Leading knowledge-workers through situated ambiguity

The paper explores how formal leaders make sense of and deal with autonomy of knowledge-workers. Based on interviews, I suggest that leaders make sense of knowledge-workers’ autonomy as ranging from perfectly autonomous to too autonomous to less independent to acting childish. This ambiguity was dealt with by making sense of leading as ranging from facilitative and supportive approaches to more controlling, even reprimanding acts. This empirical investigation of constructions of ‘leader/ship’ and ‘followers’ contributes to leader/ship-follower/ship literature. The paper’s contribution to theory lies in the notion of situated ambiguity; a way to understand the emerging way through which formal leaders navigate and smoothly move between their own differing perspectives, different practical situations, various culturally acceptable understandings of leaders and knowledge-workers.publishedVersionUnit Licence Agreemen

Professional development and European projects in education

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Facilitation of activities for people with dementia in day care : a qualitative study exploring the experiences of staff

Background: Day care service (day care) is recommended as an activity service for home-dwelling people with dementia in Norway. However, there is limited knowledge about strategies to promote engagement and participation in activities at day care. The aim of this study was to gain understanding of the staff’s experiences on how to enhance engagement and participation in activities for attendees. Methods: The study has a qualitative design, using group interviews with staff and field observations at day care designed for people with dementia. Thematic content analysis was used to analyze interviews, and the findings from the observations were used to illuminate the findings in the interviews. Three group interviews including a total of 10 staff participants were conducted. Additionally, 35 attendees were observed during 2 days of field observations at each day care. Results: The main theme that emerged from the analysis was the staff’s primary objective to make meaningful days for the attendees. To achieve this, the importance of having individual knowledge about the attendees to enhance relationships, creating a balanced group composition, personal competence and skills of the staff, and the importance of using activities in different ways, was highlighted. Most findings from the field observations coincide with those in the interviews. However, the observations revealed that the staff seemed to have insufficient knowledge of offering individual tailored and structured meaningful activities to the attendees. There is a potential of including the attendees even more in the ongoing activities. Conclusion: Staff play an important role in promoting and facilitating activities to increase engagement and participation in activities. There is a potential for greater structured use of activities and cognitive stimulation. To avoid occupational injustice and the risk of decreased health and well-being among home-dwelling people with dementia, more differentiated and individual tailored services are needed.publishedVersio

Akademiske praksisartikler

På UCl Erhvervsakademi og Professionshøjskole har forfatterne udviklet et artikelformat til brug i professionsuddannelser og efter- og videreuddannelsesaktiviteter. https://www.ucviden.dk/da/organisations/akademiske-praksisartikler/publication

Granulomatosis with polyangiitis and cardio vascular co-morbidity in Denmark. A registry-based study of 21 years of follow-up

OBJECTIVES: To describe the epidemiology of granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) in Denmark. To investigate if cardiovascular (CV) related comorbidity and death were increased among Danish AAV patients registered with a diagnosis of granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) in Denmark. To investigate if there was a temporal relation between diagnosis of GPA and CV disease and death. METHODS: A population-based cohort study was performed using the Danish Civil Registration System, the Danish National Patient Registry and the Danish Cause of Death Register in the period January 1, 1995, to December 31, 2015. Patients registered twice or more with a diagnosis of GPA were included. Annual incidence rate (IR), point prevalence (PP) and standardized mortality rate (SMR) were calculated. The entire adult population in Denmark served as control population. CV morbidity and death caused by CV disease was registered. RESULTS: We identified 1829 individuals with GPA. The median annual IR was 20.5/1,000,000 and PP increased from 64 to 277/1,000,000 in 2015. Overall SMR was 2.14. Among patients with GPA 171 had a hospital diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Compared to the control population, the hazard ratio (HR) of AMI was 2.47 (95% CI 1.24–4.94) during the first 3 months after the GPA diagnosis. From 3 months to one year declining to 1.41 (95%CI 0.80–2.49) and after 10 years the HR was still slightly increased to 1.64 (95%CI 1.20–2.23). The risk of a diagnosis of heart failure (HF) was markedly increased with a HR at 7.22 (95% CI 4.55–11.46) during the first 3 months after a GPA diagnosis, after three months up to one year 2.94 (95%CI 1.87–4.69), and 2.07 (95% CI 1.54–2.78) after 10 years. The total number of CV deaths in the GPA cohort was 307. During the first three months after a GPA diagnosis, the HR was increased to 9.51 (95%CI 7.12–12.70) declining to 2.51 (95% CI 1.77–3.58) after one year, but still increased to 1.56 (95% CI 1.23–1.98) after 10 years. Powered by Editorial Manager® and ProduXion Manager® from Aries Systems Corporation. CONCLUSION: In a population-based study on GPA, we found stable incidence, increasing prevalence and an overall increased SMR. The risk of CV comorbidity and of CV death among patients with a register diagnosis of GPA was increased

Social relations and healthcare utilisation among middle-aged and older people:study protocol for an implementation and register-based study in Denmark

Abstract Background While previous research establishes an association between social relations, health and use of healthcare services among older people, how to implement this knowledge in real-life settings has received much less attention. This study will explore the relationship between social relations, health and use of healthcare services in a Danish mid-life population sample. In addition, the study will explore individual and contextual factors affecting the implementation of a group-based life story intervention aimed at establishing and strengthening social relations among older people at nursing homes in Denmark. Methods/design A combined quantitative register-based approach and a qualitative implementation approach will be applied in this study. First, we will quantitatively analyse the relationship between social relations, health status and use of healthcare services among middle-aged people in Denmark by linking survey data on social relations, loneliness, self-perceived health and disease status from the Copenhagen Aging and Midlife Biobank (CAMB) (n = 7191) with national registries through the Public Health Database on use of healthcare services and demographic and socioeconomic factors. Second, we will qualitatively analyse individual and contextual factors affecting the implementation process of the group-based life story intervention based on semi-structured interviews (n = 16), observations and field notes with and among intervention stakeholders, i.e., participants and group leaders facilitating the intervention. Discussion The results of this study are expected to improve knowledge about mechanisms through which social relations are associated with health status and use of healthcare services and to inform the implementation of future interventions targeting social relations among older people at nursing homes. Trial registration The study has been registered and approved by the Danish Data Protection Agency. Seperate approvals have been attained for the qualitative data (Approval No. SUND-2016-08), and for the quantitative data in the CAMB database which has also received approval from the local ethical committee (approval No.H-A-2008-126 and No. 2013–41-1814, respectively)

A Knotworking Guideline for Building Projects:Bridging the Gap between Participants

The high level of complexity in today‟s building design requires a high level of multidisciplinary collaboration, which historically is uncommon in the Architecture, Construction and Engineering (AEC) sector. While the AEC sector accepts the requirement of collaboration, lack of knowledge on how to collaborate occurs. The Finnish method, Knotworking AEC, emphasises both collaboration and structure of building projects, which accommodates the lack of collaboration in the practices of the AEC sector. However, the recent development of Knotworking AEC implies a lack of written articles on Knotworking AEC, why three experiments were conducted to gain knowledge about how Knotworking is utilised in practice. Through a practice theoretical perspective, data was collected from existing literature and participant observation of two experiments. Subsequently, the practices and contradictions of the three experiments were analysed by practice theoretical methods. The result of this research is a Knotworking Guideline for Building Projects indicating both the phases, the participants and the tasks of each phase. The contribution of the result lies in the conduction of a Knotworking session from both a practical and research perspective to, respectively, enrich the AEC sector and the concept of Knotworking AEC

Occupational transaction after stroke constructed as threat and balance

Older adults who have had a stroke may experience anxiety, depression and difficulties participating in meaningful occupations while also experiencing excitement, discovery and satisfaction in creating a new occupational balance. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore how older adults experienced the changes in their everyday occupations after a stroke. Five women and three men who had experienced a mild to moderate stroke participated in focus group discussions. Systematic text condensation was applied. The participants’ experiences revealed how the stroke was perceived as an ‘occupational threat’ that produced feelings of social exclusion which were experienced as occupational exclusion, deprivation, marginalisation and imbalance. However, at the same time, the participants reconstructed occupational balance by performing occupations in new ways. The participants’ experiences provided insight into how they perceived their occupations as threatened after their stroke, while at the same time endeavoring to reconstruct occupational balance. These findings indicate that everyday life after stroke is a time of transaction where people are actively involved in creating control, occupational balance and being socially include

Two-Dimensional Time-Dependent Numerical Modeling of Edge Effects in Dye Solar Cells

A two-dimensional transient model of dye solar cells (DSC) describing the electrochemical reactions in the cell has been prepared. The model includes the relevant components of DSCs: the photoelectrode, the electrolyte, and the counter electrode. The solved variables are potential and the concentrations of the different ion species, which can be used to determine, e.g., the current−voltage characteristics of the cell. The largest benefit of this model is its 2D features which enable the study of lateral inhomogeneity. Using the model, a new phenomenon was described: lateral current density distribution caused by a small difference in the size between photoelectrode and counter electrode, typical of laboratory test cells, causes tri-iodide to move from the edge region to the active area of the cell. This process takes a relatively long time (8 min) and can be important for performance characterization and design of DSCs.Peer reviewe