Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences
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Get PDFDie vorliegende Masterarbeit untersucht das Angebot „Ehrenamt mit Kindern" der Abteilung Familienimpulse im Vorarlberger Kinderdorf als Drehscheibe für aufsuchende Präventionsangebote und Freiwilligenmanagement in Vorarlberg. Der Fokus liegt auf der Entlastung von Familien in Belastungssituationen durch Unterstützung von ehrenamtlich tätigen Personen. Die Forschung zielt darauf ab, die sozialen Netzwerke der betroffenen Familien darzustellen, die Interventionen des Angebots zu untersuchen, Effekte des Angebots zu analysieren und Veränderungen der Netzwerke nach erfolgreicher Entlastung zu erfassen. Qualitative Methoden, wie narrative Interviews, leitfadengestützte Interviews und egozentrierte Netzwerkkarten, werden angewendet, um die Perspektiven von Elternteilen, ehrenamtlich tätigen Personen und Koordinator:innen zu erheben. Die Auswertung erfolgt mittels inhaltlich strukturierter qualitativer Inhaltsanalyse. Ausgehend von einer netzwerktheoretischen Perspektive, umfasst der theoretische Hintergrund sozialräumliche und klinisch-soziale Perspektiven sowie Konzepte des sozialen Supports. Die Forschungsfragen zielen darauf ab, die Effekte des Ehrenamts auf die Belastungssituation sowie die sozialen Netzwerke der Familien zu ergründen, dessen Ergebnisse in konkrete Handlungsempfehlungen für die Praxis der Sozialen Arbeit münden.This master's thesis examines the 'Volunteering with Children' service offered by the Family Impulses department at the Vorarlberg Children's Village as an important hub for outreach prevention programmes and volunteer management. The focus is on relieving families in stressful situations through the support of volunteers. The re-search aims to depict the social networks of the families concerned, to examine the interventions of the offer, to analyse the relief effects and to record changes in the networks after successful relief. Qualitative methods such as narrative interviews and ego-centred network maps are used to capture the perspectives of parents, volunteers and coordinators. The evaluation is carried out using content-structured qualitative content analysis and system analysis. The theoretical background in-cludes socio-spatial and clinical-social perspectives as well as concepts of social support. The research questions aim to determine the effects of volunteering on the stress situation and the social networks of the families
The (de-)construction of technology legitimacy: Contending storylines surrounding wind energy in Austria and Switzerland
No full textWhy do some countries assign a major role to wind energy in decarbonizing their electricity systems, while others are much less committed to this technology? We argue that processes of (de-)legitimation, driven by discourse coalitions who strategically employ certain storylines in public debates, provide part of the answer. To illustrate our approach, we comparatively investigate public discourses surrounding wind energy in Austria and Switzerland, two countries that differ strongly in wind energy deployment. By combining a qualitative content analysis and a discourse network analysis of 808 newspaper articles published 2010–2020, we identify four distinct sets of storylines used to either delegitimize or legitimize the technology. Our study indicates that low deployment rates in Switzerland can be related to the prominence of delegitimizing storylines in the public discourse, which result in a rather low socio-political acceptance of wind energy. In Austria, by contrast, there is more consistent support for wind energy by discourse coalitions using a broad set of legitimizing storylines. By bridging the related but separate literatures of technology legitimacy and social acceptance, our study contributes to a better understanding of socio-political conflict and divergence in low-carbon technological pathways
Validity and reliability of the MetabQoL 1.0 and assessment of neuropsychiatric burden in organic acidemias: Reflections from Turkey
No full textObjectives: The MetabQoL 1.0 is the first disease-specific health related quality of life (HrQoL) questionnaire for patients with intoxication-type inherited metabolic disorders. Our aim was to assess the validity and reliability of the MetabQoL 1.0, and to investigate neuropsychiatric burden in our patient population. Methods: Data from 29 patients followed at a single center, aged between 8 and 18 years with the diagnosis of methylmalonic acidemia (MMA), propionic acidemia (PA) or isovaleric acidemia (IVA), and their parents were included. The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQoL) was used to evaluate the validity and reliability of MetabQoL 1.0.
Results: The MetabQoL 1.0 was shown to be valid and reliable (Cronbach's alpha: 0.64–0.9). Fourteen out of the 22 patients (63.6%) formally evaluated had neurological findings. Of note, 17 out of 20 patients (85%) had a psychiatric disorder when evaluated formally by a child and adolescent psychiatrist. The median mental scores of the MetabQoL 1.0 proxy report were significantly higher than those of the self report (p = 0.023). Patients with neonatal-onset disease had higher MetabQoL 1.0 proxy physical (p = 0.008), mental (p = 0.042), total scores (p = 0.022); and self report social (p = 0.007) and total scores (p = 0.043) than those with later onset disease.
Conclusions: This study continues to prove that the MetabQoL 1.0 is an effective tool to measure what matters in intoxication-type inherited metabolic disorders. Our results highlight the importance of clinical assessment complemented by patient reported outcomes which further expands the evaluation toolbox of inherited metabolic diseases
Long-Term outcome of infantile onset pompe disease patients treated with enzyme replacement therapy - Data from a German-Austrian cohort
Get PDFBackground: Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) with recombinant human alglucosidase alfa (rhGAA) was approved in Europe in 2006. Nevertheless, data on the long-term outcome of infantile onset Pompe disease (IOPD) patients at school age is still limited.
Objective: We analyzed in detail cardiac, respiratory, motor, and cognitive function of 15 German-speaking patients aged 7 and older who started ERT at a median age of 5 months.
Results: Starting dose was 20 mg/kg biweekly in 12 patients, 20 mg/kg weekly in 2, and 40 mg/kg weekly in one patient. CRIM-status was positive in 13 patients (86.7%) and negative or unknown in one patient each (6.7%). Three patients (20%) received immunomodulation. Median age at last assessment was 9.1 (7.0–19.5) years. At last follow-up 1 patient (6.7%) had mild cardiac hypertrophy, 6 (42.9%) had cardiac arrhythmias, and 7 (46.7%) required assisted ventilation. Seven patients (46.7%) achieved the ability to walk independently and 5 (33.3%) were still ambulatory at last follow-up. Six patients (40%) were able to sit without support, while the remaining 4 (26.7%) were tetraplegic. Eleven patients underwent cognitive testing (Culture Fair Intelligence Test), while 4 were unable to meet the requirements for cognitive testing. Intelligence quotients (IQs) ranged from normal (IQ 117, 102, 96, 94) in 4 patients (36.4%) to mild developmental delay (IQ 81) in one patient (9.1%) to intellectual disability (IQ 69, 63, 61, 3x < 55) in 6 patients (54.5%). White matter abnormalities were present in 10 out of 12 cerebral MRIs from 7 patients
Der Einfluss der Geschäftsleitungs- und Verwaltungsratsbeteiligung auf die Kapitalmarktperformance
Get PDFZahlreiche Autor*innen haben sich bereits mit den Auswirkungen verschiedener Aspekte der Corporate Governance auf die Unternehmensperformance befasst. Aufgrund der bisher weitgehend inkonsistenten Forschungsergebnisse wird in dieser Arbeit ein neuer Versuch unternommen, eine mögliche Korrelation zu untersuchen. Durch die Analyse des Einflusses des Anteilsbesitzes von Mitgliedern der Geschäftsleitung und des Verwaltungsrats auf die Kursrendite und die Kennzahl Tobin’s Q soll ein weiterer Beitrag zur Forschung geleistet werden. Die Ergebnisse dieser empirsichen Untersuchung legen nahe, dass keine signifikante Korrelation zwischen den genannten Corporate Governance Variablen und der Unternehmensperformance besteht. Es wird vermutet, dass der Einfluss der Corporate Governance Mechanismen aufgrund des Fokus auf die Principal-Agent-Theorie überschätzt wird
Context-dependence of dynamic capabilities in small, entrepreneurial firm internationalization
No full textOur study replicates a US study and an Australian study in the Italian context to address whether the home-country context influences the nature of dynamic capabilities (DCs) that are developed and deployed in small, entrepreneurial firms for these firms to internationalize. We measure a suite of dynamic capabilities and relate these to innovation in the firm which is put to internationalization. The Italian findings portray two logics, a dominant entrepreneur’s logic and a lesser significant entrepreneurial logic. The entrepreneur’s logic is centered on the entrepreneur and their vision and is dominant in the Italian model. The entrepreneurial logic, based on the bundling of DCs to learn from internal and external environments, is represented in all three countries. Our three country comparison illustrates that dynamic capability development and deployment is indeed contextdependent. Notwithstanding contextual differences across Italian and Anglo-Saxon countries, which present spatial boundary conditions, the theoretical configuration of DCs, innovation and internationalization we replicated is retained, suggesting that it has potential to be developed further into an actionable theory of DCs for the small, entrepreneurial firm that internationalizes
