’engagement durable dans l’AP. Cette thèse a pour objectif d’évaluer certains des facteurs susceptibles d’améliorer cet engagement : modalité d’exercice, réponse affective à l’exercice, motivation pour l’AP, et d’optimiser les réponses physiologique et affective à l’exercice.L’oxydation des lipides joue un rôle important dans la prévention et le traitement de certaines pathologies cardio-métaboliques. Des travaux récents montrent l’intérêt potentiel d’un programme d’exercice intermittent intense (EII) sur la diminution de la masse grasse. Nous avons tenté d’optimiser l’oxydation lipidique survenant au cours d’un exercice combiné (COMB : 10-min d’EII + 35-min d’exercice d’intensité modérée continu, EIMC) comparé à une séance d’EIMC prolongé. Ce protocole original induit une oxydation lipidique plus importante (1,5 fois) dans la phase de 35-min d’EIMC au cours de COMB que celle obtenue au cours d’un EIMC prolongé isocalorique. Cette étude montre l’intérêt de l’EII pour augmenter le métabolisme lipidique.La modalité d’exercice ainsi que la réponse affective à l’exercice sont importants pour l’engagement durable dans l’AP. L’étape suivante de ce travail de thèse a consisté donc à évaluer la réponse affective aux différentes modalités d’exercice aigus (EIMC vs EII, avec pic d’intensité au début, au milieu et à la fin, avec ou sans soutien de l’autonomie) chez les individus en surpoids/obèses et chez la personne âgée. Ces populations ont été choisies car elles sont peu enclines à faire de l’AP régulière, alors qu’elle est importante pour eux. Les résultats de ces études montrent que la réponse affective diminue progressivement au cours de l’exercice dans toutes les conditions. Cependant, cette diminution est moins importante dans les conditions avec soutien de l’autonomie (chez la personne âgée et chez les sujets sains) indiquant l’importance de ce facteur. D’autre part, le moment auquel le pic d’intensité apparait détermine la réponse affective qui est plus négative quand la séance se termine avec l’exercice le plus intense.Après avoir évalué les effets de l’exercice aigu sur la réponse affective à l’exercice chez la personne en surpoids/obèse, nous nous sommes intéressés aux effets de l’entraînement sur la condition physique, les variables cardio-métaboliques, la réponse affective et la motivation. Ainsi, la dernière partie de travail de recherche a consisté alors à examiner les effets à court et long terme de l’entrainement (exercice intermittent intense sans : EII, et avec soutien de l’autonomie : EII+SA vs EIMC et groupe contrôle). Les résultats montrent qu’après les deux modalités d’entrainement intermittent intense la condition physique était améliorée après 24 séances. Ce type d’exercice influence positivement la composition corporelle. Cependant, les indicateurs de santé cardio-métabolique n’ont pas été modifiés. L’EII induit un moindre niveau de difficulté perçu de l’effort quand il est combiné avec un soutien de l’autonomie.Cette thèse montre que certaines modalités d’exercice (EII et/ou exercice qui se termine avec une intensité moins importante) ainsi que le soutien de l’autonomie favorisent une réponse affective positive qui pourrait influencer un engagement durable à l’AP. Ceci reste cependant à être démontré. / Regular physical activity (PA) induces many health benefits. However, the level of inactivity remains high: in France 42% of the population do not engage in any sport or leisure time PA. Many factors are responsible for the long-term involvement in PA. The main objective of this thesis was to evaluate some of those factors (exercise modality, affective response to exercise, PA motivation) and to optimize the physiological and affective responses to exercise.Lipid oxidation plays an important role in the prevention and in the treatment of metabolic diseases. Recent studies show the effectiveness of high intensity intermittent exercise (HIIE) on body fat. In this study we sought to optimize the lipid oxidation during a combined exercise (COMB: 10-min HIIE + 35-min prolonged moderate intensity continuous exercise, MICE). The results of this innovative study shows that fat oxidation can be increased (1.5 times) during 35-min MICE of COMB compared to the same period of a prolonged MICE if it’s performed after high intensity interval exercise (HIIE) vs an isocaloric MICE alone. This study shows the importance of HIIE to increase fat metabolism.The type of exercise, as well as affective response to exercise are important in order to increase regular PA participation. In the next part of this thesis, we assessed the affective response to different exercise modalities (MICE vs HIIE, peak of intensity at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of exercise, exercise with or without autonomy support) in overweight/obese subjects and in older adults. These populations were chosen because of their low PA participation level despite of its importance for health. The results show the decrease of affective response in each type of exercise. However, this decrease was lower in all autonomy supportive conditions (in older adults and in healthy subjects) showing the importance of this factor. In addition, the peak intensity time influenced the affective response: more negative feelings were observed when the session ended with the peak of intensity.After examining the effects of acute exercise sessions on affective response in overweight/obese subjects, we focused on the effects of exercise training on physical fitness, cardio metabolic health, affective response and motivation. Hence, in the last part of this thesis we examined the short and long-term effects of HIIE training vs MICE and control group. The main results showed the increase in physical fitness after two high intensity conditions. In addition, HIIE improved body composition. However, the cardio metabolic health variables remained unchanged after 24 sessions. In addition, HIIE induced a lower level of perceived exertion during exercise when it was combined with autonomy support.The results of this thesis show that some of exercise modalities (HIIE and/or exercise that ends with lower intensity) and autonomy support promote more positive affective response and can potentially influence the long term PA engagement. But the latter needs to be demonstrated.