Drogberoende är ett folkhälsoproblem och det flesta känner någon som har ett problematiskt droganvändande, vissa utvecklar sjukdomen andra ligger i riskzonen. Vi anser att brukarperspektivet inom svensk beroendevård får för lite uppmärksamhet, brukarnas upplevelse av en samhällelig intervention bör tillvaratas bättre, detta för att komma till rätta med problematiken. Den här studien syftar således till att undersöka individer som utvecklat ett drogberoende och deras upplevelse av en behandlingsintervention samt hur socialtjänsten i tillhörande kommun varit behjälplig. Informanterna var tio män respektive sex kvinnor i åldern 31-67 och deras gemensamma nämnare är att de erfarit en behandling till följd av deras missbruk. Tillsammans har de genomgått 62 interventioner både inom öppenvården, institutionsvård och frivilligt deltagande på behandlingshem. Interventionerna har ägt rum i olika städer i Sverige. Studien har en kvalitativ metodik och en semistrukturerad intervjuguide har formulerats för att utforska informanternas upplevelse av behandlingen. Empiriskt data har strukturerats tematiskt och analyserats med hjälp av Michael J. Lambert´s Common factors theory. Upplevelsen av en behandlingsintervention uppskattas överlag som en positiv erfarenhet och för en del har det varit existentiellt nödvändigt, trots att de flesta inte håller total avhållsamhet idag. En negativ upplevelse tycks vara förekomsten av att intagna använder droger under behandlingen. Majoriteten av studiens informanter värdesätter att terapeuterna har egna erfarenheter av ett drogberoende. Tvångsvårdande interventioner ringaktades eftersom de upplevdes som paternalistiska och förtryckande. Upplevelsen av öppenvården är en tid som anses som värdefull, antalet informanter med erfarenhet av öppenvården var emellertid låg. Desto fler hade varit iväg på ett behandlingshem och uppskattade miljöombytet. En signifikant andel har tillhandhållits en gruppterapeutisk behandling, vilket upplevs som en positiv terapiform från hälften av urvalet. Ett faktum att hörsamma är att en betydande andel informanter saknade enskilda samtal. De kvinnliga informanterna hade föredragit att interventionerna var mer könssegregerade. Resultatet indikerar även på att socialtjänsten har en del förbättringspunkter inom vissa kommuner. Att nämna är att vissa informanter lovordade sina hemkommuner och upplever sina socialsekreterare som hjälpsamma.

Syftet med detta arbete har varit att skapa klarhet kring vad som definierar begreppet den terapeutiska relationen, samt att ge en beskrivning av vad man som professionell samtalsledare bör tänka på när det gäller att skapa en så god terapeutisk relation som möjligt.Detta har gjorts i utgångspunkt av kvalitativa djupintervjuer med sju professionella samtalsledare, vilka i sina respektive beskrivningar, tillsammans kommit att utgöra en bild av hur man kan se på dessa två olika aspekter av begreppet. Det insamlade materialet från dessa intervjuer har sedan kommit att tematiseras utifrån en hermeneutisk tolkningsmetod, varpå resultatet tolkats utifrån ett socialkonstruktivistiskt, samt ett inlärningsteoretiskt perspektiv.Av resultatet framkom, bland annat, att en definition av begreppet den terapeutiska relationen var svår att särskilja från konkreta beskrivningar av hur en samtalsledare bör arbeta för att skapa en god terapeutisk relation, samt vilka personliga egenskaper som utmärker en god terapeut.Nyckelord:, Common factors, Den terapeutiska alliansen Den terapeutiska relationen, Four stages of competence, Samtalsbehandling, Socialkonstruktivism / The main purpose of this report was to bring clarity to the definition about the concept of the therapeutic relationship, as well as providing a description of what the therapist needs to consider, when it comes to creating the “good therapeutic relationship”.This has been done on the basis of qualitative in-depth interviews with a total of seven therapists, who in their descriptions, together came to form an understanding of these two different aspects of the concept. The collected material from these interviews was then thematized, in the basis of a hermeneutic interpretation method, in after witch these results were interpreted from a social constructivist, and a learning-theory perspective.The main results show that a definition of the therapeutic relationship was difficult to distinguish from the descriptions of how therapists work to create a good therapeutic relationship, as well as the personal characteristics of “the good therapist”.Keywords: Common factors, Four stages of competence, Social constructivism, The therapeutic alliance, The therapeutic relation, Therapy

The purpose of the thesis is to introduce novel measure of real marginal cost in the New Keynesian Phillips Curve (NKPC) and compares its performance with conventional mea- sures such as output gap and labour share of income. Real marginal cost is derived from a flexible function whereas labour share is based on restrictive assumption of Cobb-Douglas technology. Dynamic correlations and results of NKPC indicate that real marginal cost is better than ad hoc measure of output gap and labour share. Given the heterogeneity in price setting behaviour across sectors, cost functions and NKPC are estimated for the agriculture, manufacturing and other sectors of Pakistan's economy. Real marginal cost is derived from static and dynamic cost functions. In the presence of adjustment costs, dynamic cost functions that are consistent and integrated with their static systems are required. Such dynamic translog cost functions are estimated after testing the theoretical properties and existence of long term relationships in the static functions. Cost attributes, marginal cost, total factor productivity, technological progress, demand and substitution elasticities are derived from static and dynamic functions. Three specifications of forward looking and hybrid form of the Phillips curves are estimated with real marginal cost, output gap and labour share. Results indicate that hybrid specifications perform better than the forward looking models in terms of goodness of fit and statistical significance. Further, comparison of Phillips curves estimated with real marginal cost, output gap and labour share indicate that real marginal cost performs better in explaining inflation dynamics in Pakistan. The results indicate that forward looking behaviour dominates and high level of nominal rigidities persists in Pakistan. Finally, hybrid form of the NKPC is estimated for a panel of sixteen Asian economies. With the consideration of heterogeneity and aggregation bias, the mean group, random coefficient and weighted average coefficients are derived from individual estimates. The unobserved time variant common factors cause cross correlation in the errors that may lead towards inconsistent estimates. Therefore, cross section averages of the explanatory and the dependent variables are augmented in hybrid specification to capture the effect of latent variables. Findings suggest that the discount factor is almost 0.94, the nominal rigidities are 33% and the weights of expected and past inflation are 66% and 33% respectively. Nominal rigidities of the Asian economies are lower than the estimates for US and Euro areas. The weights of expected and past inflation of the Asian economies are consistent with the US but lower than the estimates from the Euro areas.

This study investigated the variance in subjective well-being (SWB) of early adolescents (n = 54) exposed to a positive psychology intervention aimed at increasing positive affect and life satisfaction as well as decreasing negative affect through intentional activities (e.g., gratitude journals, acts of kindness, use of character strengths, optimistic thinking). Understanding how to increase SWB among youth is important because of its associations with positive indicators of psychological and academic functioning. However, prior research is limited regarding interventions targeting SWB in youth and excludes the relation of common factors of therapeutic change. Based on the literature regarding therapeutic change, youth factors (i.e., parent support, social self-efficacy), therapeutic alliance, and participant expectancy for change were investigated to determine possible relation beyond the effects of intervention. Results of simultaneous multiple regression analyses indicate that specific common factors (i.e., expectancy, child-rated alliance, social self-efficacy), but not the SWB intervention, significantly relate to positive affect; further, data trends indicate the probable relation of positive psychology intervention to life satisfaction. Other data trends and indications for future research are discussed.

Substance use disorder (SUD) is a serious disorder with severe consequences for the individual, the family and for society. Comorbidity is common in the SUD population and the diversity of the disorder calls for a multiplicity of treatment options. The overall aim of this thesis was to explore the role of affects in psychotherapy for SUD. Further aims were to investigate affect-focused therapeutic orientations, demonstrate the importance of common factors and evaluate a measure of affect phobia. In Study I a naturalistic design was employed to examine how the discrepancy between patients' expectations and experience of psychotherapy related to alliance in 41 patients: 24 in individual therapy and 17 in group. An additional analysis concerned whether different dimensions of role expectations predicted retention in psychotherapy. Study II was the first psychometric evaluation of the Affect phobia test – a test developed to screen the ability to experience, express and regulate emotions. Data were collected from two samples: A clinical sample of 82 patients with depression and/or anxiety participating in a randomized controlled trial of Internet-based affect-focused treatment, and a university student sample of 197 students. Data analysed included internal consistency, test-retest reliability, factor analysis and calculation of an empirical cut-off. Study III focused on the feasibility of individual 10 week Affect Phobia Therapy (APT) for patients diagnosed with mild to moderate alcohol use disorder (AUD) and problematic affective avoidance in a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design. Study IV comprised an evaluation of the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of APT adapted to a structured group format for patients (n=22) with comorbid substance use disorder and ADHD with core features of affective avoidance/emotion dysregulation in an open design. In Study I an overall discrepancy between role expectations and experiences was significantly related to a lower level of therapeutic alliance in group therapy. This relationship was not found in individual therapy. Expectations prior to psychotherapy characterized by defensiveness correlated negatively with therapy retention, even when controlling for waiting time for therapy. In Study II the internal consistency for the total score on the Affect phobia test was satisfactory but it was not for the affective domains, Anger/Assertion, Sadness/Grief, and Attachment/Closeness. Test retest reliability was satisfactory. The exploratory factor analysis resulted in a six-factor solution and only moderately matched the test´s original affective domains. An empirical cut-off between the clinical and the university student sample were calculated and yielded a cut-off of 72 points. In Study III patients reported no adverse events due to the treatment and finished the whole study period. The patients had different trajectories of alcohol consumption and craving and the hypothesis that heavy episodic drinking would subside during the time in therapy did not hold true. In Study IV patients reported significant pre-to post changes in increased self-compassion and decreased affect phobia but no change in psychological distress or emotion dysregulation. Craving fluctuated throughout the study period and patients’ drinking pattern changed in the direction of more social drinking. Main conclusions are the following: The Affect Phobia Test is a useful screening instrument for detecting emotional difficulties related to psychological malfunction. APT in both group and individual format are feasible treatments for the SUD population and has the potential to broaden the treatment options for some patients with SUD. Investigating expectations and fears prior to therapy may be means to prevent attrition. / Substansberoende är en allvarlig störning och samsjuklighet ofta förekommande Den stora variationen av svårigheter kräver olika behandlingsalternativ. Syftet med avhandlingen var att undersöka affekters roll i psykoterapi för populationen. Ytterligare syften var att undersöka betydelsen av gemensamma faktorer i psykoterapi samt normera ett självskattningsformulär för affektfobi. I studie I undersöktes skillnaden mellan patienters förväntningar, erfarenheter av terapi och allians. I studie II utvärderades de psykometriska egenskaperna hos affektfobitestet. I studie III och IV undersöktes genomförbarheten av affektfobiterapi individuellt och i grupp. Resultaten av studierna visade att större skillnad mellan rollförväntningar inför- och erfarenheter av terapi var signifikant korrelerade med lägre allians i gruppterapi. Affektfobitestets psykometriska egenskaper var tillfredsställande avseende skalan som helhet. Affektfobiterapi visade sig öka adaptiv affektiv förmåga och självmedkänsla, men behandlingen gav inget säkert stöd för påverkan på substansbruket. Slutsatserna är att fokus på affekter i terapi för substansberoende har betydelse och att affektfobiterapi är en genomförbar behandling för populationen. Genom att undersöka förväntningar och rädslor inför terapi kan avhopp förhindras. / <p>Information om opponent saknas Information about opponent is missing</p>

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Exponential smoothing algorithms are very attractive for the practical world such as in industry. When considering bivariate exponential smoothing methods, in addition to the properties of univariate methods, additional properties give insight to relationships between the two components of a process, and also to the overall structure of the model. It is important to study these properties, but even with the merits the bivariate exponential smoothing algorithms have, exponential smoothing algorithms are nonstatistical/nonstochastic and to study the properties within exponential smoothing may be worthless. As an alternative approach, the (bivariate) ARIMA and the structural models which are classes of statistical models, are shown to generalize the exponential smoothing algorithms. We study these properties within these classes as they will have implications on exponential smoothing algorithms. Forecast properties are studied using the state space model and the Kalman filter. Comparison of ARIMA and structural model completes the study. / Mathematical Sciences / M. Sc. (Statistics)

Text in English / The inception of psychology as a practicing profession in 1938 brought with it a continuing scientific struggle geared towards cementing its place as a value-adding health service in the form of psychotherapy. Concepts such as Empirically Supported Treatments (ESTs), Evidence Based Treatments (EBTs) and Evidence Based Practice in Psychology (EBPP) arose out of research attempts to scientifically prove the efficacy of psychological treatment versus psychiatric medications or versus no treatment. This focus on evidence in psychotherapy partly stems from, but also influences public policy in the form of practice and training mandates as well as government and insurance funding policies for psychotherapy. At present ESTs, EBTs and EBPP are the source of polarisation among psychologists who argue for either sides of this controversy, raising questions on a practical/policy level as well as an epistemological level. This thesis differentiates between ESTs, EBTs and EBPP as well as the Common Factors approach and continues to critically investigate the advantages, practical/policy implications and epistemological critiques against these approaches. Some of the identified shortfalls resulting from unwarranted epistemological (empirical) assumptions are addressed by proposing a social constructionist model of therapeutic factors based on social constructionist- and eco-systemic theories. The proposed model allows therapists to employ EBT’s in conjunction with various other (excluded) approaches that are available in their arsenal of treatments. Clinical case studies are used to illustrate the model’s practical operation in therapeutic contexts. / Psychology / Ph.D. (Psychology)