Kreftsykepleie og kompetanseutvikling fra utdanning til klinikk : en evaluering av videreutdanning i kreftsykepleie

Background: In order to improve the quality of care for cancer patients, The Norwegian Radium Hospital established in 1982 an advanced programme in cancer nursing. During the period 1982 – 2000, 366 cancer nurses were graduated. Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate how the cancer nurses implement their competence into clinical practice after graduating from the programme. The Research questions answered were: 1) Do the cancer nurses utilise their competence in clinical practice, 2) Is there conformity between the cancer nurses own evaluation of their competence and the skills needed for managing their duties in clinical practice and 3) Did the advanced programme in cancer nursing become of importance for their skills development? Methods: This study is a part of a larger study with a survey design and the study sample consists of 188 cancer nurses out of 366 (response rate 53 %). Data was collected through a semi-structured questionnaire; this study is based on the quantitative data. A Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) was used to collect data from six areas of competence. Data analysis includes frequency- , correlation-, and cross table analysis. Chronbach’s alpha coefficient was used for measuring internal consistency. Results: The majority of the cancer nurses are working in bedside nursing, still 20 years after graduation. They evaluate their own competence as highly favourable regarding issues in care, medicine, education, collaboration, professional development and prevention. They considered the advanced programme as being very important for the development of their competence. The programme contributed to its main objective: to prepare cancer nurses for clinical practice. The advanced programme recruits nurses from the clinical practice and the cancer nurses go back to bed side nursing after completing the programme

Mobile Health Care and Health Behavior Change : Development of a System for Virtual Counseling based on Written Diary Questionnaires and Situational Feedback

In the future virtual e-health counseling through the mobile phones will be an important feature of health care. Patients are shortly in face to face contact with health care personal. Many patients face challenges living with chronic diseases and the patients have to change health behavior and life style to life as healthy as possible with a high degree of quality of life. Development of new ways of health counseling should also apply principles of universal design as accessibility for all and ease of use. We have designed a system for virtual counseling through written questionnaire diaries and situational feedback – the www.wsf.hio.no that is delivered to the patient through an internet enabled mobile phone. The system is applied in a pilot study with patients with widespread chronic musculoskeletal pain and is currently running in a randomized controlled study within the same patient group. The system ensures safe contact with the patients and has been running successfully for 30 month. The patients are able to use the cell phone with a short f2f instruction. The therapists can easy follow patients’ responses independent of place. The researcher can easily extract data from the system. At the present moment the 2nd generation of the system will be redesigned in order to improve the functionality further and to be tested out in other patient samples – contributing to increase the universal accessibility of new methods in health counseling

The Impact of eCooking in the Tanzanian Power System: Modelling eCooking transitions using PyPSA- Earth

Over 90 percent, approximately 60 million Tanzanians, are still reliant on polluting fuels and technologies for cooking. The Tanzanian government is spearheading efforts to provide access to electricity and clean cooking to 75 percent of the population by 2030. Cooking with electricity (eCooking) is a transformative approach to replace polluting fuels and cooking practices, reduce deforestation, increase residential electricity demand and strengthen the financial viability of electricity access projects. Alas, less than two percent of Tanzanians used electricity for cooking in 2022. There is limited research on how eCooking adoption can impact national electricity demand and the power system in Tanzania. The objective of this thesis was to bridge these critical gaps by analyzing the corresponding power system requirements to meet varying levels of eCooking uptake in the Tanzanian power sector in 2030 and 2040 using a customized PyPSA-Earth model. The study enhanced the representation of the current and planned Tanzanian power system in an open-source modelling framework, and with that analyzed the required capacity and generation to meet additional demand from eCooking. In doing so, this study advances the understanding how eCooking adoption could shape Tanzania’s future power system. A collection of demand scenarios was examined with the calibrated model. All eCooking scenarios were found to increase overall electricity consumption and peak demand in 2030 and 2040, relative to scenarios without eCooking. Furthermore, eCooking augmented daily energy peaks and highly influenced the operation of the power system, underscoring the need for additional, flexible capacity to prevent load shedding events, particularly during the evening. Indeed, a full transition to electric cooking would surpass the projected demand, peaks loads and capacity beyond what the government has planned for 2040. By highlighting the potential impacts on peak demand and system requirements to meet various eCooking loads, the study provides critical evidence for future power sector planning, in line with Tanzania’s clean cooking and energy access objectives

Personal factors associated with health-related quality of life in persons with morbid obesity on treatment waiting lists in Norway

Purpose To explore relationships of socio-demographic variables, health behaviours, environmental characteristics and personal factors, with physical and mental health variables in persons with morbid obesity, and to compare their health-related quality of life (HRQoL) scores with scores from the general population. Methods A cross-sectional correlation study design was used. Data were collected by self-reported questionnaire from adult patients within the first 2 days of commencement of a mandatory educational course. Of 185 course attendees, 142 (76.8%) volunteered to participate in the study. Valid responses on all items were recorded for 128 participants. HRQoL was measured with the Short Form 12v2 from which physical (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) scores were computed. Other standardized instruments measured regular physical activity, social support, self-esteem, sense of coherence, self-efficacy and coping style. Results Respondents scored lower on all the HRQoL subdomains compared with norms. Linear regression analyses showed that personal factors that included self-esteem, self-efficacy, sense of coherence and coping style explained 3.6% of the variance in PCS scores and 41.6% in MCS scores. Conclusion Personal factors such as self-esteem, sense of coherence and a high approaching coping style are strongly related to mental health in obese persons

On verb second and the så-construction in two Mainland Scandinavian contact situations

Data from areas of long term language contact situations between a non-V2 language and a V2 language in Northern Norway reveal unstable use of V2. Furthermore, in a substantial portion of the data there is a notable presence of the particle så. These facts are discussed in light of data on the så-construction in Standard Norwegian and Finland Swedish, and the particle ni in Finnish. We suggest that some aspects of så in the data may be explained as one trait of L1 transfer, where the acquirer recruits existing L2 elements and assigns to them new tasks in the grammar. The data reveal interesting variation patterns, which may be taken to support the “Underspecified CP” hypothesis put forth in recent language acquisition research

Communication self-efficacy in optometry: the mediating role of mindfulness

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between optometry students’ communication self-efficacy and their level of mindfulness and empathy. The study had a cross-sectional design. The sample included qualified optometrists in their first year of the Masters’ degree programme. The students reported level of communication self-efficacy, empathy and mindfulness by responding to three questionnaires: Ammentorp’s Clear-Cut Communication with Patients, Jefferson Scale of Empathy, and Mindful Attention Awareness Scale. Thirty-three students participated. The communication self-efficacy sum score was 111 (95% CI 106 to 116), the empathy sum score was 107 (95% CI 103 to 111) and the mindfulness sum score was 52 (95% CI 103 to 111). There was a significant positive correlation between communication self-efficacy and mindfulness (r = 0.295, n = 29, p = 0.029), but not between communication self-efficacy and empathy. Mindfulness correlates with communication self-efficacy. Mindfulness could therefore be important in training communication skills and could contribute to the effect of communication skills training. Most optometrists provide services in a retail setting, linking person-centred communication and care, evidence-based medicine, product technology and customer service. Further studies should explore how communication self-efficacy, explicit and tactic knowledge, empathy, mindfulness, emotional intelligence, patient satisfaction and customer service relate to communication and patientcentred care.publishedVersio

Blast Loaded Aluminium Plates: Experiments and numerical simulations

Light and flexible protective constructions in aluminium could be subjected to a blast load. In this thesis the effect of blast loading on aluminium plates of the type 1050A ? H14 was studied through experiments and numerical simulations. The effect of fragmentation was idealized with predrilled holes. The thesis was written at the Structural Impact Laboratory (SIMLab) at NTNU in collaboration with the Norwegian Defence Estates Agency (NDEA).Tensile tests revealed a clearly anisotropic behavior of the 1050A ? H14 material. However, preliminary studies indicated that the grain direction had a minimal impact on the plate deformation, and that the modified Johnson-Cook material model was a sufficient approach.It was performed experiments with the gas gun at SIMLab to apply blast loading on aluminium plates. The gas gun showed excellent repeatability, but the pressure and impulse it caused did not emulate a real explosion. It seemed that the loading applied from the gas gun was asymmetric and varied over the plate. Thus, the experimental setup needs to be modified in order to get more insight into the problem. No fracture occurred in the gas gun experiments. Numerical simulations in LS-DYNA were used to validate the load curves obtained from the experiments. The load curves was obtained through pressure transducers that were placed on ¼ of the aluminium plate, and the numerical analysis showed that these values were not representative for the loading that occurred on the entire plate. The aluminium plates with diamond shaped holes and slits showed similar capacity as the plates without holes for small loads. Digital Image Correlation (DIC) was used to describe the plate deformation, and proved to be an accurate method to compare the results from the numerical simulation in LS-DYNA to the gas gun experiments. Numerical analyses with the finite element software IMPETUS Afea was used to simulate blast loading with the use of the Corpuscular method. The results indicated that the geometry of the charge affected the magnitude of the blast load in a significant way. IMPETUS Afea seems to be not suited to simulate long-range blast loading

The gap between legal protection, good intentions and political restrictions. Unaccompanied minors in Norway

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Attitudes toward the use of humanoid robots in healthcare—a cross‑sectional study

The use of robotic technology in healthcare is increasing. The aim was to explore attitudes toward the use of humanoid robots in healthcare among patients, relatives, care professionals, school actors and other relevant actors in healthcare and to analyze the associations between participants’ background variables and attitudes. The data were collected through a cross-sectional survey (N = 264) in 2018 where participants met a humanoid robot. The survey was comprised of background variables and items from a modified Robot Attitude Scale. Multiple linear regression analysis and Spearman’s Rho correlation were used to analyze associations between variables. Most of the participants were positive toward the use of humanoid robots in healthcare and only a few were negative. Attitudes toward the use of humanoid robots were more positive among other relevant actors, such as service personnel and politicians in healthcare, participants with a higher educational level and older adults. More research is needed on the reasons underlying negative attitudes because these might affect the introduction of humanoid robots in healthcare. A careful evaluation of appropriate first target groups as well as which tasks are appropriate for humanoid robots to perform in healthcare are needed.publishedVersio

Experiences of a Humanoid Robot-Led Physical Training Program for Home-Living Older Persons - A Qualitative Pilot Study

Maintaining good physical condition throughout life might reduce the risk of disease and improve older persons’ physical and mental health. Several positive outcomes in the care of home-living older persons have been linked to technological solutions such as humanoid robots. The aim of this study was to develop a humanoid robot-led physical exercise training program for home-living older persons and to explore eleven home-living older persons’ experiences of the program. Semi-structured interviews was held with the home-living older persons after their testing the program and transcribed interviews were analyzed by thematic analysis. The home-living older persons experienced the program as easy to follow and that the program might improve their mental well-being and social interactions. To positively influence older persons’ physical condition, more person-centered exercises and a more suitable robot should be included. Further development of humanoid robot-led physical exercise training programs is needed to ensure the usability of a similar programs in the context of older persons.publishedVersio