<p>Two main goals of geriatric rehabilitation are to re-establish ability for physical function in order to facilitate independence in activities of daily living (ADL), and to promote an optimal degree of well-being, i.e. life satisfaction, in the individual. In this research a new scale, the General Motor Function assessment scale (GMF), was developed and evaluated. Subsequently, factors perceived as important for the life satisfaction of people undergoing geriatric rehabilitation were investigated. </p><p>The GMF includes both mobility and upper limb functions and comprises three subscales covering different aspects of functioning, namely performance-related Dependence, Pain and Insecurity. The clinical practicality of the GMF was evaluated by a field test. Its psychometric properties were analysed in both hospital and community-based settings of geriatric rehabilitation, using non-parametric statistical methods. The results indicated that the GMF is clinically adequate, possesses good reliability and is sensitive enough to demonstrate changes from pre- to post-intervention in different forms of geriatric rehabilitation. </p><p>For investigation of perceptions of life satisfaction, individual qualitative interviews were conducted with old (80+) care recipients and with their significant others, who had a helping relationship with them. The results revealed that habitual activity, independence and adaptation were generally considered to be important for the life satisfaction of the care recipients. Recalling of pleasant past memories in an effort to achieve current life satisfaction was a commonly used adaptive strategy among the care recipients. This strategy created a temporary sense of life satisfaction, with a potential for concealing dissatisfaction with conditions that might otherwise be correctable. From the perspective of the significant others, protection of the continuity of the care recipients’ self was seen as vital for the latter's life satisfaction, and was thus an underlying general purpose of the informal caregiving. </p>

Two main goals of geriatric rehabilitation are to re-establish ability for physical function in order to facilitate independence in activities of daily living (ADL), and to promote an optimal degree of well-being, i.e. life satisfaction, in the individual. In this research a new scale, the General Motor Function assessment scale (GMF), was developed and evaluated. Subsequently, factors perceived as important for the life satisfaction of people undergoing geriatric rehabilitation were investigated. The GMF includes both mobility and upper limb functions and comprises three subscales covering different aspects of functioning, namely performance-related Dependence, Pain and Insecurity. The clinical practicality of the GMF was evaluated by a field test. Its psychometric properties were analysed in both hospital and community-based settings of geriatric rehabilitation, using non-parametric statistical methods. The results indicated that the GMF is clinically adequate, possesses good reliability and is sensitive enough to demonstrate changes from pre- to post-intervention in different forms of geriatric rehabilitation. For investigation of perceptions of life satisfaction, individual qualitative interviews were conducted with old (80+) care recipients and with their significant others, who had a helping relationship with them. The results revealed that habitual activity, independence and adaptation were generally considered to be important for the life satisfaction of the care recipients. Recalling of pleasant past memories in an effort to achieve current life satisfaction was a commonly used adaptive strategy among the care recipients. This strategy created a temporary sense of life satisfaction, with a potential for concealing dissatisfaction with conditions that might otherwise be correctable. From the perspective of the significant others, protection of the continuity of the care recipients’ self was seen as vital for the latter's life satisfaction, and was thus an underlying general purpose of the informal caregiving.

The aim of this study was to examine the possibilities to enter the regular labour market for pupils and young adults with intellectual disabilities. The method used is tape-recorded qualitative interviews with; Two pupils with intellectual disabilities, studying the last year at a special school. Two young adults with intellectual disabilities, former pupils at a special school and at the moment in search of work at a Public Employment Service office for young adults with disabilities. Furthermore were interviews made with two professionals, one student counsellor at a special school and one representative at a Public Employment Service office for young adults with disabilities. For analysing the empirical data, Iris Marion Young's theory about Five Faces of Oppression, Crip theory and Dalrymple and Burkes theory about empowerment was used. The results showed difficulties in enter the labour market for these young adults and wishes to be able to support themselves financially by a regular work. The aim of the welfare system is to help people with intellectual disabilities through for example special schools, vocational training and wages benefits. These efforts are not really helping but are rather increasing the disabilities and the following discrimination on the labour market.

Syftet med den här studien var att se vilka uppfattningar lärare har om att eleverna i en klass befinner sig på olika kunskapsnivåer kopplat till matematik. Studien bygger på kvalitativa intervjuer med lärare som arbetar i årskurs 6. Litteraturen tydliggör vikten av att alla elever får möjligheter att utvecklas utifrån sina egna förutsättningar och behov. Hur undervisningen läggs upp och hur grupperna ser ut varierar, men dialogen mellan lärare och elev samt en varierande pedagogik är två betydelsefulla inslag som lyfts fram. Resultatet visar att lärarna ser stora fördelar med att ha elever som är på en jämn kunskapsnivå, men de vänder också skillnaderna till något positivt och utnyttjar det i undervisningen. Lärarna har en önskan om att variera undervisningen mer för att ge alla elever möjlighet att lära sig matematik utifrån sina egna förutsättningar. Min slutsats är att lärarna trots stora skillnader i klasserna anstränger sig för att kunna möta varje elev på elevens egen nivå och att de skapar sitt eget arbetssätt för att uppnå detta. Dock finns tendensen att de högpresterande eleverna ofta inte får chansen att utvecklas utifrån sina egna förutsättningar, eftersom lärarna lägger mycket kraft och tid på att hjälpa de lågpresterande eleverna.

Psykisk ohälsa är ett stort folkhälsoproblem som orsakar enskilt lidande och stora samhällsekonomiska kostnader. Insatser som främjar psykisk hälsa hos barn och unga är högst relevant och skolan har en viktig roll i det hälsofrämjande arbetet. Skolkuratorn blev en lagstadgad del av elevhälsan år 2010 och ska i sin roll främst arbeta förebyggande och hälsofrämjande. Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur skolkuratorer i Västmanland arbetar för att förebygga psykisk ohälsa och främja psykisk hälsa hos ungdomar. En kvalitativ metod med en induktiv ansats valdes. Insamlingsmetoden var enskilda semistrukturerade intervjuer. Urvalet för studien var sex skolkuratorer som arbetar på en eller flera grund-högstadie-och/eller gymnasieskolor i Västmanlands län. En intervjuguide användes under intervjuerna som spelades in, transkriberades och analyserades genom en manifest innehållsanalys. Resultatet visade att skolkuratorerna har metoder för att arbeta förebyggande dock nämndes få metoder som enbart är hälsofrämjande. Skolkuratorerna främjar barns och ungas psykiska hälsa genom att vara ett socialt stöd och stärka deras egenkraft. Det som upplevs försvåra eller omöjliggöra det förebyggande och hälsofrämjande arbetet är bristen på tid. Slutsatsen av studien är att det behövs tydligare riktlinjer kring hur skolkuratorer ska arbeta förebyggande och hälsofrämjande samt ökade resurser för att detta arbete ska kunna bedrivas. / Mental illness is a major public health problem that causes individual suffering and huge economic costs. Operations promoting mental health in children and adolescents are highly relevant where the school has an important role. School counselors became a statutory part of student welfare in 2010 whose main mission is to work with prevention and health promotion. The aim of this study was to examine how school counselors in Västmanland works to prevent mental illness and promote mental health in adolescents. A qualitative method with an inductive approach was chosen. Collection method was individual semistructured interviews. The sample for the study was six school counselors working in one or several primary-secondary school and/or high schools in Västmanland. An interview guide was used during the interviews that were recorded, transcribed and analyzed by a manifest content analysis. The results showed that school counselors have methods for preventive work but they did not mention many specific health promotion methods. They promote children and young people's mental health by being a social support and strengthen their empowerment. The school counselors all wanted to work more with prevention and health promotion but described the difficulty due to lack of time. The conclusion of this study is that there is a need for clearer guidelines on how school counselors should work with prevention and health promotion as well as increased resources for this work to be pursued.

Bakgrund: Forskning- och utvecklingsarbete är något som bedrivs på många håll inom hälso- och sjukvården. Detta innebär att många patienter som söker vård och behandling kan komma att tillfrågas om att delta i forskning. En person som är sjuk, och i behov av vård, kan uppleva att man i patientrollen hamnar i en beroendeställning i förhållande till vårdpersonalen. Patienten är den hjälpsökande och vårdpersonalen är de som på grund av kunskap och förmåga att hjälpa patienten har en starkare ställning. Att vara patient och medverka i forskning kan innebära att patienten får ökad uppmärksamhet men patienten kan också uppleva att beroendeställningen gentemot vårdpersonalen förstärks. Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva patienters erfarenheter av att delta i forskning. Metod: En litteraturöversikt har gjorts där tio vetenskapliga, kvalitativa artiklar, med begränsning vuxna patienter, har utgjort grunden till resultatet. Resultat: Resultatet presenteras i fyra kategorier, vilka är; Överväganden inför beslut om att delta i forskning, Meningsfullhet av att delta i forskning, Upplevelse av hinder i samband med forskning samt Från känslan av stöd – till känslan av övergivenhet. Diskussion: Resultatet har diskuterats i relation till livsvärldsperspektivet enligt Dahlberg och Segesten. Tre aspekter av resultatet kommer särskilt att diskuteras: Barriärer för ett forskningsdeltagande kontra viljan att delta, Beroendeställningen till vårdpersonal -en riskfaktor för både patienten och forskningen samt Patientens delaktighet och autonomi i samband med beslutsfattande om att delta i forskning. / Background: Research and development is conducted in many areas of health care. This means that many patients seeking care and treatment may be asked to participate in research. A person who is ill and in need of care can experience him/herself, in the role of patient, ending up in a position of dependence in relation to health care professionals. The patient is seeking help and health care staff are those who by virtue of knowledge and ability to help patients have a stronger position. Being a patient and participating in research may thus imply receiving increasing attention, but also inferiority or dependency. Aim: The aim was to describe patients’ experiences of participating in research. Method: A literature review was performed based on results from ten qualitative articles, limited to adult patients with experience of participating in research. Results: The results are presented in four categories; exploring the decision to participate in research, Meaningfulness of participating in research, Perception of barriers related to research and from the feeling of support – to the feeling of abandonment. Discussion: The result has been discussed in relation to the life-world perspective according to Dahlberg and Segesten. Three main aspects of the results will be discussed; Barriers for participating in clinical trials versus willingness to participate, dependency on health care professionals – a risk factor both for the patient and the research trial, and the patient’s autonomy and participation in the decision-making about research.

This thesis aims to gain a deeper understanding of relationships and sexuality of women at risk of social exclusion in Sri Lanka and the risk of violations of their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) that they might face. Individual qualitative interviews with migrant women workers (n=18) and men (n=18) in the Free Trade Zone (FTZ), women facing single motherhood (n=28) and women formerly involved in prostitution (n=15) were conducted. Conceptual approaches included gender, social navigation and SRHR. The interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis, qualitative content analysis and discourse analysis. Findings revealed that the migrant women workers negotiated norms of respectability in a society that highly stigmatizes FTZ women workers, while the men identified conflicting constructions of masculinity existing in the FTZ. The women facing single motherhood navigated oppressive and stigmatizing social forces, and the women in prostitution constructed themselves as respectable in opposition to their societal disvalue and marginalization. In order to retain an image of sexual innocence, unmarried women are likely to refrain from demanding or demonstrating SRHR knowledge and accessing services. Furthermore, gender power imbalances leave the women vulnerable to sexual persuasion, coercion and violence. Once pregnant, social, legal, and knowledge barriers hinder or delay them in accessing abortion services. Unmarried pregnant women are thus left with the alternatives of adoption, infanticide, and suicide or become stigmatized single mothers with risks of health and social exclusion for mother and child. Extreme marginalization and limited power make women in prostitution vulnerable to unsafe sex, rape and violence. In conclusion, these women are likely to face numerous and serious SRHR hazards. The complexity of gendered social circumstances and the SRHR implications demonstrated in this thesis, add to the SRHR knowledge in Sri Lanka, and should inform politicians and policy makers about the need to improve the situation of all women in Sri Lanka.

Healthy dietary changes would be beneficial for society, as the economic burden of diet-related diseases is massive, and for the individual, who would reduce their risk of ill health. However, it is not easy to change dietary habits. Therefore, the aim of this thesis was to better understand dietary change, focusing on the barriers to and facilitators of healthy dietary change by i) examining changes in food choices when dietary change is imposed by a medical diagnosis, ii) examining experiences related to dietary change and its sustainability after participation in a study where healthy dietary changes were required, and iii) examining diet cost in relation to healthiness of the diet. Methods Eighty children aged 13 who were diagnosed with celiac disease (CD) by a screening study reported their food intake in a food frequency questionnaire before and 1,5 years after commencing a gluten-free diet. Changes in food intake and the healthiness of the diet were examined, controlling for societal changes through the use of an age- and sex-matched control group. Diet healthiness was assessed using the National Food Administration’s (NFA) food index and the Diet Quality Index-Swedish Nutritional Recommendations. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 14 individuals who participated in an intervention study five years earlier where they had been randomly selected to adhere to a Mediterranean-like diet for three months. Analyses of the transcribed interviews focused on their experiences of barriers to and facilitators of dietary change and its sustainability. The costs related to healthy diets were examined by comparing consumer food prices with dietary intake data collected in two separate studies. The first study collected dietary intake data through a diet history interview with participants who had been randomized to either a Mediterranean-like diet or to continue their normal diet. The second study collected dietary intake data from 4-, 8-, and 11-year-old children by means of food diaries and was conducted by the NFA. Diet healthiness was assessed using the Healthy Eating Index 2005. Results The screened CD group made relatively few changes to their diets. They decreased their intake of certain gluten-containing products, including pizza, chicken nuggets, fish sticks, and pastries. There were no changes in the healthiness of their diet. The narratives of the individuals changing their diets showed that social relationships were the main barrier to sustainability. Social relationships within the household were especially troublesome, and various coping strategies were required on an everyday basis. Dietary change also increased the burden of food work (e.g., planning, shopping, cooking), which was another major barrier to dietary change. Comparisons between consumer costs of healthy and less healthy diets showed that those consuming the healthier diets also had consumed more expensive diets. Conclusion More barriers to healthy dietary changes were found than facilitators of these transitions. For instance, the impact of social relationships on sustainability of dietary change was found to be high, indicating the importance of participation of other household members when dietary changes are implemented. The higher cost of the healthier diets may be another barrier for healthy dietary changes, especially for those with limited resources. Even though it is possible to eat healthily at a lower cost, such a diet would likely require both cooking skills and time, thus making the task more difficult. However, the finding that children diagnosed with CD only made minor changes in their consumption of, for instance, bread and pasta, indicates that one way of increasing the healthiness of a diet is to substitute healthier alternatives within the same food group for less healthy food items.

The study aimed at giving a thick description of African families' experiences, views, cultural beliefs and interpretations of traumatic brain injury (TBI), and making recommendations for rehabilitation. It was conducted from the qualitative research paradigm, adopting a phenomenological research method. Twenty-two pairs of participants (patients and their caregivers )were interviewed about their perception of TBI. The semi-structured interviews were conducted at the participants' homes in Sesotho, and where necessary in their home languages. The consequences of TBI were found to follow universal trends (Oddy, 1984). However, participants' perceptions, as shaped by their experiences, views and cultural beliefs, were found to be unique. On analysing the gathered data, using inductive data analysis, it was found that African families' interpretations of TBI were based on beliefs about witchcraft, thwasa, Satanism, ancestral anger and God's wish. Based on these findings, rehabilitation services in the form of education, advocacy, networking and family therapy are recommended. / Psychology / M.A.(Clinical Psychology)

Syftet med vår studie var att synliggöra befintliga diskurser gällande våld i nära relation utifrån utredarnas resonerande inom polisen för att i nästa led synliggöra dess konsekvenser. Metoden som valdes var av kvalitativ karaktär, intervjuer hölls med tre utredare från en mellanstor stad i Sverige. Materialet bearbetades sedan med hjälp av en Foucault-inspirerad diskursanalys samt tidigare forskning som gjorts kring ämnet. Tre diskurser identifierades vilka var diskursen om könstillhörighet, normaliseringsprocessen och inställningen till teoretisk kunskap. Resultatet visar att utredarnas inställning till teoretisk kunskap är något som på flera olika sätt påverkar deras arbete vilket riskerar att leda till att utredarnas arbete bygger på otillförlitlig kunskap. / The purpose of our study was to identify existing discourses of violence in close relationships based on investigators' reasoning within the police in order to visualize its consequences in the next step. The method chosen was of a qualitative nature, interviews were held with three investigators from a medium-sized city in Sweden. The material was then processed using a discourse analysis inspired by Foucault, as well as previous research on the subject. Three discourses were identified which were the discourse of gender, the normalization process and the attitude to theoretical knowledge. The result of the study shows that the investigators' attitude towards theoretical knowledge is something that affects their work in different ways, which may adventure the fact that investigators' work is based on unreliable knowledge.