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<p>This case study presents how the unit of munition-searching dogs of the Swedish armed forces handles their experiences from international service. The subject is particularly interesting as previous research into the area is nonexistent. The questions asked in the study are answered through the authors findings that training and preparation of this unit has developed thanks to the input of lessons learned from previous missions. This paper, based manly on experience reports, show that the unit successfully uses the method for handling lessons learned chosen within the Swedish armed forces.</p>

A severe burn is a trauma fraught with stress and pain and may change the entire course of life. This thesis focuses on care utilisation, care experiences and patient satisfaction after a severe burn. The patients studied were treated at the Burn Unit at Uppsala University Hospital between 1980 and 2006. Burn-related health was examined using the Burn Specific Health Scale-Brief (BSHS-B), personality traits with the Swedish universities Scales of Personality (SSP), psychological symptoms using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS), symptoms of posttraumatic stress with the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) and satisfaction with care using the Patient Satisfaction-Results and Quality (PS-RESKVA) questionnaire. Those utilising care years after injury reported poorer functioning on three of the BSHS-B subscales. Personality traits had a greater impact on care utilisation than injury severity. Social desirability was lower among care utilisers and was associated with burn-related health aspects. The participants reported a low level of negative care experiences, the most common of which was Powerlessness. Most patients were satisfied with care, more with quality of contact with the nursing staff, and less with treatment information. Multiple regressions showed that the BSHS-B Interpersonal relationships subscale was an independent variable related to all measured aspects of patient satisfaction. The highest adjusted R2 was 0.25. In a prospective assessment with multiple regression analyses, Age and Education, the personality traits of Stress susceptibility, Trait irritability, Detachment and Social desirability, in addition to the post-traumatic stress symptoms Intrusion and Hyperarousal, were predictors of satisfaction with care. The highest adjusted R2 was 0.19. The thesis has pointed out that interpersonal factors are related to care utilisation as well as satisfaction with care. However, satisfaction with care was only moderately associated with health and individual characteristics, which may imply that the care itself is of major importance.

Background: Globally, and in Sweden, passenger railway transport is steadily increasing. Sweden has been relatively free from severe train crashes in the last decades, but the railway infrastructure is alarmingly worn and overburdened, which may be one reason for an increasing number of reported mishaps. Worldwide, major train crashes/disasters are a frequent cause of mass casualty incidents. Several shortcomings, especially within the crash and post-crash phases cause severe consequences for the passengers. Aim: To investigate the consequences of train crashes on passengers, focusing on factors of importance in the crash and post-crash phases. The specific aims are: (I) to identify the historical development and magnitude of passenger train disasters globally on various continents and countries, (II, III) to identify injury panorama and injury objects in two train crashes, (IV) to explore survivor´s experiences from a train crash, and (V) to explore their experiences of journalists and media coverage. Methods: Study I is a register study based on 529 railway disasters worldwide, whereas studies II-V are case studies from the two latest severe train crashes in Sweden (Nosaby and Kimstad). These studies are based on 73 and 21 passengers respectively. Studies I-III is essentially quantitative where descriptive statistics (I, III), multivariate analysis (III), and content analysis (II, III) are used. Studies II and III are also supplemented by semi-structured interviews. Studies IV and V are qualitative and the interviews (n=14, n=30) have been analyzed with qualitative content analysis. Study IV is also supplemented with quantitative data. Results: The number of railway disasters, fatalities, and non-fatally injured passengers has increased throughout the last hundred years - particularly during the last four decades (1970–2009) when 88% of all disasters occurred (I). Passengers in the first overturned carriage suffered most severe and lethal injuries (III). Internal structures such as tables, chairs, internal walls, as well as luggage, other passengers (II, III), glass (II), and wood pellets (III) induced many of the injuries. Those who traveled facing forward with a table in front of them, in carriages that did not overturn, were more likely to sustain injuries to their abdomen/pelvis than those without a table (III). Passengers who traveled rear facing had higher rates of whiplash injuries. Surviving a train crash was experienced as "living in a mode of existential threat". The long term consequences however were diverse for different persons (IV). All experienced that they had cheated death, but some became "shackled by history", whereas others overcame the "haunting of unforgettable memories." The centrality of others and the importance of reconstructing the turn of events were important when "dealing with the unthinkable". The media coverage were experienced as positive in the recovery process and the journalists were also perceived as helpful (V). By some the journalist’s nevertheless were also perceived as harmful or negligible, and the subsequent media coverage as either uncomfortable or insignificant. Conclusion: Despite extensive crash avoidance systems severe railway crashes still occur. Improved interior safety, as has been implemented in the automobile and aviation industries, would have an important reduction in injuries and facilitate evacuation. Being surrounded by family, friends, fellow passengers and participating in crash investigations, and experiencing descriptive media coverage were some crucial factors when dealing with the traumatic event and should be promoted.

Background: It has been a common perception in the media in recent years that external shopping malls extinguish the trade in Swedish downtown areas. Factors that promote external shopping malls are that customers become more and more indolent and more people buy cars. Despite this fact, downtown areas have a great deal to offer when it comes to creating a pleasant atmosphere. Furthermore, customers are becoming more demanding and want something extra while doing their shopping. More and more shopkeepers therefore realize the importance of events as an instrument to offer experiences to the customers. Purpose: To investigate whether shopkeepers in downtown Linköping consider the external shopping mall in Tornby a competitor or not and, if so, in what ways the trade in the downtown area has been affected by Tornby. Furthermore we will outline and describewhat types of marketing shopkeepers in downtown Linköping use today, and in what ways these types are being utilized. Because this is investigated from the point of view of the shopkeepers in downtown Linköping, this study will also bring forward a few words of advice to them. These pieces of advice are focused on how they should compose their marketing efforts in order to handle the competition with the external shopping malls. Some of the recommendations are also meant to guide other participants in Linköping’s retail trade. In doing so, we will be investigating the aptness in using event marketing and, if we find it suitable, in what ways it should be used. The results from this investigation will be Delimitations: This investigation has been empirically delimited to mainly encompass the situation in Linköping’s municipality. A practical delimitation that has been made is that we only have interviewed one representative from each mall in downtown Linköping. The individual shopkeepers have therefore not been discussed. As to the theoretical frame of reference, it consists in large parts of theories concerning event marketing. However, we will not be discussing companies’ internal events, with a view to motivating and creating a pleasant atmosphere among the staff. Nor will we be discussing sponsorship which is existing events sponsored by companies. Realization: This study is a qualitative one. The empirical data originates from ten interviews with representatives of Linköping’s municipality, Svensk Handel, Cityföreningen of Linköping and the persons in charge of the shopping malls in downtown Linköping. One interview has directed us to the next, which has helped us to select appropriate persons to enquire about the situation in Linköping. Since we have interviewed all the people in charge of the malls in downtown Linköping, the entire population has been studied. Apart from the interviews, the empirical data also comes from research reports, investigations and literature on the subject. Results: The shopkeepers in the downtown area of Linköping do not consider the external shopping malls in Tornby a competitor but more of a complement to the trade at large in the city. The downtown area has so much to offer which the external shopping malls cannot, such as culture, parks, churches, coffee shops and so forth. Our view is that without the competition from external shopping malls, the trade in the downtown areas would not have changed as much. How the trade is perceived depends on the perspective chosen. Therefore we believe that all the organisations involved in the trade must work together to promote the uniqueness of Linköping in order to convince people from other cities to make a visit here. The malls in Linköping’s downtown area differ to a great extent when it comes to marketing. They are using different types of marketing in different manners. We have found it important to make sure that all these types are coordinated to convey the

<p><font face="Times New Roman"> <p align="left">Limitations of the study include the issue of counsellor variables and the fact that the participants varied between receiving a debriefing on a group or individual basis. The experience of the trauma debriefings were explored but more specific information relating to debriefing could have been elicited. Therefore, these findings cannot be generalised and further research could<font face="Times New Roman"> explore the utility and efficacy of trauma debriefing.</font></p> </font></p>

<p>Research indicates that the advancement of women into top management positions is steadily increasing. However, it seems as if gender divisions in the workforce do not encourage equal opportunities for women in the labor sector. In the world of sport, gender equity has been promoted with some progress. However, this progress, both globally and in South Africa, is still limited both quantitatively and qualitatively. There has been very little research on the experiences of women in leadership positions, specifically in the field of sport. This study explored the experiences of female sports administrators in the workplace. This study employed a qualitative research methodology. Purposive sampling was used to select suitable candidates in the field of sport and recreation in the Western Cape, South Africa. Data was collected by using semi-structured interviews and data was analysed using thematic analysis. Results indicate that participants in this study experience gender bias in the workplace in terms of differential treatment, organizational fit and harassment and intimidation. Conclusions and recommendations are also offered.</p>

<p>This study aimed at looking at children&rsquo / s perceptions of violence, exploring the experiences on child violence and lastly perceptions of children about intervention strategies in children&rsquo / s homes. The participants were sourced from the rehabilitation centres, at the children&rsquo / s homes in Khayelitsha. A manageable group of between 8 participants was used in the study. The participants were adolescents aged between 14-16 years old. The data was collected through individual interviews and was analysed in terms of thematic analysis. Each interview was tape recorded and transcribed. The ethics was taken into considerations from the onset process of recruitment, and for this reason the consent and assent letters were be provided and signed by both participants and care givers. Counselling support was provided for the participants. The common belief in this study was that the majority of the violence is found in the areas of their origin, which were the townships where they grew up. Generally, the participants held different beliefs on their sense of safety, which was related in the current area in which they live. The ultimate conclusions that have been drawn from the findings, suggest that children experience various difficulties and challenges, in their lives within children&rsquo / s home. Despite these challenges and difficulties that are encountered, participants appear to remain relatively contented with life in the home. Moreover, the participants also appeared to demonstrate a greater preference for living within the home over that of the previous living conditions from which they originate.</p>

The overall purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyse interpersonal behaviour in career counselling sessions. The importance of the relationship in counselling for the outcome of sessions has been acknowledged in earlier research. How the actual interaction process between client and career counsellor looks like has been sparsely investigated. The present research explores expected, experienced behaviours and self-image of 15 adolescent clients’ and counsellors’ dyads in career counselling. The research was guided by interpersonal theory and the model of structural analysis of social behaviour (SASB) developed by Lorna Smith Benjamin. The research focuses on four different aspect of interpersonal behaviour. First, the significance of different behaviours by the clients and the career counsellors related to session evaluation. Second, the significance of expected and experienced similarity in perceptions of self and other behaviours related to session evaluation. Third, differences of perceived behaviours and possible influence by self-image over the course of sessions and fourth, comparing the influence of positive and negative self-image to expected and experienced behaviours, perceived important events during session and session evaluation session by clients’. Results indicate the importance for clients to become close to the career counsellor in session, while the career counsellors’ encouragement of clients’ independency during sessions showed to be of less importance for the clients’. This pattern imply a difficult balance act for career counsellors between providing a safe and close relationship and promoting independence and exploration for the clients. Further, it was found that career counsellors had difficulties in identifying their own contributions to a positive session evaluation, indicating a problem for the career counsellors’ to make conscious adjustments of behaviours. The degree to which client and career counsellor agreed of their behaviours only mattered for experiences of the career counsellors’ behaviour when related to their evaluation of session. Only minor tendencies of influence by the career counsellors’ self-image of clients’ perceived differences in behaviours were found. Self-image played a significant role in how the clients’ expected and experienced behaviours, perceived important events in session and in their session evaluation. Clients’ with positive self-image showed consistently more positive perceptions on each of the involved variables.

Background: An increasing number of operations on children are performed as day surgery and this experience of health care may affect future hospital stays. The aim of this qualitative study was to describe children´s experiences in connection with day surgery. Method: Ten children aged six to fifteen who had gone through general anesthesia at examinations or surgery were interviewed and the content was analyzed by systematic text condensation. Result: The core category “From uncertainty to relief with newly acquired experience” could summarize the result of this interview study. In the category “Uncertainty creates insecurity” all children expressed varying levels of anxiety for the anesthesia. The main causes for the worry were insufficient information or lacking experience from similar health care situation. "The concrete experience different from the qualm” describes that the discomfort the children expressed were different or slighter than expected. The anesthetization was easy and quick while the awakening was described as more unpleasant. In the category “Good nursing care creates security and trust” the children appreciated the staff and their way of informing and giving care. Many expressed an ease that the procedure had passed and would experience less anxiety before a possible future anesthesia; “Relieved and strengthened through experience”. Conclusion: The interviewed children had surprisingly little knowledge in advance of what would happen during the day and not to mention the procedure of anesthesia. Unpleasant experiences were described even during moments where it was not expected. To reduce the anxiety and discomfort the information in connection with day surgery needs to be substantially improved in this age group. / Bakgrund: Allt fler operationer på barn utförs polikliniskt och denna erfarenhet av sjukhusvård kan påverka upplevelsen vid framtida vårdtillfällen. Syftet med denna kvalitativa studie var att beskriva barns upplevelser i samband med dagkirurgi. Metod: Tio barn sex till femton år som genomgått sövning i samband med undersökning eller operation intervjuades och innehållet analyserades med systematisk textkondensering. Resultat: Temat ”Från ovisshet till lättnad med nyvunnen erfarenhet” kan sammanfatta resultatet av intervjustudien. I kategorin ”Ovisshet skapar otrygghet” uttrycktes oro i varierande grad inför sövningen vilken främst orsakades av otillräcklig information eller saknad erfarenhet av liknande sjukvårdssituation. ”Den konkreta upplevelsen annorlunda än farhågan” beskriver att obehagen barnen berättade om var annorlunda eller lindrigare än förväntat. Nedsövningen gick lätt och snabbt medan uppvaknandet beskrevs som mera obehagligt. Under kategorin ”God omvårdnad skapar trygghet och tillit” gav barnen positiva omdömen om personalen och deras sätt att informera och ge omvårdnad. Många uttryckte en lättnad över att ingreppet var genomfört och uppgav att de skulle känna mindre oro inför en möjlig framtida sövning; ”Lättade och stärkta av erfarenheten”. Slutsats: De intervjuade barnen hade överraskande lite kunskap i förväg om vad som skulle hända under dagen och inte minst narkosproceduren. Obehag upplevdes även under moment där det ej förväntades. För att minska oro och obehag behöver informationen i samband dagkirurgi förbättras avsevärt till denna åldersgrupp.