The gap between practise and theory is often described in negative words in teachers? professional lives. Learning study is a model for teachers´ professional development where a theoretical framework is used to enhance practice. The theoretical framework used by teachers in learning study is variation theory. In this study the research object is variation theory and the aim is to present how variation theory becomes a guiding principle to understand teaching and learning processes.

BackgroundPeople with psychiatric problems, despite efforts in recent decades still experience vulnerability. Patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD), where self-harm is common, often live in difficult and complex social relationships because of their illness. Additional knowledge and studies about mental illness, self-harm, dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) and the therapeutic alliance are needed.Purpose and MethodThis study aims to examine how staff perceive and describe: DBT as a treatment method; the therapeutic alliance and the importance it has for treatment. The study utilises a qualitative approach with a qualitative content analysis method and presents earlier research on DBT and the therapeutic alliance. The empirical material consists of focus group interviews comprising three DBT - teams.

This essay examines the European Union?s (EU) ability to play a leading role as a global actor on the world stage in international relations. Specifically, this essay studies the EU?s role of negotiator in the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009.  This essay also analyzes explanations for this role. Research is based on case studies, with conclusions drawn using an inductive approach.

User education is an important aspect of university libraries' service to its users. This Masters' Thesis is about online user education. The aim of this study is to analyse five Swedish online user courses in relation to information literacy and learning theory. The web-sites were explored through textual analyses to find how concepts of information literacy and learning theory are expressed. The theoretical framework is based on Carol C Kuhlthau's three levels of user education, Paul Ramsden's three theories of teaching in higher education and Christine Bruce's different aspects of information literacy.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how social workers, working in a management position in the health care system, perceive the encounter of the medical and social perspective. With seven qualitative interviews, the study tries to conclude whether or not social workers are accepted at managerial positions within the health care sector. The social worker is, as a manager in health care, a leader but at the same time in a professional alienation from the medical caregivers. Organizations in the health care sector are often multi professional and have their own long standing tradition, history and culture. The results show that the conditions for social workers, working in a management position in health care appear to be agreeable.

Background: In Sweden about 19000 people fall victims of sudden death every year. This covers around 20% of all deaths. Relatives are those who are closest to the patient, regardless of the type of relationship. When a patient suddenly dies this affects the relatives and they can suffer from high risk of complicated grief reactions or crises. Being the nearest professional contact in these situations, the nurse has an important role in supporting and guiding the relatives.Aim: The aim of this literature review was to nominate the relatives' needs of support from the nurse when a loved person suddenly dies.Method: The literature review was based on seven articles with a quality approach.Results:The analysis resulted in four themes; "to be seen and confirmed", "information", "take farewell" and "follow-up ".To be able to give support both mentally and physically, it is important for the nurse to give proper attention to the relatives.

This essay examines the differences and similarities, weaknesses and strengths of the two Cognitive Semantic theories Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Principled Polysemy Approach to Meaning Analysis. To illustrate the two theories, the Swedish verb-particle construction "gå upp" is examined and analyzed accordingly. The results showed differences in the number of polysemous meaning found. The methodological evaluation showed that the differences in the underlying ideas concerning meaning-construction behind these two theories make them incompatible..

The Trappan Model is one of the most implemented treatment programs for children who have experienced domestic violence. This study undertakes a wider evaluation of the model through a pilot study. The approach is both quantitive and qualitative. Theory as well as the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire have been used to fulfil the aim. The design is pre-post.

Humans have always been fascinated by the thought of bringing non living objects to life. We wanted to explore the possibilities of trying to create an artefact that the audience would consider possess emotional states and have a life of its own. TaS is a interactive chair that functions as a social entity. The idea is to try and enhance the bond between human and artefact, based upon the emotional connection. We try and produce, enhance and maintain this bond through curiosity based interaction. Bachelor thesis in Interaction Design by Andreas Eriksson, Johanna Lund and Fredrik Lundh, spring term 2008, Malmö University, K3 School of Arts & Communication..

    Abstract The aim of this paper is to highlight experiences gained by psychotherapists in their work with young adults.  Aspects looked at include: recurring themes, the process of diagnosing young adults, the therapeutic alliance, and the therapeutic techniques.  Six experienced psychodynamic therapists were interviewed, and a semi-structured interview method was used. The results show a high level of agreement between the therapists as to their experiences and conclusions of psychotherapy with young adults.Results presented in this paper suggest that there is a difference between psychodynamic therapy used with young adults, and the more traditional psychodynamic therapy.  The most important difference turned out to be the approach of the therapist toward the patient, where a more active and distinct approach by the therapist to the here-and-now situation was to be preferred. All six therapists came out strongly against the use of the DSM manual when diagnosing young adults. The importance of understanding young adults and their difficulties from a psychological development point of view was stressed, as well as the importance of taking the approach that the years of young adulthood bring their own issues and concerns. It is clear from these interviews that there is a strong need for the establishment of institutions or centres specifically tailored to meet the needs of young adults for psychotherapeutic treatment at an early stage and in an adequate way, in order to avoid unnecessary ?pathologising? of their specific problems.  .

Studies have shown that mergers and acquisitions often fail and that a reason to this might be that investment banks do not take any responsibility for the post merger integration. Despite this there have been no studies of the potential benefits of an investment bank taking a holistic approach to the M&A-process and including post merger integration in its service. This study identifies a couple of investment banks that does this and calls them holistic investment banks. In M&A-theory a successful process is often described according to so called success factors that need to be fulfilled in order to achieve a successful result of the merger or acquisition. The business model and work approach of one holistic investment bank is analyzed in this case study on the base of seven success factors from established theories.

How can the object based art help us, as viewers and as makers, to access a supplanted emotional state?One way of positioning yourself within the corpus-field is to step outside the traditional borders of the field and aim for other values within the objects, such as a visible working process, a storytelling or an emotional relationship to the object.  It is a way of taking a step from the traditional silversmithing towards some kind of free undefined corpus-art.  To reach for suppressed feelings is one way to find an importance within the artistic work, to give it a purpose.By investigating the concept of the sublime and the surrealist movement I try to find examples on how you, both as a viewer and as a maker, can put yourself in an emotional/intuitive state.  Through interviews with Jewellery and corpus artists I get a maker?s perspective which I compare with my own reactions to their work.Works of art can be used as a catalyst to reach, and maybe also to process, unattended feelings. This creates a strong emotional connection to the work.  As a maker you can, for example, do this by working with it as a theme, or by using an intuitive working method.

Consultancy as a profession has always been a debated topic and has constantly been surrounded with a kind of secrecy. People have a hard time defining what consultants actually do and how they do it. It seems that they are simply waving their magic wands, performing wonders. We have therefore decided that the purpose of this study is to unveil the secrecy around the profession. By conducting interviews and analysing literature we have examined recruitment processes in three different consulting industries and their wanted personal characteristics.

This study covers reading comprehension and the introduction of the "Tell me" approach as proposed by Chambers (1993) to a group of teachers in a Swedish F-3 school. Five teachers got to use the method for three weeks and were interviewed before and after the experiment to analyze their current ways of working and reactions to using the method in everyday tutoring. The result from the first interview showed that all of the participants had been using methods to improve the children?s reading comprehension prior to the study, but no one had tried the "Tell me" approach. After trying the method throughout the test period, all of the participants were positive about the methodology and showed an interest in continuing the use of it.

This Master's thesis concerns the professional knowledge of the librarian. The image of this knowledge is regarded as constructed in a social context, which is why the discourse analytic approach is selected as method. The empirical material consists of two texts concerning the education of librarians. A theory of knowledge, emanating from Aristotle, is applied to the results to find examples of the forms of knowledge that are excluded from the discourse. A number of themes, or ways, in which it is possible to discuss the phenomenon of the librarian's knowledge, are identified in the texts.