Långvarig stress ökar risk för ohälsa och sjukfrånvaro, med negativa konsekvenser för individ, organisation och samhälle. En preventiv metod för stresshantering är Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT). Syftet var att med en randomiserad, kontrollerad studie undersöka huruvida en kortvarig ACT-intervention påverkar stress och generell psykisk hälsa hos socialsekreterare inom Stockholms stad (n=106). Bortfall hanterades med intent-to-treat-analys. Vid förmätning rapporterade två tredjedelar av deltagarna hög stressnivå (PSS?25).

The connection between rune stones and churches is a known phenomenon. Unfortunately, very little is known about the previous function of the church sites, and consequently very little is known about what the connection between rune stones and churches means. The purpose of this study is to examine the rune stones connected to churches in the administrative province of Jönköping, in an effort to ascertain their purpose, symbolism and function. The aim is to find out if the rune stones connected to churches were primarily or secondarily placed on the site where the church was later built, and why some rune stones were built into the churches. Further, the inscriptions and iconography of rune stones have been analysed, and also their relation to their immediate surroundings.

Jag har genomfört en studieresa till A.C.E.-Tabor, Danmark, där jag studerat en annorlunda pedagogik, A.C.E. (Accelerated Christian Education), som bygger på individualiserad undervisning med eleven i centrum och där eleven själv sätter sina studiemål.Det som särskilt väckt mitt intresse är att man utgår från bibeln i undervisningen och försöker lära eleverna efterfölja Jesu karaktärsdrag, som avspeglas i undervisningsmaterialet och lärarnas förhållningssätt. Jag har försökt finna idéer och tankar inom pedagogiken som skulle kunna berika vår religionsundervisning. För att få en bild av hur religionsundervisningen bedrivs i dagens svenska skolor, har jag använt mig av en enkät, som låg- och mellanstadielärare fått besvara.Av enkäten framgår det att så gott som alla lärare använder sig av bibeln i undervisningen, främst som uppslagsbok för egen förberedelse och för att visa omfång och uppläggning. Etik och moral anses viktigt, men många skulle gärna ha mer kunskap i ?ämnet?..

Is it possible to convey spirituality through art and material culture? Is it possible to renew art within the traditional church so that it appeals and is understandable for the modern man? These are the fundamental questions of my master´s work, which has it´s starting point in a public commission for an artistic contribution to the new Pentecostal church in Kalmar. The work also addresses the question whether there is a need for symbolism, art and sacred objects also within the Pentecostal movement, a traditionally strong image hosting environment. If so, how is it possible to bring this in to the church without completely breaking with the tradition and ideology of the movement? I want to communicate the Christian message in a renewed way, and in this particular project also highlight the importance of using images also within the Pentecostal movement.

En Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-intervention på tre sessioner á tre timmar har erbjudits en icke-klinisk grupp stressade kvinnor (N=20). Målet var att undersöka deltagarnas reaktioner på interventionen och att se huruvida ACT kan tänkas påverka deltagarnas upplevelse av och resurser för att hantera stress. Data samlades in före och efter interventionen, vid varje session, samt vid en tre månaders uppföljning. Deltagarnas reaktioner undersöktes med hjälp av enkäter och skriftliga utvärderingar, medan förändring i stressupplevelse och copingresurser mättes med självskattningsskalorna Perceived Stress Scale respektive Coping Resources Inventory. Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-2 användes för att mäta den för ACT centrala variabeln psykologisk flexibilitet.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the writings of Hayashi Ichiz?, a Christian from southern Japan who on the 30th of May 1945 died while carrying out a kamikaze attack against Allied ships outside Okinawa. Hayashi?s writings, most notably his diary and some of the letters he sent to his mother, have been published posthumously by his sister in a volume called Hi nari tate nari. In this thesis, I conduct an in-depth analysis of these writings in an attempt to understand for what Hayashi died.In the two parts of the thesis, divided by two major themes in Hayashi?s writings ? faith/family and nation/emperor, I discuss his thoughts around these issues.

The purpose of this work is to map what musical praise and worship means to different church members. What do they think of today's worship? Are there music styles or any instruments that are not suitable? What do the members think of contemporary Christian music and the regular traditional music in church? Do we need to make changes or not? How does the Christian Music affect their spiritual lives? Finally, what do the members think of what the Bible has to say about praise and worship? My method has been to interview four persons, who all are members in the Seventh-day Adventist church in Malmö. Beside literature and magazines, I have also listened to DVD sermons and searched on the Internet and in the Bible, to find out what others have to say about praise and worship.Syftet med denna studie är att kartlägga vad lovsång betyder för olika församlingsmedlemmar. Vad anser de om dagens tillbedjan? Finns det musikstilar som inte bör finnas med i gudstjänsten? Eller finns det instrument som inte är passande i gudstjänsten? Vad tycker församlingsmedlemmar om den moderna lovsången kontra den traditionella? Behöver vi göra några förändringar eller inte? Hur påverkar den kristna musiken deras andliga liv? Och till sist, vad har de för syn på Bibelns lovsång? Min metod har varit att intervjua fyra personer som alla är medlemmar i Adventkyrkan i Malmö.

The essay has its beginning in the source material that deal with ancient Norse religion before the people in the Nordic countries became Christian. The fact that there are no contemporary written or authentic sources available that can tell us something about the Norse religion during the Viking age is problematic. Archeological source materials is available, but tend to talk more about power relationships and social status than the old Norse religion and the way people practiced their faith. Medieval Christian writers are a source of knowledge of the Norse religion; however, they can only highlight the Norse religion from a Christian point of view and ways of evaluating the pagan faith, making them less reliable.The written sources of this paper are based on the written by two medieval Christian writers, Saxo Grammaticus and Snorri Sturluson. These sources are among the first to treat the Norse religion process after the introduction of Christianity in Scandinavia.

The aims of the present study were to implement and evaluate a three-session Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) stress management intervention in a non-clinical group of university students (N = 25) and to investigate the importance of practice in an ACT-intervention. A design with pre-test and double post-test was chosen. A comparison was made between a nine-hour ACT-intervention containing practice for the participants, a two-hour lecture on ACT and stress management containing no practice for the participants and a control group. Psychological flexibility was assessed with Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-2 and mindfulness was measured with Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills. Perceived stress level was measured with Perceived Stress Scale.

The Swedish government ratified on May 1 2009 an amendment of marital law, resulting in same-sex marriage becoming legalized. With the rights of the Christian Swedish state church to officiate weddings originating from the same law, the church was thereby faced with two options: Either officially include same-sex couples in the Christian concept of holy matrimony and keep the right to officiate weddings; or give up the right to officiate weddings altogether. An official decision to accept the terms was reached on October 22 2009, but not without being preceded by an agitated medial debate.This research attempts to analyze the arguments of the debate in three stages: In the first stage the arguments are categorized according to their respective ideological standpoint. In the second stage these categories are examined from post-modern, social constructivist and socialization theory perspectives. Based on this, the third stage sees the arguments analyzed from a viewpoint based in the Copenhagen school concept of securization.The research concludes that the debate does not only simply feature two sides with differences of opinion; but rather that the arguments of the two opposing sides are founded in a common view of the other side as a fundamental threat to ones conception of a sound society..

This thesis focuses on politically active women within The Swedish Social Democratic Women?s Association, also known as S-women. By applying discourse analysis to interviews with active s-women and to meeting conversations between the association?s members, the study approaches ideas of feminism, feminist politics and political commitment. ?Solidarity? ? the central concept of the labour movement ? serves as the point of departure for a feminist discussion about class, gender, ethnicity and age/generation.

Bemanningsbranschen har under de senaste tjugo åren expanderat kraftigt i Sverige och visar på rekordhöga omsättningar, där allt fler söker sig till branschen. Det har också på senare år blivit allt vanligare med bemanningsföretag som specialiserar sig på studenter eller invidiver med egen verksamhet, vilket också är det som denna undersökning handlar om. Syftet med uppsatsen är att förstå bemanningskonsulternas uppfattningar om yrkesrollens fördelar och nackdelar, samt förstå vilken inverkan omfattningen av feedback, utbildning och utvecklingssamtal har för konsulternas känsla av commitment, identifikation och tillhörandeskap gentemot kund- och bemanningsföretaget. Undersökningen består av en kvalitativ metod med kvantitativa inslag där ansatsen är induktiv. Undersökningen innefattar semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem studerande bemanningskonsulter och en enkätundersökning som besvarats av 52 respondenter som alla uppfyller kraven för att medverka i undersökningen.Den teoretiska referensramen består av teorier som berör organisatorisk identifikation, commitment, psykologiska kontrakt, flexibilitet och makt.

According to the directives of Lgr11, learning about Christianity should be an important part of religious education in secondary school (7th-9th grade) in Sweden. A school teacher must therefore have good knowledge of the field and of different aspects of the beliefs of the various Christian traditions.This essay is about how salvation is conceived of by two members of the laity in each of three different Christian traditions: the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Sweden (which is Lutheran). As a theoretical perspective for my analysis, I have chosen the official views of salvation of these three churches. That is to say, views of the members of the laity have been compared with the official views of the respective churches. It is thus a very limited qualitative study aiming at finding out how the views of the laity conform to the official creed concerning salvation and whether there are any differences here between the churches.

This essay examines the using of consensus method for decision making within the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the process that led to the decision to adopt its usage. The main question of my essay is why the method was introduced to the WCC and what motives lay behind its introduction. Other questions are how the consensus method works; both in theory and in practice, and what the predecessors and prototypes for the method are.The consensus method belongs to a broad Christian tradition of spiritual discernment and spiritual decision making. The New Testament, in particular Acts, gives examples of decision making in the early church which show that discerning God's will was considered essential. However the most influential model for the consensus method have been the decision making process of the Religious Society of Friends or Quakers, and also the consensus model of the Uniting Church in Australia.

Study: Degree project in teacher education, Advanced level, 15 hpUniversity of SkövdeTitle: Religious belief in everyday life ? a study of the effects of a teachingmodel focusing on religious belief in everyday lifeNumber of pages:42Author: Johanna ClaessonTutor: Kennert OrleniusDate: Jan 2009 Keywords: Religious study, students´ understanding, students´ commitment,Buddhism  This paper presents the execution and the result of a project examining how a tutorial model (called the model of everyday religious practice) focusing on how Buddhism is expressed in the daily life of Buddhists believers, affects students understanding of and commitment in religious studies. In the project, Thai students have partaken by producing sex posters and a picture-show with the help of their own photographs and short texts. However, the picture-show was mainly produced by the author of this paper. These posters and the picture-show were brought to Sweden to figure as teaching material during a lesson in religious studies for students in year eight in a Swedish school.