Nurses have a professional, ethical, and social responsibility to advocate for optimal healthcare and an optimal professional environment. However, nurses often default on that responsibility. Leadership at a national nursing organization's state affiliate (SNO) perceived a need to optimize its members' policy advocacy. To meet that need, the Policy Advocacy Toolkit for Nurses (PATN) was developed for this doctoral project. The evidence-based PATN relied on established theories and frameworks, notably Knowles' adult education theory and Kingdon's multiple streams approach; research specific to this project; evidence from other researchers, healthcare organizations, and government websites; and input from a statistician, nursing education experts, and SNO personnel. The PATN's creation had 2 research questions. The first research question asked what SNO members' motivators and barriers to advocacy were. Chi square tests of survey results addressing this issue found significant relationships between advocacy levels and perceived speaking skills (χ2[4, N = 176] = 30.435, p = .000), understanding of SNO's daily advocacy activities (χ2[4, N = 176] = 17.814, p=.001), and understanding of policy creation (χ2[4, N = 176] = 33.830, p = .000). The second research question asked if the PATN's design was significantly improved after incorporating SNO design-stakeholders' input. A paired sample t test revealed no significant difference (p>.05) in the PATN with the stakeholders' input added. Details for evaluating the PATN's sustained effect on political astuteness, as offered in this doctoral project, were provided to the SNO. The PATN, evidence-based and built on the perceived needs of its intended users, should promote positive social change by promoting nurse advocacy.

The first step towards developing targeted policies to boost political interest is to identify the main characteristics of individuals interested (and those who are not) in politics. This article aims at exploring the common factors shared by individuals with the same political interest. This is investigated through a cluster analysis, a rarely used technique in the field of political behavior, with data from the European Social Survey. The results are in line with the initial expectations and show that civic skills, represented by the educational background and the frequency of relational meetings, are determinants of political interest. Nonetheless, for those with the same civic skills, other socio-demographic, economic, and relational factors can diverge depending on the political interest. More in detail, the main attributes distinguishing individuals with the same level of civic skills but a different level of political interest are socio-demographic. In other words, among individuals with high civic skills, the main differences between those politically interested and those who are not are on the variables about age, gender and marital status. In addition, the research highlights the relevance of cluster analysis to obtain closer details on behavioral patterns than those obtained through regression analysis.

A democratic workplace is one where workers as a body have the right to determine the internal organization and future direction of the firm. Worker co-operatives are a type of democratic firm. In a worker co-operative employees are joint-owners of the firm and participate democratically in workplace governance. Much has been written about the supposed benefits of worker co-operatives for workers and for society. One thread of this research, originating with Carole Pateman’s theoretical work (Pateman 1970), argues that worker co-operatives act as sites of political learning for workers. By participating democratically in workplace decisions, individuals are thought to learn the skills and psychological dispositions needed to participate in political democracy. A second thread argues that co-operatives will improve worker well-being. Democratic governance will give workers control over work organization, increasing autonomy in their daily lives, and leading to an increase in non-material work rewards such as job satisfaction. Worker ownership will equalize the material rewards from work and improve job security. These arguments are premised on the idea that democratic governance structures and worker ownership will lead to widespread, effective worker participation in decision-making and the equalization of power at work. However, insufficient attention is given to the contextual factors beyond formal governance and ownership structures that shape the internal dynamics of workplace democracy. I conduct an in-depth, mixed-methods case study of a worker co-operative with 158 employees in the UK cycling retail industry. Using survey research, social network analysis, in-depth interviews and direct observation, I show how individual differences, firm-level contextual factors such as the social composition of the organization, and macro-level factors such as economic and cultural context, lead to unequal participation opportunities and different outcomes for different groups of workers within the firm. My research leads to three conclusions. First, the outcomes of workplace democracy for workers are highly context-dependent. They will differ across groups of workers within co-operatives, across different democratic firms, and across cultures. Second, the relationship between workplace democracy and political participation is more complex than the Pateman thesis suggests. It is contingent on the political identities of workers, which are themselves shaped by wider political economic context. Political identity affects both participation behaviour at work, and how workplace experience shapes political views. Third, the subjective well-being outcomes of workplace democracy depend on workers’ expectations about work. Expectations are shaped by the same forces that mould political identity. Workplace democracy raises expectations for certain groups of workers, leading to well-being harms when expectations are not met. Overall, the benefits of workplace democracy for workers and for society are overstated. In the UK context, co-ops are unlikely to realize the benefits attributed to them without large-scale public policy interventions.

Citizens of today’s society are expected to be able to evaluate, make choices, take responsibility and act independently locally, nationally and globally in order to participate in both formal and informal political systems. This study contributes to the research on Civics Education (Social Studies) by examining how teachers, working in the grades 7-9, meet contemporary society in their civics teaching. The study enquires how this can be done in education by examining teacher´s descriptions and understandings of their teaching regarding civic competences as perspective-taking, critical thinking, reflexivity and autonomy. The study's most significant findings suggest that teachers express that they use students' experiences and initiatives in civics education to contribute to the qualification of civic skills. Teachers can use the students' individual experiences and initiatives to link the social content and democratic participation to late modern competences. By using students' experiences and initiatives, the teacher can broaden students' perspectives on various issues, support the students in developing a critical approach, offer the students opportunities to reflect on their own values, and their own roles in society, and independently try to take a stand and act. / I dagens föränderliga samhälle förväntas medborgare kunna värdera, göra val, ta ansvar och agera självständigt i både formella och informella politiska system, lokalt, nationellt och globalt. Denna studie undersöker hur lärare i samhällskunskap i sin undervisning kan möta det samtida samhällets utmaningar. Intervjumaterial från samhällskunskapslärare undervisande i åk 7-9 har analyserats och satts i samband med medborgerliga kompetenser som perspektivtagande, kritiskt tänkande, reflexivitet och självständighet. Av de intervjuade lärarnas tal om sin samhällskunskapsundervisning framgår att lärare använder elevernas erfarenheter och initiativ när de försöker utveckla elevernas kunskaper i samhällskunskap. Lärare kan använda elevernas individuella erfarenheter och initiativ för att knyta samman det samhällsvetenskapliga innehållet med demokratiskt deltagande och senmoderna kompetenser. Genom att använda elevernas erfarenheter och initiativ kan läraren vidga elevernas perspektiv i olika frågor, stötta eleverna i att utveckla ett kritiskt förhållningssätt, erbjuda eleverna möjlighet att reflektera över sina egna värderingar och sin egen roll i samhället och självständigt försöka ta ställning och agera.