Data quality is an important issue which has been addressed and recognised in research communities such as data warehousing, data mining and information systems. It has been agreed that poor data quality will impact the quality of results of analyses and that it will therefore impact on decisions made on the basis of these results. Empirical software engineering has neglected the issue of data quality to some extent. This fact poses the question of how researchers in empirical software engineering can trust their results without addressing the quality of the analysed data. One widely accepted definition for data quality describes it as `fitness for purpose', and the issue of poor data quality can be addressed by either introducing preventative measures or by applying means to cope with data quality issues. The research presented in this thesis addresses the latter with the special focus on noise handling. Three noise handling techniques, which utilise decision trees, are proposed for application to software engineering data sets. Each technique represents a noise handling approach: robust filtering, where training and test sets are the same; predictive filtering, where training and test sets are different; and filtering and polish, where noisy instances are corrected. The techniques were first evaluated in two different investigations by applying them to a large real world software engineering data set. In the first investigation the techniques' ability to improve predictive accuracy in differing noise levels was tested. All three techniques improved predictive accuracy in comparison to the do-nothing approach. The filtering and polish was the most successful technique in improving predictive accuracy. The second investigation utilising the large real world software engineering data set tested the techniques' ability to identify instances with implausible values. These instances were flagged for the purpose of evaluation before applying the three techniques. Robust filtering and predictive filtering decreased the number of instances with implausible values, but substantially decreased the size of the data set too. The filtering and polish technique actually increased the number of implausible values, but it did not reduce the size of the data set. Since the data set contained historical software project data, it was not possible to know the real extent of noise detected. This led to the production of simulated software engineering data sets, which were modelled on the real data set used in the previous evaluations to ensure domain specific characteristics. These simulated versions of the data set were then injected with noise, such that the real extent of the noise was known. After the noise injection the three noise handling techniques were applied to allow evaluation. This procedure of simulating software engineering data sets combined the incorporation of domain specific characteristics of the real world with the control over the simulated data. This is seen as a special strength of this evaluation approach. The results of the evaluation of the simulation showed that none of the techniques performed well. Robust filtering and filtering and polish performed very poorly, and based on the results of this evaluation they would not be recommended for the task of noise reduction. The predictive filtering technique was the best performing technique in this evaluation, but it did not perform significantly well either. An exhaustive systematic literature review has been carried out investigating to what extent the empirical software engineering community has considered data quality. The findings showed that the issue of data quality has been largely neglected by the empirical software engineering community. The work in this thesis highlights an important gap in empirical software engineering. It provided clarification and distinctions of the terms noise and outliers. Noise and outliers are overlapping, but they are fundamentally different. Since noise and outliers are often treated the same in noise handling techniques, a clarification of the two terms was necessary. To investigate the capabilities of noise handling techniques a single investigation was deemed as insufficient. The reasons for this are that the distinction between noise and outliers is not trivial, and that the investigated noise cleaning techniques are derived from traditional noise handling techniques where noise and outliers are combined. Therefore three investigations were undertaken to assess the effectiveness of the three presented noise handling techniques. Each investigation should be seen as a part of a multi-pronged approach. This thesis also highlights possible shortcomings of current automated noise handling techniques. The poor performance of the three techniques led to the conclusion that noise handling should be integrated into a data cleaning process where the input of domain knowledge and the replicability of the data cleaning process are ensured.

Bakgrund: Adjuvant cytostatikabehandling används vid bröstcancer efter att tumören tagits bort. Biverkningar kan uppstå då cytostatika påverkar alla kroppens celler. För att sjuksköterskan ska kunna ge en god omvårdnad krävs det att hon/han får ta del av patienters upplevelser vid adjuvant cytostatikabehandling. Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva kvinnors upplevelser av adjuvant cytostatikabehandling vid bröstcancer. Metod: En litteraturöversikt som baserades på 13 vetenskapliga artiklar med kvalitativ ansats utfördes. Resultat: Resultatet utgjordes av tre huvudkategorier: uppleva en förändrad kropp, uppleva ett förändrat sinne och upplevd påverkan på det sociala livet. Det framkom att kvinnorna upplevde både fysiska och psykiska biverkningar och dessa hade en stor påverkan på deras sociala liv. Slutsats: I slutsatsen betonas vikten av sjuksköterskans stöd i form av information och omvårdnad. / Background: Adjuvant chemotherapy is used to treat breast cancer after the removal of the tumour. Side effects may occur since chemotherapy affects all of the body cells. The nurse should be able to provide good care, to do so it requires that she/he takes part of patients’ experiences of adjuvant chemotherapy. Aim: The aim was to describe women’s experiences of adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer Method: A literature review based on 13 scientific articles with qualitative approach was executed. Results: The result consisted of three main categories: experiencing a changed body, experiencing a changed mind and perceived impact on social life. It was revealed that women experienced both physical and psychological side effects and they had a great impact on their social life. Conclusion: The conclusion shows the importance of the nurse’s support in form of information and care.

Bakgrund: Bröstcancer är den vanligast förekommande tumörsjukdomen hos kvinnor och årligen drabbas 8000 personer i Sverige. Risken för återfall är störst de fem första åren, denna risk för återfall kan väcka en rädsla. Syfte: Att beskriva bröstcancerdrabbade kvinnors upplevelse av rädsla för återfall. Metod: En allmän litteraturstudie. Den systematiska litteratursökningen resulterade i tio kvalitativa artiklar. Resultat: Rädsla för återfall var den mest förekommande känslan och den utlöstes främst vid förändringar i kontakten med sjukvården, uppkomsten av oförklarliga fysiska symtom och läkarbesök. Dock förekom det avsaknad av rädsla för återfall hos vissa. Det framkom även att användande av socialt stöd, distraktion och ett positivt synsätt var återkommande bemästringsstrategier för att hantera rädslan för återfall. Diskussion: Det är av stor vikt att sjuksköterskan informerar och motiverar kvinnan till utvecklande av egna bemästringsstrategier. Slutsats: Kunskapen kan och bör tillämpas av sjuksköterskestudenter och sjuksköterskor, för att minska frekvensen av rädsla för återfall hos personer med cancer. Området bör uppmärksammas för vidare forskning. / Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer disease among women and 8000 people is annually affected in Sweden. The risk of recurrence is the highest within the first five years. The risk can trigger a sense of fear. Aim: To describe how women with breast cancer experience fear of recurrence. Method: A literature review. The systematic literature search resulted in ten qualitative articles. Results: Fear of recurrence was the most frequent emotion and was primarily triggered by changes in contact with health care, the emergence of unexplainable physical symptoms and doctor appointments. Though, absence of fear of recurrence occurred among some women. Usage of social support, distraction and positive approach emerged to be the most common coping strategies to deal with fear of recurrence. Discussion: It’s significant that the nurse informs and motivates women to the development of their own coping strategies. Conclusion: The knowledge can and ought to be practiced by nursing students and nurses, to reduce the frequency of fear of recurrence among people with cancer. This field ought to be noticed for further research.

Bakgrund: När en person drabbas av cancer förändras hela ens livsvärld. Bristande kunskap ger en känsla av att inte få grepp om situationen och därför är det viktigt att sjuksköterskan ger en god omvårdnad med fokus på helhet och kommunikation. Syfte: Syftet med litteraturstudien var att beskriva patienters upplevelser av sjuksköterskans bemötande vid cancerbehandling på sjukhus. Metod: En litteraturstudie som bygger på tio kvalitativa artiklar. Resultat: Genom analys hittades tre huvudkategorier: Vikten av bred kunskap hos sjuksköterskan, Vikten av en bra vårdrelation och Vikten av ett bra omhändertagande som gynnar patientens välbefinnande och viljan att vara delaktig. Metoddiskussion: Att det inte hittades så många artiklar inom ämnet beror på att det mest finns forskning som är ur sjuksköterskans perspektiv. Förförståelsen bekräftades och författarna fick mer insikt i hur viktigt det verkligen är med tvåvägskommunikation. Resultatdiskussion: Patienten vill känna ett intresse från sjuksköterskans sida och en bra relation mellan dessa två uppstår då god kommunikation finns. / Background: When a person suffers from cancer their entire world changes. A lack of knowledge creates a feeling of not being able to adequately grasp the situation, which is why it is important that the nurse provides decent caregiving with emphasis on entirety and communication. Purpose: The purpose of the literature study was to describe patients' experiences of the nurse's approach in relation to cancer treatment at hospital. Method: A literature review that is based on ten qualitative articles. Result: Through analysis, three main categories were found: The importance of wide knowledge by the nurse, The importance of a good nursing relationship and The importance of good caretaking that benefits the patient's well-being and their will to participate. Method of discussion: The reason, as to why there were not many articles found on the subject matter, is due to the fact that there is more research conducted from the nurse's perspective. The preunderstanding was confirmed and the authors get more insight in how important two-way communication is. Discussion of result: The patient wishes to feel involvement from the nurse and a good relationship between the two arises when good communication exists

Female sexual pain is a common problem affecting women worldwide yet remains a poorly researched area of women’s sexual health. Dyspareunia and vaginismus are two types of sexual pain disorder each having psychological and physical health consequences for women and their partners. Part 1: A literature review of the qualitative research literature exploring women’s experiences of sexual pain disorders and their treatment was conducted adopting a narrative synthesis approach. Searches of psychological and medical electronic databases highlighted the paucity of research exploring women’s experiences of sexual pain disorders. Ten studies met the inclusion criteria for the review. The type of qualitative method and quality varied. Findings highlighted the complexity of women’s experiences of sexual pain. Positive experiences of treatment identified alternative benefits of treatment in addition to the traditional outcome of vaginal penetration and penetration without pain. Existing literature has focussed on dyspareunia, and further research is needed on vaginismus. Part 2: The research study used an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) of women’s experiences of vaginismus. Three women were interviewed about their experiences of vaginismus and the treatment they received. Interview transcripts were analysed using IPA. The findings identified the complexity of experiencing vaginismus, the struggle the women faced when trying to make sense of their vaginismus and the wider impact of these experiences on their identity. The findings highlight the value of psychological therapy with this client group and of the need to raise awareness amongst primary care professionals whom women with vaginismus are likely to consult in the first instance. Part 3: A critical appraisal of the research process is presented with focus on the experience of conducting qualitative research as a trainee clinical psychologist. A discussion of the findings is presented in the context of critical reflections on both the strengths and limitations of the study.

Bakgrund: Medelåldern för att drabbas av höftfraktur är 80 år och bakomliggande orsaker är falltendens och benskörhet. Majoriteten av dem som drabbas av höftfraktur är kvinnor. Att drabbas av höftfraktur kan innebära ett stort lidande, det är ofta en smärtsam upplevelse, både vid själva skadetillfället men även under vårdtiden. Syfte: Att beskriva patienters upplevelser av vården vid höftfraktur. Metod: Denna studie genomfördes som en litteraturöversikt, där databaserna Cinahl, Psycinfo, PubMed och Web of Science användes vid artikelsökningen. Resultat: Resultatet baserades på tio artiklar, av kvalitativ och kvantitativ design. Patienternas upplevelser av vården vid höftfraktur resulterade i tre kategorier: kommunikation och information, bemötande och trygghet samt smärta och smärtlindring. Patienterna ville vara delaktiga och få löpande information om vad som hände och vad som skulle ske gällande deras vård. Trygghet var en känsla som tillkom av beröring från vårdpersonalen och uppskattades då patienterna upplevde sig som utsatta. Smärtlindringen var viktig för att patienterna skulle känna välbefinnande och inte ha ont. Konklusion: Kommunikation är den röda tråden genom resultatets alla delar. Patienternas upplevelser av information, trygghet, bemötande, smärta och smärtlindring påverkas alla av hur väl kommunikationen mellan dem och vårdpersonalen har fungerat. Det är därför viktigt att sjuksköterskor försöker identifiera varje patients individuella förutsättningar och behov för att ha möjlighet att anpassa information, kommunikation och egenvård så att varje patients behov tillgodoses. / Background: The average age of suffering a hip fracture is 80 years, and the causes are falls tendency and osteoporosis. The majority of those who suffer from a hip fracture are female. To suffer a hip fracture could mean great suffering, it is often very painful, both at the time of the injury, but also during the hospital stay. Aim: To describe patients' experiences of care at hip fracture. Method: This study was conducted as a literature review, in which ten articles were included. The databases used in this study was Cinahl, Psycinfo, PubMed and Web of Science. Results: The results were based on ten articles, which were of qualitative and quantitative methods. The patients' experiences of care at hip fracture resulted in three categories: communication and information, treatment and safety and pain and pain relief. The patients wanted to be involved and receive ongoing information regarding their care. When patients experienced themselves as vulnerable the touch from the nursing staff created a sense of security. Pain relief was important for patients to feel the well-being and not have pain. Conclusion: Patients' experiences of information, security, treatment, pain and pain relief are all affected by communication. It is important for nurses to identify each patient's individual circumstances and needs in order to be able to adapt the information, communication and self-care to meet each patient's needs.

Bakgrund: Många patienter med psykisk sjukdom har en livsstil som genererar livsstilssjukdomar på grund av brister i egenvården. Detta genererar lidande och samhällskostnader men är något som kan förhindras. Sjuksköterskan har möjlighet att i en holistisk anda förbättra för patienten med hjälp av interventioner. Syfte: Syftet är att beskriva vilka hinder och möjligheter som påverkar patienter med allvarlig psykisk sjukdom till livsstilsförändringar. Metod: Detta är en litteraturstudie där författarna har sökt och granskat vetenskapliga artiklar i olika databaser. I materialet hittades olika teman som har sammanfattats i resultatet. Resultat: De stora hindrena för att förändra sin livsföring är den psykiatriska sjukdomen och den medicinering den kräver. Sjukdomen innebär ofta sociala problem, lågt självförtroende och ångest. Medicinering ger sedering och viktökning. Generellt upplevs gruppaktiviteter som positivt då det ger struktur åt aktiviteter och socialt stöd från andra patienter. Uppmuntran från andra patienter och från personalen är viktig, vars attityd kan vara avgörande. Genom interventioner går det att förändra parametrar som vikt, motionsgrad och kunskap om livsstils hos patienterna. Konklusion: Med ett holistiskt förhållningssätt där patientens alla livsdelar ses som viktiga går det förändra livsstilen för patienter med psykisk sjukdom så att den blir mer hälsosam. Förändringar kräver att hänsyn tas till sjukdomen och medicinering samt att patienten får mycket stöd i en intervention som är individanpassad, men gärna i grupp. / Background: Patients with severe mental illness often experience physical illness as a result of poor lifestyle choices and lack of self care acts. This generates suffering and costs for society. But it is preventable; nurses can work to improve the health of her patient by motivating the patient to participate in health intervention. Aim: To describe obstacles and potentials that affects patients with severe mental illness in health promoting lifestyle changes. Method: Literature review Result: The big obstacles in changing lifestyle are the psychiatric illness and the medication that it involves. Mental illness is often generating in social problems like anxiety and low self esteem. Medication results in weight gain. Group activities are generally viewed as positive and gives structure to daily life and social support. The interventions result in health gains considering weight, activity, knowledge and eating habits. Conclusion: With a holistic view, nurses can help changing the lifestyle of patients with severe mental illness. Group interventions are to be preferred. Interventions must be implemented in line with the illness cycles and the medication.

Bakgrund: Sjuksköterskorna har ansvar i att vårdandet uppfyller kraven på en god och säker vård där patienternas behov blir tillgodosedda. Forskningen visade att det finns många hinder på akutmottagningarna för att uppfylla dessa krav. Många faktorer kan påverka hur stort utrymme vårdandet ges på akutmottagningarna. Prioriteringar och förutsättningarna ger inte alltid sjuksköterskorna möjlighet att vårda patienterna i enlighet med forskning och vårdvetenskapligt perspektiv. Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva sjuksköterskors upplevelser av vårdandet på akutmottagningar Metod: En kvalitativ litteraturstudie baserad på vårdvetenskapliga artiklar Resultat: Två teman formulerades: Att utmanas i sitt vårdande med 3 subteman och att utmanas i sin profession med 2 subteman. Studien visar att sjuksköterskor arbetar under press, upplever otillräcklighet/frustration och ställs inför organisatoriska hinder. Kompetens och att vara patienters ombud framkommer även i studien som påverkande faktorer i vårdandet. Slutsats: Det föreligger många utmaningar i sjuksköterskornas arbetssituation på akutmottagningarna som kan utgöra hinder i vårdandet. Faktorer som tidsbrist, stress, likgiltighet och känslor av hopplöshet identifierades. / Background: Nurses´ have responsibility in caring to meet the requirements of good and safe caring, where patient needs are met. Research shows that there are many obstacles on emergency departments to fulfill those requirements. Many factors can influence how much space is given to the caring on emergency departments. Priorities and conditions does not always give the nurses opportunity to care for patients in accordance with research and care perspective. Aim: The aim was to describe nurses´ experiences of caring in emergency departments Method: A qualitative literature review based on nursing-care scientific research. Results: Two themes were formulated: To be challenged in their caring with 3 subthemes and to be challenge in their caring with 2 subthemes. The study shows that nurses work under pressure, experiencing insufficiency/frustration and faces organizational barriers. Competence and patient advocacy emerges also in the study as factors in caring. Conclusion: There are several challenges in nurses' working conditions in emergency departments that may pose obstacles in the caring. Factors as lack of time, stress, indifference and feelings of hopelessness was identified.

Bakgrund: Kronisk hjärtsvikt är ett globalt växande tillstånd i hela världen. Sjuksköterskan har en betydande roll i att ge kunskap och att informera kring hur det är att leva med kronisk hjärtsvikt. Syfte: Att beskriva dagligt liv för patienter med kronisk hjärtsvikt, utifrån ett patientperspektiv.    Metod: En litteraturöversikt där 13 kvalitativa artiklar har inkluderats. Studien baseras på induktiv ansats. Resultat: Personer med hjärtsvikt upplever en förändrad livssituation efter att de har fått diagnosen kronisk hjärtsvikt. Resultatet redovisas i kategorierna: Begränsningar i vardagen, Påverkan av omgivningen och Mötet med vården. Slutsats: Resultatet visar att personer som lever med hjärtsvikt genomgår fysiologiska förändringar, men även känslomässiga, sociala och andliga förändringar. För att möta dessa personer behöver sjuksköterskan ha kunskap i att identifiera individens behov och därefter utforma omvårdnaden utefter den unika individen. / Background: Chronic heart failure is an common disease worldwide. The nurse has a significant role in providing knowledge and information about how to live with chronic heart failure. Aim: To describe daily life for patients with chronic heart failure, from a patient perspective.   Method: A literature review where thirteen qualitative articles were included. The study is based on inductive approach. Results: People with heart failure experience a changed life situation after they have been diagnosed with chronic heart failure. The results are reported in categories: Limitations in everyday life, Influence of the environment and Health Care services. Conclusion: The result shows that people living with heart failure undergo physiological changes, but also emotional, social and spiritual. In order to meet these people, the nurse needs knowledge in identifying the needs of the individual in order to design nursing according to the unique individual.

Good language skills are essential to academic success. Immigrant and refugee children who enter school without previous knowledge of the societal language are more prone to failure and need of special support. The aim of this study is to describe bilingual educational program used in preschool and primary school and to examine their outcomes related to language development, both for the home language (L1) as well as the school language (L2). 17 studies were identified through a systematic literature review. Results showed a predominance of the transitional bilingual education (TBE) and two-way immersion (TWI) models in bilingual education. Language related outcomes confirmed the finding from previous literature that bilingual education doesn't inhibit L2 acquisition. Also, confirming previous literature, advantages of bilingual programs over monolingual ones are proven hard to confirm. However, several methodological issues addressed by the previous meta-analysis seem to generally persist in the most recent literature. The results of this study reiterate the need for more high- quality study in the field. Moreover, future research should also include experimentation with different languages. Finally, this argues the interest to further study and implement bilingual education programs to better accommodate the need of children with a migration background.