Ämnesnätverket i genusvetenskap för arbetet med den nya utbildnings- och examensstrukturen

The Centre for Gender Studies at Lund University has been given the responsibility of creating a network within Gender Studies in Sweden to facilitate the implementation of the Bologna Declaration of Higher Education. The Gender Studies network for the implementation of the new structure of education and degrees in Sweden has included all the departments/centres that offer courses on Bachelor s level and beyond. The network has had ten individual meetings and one large concluding meeting The network has consisted of ten participating departments from ten universities. The network has been focused its work upon learning outcomes, student mobility and inter-university co-operation We have outlined the changes carried out in relation to the new educational structure, the formulating of learning outcomes and the creation of the new advanced level of education, i.e. the masters level. The network has concluded that we differ in some ways as to how we state the expected learning outcomes, though the differences do not seem to pose an obstacle to student mobility. Four of the project participants offer education programmes at an advanced level and here we have noted a slight difference in the access requirements. We believe that the department/centres that have developed education at the advanced level can contribute to others, with advice and as models. The network has brought about discussions and an exchange of ideas and now as the network project has completed it work, by far the most obvious conclusion is that a dialogue within our field of education is continuously necessary. Nätverkets deltagare och projektets utfor

Nätuniversitetet och IT-stödd distansutbildning - Attityder och erfarenheter hos prefekter, kursansvariga och studenter

Denna rapport är en del i arbetet med att utvärdera studentnyttan med Nätuniversitetet, på uppdrag av Myndigheten för Sveriges nätuniversitet. Uppdraget utförs av UCER, Umeå Center for Evaluation Research vid Umeå universitet och huvudförfattare till rapporten är Pernilla Westerberg. Syftet med denna delstudie är att synliggöra olika intressenters attityder till och erfarenheter av IT-stödda distanskurser och Nätuniversitetet. Intressenterna är i det här fallet prefekter, kursansvariga för IT-stödda distanskurser och studenter som läser dessa kurser. En uppföljning av denna rapport är planerad år 2006

Are there trans and queer methodologies? Methodological negotiations on gender and sexuality

Are there research methods and methodologies that are inherently queer or transfeminist in empirical research? This is a question I wrestle with often. And I am not alone, although methodological discussions are less central in queer and transfeminist knowledge production than in the wider feminist field. Transfeminist discussions of methodology often set our from a research ethics starting point; an early text here is Jacob Hale's "Suggested Rules for Non-Transsexuals Writing about Transsexuals, Transsexuality, Transsexualism, or Trans ____" from 1997, last updated in 2009. These are much more than a reference for future research. It is a concise analysis of methodological violence, a reflection of the experiences of people with different experiences of being trans in different research processes. It makes demands on the reflexivity, sensitivity and accuracy of non-trans researchers.Both, trans and queer research, grapple with a centering of certain subject positions. This is necessary, yet can lead to sexuality and gender identity being seen as detached from their intersections, as discussed not least by Cathy J. Cohen, and from the production of gender and sexuality as non-intersectional, as analyzed for example by Jules Gill-Peterson. Understanding queer and trans experiences as experiences marked by gendered oppression may render other mechanisms of oppression invisible. Whiteness, abelism and class norms within queer and trans communities need to be analysed more in the Scandinavian context. What does that entail when researchers and students set out to work with trans and queer communities? In addition, what kinds of methodological, theoretical and political negotiations are necessary to understand the role of the researcher – insider, outsider, on the fence

Nätuniversitetet läsåret 2003/2004 - ekonomiskt stöd, kursutbud och antal sökande

Föreliggande arbetsrapport är ett led i arbetet med utvärderingen av Nätuniversitetets studentnytta. Utvärderingen genomförs vid UCER, Umeå Center for Evaluation Research, Umeå universitet. Syftet med denna rapport är att ge en bakgrund till de problem och utmaningar som Nätuniversitetet står inför och att ur ett studentperspektiv få en bild av de utbildningar som erbjuds genom den utbildningsportal som finns på Nätuniversitetets hemsida, www.netuniversity.se. Resultatet av en sökning kan variera från en dag till en annan. Samtidigt är detta är också den verklighet som möter de studenter som söker en utbildning (kurs eller program) via denna portal. Det område som står i fokus under utvärderingens första år är utbildningar inom medicin och vård. Därför är det också dessa utbildningar som står i fokus i denna arbetsrapport. En enkät som riktar sig till de studenter som läser en utbildning (kurs eller program) inom medicin och vård genomförs också under läsåret 2003/2004. Parallellt genomförs dessutom en enkätstudie av anställdas och studenters attityder till och erfarenheter av Nätuniversitetet. Denna sist nämnda studie vänder sig till samtliga ämnesområden och inte enbart till medicin och vård

Discordant connections

The importance of gender-equality and of women’s work in relation to the environment are considered to be crucial questions for development in ‘third world’ rural societies. ‘Development’ and a certain standard of welfare make these issues appear to be less urgent in a wealthier country like Sweden. In this paper I trace some of the contradictions and connections in the ways in which gender equality is conceptualised in women’s struggles vis á vis environmental issues in rural areas in Sweden and India. The paper throws light on two important insights: first, that in Sweden where gender equality has been actively pursued as the bedrock of modern societal organizing, the space to organize as women in relation to environmental issues was hedged around with ambiguities. Second, development discourses about equality and empowerment of oppressed third world women bear not only on how gender equality is conceptualised and practiced in the South but also shape the space for gender equality in the North. Analysing the two cases in relation to each other reveals the travel of ideas and conversations across distances. While ideas about the independent, empowered woman are used to deny agency to women’s collectives in India, gendered discrimination has taken different forms in Sweden, making it more difficult to contest. Understanding how this takes place opens an opportunity for interruption in an order and in a space that appears to have become narrower under the umbrella of development, welfare, and growth. It brings into question the category of development both in a Southern but especially so in a Northern context where the North and especially Sweden is taken as referent for questions of development and gender equality

Kultur och hälsa inom utbildningar vid Göteborgs Universitet

Föreliggande rapport utgör en undersökning av kursverksamheten vid Göteborgs universitet. Syftet har varit att kartlägga förekomsten av kurser med kultur och hälsa-tematik vid lärosätet under perioden höstterminen 2014 till höstterminen 2015. Undersökningen har genomförts på uppdrag av Centrum för kultur och hälsa under våren och sommaren 2015. Urvalet av kurser har skett via sållning genom upprättandet av distinktioner mellan olika förståelser av begreppen kultur respektive hälsa. Jag menar att båda begreppen låter sig förstås i en snävare och en vidare bemärkelse. För undersökningen blev det relevant att formulera kriterier som stipulerar att utbildningar vid vårdvetenskaplig fakultet blir aktuella om de intresserar sig för kulturteman i både snäv och vid bemärkelse, alltså såväl för konst som för människans existentiella livsvärld. Utbildningar vid andra fakulteter blir dock relevanta om de anknyter till snävare hälsoteman, alltså i bemärkelsen frånvaro av sjukdom. Efter en första genomgång av programverksamheten vid universitetet kom undersökningen att inrikta sig på att särskilt identifiera och lyfta fram fristående kurser på området. Orsaken till detta var att kurser med kultur och hälsa-tematik inom ramen för utbildningsprogram uppvisade en klar koppling just till program och praktiska behov bland de professioner som de utbildar för. De fristående kurser som kunnat identifieras har i högre grad ett mer Sammanfattning 5 tydligt intresse inriktat på just intersektionen kultur och hälsa, i vidare och/eller snävare bemärkelse. Dessutom är det troligt att just fristående kurser skulle vara en lämplig form för nya kursinitiativ om sådana skulle vara aktuella, vilket gör utbudet av och erfarenheterna från just fristående kursverksamhet på området särskilt relevant. Somliga av de nedan uppräknade kurserna ges dock både som fristående och inom ramen för program. Undersökningen identifierar följande kurser som tydliga bärare av kultur och hälsa-tematik: • ”Begrepp av betydelse för personcentrerad vård – filosofiska grunder” (SV00011), 7,5 hp, vid Institutionen för vårdvetenskap och hälsa. • ”Existentiella frågor i hälso- och sjukvården” (OM3108), 7,5 hp, Institutionen för vårdvetenskap och hälsa. • ”Global hälsa” (FHX860), 7,5 hp, Institutionen för medicin. • ”Hälsa, medicin och samhälle 1750–1950” (HI1627), 7,5 hp, Institutionen för historiska studier. • ”Hälsa: natur, kultur och livsrytm” (MU1605), 15 hp, Museion vid Institutionen för globala studier. • ”Personlighet, hälsa och socialpsykologi” (PC1245), 15 hp, Psykologiska institutionen. • ”Musik, människa och hälsa” (MV2113), 7,5 hp, Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper. • ”Personcentrering inom hälso- och sjukvård samt omsorg” (PCV010), 7,5 hp, Institutionen för vårdvetenskap och hälsa. • ”Världen i vården och vården i världen – mångkulturella möten och interkulturell kommunikation i hälso- och sjukvård” (OM3203), 7,5 hp, Institutionen för vårdvetenskap och hälsa

Motivation and health behavior in the prevention of childhood obesity

The objectives of the present thesis were to investigate self-efficacy and motivational interviewing as motivational frameworks for health behavior change in the prevention of childhood obesity, and to explore child health services as a setting for childhood obesity prevention. Specifically, the thesis aimed to (a) develop a measure of parental self-efficacy for promoting healthy physical activity and dietary behaviors in children and assess its psychometric properties, (b) evaluate the effects of a training program in childhood obesity prevention on self-efficacy in nurses in child health services, (c) evaluate the effects of a training program in motivational interviewing on proficiency in nurses in child health services, and (d) investigate the frequency of conversation about dietary and physical activity behaviors in children in child health services. In Study I, using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, the evaluation showed that a new measure of parental self-efficacy had adequate psychometric properties in a sample of 2232 mothers with 3-year-old children, including construct and discriminant validity, internal consistency (α = .87), and test-retest reliability (r = .82). Study II used multiple linear regression analysis and dependent t-tests with Bonferroni correction to examine the effects of training in methods of preventing childhood obesity on efficacy beliefs in nurses in child health services. The study had a randomized controlled design with an intervention group (n = 22) and a control group (n = 38). Results showed that efficacy beliefs in intervention nurses had increased at post assessment relative to control nurses (β = 14.70, p < .001). Study III used dependent t-tests and multiple linear regression analysis to evaluate the effects of training in motivational interviewing on proficiency in a sample of nurses in child health services (n = 36). Skillfulness had not been acquired in this sample from pre to post training (ps ≥ .05). In Study IV, conversations between nurses (n = 23) and parents in child health services were assessed to what extent conversations focused on child health behaviors. Using descriptive statistics, it was found that attention to these behaviors was infrequent, with dietary behaviors ranking fourth and physical activity on rank 14 among topics of conversation. In summary, self-efficacy is a useful framework, and motivational interviewing a potentially useful framework in childhood obesity prevention. Efficacy beliefs were adequately assessed in parents of small children and nurses in child health services, and increased in nurses as a result of training. However, motivational interviewing proved to be a difficult method to learn, and conversations in child health services did not focus to any greater extent on dietary and physical activity behaviors in children

Animals in the curriculum : a questionnaire to elementary school biology teachers

The usage of animals for different purposes in today’s society is widespread, and animal welfare has become a public concern. In order to secure good welfare for these animals it is of great importance to gain knowledge about ethology and animal protection legislation early in life. Improved knowledge regarding animal welfare has been stated as an important key in the European Commission’s strategy for protection and increased welfare of animals. The children are our future population and have the possibility to change the welfare standards of many animals with their consuming habits and contribute to a general increased welfare by tending to animals needs and behaviour. To gain this knowledge children need adequate education, and preferable already at an early age. Several earlier studies have confirmed the positive effects of education on knowledge and attitudes towards different kind of animals. Despite this matter, the elementary schools are not promoting this knowledge and the words ethology, animal welfare and animal protection are completely absent in the primary school biology curricula. This study’s aim was to investigate if, and to what extent, teachers are implementing these subjects in their biology lessons. Data was collected through a questionnaire and distributed via groups for teachers on social media. Although a small sample size was obtained in this study, the result indicated that neither animal welfare, ethology nor animal protection is implemented in the biology lessons to any greater extent. In order to change this matter, the teachers imply that the subjects must be described in the curriculum for them to include them in their teaching. These results could indicate that the biology curricula need to reform to promote the teaching of these subjects in school. Future studies ought to investigate a greater sample size and an evaluation of what kind of knowledge and attitudes towards animals the present biology curricula is promoting would also be beneficial. Keywords: Curriculum, biology, education, animal welfare, ethology, animal protectio