The concept of home care nursing workload has not been widely studied and no evidence was found that an analysis of the concept had been undertaken. Consequently, there was a knowledge gap regarding the definition and attributes for the concept of home care nursing workload as it is currently experienced. To address that gap, a descriptive, three-phase, mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative) study was conducted. In Phase One, Rodgers’ (2000) evolutionary method was used to analyze the concept of home care nursing workload based on the empirical literature. Phase Two was situated within the naturalistic inquiry paradigm and involved observation of ten home care registered nurses during their visits to 61 patients. In Phase three a questionnaire was administered to validate the draft definition and attributes for the concept of home care nursing workload. It was completed by 88 home care nursing experts from clinical practice, education, management and research. Qualitative findings were analyzed using inductive content analysis. Quantitative data were analyzed descriptively using SPSS. Data triangulation was used extensively within and between the study phases. Of 14 attributes in the phase three draft concept definition, respondents assigned the highest level of relevance to the attribute of cognitive effort and the lowest to physical effort. The final definition contained 20 attributes and includes the following excerpt: “Home care nursing workload is the totality of the cognitive, emotional and physical effort home care nurses expend to meet the expectations of all stakeholders in providing holistic, outcome directed and patient/family focused care within the context of a short or long-term therapeutic relationship.” Respondents reported high levels of agreement with the accuracy and completeness of the definition and the majority indicated the definition would be useful or very useful in their day-to-day work. The comprehensive concept exemplar that emerged from the study includes each of the identified attributes. The study findings provided evidence of the complexity and challenge inherent in quantitatively measuring home care nursing workload. Accordingly, implications of the findings are shared for the management and monitoring of workload and associated outcomes, as well as for nursing practice, education and research.

The concept of home care nursing workload has not been widely studied and no evidence was found that an analysis of the concept had been undertaken. Consequently, there was a knowledge gap regarding the definition and attributes for the concept of home care nursing workload as it is currently experienced. To address that gap, a descriptive, three-phase, mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative) study was conducted. In Phase One, Rodgers’ (2000) evolutionary method was used to analyze the concept of home care nursing workload based on the empirical literature. Phase Two was situated within the naturalistic inquiry paradigm and involved observation of ten home care registered nurses during their visits to 61 patients. In Phase three a questionnaire was administered to validate the draft definition and attributes for the concept of home care nursing workload. It was completed by 88 home care nursing experts from clinical practice, education, management and research. Qualitative findings were analyzed using inductive content analysis. Quantitative data were analyzed descriptively using SPSS. Data triangulation was used extensively within and between the study phases. Of 14 attributes in the phase three draft concept definition, respondents assigned the highest level of relevance to the attribute of cognitive effort and the lowest to physical effort. The final definition contained 20 attributes and includes the following excerpt: “Home care nursing workload is the totality of the cognitive, emotional and physical effort home care nurses expend to meet the expectations of all stakeholders in providing holistic, outcome directed and patient/family focused care within the context of a short or long-term therapeutic relationship.” Respondents reported high levels of agreement with the accuracy and completeness of the definition and the majority indicated the definition would be useful or very useful in their day-to-day work. The comprehensive concept exemplar that emerged from the study includes each of the identified attributes. The study findings provided evidence of the complexity and challenge inherent in quantitatively measuring home care nursing workload. Accordingly, implications of the findings are shared for the management and monitoring of workload and associated outcomes, as well as for nursing practice, education and research.

The purpose of this study was to produce five in-depth case studies of University of Georgia, USA, students who studied abroad for one semester in Spring of 2006. These case studies describe and analyze the students’ self-identified goals and motivations for participating in this study abroad experience. Utilization of Lincoln and Guba’s (1985) naturalistic inquiry method was used to explore the student experiences. In addition to qualitatively analyzing the goals and motivations of these specific cases, descriptive statistics of the student Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) pre- and post-test questions and answers (Intercultural Communication Institute, 2003), taken in Spring 2006 and two years later in Spring 2008, were compared for the purpose of measuring changes in worldview orientations over time. This provided the establishment of convergence or triangulation of quantitative and qualitative data. Further exploration of preferred student learning styles by use of the Kolb Learning Style Inventory, v. 3.1 (Kolb, 1999) was initiated in order to analyze whether the study abroad program design matched the students’ learning style. A study abroad preparatory model, Adapt, Adopt, Adept: A Preparatory Model for Study Abroad, is proposed that increases student active engagement abroad, thereby increasing the potential for accomplishing the stated goal of the University of Georgia (UGA) study abroad program, namely to develop “global citizens.” Inquiry into these areas and the results obtained are directly relevant to study abroad program specialists, interested faculty, upper administrators in university policy making, and future students who might desire to participate in an international learning experience. This particular study, in contrast to those discussed in the literature review, indicates a unique approach by focusing on the following: • one specific, experiential study abroad program; • using naturalistic inquiry as the method of obtaining such data; • using IDI scores to triangulate results of qualitative data; • incorporating information measured by the KLSI. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. Qualitative data were obtained via Blackboard, email, chat interviews via the internet, face to face interviews, and by means of journal entries. By using naturalistic inquiry, the specific form of data provided and its content was left largely to the students to choose via the options listed above in order to best represent their voices. Scores on the IDI provide the quantitative data used to assess qualitative findings. The intention was that this study would provide an in-depth investigation of the students’ experiences in order to be used by individuals who find the information to be practical, functional, and helpful in improving the learning and cultural environment of study abroad students.

Introduction: Multiple studies have shown the symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD) can impair driving performance. Studies have also found elevated crash rates in drivers with PD, however, none have controlled for exposure or amount of driving. Although a few studies have suggested that drivers with PD may self-regulate (e.g., by reducing exposure or avoiding challenging situations), findings were based on self-report data. Studies with healthy older drivers have shown that objective driving data is more accurate than self-estimates. Purposes: The primary objectives of this study were to examine whether drivers with PD restrict their driving (exposure and patterns) relative to an age-matched control group and explore possible reasons for such restrictions: trip purposes, perceptions of driving comfort and abilities, as well as depression, disease severity and symptoms associated with PD. Methods: A convenience sample of 27 drivers with PD (mean 71.6±6.6, range 57 to 82, 78% men) and 20 age-matched control drivers from the same region (70.6±7.9, range 57 to 84, 80% men) were assessed between October 2009 and August 2010. Driving data was collected for two weeks using two electronic devices (one with GPS) installed in each person‟s vehicle. Participants completed trip logs, questionnaires on background and usual driving habits, and measures of cognitive functioning, depression, quality of life, daytime sleepiness, driving comfort and abilities. Contrast sensitivity and brake response time were also assessed. Severity of PD was assessed using the Unified Parkinson‟s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) motor scores. An interview was conducted at the end of the second assessment to examine influence of the devices, driving problems and any departures from usual patterns over the monitoring period. Results: Of the 128 PD patients screened for possible study participation, 35% had already stopped driving. Former drivers were older, more likely to be women and had poorer UPDRS motor scores. Only 48% of those who were eligible for the study agreed to participate. Compared to controls, the PD group had significantly slower brake response times, higher depression and quality of life scores, less comfort driving at night and poorer perceptions of their driving abilities. The PD group also had significantly lower cognitive functioning scores than controls, and a significantly greater proportion (74% versus 45%) were classified as having mild cognitive impairment. Compared to vehicle recordings, both groups mis-estimated the amount they drove over two weeks (measurement error was 94 km for the PD group and 210 km for the controls). The PD group drove significantly less overall (days, trips, distance and duration), at night, on week-ends and in bad weather and for different purposes. Four of the PD drivers had minor accidents over the two weeks, while one lost his license. Conclusions: Self-estimates of exposure were inaccurate warranting the continued use of objective driving data. Overall, the findings suggest that drivers with PD appear to restrict their driving exposure and patterns relative to controls. The PD group were more likely to combine several activities into one trip, possibly due to fatigue. Moreover, they were more likely than controls to drive for medical appointments and less likely to drive for leisure activities and make out of town trips. The findings need to be replicated with larger samples and longer monitoring periods to examine changes in self-regulatory practices associated with disease progression and symptomatology. Other researchers are also likely to have similar difficulty in recruiting drivers with PD as this group may quit driving at an earlier age and those who are still driving are fearful of being reported to licensing authorities. Future studies also need to screen for cognitive impairment which often goes undetected, particularly in otherwise healthy drivers.

Decision making is an inherent part of everyday work and learning processes. Superior decision outcomes can be achieved by structuring decision processes, encouraging domain experts to work collaborative1y, providing visualization ofdecisions as they develop, and providing decision makers with time and flexibility to better understand problems and to project outcomes. Evaluation of distributed synchronous virtual teamwork environments has eluded researchers. The theoretical foundation of this study was Adaptive Structuration Theory (AST) enhanced by a distributed cognition framework. Discourse analysis was used to explore ways to evaluate effectiveness of newly-formed time-constrained self-directed virtual teams using computer-mediated communication (CMC) to solve ill-defined problems. Measures of work process performance were percentages of meeting time devoted to Situation Assessment, Resource Coordination, Idea Generation, and Model Building. Ten measures of work outcome for each of six teams were taken to assess change in decision model quality over time. The data informing this study were obtained during an elective computer science course. The author's course design focused on human-computer interaction (HCI) aspects of use, design, and deployment of computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW) and computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) systems. Participants were randomly assigned to teams that remained intact throughout the semester. Teams assumed various roles during policy and software-design scenarios. Networked TeamEC decision-modeling software enabled team problem solving. NetMeeting provided connectivity, application sharing, and text chat for intra-team communication to simulate distributed virtual meetings. Discourse analysis revealed process performance patterns and development of shared mental models ofproblem solutions. The outcome variable (Model Score) improved over time for all teams, but degree of improvement varied greatly among teams. Qualitative analysis of group process variables indicated variance was due to how well teams understood scenario-role requirements and managed available resources. Time usage by process variable was analyzed to measure critical resource use to discover "best practice" guidelines for distributed synchronous teamwork. A Naturalistic Decision Making (NDM) approach extended collaborative experiential learning to complex applied knowledge domains in order to improve problem solving and critical thinking skills. Constructivist learner-centered course design facilitated a clear task focus enabling participants to learn new work practices applicable to classroom and workplace.

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2017-04-19T14:49:21Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) TeseDoutorado_JoseAdsonOliveiraGuedesCunha_CInUFPE_vFinal.pdf: 2184943 bytes, checksum: 928987ce07e4113b3596a20086cbc4c7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-19T14:49:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) TeseDoutorado_JoseAdsonOliveiraGuedesCunha_CInUFPE_vFinal.pdf: 2184943 bytes, checksum: 928987ce07e4113b3596a20086cbc4c7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-09-15 / Background: In software project management, the decision-making process is a complex set of tasks mainly based on human relations, individual knowledge, and cultural background. The factors that affect the decisions of Software Project Managers (SPMs), as well as their potential consequences, require attention because project delays and failures might be related to a series of poor decisions. Aims: To understand how SPMs make decisions based on how they interpret their experiences in the workplace. Further, to identify antecedents, moderators and consequences of those decisions to increase the effectiveness of project management. Method: Firstly, an exploratory study based on semi-structured interviews was conducted with SPMs from a large Brazilian governmental organization and from a small Portuguese private organization to shed light on the causal factors of SPMs’ cognitive biases and how they deal with them, including techniques and tools they used to minimize the cognitive biases’ adverse effects. The initial findings suggested that we needed a more grounded understanding of the mechanisms of decision-making. Thus, a broader research protocol based on semi-structured interviews was carried out with SPMs within a large Brazilian governmental organization and a large Brazilian private organization. We also conducted interviews with software engineers and PMO managers to triangulate the data, which was analyzed using techniques from grounded theory. Data from observations, document analysis and selected studies from a systematic literature review were also used. Results: We found that decision-making in software project management is based on knowledge sharing in which the SPM acts as a facilitator. This phenomenon is influenced by individual factors, such as experience, knowledge, leadership style, and skills, and by situational factors such as the autonomy of the SPM, task complexity and team members' technical competence. Conclusions: Due to the uncertainty and dynamism inherent to software projects, the SPMs focus on making, monitoring and adjusting decisions in na argument-driven way. Also, the involvement of the team members in decision-making aims to minimize the SPM's decision regret and cognitive biases as well as to maximize the team member's commitment. / Contexto: No gerenciamento de projetos de software, o processo de tomada de decisão refere-se a um conjunto complexo de tarefas baseadas, principalmente, nas relações humanas e no conhecimento e background de cada indivíduo. Os fatores que afetam as decisões dos gerentes de projeto de software (GPs), bem como as suas consequências potenciais necessitam de atenção uma vez que atrasos e falhas de projeto estão relacionados a uma série de más decisões. Objetivos: Entender como os GPs tomam decisões com base em como eles interpretam suas experiências no ambiente de trabalho. Além disso, pretende-se identificar os antecedentes, moderadores e consequências dessas decisões para aumentar a eficácia no gerenciamento de projetos. Método: Primeiramente foi realizado um estudo exploratório com base em entrevistas semi-estruturadas com GPs de uma organização governamental brasileira de grande porte e de uma organização privada portuguesa de pequeno porte para analisar os fatores causais dos vieses cognitivos dos GPs e como estes lidam com eles, incluindo técnicas e as ferramentas utilizadas para minimizar os efeitos adversos dos vieses cognitivos. Os resultados iniciais sugeriram uma compreensão mais fundamentada dos mecanismos de tomada de decisão. Dessa forma, um protocolo mais amplo de pesquisa baseado em entrevistas semi-estruturadas foi realizado com GPs de uma organização governamental e de uma organização privada, ambas brasileiras e de grande porte. Foram realizadas entrevistas com engenheiros de software e gerentes de escritório de projetos para triangular os dados, que foram analisados usando técnicas de teoria fundamentada. Também foram utilizados dados de observações, análise de documentos e estudos selecionados a partir de uma revisão sistemática da literatura. Resultados: Verificou-se que a tomada de decisão no gerenciamento de projetos de software é baseada no compartilhamento de conhecimento em que o gerente de projetos de software atua como um facilitador. Este fenômeno é influenciado por fatores individuais, como experiência, conhecimento, estilo de liderança, e habilidades, e por fatores situacionais, tais como a autonomia, complexidade da tarefa, e competência técnica dos membros de equipe. Conclusões: Devido à incerteza e dinamismo inerente aos projetos de software, os GPs concentram-se em agir, monitorar e ajustar as decisões com base em argumentos. Além disso, o envolvimento dos membros da equipe na tomada de decisão visa minimizar o arrependimento de decisões e influência de vieses cognitivos por parte dos GPs, bem como maximizar o comprometimento dos membros da equipe.

This thesis aims to expand our knowledge about Naturalistic Decision Making (NDM) in strategic decision-making. A case study of the Cuban missile crisis has been conducted. The purpose of the case study is to enhance knowledge about how NDM can be performed on a strategic level. The thesis aims to answer the questions how the crisis can be explained from a NDM-perspective, which decisions is likely to be made in a NDM-manner. In what way decision-makers can be said to be experts or experienced decision-makers and what we can learn from the Cuban missile crisis in respect to NDM. No earlier research has been identified that has performed this kind of case study. The main theory in this thesis is NDM and mainly the part of NDM that is called Recognition Primed Decision (RPD) by Klein. As a complement the so called STEP-procedure (Story, Test, Evaluate, Plan) by Cohen is used as an indicator alongside RPD. The result of the case study shows that many decisions during the Cuban missile crisis may have been performed in a naturalistic manner. This shows that decisions on the strategic level may be performed in a naturalistic manner with good results and indicates the importance of utilizing more than rational decision making in order to achieve fast and satisfying results. It is the author beliefs that decision making will be much improved by applying more NDM.

Den här studien handlar om hur svenska officerare fattar sina beslut i dynamiska situationer, det vill säga situationer som bland annat präglas av stress, oklarheter och tidspress. Även frågor kring vad som bygger förmågan till att fatta dylika beslut och hur till exempel gruppen och ledarskapet påverkar beslutsfattandet studeras. Det tycks finnas motsättningar gällande frågan om beslut fattas på ett rationellt och analytiskt sätt eller om det sker på ett intuitivt vis. Syftet med uppsatsen är att studera hur svenska officerare fattar beslut i dynamiska situationer och vad det kan innebära för deras utbildning och utveckling. Frågan studeras genom sammanlagt femton intervjuer med erfarna svenska officerare och officerskadetter och i studien har en tematisk analys med en induktiv ansats använts. Studiens resultat tyder på att det militära beslutsfattandet i dynamiska situationer kan förklaras med två teman: a) individuella och b) strukturella faktorer. Individuella faktorer handlar bland annat om intuitivt beslutsfattande, ledarskap och gruppdynamik medan strukturella faktorer avser erfarenhet och utbildning. Resultaten bekräftar teorier om att det intuitiva beslutsfattandet förutsätter att officeren är erfaren och har en hög nivå av expertis. En expertis och erfarenhet som genom år av träning har skapat en minnesbank som medger igenkänning eller mönsterförståelse i många militära dynamiska situationer. Med resultaten i åtanke diskuteras slutligen huruvida den inslagna vägen för att forma morgondagens officerare och högre officerare är den mest produktiva.

Militär beslutsfattning präglas av: tidspress, oklarheter, stress och en föränderlig miljö. Trots den inneboende dynamiken i strid visar tidigare forskning att militära beslutsfattare tenderar att använda sig av analytiskt beslutsfattande.  Syftet med studien har varit att undersöka om svensk militär beslutsfattning influeras av analytiskt beslutsfattande trots den inneboende komplexiteten i strid. Vidare syftar studien till att beskriva hur två motstående ideal, analytiskt- och intuitivt beslutsfattande påverkar beslutsfattning på lägre taktisk nivå. Särskilt tre aspekter av beslutsfattning studeras: tempo i beslutsfattning, dynamisk beslutsfattning och planeringsmetod som stöd för beslutsfattning. Studien har genomförts som en fallstudie vid en manöverbataljon under Brigadstridsövning 2022. Studiens resultat tyder på att tempo i beslutsfattning skapas i huvudsak av intuitivt beslutsfattande. Dock indikerar studien att det analytiska beslutsfattandet får negativ inverkan på det dynamiska beslutsfattandet genom försök till att förutse framtiden. Vidare indikeras att planeringsmetoden som används påverkas av båda beslutfattningsperspektiven. Erfarenhet framkommer som centralt för den intuitiva beslutsfattningen.

In Europe, the use of electric bicycles is rapidly increasing. This trend raises important safety concerns: Is their use compatible with existing infrastructure and regulations? Do they present novel safety issues? How do they impact other traffic? This study sought to address these concerns, using instrumented electric bicycles to monitor e-cyclists’ behavior in a naturalistic fashion. Data was collected from 12 bicyclists, each of whom rode an instrumented bicycle for two weeks. In total, 1500 km worth of data were collected, including 88 critical events (crashes and near-crashes). Analysis of these critical events identified pedestrians, light vehicles and other bicycles as main threats to a safe ride. Other factors also contributed to crash causation, such as being in proximity to a crossing or encountering a vehicle parked in the bicycle lane. A comparison between electric and traditional bicycles was enabled by the availability of data from a previous study a year earlier, which collected naturalistic cycling data from traditional bicycles using the same instrumentation as in this study. Electric bicycles were found to be ridden faster, on average, than traditional bicycles, in addition to interacting differently with other road users. The results presented in this study also suggest that countermeasures to bicycle crashes should be different for electric and traditional bicycles. Finally, increasing electric bicycle conspicuity appears to be the easiest, most obvious way to increase their safety.