Coming theses from other universities
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Managers’ Work, Working Conditions and Wellbeing in Small Companies with Profitable Growth
Link: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-43706
Background Managers’ work, working conditions and wellbeing are important determinants of occupational health in organizations. Nevertheless, little research has investigated these factors in the context of small growing businesses, which are known to contribute to employment, economic growth and social stability. The aim of this thesis was to explore managers’ work, working conditions and wellbeing in the context of small businesses with profitable growth.
Methods Study I used a cross-sectional design to assess patterns in managerial work activities and leadership behaviours. Studies II–IV used qualitative interviews with managers (II–IV) and employees (II) to explore the effects of managers’ wellbeing on their leadership (II), their working conditions (III), and changes in their working conditions and wellbeing in the context of growing small businesses (IV).
Results Managers worked long hours, posing risks for occupational health, but also adopted work practices that bolster occupational health. Firm size matters for managerial work. Managers’ wellbeing reflected in their mood and energy levels and influenced their leadership behaviours and performance, and the company’s work environment. Managers were more constructive when they felt well, and more passively destructive when they felt unwell. Certain factors mitigated the consequences of their negative behaviours in the organization. Five types of managers’ demands and resources (daily managerial work; achievement of results; and social; organizational; and individual factors) were identified, where the specificity of the small business context revealed unique characteristics. Company growth changed managers’ experiences of working conditions and wellbeing.
Conclusions The specific context of small growing businesses shaped managers’ work, working conditions and wellbeing and the interplay between them. Dynamism in the organizational context due to growth had implications for managers’ work, working conditions and wellbeing.
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Allergic sensitization among schoolchildren in northern Sweden : time trends, risk factors and relation to asthma, allergic rhinitis and lung function.
Link: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-221512
Background: Asthma and allergic rhinitis are common chronic diseases of childhood.Their prevalence has increased globally in the 20th century, with regionally diverging trends in recent years. Allergic sensitization (AS) is strongly associated with asthma and allergic rhinitis (AR), with similar trends over time and uncertainty of development in recent years. AS increases in childhood until young adulthood. Risk factors for AS are not as well characterized as for asthma and AR, and important aspects of the relation between AS and disease are not known. This includes why some sensitized children do not develop disease and how common this is in a longitudinal perspective. While many studies have assessed AS in the first years of life, fewer have focused on school age, and none have focused on the effect of age at onset of AS. Further, the association between AS and lung function is unknown.
Aims: To assess time trends in prevalence, incidence and factors associated with AS in schoolchildren. Further, to assess the association between AS and asthma, allergic rhinitis and lung function, with special interest in age at onset of sensitization.
Methods: Children in grades 1 and 2 (median age 8 years) in two municipalities in northern Sweden were invited to a questionnaire study of allergic diseases and skin prick tests to common aeroallergens in 1996. The cohort was reassessed at 12 and at 19 years also including spirometry. Identical methods were used to recruit a second and third cohort in 2006 and 2017.
Results: The prevalence of AS at 8 years was 21% (1996), 30% (2006) and 30% (2017). Patterns of sensitization and risk factors for sensitization were similar. In the second cohort, the incidence between 8-12 years of 18% and prevalence of 41% at 12 years were higher than in the first cohort. Compared with later onset, sensitization ≤8 years was more strongly associated with asthma and allergic rhinitis at 19 years. AS was not independently associated with lung function at 19 years.
Conclusions: In northern Sweden, the increase in allergic sensitization at age 8 years between 1996 and 2006 has halted in recent years. The increase between the first two cohorts was seen also at age 12 years. Age at onset of allergic sensitization impacts development of asthma and allergic rhinitis until 19 years. Despite an association with asthma, sensitization does not affect lung function at 19 years.
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Traumatic brain injury in elderly patients
Link: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-521958
The increase of elderly traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients constitutes a considerable challenge. The aim was therefore to specifically study elderly TBI patients with respect to patient characteristics, neurointensive care (NIC) and outcome, and to identify age specific features, which may be important for selection of patients and optimization of NIC in the elderly. Data from the Uppsala TBI-registry and collected physiological monitoring data from the NIC unit were analysed.
Between 1996–1997 and 2008–2009, patients ≥60 years had doubled from 16% to 30%. Despite the increase of elderly an overall favorable outcome was maintained at around 75% between the two periods and the elderly showed favorable outcome in slightly more than 50%.
Analysis of characteristics and outcome between 2008–2010 showed that fall accidents and acute subdural hematoma were more common in the elderly ≥65 years. Admission status and NIC treatment did not differ depending on age, except that a larger proportion of the elderly had surgery. Elderly ≥65 years showed a favorable outcome in 51% compared to 72% in the young.
Studies of patients ≥60 years treated 2008–2014 showed that high age, multiple injuries, low Glasgow coma motor score on admission and the use of mechanical ventilation were negative prognostic factors.
Elderly had different secondary insult patterns with a higher percentage of good monitoring time (%GMT) with high cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP), high mean arteria blood pressure (MAP) and high systolic blood pressure (SBP) and less %GMT with high intracranial pressure (ICP), low CPP and low MAP. On the contrary to the young, high %GMT with SBP>180 was associated with favorable outcome in the elderly, indicating that blood pressure probably should be treated differently in the elderly.
Elderly had worse pressure autoregulation (higher values of PRx) and spent longer time with higher PRx. Elderly also had higher optimal CPP and spent lower %GMT with CPP close to optimal CPP. High PRx correlated with mortality in elderly but pressure autoregulation influenced outcome less in the elderly.
Overall, the results show that elderly TBI patients differ in many aspects and more studies are warranted to increase knowledge and optimize NIC.