Дисертації з теми "Long term goal"

The general aim of this licentiate thesis is to analyze the framework in which long-term goals are set and subsequently achieved. It is often claimed that goals should be realistic, meaning that they should be adjusted to known abilities. This thesis will argue that this might be very difficult in areas related to sustainable development and climate change adaptation, and that goals that are, to an acceptable degree, unrealistic, can have important functions. Essay I discusses long-term goal setting. When there is a great temporal discrepancy between the point in time of setting and achieving a goal, many uncertainties have to be considered. The surrounding world and the agent’s abilities and values might change. This is an ontological uncertainty. We often form beliefs regarding how abilities and values might change, but this belief is always uncertain. This is an epistemological uncertainty. A form of goal called cautiously utopian goals is proposed, which incorporate such uncertainties, but enables goal setting with long time-frames. Essay II discusses the issue of goals intended to reduce great risks. We cannot expect an agent to do something that lies beyond this agent’s abilities, as exemplified in the principle ‘ought implies can’. Adjusting goals to what we currently, with a high degree of certainty know could be done is difficult. If not including an estimation of how abilities can change, important performance-enhancing functions of goals might be lost. It is argued that very ambitious goals should be set. This is partly due to the great magnitude and likelihood of unwanted consequences and partly due to the difficulty of delineating what lies in agents’ capacity to manage complex risks. Essay III discusses a decision-facilitating tool Sustainability Analysis to be used by Swedish municipal planners. One sub-part of the tool, Goal Conflict Analysis, can be used to identify how the consequences of a planned adaptation measure will affect other long-term municipal goals. Identified goal conflicts can then be used in order to determine whether the conflicts are acceptable, or whether a different adaptation measure should be worked out. The paper discusses a workshop in a Swedish municipality in which the tool has been tested.

QC 20140505

Long-term conditions (LTCs) exert a significant burden on individuals, communities, healthcare systems and society. Health systems are placing an increasing focus on support for patient self-management. The literature on LTCs shows the broad and interconnected medical, emotional and social impacts of living with LTCs. This research has informed contemporary LTC self-management support policies which emphasise that the provision of support for self-management should take into consideration and give equal importance to the range of medical, social and emotional aspects of living with LTCs. These policies also emphasise that support for self-management be focused on patient defined goals for what patients see as relevant and meaningful for them in daily living and as such, they promote goal setting as a tool for health professionals providing self-management support. However, research shows that health professionals providing self-management support have tended to prioritise goals focused on the medical management and clinical outcomes over the goal preferences of patients with LTCs. This suggests that there may be a misalignment between the self-management goals that matter to individuals and those focused on by health professionals and healthcare systems when supporting patients to achieve these goals. Group programmes led by health professionals are a common healthcare approach to supporting LTC self-management. Groups provide opportunities for self-management support from both health professionals facilitating programmes and from peers (other participants in groups). Yet, there is still little known about how self-management support is interpreted, enacted and valued within group programmes by group facilitators and group participants, what role goals play in group programmes for self-management, and how facilitators and participants engage with goal setting. Research investigating the experiences of facilitators and participants of self-management support in health professional led group programmes remains sparse, especially in the Australian healthcare setting. To address these key research gaps, this thesis aims to: 1) to review the literature on the experiences of participants and facilitators of self-management group programmes; 2) to investigate how health professional facilitators conceptualise self- management support provided in group programmes; 3) to explore the support participants receive in group programmes, and how they perceive it; and 4) to examine how both facilitators and participants perceive and engage with goal setting elements of group self- management programmes. This doctoral work is conducted as part of a larger project, funded by an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant (DP150101406), titled: ‘How do people with chronic conditions and their healthcare providers negotiate the self-management imperative?’ This thesis focuses on one part of this project: self-management support provided in group programmes. This qualitative study was conducted in NSW, Australia between 2015 and 2017. Six diverse self- management support group programmes (for individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), type 2 diabetes and obesity) were included in the study. To investigate the experiences of participants and facilitators of group programmes for the self-management of LTCs a systematic review and thematic synthesis of the qualitative literature was conducted (paper 1, Chapter 2). The findings revealed little in-depth exploration of the experiences of facilitating or participating in group programmes. Group participants valued being with similar others and perceived peer support benefits. Facilitators had limited group specific training, were uncertain of purpose and prioritised education and medical conformity over supportive group processes and the promotion of self-management agency and engagement. Overall, the studies prioritised positive descriptions. In paper two (Chapter 3) we sought to provide a more in-depth investigation of the perspective of health professional facilitators providing self-management support in group programmes (n=13) across the six study programmes . The aims of the paper were to explore how group facilitators conceptualise self-management support in a group programme, their experiences of facilitating, their perception of their role and the challenges they identified. We found that facilitators viewed the group programmes as responses to health system pressures, for example, high patient demand. They focussed on providing education and instruction on physical health, risks and lifestyle behaviour change, and emphasised self- responsibility for behaviour change whilst minimising goal setting and support amongst group participants. There were tensions between facilitators’ perceptions of their professional identity and group leader roles. In paper three we explored the experience of the group participants (n=20) and what support they receive and perceive in health professional-led self-management support group programmes (Chapter 4). We aimed to identify the different types of support that group participants in self-management support group programmes receive and exchange between both facilitators and peers, and how they value this support. We found that participants identified receiving information and emotional support from both facilitators and other participants as complementary yet distinct. Facilitators’ support came from professional training and other participants’ support reflected the contextual, lived experience of LTCs. Professional interactions were prioritised, constraining opportunities for participant- participant support to be received and exchanged. In paper four we examined how health professional facilitators and their group participants perceived and engaged with the goal setting activities in the group programmes (Chapter 5). The aims of the study were to examine the experiences of both patients and health professional facilitators regarding goal setting, what goals participants have, and howfacilitators and participants talk about their experiences of, and engagement with, goal setting in programmes. We found that participants have personal and meaningful biomedical, social and emotional goals. Facilitators believe these goals to be important and perceive them as integral to increasing motivation and self-responsibility. Despite participants having social and emotional goals, facilitators work to shape participants’ goals into pre-determined health behaviour change activities, disregarding social and emotional aspects. Participant disengagement from the goal setting process and questioning of the value of goal setting was evident. Conclusion The research reported in this thesis provides empirical evidence of how self-management support in group programmes led by health professional facilitators is perceived and engaged with in practice. Health professional facilitators of group self-management support programmes prioritise education and instruction over broader medical, social and emotional aspects of self-management that are important for people with LTCs. The thesis also reveals there is a disconnect between health professional facilitators and group participants in how they experience and what they value for self-management in groups. Our findings show that participants value support from the other participants in the group as well as from health professional facilitators. Importantly, they also valued support that is inclusive of their social and emotional lives as well as medical support. This has important implications for practice and how self-management support could be achieved in groups to better meet the needs of people with LTCs. A conceptual change is required for health professionals to meet the self- management support ideals articulated in policy. This change could begin by conducting goal setting in a manner more broadly inclusive of patient preference, and therefore more likely to be engaged with. These findings have important implications for policy and practice. In particular it suggests that changes may be needed at the system and policy levels to ensure better accountability of health professionals providing self-management support. Achieving practice change will be challenging due to, for example, the ways in which healthcare professionals are educated, trained and socialised and the system constraints within which they are working. Future research is needed to consider how health professionals are able to provide self-management support in group programmes that does more than reinforce medical information, instruction and behavioural norms.

In Ontario, the population of older adults is increasing. While the provincial government is taking action to address increasing demand on health systems, older adults are still suffering the consequences of a health system that is not able to meet their complex care needs. Older adults face barriers to continuity of care including difficulties with memory, reliance on informal caregivers, frailty, and difficulties scheduling appointments. These barriers also exist within the long-term care setting. Long-term care facilities are making efforts to provide more effective care, including designing care approaches aimed to meet the complex care needs of older adults. Aspects of a goal-oriented approach suggest that it has the potential to reduce fragmentation and positively impacting continuity of care. However, the impact of goal-oriented care on continuity of care in a long-term care setting has yet to be explored. This thesis uses an exploratory case study methodology to describe how a goal-oriented care approach influenced continuity of care in a long-term care setting, as perceived by residents, staff, and administrators. The case study setting is the Perley & Rideau Veterans Health Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, where the SeeMe program, a frailty-informed approach with a goal-oriented component, was recently introduced. Factors associated with the SeeMe program and other organizational factors perceived to facilitate and inhibit informational, relational and management continuity were identified. Aspects of the SeeMe program that facilitated informational continuity were: goals-of-care meetings with residents, their care team and family; care conferences that helped residents understand their care options; and, procedures that ensured consistency in where resident’s goal information is stored. Aspects that facilitated relational continuity were: understanding residents’ values and preferences; staff increasing awareness of the program for families; and, integration of the family perspective into a resident’s care. Program aspects that facilitated management continuity were: discussions that led to informed decision-making; use of assessments as a reference tool in the case of an acute health event; discussions that empowered residents to talk to external care providers; and, creation of a structure that facilitated consistencies in care. These factors can be targeted when designing care approaches aimed to improve continuity in long-term care settings.

Goal-setting procedures have been employed in many different sports, and have been shown to be a beneficial component for enhancing sports performance. For this study, a changing-criterion within multiple-baseline design was used to evaluate a multi-component intervention for increasing running distance for five healthy adults. The intervention consisted of goal setting with performance feedback. Participants set a short-term goal each week and a long-term goal to achieve upon completion of the study. The study incorporated the use of the NikeTM + SportKit for automated recording of the distance of each run. Results of the current study demonstrated for all participants that goal setting and performance feedback was an effective method to enhance sports performance for individuals wanting to increase their running distance.

Impaired cognitive inhibition is one of a number of changes in cognitive functioning that are associated with healthy ageing. Cognitive inhibition is the ability to suppress or withhold some cognitive process and includes the ability to block out distracting information. Successful cognitive inhibition underlies improved performance on a range of executive functions including problem solving, long-term planning and goal-directed behaviour (Darowski, Helder, Zacks, Hasher, & Hambrick, 2008). One theory posits that age-related deficits in cognitive inhibition may underlie general cognitive decline associated with older adults (Hasher & Zacks, 1988; Hasher, Zacks, & Rahhal, 1999). Previous behavioural studies have found that automatic, or unintentional cognitive inhibition is preserved with age while controlled, intentional cognitive inhibition is impaired in older adults (Collette, Germain, Hogge, & Van der Linden, 2009). In contrast, a number of neuroimaging studies suggest that older adults show less differentiation than young adults in neural processing of automatic and controlled tasks. In particular, it has been suggested that automatic tasks are processed more like controlled tasks, suggesting increased cognitive effort required to complete them (Germain & Collette, 2008).
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Applied Psychology
Griffith Health
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Through structural social anthropology lens, this thesis explored issues of international joint venture performance measurements and parent company learning through international joint ventures in the context of the Chinese automotive industry. It was a case study of the First Automotive Work FAW, a Chinese state-owned car manufacturing group and its joint venture with German car manufacturing group Volkswagen. Its focus was on the Chinese engineers working in both companies, who are on the frontier of technology transfer and knowledge learning through their work experience of localizing imported technologies. The methodology used was qualitative, primarily interviews, historical and technological background research, participant observation and the researcher’s lived experience of the encounters. The research argues and demonstrates that complexity matters on IJV performance measurements and organizational learning studies; and calls for closer attention to individuals through structural social anthropology theories. It describes in detail the indigenous engineers and managers’ perspective of the learning experience, learning outcomes, the purposes of learning and its relationship to parent companies as independent tribes. It affirms, contends and extends current concepts of IJV performance measurements and indigenous partner learning through IJV. It presents the complexity of how the IJV and its SOE parent company values knowledge and means of learning differently and how it relates to the ecological system of SOE and its IJV. It explores the independent tribalism in FAW-VW and the sacred and profane dichotomy of FAW that had led to the ecological structure of FAW. The thesis presents the structural social anthropology theories of the solidarity, sacred and profane dichotomy and tribalism as solution to some of the issues in current international business literature. It argues that the different ecological system lead to different interpretations of goals at the SOE and IJV. A human model that is useful for a deeper understanding of IJV performance measurements and indigenous parent learning through the social anthropological lens. It also analyzes the complexity of historical and hidden factors such as SOE corruption that contributes to such phenomenon.

We have chosen to focus on the meaning of long-term income support dependency regarding health, goal setting and motivation for the recipient of economical aid. We have chosen to use semi structurized interviews to achieve our goal of reaching the clients experience of long-term income support dependency. The study consists of interviews of six clients whose answers have been analyzed through appliance of Kielhofner´s Model of human occupation, Scheff´s Shame in self and society.    Our results show regarding, 1) the factor health that long-term income support dependency may elevate the risk of illness and less experienced options of possibilities to act. 2) regarding the factor goal setting, that goals may be inefficiently used during social work with long-term income support dependent clients and may result in a disorganized relationship between client and social worker in the sense of making the parties pull in opposite direction. 3) regarding the factor motivation, that long-term income support dependency and the living with the emotion of shame elevates the risk of maintaining a negative image of oneself that limits the willpower to assimilate new knowledge and/or skills. This also effects the clients belief in their own capacity to change their current negative situation. Which may impact the rate of success in motivational social work and the individuals own possibilities to live an independent life, free of income support. Throughout the study we have encountered the traces of shame as a social emotion and emphasize on the environments pressure for change and socialization.

Au cours des deux dernières décennies, nous avons assisté à une adoption croissante du numérique dans le domaine de l'education. Cela est accompagné par un accroissement du nombre de ressources pédagogiques accessibles par les apprenants. Par conséquent, des systèmes de recommandation deviennent nécessaires pour aider les apprenants à trouver des ressources qui leur sont utiles. En particulier, cela inclut les systèmes de recommandation de parcours d'apprentissage qui visent par exemple à améliorer l'expérience d'apprentissage des apprenants, et notamment leur niveau de connaissance. Dans ce contexte, cette thèse se concentre sur le domaine des systèmes de recommandation de parcours d'apprentissage et sur l'évaluation de ces parcours d'apprentissage recommandés. Cette thèse propose d'aborder la tâche de recommandation comme un problème de prise de décision séquentielle et considère les processus décisionnels de Markov partiellement observables comme une approche adéquate. Dans le domaine spécifique de l'éducation, la mémoire des apprenants est un facteur très important qui doit être pris en compte, et cela a été proposé dans la littérature et utilisé pour promouvoir des recommandations liées à de la révision. Cependant, peu de travaux ont été menés pour la recommandation basée sur des POMDP, et les modèles proposés sont complexes et requièrent beaucoup de données. Cette thèse propose deux modèles de recommandation basés sur POMDP qui considèrent la mémoire des apprenants, tout en limitant la complexité et le volume de données requis. L'évaluation de la recommandation d'un parcours d'apprentissage est une tâche difficile de la littérature, qui peut être effectuée soit en ligne ou hors ligne. L'évaluation en ligne est très populaire, mais elle repose sur des recommandations effectives de parcours aux apprenants, ce qui peut avoir des conséquences dramatiques si les recommandations ne sont pas de qualité. L'évaluation hors ligne repose sur des ensembles de données statiques des activités d'apprentissage des apprenants et simule les recommandations de parcours d'apprentissage. Bien que plus facile à exécuter, il est difficile de procéder à une évaluation hors ligne de l'efficacité d'une recommandation de parcours d'apprentissage avec précision. Ceci tend à justifier le manque de travaux de la littérature sur ce sujet. Pour résoudre ce problème, cette thèse propose également des mesures d'évaluation hors ligne simples. Enfin, ces algorithmes et mesures sont évaluées sur deux jeux de données réels. Nous avons montré que les algorithmes de recommandation proposés ont une qualité de recommandation supérieure à ceux de la littérature, avec une augmentation de la complexité limitée, y compris sur un jeu de données de taille moyenne. En ce qui concerne les mesures d'évaluation, nous avons montré qu'elles permettent effectivement de caractériser et de différencier les algorithmes de recommandation
Over the past couple of decades, there has been an increasing adoption of Internet technology in the e-learning domain, associated with the availability of an increasing number of educational resources. Effective systems are thus needed to help learners to find useful and adequate resources, among which recommender systems play an important role. In particular, learning path recommender systems, that recommend sequences of educational resources, are highly valuable to improve learners' learning experiences. Under this context, this PhD Thesis focuses on the field of learning path recommender systems and the associated offline evaluation of these systems. This PhD Thesis views the learning path recommendation task as a sequential decision problem and considers the partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP) as an adequate approach. In the field of education, the learners' memory strength is a very important factor and several models of learners' memory strength have been proposed in the literature and used to promote review in recommendations. However, little work has been conducted for POMDP-based recommendations, and the models proposed are complex and data-intensive. This PhD Thesis proposes POMDP-based recommendation models that manage learners' memory strength, while limiting the increase in complexity and data required. Under the premise that recommending learners useful and effective learning paths is becoming more and more popular, the evaluation of the effectiveness these recommended learning paths is still a challenging task, that is not often addressed in the literature. Online evaluation is highly popular but it relies on the path recommendations to actual learners, which may have dramatic implications if the recommendations are not accurate. Offline evaluation relies on static datasets of learners' learning activities and simulates learning paths recommendations. Although easier to run, it is difficult to accurately evaluate the effectiveness of a learning path recommendation. This tends to justify the lack of literature on this topic. To tackle this issue, this PhD Thesis also proposes offline evaluation measures, that are designed to be simple to be used in most of the application cases. The recommendation models and evaluation measures the we propose are evaluated on two real learning datasets. The experiments confirm that the recommendation models proposed outperform the models from the literature, with a limited increase in complexity, including for a medium-size dataset

A stochastic dynamic programming model (called P.B.S.D.P.) based on the consideration of peak discharge and time between peaks as two stochastic variables has been used to model and to solve a reservoir operation problem. This conceptualization of the physical reality allows to solve, in this order, the tactical and strategic operation of surface reservoirs. This P.B.S.D.P. model has been applied to the Sau reservoir in the Northeastern corner of Spain. The results showed a significant improvement over the currently used operation procedure, yielding values of yearly average electricity production that are somewhat under 6% of what could have been the maximum electricity production.

The goal of this master thesis was to evaluate the K+K=K workshops’ long term objectives by asking selected participants aged 11-13 years, about their experiences. The two-day workshop combined creativity and the OSS programming language Scratch to promote art, science and alternatives to computer games, amongst children. The qualitative research was based on primary data collected through vis-à-vis semi structured interview, and on secondary data consisting of participant observation. Through a grounded theory approach three key theories were identified to apply to the data: constructionism, media theory and domestication theory. Data analysis yielded the following main topics: 1) issues concerning the research process and the children’s experiences at the workshops, 2) issues emerging from the children’s answers, 3) matters concerning the workshop’s long term goals. The principal conclusions about contextual issues provided suggestions for improvement of the research process as well as the children’s workshop experience. Furthermore, matters that emerged from the children’s answers indicated issues with the organisational structure of the actual workshop content and sparse prior information to workshop participants. By taking the informants’ critiques to heart, future workshop experiences can be improved, facilitating an even more valuable learning experience for the children. Finally, analysis revealed viable options to increase impact of the workshop’s long term goals. Adequate advance information on workshop content will enable participants to better understand the workshop and its goals. The children’s answers confirmed that an informal learning setting like eg. the K+K=K workshop provides young people an effective introduction to different perspectives on computer use and boost their passion for art and programming.

Date June 12, 2008

Program IT Management

Authors Jessica Jarrell, 820506.

Västerås

Rais Iqbal, 791229.

Västerås

Supervisor Ole Liljefors

Title Business-to-Business IT Integration

Introduction

As business world has moved into digital era, new trends in business models have been emerged to do business. Digital infrastructure provided by internet enables enterprises to extend their boundaries for new customer and trading partners. Extending the enterprise without a solid IT infrastructure is incomplete, this is the reasons that enterprises are investing more and more in IT to build an IT integrated infrastructure where all its trading partners are linked together. On the other hand, technological world provides solutions and services to build IT integration for such extended enterprises. A wide variety of IT integration solutions and patterns available for enterprise to meet their integration goals, but this often brings unclear situation where companies have to think a lot before implementing IT integration patterns. A slight mistake in this scenario could shake the equilibrium between IT and business, to keep the equilibrium steady companies need to thoroughly examine their short-term and long-term goals and then different integration patterns can be employed to meet these goals.

Research Question

What approaches can be helpful for companies to accomplish successful business-to-business IT integration pattern for their short-term and long-term goals?

Purpose

The purpose of this thesis is to describe the concept of extended enterprises and, identify and describe the existing B2B IT integration approaches employed by extended enterprises.

Method

The research is of qualitative type and secondary data is used to conduct this research. Books and research papers has been used to construct theoretical framework. Electronic databases available at library of Mälardalen University such as Google scholar, Emerald and interlibrary network of Sweden (Libris) are used to search for secondary data.

Analysis Findings from the detailed literature study are analyzed to answer the research question. Integration patterns are analyzed described by the different authors of integrations patterns in three different ways. Firstly, integration patterns were analyzed in term of their advantages and disadvantages with technology and business, secondly, maturity of these integration patterns are analyzed and finally these integration patterns are analyzed for company’s short-term and long-term goals.

Conclusion Business process oriented and method-oriented approaches are good for long-term goals due to handling of business process management in both approaches and reusability aspects of method oriented approach. For short-term goals portal-oriented approach dominating in the integration community, application interface oriented approach is also good to meet the short-term goals. However, combinations of different approaches are found feasible.

Childhood obesity is the most serious public health challenge of the 21st century. Whilst evidence supports a family-based lifestyle approach to childhood obesity treatment, research is needed to understand how interventions work and how practitioners can effectively support families to sustain behavioural changes in the long-term. This thesis evaluated the feasibility of a family-based behaviour change intervention for overweight children (GOALS) and explored the psychosocial process of long-term behavioural change in families with overweight children. Study 1 measured the impact of GOALS on the body composition, lifestyle behaviours and self-perceptions of children and parents who completed the intervention. A complete case analysis (n=70) showed a significant 6-month reduction in child BMI SOS (-0.07, p < 0.001) that was maintained at 12-month follow up. There was a significant year-on-year increase in the proportion of children reducing BMI SOS (42.9% year 1, 62.5% year 2, 80% year 3, p < 0.05) and a strong positive relationship between parent and child BMI change (r = .479, p < 0.001). Parents reported positive changes to their own and their children's physical activity and diet. BMI SOS reduction during the intervention was associated with improved global self-esteem and perceived physical appearance at 12 months. Study 2 explored the experiences of families six weeks into the 18-session intervention through focus groups with parents and children. Motivators to attend GOALS included the non-judgemental approach, being in the same boat as others and child enjoyment. The whole family approach was perceived positively and families used BCTs both as a core component of GOALS and to facilitate their behaviour change at home. As well as the challenges of living with childhood overweight, families described a lack of support from extended family members and a perceived need for on-going professional support. Study 3 followed up 15 families 3-5 years after they attended GOALS. Child and parent BMI was collected and parents took part in a semi-structured interview to explore their perceptions of "success" and their experiences of changing physical activity and eating behaviours. Mean child BMI SOS change from baseline was -0.47 for the 14 families who had completed GOALS. The majority of families perceived positive long-term outcomes, but these were not always aligned with actual child weight change. The most "successful" families placed a priority on changing child weight-related behaviours and parents took responsibility for these changes. While weight-control was a conscious process for these families, it was not necessarily made a "big issue" and parents used practices of an authoritative nature to facilitate change. Physical activity had become a way of life for the children, and mothers had reached a stage of feeling in control of their own weight. This is the first UK childhood obesity treatment study to follow children up beyond 12 months, and the first known study worldwide to employ qualitative methods to explore parental perceptions of long-term success. Findings provided a unique insight into the process of long-term behavioural change for overweight children and raised questions about the way "success" is defined following participation in childhood obesity treatment. Recommendations are made to enhance the delivery of family-based childhood obesity treatment and policy-makers are urged to adopt a multilevel approach to tackling childhood obesity, with child weight management care pathways that recognise the heterogeneity of familial needs. Further research is required to substantiate the impact of GOALS, and to prospectively explore the process of behavioural change in overweight children and the familial factors that serve as moderators in this process.

This thesis studies how decision-making might work in an organization without a predetermined formal decision-maker. By studying three selected areas in organizational decision making at a flat organization, the way decisions are made without a formal decision-maker is presented. The study includes an analysis of what factors drive decisions and possible effects of the flat organizational approach. This thesis focuses on decisions regarding wage-setting, recruitment, and the setting of long-term goals. The study finds several relevant conditions which contribute to making a flat organization's decision-making system possible, including organizational culture and transparency. The study indicates that cultural fit is an important aspect in maintaining a flat structure at an organization. To access data, in order to examine the principles of decisions, study at Menlo Innovations has been performed. The core of the study relies on semi-structured interviews with the employees, a virtual tour of the organization, a pre-recorded interview with Menlo representatives, and additional articles and documents. This data has helped the thesis answer how decision-making in the areas of wage-setting, recruitment, and the setting of long-term goals, might work in an organization without a predetermined formal decision-maker.

The aim of the research undertaken was to answer the question “How do insights during Inclusive Learning Support Programme (ILSP) meetings between parents and teachers of children with Down syndrome (DS) inform mutual attainment of each groups' expectations?” Inclusive Education (IE) for the learner with DS was introduced informally during the early 1990s in South Africa within a few local schools in Pretoria. Transcribed interviews and observations were used from a sample of teachers and parents of children with DS conducted by the ILSP coordinator to collect data. They were analysed using Herman’s and Herman’s- Konopka's (2010) dialogical self theory, positioning theory and pronoun grammar analysis. Results showed there are two opposing tensions in education. One is a need for stability. This is offset by the dynamic nature of education practice with its many actors - learners, teachers, managerial and supervisory staff, support staff, institutions and government departments. Every actor interprets education according to their goals, subjective beliefs and understanding of what the education process is occupying a dominant position but working from a shadow position. IE brings its own set of tensions to the actors in education. Policy documents from government, as interpreted in schools in South Africa, express the need for stability in education. The study was limited to the constraints of the academic format. More accessible versions of the findings and recommendations can be developed in papers. For ILSP coordinators practically to have a promoter position in the dialogue between teachers and parents there is a need for them to become acutely aware of the positions they adopt in dialogue in themselves and with reference to others. The study has offered a new way of interpreting the expectations of both parties in the ILSP meetings and rendering a solution to the often frustrating outcomes.
Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2013.
gm2014
Educational Psychology
unrestricted

Titel: Prestationsmätningar och medarbetarengagemang: En fallstudie om kopplingen mellan medarbetares inställning till prestationsmätningar gällande kundnöjdhet och långsiktiga mål samt strategier   Nivå: C-uppsats i ämnet företagsekonomi   Författare: Sanna Almqvist och Pernilla Wiberg   Handledare: Tomas Källquist   Datum: 2018 – januari   Syfte: Bakgrunden till denna studie grundar sig i att tidigare forskning lyfter olika aspekter av nyttan av prestationsmätning ur ledare eller företagets perspektiv. De efterfrågar dock mer forskning om hur medarbetares inställning till prestationsmätningar leder till engagemang. Vårt syfte är därmed att öka förståelsen för hur medarbetares inställning till prestationsmätningar gällande kundnöjdhet engagerar dem i deras vardagliga arbete att sträva mot långsiktiga mål och strategier.                       Metod: Denna studie grundar sig i ett aktörssynsätt med ett hermeneutiskt och socialkonstruktionistiskt perspektiv. Insamlandet av det empiriska datamaterialet har skett genom kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer. Intervjuerna omfattats av teman som återfunnits vid skapandet av den teoretiska referensramen som bygger på tidigare forskning inom ämnet. Genom en abduktiv forskningsansats har det empiriska datamaterialet och den teoretiska referensramen analyserats i samspel och påverkat varandra för att kunna besvara studiens syfte.                                            Slutsats: Slutsatsen i studien är att positiv inställning till prestationsmätningar gällande kundnöjdhet engagerar medarbetare i det vardagliga arbetet. Studien tyder ytterligare på att olika engagemang hos medarbetare leder till strävan mot olika slags mål.   Studiens bidrag: Denna studie bidrar ur en teoretisk synvinkel till att belysa medarbetares inställning till prestationsmätningar gällande kundnöjdhet, samt deras perspektiv på koppling mellan prestationsmätning och långsiktiga mål och strategier. Vidare bekräftas även tidigare forskning inom medarbetarengagemang.   Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Studien kommer fram till att det skulle vara intressant att vidare forskning belyser likheter och skillnader inom de två olika spåren av prestationsmätningar gällande kundnöjdhet som återfunnits i denna studie, indirekta och direkta.
Title: Performance measures and employee engagement: A case study about the connection between employees attitude toward customer satisfaction measures and long-term goals and strategies.   Level: Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration   Author: Sanna Almqvist and Pernilla Wiberg   Supervisor: Tomas Källquist   Date: 2018 – january   Aim: The background to this study is based on previous research highlighting different aspects of the benefit of performance measurement from a leader or company perspective. But they request more research on how employees attitude to performance measurements leads to engagement. Our aim is thus to increase understanding of how employees' attitude towards performance measurements within customer satisfaction engages them in their daily work to strive towards long-term goals and strategies.   Method: This study is influenced by a hermeneutic and social constructionist perspective. The empirical data has been collected through qualitative semistructured interviews. The interviews were covered by topics that were found in theoretical framework based on previous research on the subject. Through an abductive research method, empirical data and the theoretical frame of reference have been analyzed in interaction and influenced each other in order to answer the aim of the study.                                            Conclusions: The conclusion of the study is that a positive attitude toward measurements within customer satisfaction, engage employees in everyday work. The study also points to that different involvement of employees leads to the pursuit of different kinds of goals.   Contribution of the thesis: This study, from a theoretical point of view, contributes to illustrating employees' attitude to customer satisfaction measurements, as well as their perspective on linking performance measurement with long-term goals and strategies. Furthermore, previous research in employee engagement is also confirmed.   Suggestions for future research: The study reveals that it would be interesting for further research to illustrate similarities and differences within the two different traces of customer satisfaction measurements found in this study, indirect and direct measurements of customer satisfaction.

Diplomová práce se zabývá organizační kulturou konkrétní společnosti Macco Organiques, s.r.o., identifikuje její slabé stránky a s ohledem na dlouhodobé strategické cíle firmy navrhuje vhodnou změnu organizační kultury. Jako první jsou určeny cíle výzkumu, následují hypotézy a metodologie užitá v práci. Teoretická východiska organizační kultury jsou zmíněny v části druhé spolu s oblastmi vztahujícími se k obchodním strategiím společností. Třetí část představuje zjištění, výsledky výzkumu a verifikuje/falzifikuje stanovené hypotézy. Dále jsou uvedeny doporučení pro společnost.

Diplomová práce se zabývá organizační kulturou společnosti STORRA s.r.o., identifikuje její slabé a silné stránky na základě zvoleného modelu, a navrhuje vhodná řešení pro podporu změny organizační kultury s ohledem na dlouhodobé strategické cíle společnosti.

Many older adults desire to maintain their quality of life by living and aging independently in their own homes. However, it is difficult for older adults to notice and track the subtle changes in their own abilities because these abilities can change gradually over a long period of time. Technology in the form of ubiquitous sensors embedded in objects in the home can play a role in keeping track of the functional abilities of individuals unobtrusively, objectively, and continuously over a long period of time. This work introduces a sensing technique called “task-based embedded assessment” that monitors how well specific tasks important for independence are carried out using everyday objects found in the home with which individuals regularly interact. Following formative studies on the information needs of older adults and their caregivers, a sensing system called “dwellSense” that can monitor, assess, and provide feedback about how well individuals complete tasks, such as taking medications, using the phone, and making coffee, was designed, built, and evaluated. Multiple longterm (over 10 months) field deployments of dwellSense were used to investigate how the data collected from the system could support greater self-awareness of abilities and intentions to improve in task performance. Presenting and reflecting on data from ubiquitous sensing systems such as dwellSense is challenging because it is both highly dimensional as well as large in volume, particularly if it is collected over a long period of time. Thus, this work also investigates the time dimension of reflection and has identified that real-time feedback is particularly useful for supporting behavior change, and longer-term trended feedback is useful for greater awareness of abilities. Traditional forms of assessing the functional abilities of individuals tend to be either biased, lacking ecological validity, infrequent, or expensive to conduct. An automated sensor-based approach for assessment is compared to traditional performance testing by a trained clinician and found to match well with clinician-generated ratings that are objective, frequent, and ecologically valid. The contributions from this thesis not only advance the state of the art for maintaining quality of life and care for older adults, but also provide the foundations for designing personal sensing systems that aim to assess an individual’s abilities and support behaviors through the feedback of objective, timely sensed information.

acase@tulane.edu
Study aim: This study aimed to assess the individualized treatment goals (A1C, Blood Pressure, LDL-C) for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), which lead to optimal health outcomes by different treatment strategies. Background and significance: The evidences in medical guidelines came from clinical trials with highly selected patients, whereas the treatment goals may differ in some subgroups. Additionally, considerable confusions on treatment target has resulted from recent changes in guidelines. So, there is a critical need to examine heterogeneity in optimal goals that lead to the most efficacious treatment options. Methods: A retrospective longitudinal study was conducted for veterans with T2DM by using US Veterans Affairs (VA) Administrative Database (Jan 2005 and Dec 2015). Longitudinal medical records were prepared for each 6-month cycle and multivariate longitudinal regression was used to estimate the risk of microvascular and macrovascular complication events and mortality. Second-degree polynomial and splines were applied in the model to identify the optimal goals in their associations with lowest risk of clinical outcomes by controlling the demographic characteristics, medical history, and medications. Results: 124,651 patients with T2DM were selected, with 62.68 years old (SD=10.96) and 6.72 (SD=6.68) follow-up years at average. In general population, A1C=6.06, LDL-C=106.10 and BP=137.90/98.00 were associated with lowest mortality risk. As of achieving lowest risk of microvascular and macrovascular complication, the optimal goals were A1C=6.81, LDL-C=109.10; and A1C=6.76, LDL-C=111.65, SBP=130.60 respectively. The optimal goals differed between age and racial subgroups. Lower SBP for younger patients and lower LDL-C for blacks were identified with better health outcomes. Conclusions: Individualized treatment goals were identified and multi-faceted treatment strategies targeting hypertension, hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia may improve health outcome in veterans with T2DM. In addition to general ADA recommended goals, health system may examine their own large, more diverse patients with T2DM for better quality of care.
1
Qian Shi

碩士
國立臺北大學
公共行政暨政策學系
107
The Long-Term Care 2.0 Policy is a typical “Bottom-up” policy implementation approach, giving local governments autonomy to implement policy with flexible strategies. However, when local governments have different implementation types, we often overlook “why” the implementation types between these organizations are different. More specifically, is there a deeper cause that is worthy of further exploration? In addition, when local governments have different types in policy implementation, how could the policy effectiveness be evaluated? The bottom-up approach of policy implementation theory argued that the autonomy and discretion of local executives and street-level bureaucracy will affect the outcome of policy, but it cannot further explain the rationale of the implementation that local executives choose. Therefore, this study aims to answer the following research questions through the perspective of institutional logics: (1) What is the rationale of the central government when setting the goals of the Long-Term Care 2.0 policy? When local governments face different subjective and objective factors, how do they interpret these goals? (2) When both the central and local governments have different considerations on the Long-Term Care 2.0 policy, what is the difference in terms of goal preferences between them? How do local governments decide to choose the implement type? (3) When there are different implementation types for local governments, what is the extent to which their choices are implemented in line with the central policy objectives? How should the effectiveness of policy objectives to be evaluated? In order to answer the research questions, first, this study used data visualization technique to combine the aging-related statistics from government statistics with the map information, and presented in the form of heatmaps, trend-line and geographic maps. The purpose is to compare the different implementation types of local governments, and explore their strategies and ideas. Secondly, this study also used the central government and six selected local governments as research objects, 18 interviewees were interviewed. In order to clarify the institutional logics between the central and local governments in the Long-Term Care 2.0 policy, the interview texts obtained in the in-depth interviews were also supplemented by the static data collecting by documentary analysis. Based upon the data above, the six selected local governments are categorized as policy pioneers and policy followers. This study finds that the underlying causes that influence the choice of implement types of local governments are mainly driven by their own goal preferences. This finding is also different from the previous literatures indicate that institutional logic is the fundamental cause of organizational actions. More specifically, the policy followers do not have obvious goal preferences, therefore, they are dominated by the "Policy-requirement" logic, and only act according to the central policy norms. In contrast, the policy pioneers themselves have their goal preferences and beliefs, therefore, when reaching the basic goals required by the central government, they will further move toward the “Leading-innovation” logic driven by their own goal preferences. Although the goal preferences between the central government and policy pioneers are different, the incongruence of these goal preferences can also be calibrated. On the other hand, in order to achieve their own target preferences and central policy requirements, policy pioneers and policy followers must develop reconciliation strategy in response to the conflict between social-welfare and health system. The results of the study show that most of local governments still use the “reining” as the main strategy for reconciling conflicts, however, whether these methods can exert their substantive effects remains to be further observed in the future.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how different incentive contracts that include forward-looking and contemporaneous goals motivate managers to make decisions consistent with the organization’s long-term objectives, in tasks of varying complexity. Two research questions are addressed. First, in a long-term horizon setting, how do incentive contracts based on various combinations of forward-looking and contemporaneous measures influence decisions? Second, how does task complexity influence the expected effect of various incentive contracts on management decisions? I address my research questions using a multi-period experiment where I compare the effects of three different incentive structure types and two different levels of task complexity. Results show that in a low complexity task, individuals perform better when only contemporaneous goal attainment is rewarded in the incentive contract than when both forward-looking and contemporaneous goal attainment is rewarded. In a high complexity task, individuals perform better when both contemporaneous and forward-looking goal attainment is rewarded, but only when the contemporaneous goal attainment is weighted more heavily in the incentive contract. My research contributes to the existing literature in two ways. First, this is the first study of which I am aware that compares the performance effects of long-term incentive contracts that reward forward-looking and contemporaneous goal attainment. Second, this study is the first of which I am aware to experimentally test incentive contracts, for employees with a long-term horizon, that incorporate various weightings of forward-looking measures in the contract. In addition, this study will be amongst the first to examine the impact of task complexity on incentive contract effectiveness.

abstract: Achievement of many long-term goals requires sustained practice over long durations. Examples include goals related to areas of high personal and societal benefit, such as physical fitness, which requires a practice of frequent exercise; self-education, which requires a practice of frequent study; or personal productivity, which requires a practice of performing work. Maintaining these practices can be difficult, because even though obvious benefits come with achieving these goals, an individual's willpower may not always be sufficient to sustain the required effort. This dissertation advocates addressing this problem by designing novel interfaces that provide people with new practices that are fun and enjoyable, thereby reducing the need for users to draw upon willpower when pursuing these long-term goals. To draw volitional usage, these practice-oriented interfaces can integrate key characteristics of existing activities, such as music-making and other hobbies, that are already known to draw voluntary participation over long durations. This dissertation makes several key contributions to provide designers with the necessary tools to create practice-oriented interfaces. First, it consolidates and synthesizes key ideas from fields such as activity theory, self-determination theory, HCI design, and serious leisure. It also provides a new conceptual framework consisting of heuristics for designing systems that draw new users, plus heuristics for making systems that will continue drawing usage from existing users over time. These heuristics serve as a collection of useful ideas to consider when analyzing or designing systems, and this dissertation postulates that if designers build these characteristics into their products, the resulting systems will draw more volitional usage. To demonstrate the framework's usefulness as an analytical tool, it is applied as a set of analytical lenses upon three previously-existing experiential media systems. To demonstrate its usefulness as a design tool, the framework is used as a guide in the development of an experiential media system called pdMusic. This system is installed at public events for user studies, and the study results provide qualitative support for many framework heuristics. Lastly, this dissertation makes recommendations to scholars and designers on potential future ways to examine the topic of volitional usage.
Dissertation/Thesis
Ph.D. Media Arts and Sciences 2013

Love and sex change over the course of a relationship. The current research investigates the factors that contribute to sexual desire and sexual satisfaction in long-term couples. In two studies, the association between motivational goals for sex, interdependence, and sexual outcomes were explored. Study 1 was a cross-sectional survey. The results of Study 1 revealed that participants who engaged in sex more often for approach goals reported higher levels of desire, whereas participants who engaged in sex more often for avoidance goals reported lower levels of desire. Study 2 was a 21-day daily experience study involving a subset of the participants from Study 1. The results of Study 2 indicated that on days when participants reported engaging in sex more for approach goals they reported greater sexual desire, whereas on days when participants reported engaging in sex more for avoidance goals they reported lower levels of sexual desire. Partner-focused, as opposed to self-focused sexual goals, were primarily responsible for these associations. In both studies, relationship satisfaction was also associated with higher desire, and this was mediated by the tendency of people who are more satisfied to engage in sex more often for approach goals. In Study 2, approach goals moderated the impact of avoidance goals on sexual desire, and this association differed by gender. Stronger approach goals buffered against declines in sexual desire associated with avoidance goals for women, but not for men. The findings support the utility of applying a motivational framework to the study of sexuality in established couples and the greater relevance of partner-focused sexual goals in long-term relationships.

Objective: This research explores the critical need for individualized care planning to ensure maximum cost savings by providing a balance between individuals’ care needs and care wishes. The primary objective of this research is to identify common goals of care (GoC) expressed by long-term care residents (using the interRAI LTCF) and clients receiving community supportive services (using the interRAI CHA) or community mental health services (using the interRAI CMH). Methods: Three interRAI datasets were used to perform data analyses. The responses to the open-ended GoC item were quantified and grouped into common goal categories, which were then examined against the interRAI outcome measures and Clinical Assessment Protocols (CAPs). Demographic and clinical characterisitics were compared across the sample populations using the chi-square test. Logistic regression models were created to reveal variables that are predictive of not having a GoC recorded within each care setting. Results: Twenty-five GoC categories were created. Although the GoC responses were very diverse, many persons had no goal recorded. Nearly 70% of long-term care (LTC) residents and community support service (CSS) clients were unable to state a GoC. Different populations in different service settings had distinct GoC but had some commonalities as well such as goals that focused on general physical or mental health issues. GoC varied with the CAPs- the triggering of a CAP did not necessarily mean a corresponding GoC was noted. Each care sector had different predictor variables that were strongly associated with not having a GoC. Conclusions: There is not a “one size fits all” solution to care planning. The same goals and outcome measures are not appropriate or realistic for all persons. It is critical to incorporate self-reported goals into the development of effective and individualized care plans to ultimately improve one’s quality of life, satisfaction with care, and success in achieving desired outcomes of care.

"Strategy offers regional stakeholders an opportunity to collaboratively influence the future direction of their regions economy. However, limited research has been undertaken with respect to strategy processes that are being used by regional economic development organisations. While there are suggestions for the ideal content of regional economic development strategies, the processes by which these organisations develop and implement strategy have not been investigated. This thesis documents an exploratory research project that utilises a case study methodology to identify and consider the processes applied in three different regional economic development organisations. In order to appreciate the context of regional strategy development, theory on regions, collaboration and strategy is integrated to develop a detailed theoretical framework of twenty seven elements that are thought to contribute to implementation. The presence or absence of these elements in each of the three cases is explored deductively through a review of internal documents and semi-structured interviews with a mix of regional stakeholders. Elements are investigated within cases to understand how strategy is being applied within each particular context. Analysis across cases is documented, identifying both similarities and differences in the presence and absence of elements. The research found that relationships were important to the continuing future of the organisations. Long term planning was absent in all cases and this absence was attributed to contextual factors such as a dynamic external environment, and a dependence on government funding leading to short term planning cycles. There was also a lack of clarity regarding organisational goals. The processes utilised in all cases most closely matched Mintzberg and Waters (1998) umbrella strategy, however, all organisations lacked a strategic approach. A tentative model was developed to depict elements thought to be the most significant to collaborative regional strategy implementation. These elements are: leadership on strategic planning; good member to member relationships; realism; long term goals; performance measures tied to long term goals; ongoing review and updating of the strategic plan; relevance of the strategic plan; and consistency of activities with the strategic plan. The need for further research to investigate these potential relationships was indicated." -- abstract.

La situation d’un patient trop malade pour une transplantation et qui est maintenu à long terme aux soins intensifs (SI) avec l’aide d’un dispositif d'assistance ventriculaire (DAV) peut évoluer de multiples façons. Malheureusement, plusieurs soignants vivent un malaise lorsque ce patient survit avec des complications, sans possibilité de transplantation cardiaque ni de retour à domicile. Par conséquent, différents buts thérapeutiques sont poursuivis au sein de l’équipe soignante. L’étude avait pour objectifs de cerner les buts poursuivis par les professionnels de la santé œuvrant auprès de ce type de patient, de clarifier les facteurs influençant les buts poursuivis et de mieux connaître les difficultés éprouvées par l’équipe soignante dans l’élaboration d’un but commun. La phénoménologie a été utilisée comme méthodologie de définition de la problématique. L’échantillon comprenait 12 participants représentant les infirmières, médecins et perfusionnistes d'une unité de SI, travaillant auprès de ce type de patient. Chacun des participants a fait l’objet d’une entrevue individuelle, semi-dirigée et enregistrée sur appareil audio. Il leur a d’abord été présenté une vignette à partir de laquelle ont été posées un certain nombre de questions identiques pour tous. Dans leurs réponses à ces questions, les participants ont eu la possibilité de s’exprimer autant sur leur expérience que sur le contexte du phénomène. Une seconde rencontre a été nécessaire afin de valider ou de corriger l’interprétation de ce que chacun avait exprimé durant l’entrevue. L'analyse des données témoigne d’un manque d’harmonie quant au but à poursuivre à l’égard du patient en question. Environ la moitié des participants visent la transplantation, alors que les autres poursuivent d’autres buts comme la sortie des SI, la limitation des traitements ou les soins palliatifs. Les participants sont influencés majoritairement par les volontés du patient, l'absence de mécanisme formel de communication entre eux et les facteurs professionnels tels que : les valeurs, les pratiques et l’environnement, sans oublier les rapports de pouvoir. Un certain nombre de barrières empêchent l’équipe de déterminer un but commun. Pour vaincre ces obstacles et s’entendre sur les buts à poursuivre en équipe, le développement de la communication multidisciplinaire s’impose. Pour y arriver, deux prérequis doivent être développés : l’intention éthique et l’engagement.
A non eligible transplant patient on long term ventricular assist device (VAD) support in intensive care unit (ICU), can evolve in multiple ways. Alot of health care professionnals live a malaise when the patient surves with complications without neither possibility of cardiaque transplantation nor return home. In consequence, defferent goals of care are pursued in the health care team. This is why, the researcher maintained all along the study, the objectives to understand the goals pursued by the health care professionnals working towards the particular patient, to clarify the factors influensing these pursued goals and to learn more on the health care team difficulties to elaborate a common goal. Phenomenology has been the method used to define the problem. Twelve participants working in ICU were included in the reasearch sample representing the nurses, physicians and perfusionists working towards the concerned patient. Each of the participants had collaborated to an individual, semi structured and audio recorded interview. First, the researcher presented a vignette with which she asked everyone a certain number of identical questions. The questions permitted the participants to express as much on there experience than on the context of the phenomenon. A second meeting has been necessary to validate or correct the interpretation of what has been expressed by each participant during the interview. The data analyisis testify a lack of continuity concerning the goal to pursue with the patient in question. Almost half of the participants aim for a transplantation when the rest of them pursue other goals like discharge of ICU, treatment limitation or paliative care. By a majority, the participants are influenced by the patient’s will, the absence of formal communication mecanism, profesionnal factors such as : values, practices and environment and power differential. Thus, health care profesionnals that would want to pursue a common team goal are facing a certain number of barriers. The resercher realises that to overcome these barriers, multidisciplinary communication has do be the driving force of team goal- setting. Although, to acheave this, two pre-requisits have to be developed: the ethical intention and the engagement.

This thesis discusses the role of small tourism enterprises in contributing to a destination's delineated long-term sustainability objectives, appraising the critical success factors responsible for the thriving of a small-sized tourism venture towards long-term sustainability goals. To develop this research, an indicator-backed framework is developed and validated through a comparative study of the impacts of tourism practices in three different areas in the island of Bali (Indonesia). The framework’s selection of indicators has as a reference point the ‘Green Growth 2050 Roadmap for Bali (Indonesia) Sustainable Tourism Development's strategic policy framework – this means that the selected indicators were done in a way that would attend to the needs established by the foregoing Roadmap, and subsequently tested through an application in six different small tourism enterprises. The insights gathered from the results were condensed into a set of best practices highlighting the key factors that need to be held into consideration when pondering about opening a small tourism venture in this island.
Esta tese avalia o papel de pequenas empresas turísticas no que toca ao seu contributo aos objectivos de sustentabilidade a longo prazo delineados por um destino turístico, o que leva a adicionalmente aferir os fatores críticos de sucesso responsáveis pelo alinhamento de uma pequena e/ou média empresa turística com objetivos de sustentabilidade a longo prazo. Para propósitos de desenvolvimento desta pesquisa, foi realizado um quadro de aferição composto por indicadores, o qual foi posteriormente validado através da sua utilização num estudo comparativo sobre impactos de práticas detidas neste setor. O estudo foi realizado em três regiões distintas na ilha de Bali (Indonésia). O processo de seleção de indicadores adotado neste estudo utilizou o quadro de políticas estratégicas para o desenvolvimento de turismo sustentável:‘Green Growth 2050 Roadmap for Bali (Indonesia) como o seu principal ponto de referência – isto foi realizado de forma a que o quadro de aferição proposto pudesse estar alinhado com as necessidades estipuladas pelo 'Roadmap' supramencionado. Após este processo de seleção, foi possível testá-lo através da sua aplicação em seis pequenas empresas de turismo. A informação retirada dos resultados obtidos foi com densada num conjunto de 'melhores práticas', as quais representam uma curadoria dos fatores-chave que devem ser tomados em consideração por qualquer indíviduo que equacione abrir um pequeno negócio de turismo nesta ilha.

The diploma thesis deals with problems of depression in older people. Mainly the work is focused on identifying and analyzing the role of nurses in screening for depression in older people in primary care, acute care, long-term care and home care. This thesis was focused on theoretical direction and was used the method of design and demonstration. In this thesis was set one main goals with five research questions. The main goal was to identify and analyze the role of nurses in screening for depression in the elderly. RQ 1: What is the role of the nurse in screening for depression in the elderly? RQ 2: What is the role of the nurse in the primary care in screening for depression in the elderly? RQ 3: What is the role of the nurse in screening for depression in hospitalized patients in acute care? RQ 4: What is the role of the nurse in screening for depression in seniors in long-term and home care? RQ 5: What rating scales and methods are used in screening for depression in the elderly? The thesis introduce the concept of depression. The following are specified the causes of and the important factors that affect depression in the elderly. It also deals the differences in the clinical symptomatology of depression in old age. It explains possibilities and various barriers in the diagnosis of depression. Another chapter introduces complete geriatric examination, diagnostic classification systems, possible screening methods and scales for detection of depression in the elderly population. It also deals methods of pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment and its possible complications associated with older age. By reason of increased suicide rate caused by depressive disorder the issue of suicidal behavior in the elderly is introduced. The next chapter deals with the nursing process, which is used by nurses in practice. It consists of the evaluation of the patient's health condition, making nursing diagnosis, creating nursing plan and subsequent implementation and evaluation. The nursing process is also needy for providing quality care. The nursing process in the stage of nursing diagnosis, introduces possible nursing diagnosis for a patient suffering from depression, which are based on the latest classification. Finally is described the role of nurses in screening for depression in the elderly in different health facilities and their contribution to the timely evaluation of depression in the elderly. This chapter introduces the role of nurses, nursing screening and collaboration with a physician. The role of nurses in screening for depression in different medical facilities is based on the first phase of the nursing process of assessment. On the basis of objective and subjective information, the nurse will assess the overall health and mental condition of the patient. Primarily, it was investigated what is the role of the nurse in screening for depression. On the basis of content analysis and synthesis it was necessary to used and processed domestic and foreign literature. A number of relevant sources are the results of various studies and Meta-analyzes, mostly from abroad, but also from the Czech Republic. The thesis can serve as a basis for nurses. The result of this thesis is to create e-learning material available for students in the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice in the tutorial called Moodle.