Main topic of diploma's thesis is burnout syndrome with emphasis on its prevention. Theoretical part focuses on characteristics of this phenomenon, describes the most common symptoms, causes and diagnostics. It deals with prevention, supervision and possible ways of intervention. It describes retirement home as a social service including its clients and social workers. The aim of research part is to find out how does factors as an education, experience and personal characteristics can influence the burnout syndrome. Research part also aims how work environment and supervision impact on its workers. In this qualitative research is the semi-structured interviews with social workers is used as a key method with emphasis on their opinions and feelings about examined topics. Main method is extended by observation. Research results shows, that education and supervision do not affect burnout significantly. On the other hand the work environment, experience and personal characteristics are shown as a very significant contribution factors to burnout syndrome. KEY WORDS: burnout syndrome, prevention, stress, supervision, retirement home

I detta examensarbete undersökes vilka principer som styr hyresnivån för en grupp äldreboenden i Enköpings kommun, samt hur drift- och underhållskostnadsnivåerna är jämfört med kommunala äldreboenden i resten av Sverige. Bakgrunden ligger i att fastighetsförvaltarna på Enköpings kommun anser sig inte kunna ta ut den hyra de behöver för att underhålla husen i den omfattning som behövs. Fastighetskontorets kostnader för bland annat underhåll, mediaförbrukning, administration jämförs mot statistik. Dessutom granskas internhyressystemet genom att undersöka hur väl kommunen följer sina egna direktiv och styrdokument samt genom att jämföra styrdokumentet mot tillgänglig litteratur.  Enköping har historiskt sett lagt låga summor på både planerat och avhjälpande underhåll av fastigheter. Detta har varit en följd av att kommunen har haft, och fortfarande har, låga hyresintäkter jämfört med många andra kommuner i Sverige. En förändring har skett och på senare år har underhållskostnaderna ökat markant. Kommunens styrdokument för internhyressystemet har i princip inte uppdaterats sedan det skrevs och alla direktiv som står i dokumentet efterlevs tyvärr inte idag. Fastighetskontoret måste börja följa upp utfallet och kontinuerligt granska nyckeltal och mäta effektivitet. Kommunledningen måste uppdatera och förankra riktlinjerna för internhyra som ska gälla idag samt besluta om hur framtiden för husen ska se ut då de idag inte får det underhåll de behöver. Om underhållsnivån ska höjas till en acceptabel nivå behöver dessutom hyresintäkterna till Fastighetskontoret öka. / In this thesis the principles that govern the internal rent for a group of retirement homes in Enköping municipality is examined. Also the operation and maintenance cost levels are compared to other municipal-owned homes for the elderly in the rest of Sweden. Facility managers in Enköping municipality today consider the internal rent to be on a too low level. Therefore they cannot maintain the houses to the extent they consider necessary.  A comparison of the maintenance costs, media consumption, management expenses and several other expenses against the statistics from all of Sweden makes it possible to form an opinion on the current level.  The internal rent has been examined in two ways. First, by examining how well the municipality administration follows its own directives and policy documents and, secondly, by comparing the governing document with the available literature.  Key comparison shows that Enköping historically have had low amounts of both planned and unplanned maintenance expenses. A change has occurred in recent years and maintenance costs have increased significantly when large maintenance needs have arisen. Their written policy on internal rent has basically not been updated since it was written in 1990. This thesis culminates in a recommendation to both the municipal administration and facility management. They must begin to monitor key indicators and measure effectiveness. Municipal leaders need to update and establish guidelines for internal rent. If the amount of maintenance is raised to an acceptable level the rent also needs to be raised to avoid a deficit.

This study is a secondary analysis of data collected from a six-year longitudinal qualitative study called Eating Together (ET), which sought to better understand the mealtime experience of community dwelling persons with dementia and their primary partners in care. Findings from the primary study highlighted the importance of mealtimes for these families, and as persons with dementia moved into long-term care homes it was noted that the meaning of the mealtime experience was challenged. Data from select dyads in the primary study was thematically analyzed, to understand the mealtime experience of persons with dementia and their primary partners in care, when persons with dementia relocated to a “new place”; a long-term care home. Findings revealed five themes related to the new mealtime experience in the long-term care home, including: systemizing the meal, adjusting to dining with others, holding on to “home”, evolving roles, and becoming “at home”. / Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

För att uppnå ett långsiktigt hållbart samhälle ställs idag höga krav på en miljömässigt och ekonomiskt hållbar utveckling. Samhällets expansion i form av nybyggnation är en stor del i detta. Genom att planera och bygga mer långsiktigt hållbara byggnader så kan dessa krav uppfyllas. Att skapa flexibla byggnader, som kan anpassas efter samhällets framtida behov, leder till en effektivisering av lokalutnyttjandet och genererar mer långsiktigt hållbara byggnader. I Sverige är kommunerna landets största byggherrar och de har därför ett stort ansvar att förse samhället med fastigheter och då framförallt offentliga lokaler. En typ av offentliga lokaler där behovet av flexibla byggnader är stort är förskolor, i och med att det är svårt att förutse hur det framtida behovet av förskolor kommer att se ut då storleken på barnkullarna varierar. Detta examensarbete inom högskoleingenjörsprogrammet i byggteknik har utförts under tio veckor på Tengbom Arkitekter i Uppsala. Arbetet behandlar ämnet flexibilitet i byggnader och innefattar ett förslag på utformningen av en flexibel byggnad i form av en förskola som i framtiden kan konverteras till ett äldreboende. / Society today has an increasing demand for environmentally and economically sustainable developments in order to create a sustainable society. Society’s growth in new construction is a big part of this, and by planning and building more sustainable buildings these requirements can be fulfilled. The development of flexible buildings, which can adapt to future needs of society, lead to a more efficient utilization and longevity of premises and generate more sustainable buildings.In Sweden, the municipalities are the country’s largest property developers and therefore have a significant responsibility to provide society with real estate and public buildings. In recent time we have seen a shift towards flexible public buildings and in particular preschools. With the current socio-economic climate and ageing population buildings like preschools need to be flexible to ensure they can cater for future demands of society. This degree project, within the Bachelor programme in Construction Engineering, has been carried out during 10 weeks on Tengbom Architects in Uppsala. The thesis deals with the subject of flexibility in buildings and includes a proposal for the design of a flexible building as a pre-school that in the future can be converted into a retirement home.

The aim of this study was to investigate if the experiences of work environment of employees in the elder care in the municipality of Umeå can be linked to high or low sickness absence. The method used was semi-structural qualitative interviews. Six retirement homes participated in the study and were divided into two groups, based on whether they had high or low figures of sickness absence. 28 elder care workers of different educational levels were interviewed. The interview questions were divided into categories. For the key phrases; “Have great possibilities of influencing one´s schedule” (category influence), “Is offered education” (category development and challenge), “The work pace depends on the wellbeing of the residents” (category physical and psychological workload), “Reflect/Do not reflect on work at home” (category physical and psychological workload), “Difficult to resolve conflicts” (category working climate and wellbeing) and “Stressful work” (category working climate and wellbeing) statistically significant differences between the groups were detected. Risk factors in the work environment, such as, time pressure, conflicts and physical and psychological strain are described by employees at retirement homes with both higher and lower figures of sickness absence. Differences between the sexes could not be investigated, but that does not exclude possible differences. Based on the results the conclusion is drawn that aspects of influence, development and challenge, physical and psychological workload and working climate and wellbeing can be factors that impact on sickness absence in the elder care in the municipality of Umeå.

The Thesis deals with the topic of leisure activities in retirement homes and the engagement of senior citizens in these activities. The primary aim of the thesis is to describe the whole spectrum of leisure activities available for the elderly and its secondary aim is to describe how the seniors actually engage in leisure activities in particular retirement homes including the comparisons among the examined facilities. The first part of the thesis includes the description of the phenomenon of aging and of the system of social services for the elderly, seniors needs in their leisure time, how they are met with the leisure activities available in retirement homes and how seniors engage in them. The first part also includes the analysis of the leisure activities in retirement homes. The subsequent part of the thesis includes the outcomes of my research study of use of leisure activities by seniors in two particular retirement homes in České Budějovice and its comparison with the analyses of engagement of seniors in leisure activities in other facilities for elderly people. The research was carried out by the method of semi-structured interviews.

The work deals with the legislative background and the financial sustainability of voluntary projects in the social services. In the introductory part are defined by basic concepts that relate to volunteering and social services. Further funding options are described volunteer programs. In the practical part is outlined a budget for the volunteer project at a retirement home in Jindrichuv Hradec. They are designed specific funding opportunities for this project and model of working with volunteers. An integral part is a questionnaire survey, which took place between staff and clients retirement home.

The aim of this thesis is to create a business plan for a developement and management of a retirement home and also to analyze this investment. A property - former soap faktory called "Pilnáčkova faktory" -- which is suitable for the realization of the investment is located in Hradec Králové. A demand for retirement care beds is significantly higher than available beds in Hradec Králové region. This was the main driver blind this idea of building the senior home. The thesis is divided into theoretical and also practical section. The theoretical section explains and describes the essentials parts of every business plan. The practical part deals with the actual implementation of the construction and operation of a home for seniors. The key part of the thesis is financial analysis, financial statements. Subsequently, the entire investment is evaluated by using NPV, IRR and ROI indicators. Finally, SWOT analysis allows to assess the benefits of investment from various angles.

Tourism industry plays an important role in developing countries like Thailand. An acccommodation is a key expense of almost every trip, therefore accommodation development need to be taken into account in order to attract target tourists from other countries. The long-stay tourism is important since the longer the tourists’ stay means the more receipts spent. Subsequently, many studies have been focused both on the tourism and real estate sides about long-stay accommodation in various types. Long-stay tourism in Thailand is an outstanding tourism alternative. Tourists from high cost of living, cold countries and aging population are the target market as we can see from the Americans, Europeans and Japanese tourists. Accordingly, future demographic structure is expected to increase so that cause emerging niche market called retirement home as a sub-set of the long-stay tourism. This thesis analyzes the attributes of the long-stay tourism in Thailand. The Scandinavian tourists are selected case studies according to their qualification and potential to be prospective customers. The opinions from the demand side, Scandinavian tourist-investors, were collected. Currently many projects of the Scandinavian are in the markets and will continue more as a consequence of predictions following tourism trend. In contrast, the study shows that there are some obstacles, which decelerate the growth of this market. Government policy is key to drive tourism and real estate sector to get along together. Until now, there is no exact solution but some alternatives from relevant market in sample countries were exemplified in order to develop tourism accommodation with the long-stay tourism in Thailand later on.

This diploma thesis is a microhistorical case study into the field of regional history. It examines the work of the state institutional social care facility - Retirement home in the village Rozsochatec, where the nursing staff cared for the elderly and non-independent people. The staff consisted of nuns of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and several laical helpers between 1952 and 1956. Moreover, the daily life was shaped by the presence of the Roman Catholic priest, as well as by the constant supervision of the district church secretary. The main purpose of this work is an insight into the everydayness of this specific social facility - medical and nursing care, supplying, meals, hygiene, home cleaning and, last but not least, leisure time, spiritual and political life inside the Retirement home are explored. In addition, the work deals with individual actors (social groups) and the chateau building in the village Rozsochatec, in which the social care institution was located. It describes the relationship of the socialist state to the nuns after 1948 and portray one small religious community. This diploma thesis is based on the field archival and oral-historical research and provides insight into the 1950s against a background of emerging state social care. Keywords:...