| 1. |
- Addelyan Rasi, Hamideh, et al.
(författare)
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Can a psychosocial intervention programme teaching coping strategies improve the quality of life of Iranian women? : A non-randomised quasi-experimental study
- 2013
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Ingår i: BMJ Open. - : BMJ Publishing Group. - 2044-6055. ; 3:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objectives: To assess whether a psychosocial intervention teaching coping strategies to women can improve quality of life (QOL) in groups of Iranian women exposed to social pressures. Design: Quasi-experimental non-randomised group design involving two categories of Iranian women, each category represented by non-equivalent intervention and comparison groups. Setting: A large urban area in Iran. Participants: 44 women; 25 single mothers and 19 newly married women. Interventions: Seventh-month psychosocial intervention aimed at providing coping strategies. Primary outcome measures: Effect sizes in four specific health-related domains and two overall perceptions of QOL and health measured by the WHOQOL-BREF instrument. Results: Large effect sizes were observed among the women exposed to the intervention in the WHOQOLBREF subdomains measuring physical health (r=0.68; p<0.001), psychological health (r=0.72; p<0.001), social relationships (r=0.52; p<0.01), environmental health (r=0.55; p<0.01) and in the overall perception of QOL (r=0.72; p<0.001); the effect size regarding overall perception of health was between small and medium (r=0.20; not significant). Small and not statistically significant effect sizes were observed in the women provided with traditional social welfare services. Conclusions: Teaching coping strategies can improve the QOL of women in societies where gender discrimination is prevalent. The findings require reproduction in studies with a more rigorous design before the intervention model can be recommended for widespread distribution.
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| 2. |
- Jacobsson, Jenny, et al.
(författare)
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Injury patterns in Swedish elite athletics – part 1 : annual incidence and injury types
- 2013
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Ingår i: British Journal of Sports Medicine. - : BMJ PUBLISHING GROUP. - 0306-3674 .- 1473-0480. ; 47:15
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective To estimate the incidence, type and severity of musculoskeletal injuries in youth and adult elite athletics athletes and to explore risk factors for sustaining injuries. Design Prospective cohort study conducted during a 52-week period. Setting Male and female youth and adult athletics athletes ranked in the top 10 in Sweden (n=292). Results 199 (68%) athletes reported an injury during the study season. Ninety-six per cent of the reported injuries were non-traumatic (associated with overuse). Most injuries (51%) were severe, causing a period of absence from normal training exceeding 3 weeks. Log-rank tests revealed risk differences with regard to athlete category (p=0.046), recent previous injury (>3 weeks time-loss; p=0.039) and training load rank index (TLRI; p=0.019). Cox proportional hazards regression analyses showed that athletes in the third (HR 1.79; 95% CI 1.54 to 2.78) and fourth TLRI quartiles (HR 1.79; 95% CI 1.16 to 2.74) had almost a twofold increased risk of injury compared with their peers in the first quartile and interaction effects between athlete category and previous injury; youth male athletes with a previous serious injury had more than a fourfold increased risk of injury (HR=4.39; 95% CI 2.20 to 8.77) compared with youth females with no previous injury. Conclusions The injury incidence among both youth and adult elite athletics athletes is high. A training load index combing hours and intensity and a history of severe injury the previous year were predictors for injury. Further studies on measures to quantify training content and protocols for safe return to athletics are warranted.
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| 3. |
- Johansson, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Sleep-wake activity rhythm and health-related quality of life among patients with coronary artery disease and in a population-based sampleAn actigraphy and questionnaire study
- 2013
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Ingår i: International Journal of Nursing Practice. - : WILEY-BLACKWELL, 111 RIVER ST, HOBOKEN 07030-5774, NJ USA. - 1322-7114 .- 1440-172X. ; 19:4, s. 390-401
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this study was to explore whether there are gender differences in sleep and health-related quality of life in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and a matched population-based sample and to see how subjectively rated sleep is associated with actigraphy. Secondly, to explore whether factors that predict patients sleep quality could be identified. Fifty-seven patients with stable CAD and 47 participants from a population-based sample were included. All participants completed the Uppsala Sleep Inventory (USI), the Epworth Sleepiness Scale and the SF-36. Actigraphy recordings and a sleep diary were performed for seven 24-h periods. Multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that sleep duration, sleep onset latency, nocturnal awakenings, vitality (SF-36) and body mass index explained 60% of the sleep quality outcome (USI). Sleep duration, sleep efficiency and fragmentation index assessed with actigraphy and sleep diary accounted for 36% of the sleep quality outcome (diary). The result can form the basis for a non-pharmacological, self-care programme supported and led by nurses.
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| 4. |
- Kiryazov, Kiril, et al.
(författare)
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The role of arousal in embodying the cueXdeficit model in multi-resource human robot interaction
- 2013
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Ingår i: Advances in Artificial Life, ECAL 2013, Proceedings of the Twelfth European Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living System. - : MIT Press. ; , s. 19-26, s. 19-26
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper is investigated the problem of managing limited resources in human-robot interaction with a computational architecture of emotion. The architecture is based on the appraisal theory of affect and an ethological motivational model of task selection. Key variables and performance criteria for robotic energy autonomous behaviour in interaction with humans are discussed. The role of arousal for modulating effort of movement is explored. It is shown that the architecture can manage task selection and the effort of the movement and offers sustainable basic-cycles in exemplar "two-resource problem" test-bed scenarios for an iCub robot. An extension of the architecture with a third "resource"—safety—is presented and how the architecture is able to solve the new "three-resource" problem is demonstrated.
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| 5. |
- Kiryazov, Kiril, et al.
(författare)
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The role of arousal in two-resource problem tasks for humanoid service robots
- 2013
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Ingår i: IEEE RO-MAN 2013. - : IEEE. - 9781479905096 ; , s. 62-69
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- A computational architecture of emotion is presented which grounds a component of an appraisal cognitive model into the homeostatic processes of a humanoid robot. The focus of the present work entails a `grounding' of the arousal component of the Pleasure Arousal Dominance emotion space into the electrical energy processes of an iCub robot. Key variables and performance criteria for robotic energy autonomous behavior in interaction with human are discussed. We show that our bio-inspired affective architecture offers viable basic cycles in exemplar “two-resource problem” testbed scenarios for a real iCub robot. The expression of the robot's emotional state and its role for the efficient interaction in the proposed two-resource problem task is discussed and experimental designs are presented.
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| 6. |
- Klaeson, Kicki, et al.
(författare)
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Talking about sexuality : desire, virility, and intimacy in the context of prostate cancer associations
- 2013
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Ingår i: American Journal of Men's Health. - : Sage Publications. - 1557-9883 .- 1557-9891. ; 7:1, s. 42-53
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Prostate cancer and its outcomes are a real threat for health and well-being for men living in the Western world. The number of men with a diagnosis of prostate cancer, before the age of 65 years, has increased in recent decades. The aim of this study was to explore how some of these Swedish men experienced and talked about their sexuality. Four focus group discussions were performed in the context of associations for prostate cancer. Using qualitative content analysis, it was identified how the diagnosis was a threat to their male identity; the men's vulnerability as a group in society was made explicit. Their sexuality was diminished by their illness experiences. These experiences were difficult to share and talk about with others and therefore connected with silence and sorrow. As a result of this, the informants often played a passive role when or if they discussed issues related to sexuality with someone in the health care organizations. The possibility of voluntarily joining a cancer association was probably highly beneficial for these men. During the sessions, several men expressed the opinion that "it is always great to talk."
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| 7. |
- Li, Cai, et al.
(författare)
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Humanoids learning to walk : a natural CPG-actor-critic architecture
- 2013
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Neurorobotics. - : Frontiers Media S.A.. - 1662-5218. ; 7:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The identification of learning mechanisms for locomotion has been the subject of much research for some time but many challenges remain. Dynamic systems theory (DST) offers a novel approach to humanoid learning through environmental interaction. Reinforcement learning (RL) has offered a promising method to adaptively link the dynamic system to the environment it interacts with via a reward-based value system. In this paper, we propose a model that integrates the above perspectives and applies it to the case of a humanoid (NAO) robot learning to walk the ability of which emerges from its value-based interaction with the environment. In the model, a simplified central pattern generator (CPG) architecture inspired by neuroscientific research and DST is integrated with an actor-critic approach to RL (cpg-actor-critic). In the cpg-actor-critic architecture, least-square-temporal-difference based learning converges to the optimal solution quickly by using natural gradient learning and balancing exploration and exploitation. Futhermore, rather than using a traditional (designer-specified) reward it uses a dynamic value function as a stability indicator that adapts to the environment. The results obtained are analyzed using a novel DST-based embodied cognition approach. Learning to walk, from this perspective, is a process of integrating levels of sensorimotor activity and value.
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| 8. |
- Nicoll, Katherine, et al.
(författare)
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Opening discourses of citizenship education : A theorization with Foucault
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of education policy. - London : Routledge. - 0268-0939 .- 1464-5106. ; 28:6, s. 828-846
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We argue two major difficulties in current discourses of citizenship education. The first is a relative masking of student discourses of citizenship by positioning students as lacking citizenship and as outside the community that acts. The second is in failing to understand the discursive and material support for citizenship activity. We, thus, argue that it is not a lack of citizenship that education research might address, but identification and exploration of the different forms of citizenship that students already engage in. We offer a fragmentary, poststructuralist theorization oriented to explore the 'contemporary limits of the necessary', drawing on specific resources from the work of Michel Foucault and others for the constitution of local, partial accounts of citizenship discourses and activities, and exploration of their possibilities and constraints. We argue this as a significant tactic of theorization in support of an opening of discourses of citizenship and in avoiding the discursive difficulties that we have identified. Our theorization, then, is significant in its potential to unsettle discourses that confine contemporary thought regarding citizenship education and support exploration of what might be excessive to that confinement. © 2013 Taylor & Francis.
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| 9. |
- Nordfeldt, Sam, et al.
(författare)
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As Facts and Chats Go Online, What Is Important for Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes?
- 2013
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science. - 1932-6203. ; 8:6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background:Continued refinement of resources for patient information, education and support is needed. Considering the rapid development of new communication practices, the perspectives of young people themselves warrant more attention using a wide research focus. The purpose of this study was to understand information-seeking behaviours, Internet use and social networking online in adolescents with type 1 diabetes (T1DM). This applied to their everyday life, including the context of diabetes and their experiences and need of contact with T1DM peers.Methodology/Principal Findings:Twenty-four adolescents aged 10-17 years with T1DM were recruited from a county hospital in the south-east of Sweden. Qualitative data were obtained using eight focus groups, wherein each participant engaged in a 60-90 minute video/audio-recorded session. The focus group data were transcribed and analysed using qualitative content analysis. Some demographic and medical information was also collected. The three main categories that were identified; Aspects of Security, Updating, and Plainness and their sub-categories gave significant information about how to enhance information retrieval and peer contacts related to T1DM. Regarding the persons' information-seeking behaviour, Internet use, and use of social media some differences could be identified depending on gender and age.Conclusions/Significance:Sensitivity and adaptation to users' needs and expectations seem crucial in the development of future online resources for adolescents with T1DM. To start with, this could mean applying a wider range of already existing information and communication technologies. Health practitioners need to focus on the areas of security of information and communication, frequency of updating, and simplicity of design-less is more. © 2013 Nordfeldt et al.
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| 10. |
- Nygren, Mikaela, et al.
(författare)
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Factors influencing patient safety in Sweden : perceptions of patient safety officers in the county councils
- 2013
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Ingår i: BMC Health Services Research. - : BioMed Central. - 1472-6963. ; 13:52
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BackgroundNational, regional and local activities to improve patient safety in Sweden have increased over the last decade. There are high ambitions for improved patient safety in Sweden. This study surveyed health care professionals who held key positions in their county council’s patient safety work to investigate their perceptions of the conditions for this work, factors they believe have been most important in reaching the current level of patient safety and factors they believe would be most important for achieving improved patient safety in the future.MethodsThe study population consisted of 218 health care professionals holding strategic positions in patient safety work in Swedish county councils. Using a questionnaire, the following topics were analysed in this study: profession/occupation; number of years involved in a designated task on patient safety issues; knowledge/overview of the county council’s patient safety work; ability to influence this work; conditions for this work; and the importance of various factors for current and future levels of patient safety.ResultsThe response rate to the questionnaire was 79%. The conditions that had the highest number of responses in complete agreement were “patients’ involvement is important for patient safety” and “patient safety work has good support from the county council’s management”. Factors that were considered most important for achieving the current level of patient safety were root cause and risk analyses, incident reporting and the Swedish Patient Safety Law. An organizational culture that encourages reporting and avoids blame was considered most important for improved patient safety in the future, closely followed by improved communication between health care practitioners and patients.ConclusionHealth care professionals with important positions in the Swedish county councils’ patient safety work believe that conditions for this work are somewhat constrained. They attribute the current levels of patient safety to a broad range of factors and believe that many different solutions can contribute to enhanced patient safety in the future, suggesting that this work must be multifactorial.
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