This study was designed to examine the relationships of multiple types of domestic victimization (i.e., physical, psychological, sexual, and economic violence) to women&rsquo / s marital adjustment and psychological well-being, together with their socio-demographic characteristics and attachment, marital coping, and social support aspects. Altogether 524 married women provided data on domestic violence (Revised Conflict Tactics Scale), economic violence (Economic Violence Index), attachment (couples version of Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised), marital coping (Marital Coping Inventory), social support (Social Support Index), dyadic adjustment (Dyadic Adjustment Scale), psychological well-being (Brief Symptom Inventory), as well as demographic information. Results appeared to indicate a general tendency that women who have arranged marriages, more children, low education, low educated husbands, no or low income, and/or women who have more income compared to their husbands report higher levels of multiple types of domestic violence. Furthermore, the findings indicated that multiple types of domestic violence account for significant variances in marital adjustment and psychological well-being of married women, even after controlling for their attachment dimensions, marital coping strategies, and social support from different support groups. The findings were discussed in accordance with the relevant literature, and their implications for clinical practices and future studies were suggested.

Urban greenway trails are emerging as potential tourist attractions in cities and are well recognized for their recreation opportunities in general. The study presented an opportunity to expand the scope of aesthetic response research into the realm of urban greenway trails. The concept of likability (Nasar, 1998) was used as a guiding concept in the study. In order to gather data for the study, a web-based virtual tour was developed and implemented. Treatments were assigned to 6 groups that viewed two urban greenway trail corridors. Each trail had three treatments including the existing trail condition, a manipulated trail condition, and a reverse in direction of the existing trail condition. Analyses were conducted to 1) identify dimensions of aesthetic responses, 2) examine relationships between cognitive evaluation, affective response, trail characteristics, and likability, and 3) evaluate specific greenway trail characteristics and their relationships to the trail experience. Results indicated five aesthetic dimensions of the greenway trail corridors. The cognitive dimensions were maintenance, distinctiveness, and naturalness and the affective dimensions were pleasantness and arousal. Pleasantness and distinctiveness were the strongest predictors of likability in urban greenway trails. In terms of greenway trail characteristics, six of eight specific characteristics had predictive value in relation to how inviting the virtual trail was to the viewer. Finally, several greenway trail characteristics had significant influences on human perception and the likability of trail environments. This study proposed a new way of conceptualizing likability and a model of relationships leading to likability. One of the major implications of this study is to identify a way to improve physical conditions of greenway corridors in urban areas based on aesthetic responses. The study also implied that greenways can encompass natural or man-made features and can be managed and developed as a tourist attraction while providing local opportunities in cities. Aesthetic quality influences perceived quality of life and sense of well-being. Findings of the study can help enhance the aesthetic quality of the greenway trails that can contribute to sustainable development in various tourism and recreation settings.

<p>In this study 170 Swedish University students participated and evaluated themselves on Subjective well-being with affect balance measured both in frequency and in intensity, and on the five-factor personality factors. The results clearly indicate that intense positive emotions and intense negative emotions correlate positively, and that women experience emotions more intensely than men. Further, measuring affect balance in frequency leads to gender differences in happiness while intensity affect balance does not. Neuroticism (inverted) and extraversion are both strong predictors of happiness, but when using frequent affect-balance, neuroticism evidently stands out as the better of the two. Extraversion and to some extent neuroticism are intensifying people’s emotions. The findings suggest future research to distinguish between intense and frequent affects when calculating Subjective well-being.</p>

<p>The aim of this study was to examine differences between happy and unhappy people, with respect to individuals interpretations, their attributonal style and in what way the priming effect is related to their attributional style and well-being. The participants were 74 senior high school and 21 undergraduate college students. Participants were asked to read a short story, some words were in bold type, and thereafter for their subjective perception of the words in bold type loading and memory of them in a recognition list. Attributional style was operationalized with an own constructed instrument. The results show that happy individuals interpreted more words as positive than negative in comparission with unhappy individuals. No correlation between participants well-being and global or attributional style for negative events were found. Both groups showed a tendency to be more optimistic than pessimstic for positive events. No differences were found for either memory or priming of loaded words. In sum the results suggest that happy individuals tend to conceive the world more positive.</p>

Bakgrund Arbetet och dess psykosociala arbetsmiljöfaktorer är av betydelse för välbefinnande i arbetslivet. Syftet med detta examensarbete var att undersöka sambandet mellan arbetsmiljöfaktorer, arbete-livsbalans och arbetsrelaterat välbefinnande samt att identifiera förklaringsfaktorer för välbefinnande i arbetslivet. Metod En kvantitativ tvärsnittsstudie genomfördes med insamlad data från ett pågående projekt, GodA-projektet. Anställda inom tre kommunalt ägda bolag i Gästrikland (n = 303) fick år 2013 besvara en enkät. Utifrån denna har ett antal frågeställningar valts ut för att besvara föreliggande studies syfte. Deskriptiv statistik har använts för sociodemografisk karakteristika och statistisk modellering genom linjära regressionsanalyser för undersökning av samband. Resultat Ett signifikant samband återfanns mellan vissa arbetsmiljöfaktorer (upplevelse av den psykosociala arbetsmiljön, motivation, ledarskap, arbetsförmåga), arbete-livsbalans och välbefinnande i arbetslivet. Huvudresultatet indikerar att dessa variabler har ett signifikant förklaringsvärde för välbefinnande i arbetslivet. Dessa förklarar 40 % av variansen i utfallsvariabeln. Slutsats Arbete-livsbalans och vissa arbetsmiljöfaktorer (uppfattning om den psykosociala arbetsmiljön, motivation, ledarskap, arbetsförmåga) kan predicera arbetsrelaterat välbefinnande. Upplevelsen av den psykosociala arbetsmiljön har visat sig ha det starkaste sambandet med arbetsrelaterat välbefinnande och kan förklaras av att denna inkluderar en samlad bedömning av flertalet olika arbetsmiljöfaktorer och arbete-livsbalans. Med utgångspunkt i tvärsnittsstudiers metodologiska svagheter behövs fler studier av longitudinell art för att kunna dra säkrare slutsatser kring undersökta samband. / Background The work and its psychosocial work factors are important for well-being at work. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between work environmental factors, work-life balance and work-related well-being, and to identify explanatory factors for the well- being at work. Method A quantitative cross-sectional study was carried out with data collected from an ongoing project, the GodA-study. Employees within three municipally owned companies in Gästrikland (n = 303) answered a questionnaire in 2013. Based on this, a number of questions were selected to answer the present study’s aim. Descriptive statistics were used for socio- demographic characteristics and statistical modeling by stepwise linear regression analyzes for the study of the relationship. Results A significant association was found between certain work environmental factors (perception of the psychosocial work environment, motivation, leadership, work ability), work- life balance and work-related well-being. The main result indicates that these variables have a significant explanatory value for the well-being at work. These explain 40% of the variance in the outcome variable. Conclusions Work-life balance and certain work environmental factors (perception of the psychosocial work environment, motivation, leadership, work ability) can predict work-related well-being. The perception of the psychosocial work environment has been shown to have the strongest association with work-related well-being and could be explained by the fact that it includes an overall assessment of several different working environment factors and work-life balance. Based on cross-sectional studies’ methodological weaknesses, more studies of longitudinal nature are needed to draw more reliable conclusions.

En stor del av befolkningen tillbringar den största delen av sin tid på arbetet. Detta gör arbetsplatsen till en viktig arena att arbeta med för att ökat välbefinnande bland fler människor. Delaktighet och inflytande är faktorer som har stor betydelse för individens välmående, som kan främjas genom ett bra ledarskap och en bra psykosocial arbetssituation. Ett idag vanligt försök till att skapa delaktighet och inflytande på arbetsplatsen är att använda sig av årliga medarbetarsamtal. Beroende på hur det väljer att användas kan det leda till ett viktigt lärande för såväl individ som organisation, men används instrumentet slarvigt riskerar samtalet att förlora sin mening för samtliga inblandade. Syftet med studien är att är att undersöka den psykosociala arbetssituationen för ingenjörer på ett bolag i södra Sverige, och vad medarbetarsamtalet fyller för funktion för medarbetarna. Kvalitativa intervjuer genomfördes med hjälp av en halvstrukturerad intervjuguide som låg till grund för samtalet. För att analysera materialet gjordes en innehållsanalys utifrån vilken innehållet tolkades, kategoriserades och tematiserades. Resultatet visade på en diskrepans mellan arbetsgivarens uttalade försök till att främja delaktighet och kompetensutveckling, genom bland annat utvecklingssamtalet, och medarbetarnas upplevelse av de förutsättningar som gavs i vardagen. Diskussionen tar upp en del viktiga problem och frågor som studien väcker. Konklusionen är att medarbetarsamtalet inte kan ersätta brister i kommunikationen under resten av arbetsåret. Medarbetarsamtalets funktion bör undersökas närmre och vägas mot andra, eventuellt bättre, alternativ. / A large part of the population spends most of their time at work. This makes the workplace a key arena to work on in order to create greater wellbeing among more people. Participation and influence are factors that are important for the individual's well-being. This can be promoted through good leadership and a good psychosocial work situation. One way for the employer to attempt to create involvement and influence among workers in the workplace is the use of annual performance reviews. If the reviews are carried out in a correct manner they can lead to important learning for both the individual and the organization, but if the reviews are performed carelessly they risk losing their meaning for all involved. The purpose of this study is to examine the psychosocial labor situation for engineers at a company in southern Sweden, and what purpose annual performance reviews fills for the employees. Qualitative interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide that was the basis for the interview. In order to analyze the material, a content analysis was made on the basis of which the contents were interpreted, categorized and thematised. The result shows a discrepancy between the employer's stated attempt to promote participation and skills development, and employees' perception of the conditions given in everyday life. The discussion addresses some important issues and questions that the study raises. It is concluded that the annual performance review can not replace the lack of communication during the rest of the working year. The use of annual performance reviews should be further explored and weighed against other, possibly better, option.

The author’s common interest for healthy employees, brought reasonto study how line managers can manage and develop this withsupport from HR. Previous research highlights that knowledge ofhow health is promoted is missing. Line managers have a key role inworking with contributors´ health. The aim of the study is toinvestigate how managers are working for the well-being ofemployees and which aid dedicated to line managers from the HRfunction, and how support and the work with employees’ health canbe developed. This study also investigates the approach on healthfrom each party. The method consisted of a case study, includingdata collection through depth interview with HR and focus groupinterview with heads of unit. The result of the HR interview showedoverwhelming support in individual conversations, but lack ofresources for the support function. HR requested additional resourcesand more health promotion work instead of rehabilitation. Heads ofunit are working with a wellness initiative for healthy contributors.Development points were found in increased support, developedwellness options, increased participation and performance appraisalswith a focus on the individual’s health status. The findings showthat heads of units are working with participation, attendance andhealth care but want more focus on the individual’s health status. HRneeds resources in order to support the heads of units in their healthcare. A common approach is missing between HR and heads of unitin their work for health promotion. Education, approach and supportshould be developed on the basis of the organization’s overallcontext. / Författarnas gemensamma intresse för välmående medarbetare,väckte grund till att studera hur linjechefer kan hantera ochutveckla detta med stöd från HR. Tidigare forskning belyser attkunskap saknas om hur hälsa främjas. Linjechefer anses ha ennyckelroll i arbetet med välmående medarbetare. Syftet medstudien är att undersöka hur linjechefer arbetar för välmåendemedarbetare samt vilket stöd som tillägnas linjecheferna från HRfunktionen,samt hur stödet och hälsoarbetet kan utvecklas.Slutligen önskas utläsa vilket synsätt som präglar parternashälsoarbete. Metoden utgjordes av en fallstudie, innefattandedatainsamling genom djupintervju med HR, ochfokusgruppintervju med enhetschefer. Resultatet från HRintervjunpåvisade att HR ger starkt stöd främst i enskilda samtaloch att resurserna för stödfunktionen är bristande. HR önskadeytterligare resurser och ett mer hälsofrämjande arbete istället förett rehabiliteringsinriktat. Enhetscheferna arbetar med enfriskvårdssatsning för välmående medarbetare.Utvecklingspunkter återfanns i ökat kommunövergripande stöd,utvecklade och medarbetarledda friskvårdsalternativ, ökatdeltagande från medarbetare samt medarbetarsamtal med fokus påindividens hälsa. Slutsatserna visar att enhetscheferna arbetarmed delaktighet, närvaro och friskvård men vill ha mer fokus påindividens behov. HR behöver ökade resurser för att stödjaenhetscheferna i hälsoarbetet. Gemensamt synsätt saknas mellanHR och enhetscheferna i hälsoarbetet. Utbildning, synsätt ochstöd bör utvecklas övergripande utifrån organisationens kontext.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka fyra respondenters syn på hur körsång har påverkat deras välbefinnande. För att uppnå syftet har vi valt följande forskningsfrågor: Hur beskriver respondenterna att de mår före, under och efter en körrepetition? och Hur beskrivs körsång påverka respondenterna på kortare, eller längre sikt?   Vi har valt att använda oss av en kvalitativ intervjuform. Ett kriterium för att delta i studien var att respondenterna skulle vara aktiva körsångare på icke-professionell nivå. Fyra kvalitativa intervjuer har legat till grund för undersökningen och den teoretiska utgångspunkten för studien har varit det sociokulturella perspektivet. Studiens resultat belyser främst sex kategorier som utkristalliserade sig under våra forskningsintervjuer. Vi tar upp socialt samspel, vilket är både en kort- och långsiktig effekt som av respondenterna upplevs leda till bättre samarbetsförmåga. I vår diskussionsdel tar vi också upp självförtroende, KASAM (Känsla av Sammanhang), körsång som copingstrategi, glädje och förväntan inför och under körrepetitioner, samt fysiologiska aspekter som hälsovanor, kroppshållning och andning. Som en del av diskussionen drar vi även paralleller till pedagogik samt gör pedagogiska reflektioner. / The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of choir singing. To reach this aim we have chosen the following research questions: ”How does the respondents describe their feelings before, during and after a choir rehearsal?” and ”How is choir singing described to effect the respondents in a shorter, or longer period of time?” The perspective is sociocultural and the method is qualitative interviews. Four interviews were conducted and one criterion for participation was that the respondents were active choir singers on a non-professional level. The result highlights mainly six categories based on social interaction, which is a both short- and long-term effect that the participants of the study associate with better collaborative skills. In the discussion self-confidence, KASAM (sense of coherence), choir singing as a coping strategy, joy and excitement during and before a choir rehearsal, as well as physical effects such as health habits, body posture and breathing, are discussed. As a part of the discussion we also draw parallels to the science of education and make pedagogical observations.

Hope is considered to have a positive influence upon health. Cancer patients may enter hospice care after a rigorous course of medical treatment, having hoped for a cure or long remission. While the hope for cure is important, hope is no less important at the end of life when the goal of care is quality of life. This study examined the relationship between hope and quality of life in hospice patients with cancer. Thirty-one patients with cancer, who were alert, oriented, living with a caregiver, and aware of their diagnosis were sampled from a hospice program. The instruments used were the Herth Hope Index (HHI) and the Hospice Quality of Life Index (HQLI). The HHI total scores and the HQLI total scores were significantly positively correlated (r = .356; p = .049). This finding suggests that hope is a different concept than quality of life but that these concepts are related. A high level of hope (mean of 42.84 out of a possible 48) was maintained by subjects. The HQLI subscale of social/spiritual well-being and the total HHI scores were also positively correlated (r = .51; p = .003) suggesting that hope can be influenced by this aspect of quality of life which includes a relationship with God, support from family, friends and healthcare providers, and spiritual support from the healthcare team. The findings of this study underscore the importance of the healthcare provider in promoting hope at the end of life, and suggests that hope is not taken away by admission into a hospice program.

Spousal bereavement has been consistently demonstrated in the literature to be one of the most highly stressful experiences in an individuals lifetime. In addition many deaths in the United States are preceded by a period of caregiving, which is also believed to be highly stressful and have a profound impact on bereavement. However the literature has been inconsistent as to the exact nature of the relationship between caregiving and bereavement and there has been some debate as to whether or not positive and negative affect variables are mutually exclusive. This dissertation sought to further address the issue of the relationship between caregiving and the bereavement experience through a series of three studies which utilized information from two datasets. The first was the Changing Lives of Older Couples (CLOC) study, a project that included both pre- and post-loss data. The second was a subset of a dataset that recruited elderly spousal caregivers of terminally ill patients from a large, local non-profit hospice. This dataset included both pre- and post-loss data and included a variety of widely used and validated measures that allowed for the examination of caregiving stressors, appraisals, and social support and their effect on both positive and negative mental health outcomes during bereavement.The first study examined the impact of caregiving on well-being during bereavement, specifically within the domains of psychological, social, and physical health, utilizing both positive and negative affect measures.