1. |
- Borg, Christel, et al.
(author)
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Life satisfaction among older people (65+) with reduced self-care capacity : the relationship to social, health and financial aspects.
- 2006
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In: Journal of Clinical Nursing. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 0962-1067 .- 1365-2702. ; 15:5, s. 607-18
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: This study aimed at investigating life satisfaction and its relation to living conditions, overall health, self-care capacity, feeling lonely, physical activities and financial resources among people (65+) with reduced self-care capacity. BACKGROUND: Knowledge about factors related to low life satisfaction among older people with reduced self-care capacity is sparse, although this is important in health care and nursing so that the care is adapted to their needs and perspective. Previous research has mainly focused on isolated aspects such as pain in relation to life satisfaction among older people in general and less among so those with reduced self-care capacity in general. DESIGN AND METHOD: A subsample of 522 persons was selected from a randomly selected cross-sectional survey using a modified form of the Older Americans' Resources Schedule and Life Satisfaction Index Z. RESULTS: The mean age in the total sample was 77.9; women (79.5) were significantly older than men (77.0). Low life satisfaction was found among women, as well as those living in special accommodations. Life Satisfaction Index Z was 15.3 (SD 5.6) in the total sample. Gender and living conditions did not explain life satisfaction whilst poor overall self-reported health and poor financial resources in relation to needs had the strongest explanatory value. Also of significant importance were loneliness, the degree of reduced self-care capacity and feeling worried. CONCLUSION: Life satisfaction in older people with reduced self-care capacity is determined by several factors, with social, physical, mental and financial aspects probably interacting with each other; especially feeling lonely, degree of self-care capacity, poor overall health, feeling worried and poor financial resources in relation to needs. These factors need to be considered in the care of these people to preserve or improve their life satisfaction. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Nursing interventions in terms of preventive home visits, rehabilitation, health education directed towards physical, psychological, social and economic aspects of importance may help to preserve or improve life satisfaction for those with reduced self-care capacity.
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2. |
- Byggeth, Sophie, et al.
(author)
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A method for sustainable product development based on a modular system of guiding questions
- 2007
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In: Journal of Cleaner Production. - 0959-6526 .- 1879-1786. ; 15:1, s. 1-11
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this paper, we present a Method for Sustainable Product Development (MSPD) with the aim of integrating social and ecological aspects of sustainability with a strategic business perspective in product development. The method applies backcasting from basic principles for sustainability, which allows a strategic approach, and it includes a modular system of guiding questions that are derived by considering these principles and the product life cycle. Initial testing in Swedish companies indicates that the suggested MSPD promotes a ‘bird’s eye’ perspective and encourage and aid development of products that support society’s transformation towards sustainability. Furthermore, it is concluded that the modular system provides flexibility and user-friendliness.
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3. |
- Byggeth, Sophie, et al.
(author)
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Handling trade-offs in Ecodesign tools for Sustainable Product Development and Procurement
- 2005
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In: Journal of Cleaner Production. - : Elsiever. - 0959-6526 .- 1879-1786. ; 14:15-16, s. 1420-1430
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Trade-off situations often occur in the product development and procurement processes when alternative solutions emphasize different aspects that have to be balanced against each other. Ecodesign tools can be used in both product development and purchasing, for example to prescribe design alternatives, assess environmental impacts or to compare environmental improvement alternatives. However, it is not always clear what should be chosen in trade-off situations. In this study, fifteen different Ecodesign tools were analyzed to ascertain whether a valuation is included in the tools, in what way the tools give support in different types of trade-off situations and whether the tools give support from a sustainability perspective. Nine of the fifteen tools analyzed included a valuation and were able to give support in a trade-off situation, but the support was not sufficient. The valuation should include a lifecycle perspective and a framework for sustainability. Otherwise it can lead to strategically incorrect decisions from a sustainability perspective with concomitant risks of sub-optimized investment paths and blind alleys. However, all the analyzed tools can be complemented with other tools and methods based on strategic planning towards sustainability in order to include a framework for sustainability.
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5. |
- Ny, Henrik, et al.
(author)
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Introducing Templates for Sustainable Product Development : A Case Study of Televisions at the Matsushita Electric Group
- 2008
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In: Journal of Industrial Ecology. - : BLACKWELL PUBLISHING. - 1088-1980 .- 1530-9290. ; 12:4, s. 600-623
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We have previously developed a method for sustainable product development (MSPD) based on backcasting from basic sustainability principles. The MSPD informs investigations of product-related social and ecological sustainability aspects throughout a concurrent engineering product development process.We here introduce “templates” for sustainable product development (TSPDs) as a complement. The idea is to help product development teams to arrive faster and more easily at an overview of the major sustainability challenges and opportunities of a product category in the early development phases. The idea is also to inform creative communication between top management, stakeholders, and product developers. We present this approach through an evaluation case study, in which the TSPDs were used for a sustainability assessment of televisions (TVs) at the Matsushita Electric Group.We study whether the TSPD approach has the ability to (1) help shift focus from gradual improvements of a selection of aspects in relation to past environmental performance of a product category to a focus on the remaining gap to a sustainable situation, (2) facilitate consensus among organizational levels about major sustainability challenges and potential solutions for a product category, and (3) facilitate continued dialogue with external sustainability experts, identifying improvements that are relevant for strategic sustainable development. Our findings indicate that the TSPD approach captures overall sustainability aspects of the life cycle of product categories and that it has the above abilities.
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6. |
- Ny, Henrik
(author)
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Sustainability Constraints as System Boundaries. An Approach to Making Life-Cycle Management Strategic.
- 2006
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In: Journal of Industrial Ecology. - Cambridge, MA, USA : MIT Press. - 1088-1980 .- 1530-9290. ; 10:1-2, s. 61-77
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Sustainable management of materials and products requires continuous evaluation of numerous complex social, ecological, and economic factors. A number of tools and methods are emerging to support this. One of the most rigorous is life-cycle assessment (LCA). But LCAs often lack a sustainability perspective and bring about difficult trade-offs between specificity and depth, on the one hand, and comprehension and applicability, on the other. This article applies a framework for strategic sustainable development (often referred to as The Natural Step (TNS) framework) based on backcasting from basic principles for sustainability. The aim is to foster a new general approach to the management of materials and products, here termed “strategic life-cycle management.” This includes informing the overall analysis with aspects that are relevant to a basic perspective on (1)sustainability, and (2) strategy to arrive at sustainability. The resulting overview is expected to help avoid costly assessments of flows and practices that are not critical from a sustainability and/or strategic perspective and to help identify strategic gaps in knowledge or potential problems that need further assessment. Early experience indicates that the approach can complement some existing tools and concepts by informing them from a sustainability perspective—for example, current product development and LCA tools.
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7. |
- Elovaara, Pirjo, et al.
(author)
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Design of digital democracies : Performance of citizenship, gender and IT
- 2007
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In: Information, Communication and Society. - : Routledge, Taylor & Francis. - 1369-118X .- 1468-4462. ; 10:3, s. 404-423
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The point of departure for this article is several Swedish IT policies that articulate goals for further development of the welfare state, which demand and enable active citizenship as well as enrolment of IT in the performance of this active citizenship. This article also examines the performance of active citizenship in a variety of sociotechnical arenas where people and technology coexist. Does the notion of active citizenship turn out a number of performances when translated into materialized technologies, such as Internet portals and web-based services? The authors juxtapose the policies with a construction of agencies in the story of citizens' design. In the last section, the discussions taking place in the parliament of things are summarized and related to the problematizations of citizenship, gender and IT.
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8. |
- Bengtsson, Lars, et al.
(author)
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Case Writing Projects in Co-Operation with Companies and Organizations
- 2008
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In: International Journal of Case Method Research & Application. - 1554-7752. ; 10:4, s. 387-397
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The purpose of this paper is to present the process and evaluation of case writing projects in co-operation with companies and organizations in a course for engineering students. The case writing projects could provide an illustration and example framework for working with companies in constructing cases. Normally cases are constructed for teaching purposes in higher education. However, in order to get closer co-operation and more interest from the companies the authors encouraged the students and the companies to construct cases on issues that the companies felt were especially relevant for them. Drawing on previous research on case writing in teaching case writing projects were set up. The companies who worked closely with the students were very satisfied with both the case writing process and the final cases. These companies expressed several benefits like getting a good public reputation, getting an analysis by a third party, a free look on possible future employees, maintaining good relations with higher education and also getting material for internal development purposes. The companies that had a more distant relationship to the projects or were the process had been problematic had a more critical view of the process and outcome. They saw few benefits with the case writing projects besides maintaining a good image.
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10. |
- Björkman, Christina
(author)
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Feminist Research and Computer Science : Starting a Dialogue
- 2005
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In: Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society. - Harborough : Troubador Publishing. - 1477-996X. ; 3:4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this paper I discuss how feminist research focusing epistemological issues can be used within computer science (CS). I approach and explore epistemological questions in computer science through a number of themes, which I believe are important to the issues of what knowledge is produced as well as how it is produced and how knowledge is perceived in CS. I discuss for example paradigms and metaphors in computer science, the role of abstractions and the concept of naturalisation. In order to illustrate epistemological views in CS and how these can be questioned from the viewpoints of feminist epistemology, I also do a close reading and commenting of a recent book within the philosophy of computing.
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