<p>Dette studiet undersøkte om det finnes en positiv relasjon mellom korsang og det subjektive velbefinnendet. I undersøkelsen deltok 84 sangere fra 5 kor på både avansert og amatørnivå. Deltagerne fylte i et Mood Adjective Checklist-skjema (MACL: L. Sjöberg, E. Svensson & L.-O. Persson, 1979) før og etter korøvelsen på to forskjellige korøvelser. Resultatene indikerte at korsang påvirket deltagerne signifikant i form av økt velbefinnende, og at sangere mellom 32 og 51 år hadde den største økningen i grad av velbefinnende før og etter korøvelse. Det fantes derimot ingen signifikant forskjell i velbefinnende mellom amatørkor og avansert kor. Resultatene står som et bidrag til tidligere forskning innenfor området, men kan på grunn av det lave deltagerantallet ikke anses være generaliserbart.</p>

Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Thesis (M.A. (Human Resource Management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2005.

The present study prospectively examines factors that affect whether self-enhancement exerts favorable or unfavorable effects on both psychological and physical well-being in a context that is less controllable than other contexts in which self-enhancement has been examined (e.g., academic performance), an at risk population of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients. In particular, the present study (a) examines whether self-enhancement differentially predicts psychological and physical well-being when self-enhancement is related or unrelated to the well-being outcomes, and (b) whether self-enhancement interacts with severity of circumstances (i.e., course of MS) to predict psychological and physical well-being, as suggested by O’Mara, McNulty, & Karney (2011). In addition to the baseline assessment, participants completed measures of self-enhancement (outcome-related and outcome-unrelated), and psychological and physical well-being every 30 days for 90 days, for a total of four assessments. The pattern of findings suggests that in less controllable contexts, self-enhancement is a doubled-edged sword. Outcome-related self-enhancement was trending towards a positive, cross-sectionally association with physical well-being, and a measure of prior outcome-unrelated self-enhancement (collectivistic tactical self-enhancement) was positively associated with subsequent physical well-being only for individuals with less severe MS. Further, prior outcome-related self-enhancement was associated with better subsequent psychological well-being but worse subsequent physical well-being, and although prior collectivistic tactical self-enhancement is associated with favorable subsequent physical well-being for individuals with less severe MS, it is also associated unfavorable psychological well-being regardless of MS severity. The discussion addresses the contributions of the present study to the literature, strengths and limitations of the present study, and directions for future research.

I tidigare forskning finns ett samband mellan socialt stöd och reducerad stress. Även husdjur påverkar stressnivån. Denna enkätstudie tittade på om husdjur och civilstånd påverkar hälsa och stressnivå. Av de studenter som deltog i studien hade 35% husdjur. Resultatet visade inte på någon effekt på stress av att ha husdjur. Personer med partner upplevde inte mindre stress än singlar. Huruvida deltagarna bodde med sin partner eller ej spelade ingen roll för stressnivån. Husdjursantalet påverkade inte stressupplevelsen. En interaktionseffekt påvisades: Yngre singlar och äldre personer med partner upplevde mer stress än vad yngre personer med partner och äldre singlar gjorde. Studiens resultat skiljer sig från vad tidigare forskning då inga huvudeffekter av husdjur och partner kunde påvisas.

Background: Employees are the human capital which contributes to the success and de-velopment of a company to a great extent. Thus, these days, companies do not see them only as factors of production from the classical perspective, but have started to value them as stakeholders and partners with whom long-term goals are achieved together. Problem Discussion &amp; Purpose: Researchers realized the need of companies to deal with employees, and for that reason, there has been great time and effort spent on studies con-cerning the relation between job satisfaction and job performance. However, the authors of the thesis came to conclusion that the link between job satisfaction and job performance was still a vague one. Therefore, the thesis is focused on the concept of well-being. The study concentrates on blue-collar workers, and the purpose is to explore and understand the relation between job-related well-being and employees’ job performance in the context of stress caused by following environmental factors: working tools, workload, heat, noise, and safety. Theoretical Framework: The theories used for this study are concerning job perform-ance, well-being, and stress. An emphasis is given on the work environmental stressors, which are working tools, workload, safety, heat, and noise. Methodology: To make this study, the researchers applied qualitative approach and used 8 semi-structured interviews to collect the data. The authors have conducted personal “face-to-face” interviews. All of them were tape-recorded to provide the maximum accuracy of received data. Information was gathered within one company. Conclusion: After conducting research, acquiring empirical findings, and making analysis of data, the thesis authors suggest that there is a link between job performance and job-related well-being via the work environment stressors. The authors of the thesis assume that probably the relationship between well-being and performance can look as a “circle-” or “spiral”-like model, where well-being and performance influence each other mutually, however, in different ways at different stages of the model. The influence of well-being on job performance via researched work environment stressors can be either direct or indirect. The study is of a great importance because it gives good insight of seeing well-being as a link to performance which previously was not done by any other research. Being aware of the influence of the environmental factors, managers can better realize how these factors contribute to the performance and well-being of their employees, and find ways how to improve working environment in order to increase workers’ job performance and job-related well-being.

In Sweden, there are considerable health differences between social groups and between women and men. Regardless of social position, women often report more symptoms than men. The aim of this study was to investigate how education is related to job satisfaction and to different aspects of well-being and symptoms in a nationally representative cohort of middle-aged women and men with children. Moreover, the study aimed to investigate the associations between education, job satisfaction, working-hours, partner status, number of children and various aspects of health. Regardless of gender, a long education was associated with significantly higher levels of general job satisfaction, sense of coherence, self-acceptance, purpose in life, personal growth and fewer physical and mental symptoms. General job satisfaction was a significant predictor of all health-related measures, apart from purpose in life. On the whole, men reported a better health compared to women who reported significantly more physical as well as psychological symptoms.

Forskning tyder på en ökad brist på välbefinnande bland tjejer. Trots denna ökning mår de flesta tjejer bra. Olika faktorer påverkar tjejernas välbefinnande på diverse sätt. Syftet med föreliggande undersökning var att få en djupare förståelse för hur tjejer ser på sitt eget välbefinnande och vilka faktorer de upplever som viktiga för denna upplevelse. En kvalitativ undersökning med deduktiv ansats genomfördes med 8 tjejer som gick sista året på gymnasiet. Deltagarna intervjuades utifrån en halvstrukturerad intervjuguide. Materialet analyserades med meningskoncentrering. Resultatet visade att det viktigaste för att deltagarna skulle uppleva välbefinnande var att de tyckte om och accepterade sig själva. Tjejerna upplevde också det som viktigt, att påverkan från samtliga faktorer var balanserad och positiv.

Att vara egenföretagare är en anställningsform som blir allt vanligare och genom att skapa en förståelse för varför denna anställningsform växer ökar även kunskapen om egenföretagarnas drivkraft och trivsel. Motivation har en nära koppling till arbetstillfredsställelse och är en viktig del i egenföretagarnas vardag.  Studiens syfte var att skapa en förståelse om vad som påverkar egenföretagarnas arbetstillfredsställelse och även att ta reda på betydelsefulla motivationsfaktorer. Denna kvalitativa undersökning är baserad på intervjuer av 15 egenföretagare. Resultatet visade att en god arbetsmiljö, utmaningar och självständighet har en positiv påverkan på arbetstillfredsställelsen medan en hög arbetsbelastning påverkade arbetstillfredsställelsen negativt. Variation och skapande i arbetet, erkännande och utveckling visade sig vara bland de starkaste motivationsfaktorerna för att egenföretagare skulle fortsätta driva sitt företag.