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- Dulani, B., et al.
(author)
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Elections in the time of covid-19: the triple crises around Malawi’s 2020 presidential elections
- 2021
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In: Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1745-7289 .- 1745-7297. ; 31:S1, s. 56-68
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In June 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Malawians went to the polls and voted to replace the incumbent government. Much like other natural disasters, the Covid-19 pandemic and accompanying economic and political shocks had the potential to shake voters’ confidence in the government, reduce turnout, and/or reduce support for the incumbent if voters associated them with the ills of the pandemic. In this paper, we examine the extent to which the Coronavirus pandemic influenced Malawi’s 2020 elections. We consider how fear of infection and economic distress affected citizens’ trust and confidence in President Mutharika’s government, their willingness to turn out to vote, and their choices at the polls using data collected pre- and post-Covid. We find that fears about the virus and its economic impact did influence trust and confidence in the government to handle Covid but had little to no effect on either abstention or vote choice. © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
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- Ferree, Karen, et al.
(author)
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Disease Threat, Stereotypes, and Covid–19: An Early View from Malawi and Zambia
- 2020
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In: SSRN Electronic Journal. - Göteborg : Göteborgs universitet. - 1556-5068.
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Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- A growing literature documents Covid–19’s health and economic effects. Can Covid–19 also exacerbate identity divisions? Psychologists argue that contagious disease increases threat perception, provoking policing of group boundaries and discrimination against perceived outsiders. We focus here on a mechanism underlying this work, the emergence of disease-based stereotypes. Employing survey experiments administered over the phone in Malawi (N=4,641) and Zambia (N=2,198) in May-August 2020, we explore how insider/outsider status and symptoms of illness shape perceptions of infection, reported willingness to help, and desire to restrict free movement of an ailing neighbor. We find mixed evidence for outsider stereotypes: Malawians associate the disease more with outsiders; Zambians do not. In both countries, moreover, symptoms more strongly shape perceptions and hypothetical behavior than insider/outsider status, suggesting that objective risk matters more than identities in shaping responses to the illness.
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4. |
- Ferree, Karen, et al.
(author)
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Disease Threat, Stereotypes, and Covid–19: An Early View from Malawi and Zambia
- 2021
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Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- A growing literature documents Covid–19’s health and economic effects. Can Covid–19 also exacerbate identity divisions? Psychologists argue that contagious disease increases threat perception, provoking policing of group boundaries and discrimination against perceived outsiders. We focus here on a mechanism underlying this work, the emergence of disease-based stereotypes. Employing survey experiments administered over the phone in Malawi (N=4,641)and Zambia (N=2,198) in May-August 2020, we explore how insider/outsider status and symptoms of illness shape perceptions of infection, reported willingness to help, and desire to restrict free movement of an ailing neighbor. We find mixed evidence for outsider stereotypes: Malawians associate the disease more with outsiders; Zambians do not. In both countries, moreover, symptoms more strongly shape perceptions and hypothetical behavior than insider/outsider status, suggesting that objective risk matters more than identities in shaping responses to the illness.
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- Ferree, K. E., et al.
(author)
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Symptoms and Stereotypes: Perceptions and Responses to Covid-19 in Malawi and Zambia
- 2023
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In: Comparative Political Studies. - : SAGE Publications. - 0010-4140 .- 1552-3829. ; 56:12
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A large literature documents Covid-19's health and economic effects. We focus instead on its political impact and its potential to exacerbate identity divisions, in particular. Psychologists argue that contagious disease increases threat perceptions and provokes policing of group boundaries. We explore how insider-outsider status and symptoms of illness shape perceptions of infection, reported willingness to help, and desire to restrict free movement of an ailing neighbor using a phone-based survey experiment administered three times in two neighboring African countries during different stages of the pandemic: Malawi, from May 5 to June 2, 2020 (n = 4,641); Zambia, from July 2 to August 13, 2020 (n = 2,198); and Malawi again, from March 9 to May 1, 2021 (n = 4,356). We study identities that are salient in Malawi and Zambia but have not induced significant prior violence, making our study a relatively hard test of disease threat theories. We find that symptoms more strongly shape perceptions and projected behavior than insider-outsider status in both countries and across time, suggesting that there are limits to the ability of pandemics to independently provoke identity politics de novo.
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- Granfeldt, Hans, 1960-, et al.
(author)
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Long-term Quality-of-Life (QoL) in patients with progressive chronic heart failure after surgical ventricular restoration with passive ventricular constraint (CorCap-CSDTM) : Comparison with a patient-matched reference group from the general population
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Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Background: Chronic heart failure have a poor prognosis with high morbidity and reduced quality of life. Ventricular constraint, the CorCap Cardiac Support Device (CSD) has been introduced with the intention of inducing reverse remodeling. Studies have shown sustained improvement in left ventricular dimensions and function after three years, but quality-of-life (QoL) has been poorly studied. Methods and Results: Since 2003, 26 patients with chronic progressive heart failure met the inclusion criteria for CSD. They were prospectively followed each year for five years postoperatively. Nineteen patients were scheduled for concomitant cardiac surgery. In a cross-sectional study, 18 patients were investigated regarding QoL using SF-36. A reference group was randomly selected from the Swedish SF-36 general population reference group. One-year survival for CSD-patients was 86%, three-year survival was 76%. After a mean follow-up time after surgery of 3.9 years (range; 0.9 to 7 years), no difference in QoL measured with SF-36 was found. Echocardiographic dimensions and QoL improved significantly after three years for isolated CSD patients. Conclusions: QoL in patients operated with CSD, measured with SF-36-questionnaire, more than three years after implantation, is comparable to a matched general population reference group. In the CSD group alone, QoL improved significantly after three years.
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- Hattinger, Monika, 1969-, et al.
(author)
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Collaboration for lifelong-learning and contract education : towards a competence development model
- 2020
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In: VILÄR. - Trollhättan : Högskolan Väst. - 9789188847867 ; , s. 26-28
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Competence development and continuous lifelong learning are increasing due to skill transformations in the surrounding world which have an impact on workplaces. Upskilling, down-skilling, re-skilling, and the need of totally new skills are intensified that changes the conditions for a sustainable work practice. Old academic degrees need to be updated and for those lacking one, employees are required to build up academic credits. A constant knowledge and skills development of employees are therefore vital for the changed work conditions, meaning for both the organization and for the individual lifelong learning. In such situation, the university can play asignificant role for educating and supporting the working life with higher education in forms that are adjusted to organizational competence needs. With contract education - CE, the Swedish universities can educate staff for competence development on all educational levels, even those without an earlier academic degree. However, only organizations (including private companies and public authorities) can commission a service from a higher education institution. Individuals are not allowed to buy a course place, which is regulated through the jurisdiction of Uppdragsförordningen 2002:760. Despite the many possibilities with CE to collaborate with the surrounding society, it put pressures on the university toorganize, support and create new routines for the teaching and administrativepersonnel for the contract educational process of customer dialogue, needs inventory, course design, implementation, and follow-up on initiatives.Given such background, a collaborative development project between six universities in Sweden was conducted between November 2017 until January 2021. Overall aim was to increase the knowledge of CE by developing a collaborative model forcompetence development. The project was designed to enhance the knowledge informs of models, methods, and documentation in three development areas for CE; 1) organization and work processes, 2) customer dialogue, needs inventory and course design, and 3) incentives and collaboration skills. Both the conditions of the university’s internal abilities, restrictions, and structures (i.e., area 1) as well as the incentives and capabilities for external organizations (customers) involved in the activities (i.e., area 2), have been in focus. Area 3 concerned the teacher’s abilities to grant collaborative qualifications by teaching and engaging with external partners.In an initial case study of area 1 and 2, and we asked: What are the university conditions for organizing contract education, and how is the educational process directing and supporting the working life knowledge requirement?The second study focused on area 3 and we asked: How does the university grant collaboration skills and qualifications for teachers and leaders involved in contract education?Study one summarized eight universities responses showing that four universities have a centralized organization for running CE of which two universities have a university enterprise for CE. The other four universities are decentralized organized. It is not clear which organization is most beneficial. However, it seems that central functions are essential for a long-term external collaboration with key customers. The variation of administrative support is large, and there are also many universities lacking a full-fledge support organization for developing sustainable internal routines as well as external collaborations. When it comes to the educational process of routines for CE, most universities in the study show a very similar process, concerning the steps of curricula development, contract development, calculation, and student admission etc. However, there are various efficiency between the universities built on volume and experience of CE, which effect the time from initialization to evaluation of a CE course. The second and small document and interview study (six interviews) was targeting the teacher’s incitement, skills, and their ability to grant contract education work as accreditation in their professional academic career. This study shows that universities generally lack support for skills acquisition regarding “collaboration” skills both for professional development and further qualification. It also shows that the six included universities in the project, have diverse documentation and work practices for collaboration skills accreditation. However, this study and the project itself have pushed, the included universities to start up evaluation of their documents and routines around accreditation.A summary report for the whole project including a competence development model and methods and as well as findings from the two studies, raises the overarching need to develop the external collaboration university – working life, as well as knowledge about the university conditions for planning, developing, and running contract education as one successful competence model for lifelong learning. Contract education is therefore argued to support work-integrated and lifelong learning through collaborative forms between university and the working life.
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9. |
- Jansson, Ulrika, et al.
(author)
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Diskursiv och könad normering kring stress i ett föränderligt arbetsliv
- 2012
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In: Arbetsmarknad & Arbetsliv. - Karlstad : Karlstads universitet. - 1400-9692 .- 2002-343X. ; 18:2, s. 29-44
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Artikeln problematiserar diskursiva konstruktioner av stress i dagens arbetsliv ur ett genusperspektiv. Genom analys av intervjuer och inspelade medarbetarsamtal i tre organisationer argumenterar författarna för att normalisering av stress villkoras av nyliberala principer om valfrihet och individuella lösningar. I den nyliberala stressdiskursen frånskrivs arbetsgivare ansvar för stressproblematik, och en normalisering av stress riskerar därmed att dölja strukturer som blir diskriminerande och långsiktigt ohållbara för hälsa i arbetslivet.
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