1.
Larsson, Matz, et al.
(författare)
Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and health effects among hospitality workers in Sweden : before and after the implementation of a smoke-free law
2008
Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health. - Helsingfors : Institutet för arbetshygien. - 0355-3140 .- 1795-990X. ; 34:4, s. 267-277
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Objectives This study attempted to identify changes in exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, as well as symptoms and attitudes among hospitality workers after the introduction of extended smoke-free workplace legislation.Methods A total of 37 volunteers working in bingo halls and casinos (gaming workers) and 54 bars and restaurant employees (other workers) in nine Swedish communities participated in the study. Altogether 71 of 91 persons (14 daily smokers and 57 nonsmokers) participated in both the preban baseline survey and the follow-up 12 months after the ban. Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, smoking habits, respiratory and sensory symptoms, and attitudes towards the ban were recorded, and spirometry was carried out.Results The frequency of reported respiratory and sensory symptoms was approximately halved among the nonsmokers in both occupational groups after the introduction of the ban. Initially 87% had exposure to environmental tobacco smoke that was over the nicotine cut-off level chosen to identify possible health risk (<0.5 µg/m3), while, after the ban, it was only 22%, a relative risk of 0.25 (95% confidence interval 0.15–0.41). The risk decreased in both occupational groups, but gaming workers experienced the highest preban exposure levels. Attitudes towards the legislation were largely positive, particularly after the ban. However, there was no notable change in lung function, and there was no notable reduction in the number of cigarettes consumed by smokers.Conclusions The introduction of smoke-free legislation was associated with a substantial reduction in respiratory and sensory symptoms, as well as reduced exposure to environmental tobacco smoke at work, particularly among gaming workers.
2.
Munthe, Christian, 1962
(författare)
Pure Selection. The Ethics of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis and Choosing Children without Abortion
1999
Bok (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Preimplantation ge¬netic diagnosis (PGD) is taken to mark the starting-point of a new phase in human reproduction, where the possibility of choosing children on genetic grounds without having to resort to ethi¬cally controversial procedures (such as abortion) will grad¬ually increase. Ethical and political issues actu¬alised by this develop¬ment are addressed. The discussion touches upon issues regarding the moral status of em¬bryos and gametes, the moral import of respecting individual auton¬omy and its implications for the requirement of informed consent in health-care, the connec¬tion between sickness, dis¬ability and the value of life, the moral status of possible future people, and the connection between choosing children and eugenic policies of the past. Practical policy issues are adressed on the basis of this, as well as an empirical case-study of the intro¬duction of PGD in Sweden. The book ends up in a set of recommendations regarding the management of re¬search on, introduction and routine use of procedures for pure se¬lection, both within health care and from the point of view of society as a whole. It is argued that research on such procedures should be allowed and supported by society. However, tight restrictions regarding the clinical introduction of new procedures in this area is highly desirable. A rough model for implementing such re¬strictions is also pre¬sented. It is further asserted that, although reasons of economy and safety should limit the access to pure se¬lection, society should not apply any explicit restrictions based on ideasregarding how different traits affect a person’s quality of life. It is stressed that, in order to to avoid a re¬sur¬rection of eugenic policies of the past, the development in this field un¬der¬lines the need for continued and strengthen public support to the sick, dis¬abled and mentally retarded.
3.
Brodin, Jane, 1942-, et al.
(författare)
How many positive results on inclusion do we need to make a change?
2009. - Vol. 25
Ingår i: Assistive Technology From Adapted Equipment to Inclusive Environments. - The Netherlands : IOS Press. ; , s. 708-712
Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
The expectations of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as a tool for participation and equal opportunities for all have been highly valued within the European community. For children and young persons with disabilities the expecations have been of special importance as they have found their opportunities for inclusion on the agenda. Inclusion is not only a physical placement. Inclusion means to be part of, to share, to communicate and to be someone to count with. The aim of the article is to stress research on inclusion of children and highlight how ICT has been and still is used in the schools to enhance participation and equal opportunities for all. Our intention is to stress challenging research results and we ask 'how many positive results on inclusion do we need to make changes?' and 'where are all the progressive decision-makers who will implement the research results?'.
4.
Liu, Yuanhua, 1971, et al.
(författare)
Considering the importance of user profiles in interface design
2009
Ingår i: User Interfaces. ; , s. 23-
Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
User profile is a popular term widely employed during product design processes by industrial companies. Such a profile is normally intended to represent real users of a product. The ultimate purpose of a user profile is actually to help designers to recognize or learn about the real user by presenting them with a description of a real user’s attributes, for instance; the user’s gender, age, educational level, attitude, technical needs and skill level. The aim of this chapter is to provide information on the current knowledge and research about user profile issues, as well as to emphasize the importance of considering these issues in interface design. In this chapter, we mainly focus on how users’ difference in expertise affects their performance or activity in various interaction contexts. Considering the complex interaction situations in practice, novice and expert users’ interactions with medical user interfaces of different technical complexity will be analyzed as examples: one focuses on novice and expert users’ difference when interacting with simple medical interfaces, and the other focuses on differences when interacting with complex medical interfaces. Four issues will be analyzed and discussed: (1) how novice and expert users differ in terms of performance during the interaction; (2) how novice and expert users differ in the perspective of cognitive mental models during the interaction; (3) how novice and expert users should be defined in practice; and (4) what are the main differences between novice and expert users’ implications for interface design. Besides describing the effect of users’ expertise difference during the interface design process, we will also pinpoint some potential problems for the research on interface design, as well as some future challenges that academic researchers and industrial engineers should face in practice.
5.
Ledwith, Margaret, et al.
(författare)
Participatory practice : community-based action for transformative change
2009
Bok (populärvet., debatt m.m.) abstract
Participatory Practice explores the core ideas of participatory practice and how theory and practice can be integrated to achieve transformative change. The ideas in the book are founded on two premises: firstly, that transformative practice begins in the everyday stories that people tell about their lives and that practical theory generated from these narratives is the best way to inform both policy and practice. Secondly, that participatory practice is a tool for examining this knowledge in that it allows practitioners to examine the way they view the world and to situate their local practice within bigger social issues. The book is expected to be of interest to both academics and community-based practitioners. Professor Springett commented: “Writing the book was a transformative experience in itself because we had to cross the divide between our different professions. The idea to write it came from our joint concern for the appropriation of the language of participation by many politicians and agencies without a real examination of what true participation actually consists of."
6.
Ahlborg, Gunnar, 1948, et al.
(författare)
Reproductive effects of chemical exposures in health professions
1995
Ingår i: Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. - 1076-2752. ; 37:8, s. 957-61
Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat) abstract
Numerous chemical substances are handled by persons working in the health care sector. At exposure levels that may occur in the occupational setting, some of these substances are potentially harmful to the reproductive processes. Among the potentially harmful substances are anesthetic gases, antineoplastic agents, and sterilants. The epidemiological evidence of increased risks for adverse reproductive effects (eg, subfertility, spontaneous abortions, congenital defects) from such exposure is not unequivocal. However, due to the toxic potential, exposures should be kept at a minimum, and this may be especially important for workers who are pregnant or are planning to achieve pregnancy.
7.
Brunnberg, Elinor, et al.
(författare)
Tinnitus and hearing loss in 15-16-year-old students : mental health symptoms, substance use, and exposure in school
2008
Ingår i: International Journal of Audiology. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1499-2027 .- 1708-8186. ; 47:11, s. 688-694
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
The current study assessed the responses from a survey titled ”Life and Health – Young People 2005”, completed by 2.878 15-16 year-old adolescents in mainstream schools in the county of Örebro, Sweden. Thirty-nine percent of students with hearing loss (slight, mild, or moderate) and 6% of students with normal hearing reported tinnitus often or always during the past three months. Almost no gender difference was observed among students with normal hearing reporting tinnitus (boys 6.3%, girls 5.6%); however, a gender difference was noticed among hard-of-hearing (HH) students (boys 50%, girls 28%). Adolescents with both hearing loss and tinnitus reported considerably higher scores for mental symptoms, substance use, and school problems than other students. Anxiety in the past three months, male gender, and alcohol consumption in the past year were associated with tinnitus in HH students; irritation and anxiety in the past three months, disability, use of illicit drugs, and truancy predicted tinnitus in the normal hearing group. Consequently, students with a hearing loss and tinnitus are at high risk and should be monitored for subsequent problems.
8.
Koivusilta, L. K., et al.
(författare)
Health inequality in adolescence. Does stratification occur by familial social background, family affluence, or personal social position?
2006
Ingår i: BMC Public Health. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2458. ; 6
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
Background: Two new sets of stratification indicators - family's material affluence and adolescent's personal social position- were compared with traditional indicators of familial social position based on parental occupation and education for their ability to detect health inequality among adolescents. Methods: Survey data were collected in the Adolescent Health and Lifestyle Survey in 2003 from nationally representative samples of 12-, 14- and 16-year-old Finns (number of respondents 5394, response rate 71%). Indicators of the familial social position were father's socio-economic status, parents' education, parents' labour market position. Indicators of material affluence were number of cars, vacation travels, and computers in the family, own room and amount of weekly spending money. Adolescent's personal social position was measured as school performance. Measures of health were long-standing illness, overweight, use of mental health services, poor self-rated health and number of weekly health complaints. Ordinal logistic regression analysis was applied to study the associations between stratification indicators and health variables. Results: All three groups of indicators of social stratification showed inequality in health, but the strongest associations were observed with the adolescent's personal social position. Health inequality was only partly identifiable by the traditional indicators of familial social position. The direction of the inequality was as expected when using the traditional indicators or personal social position: adolescents from higher social positions were healthier than those from lower positions. The indicators of family's material affluence showed mainly weak or no association with health and some of the indicators were inversely associated, although weakly. Conclusion: In addition to traditional indicators describing the socio-structural influences on the distribution of health among adolescents, indicators of family's material affluence should be further developed. Adolescents' personal social position should be included in the studies of health inequalities.
9.
Tinnfält, Agneta
(författare)
Adolescents' perspective on mental health and health-promoting dialogues
2007
Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
Young people in Sweden are satisfied with most things in their lives. But they are not satisfied with school and not with their opportunities for personal influence. The Convention on the Rights of the Child emphasizes the right for children to express their views freely and that their views should be given due weight. In the present academic essay adolescents, 13, 15 and 16 years old, have been interviewed about matters concerning mental health. The overall aim of the study is to increase our knowledge of adolescents´ perceptions, of mental health and of school nurses´ mental health-promoting dialogue. Focus groups were used in the data collection in study I, as well as in study II. In study II these were combined with individual interviews. Altogether 26 adolescents in study I and 48 in study II were interviewed. Content analysis was used in the analysis in study I, and in study II a phenomenographical approach was used in the analysis. The findings in study I include what issues to discuss and where the school nurse’s mental health-promoting dialogue should take place. The findings show that adolescents emphasize as most important what the school nurse is like as a person in the health-promoting dialogue, and that trust, attentiveness, respectfulness, authenticity, accessibility during school hours and continuity are established. In study II, the findings show that adolescents find mental health to be an emotional experience where positive and negative health is part of the concept. Family is perceived as the most important determinant for young people’s health, closely followed by friends and thereafter school. The girls and the boys in study II did not feel that there were large differences in mental health between girls and boys, but they saw differences in the way they act; girls are talkative and emotional, and boys are silent and tough. Age differences seem to be more important than gender in the adolescents’ perception of mental health. The findings are discussed in relation to gender and previous research. Furthermore, the voice of young people and ethical issues in interviewing young people are discussed. The findings are thereafter placed in an ecological model.
10.
Brunnberg, Elinor, 1948-, et al.
(författare)
Self-rated mental health, school adjustment, and substance use in hard-of-hearing adolescents
2008
Ingår i: Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1081-4159 .- 1465-7325. ; 13:3, s. 324-335
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat) abstract
This survey, "Life and Health—Young People 2005," included all 15/16-year-old adolescents in mainstream schools in the county of Örebro, Sweden. Just students with a slight/mild or moderate hearing loss were included. There were 56 (1.9%) "hard-of-hearing (HH) students with multiple disabilities," 93 (3.1%) students who were "just HH," 282 (9.7%) students with some "other disability than HH," and 2,488 (85.2%) students with "no disability." "HH with multiple disabilities" reported considerably higher scores for mental symptoms, substance use, and school problems than the "no disability" group. Those with "just HH" and those with "other disability than HH" had more mental symptoms and school problems than the "no disability" group but no significant differences in substance use. In conclusion, the combination of a hearing loss and some other disability strongly increases the risk for mental symptoms, school problems, and substance use. This group, thus, is an important target for preventive measures.
