Patient education to support self-management of patients with mental illness

This study explores areas which need to be improved to develop the quality of patient education to support self-management of patients with mental illness in psychiatric hospitals. The study was conducted in five phases during the period 2000 – 2007. First, patients‘ (n = 313) satisfaction with patient education were investigated. Second, patients' (n = 51) experiences of patient education were explored. Third, a national survey was conducted to investigate realisation of patient education from the staff (n = 55) viewpoint. Fourth, outcomes of patient education were investigated by evaluating the impacts of different patient education methods on patients‘ (n = 311) attitudes towards medication, knowledge level and importance of information. Fifth, patients‘ (n = 16) perceptions of different patient education methods were explored. Patients reported poor satisfaction with patient education (Phase I), and they have considerable need to receive information during their hospital stay (Phase II). Described by staff, the content of patient education covered almost all informational areas investigated. However, discrepancies related to the realisation of patient education were found. (Phase III.) Evaluation of different patient education methods indicate that patients derived benefits from structured patient education with supportive methods (Phase IV) and patients also perceived that these methods supported their information receiving (Phase V). In order to improve the quality of patient education to support self-management of patients with mental illness patient education should be systematically and individually provided to all patients by using different educational methods. Realisation of this should be ensured by providing written instructions, improving nurses‘ knowledge and skills as well ensuring operating conditions.

Evaluation of Teacher Education Programs by Students and Graduates

The purpose of this research was to do a repeated cross-sectional research on class teachers who study in the 4th year and also graduated at the Faculty of Education, University of Turku between the years of 2000 through 2004. Specifically, seven research questions were addressed to target the main purpose of the study: How do class teacher education masters’ degree senior students and graduates rate “importance; effectiveness; and quality” of training they have received at the Faculty of Education? Are there significant differences between overall ratings of importance; effectiveness and quality of training by year of graduation, sex, and age (for graduates) and sex and age (for senior students)? Is there significant relationship between respondents’ overall ratings of importance; effectiveness and their overall ratings of the quality of training and preparation they have received? Are there significant differences between graduates and senior students about importance, effectiveness, and quality of teacher education programs? And what do teachers’ [Graduates] believe about how increasing work experience has changed their opinions of their preservice training? Moreover the following concepts related to the instructional activities were studied: critical thinking skills, communication skills, attention to ethics, curriculum and instruction (planning), role of teacher and teaching knowledge, assessment skills, attention to continuous professional development, subject matters knowledge, knowledge of learning environment, and using educational technology. Researcher also tried to find influence of some moderator variables e.g. year of graduation, sex, and age on the dependent and independent variables. This study consisted of two questionnaires (a structured likert-scale and an open ended questionnaire). The population in study 1 was all senior students and 2000-2004 class teacher education masters’ degree from the departments of Teacher Education Faculty of Education at University of Turku. Of the 1020 students and graduates the researcher was able to find current addresses of 675 of the subjects and of the 675 graduates contacted, 439 or 66.2 percent responded to the survey. The population in study 2 was all class teachers who graduated from Turku University and now work in the few basic schools (59 Schools) in South- West Finland. 257 teachers answered to the open ended web-based questions. SPSS was used to produce standard deviations; Analysis of Variance; Pearson Product Moment Correlation (r); T-test; ANOVA, Bonferroni post-hoc test; and Polynomial Contrast tests meant to analyze linear trend. An alpha level of .05 was used to determine statistical significance. The results of the study showed that: A majority of the respondents (graduates and students) rated the overall importance, effectiveness and quality of the teacher education programs as important, effective and good. Generally speaking there were only a few significant differences between the cohorts and groups related to the background variables (gender, age). The different cohorts were rating the quality of the programs very similarly but some differences between the cohorts were found in the importance and effectiveness ratings. Graduates of 2001 and 2002 rated the importance of the program significantly higher than 2000 graduates. The effectiveness of the programs was rated significantly higher by 2001 and 2003 graduates than other groups. In spite of these individual differences between cohorts there were no linear trends among the year cohorts in any measure. In respondents’ ratings of the effectiveness of teacher education programs there was significant difference between males and females; females rated it higher than males. There were no significant differences between males’ and females’ ratings of the importance and quality of programs. In the ratings there was only one difference between age groups. Older graduates (35 years or older) rated the importance of the teacher training significantly higher that 25-35 years old graduates. In graduates’ ratings there were positive but relatively low correlations between all variables related to importance, effectiveness and quality of Teacher Education Programs. Generally speaking students’ ratings about importance, effectiveness and quality of teacher education program were very positive. There was only one significant difference related to the background variables. Females rated higher the effectiveness of the program. The comparison of students’ and graduates’ perception about importance, effectiveness, and quality of teacher education programs showed that there were no significant differences between graduates and students in the overall ratings. However there were differences in some individual variables. Students rated higher in importance of “Continuous Professional Development”, effectiveness of “Critical Thinking Skills” and “Using Educational Technology” and quality of “Advice received from the advisor”. Graduates rated higher in importance of “Knowledge of Learning Environment” and effectiveness of “Continuous Professional Development”. According to the qualitative data of study 2 some graduates expressed that their perceptions have not changed about the importance, effectiveness, and quality of training that they received during their study time. They pointed out that teacher education programs have provided them the basic theoretical/formal knowledge and some training of practical routines. However, a majority of the teachers seems to have somewhat critical opinions about the teacher education. These teachers were not satisfied with teacher education programs because they argued that the programs failed to meet their practical demands in different everyday situations of the classroom e.g. in coping with students’ learning difficulties, multiprofessional communication with parents and other professional groups (psychologists and social workers), and classroom management problems. Participants also emphasized more practice oriented knowledge of subject matter, evaluation methods and teachers’ rights and responsibilities. Therefore, they (54.1% of participants) suggested that teacher education departments should provide more practice-based courses and programs as well as closer collaboration between regular schools and teacher education departments in order to fill gap between theory and practice.

Two Cultures of Arts Education, Finland and Canada? An integrated View

Taidekasvatuksen kaksi kulttuuria, Suomi ja Kanada? Integroitu näkemys Tutkimuksessa kuvataan kanadalaisen Learning Through The Arts –pedagogiikan mukainen suomalainen kokeiluhanke, jonka aikana taiteilija–opettaja-parit opettivat yhdessä eri oppiaineita koululuokille: esim. matematiikkaa tanssien, biologiaa maalaten tai yhdistäen eri taiteenlajeja projektimuotoiseen oppimiseen. Hanketta arvioitaessa nousee esille, ei niinkään yksittäisten taiteilijoiden ja opettajien toiminta, vaan pikemminkin Kanadan ja Suomen rakenteelliset sekä kulttuuriset eroavuudet. Tutkimus sivuaa myös Suomessa käytävää keskustelua taiteen hyödyllisyydestä ja pohtii samalla taito- ja taideaineiden asemaa koulussa. Työn teoreettisessa osassa integroidaan opetussuunnitelmateoriaa, kasvatuksen historiaa ja filosofiaa, tähdentäen taidekasvatuksen merkitystä osana koko ihmisen kasvatusta. Opetussuunnitelmateorian osalta tarkastellaan romanttista ja klassista opetussuunnitelmaa, jotka eroavat toisistaan menetelmiensä, sisältöjensä, tavoitteidensa sekä arvioinnin osalta. Ns. kovat ja pehmeät aineet tai matemaattis-luonnontieteelliset aineet vastakohtanaan humanismi, voidaan ymmärtää sekä historiallisia että epistemologisia taustojaan vasten. Pepperin maailmanhypoteesien mukaisesti on kasvatuksen ongelmien ratkaisemiseksi hahmotettavissa neljä selvästi toisistaan eroavaa lähestymistapaa: formismi; organisismi; mekanisismi; sekä kontekstualismi. Kantin filosofiaan viitaten tutkimus puolustaa käsitystä taiteesta rationaalisena ja propositionaalisena kokonaisuutena, joka ei ole vain kommunikaation väline, vaan yksi todellisuuden kohtaamisen lajeista, tiedon ja etiikan rinnalla. Näin ajateltuna taito- ja taidekasvatuksen tulisi olla luonteeltaan aina myös kulttuurikasvatusta. Tutkimuksen tulosten perusteella voidaan väittää, että moniammatillinen yhteistyö monipuolistaa koulun opetusta. Mikäli huolehditaan siitä, että taiteilijat saavat riittävästi koulutusta opettamiseen liittyvissä asioissa, on mahdollista käyttää taiteilijoita opettajien rinnalla koulutyössä.

Nursery Practices and Management of Fungal Diseases in Forest Nurseries in Finland : a review

Summary

Stand dynamics modelling approaches for multicohort management of eastern Canadian boreal forests

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Optimising the management of a heterogeneous stand

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Management of Metals in the Pulping Process

Diplomityön tarkoituksena oli löytää keino korkean mangaanipitoisuuden hallintaan ECF-valkaisussa. Kirjallisuusosassa käsiteltiin eri metallien ja kuidun vuorovaikutuksia sekä niiden vaikutuksia prosessiin. Lisäksi käytiin läpi sellunvalmituksen yleisimpiä metallienhallintamenetelmiä. Työn kokeellisessa osassa tehtiin esikokeina laboratoriokokeita, jotta löydettiin oikeat kelatointistrategiat tehdasmittakaavan koeajoille. Laboratoriovalkaisut suoritettiin kuudella eri kemikaalilla käyttäen DD3-pesurin jälkeistä massaa ja samanlaisia parametrejä kuin tehdasvalkaisussa. Kolmesta eri valkaisusekvenssistä paras tulos saavutettiin D0-QEP-sekvenssillä. Tehdasmittakaavan koeajojen tavoitteena oli saavuttaa alle 1 mg/kg jäännösmangaanipitoisuus valkaistussa massassa ja korkeampi vaaleus EOP-vaiheessa pienemmällä klooridioksidin kulutuksella. Koeajoissa käytettiinDTPA:ta ja EDTA:ta kahdeksassa eri koepisteessä. Pienimpiin jäännöspitoisuuksiin päästiin koepisteissä, joissa kelatointiaine annosteltiin ennen valkaisun viimeistä pesuvaihetta tai sen jälkeen. Samanlaisia tuloksia saavutettiin koepisteissä, joissa kelatointiaine lisättiin suoraan EOP-vaiheeseen. Tällöin kelatointiaineen käyttö johti myös korkeampaan vaaleuteen EOP-vaiheessa pienemmällä kappakertoimella kuin referenssissä. Säästöt klooridioksidin kulutuksessa eivät olleet kuitenkaan tarpeeksi suuret kattaakseen kelatointiaineiden käytön kustannuksia. Kustannustehokkain tapa kontrolloida jäännösmangaanipitoisuutta oli EDTA:n annostelu D2 DD-pesurin jälkeen. Haittapuolena tälläisessä kelatoinnissa oli metallikompleksien palautuminen valkaisuun kuivauskoneen kiertoveden mukana. Tärkeimmät onnistuneeseen kelatointiin vaikuttavat parametrit olivat lajittelussa käytetyn rikkihapon annos, D0-vaiheen pH ja D0 DD-pesurin pesutehokkuus.

Lifecycle Information Management of a Mass Customized Product

Diplomityön tavoitteena on tutkia mitä uusia tiedonhallinnallisia ongelmia ilmenee, kun massaräätälöidyn tuotteen tuotetieto hallitaan läpi tuotteen elinkaaren, sekä miten nämä ongelmat voitaisiin ratkaista. Ongelmat ja haasteet kerätään kirjallisuuslähteistä ja massaräätälöintiprosessi yhdistetään PLM-vaiheisiin. Ratkaisua tutkitaan testaamalla kuinka standardit STEP ja PLCS sekä standardeja tukeva PLM järjestelmä voisivat tukea massaräätälöidyn tuotteen elinkaaren tiedonhallintaa. MC tuotteiden ongelmia ovat tuoterakenteen monimutkaisuus, jäljitettävyys ja muutosten hallinta läpi elinkaaren. STEP ja PLCS pystyvät kummatkin tahollaan tukemaan tiedonhallintaa. MC-tuotteen geneerinen tuoterakenne on kuitenkin manuaalisesti liittettävä elinkaaritiedon tukemiseen. PLM-järjestelmä pystyy tukemaan MC-tuotteiden elinkaarta, mutta koska toiminto ei ole järjestelmään sisäänrakennettuna, MC-tuotteiden tukemisen parantamisessa on edelleen haasteita.

Coping with Technology: A Study on Economic Methodology and Strategic Management of Technology

There is a broad consensus among economists that technologicalchange has been a major contributor to the productivity growth and, hence, to the growth of the material welfare in western industrialized countries at least over the last century. Paradoxically, this issue has not been the focal point of theoretical economics. At the same time, we have witnessed the rise of the importance of technological issues at the strategic management level of business firms. Interestingly, the research has not accurately responded to this challenge either. The tension between the overwhelming empirical evidence of the importance of technology and its relative omission in the research offers a challenging target for a methodological endeavor. This study deals with the question of how different theories cope with technology and explain technological change. The focusis at the firm level and the analysis concentrates on metatheoretical issues, except for the last two chapters, which examine the problems of strategic management of technology. Here the aim is to build a new evolutionary-based theoreticalframework to analyze innovation processes at the firm level. The study consistsof ten chapters. Chapter 1 poses the research problem and contrasts the two basic approaches, neoclassical and evolutionary, to be analyzed. Chapter 2 introduces the methodological framework which is based on the methodology of isolation. Methodological and ontoogical commitments of the rival approaches are revealed and basic questions concerning their ways of theorizing are elaborated. Chapters 3-6 deal with the so-called substantive isolative criteria. The aim is to examine how different approaches cope with such critical issues as inherent uncertainty and complexity of innovative activities (cognitive isolations, chapter 3), theboundedness of rationality of innovating agents (behavioral isolations, chapter4), the multidimensional nature of technology (chapter 5), and governance costsrelated to technology (chapter 6). Chapters 7 and 8 put all these things together and look at the explanatory structures used by the neoclassical and evolutionary approaches in the light of substantive isolations. The last two cpahters of the study utilize the methodological framework and tools to appraise different economics-based candidates in the context of strategic management of technology. The aim is to analyze how different approaches answer the fundamental question: How can firms gain competitive advantages through innovations and how can the rents appropriated from successful innovations be sustained? The last chapter introduces a new evolutionary-based technology management framework. Also the largely omitted issues of entrepreneurship are examined.

Identification and Management of Operational Risks in IT Organization of Financial Service Provider

Työn tavoitteena on tunnistaa toiminnallisia riskitekijöitä rahoituspalveluita tarjoavan yrityksen IT-organisaatiossa sekä löytää arkipäiväisiä keinoja hallita näitä riskejä. Työssä riskejä on myös tarkasteltu mahdollisen ulkoistuksen yhteydessä. Fuusiot ovat yleisiä rahoitusalan yrityksissä. Yhteenliittymien tuloksena yritysten IT-arkkitehtuuri voi olla monimutkainen ja kulttuurierot yrityksessä suuria. Synergia- ja mittakaavaetuja saadakseen yritys keskittää toimintojaan ja IT-ratkaisujaan. Riskien tunnistaminen on riskienhallintaprosessin tärkein vaihe. Tässä tutkimuksessa riskit ja riskitekijät tunnistettiin itsearvioinnin avulla kysymyssarjoja hyväksikäyttäen. Monet riskitekijät liittyivät sisäisen valvonnan ja seurannan puutteisiin. Myöhemmin näille riskeille pohdittiin työryhmässä käytännönläheisiä hallintakeinoja. Yritys voi siirtää tai jakaa IT -riskejä ulkoistamalla. Ulkoistaminen voi kuitenkin tuoda mukaan myös uusia riskitekijöitä. Ennen ulkoistamispäätöstä yrityksen sisäisten prosessien ja organisaation on oltava järjestyksessä, jotta sopimuksen kannattavuutta voidaan verrata luotettavasti saman palvelun tuottamiseen sisäisesti.

Preservation and Management of Added Value in Networked R&D environment

Tämä tutkielma käsittelee lisäarvon syntymistä, ylläpitämistä ja hallintaa verkostoi-tuneessa tuotekehitysympäristössä. Teemahaastattelu-menetelmää käyttäen, tavoitteena on tunnistaa ja kuvata ne prosessit, käytännöt ja toimintatavat, joissa kohdeyritys on onnistunut ja joissa lisäarvoa on syntynyt. Toinen keskeinen tavoite on löytää ongelmalliset alueet lisäarvon tuottamisessa ja analysoida, miksi nämä alueet ovat ongelmallisia. Käsitteiden arvo, arvoketju ja arvoverkosto, sekä viitekirjallisuuden esimerkkien perusteella muodostetaan teoreettinen viitekehys ja kuvataan niitä hyödyllisiä toimintatapoja ja käytäntöjä, joihin panostamalla lisäarvoa syntyy. Erityisesti informaatioteknologian alalla verkostoituminen ja arvoverkosto ovat yhä merkittävämpiä tuotekehityksen toimintatapoja, mihin horisontaalisen yhteistyön kehittyminen, globalisoituminen ja informaatioteknologian nopea kehitys on johtanut. Keskeisiä tuloksia ovat tarve yhtenäisempään, prosessinomaisempaan toimintatapaan ja liiketoimintaprosessien muokkaamiseen verkostoituneen T&K ympäristön vaatimusten mukaisesti. Myös tarve paremman näkyvyyden luomiseen sekä aktiviteettien hallintaan uudentyyppisen arvoverkoston vaatimusten mukaisesti korostui tuloksissa.

Transfer pricing as a means for motivating management of profit centers

The main objective of this study is to analyze the role and potential of transfer pricing as a means of management control in large organizations. The special emphasis is on analyzing the potential of transfer pricing when we are motivating the profit center managers. The research approach is theoretical and literature reviews include studies about profit center organizations, performance measurement and analysis, incentive systems, transfer pricing techniques and agency theory. Based on the analysis, it seems that transfer pricing is a suitable tool for controlling, motivating and managing profit center managers. This requires that the performance measurement can be done fairly and transfer prices are set using fair assumptions. The motivating effects of transfer pricing can be enhanced if the reward system is connected to performance measurement system. In synthesis there is presented effects of transfer pricing to profit center managers behavior. There is also presented opinion about fair transfer pricing policy.

Classification and inventory management of abnormal demand items

The main objective of the study is to form a framework that provides tools to recognise and classify items whose demand is not smooth but varies highly on size and/or frequency. The framework will then be combined with two other classification methods in order to form a three-dimensional classification model. Forecasting and inventory control of these abnormal demand items is difficult. Therefore another object of this study is to find out which statistical forecasting method is most suitable for forecasting of abnormal demand items. The accuracy of different methods is measured by comparing the forecast to the actual demand. Moreover, the study also aims at finding proper alternatives to the inventory control of abnormal demand items. The study is quantitative and the methodology is a case study. The research methods consist of theory, numerical data, current state analysis and testing of the framework in case company. The results of the study show that the framework makes it possible to recognise and classify the abnormal demand items. It is also noticed that the inventory performance of abnormal demand items differs significantly from the performance of smoothly demanded items. This makes the recognition of abnormal demand items very important.