Bakgrund: Skolan har visat sig vara en viktig arena för hälsofrämjande arbete. Det hälsofrämjande projektet Hälsoverkstaden genomfördes i 13 skolor i Helsingfors med omnejd under åren 2006-2008 med temaområdena kost, fysisk aktivitet och sömnvanor.Syftet: Att undersöka lärarnas erfarenheter och upplevelser av engagemang och deltagande i Hälsoverkstadsprojektet.Metod: Studien hade en kvalitativ ansats och fokusgrupper användes som datainsamlingsmetod. Fyra fokusgrupper genomfördes med 20 lärare från projektskolorna. Materialet analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys.Resultat: En god kommunikation och samverkan inom skolan och med projektorganisatören avgjorde hur fruktbart projektet i skolan hade varit. Faktorer som påverkade engagemanget var, hur skolan vid starten hade förbundit sig (commitment) och hur kollegiet förhöll sig, stödjande eller mindre stödjande, till projektarbetet. Commitment påverkades också av kommunikationen och informationsflödet. Ledarskapet i skolan hade en inverkan på organiseringen av projektarbetet i skolan, vilket inverkade på hanterbarheten och lärarnas engagemang. Lärarna önskade väl utarbetade verktyg som utgick från skolans behov och var formade för att integreras i undervisningen. Skolan upplevdes som en bra arena för att arbeta med hälsa och de valda levnadsvanorna upplevdes som meningsfulla. Projektprocessen hade upplevts som fragmenterad, men också som logisk och lätt. Skolornas målsättningar för projektet var oklara, vilket också kom fram i svårigheten att beskriva implementeringen av verktygen. Trots detta upplevde lärarna att de hade fått nya insikter, positiva erfarenheter och mycket hade genomförts under projektåren.Slutsatser: En god kommunikation och dialog mellan alla berörda parter stöder engagemang och delaktighet i ett hälsofrämjande projekt i skolan. Ändamålsenligt utarbetat material och organiseringen av projektarbetet i skolan gör det hanterbart och begripligt för lärarna / Background: Schools have long been considered a good arena for health promotionactivities. The Health workshop was a health promotion project that was implemented in 13schools in the Helsinki area during 2006–2008. The three health habits used were physicalactivity, nutrition and sleeping patterns.Aim: This study aimed to explore how teachers experienced their participation andengagement in the Health Workshop project.Results: Good communication between schools and project administrators was crucial for afruitful process. Factors such as initial commitment and teachers’ approach, whethersupportive or unsupportive, influenced their experience, and communication andinformation flow influenced their commitment to the project. Internal management figuredimportantly in the project organization, affecting teachers’ ability to manage and participatein the work. Teachers wanted well-designed and easily integrated tools based on theparticular needs of the school. They perceived school as a good arena for health promotion,and they experienced the chosen health habits as meaningful. They ranked the projectprocess as logical and easy, but also as fragmented. The schools’ goals for the project wereunclear, making it difficult to describe the implementation of the tools. However, theteachers’ felt that they gained new insights and positive experiences, and that much had beenaccomplished during the project period.Conclusion: Good communication and active dialogue among all participants supportinvolvement and participation in school-based health promotion projects. Appropriatelydesigned tools and well-organized tasks make health promotion both manageable andunderstandable for teachers. / <p>ISBN 978-91-85721-96-2</p>

Bakgrunn: I arbeid som sykepleier erfarte jeg at utøvere i helsetjenesten hadde ulik holdning til læring og fagutvikling. Min nysgjerrighet ble vekket om det er en sammenheng mellom utøvernes interesse for læring og en tilstand av empowerment.  Hensikt: Søken etter kunnskap om hvilke faktorer utøvere i pleie- og omsorgstjenesten opplever stimulerer til å lære, for å øke forståelsen av hva som kan styrke dem til å ”empower” seg selv.  Metode og Materiale: Fenomenografi ble brukt som tilnærmingsmetode og fokusgruppeintervju som datainnsamlingsmetode. 17 personer ansatt i pleie- og omsorgstjenesten i to kommuner deltok i studien. Informantene var fordelt på fem kvalitetsgrupper som hadde lært å forbedre arbeidsoppgaver i regi av Fylkesmannens kvalitetsrådgiver. Resultater: Dataene er presentert i en kjernekategori og tre hovedkategorier. Kjernekategorien viser til en struktur av bestemte tiltak som organisasjonen hadde iverksatt for at utøverne skulle lære forbedringsarbeid. Tiltakene kan oppsummeres ved følgende faktorer: Organisasjonen har fokus på forbedringsarbeid, økonomiske midler er bevilget til å lære forbedringsarbeid, tid og rom er avsatt til læring, en ekstern kvalitetsrådgiver gir opplæring i forbedringsarbeid, og ledelsen håndterer endring. Hovedkategoriene antyder at utøvere opplever seg selv som medansvarlige, at gruppa fungerer som et forum for læring og at flytskjema som forbedringshjelpemiddel er praktisk og konkret.   Konklusjon Hovedfunnet indikerer at en struktur iverksatt av organisasjonen legitimerer læringsarbeidet for utøvere i pleie- og omsorgstjenesten. Denne opplevelsen av legitimitet stimulerer utøvere til å lære forbedringsarbeid, og gjennom dette oppleve økt empowerment. / Background: Experiences in my work as a nurse made me interested in the correlation between the inclination of health care professionals to learn and their status as empowered people. Purpose: The aims of this study is to gain more knowledge about how health care professionals perceive the experience of being involved in conscious learning processes and to get a better understanding of factors that are critical in this empowerment process.   Method and material: Phenomenography was used as the research method. 17 health care professionals, who are working in the primary health care system in two different Norwegian municipalities, participated in focus group interviews. They were divided into five quality management groups. All informants had previously learned from an external supervisor how to improve the quality of their work by using flow charts. Results: The data were categorized into one core category and three main categories. Critical factors are: the organisation’s focus on quality improvement, sufficient human and economical resources for learning, time for reflection and learning, an external supervisor teaching and supporting the groups, and leadership supporting change. Other important factors are how the professionals accept the extra work involved in being learners, group dynamics, and efficient use of flow charts. Conclusion: The findings suggest that a structure which gives the health care professional a feeling of legitimacy for giving priority to learning, is more likely to enter the process of empowerment / <p>ISBN 978-91-85721-27-6</p>

Globalisation radically changed the way in which talent is sourced, organised and managed. The chemical industry as competitor in the global landscape is increasingly faced with challenges to attract and retain talent. The success and global competitiveness of the chemical industry largely depends on its employees, their ideas and intellectual resources. Highly talented employees are targeted by competitor companies and head hunters with substantial financial incentives and benefits. Leadership plays a vital role in creating a stimulating, empowered and challenging work environment that will attract and retain employees. Employees need to experience a sense of meaning, have the resources to do their jobs and most importantly, need to be empowered beyond being asked to meet performance goals. The aim of this study was to determine if a relationship existed between leadership empowerment behaviour, psychological empowerment, work engagement and turnover intention in a chemical industry. The study secondly examined whether leadership empowerment behaviour affected turnover intention via psychological empowerment and thirdly the study investigated if leadership empowerment behaviour affected work engagement via psychological empowerment. A random cross-sectional design with paper-based surveys as the primary method of data collection was used to accomplish the research objectives. The measuring battery for this study consisted of the Leader Empowering Behaviour Questionnaire (LEB), the Measuring Empowerment Questionnaire (MEQ), the Work Engagement Scale (WES) and the Turnover Intention Scale (TIS). The simulation and statistical analysis was carried out using the Statistical Program for the Social Sciences IBM SPSS version 21 and Mplus. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) which is theory driven was used in the study. The results showed that a significant relationship existed between leadership empowerment behaviour, psychological empowerment, work engagement and turnover intention. Regression analysis indicated that leadership empowerment behaviour had significant predictive value towards psychological empowerment and work engagement. The results showed that leadership empowerment behaviour did not affect turnover intention via psychological empowerment, but rather had a direct effect on employee’s turnover intention. The results further showed that psychological empowerment did have an indirect effect on the relationship between leadership empowerment behaviour and work engagement. The results indicated that it would be worthwhile if organisations develop leader’s competence and skills to empower their workforces. This would lead to higher levels of psychological empowerment, work engagement and retention of talent. Recommendations for future research were made. / MA (Industrial Psychology), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

Syftet med denna uppsats har varit att synliggöra diskurser kring äldre i en offentlig text samt vilka konsekvenser dessa kan medföra för äldre inom äldreomsorgen utifrån begrepp som makt, socialt ordningskapande och åldersordning. För att uppnå detta syfte har vi studerat den statliga offentliga utredningen ”Värdigt liv i äldreomsorgen” (SOU 2008:51). Metod och teori har varit en kritisk diskursanalys som betraktar att diskurser genom språk och text är en del av konstruerandet av den sociala verkligheten. Den kritiska diskursanalysen uppmärksammar även att det finns icke-diskursiva element som påverkar diskurser i dialektik. Det vill säga att utsagorna i materialet kan reproducera befintliga diskurser men även konstruera nya kunskaps- och betydelsesystem. Resultatet visar på fyra diskurser som urskilts i utredningen vilka är välfärdsdiskursen, värdighetsdiskursen, empowermentdiskursen och marknadsdiskursen. Sammanfattningsvis visar slutsatserna att regeringen och utredningen både reproducerar och konstruerar nya kunskaps- och betydelsesystem. Exempelvis påverkar dessa hur värdigt liv och välbefinnande definieras och vad det innebär, hur det offentliga ansvaret för detta ska vara samt hur mycket det får kosta. I sin tur får detta faktiska konsekvenser för äldre inom äldreomsorgen bland annat genom att det kan påverka resursfördelning på så sätt att värdigt liv och välbefinnande, förutom implementering, inte anses medföra ökade kostnader.

Disertacijoje analizuojamas darbuotojų psichologinis įgalinimas – būsena, apimanti meistrystės (sugebėjimo atlikti darbus) ir energijos, skatinančios atlikti darbus, patyrimą. Šiai būsenai vertinti sudarytas lietuviškas psichologinio įgalinimo klausimynas. Analizuojama, kas yra būdinga darbuotojo psichologinio įgalinimo būsenai, kokioms sąlygoms esant darbuotojai tampa stipriai psichologiškai įgalinti, kokį vaidmenį psichologinis įgalinimas atlieka darbuotojų nuostatoms ir darbinei elgsenai, kokie yra specialistų ir vadovų psichologinio įgalinimo ypatumai. Lietuvoje šis tyrimas yra vienas pirmųjų psichologinio įgalinimo tyrimų. Tyrimo eigoje buvo išanalizuoti bei patvirtinti šie ginamieji teiginiai: a) psichologinio įgalinimo būseną charakterizuoja penkios dimensijos: prasmė, entuziazmas, sprendimų priėmimas, autonomija ir pasitikėjimas kompetencija, b) svarbiausi darbuotojo psichologinį įgalinimą prognozuojantys veiksniai yra įgalinantis tiesioginio vadovo elgesys, organizacijos lygmens veiksniai ir kognityviniai darbo reikalavimai, c) darbuotojai, kurie jaučiasi labiau psichologiškai įgalinti, yra labiau patenkinti darbu, rodo daugiau iniciatyvos, jų darbo atlikimas yra geresnis, d) ir specialistai, ir vadovai jaučiasi labiau psichologiškai įgalinti, jei dirba iššūkius keliantį darbą, kur tenka panaudoti visas turimas žinias ir įgyti naujų. / Psychological empowerment of employees (state of mastery and energy to do one‘s job) is analyzed in this dissertational research. In order to evaluate this state a Lithuanian psychological empowerment questionnaire was created. The characteristics of psychological empowerment, the antecedents of psychological empowerment, the role of psychological empowerment, and the characteristics of managers’ and specialists’ psychological empowerment were analyzed. This research is one of few pioneering studies of psychological empowerment in Lithuania. While implementing the dissertational research, main statements to be defended were explored and confirmed as well: i) the state of psychological empowerment is characterized by five dimensions: meaning, enthusiasm, decision making, autonomy, and confidence in one’s competence, ii) empowering leader behavior, structural empowerment, and cognitive job demands are the main antecedents of psychological empowerment, iii) state of psychological empowerment predicts greater job satisfaction, job performance, and demonstrating effort at work, iv) both managers’ and specialists’ psychological empowerment is predicted by challenging work, that is ability to use current and gain new skills.

Disertacijoje analizuojamas darbuotojų psichologinis įgalinimas – būsena, apimanti meistrystės (sugebėjimo atlikti darbus) ir energijos, skatinančios atlikti darbus, patyrimą. Šiai būsenai vertinti sudarytas lietuviškas psichologinio įgalinimo klausimynas. Analizuojama, kas yra būdinga darbuotojo psichologinio įgalinimo būsenai, kokioms sąlygoms esant darbuotojai tampa stipriai psichologiškai įgalinti, kokį vaidmenį psichologinis įgalinimas atlieka darbuotojų nuostatoms ir darbinei elgsenai, kokie yra specialistų ir vadovų psichologinio įgalinimo ypatumai. Lietuvoje šis tyrimas yra vienas pirmųjų psichologinio įgalinimo tyrimų. Tyrimo eigoje buvo išanalizuoti bei patvirtinti šie ginamieji teiginiai: a) psichologinio įgalinimo būseną charakterizuoja penkios dimensijos: prasmė, entuziazmas, sprendimų priėmimas, autonomija ir pasitikėjimas kompetencija, b) svarbiausi darbuotojo psichologinį įgalinimą prognozuojantys veiksniai yra įgalinantis tiesioginio vadovo elgesys, organizacijos lygmens veiksniai ir kognityviniai darbo reikalavimai, c) darbuotojai, kurie jaučiasi labiau psichologiškai įgalinti, yra labiau patenkinti darbu, rodo daugiau iniciatyvos, jų darbo atlikimas yra geresnis, d) ir specialistai, ir vadovai jaučiasi labiau psichologiškai įgalinti, jei dirba iššūkius keliantį darbą, kur tenka panaudoti visas turimas žinias ir įgyti naujų. / Psychological empowerment of employees (state of mastery and energy to do one‘s job) is analyzed in this dissertational research. In order to evaluate this state a Lithuanian psychological empowerment questionnaire was created. The characteristics of psychological empowerment, the antecedents of psychological empowerment, the role of psychological empowerment, and the characteristics of managers’ and specialists’ psychological empowerment were analyzed. This research is one of few pioneering studies of psychological empowerment in Lithuania. While implementing the dissertational research, main statements to be defended were explored and confirmed as well: i) the state of psychological empowerment is characterized by five dimensions: meaning, enthusiasm, decision making, autonomy, and confidence in one’s competence, ii) empowering leader behavior, structural empowerment, and cognitive job demands are the main antecedents of psychological empowerment, iii) state of psychological empowerment predicts greater job satisfaction, job performance, and demonstrating effort at work, iv) both managers’ and specialists’ psychological empowerment is predicted by challenging work, that is ability to use current and gain new skills.

The rapid economic development in China has successfully drawn a worldwide attention and benefit its population, with a average 8 percentage GDP growth rate every year and 500 million people out of poverty. While a large number of people are seeking for the reason why economic achievement in China has been so dramatic and unprecedented, less people show solicitude for Chinese women`s condition and empowerment.    Women as a worldwide vulnerable group, their well-being need to be taken into consideration during the process of developing economy. In China, female population accounts for 48.47 percentage (633.2 million) of entire population. Under the big picture of economic prosperity, the author found that Chinese people`s living condition has advanced largely, the popularization of basic education and medical service has benefit the vast majority people, meanwhile, people can be more involved in political process to express their opinions. However, women are benefited disproportionately but still less empowered than men are. Moreover, since China is a geographically large country, the economic development has shown some regional characteristic, that means, in southeastern China, due to the convenient traffic condition, such as harbors, economic development process is faster than in northwestern China, where traffic and natural conditions are both weak. Would that cause a unequal empowered situation between women from different economic developed regions?   Women has been paid less attention through the history of China, let alone different conditions of women in different regions. In this thesis, the author will describe women`s different empowered situation in rural and urban regions of China, via a capability approach viewpoint, and discussion of whether there is a regional pattern will be based on (Dis) Empowerment model.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 73-77).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 73-77). Also available in print.

The aim of this thesis is to study personal empowerment processes and theinfluence religion have in such processes. The theory of Naila Kabeer,Srilatha Baltiwala and Sara Mosedale has mainly been used as thetheoretical framework in this thesis. In order to study the influence ofreligion i.e. conversion to Christianity in personal empowerment processesfive Santali women in India have been interviewed. The interviews weredone through WhatsApp with the help of a translator. The results of thisthesis have shown that religion influence women’s personalempowerment. In the sense that religion contribute to important changesin lifestyle, self-esteem and self-confidence.