The purpose of this study was to examine how people experience being in debt, what they consider was the reason for being in debt and how they experienced economic counselling. The empirical data was based on five semi-structured interviews with people having experiences from being in debt and experiences of economic counselling. The data was analysed by using theoretical perspectives from a model called economic-shame created by Bengt Starrin. The model shows how being in debt and the feelings of shame influence health. The conclusion shows that the reasons for being in debt often is due to several sudden and tragic events happening at the same time or due to each other.

The purpose of this thesis was to increase our understanding of how the social service in Sweden deals with reported incidents of addiction to medicines. Another purpose was to point out the different opinions concerning addiction to medicines amongst actors as well as possible ways to handle the problem.We have conducted a quantitative and qualitative e-mail survey targeting all communities in Sweden, with the ambition of gaining further knowledge about the role and responsibility of the social service concerning reports of addiction to medicines. Two quantitative questions were one asked about how many clients requested/were reported for needing help with their drug abuse alone, and the second question about how many clients needing help for drug abuse as a part of a wider addiction.The survey revealed that the social services judge their role/responsibility differently; some take the main responsibility while others think that drug abuse is created by the general health care and should be handled by this organization as well. In relation to the estimated amount of drug addicts in Sweden only a small part are in contact with the social service..

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of being a homosexual immigrant in the Swedish society. Our questions were how the interviewed homosexual immigrants experience being treated by the people in their surroundings and how they are influenced by their attitudes. We also wanted to know what kind of thoughts they have about affiliation considering origin and sexuality, and what positive and negative aspects they experience from the combination of being both homosexual and immigrants.To get the answers to these questions we used a qualitative method and interviewed seven homosexual immigrants between the ages of 25 and 40 years. We then compared our material with earlier studies of the living situation of homosexual immigrants in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. We also linked our findings to Goffman's stigma theory and to heteronormativity.The main result was that the combination of homosexuality and immigrantness can result in various difficulties.

Can degree of degenerative brain disease be predicted with the help of measurements of cognitive deterioration?Alzheimer?s disease progresses through nerve cell break down in the brain and the simultaneous deterioration of the individual?s cognitive function. This disease is common among elderly persons. This thesis examines if the level of deterioration of cognitive function is associated with different biochemical and clinical markers for degenerative brain diseases. In addition, this thesis examines if the level of decline in cognitive functions vary between groups with different levels of degenerative brain disease.

Child poverty in Sweden is a widespread phenomenon and occurs in diverse spheres in society; at home, in school and in leisure activities. Therefore more professions than just traditional social workers meet this phenomenon in varied areas which creates different comprehensions and abilities to handle the issue among various professions.This study aims to investigate the collaboration between different professions in relation to child poverty in a municipality in Sweden. Represented professions are social workers, teachers, welfare officer, recreation instructor and leaders, special assistant and municipality coordinator. In total eleven persons were interviewed.The results illustrate a good will among the professions to collaborate to improve negative consequences of child poverty. Traditional boundaries between professions are limited since every profession is needed in this collaboration and have the opportunity to use their professional knowledge in a certain field.

SARS [Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome] penetrated China in spring of 2003, created havoc in the social society, exposed weaknesses within the political system and pushed the nation towards a crisis of confidence. At the same time the crisis revitalised the Party's position, brought people from different social stratum together and had a beneficial impact on the populace's knowledge on health related issues.What makes the SARS crisis in China interesting for further and deeper investigation is the method it chose to respond to its national crisis. They plan of response was indeed a retrogression back to "older" times, using methods and propaganda very much like those used during Mao Zedong and later Deng Xiaoping. The first step of response was denial and cover up of the real situation, which quickly turned to unprecedented transparency, as the magnitude of SARS became known. The Party and the government were quick to proclaim themselves as the bearer of the key knowledge and information on how to best fight the disease, this in sharp contrast to the political trend of more co-operation between the private and public sector and political transparency.

The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences of threats and violence among four social workers at a social services' reception center for individual and family care. The study uses semistructured interviews and an abductive approach. The analysis is based on previous research, communication theory, coping and sense of coherence, SOC. The study shows that the studied workplace isn't considered to be particularly exposed to threats and violence, although all four respondents have experienced threats and/or violence. The respondents make a difference between threats and harsh words from clients because they consider their clients are entitled to be upset considering the nature of the work conducted at the workplace.

This thesis has the overall objective to develop the optimum sealing system between the retarder and transmission. Today, there is a pressure-relief and two radial seals separation between the retarder and transmission. It has been found that carbon residue formation may occur between retarder axle and seal lips with, in some cases, leakage as a result.We have in this thesis tried to explain the phenomenon of carbon residue, how it is formed and why it can be seen just on the seals? A rig test was conducted where we show how friction, speed, transmission temperature and mitigation phases of the retarder affects temperatures in the sealing environment. Factors affecting the coke structure are reported, together with proposals for measures that provide a mitigating seal environment.

Several studies have investigated the relationship between different measures of innovative activity, such as patent statistics and R&D expenditures and some have looked deeper into the differences between large and small firms regarding number of patents issued per employee or per R&D dollar. In this paper, the objective is to find out if there are any indications of a barrier to entry (due to economical factors, lack of knowledge etc) for small firms to get into the field of patent handling. The approach is to first set up a hypothesis based on some simple assumptions about how firms would make decisions about whether to apply for a patent or not and thereafter use econometric methods in an empirical investigation. The data used for this study are figures on number of employees, number of patents granted and R&D expenditures for the Swedish firms in the pulp and paper industry. The main conclusion is that, based on the analysis of the data from this rather limited group of firms, no such barrier can be seen..

Today is one of the goals with zoos to conserve endangered species and some animals may also become reintroduced. But behaviours can change in generations of captive animals because of environments that differ from the wild. Animals must then be prepared before being reintroduced and predator training enhances the animal?s chance to survive in the wild. When training animals to avoid predators it is often necessary to use frightening stimuli.

The aim of this study was to describe and scrutinise the position of the Swedish government on whether children should participate directly or through a representative in judicial proceedings.The main questions for this study were to find out (1) what position the Swedish government has on the subject, (2) how the position is justified, and (3) what view on children the position reflects.A qualitative design was used in the study and in order to describe the position a descriptive method was used. In the second part of the study a critical approach was used to examine and analyse the position.The main conclusions were that the position is ambiguous but that it mainly reflects, with a few exceptions, that it is better for children to be represented than to participate directly in judicial proceedings. The arguments that are given as basis for the position are short and lack both the objective and subjective grounds needed to decide the best interest of the child. The analysis of the position showed that it mainly reflects a view on children as objects and when the statement reflects a view on children as subjects, it relates to age and maturity in the child..

Bakgrund: Förstoppning är ett av de vanligaste symtomen från mag- och tarmkanalen och att drabbas av förstoppning kan vara en hemsk upplevelse. Tillståndet påverkar personen både fysiskt, mental, socialt och existentiellt, vilket leder till försämrad livskvalité. Syfte: Att beskriva vilka icke-farmakologiska åtgärder som finns för att förebygga förstoppning hos äldre personer över 65 år. Metod: Studien genomfördes som en allmän litteraturstudie där vetenskapliga artiklar söktes i databaser på Internet och manuellt i referenslistor. Åtta vetenskapliga artiklar inkluderades i studien och dessa analyserades och utformades till ett resultat.

The focus in this paper was on managers in the middle position in the care of the elderly and people with disabilities. The aim was to develop knowledge about the conditions of work among managers in the middle position and what they characterized as good leadership and which strategies they used in their work. The empirical data consisted of nine qualitative interviews with managers in the middle position in the municipality of Halmstad.The frameworks that mainly limited the middle managers' discretion were laws, political regulations and most of all it was the allocated budget. Their discretion was found closer to the operation such as working methods, recruitment and changes in job schedules. The middle managers spent the majority of their working hours with personnel administrative work and that they often had to prioritise among their tasks.

The purpose of this paper is to find out if there are any simple solutions to attract an increased use of public transportation in a smaller town in Sweden. Simple solutions are measures that can be taken within the current budget, and which do not require large investments and extensive political decisions. In order to search for possible solutions I needed to find out which factors and attitudes that determine why people choose public transportation and peoples? traveling habit. I have made a survey study of satisfaction and attitudes among the consumers of a public transportation company in Växjö; Länstrafken Kronoberg.

The aim of this thesis has been to investigate women's experience of the Methadone maintenance treatment and what help they believe they need to be able to recover and to improve their social life and whether the medical- and social workers share the similar view.Our method of investigation has been qualitative interviews with four women in the program, two nurses and a counsellor at the methadone clinic and two social workers, who have female clients in the program.The questions at issue were:* how did the women describe their life situation during treatment, compared to the situation they had while they were addicted to narcotics,* did the women experience that the treatment they get in the methadone maintenance program is giving them a better social life situation,* did the employees at the clinic and at the social office share the similar view about the treatments as the female patients?Main problems seemed to be; meeting new non-addictive friends and finding something to do. We could se that, in different ways, they need more support. It wasn't always clear to the people who work with them whose responsibility it was, depending on workplace and/or personality..