Feeling existentially touched - A phenomenological notion of the well-being of elderly living in special housing accommodation from the perspective of care professionals

This article presents a phenomenological analysis of interview material, in which 12 care professionals in elderly care reflect on the elderly's well-being within the frame of special housing accommodation. The perspective of the care professionals is of special interest. The findings show that the well-being is characterized as the elderly's feelings of being existentially touched. The well-being is an existential experience of being acknowledged as a human being and is an approach that classifies the elderly's needs as those of having, loving, and being. The meaning of the phenomenon is elucidated by the constituents: (1) to feel the freedom of choice, (2) to feel pleasure, and (3) to feel closeness to someone or something. The findings contribute new understanding of well-being in the elderly care by its existential dimension of the well-being as "just being'' and of doing things in order to experience meaningfulness. Accordingly, the well-being of the elderly as it is seen from the perspective of the care professionals involves both carers' subjectivity and intersubjectivity between the care professional and the elderly. An implication for promoting elderly's well-being is to develop awareness of these existential dimensions.

Rättfärdigade prioriteringar - en kvalitativ analys av hur personal i äldreomsorgen hanterar motstridiga verksamhetslogiker

Tidigare forskning visar att äldreomsorgspersonal kämpar med två typer av logiker: en ekonomisk logik och en omsorgslogik. Även om båda logikerna behövs för att skapa god omsorg så utmanar de varandra. Dessa utmaningar kommer till uttryck i omsorgspraktiken där personalen ställs in för val och måste göra prioriteringar. Denna avhandling syftar till att förstå hur äldreomsorgspersonal beskriver att de arbetar för att finna balans mellan logikerna och hur de rättfärdigar sina prioriteringar i omsorgen om de äldre personerna. Frågeställningen för avhandlingen är att ta reda på hur personal och enhetschef vid ett kommunalt äldreboende förstår och hanterar interaktionen mellan de två logiker som styr omsorgsarbetet för att främja de äldre personernas välbefinnande. Syftet innehåller tre delsyften: 1) att analysera personalens erfarenheter av och meningsskapande kring de äldre personernas välbefinnande och deras reflektioner kring det omsorgsarbete de utför, 2) att belysa och problematiserade logiker som styr omsorgsarbetet samt 3) att analysera hur personalen rättfärdigar sina prioriteringar i rådande kontext och hur deras förklarbarhet påverkar deras professionella identiteter. Målet är att bidra med socialvetenskaplig kunskap om de överväganden personal gör när de ställs inför att göra prioriteringar i äldreomsorgens praktik. Material samlades in genom 12 individuella intervjuer med personal vid ett kommunalt äldreboende, en intervju med personalens enhetschef och en uppföljande gruppintervju med tre personer ur personalgruppen. Materialet analyserades med tre analysmetoder: fenomenologisk analys, reflexiv analys och positioneringsanalys. Resultatet visar att personalen definierar de äldre personernas välbefinnande som ett behov av att känna sig existentiellt berörd. Denna känsla av existentiell beröring delas in i tre delar: känsla av valfrihet, känsla av njutning och känsla av närhet till någon eller något. Arbetet för att uppnå detta välbefinnande beskrivs innebära ett balanserande av tre tvetydigheter: att vilja värna om de äldre personernas valfrihet och samtidigt hantera institutionella begränsningar, de äldre personernas behov av aktivering å ena sidan och att de inte behöver aktiveras å andra sidan samt att förstå de äldre personernas behov av rutiner samtidigt som det är svårt att veta vilka behov de har. Tvetydigheterna kontextualiserades och de två logikerna som styr omsorgsarbetet analyserades. Analysen visar att enhetschefen skapar en hybrid av den ekonomiska logiken och omsorgslogiken; ekonomi är omsorg och vice versa. Denna hybrid möter motstånd från personalen som skiljer på de båda logikerna genom att tala om ”vård och det där andra”. Personalen upplever att den ekonomiska logiken begränsar deras möjligheter att utföra omsorg i linje med omsorgslogiken. Motsättningar mellan de båda logikerna leder till prioriteringar som rättfärdigas av personalen i syfte att behålla de professionella identiteterna. Den teoretiska analysen bygger på teorier om institutionella logiker, förklarbarhet ochprofessionell identitet. Analyserna visar vikten av att väcka dialog mellan enhetschefer och personal där de diskuterar innebörder av olika värdeord som används på politisk nivå. Sådana diskussioner skulle kunna bidra till mindre motstånd och en högre överensstämmelse mellan verksamhetsmål och praktik. Avhandlingen visar även vikten av att förstå logiker som vertikala istället för horisontellt uppdelade. Alltså, att styrande verksamhetslogiker existerar uppifrån och ned i verksamheter (från politisk nivå till chefsnivå och till praktisk nivå) och att de inte kan delas in i exempelvis en professionslogik och en styrningslogik. Den senare synen kan bidra till potentiella missförstånd eftersom det gör att konflikter kan tolkas existera mellan personal och chef, medan de egentligen existerar mellan olika motstridiga värderingssystem. Slutsatsen är att de båda logikerna behövs för att stödja äldre personers välbefinnande. Ibland är logikerna samspelta och ibland är de i konflikt med varandra. När logikerna ställs mot varandra är det av vikt att komma ihåg att den ekonomiska logiken är lika förhandlingsbar som omsorgslogiken. De två logikerna existerar i samspel och om deras motstridigheter inte belyses finns risk att omsorgspraktiken inte stödjer de äldre personernas välbefinnande.

Future of the transdermal drug delivery market – have we barely touched the surface?

Introduction: Transdermal drug delivery is themovement of drugs across the skin for absorption into the systemic circulation. Transfer of the drug can occur via passive or active means; passive trans- dermal products donot disrupt the stratumcorneumto facilitate deliverywhereas active technologies do. Due to the very specific physicochemical properties necessary for successful passive transdermal drug delivery, this sector of the pharmaceutical industry is relatively small. There are many well-documented benefits of this delivery route however, and as a result there is great interest in increasing the number of therapeutic substances that can be delivered transdermally. Areas Covered: This review discusses the various transdermal products that are currently/have been marketed, and the paths that led to their success, or lack of. Both passive and active transdermal technologies are considered with the advantages and limitations of each high- lighted. In addition to marketed products, technologies that are in the investigative stages by various pharmaceutical companies are reviewed. Expert Opinion: Passive transdermal drug delivery has made limited progress in recent years, however with the ongoing intense research into active technologies, there is great potential for growth within the transdermal delivery market. A number of active technologies have already been translated into marketed products, with other platforms including microneedles, rapidly progressing towards commercialisation.

Exploring Existentially-Based Interventions For Career Transitions in Sport

From Introduction: Career transition issues have become of increasing interest in the field of sport psychology. Confronting the end of an athletic career is an inevitable reality that every athlete will confront in his or her lifetime (Baillie, 1993), regardless of level of competition (Kerr & Dacyshyn, 2000) or the amount of free choice related to the transition. Many athletes are able to cope with the effects of the transition process effectively, and see retirement as an opportunity to pursue new ventures and identity roles in life. However, retirement from sport can be an event that often results in various adjustment difficulties for an athlete involving emotional, social, financial, and vocational conflicts. Some athletes have reported experiencing effects such as depression, eating disorders, decreased self-esteem, increased suicidality, and substance abuse (Kerr and Dacyshyn, 2000). These types of distress can be exacerbated by the fact that many athletes fail to adequately anticipate and prepare for their impending transition (Baillie, 1993), and often embark on the retirement process without any formalized support (Stier, 2007).Typically, the role of a sport psychologist has been to assist in maximizing an athlete's competitive performance during the course of their career. However, as a sport psychologist's primary responsibility is to serve active competitors and athletic organizations, this tends to come at the expense of failing to provide follow-up care for the athlete as he or she retires from sport (Taylor, Ogilvie, and Lavallee, 2006). Since the 1970's, when the efforts of professionals in European sports organizations first received attention, there has been growing interest in academic circles about career transition

The Danube; the dramatic history of the great river and the people touched by its flow.

Includes bibliography.

An address to that Quarterly Reviewer who touched upon Mr. Leigh Hunt's "Story of Rimini".

Mode of access: Internet.

At-the-edge-of-the-forest

This exhibition was the outcome of a personal arts-based exploration of the meaning of interiority. Through the process it was found that existentially the architectural wall differentiating inside from outside does not exist but operates as a space of overlap, a groundless ground providing for dwelling in the real existential sense of the word.

A phenomenological study of contemplative experiences : implications for interior design

This research reports on a project concerned with the relationship between the person and the environment in the context of achieving a contemplative or existential state – a state which can be experienced either consciously or subconsciously. The need for such a study originated with the desire to contribute to the design of multicultural spaces which could be used for a range of activities within the public and the personal arena, activities including contemplation, meditation and prayer. The concept of ‘sacred’ is explored in the literature review and in primary interviews with the participants of this study. Given that the word ‘sacred’ is highly value-laden and potentially alienating for some people, it was decided to use the more accessible term ‘contemplative’. The outcomes of the study inform the practice of interior design and architecture which tends currently to neglect the potential for all spaces to be existentially meaningful. Informed by phenomenological methodology, data were collected from a diverse group of people, using photo-elicitation and interviews. The technique of photo-elicitation proved to be highly effective in helping people reveal their everyday lived experience of contemplative spaces. Reflective analysis (Van Manen 2000) was used to explore the data collected. The initial stage of analysis produced three categories of data: varying conceptions of contemplation, aspects of the person involved in the contemplation, and aspects of environment involved in contemplation. From this, it was found that achieving a state of contemplation involves both the person and the environment in a dialectic process of unfolding. The unfolding has various physical, psycho-social, and existential dimensions or qualities which operate sequentially and simultaneously. Two concepts emerged as being central to unfolding: ‘Cleansing’ and ‘Nothingness’. Unfolding is found to comprise the Core; Distinction; Manifestation; Cleansing; Creation; and Sharing. This has a parallel with Mircea Eliade’s (1959) definition of sacred as something that manifests itself as different from the profane. The power of design, re-contextualization through utility and purpose, and the existential engagements between the person and environment are used as a basis for establishing the potential contribution of the study to interior design. In this way, the study makes a contribution to our understanding of how space and its elements inspire, support and sustain person environment interaction – particularly at the existential level – as well as to our understanding of the multi-dimensional and holistic nature of this interaction. In addition, it points to the need for a phenomenological re-conceptualisation of the design/client relationship. In summary, the contributions of this research are: the exploration of contemplative experience as sacred experience; an understanding of the design of space as creating engagement between person and environment; a rationale for the introduction of a phenomenological approach to the relationship between designer and clients; and raising awareness of the spiritual in a holistic approach to design.

African Indigeneity

The current argument is that there exist no indigenous people in Africa because all Africans are indigenous. The obverse considers those Africans who have not been touched by colonialism and lost their traditional cultures commensurate with attachments to the lands or a distinguishable traditional lifestyle to be indigenous. This paper argues in favor of the latter. For example, modernism, materialism, ex-colonial socio-cultural impacts (as in the remnants of European legal structures, and cultural scarring), globalization, and technology are international social homogenizers. People who live in this telos and do not participate in a distinct traditional culture that has been attached to the land for centuries are not indigenous. It is argued that this cultural divergence between modern and traditional is the major identifying point to settle the indigenous-non indigenous African debate. Finally, the paper looks at inclusive development, how this helps to distinguish African indigeneity, and provides a new political analysis model for quantifying inclusivity.

Establishing indigeneity in African pluralities using PRO169 parameters and a case study for measuring their inclusivity

The concept of the indigenous person or group in Africa is a contentious one. The current argument is that there exist no indigenous people in Africa because all Africans are indigenous. The obverse considers those Africans who have not been touched by colonialism and lost their traditional cultures commensurate with attachments to the lands or a distinguishable traditional lifestyle to be indigenous. This paper argues in favor of the latter. People who live in the global telos and do not participate in a distinct traditional culture that has been attached to the land for centuries are not indigenous. It is argued that this cultural divergence between modern and traditional is the major identifying point to settle the indigenous-non indigenous African debate. Finally, the paper looks at inclusive development and provides a new political analysis model for quantifying inclusivity so as to measure the inclusivity of indigenous peoples.

The Kinaesthetic Fusion Effect : mechanisms and extensions

This study investigated the Kinaesthetic Fusion Effect (KFE) that was first described by Craske and Kenny in 1981. It was reported that when, without vision, participants pressed a button that resulted in a probe simultaneously touching the contralateral limb at a displaced location, they perceived an apparent change in limb length. The current study did not fully replicate these earlier findings. Participants did not perceive any reduction in the sagittal separation of the button and probe following repeated exposure to the tactile stimuli that was present on both arms. However, a localised and partial medio-lateral fusion was observed, with the touched positions seeming closer together. In addition, tactile acuity was found to decrease progressively for distal positions of the upper limb and a foreshortening effect was found which may result from a line-of-sight judgment and represent a feature of the reporting method used. A number of years have elapsed since the description of the original KFE. Although frequently cited in the literature, there has been no further investigation into the mechanisms of action. The results of the current study are considered in light of more recent literature concerning intersensory integration. Future research should focus on further clarification for the specific conditions that must be present for a fusion effect to occur. Finally, this thesis will benefit future studies that require participants to report the perceived locations of the unseen limbs.

Elaborating a tactile-proprioceptive illusion : the kinaesthetic fusion effect

This study investigated the Kinaesthetic Fusion Effect (KFE) first described by Craske and Kenny in 1981. In Experiment 1 the study did not replicate these findings following a change in the reporting method used by participants. Participants did not perceive any reduction in the sagittal separation of a button pressed by the index finger of one arm and a probe touching the other, following repeated exposure to the tactile stimuli present on both unseen arms. This study’s failure to replicate the widely-cited KFE as described by Craske et al. (1984) suggests that it may be contingent on several aspects of visual information, especially the availability of a specific visual reference, the role of instructions regarding gaze direction, and the potential use of a line of sight strategy when referring felt positions to an interposed surface. In addition, a foreshortening effect was found; this may result from a line-of-sight judgment and represent a feature of the reporting method used. Finally, this research will benefit future studies that require participants to report the perceived locations of the unseen limbs. Experiment 2 investigated the KFE when the visual reference was removed and participants made reports of touched position, blindfolded. A number of interesting outcomes arose from this change and may provide clarification to the phenomena.

A stranger's touch : effects of accidental interpersonal touch on consumer evaluations and shopping time

This article examines an unexplored area of consumer research—the effect of accidental interpersonal touch (AIT) from a stranger on consumer evaluations and shopping times. The research presents a field experiment in a retail setting. This study shows that men and women who have been touched by another consumer when examining products report more negative brand evaluations, negative product beliefs, less willingness to pay, and spend less time in-store than their control (no-touch) counterparts. Our findings indicate that the AIT effect is especially negative for touch from a male stranger for both men (same-sex touch) and women (opposite-sex touch). Directions are provided for future study that highlight potential moderators and process explanations underlying the AIT effect.

Directors at work : a practical guide for directors

Directors at Work: A Practical Guide for Boards is designed to be a practical tool for directors and boards wishing to implement leading practice corporate governance in their organisations. The book discusses contemporary issues in corporate governance, ways in which boards, directors and their advisers can be effective, and ways to improve their governance processes and procedures. The book also discusses an area that was only touched on briefly in the previous book, but is at the heart of effective decision making by boards: board behavioural dynamics, which deals with the types of behaviours that either support or destroy good governance.