To unite as a group, working towards common goals : A study of staff unanimity regarding theories and methods for at-risk youths in institutional care

Inom institutionsvård för ungdomar har det visat sig finnas flera faktorer som är avgörande för ett positivt behandlingsresultat. En av dessa är personalgruppens samstämmighet. I föreliggande studie har syftet varit att undersöka vilka teorier och metoder som finns och tillämpas på HVB-hemmet Multigruppen, om det finns en förtrogenhet om, samt samstämmighet kring dessa hos personalgruppen, samt på vilket sätt ledarskapet på verksamheten bedrivs och om strategier för att främja en samstämmighet finns. Studien har en kvantitativ och kvalitativ metodansats. En enkätundersökning med verksamhetens personalgrupp och fem stycken intervjuer genomfördes. Intervjuerna genomfördes med tre anställda ur personalgruppen och två ur ledningen. Studiens resultat visar att det råder vissa brister kring det praktiska tillämpandet av verksamhetens teorier och metoder. Studien visar också att personalgruppen har en del svårigheter med att upprätthålla ett gemensamt förhållningssätt – trots detta anser de flesta att de arbetar mot gemensamma mål. Ledarskapet som bedrivs på Multigruppen är i stort lyhörda mot sin personal, ställer krav och ger positiv feedback. Trots detta visar studien att majoriteten av personalgruppen inte är trygga med den ledning som finns. I studien diskuteras bland annat vad som kan tänkas vara de bidragande orsakerna till det resultat som framkommit samt studiens svagheter och styrkor.Within institutional care for at-risk youth it has been shown that several factors are crucial for a positive outcome. One of these factors is the unanimity of the staff. In the present study, the aim has been to examine the theories and methods practiced at Multigruppen, an institution for at-risk youth. The study looks at the staffs’ familiarity as well as consensus with these theories and methods, the leadership system and the leaderships’ strategies to promote a consensus. The study was based on quantitative and qualitative methods. A survey and five interviews with staff members were conducted, two of which were in leadership roles. The results show inconsistencies between the theoretical and the in fact practiced methods in the treatment process. The study also shows that the staff have difficulty maintaining a common approach, however that most believe they are working toward common goals despite this. The leadership at Multigruppen is generally receptive of staff input and gives positive feedback as demanding high standards. Despite this, the study shows that the majority of the staff group have insecurities in regards to the leaderships’ capability. The study includes a discussion of possible contributing factors to the results obtained as well as the study’s’ strengths and weaknesses.

DNA-Aptamers Binding Aminoglycoside Antibiotics

Aptamers are short, single stranded DNA or RNA oligonucleotides that are able to bind specifically and with high affinity to their non-nucleic acid target molecules. This binding reaction enables their application as biorecognition elements in biosensors and assays. As antibiotic residues pose a problem contributing to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens and thereby reducing the effectiveness of the drug to fight human infections, we selected aptamers targeted against the aminoglycoside antibiotic kanamycin A with the aim of constructing a robust and functional assay that can be used for water analysis. With this work we show that aptamers that were derived from a Capture-SELEX procedure targeting against kanamycin A also display binding to related aminoglycoside antibiotics. The binding patterns differ among all tested aptamers so that there are highly substance specific aptamers and more group specific aptamers binding to a different variety of aminoglycoside antibiotics. Also the region of the aminoglycoside antibiotics responsible for aptamer binding can be estimated. Affinities of the different aptamers for their target substance, kanamycin A, are measured with different approaches and are in the micromolar range. Finally, the proof of principle of an assay for detection of kanamycin A in a real water sample is given