Background: Touching exists in different forms and can be experienced through the skin. By touching oxytocin is released like a relaxing hormone which counteracts anxiety and depression. Therapeutic contact and healing touch are methods nurses? uses to give positive feeling of serenity, warmth and wellbeing for the patients. Touching can be a method for communication and happiness when word is not enough.

International negotiation is the link between international planning and implementation. The ability to negotiate successfully may very well depend on the efforts being put into preparatory activities, leading to the purpose of this research, to gain a better understanding of pre-negotiation in an international context, by exploring, describing and partly explaining the process. Personal interviews were conducted with two Swedish international companies to obtain thorough information within the area. The collected data from these two cases are discussed, compared and then finally used to draw general conclusions. The study indicates the different issues that either occur or should be considered prior to the first formal meeting in an international negotiation.

Although previous research conclude that mergers and acquisitions do not always lead to improved profitability or increased shareholder return, the number and size of M&A?s is steadily increasing. In this thesis we examine why an acquirer pays a price higher than the market value. Can accounting data explain the size of the premium? 618 European transactions between 1997 and 2008 are examined and relationships between the targets? accounting data and the premium is analysed through statistical regressions.

The aim of this thesis is to study how librarians in Swedish libraries perceive the task of mediating fiction. What are the librarians private relationships to fiction and how do they perceive the position of fiction in contemporary society? What views have they developed of the borrowers approach to fiction and how do they perceive the borrowers increasing influence in the library? How do librarians prioritise and which principles form the basis for their purchase of fiction? How do they categorise fiction in the library and how much do economic and political factors influence the decision making process for the purchase of fiction? Finally, how do they define their roles as mediators of fiction and which strategies do they adopt to communicate which literature the library has to offer? The material used in this study was acquired using a qualitative interview technique in which six librarians with experience of literature mediation partook..

I studien intervjuades 10 ungdomar om sina erfarenheter av att använda dator med talsyntes och inspelade böcker. De tillfrågades om i vilka situationer verktygen har kommit till nytta eller upplevts hämmande i deras lärande och skolsituation. På grund av stora skolsvårigheter har ungdomarna fått låna en bärbar dator av skolan. Den har de använt både hemma och i skolan. Tillsammans med föräldrar och lärare har de fått handledning vid kommunens Skoldatatek.

This essay examines fans contributions in a transmedia culture. I examine how fans relate and use the fictional worlds in the creations of their own films. The study focusing on the use of graphical elements and character design in some fan films. The examination is done by using two intertextual theories. One of the theory is Lubomir Dolezel theory on transfictional relationships and the other one is Gérad Genette theory on the realtion in transtextuality.

The purpose of this study was to examine experienced family counselors view regarding the concept of conflict avoidance in couple relationships. Twelve family counselors working in different parts of Sweden was interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. They were asked to reflect on the following: their description of the concept of conflict avoidance, the consequences of conflict avoidance in couple relationship, gender differences and their own view on how to create conditions for constructive, therapeutic work in this respect.The result shows that the fear of conflicts, difficulty in expressing needs, different perceptions and expectations together with a difficulty to negotiate about differences, creates a lack of emotional and physical contact together with an absence of dialogue. The consequences of this in the long-term, a majority of the respondents perceived, are feelings of anger, resignation, powerlessness and unhappiness..

IntroduktionInterpersonella konflikter är vanligt på arbetsplatser, vilket har en negativ påverkan på arbetsklimat och trivsel. Även patienternas omvårdnad kan beröras av konflikter i personalgruppen. Chefen är den som förväntas ingripa för att lösa sådana problem, men för chefer är konflikthantering ett område som upplevs svårt, som tar mycket tid och där man saknar kunskap.SyfteAtt undersöka vilka konflikthanteringsstrategier vårdenhetschefer använder vid interpersonella kon-flikter, och vad som påverkar valet av konflikthanteringsstrategi.MetodStudien är en litteraturstudie i vilken 7 vetenskapliga studier/artiklar ingår. Ingående artiklar hämtades från databaserna PubMed, CINAHL och Scopus, samt med manuell sökning i tidskrifterna Journal of Nursing Management och Journal of Advanced Nursing. Artiklarna var publicerade mellan 1991 och 2008.ResultatStudierna visade att vårdenhetschefer ofta använder konflikthanteringsstrategier som endast ger kort-variga lösningar, och som inte är effektiva.

The purpose of this study has been to examine how elderly people in today?s society look upon themselves and experience their own aging. We have inquired answers to the following main questions: What main events during the life course are emphasized in the elderly?s stories about their lives, and in what way has it affected their experience of growing old? In what way have social relationships, interests and the experience of health changed during the life course? How do the elderly experience their own aging, and what emotions are expressed in the speech surrounding their life course? The results of the study have been analyzed and interpreted with the help of the life course theory, Erikson?s psychosocial development theory and the continuity theory. The results show that elderly people of today don?t feel their age.

This report is based on factors that has had affect on drugaddicts in their decission on quitting their abuse. The questions we have built our report on are: What external factors have had an impact on the drugabuser to end his or her drugabuse? What internal factors have had an impact on the drugabuser to end his or her drugabuse? Does the police have an influence on the drugabuser to end his or her drugabuse? The report is based on intervjues with former drugaddicts. We have also studied the theory of symbolic interactionism and litterature written by different authors to obtain a broad picture of drugabuse. Our results in this report show that the people we have intervjued have been influenced by many different factors and people in their enviroment.

The purpose of this study has been to increase the awareness of what significance models of explanation have for intervention programmes, aimed at perpetrators of intimate partner violence, within the Swedish social services. The study is not gender neutral, it centres on male batterers in heterosexual relationships. The study is based on qualitative interviews with five people working within the topical field. I analyzed their statements using an ecological model of understanding violence. The main finding was that the people I interviewed had a multiple understanding when it came to comprehending the violence, but that when it came down to the actual intervention they targeted mainly on elements in the individual spectra, such as feelings of frustration.

The most dominating type of company in Sweden is the small-sized business and it usually lacks its own marketing department. The purpose of this paper was to analyze several small Swedish businesses which are specialized in different sectors of the Mechanic/Technology industry but they are similar in terms of having niched products and they are leading companies in the world. The objective was to do research about how small businesses work with marketing despite its lack of resources and capital.This survey has shown that customer contacts, customer relationships and especially for those investigated companies, it was very important to focus on globalization and product development in order to build a Point of Difference..

Syfte med studien var att undersöka pedagogernas uppfattning om arbetet med hållbar utveckling genom en Grön Flagg-certifiering i förskolan. Mina frågeställningar blev därför: Hur stödjer en Grön Flagg-certifieringen arbetet mot hållbar utveckling? Hur görs barnen delaktiga i arbetet med Grön Flagg? Hur ser pedagogerna på sig själva som förebilder? Dessa frågor har besvarats genom en undersökning med kvalitativa intervjuer av åtta pedagoger i fyra olika Grön Flagg-certifierade förskolor (bland dessa en förskoleadministratör) samt kommunens miljöstrateg, tre barns egna tankar om miljö och yngre kamrater har undersöks.  Resultat har analyserats utifrån lärande för hållbar utveckling, Harts delaktighetstrappa samt Axness fostrans principer utifrån ett nytt forskningsområde kallad epigenetik med fokus på ett av dess användningsområden: barnuppfostran. Genom resultat och analys av datainsamlingen har jag funnit att en Grön Flagg-certifieringen kan stödja arbetet mot hållbar utveckling om det finns ett gemensamt synsätt inom arbetslaget, engagerade och drivande pedagoger samtidigt som man synliggör de små vardagliga insatserna i förskolan. Pedagogerna i studien anser att certifieringen utåt visat att man arbetat mot hållbar utveckling och sätter press till att arbetet genomförs.

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.

Denna kandidatuppsats behandlar ämnet ledarskap och beskriver hur ledarskapet hos en projektledare i Föreningen X har sett ut. Fokus ligger på projektledaren som den formella ledaren i projektgruppen och hur personen har hanterat sin projektledarroll. Studien ser närmare på projektledarens ledarroll utifrån ett styrande, stödjande och delegerande perspektiv samt de krav som sätts på projektledarollen. Utöver detta behandlas och presenteras den teori som rör krav på ledarskap, situationsanpassat ledarskap, tidsbegränsat ledarskap samt synen på svenskt ledarskap. Vidare presenteras den normativa modellen Fundamental Interpersonal Relationship Orientation (FIRO) som förklarar ledarskapet inom olika grupputvecklingsfaser.