Cultural bias in health assessment has been asserted in various scientific reports. The aim of this study was to determine whether ethnicity effects how patients are represented in such medical certificates that are needed to obtain a certain Swedish social insurance. The setting was an analysis of 18 medical certificates for patients whose parents were born in Sweden, respectively of 18 medical certificates of patients whose parents immigrated to Sweden from non European countries. The main objective was comparison of the two groups to test for ethnical heteronormative representations of the patients and their parents. The method used is mainly based on critical discourse analysis in combination with Fowlers (1996) semantic tools used to decipher disparity in the discourse.

ABSTRACTBackground: Endometriosis is a chronic disease where the tissue, that the uterus contains,also can be found outside the uterus.The objective of the study was to investigate young women?s experience of endometriosisand how they experience the care.Method: Fourteen young adults were asked to participate and eight of them did participate.They were all in the range of age 14-20 and they all had had contact with a unit forendometriosis in Sweden. Semai-structured interview was chosen as the data collectionmethod. An interview guide was used during the interviews. For the analysis aphenomenological method with focus upon experiences was used.Results: The result showed that the young adults? experiences in the daily living containedpain, alienation, tiredness and side effects.

Smallholder farmers in low-income countries face a number of challenges in animal production. Animal husbandry carries great potential in reducing poverty, hunger and gender inequality, but at the same time infectious diseases are prominent threats to farmers? livelihoods and their animals. The objective of this study was to investigate the socioeconomic impact of infectious animal diseases on smallholder farmers in low-income countries, using African swine fever (ASF) in Uganda as an example. The study was conducted in two parts. The first part of the study was questionnaire-based and performed in Gulu district, northern Uganda.

The objective of this study was to study the agreement between two methods of indirect bloodpressure measurement in dogs and cats and to establish the within-method variation for the methods. The utility and practicality in the clinical setting were also evaluated for the both methods. The techniques evaluated were the oscillometric method and the Doppler ultrasonographic method. Thirtytwo dogs and 26 cats were used in the study and seven dogs and five cats out of these animals had diseases that may effect the bloodpressure. Bloodpressure was measured in both anesthetized and in conscious animals.

Purpose: The main objective of this study is to research whether an announcement of an acquisition generates positive/negative abnormal short-term return towards the buying company?s shareholders. The secondary purpose is to research whether any differences could be due to selected factors: firm size and industry.Method: The study is quantitative in nature where the research aims at the stock price movement around the announcement of an acquisition. The sample size includes 30 companies between the years 2000-2010. The abnormal return is investigated by an Event Study.Conclusion: Our study shows that the publication gives a positive abnormal return in comparison to the respective sector indexes.

The objective of this thesis was to investigate factors that influence local government implementation. The study is a comparative case study between two local governments in Sweden; Hässleholm and Landskrona. Primarily the thesis aimed to look at the conditions faced by those implementing a new government directive aimed at supporting women who face violence, and their children who bear witness, by focusing on three key aspects for successful implementation: Implementers level of understanding, knowledge and will to implement decisions. Material in the form of documents and 14 interviews with key actors in the two authorities constitute the empirical foundation of the analysis. According to the results, are the two local governments pretty equal in achieving their projectgoal but the local government of Hässleholm had better policy-making, policy-design and policy process.

Context: Lip-to-Lift (L-t-L) is a bedside-method for measuring oral transit time at swallow. It was designed for a swallowing examination of persons on nursing homes where weight loss was noted in people with average L-t-L-time >5 seconds (Sandin, 2005). The measurement was validated and evaluated by Eriksson, Bremer Zerpe (2008).Objectives: The study objective was to examine L-t-L on a group of young adults without swallowing disorders and as to examine the inter- and intra-judgereliability of the measure.Questions:What is the L-t-L-time for young adults without swallowing disorders?Are there any gender differences regarding L-t-L-time?How high is the inter/intra-judge reliability of L-t-L?Method: Examination of L-t-L-time was carried out on 20 young adults, aged 19-27 years, without swallowing disorders after Sandin?s (2005) instructions. Measurements of 20 swallows per person were made.Results: The average L-t-L-time of young adults without deglutition-difficulties was 1.13 seconds (sd =.14).

Recent years there has been discussed how the critical situation in the housing market threatens the Stockholm region's growth. The thesis objective is to examine whether there is a scientific link between the lack of housing supply and growth. The thesis also intends to identify solutions for increased housing construction, for instance by examining the conditions for a greater regional perspective and influence on the region's housing supply. The thesis empirical study is based on semi-structured interviews with representatives from the Government, municipalities and the housing industry.In Sweden, research on the relationship between housing shortages and growth has not been conducted to that extent it can be said to exist scientific evidence regarding the growth threat. However, in Britain and the U.S, empirical studies show that a lack of housing supply has hindered growth through negative impact on countries' gross domestic product.

ABSTRACTBackground: People with colorectal cancer undergoing rectum amputation get a permanent colostomy, which affects the social life. It may be valuable for health care what these people experience living with colostomy in order to provide the greatest possible support. Objective: The aim of this study is to describe how people who received a colostomy experience their daily lives and the support they have received from the health services.Method: Qualitative interview study with six people, with a descriptive phenomenological approach.Results: The analysis of the interviews about how it's like to live with a colostomy resulted in three themes: 1) Living with a colostomy gives an uncertainty that affect the social life, 2) Physical and psychological impact of getting a colostomy and 3) Support for health care and relatives.Conclusion: Subjects had a positive attitude towards life, which contributed to that they could adjust to living with a colostomy and feel a meaningfulness of life. The study shows that all the interviewed people overall were satisfied with the information provided by the healthcare personnel. It was good with both oral and written information and very appreciated with repeated information. One aspect that could be improved was the information given aboute the closure of anus during surgery and the following complications.

Background: Children frequently exhibit high levels of distress while undergoing routine blood sampling or injections. If the child is not treated with appropriate care, the feelings of distress may increase over time and result in needle-phobia. Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe nurses´ possibilities to relieve distress in children undergoing needle sticks. Method: A systematic literature review was conducted through database search and screening of reference lists. Ten research articles with a quantitative approach were included, coded for quality and then analyzed.

The competition amongst companies is getting tougher and the economic markets are getting even bigger with new products and businesses. One way for companies to differentiate themselves from the competitors is through packaging design. If the merchandise is to send a reliable and solid message to consumers, the attributes of the packaging must be consistent and uniform. If the different attributes are not coherent, the message loses credibility towards the consumer. Through the sent messages, the pack signals the products? expected quality and price.This paper includes two studies, in which the main objective is to discover and build understanding about Swedish consumers? perception of a product?s price depending on the pack?s design.

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to explore nurses' experiences of informing relatives to critically ill patients in the intensive care unit (ICU).MethodThe study was descriptive with a qualitative approach. Nine nurses were interviewed. The study took place in a university hospital in the midst of Sweden. An interview guide was used, designed in consensus with the study questions. Data was analyzed via qualitative content analysis.FindingsMeeting and preparing relatives at the arrival at the ICU seemed valuable and led to safety and participation among relatives.

Agency theory describes the conflict of interest between the principal (stockholders) and the agent (CEO). Aligning the incentives of executives with those of the owners is the most direct way to mitigate the agency problem. If there is no meaningful link between CEO compensation and company performance, it is doubtful that the large sums of assets in public corporations are being managed efficiently. In theory the solution is simple reward the CEO when shareholders wealth increases. The purpose of this paper is to investigate if there is a relationship between company performance and CEO compensation among Swedish companies, in materials and information technology industry.

Today, branding is not a phenomenon but rather a prerequisite for a brand to be able to both survive and grow stronger. During the last couple of years, personal branding has come to be an established term, just like corporate branding. With the growth of the social media and the thousands of ways to interact with each other personal brands face great competition. It is more difficult than ever to maintain a strong brand, partly because of this. There are several growth options for brands.

This Master's thesis examines some aspects of children's books for 9-12 year olds, and the children's books market, from a gender perspective. The main objective is to make a gender analysis of attitudes among children and other agents in the book market towards children's books of different qualities. Children's reflections on gender roles in the books and the importance of gender aspects for publishers in the field, are investigated. A combination of methods are used, including literary analyses, surveys of publication lists of the BTJ group Bibliotekstjänst interviews with children and questionnaires sent to children as well as to Swedish publishers of children's books. The analysis of children's books clearly shows that images of gender roles vary in different kinds of books which supports theories of gendered literature.