This is a qualitative research centred on factors related to depressing and mental health among elderly Chinese immigrant women living in Ontario, Canada. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to examine those social factors that affect or contribute to depression or other forms of mental illness among elderly Chinese immigrant women. Qualitative content analysis was used. Reports of organisations concerned with elderly Chinese immigrants, qualitative research articles on elderly Chinese immigrant women, and government reports and publications were analysed based on their content. From the data, three main categories were developed. These are pre-migration, settlement experiences and health promotion. Some of the themes or sub –categories under these three main categories include the following: separation, isolation and loneliness, family and economic dependence, communication barriers, physical and psychological illness, transportation and food challenges, and empowerment. These themes or sub-categories were presented alongside the general conditions affecting elderly immigrant women as reported by other literature. From these findings several recommendations with regards to feminist health promotion were discussed. These include empowerment, making health social support accessible, family connectedness and others.

Mindfulness-based wellness education (MBWE) is an 8-week program teaching formal mindfulness practices as a foundation for cultivating an awareness of one’s health or ill-health in the physical, social, emotional, ecological, vocational, mental and spiritual domains of human existence. It is designed as a health promotion intervention for individuals who are at risk of developing stress related problems, such as is the case of human services professionals. This dissertation focuses on teachers-in-training. Two groups of teacher trainees completed MBWE as part of an elective course focusing on stress and burnout. In comparison to control participants, who completed other optional courses, MBWE participants experienced improvements in mindfulness, health, and teaching self-efficacy. In one group, the intervention was also effective in reducing psychological distress and augmenting satisfaction with life. Interviews with participants after graduation revealed that although they struggled with independent mindfulness practice, they benefited from their participation in the class, which led to specific health behavior changes such as increased physical activity. Some participants reported that they relied on their mindfulness practices in times of crisis; others shared the knowledge they learned with their students and observed that this was an effective and beneficial response to the needs of their classrooms. Ideas for future inquiries include the need to explore factors influencing participants’ responses to the MBWE program and how to support on-going practice.

Health and physical exercise has a become trend in today's society and the work with health promotion has increased in organizations. This is not only a way for organizations to get healthier and more efficient employees, but also a way to regulate the employee’s identity by getting them to identify with the organization. This bachelor essay studies how health promotion can be used as a management strategy. This is done by interviews and by performed observations at the recruitment company, Adecco, in the Stockholm region. The empirical material was collected and analyzed based on the selected theory about identity regulation. The study describes how Adecco through health promotion can regulate the employee’s identity. A pattern can be seen that goes from the individual level, by influencing the individual’s values, to a market level, in which the employees are formed to become more competitive. The study shows that health promotion can be used by organizations as a management strategy to get employees to identify with the organization. / Hälsa och träning har blivit något av en trend idagens samhälle och att jobba med hälsopromotion har blivit allt vanligare inomorganisationer. Det är inte bara ett sätt för organisationer att få friskareoch effektivare medarbetare, utan även ett sätt att konstruera medarbetarnasidentitet genom att få dem att identifiera sig med organisationen. Dennakandidatuppsats studerar hur hälsopromotion kan användas som enledningsstrategi. Studien har gjorts genom intervjuer samt utförda observationerpå bemanningsföretaget Adecco i region Stockholm. Det empiriska materialet somsamlats in analyserades utifrån den valda teorin, som handlar omidentitetskonstruktion. I studien beskrivs hur Adecco genom hälsopromotion formarsina medarbetares identitet. Man kan se ett mönster som går från individnivå,genom att forma individens värderingar, till en marknadsnivå där man utvecklarmedarbetarna i att bli tävlingsinriktade och konkurrensmedvetna. Studien visardärmed att hälsopromotion kan användas av organisationer som en ledningsstrategiför att få medarbetaren att identifiera sig med organisationen

Samhället har under de senaste årtiondena inriktat sig allt mer på hälsa och välmående. Detta har skapat ett allt större intresse för organisationers arbete med hälsopromotion, det vill säga främjande av hälsa på arbetsplatsen. Kandidatuppsatsen behandlar hur hälsopromotion används för att skapa medarbetare som identifierar sig med Svenska Byggnadsarbetarförbundets värderingar. Anställda har intervjuats där utgångspunkten var att undersöka hur förbundskontoret arbetar med hälsopromotion och hur värderingar förmedlas. Genom intervjuer framgick att förbundskontoret använder sig av olika identitetsskapande metoder för att styra medarbetare att identifiera sig med organisationen och för att bli självstyrande. Förbundskontoret använder hälsopromotion för att skapa gemensamma värderingar, detta har bidragit till en stark sammanhållning mellan medarbetare vilket skapat lojalitet och legitimitet gentemot kollegor och organisation. / Society has in recent decades focused more and more on health and wellbeing. This has created a growing interest in organizations working with health promotion, in other words the promotion of health in workplaces. The bachelor essay discusses how health promotion is used to create employees who identify themselves with the Swedish Building Workers' Union values. Employees where interviewed on the basis of finding out how the federal office works with health promotion and how values are conveyed. Through interviews we learned that the federal office uses different identity regulation methods to control employees to identify with the organization and to achieve self-control. The federal office uses health promotion in order to create common values, this has contributed to a strong cohesion between employees which has created loyalty and legitimacy towards colleagues and organization.

Bakgrund: Den psykiska ohälsan är ett folkhälsoproblem som sträcker sig genom alla åldersgrupper. Psykisk ohälsa är som störst bland unga mellan 16-24 år där problem med sömnen är en del av det psykiska välbefinnandet. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att undersöka studenters upplevelse av vad som påverkar sömnvanor vid högre studier. Metod: Det genomfördes intervjuer med sex stycken studerande i åldrarna 20-30 år på en högskola i sydvästra Sverige. Intervjuerna spelades in, transkriberades ordagrant och sedan analyserades dem. Analysmetod som valdes var temaanalys där tre stycken teman framkom. Hänsyn togs till de etiska aspekterna och även informerat samtycke av deltagarna. Data behandlades konfidentiellt. Studien genomfördes i samarbete med Studenthälsan. Resultat: Utifrån analysen framkom dessa tre teman; Nya rutiner påverkar sömnen, Stress och prestation påverkar sömnmönstret och Hälsosam vardag. Det som påverkade sömnvanorna bland studenterna var rutiner, sömnrytmen, skolarbetet samt stress och oro över att inte ha presterat tillräckligt. Det visade sig att fysisk aktivitet, kost och regelbundna rutiner hade en främjande inverkan på sömnvanorna. Implikation: Psykisk hälsa och sömnvanor är något som behöver uppmärksammas ännu mer i framtiden och vidare forskning skulle kunna handla om hälsofrämjande åtgärder. Förslag är att framtida forskning fokuserar på faktorer som främjar istället för att enbart kartlägga problemet. I och med studiens resultat behöver Studenthälsan arbeta mer med frågor om sömnvanor och på vilket sätt de bäst skulle kunna bemöta studenter med frågor om sömn. Ett exempel är att införa obligatoriska föreläsningar och seminarier på högskolor för att kunna nå ut med hälsofrämjande information. / Background: Mental illness is a public health problem that extends through all age groups. Mental illness is highest among young people aged 16-24 years where problems with sleep are part of mental well- being. Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate students' perception of what affects sleep habits for higher studies. Method: Interviews were conducted with six students aged 20-30 years at a university in southwester Sweden. The interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and then analyzed. Analytical method was a thematic analysis in which three themes emerged. Consideration was given to the ethical aspects as well as the informed consent of the participants. The data were treated confidentially. The study was done in collaboration with the Student Health Care. Results: The analysis revealed three themes: New procedures affect sleep, Stress and Performance affects sleep patterns and Healthy living. Factors that influence sleep habits among students were routine, sleep rhythm, schoolwork and stress and anxiety of not having performed enough. It was shown that physical activity, diet and regular routines had a stimulating effect in sleep habits. Implication: Mental health and sleep habits is something that needs to be shown even more in the future and further research could be more about health promotion. Future research should focus on factors that promote, rather than simply identifying the problem. With the results of this study, the Student Health Care need to work more with the issues of sleep habits and how they could best respond to students with questions about sleep. One example is to introduce compulsory lectures and seminars at universities in order to reach with health information.

Mindfulness-based wellness education (MBWE) is an 8-week program teaching formal mindfulness practices as a foundation for cultivating an awareness of one’s health or ill-health in the physical, social, emotional, ecological, vocational, mental and spiritual domains of human existence. It is designed as a health promotion intervention for individuals who are at risk of developing stress related problems, such as is the case of human services professionals. This dissertation focuses on teachers-in-training. Two groups of teacher trainees completed MBWE as part of an elective course focusing on stress and burnout. In comparison to control participants, who completed other optional courses, MBWE participants experienced improvements in mindfulness, health, and teaching self-efficacy. In one group, the intervention was also effective in reducing psychological distress and augmenting satisfaction with life. Interviews with participants after graduation revealed that although they struggled with independent mindfulness practice, they benefited from their participation in the class, which led to specific health behavior changes such as increased physical activity. Some participants reported that they relied on their mindfulness practices in times of crisis; others shared the knowledge they learned with their students and observed that this was an effective and beneficial response to the needs of their classrooms. Ideas for future inquiries include the need to explore factors influencing participants’ responses to the MBWE program and how to support on-going practice.

Health authority administrators were interviewed for their perspectives on what makes a good health care system; on tailored population-specific services as a way to address health inequities; and on how they perceive themselves to be making good funding decisions on the public’s behalf. The qualitative descriptive research dataset includes 24 hour-and-a-half long interviews with administrators from four BC health authorities, health region documents, memos, and field notes. Participants support the continuation of a public health care system and all participants acknowledge using tailored services as a route towards reducing health inequities. However, these identified services have not been evaluated for their overall effectiveness. When it comes to decision-making, participants describe using a series of governance and bioethical principles that help them frame what and how issues can be considered. Decision situations are framed in a way that informs them whether they need to use formal or informal processes. In both cases participants collect information that allows others to understand that they have made wise decisions. The Recognition-Primed Decision Model accurately reflects the intuitive processes that participants describe using during informal decision-making and portions of formal decision-making. However, in relation to formal decision situations, there is less alignment with existing Decision-Analysis literature. Seven practice and future research recommendations are provided: 1. Increase health authority participation in intersectoral partnerships that address non-medical determinants of health. 2. Develop new strategies for addressing health inequities. 3. Evaluate the efficacy of using tailored services beyond their ability to remove barriers to access. In addition, increase focus on testing new strategies for reducing the inequities gap. 4. Enhance existing decision-making processes by including the explicit review of decision tradeoffs, value weighting, and mechanisms for requesting revisions. 5. Focus future research on developing and evaluating the usefulness of formal decision-making tools in health authority structures and their relation to decision latitude. 6. Launch a longitudinal research study that examines how health authority expert decision-makers use judgmental heuristics and how they avoid the negative effects of bias. 7. Commission public dialogue on shifting the current illness-based system to one that is wellness based.

The study was designed to identify current levels of corporate health promotion and nutrition activities and to highlight the need for continued health promotion activities, in particular nutrition education, throughout corporate America.Five hundred surveys were mailed to the Fortune 500 companies throughout the United States. One hundred and twenty-one were completed, yielding a 24% sample for analysis.The wellness/health promotion activities reported to be a part of corporate wellness programs included exercise, nutrition education, CPR training, stress management and intramural sports. It appeared that size of the corporation influenced the nutrition promotion provided at the worksite. There appeared to be no difference between CEO support or lack of support to the wellness/health promotion program and the variety of health promotion activities. It was apparent that having a nutrition consultant resulted in greater and more varied nutrition health promotion activities at the worksite, and that in the future, America's Fortune 500 companies will need to hire a nutrition professional to disseminate nutrition and health promotion information at the worksite. / Institute for Wellness

Significance: Morbidity and mortality related to CVD among women in the U.S. and most developed countries surpasses that of all cancers combined (AHA, 2008). Yet, CVD in women remains understudied, yielding low awareness among women and healthcare providers. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the relationship between health beliefs related to perceived cardiovascular disease (CVD) severity and health promoting behaviors were different in women with high self perception of CVD susceptibility versus women with low self perception of CVD susceptibility. Methods: This study used a descriptive, correlational design. A convenience sample (N = 220) included female registered nurses (RNs), 23-66 years old (M = 48; SD = 9.7), mostly white (N = 143; 65%), who had worked in nursing an average of 21 years (SD = 11.3) and reported their job as stressful/very stressful (N = 129; 59%). Nurses were recruited from five acute care hospital systems in a large southeastern city. Data were collected using standard questionnaires that measured perceived CVD severity and susceptibility, social support, depression, stress, exercise and nutrition. Participants completed data collection via an online survey method. Results: Data were analyzed using MANCOVA. For every standardized unit increase in perceived severity of CVD, participants had a 1.26 (95% CI: 0.02, 2.50) unit reduction in their healthy food choice score (lower scores = healthier food choices), and a 0.12 increase in their physical activity score (higher scores = more physical activity) (90% CI: 0.01, 0.23) unit. For every standardized unit increase in perceived CVD susceptibility there was an increase in the healthy food choice score by 2.37 (95% CI: 1.09, 3.65) units, and a reduction in the physical activity score by 0.27 (95% CI: 0.12, 0.41) unit. Greater age (p = 0.01) and greater depression (p = 0.001) were statistically significant predictors of lower physical activity. CVD susceptibility did not moderate the effect of CVD severity on nutrition or physical activity. Conclusions: Higher perceived CVD severity was associated with increased likelihood for healthy food choices and physical activity. In contrast, higher perceived CVD susceptibility was associated with decreased likelihood for healthy food choices and physical activity. More research is needed to understand how susceptibility beliefs around CVD are formed in women and how to better engage women in risk reduction behavior.

Syfte: Att undersöka telefonsjuksköterskors syn på folkhälsa och hur de arbetar med folkhälsa i telefonrådgivning i primärvården. Metod: Studien har en explorativ design. Åtta telefonsjuksköterskor i primärvården intervjuades under slutet av april och i maj 2011. Vid bearbetning av materialet användes manifest innehållsanalys. Resultat: Informanterna uppfattar folkhälsa som förebyggande av sjukdomar för att må bra. Det förekommer ett visst mått av folkhälsoarbete, rörande hälsofrämjande livsmiljöer och levnadsvanor samt till viss del alkohol, tobak och spel, i telefonrådgivning i primärvården. Av olika anledningar, såsom tidsbrist och kunskapsbrist och ovana bland telefonsjuksköterskor, är folkhälsoarbete i telefonrådgivning i primärvården dock inte särskilt utbrett. Det finns faktorer som skulle kunna underlätta folkhälsoarbete i telefonrådgivning däribland beslutsstöd. Slutsats: Folkhälsoarbete i telefonrådgivning i primärvården tycks av olika anledningar inte vara särskilt utbrett. Om det skulle bli aktuellt att arbeta mer hälsofrämjande i telefonrådgivning i primärvården måste flera förändringar gällande bland annat arbetssätt, ersättningssystem och synsätt hos telefonsjuksköterskor komma till stånd. / Aim: To explore how telenurses in primary health care perceive public health and work with health promotion in telenursing. Method: The study has an explorative design. Eight telenurses in primary health care were interviewed during April and May of 2011. The data were analyzed using manifest content analysis. Results: The interviewees perceive public health as prevention of disease to feel healthy. There is a certain amount of health promotion, concerning mainly health promoting environments and ways of living and to some point also alcohol, tobacco and gambling, in telenursing in primary health care. Due to a number of reasons, among these lack of time and lack of knowledge and experience among telenurses, health promotion in telenursing is not common. There are factors that could facilitate health promotion in telenursing, for example decision support. Conclusion: Health promotion in telenursing in primary health care appears, for a number of reasons, not to be common. If working with health promotion in telenursing should be considered interesting several alterations would have to take place; the way of organizing work, the compensation system and telenurses’ own conceptions of work.