This thesis compares certain developmental characteristics and value preferences of emerging adult university students and non-student employed young people at the age between 19-25 years in the Czech republic. According to some authors this life stage seems to be a new developmental period between adolescence and young adulthood. In comparison to the USA there has not been much research done on this topic in the Czech Republic. There are some special characteristics of this phase of life that are described in the theoretical part, and tested on a sample of Czech young people which is showed in the empirical part of this thesis. The differences of how students and non- students experience this time of life are compared. It is assumed that student life style brings different impulses than the life style of employed young people. The aim of this thesis was to test the assumption that university students show the features of emerging adulthood more plentifully than people at the same age who work. According to the results of this study the assumption was confirmed. Another focus of this thesis is the topic of value orientation among this sample of young people. Value orientation is influenced by life style and is formed especially during adolescence and young adulthood. Certain types of value...

The aim of this thesis is to study the adaptation process in the intensive care units. The theoretical section analysed the adaptation process of nurses with particular focus on methodical instructions, legislation and other specific aspects of the adaptation process, including necessary education for the ICU nurses. The aim of the practical section was to examine, whether the adaptation processes are done properly and are long enough. We focused not only on the point of view of the management, but also on the feedback from the new employees. A survey was done among the employees of accredited and non-accredited healthcare facilities. By the evaluation of our data, we have managed to accept or deny various hypotheses that were included in our work. Our survey has shown that both executive nurses and new employees think the adaptation process usually proceeds correctly and thoroughly and they do not want to make any changes. Our data have also been used to compare adaptation processes of accredited and non-accredited healthcare facilities. Based on the data from our survey, we have been able to determine, that the adaptation process is significantly better at facilities which are accredited. On the contrary, the nurses working in non-accredited facilities are less satisfied and would welcome changes...

In an analysis of the development of the Czech foreign aid policy, I use the advocacy coalition framework (ACF) to examine what policy change towards aid effectiveness has occurred from the mid-1990's to the present. Using this explanatory framework, I suggest that the changes towards aid effectiveness, which have occurred during this period, are minor rather than major ones. I argue that during this time the Czech foreign aid policy has been dominated by a belief system of the majority coalition that represents a realistic approach to foreign aid policy based on self-interested interests such as mutual interests, commercial motives or political and strategic interests. By the application of the ACF, I attempt to explain the policy process and the reasons why a major policy change has not occurred. In this analysis, I argue that in spite of the processes external to the policy subsystem (e.g. the occurrence of aid effectiveness movement), the minority coalition, whose belief system is mainly represented by altruistic motives and the support for increasing aid effectiveness, has not had enough policy-relevant resources to press for a major policy change. I argue that the conflict between the coalitions is driven by normative beliefs and that it is more likely that there will be incremental policy...

The Adaptation Process Plan document should serve as a tool for ensuring that the adaptation process of a new employee to an intensive care unit is properly led. It is also supposed to help with feedback and evaluation of the level of the newcomer's skills. The main goal of this thesis was to find out how effectively the Adaptation Process Plan document is currently used for nurses in intensive care units in the Czech Republic. We furthermore aimed to ascertain how the plans are filled in, whether their individual parts are filled in on a regular basis, as well as whether the parts which have been graded as insufficient are explained again to the employee. Last but not least, we tried to compare how the document is used in the Czech Republic and in the United Kingdom. The qualitative research was carried out by interviewing three nurses who have completed the adaptation process to intensive care units - one in the United Kingdom and two in the Czech Republic. The results show that according to our research group, the Adaptation Process Plan document is not effectively used in the Czech Republic, especially in comparison with the United Kingdom. The ways of filling in the document differ in these countries, particularly with regard to its regularity and thoroughness. The parts which had been graded...