There is a significant need for research and development into paediatric medicines. The absence of suitable medicines or critical safety and efficacy information, poses significant risks to a particularly vulnerable patient population. The paediatric population is made up of a wide range of individuals of substantially varied physical size, weight and stage of physiological development. Some commonly used excipients may be unsuitable for use in children; and some dosage forms may be undesirable to the paediatric population. There is a need for a dosage form platform that is designed to meet the needs of the paediatric patient. The dosage form should offer dose flexibility, dose accuracy, afford acceptable taste of undesirable tasting drug substances and be suitable for administration to all paediatric sub groups. To ensure affordability and thus enhance access to medicines for children in developing countries or emerging markets, the dosage form should be simple to manufacture without the need for specialised equipment. Spray-drying was investigated to co-process a functional polymer, hypromellose, with a model drug substance, paracetamol, to enhance the functionality of the polymer and to taste mask the paracetamol. Though hypromellose was successfully spray-dried it was not possible to spray-dry hypromellose with paracetamol. The viscosity of aqueous solutions of hypromellose played a key role in determining the grade and concentration of hypromellose that could be successfully spray-dried. Temperature was used to reduce viscosity of hypromellose solutions but careful temperature control is required to avoid reaching the gelation temperature of the hypromellose. The effect of temperature on aqueous hydroxyl propylcellulose (HPC) solutions showed that heating causes a reduction in solubility of HPC in water which results in its precipitation and the formation of liquid crystals. Consequently, the aqueous HPC solutions appear ‘cloudy’ and their viscosity decreases. The temperature at which these changes occur is referred to as the ‘cloud-point’. The effect of temperature on aqueous HPC solutions containing drug is dependent on the properties of the drug. Paracetamol decreased the temperatures of dehydration and onset of precipitation and ranitidine hydrochloride increased the temperatures of dehydration and precipitation. This is probably associated with a salting in effect. HPC was used to form films which disintegrate in <30 seconds but are able to retard dissolution rate of paracetamol. HPC may be used to form films which meet the pharmacopoeial content uniformity criteria typically applied to oral dosage forms. HPC films have application for administering drugs to paediatric or geriatric patients by disintegrating in the mouth and so overcoming swallowing difficulties; potentially providing taste masking and aiding absorption across the oral cavity. HPC films offer significant benefits to the paediatric population. The manufacturing process is simple and transportation is easy as secondary packs are likely to be less bulky than currently used for tablets. The films may also be suitable for administering combinations of drugs in the same dosage form by layering or by combining the drugs at the HPC solution stage. For these reasons the HPC films may have particular application for diseases in the developing world and meet many requirements associated with WHO and other global regulatory guidelines.

Introduction: This thesis investigates the experiences of young people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and who are questioning their sexuality (LGBTQ) on the Internet. Specifically, the project explores how LGBTQ young people use the Internet, how they communicate online, the impact that the Internet has on their life and how they stay safe online. Despite the Internet being an ever-growing aspect of people’s lives and the potential opportunities that it presents for marginalised groups such as LGBTQ young people, there have been a relatively small number of qualitative studies in the area. Methodology: As there has been limited research regarding LGBTQ young people’s use of the Internet, a systematic review of qualitative studies exploring the experiences and views of cyberbullying by children and adolescents in the general population was conducted using Framework Synthesis. Subsequently, an empirical study was completed which involved conducting a secondary analysis, using Framework Analysis methodology, of data collected from focus groups with LGBTQ young people regarding their Internet use. In total, five focus groups were held with forty-one LGBTQ young people recruited across four European countries. Results: A total of eighteen studies were included in the qualitative synthesis exploring children and adolescents’ cyberbullying experiences. Although there was some variation in the quality of the studies, there was clear support for four main themes: Online vs. Traditional Bullying Environment, Risk Factors, Victim’s Experience and Preventative Measures. These themes highlighted both the potential causative factors of cyberbullying as well as how the victim experiences different aspects of the incident such as their initial understanding of the event to the long-term impact of cyberbullying. A number of preventative measures were also suggested, including the need for adults to increase their understanding of technology and cyberbullying in order to enable them to be a viable source of help. Within the empirical study, four main themes emerged from the data: Digital World as Part of Daily Life, In Control of Their Online World, Seeking Connection and Navigating Risk. The latter three main themes also consisted of a number of subthemes. The results indicate that participants have embraced the Internet into their everyday lives and that the LGBTQ population reaps specific benefits as the Internet allows them to overcome or compensate for barriers faced within their offline lives. Participants also reported the need to navigate many risks online, however interestingly they appeared confident in doing so and discussed the variety of ways in which they achieve this. Discussion: The results of the qualitative synthesis provided tentative support for two different theoretical models of cyberbullying, indicating that both an individual process model and an ecological system model are mutually useful ways of understanding this phenomenon. Clinical implications spanned both individual and systemic measures that could be taken to reduce the likelihood of cyberbullying occurring. However, it is also clear that further research, in particular qualitative research, is required to continue to develop our understanding of this topic as a whole. The findings from the empirical project suggest that LGBTQ young people must balance the opportunities provided by the Internet whilst also managing the risks that it poses. The importance of retaining the empowerment for young people on the Internet was clear, especially for young LGBTQ people who may use the Internet as an alternative way of meeting their needs and engaging in developmental tasks such as sexual identity development. However, there is also a need to ensure that these young people are safe online and therefore interventions such as parental education and the development of age appropriate resources are required to promote both empowerment and safety for this population.

<p>Speciallärarprogrammet med inriktning mot utvecklingsstörning</p>

Bei einer altersgerechten Arbeitsgestaltung mittels digitaler Menschmodelle (DMM) sind die altersbedingten Veränderungen der menschlichen Leistungsfähigkeit zu berücksichtigen. Altersbedingte Veränderungen wie bspw. der Beweglichkeit sind aktuell nur rudimentär bei der virtuellen Arbeitsprozessgestaltung abbildbar. Deshalb wird im Beitrag ein Konzept zur Integration von Altersfaktoren in DMM vorgestellt. Dem User-Centered-Design Prozess folgend, werden die einzelnen Schritte zur Integration von Altersfaktoren am Beispiel der Beweglichkeit dargestellt. Dazu werden die erhobenen Nutzeranforderungen und die Darstellung der nutzerorientierten Konfiguration der Altersfaktoren im DMM dargestellt. Im Ergebnis wird gezeigt, wie altersbedingte Veränderungen der menschlichen Leistungsfähigkeit in DMM nutzer-orientiert eingebunden werden können. Dem Nutzer soll damit perspektivisch eine effektive und effiziente altersgerechte Gestaltung in DMM mittels akkurater, relevanter Daten sowie geeigneter Unterstützung ermöglicht werden.

När socialtjänsten har beslutat om att ett barn behöver placeras i familjehem måste barnet få åldersadekvat information. Att förmedla information till små barn är en utmaning som ställer krav på samtalsledarens förmåga att kommunicera så att barnet förstår. Syftet med detta examensarbete var att undersöka hur socialsekreterare och familjebehandlare beskriver att de förmedlar beslut om placering i familjehem till barn i förskoleålder. Sju intervjuer med anställda inom socialtjänsten har genomförts. Resultaten har analyserats utifrån salutogen teori med en utvecklingsekologisk referensram. Resultatet visar att informanterna upplever det som hjälpsamt att använda lekmaterial som hjälpmedel för att ge barnet en konkret bild av vad som kommer att hända vid placeringen. Informationen som förmedlas är situationsbunden och individuell. Informanterna belyser även att de anser det som viktigt att vara lyhörd för barnets behov för att kunna välja rätt information att trygga barnet med och på så sätt se till att det blir barnets samtal. I uppsatsens diskussionskapitel behandlas studiens oväntade fynd och förslag på fortsatt forskning. / “The conversation should be child-centred.” A qualitative study of social services informative conversations with children regarding family based foster care placements.   When placed in family based foster care, all children have legal rights to participation and to get age-appropriate information from the social services. Communicating information to young children is a challenge, and the purpose of this study was to examine how social workers and family therapists describe the procedure of informing preschoolers about placement in family based foster care. Seven interviews were conducted with employees in the social services. A salutogenic theory and a frame of reference based on the ecological systems theory of development were used to analyze the results. The results show that employees in the social services described it as helpful to use child-centred methods and to communicate with the children through play to visualise the placement and that the information provided is situational and individual. The informants highlighted the importance of being responsive to the child's needs in the very moment to choose what details to inform about, and that the child has to feel safe and the conversation needs to be child-centred.

An increasingly number of people are using the internet in Sweden, but many of the elderly still do not use the internet. At the same time, the global population is aging. To counteract the digital exclusion that exists for the elderly, the purpose of this study is to find out how a website should be made more user-friendly for senior Internet users. This by focusing on text formats, fonts, and colors that seniors prefer to have on websites to increase the readability. To find out, a literature study has been done together with a questionnaire and an interview study. From this, a result is presented that shows which adaptations that are good to make to people where functions such as sight, hearing, memory, and coordination have deteriorated. The result mainly shows that there must be high contrasts between text and background, larger text is preferred that is not italicized or only consists of capital letters and that there should not be much text on a front page.

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Bei einer altersgerechten Arbeitsgestaltung mittels digitaler Menschmodelle (DMM) sind die altersbedingten Veränderungen der menschlichen Leistungsfähigkeit zu berücksichtigen. Altersbedingte Veränderungen wie bspw. der Beweglichkeit sind aktuell nur rudimentär bei der virtuellen Arbeitsprozessgestaltung abbildbar. Deshalb wird im Beitrag ein Konzept zur Integration von Altersfaktoren in DMM vorgestellt. Dem User-Centered-Design Prozess folgend, werden die einzelnen Schritte zur Integration von Altersfaktoren am Beispiel der Beweglichkeit dargestellt. Dazu werden die erhobenen Nutzeranforderungen und die Darstellung der nutzerorientierten Konfiguration der Altersfaktoren im DMM dargestellt. Im Ergebnis wird gezeigt, wie altersbedingte Veränderungen der menschlichen Leistungsfähigkeit in DMM nutzer-orientiert eingebunden werden können. Dem Nutzer soll damit perspektivisch eine effektive und effiziente altersgerechte Gestaltung in DMM mittels akkurater, relevanter Daten sowie geeigneter Unterstützung ermöglicht werden.