394 research outputs found
Psykiatrisessa hoidossa olevan nuoren hoitoon sitoutuminen
No full textAbstractThe purpose of this study was to investigate treatment adherence among adolescents receiving mental health care, with a special focus on psychiatric inpatient treatment. Key goals were to derive a general definition of adherence suitable for this purpose and to assess adolescents’ adherence to medication and non-pharmacological treatments. This study had two phases; phase one involved conducting systematic literature reviews, and phase two was based on empirical research in which data were collected by analyzing notes on hospital patients. The aim of the reviews were to review current research evidence into treatment adherence in adolescents and factors relating adherence among adolescents receiving mental health care (original publication n=15 and original publication n=17). Phase two was part of a clinical follow-up project called STUDY-70 conducted at the Department of Psychiatry at Oulu University Hospital in Finland. This phase yielded two further original publications — papers III and IV. Paper III examined adherence among adolescents receiving psychiatric inpatient care (n=72), focusing on both medication and non-pharmacological treatments. Paper IV examined factors affecting treatment adherence among these 72 inpatient adolescents, including family- and clinic-related variables.The systematic reviews demonstrated that many different definitions of adherence have been used in the literature. A concept synthesis was applied to these definitions to establish a basis for empirical research. The main factors that were found to correlate positively with treatment adherence among adolescents were the patients’ own will to be treated and positive sentiments, but family also played an important role. Factors that correlated negatively with adherence included negative feelings, a lack of cooperation with treatment, and adverse mental symptoms. Adolescent who has received special support at school was found to favor treatment adherence, whereas involuntary treatment, self-mutilative behavior and a close maternal relationship were all linked to non-adherence.Treatment adherence is an ongoing process, and achieving high levels of adherence should be an important goal in all treatment processes. It is important for clinical staff to be aware of factors influencing adherence in order to support the provision of effective and high-quality care for adolescents.TiivistelmäTutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää mielenterveyspalveluita käyttävien nuorien hoitoon sitoutumista ja erityisesti psykiatrisessa osastohoidossa olevan nuoren sitoutumista hoitoon. Keskeisinä tavoitteina oli kuvata hoitoon sitoutumisen määrittelyä ja arvioida nuoren sitoutumista lääke- ja ei-lääkinnälliseen hoitoon. Tutkimus sisälsi kaksi vaihetta: vaihe yksi systemaattiset kirjallisuuskatsaukset sekä vaihe kaksi empiirisen tutkimuksen, jossa tieto kerättiin analysoimalla potilasasiakirjoja. Systemaattisen kirjallisuuskatsauksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää nuoren hoitoon sitoutumista ja siihen yhteydessä olevia tekijöitä (alkuperäisjulkaisu I n=15, alkuperäisjulkaisu II n=17). Vaihe kaksi oli osa Oulun yliopistollisen sairaalan psykiatrian klinikan projektia, STUDY-70, joka tuotti kaksi osajulkaisua. Alkuperäisjulkaisun III tarkoituksena oli tutkia osastohoidossa olevan nuoren sitoutumista lääke- sekä ei lääkinnälliseen hoitoon (n=72). Alkuperäisjulkaisussa IV selvitettiin näiden nuoren sitoutumista hoitoon ja erityinen mielenkiinto tässä tutkimuksessa oli perhe- ja kliinisillä tekijöillä sitoutuminen (n=72).Systemaattisen kirjallisuuskatsauksen perusteella sitoutumisen määrittelyt vaihtelivat. Tästä huolimatta käsitteen määrittelyjen synteesi oli mahdollinen ja se loi pohjan empiiriselle tutkimukselle. Tämän tutkimuksen perusteella nuoren oma tahto ja positiivinen asenne olivat positiivisesti yhteydessä hoitoon sitoutumiseen. Myös perheen toiminta vaikutti hoitoon sitoutumiseen. Nuoren negatiiviset tunteet, yhteistyökyvyttömyys ja mielenterveysoireet vaikuttivat negatiivisesti sitoutumiseen. Lisäksi nuoren saamat erityispalvelut koulussa tukivat osastohoidossa olevan nuoren hoitoon sitoutumista. Vastentahtoinen hoito, viiltely sekä läheinen ja kestävä äitisuhde olivat yhteydessä sitoutumattomuuteen.Hoitoon sitoutuminen on kokonaisvaltainen prosessi ja yksi hoidon tavoitteista, joka voidaan saavuttaa. Hoitoon sitoutumisen edistämiseksi henkilökunnan tulee tiedostaa ne tekijät, jotka vaikuttavat hoitoon sitoutumiseen. Näin voidaan suunnitella ja toteuttaa laadukasta ja vaikuttavaa hoitoa.Academic dissertation to be presented with the assent of the Doctoral Training Committee of Health and Biosciences of the University of Oulu for public defence in Auditorium F202 of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology (Aapistie 5 B), on 22 May 2015, at 12 noonAbstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate treatment adherence among adolescents receiving mental health care, with a special focus on psychiatric inpatient treatment. Key goals were to derive a general definition of adherence suitable for this purpose and to assess adolescents’ adherence to medication and non-pharmacological treatments. This study had two phases; phase one involved conducting systematic literature reviews, and phase two was based on empirical research in which data were collected by analyzing notes on hospital patients. The aim of the reviews were to review current research evidence into treatment adherence in adolescents and factors relating adherence among adolescents receiving mental health care (original publication n=15 and original publication n=17). Phase two was part of a clinical follow-up project called STUDY-70 conducted at the Department of Psychiatry at Oulu University Hospital in Finland. This phase yielded two further original publications — papers III and IV. Paper III examined adherence among adolescents receiving psychiatric inpatient care (n=72), focusing on both medication and non-pharmacological treatments. Paper IV examined factors affecting treatment adherence among these 72 inpatient adolescents, including family- and clinic-related variables.
The systematic reviews demonstrated that many different definitions of adherence have been used in the literature. A concept synthesis was applied to these definitions to establish a basis for empirical research. The main factors that were found to correlate positively with treatment adherence among adolescents were the patients’ own will to be treated and positive sentiments, but family also played an important role. Factors that correlated negatively with adherence included negative feelings, a lack of cooperation with treatment, and adverse mental symptoms. Adolescent who has received special support at school was found to favor treatment adherence, whereas involuntary treatment, self-mutilative behavior and a close maternal relationship were all linked to non-adherence.
Treatment adherence is an ongoing process, and achieving high levels of adherence should be an important goal in all treatment processes. It is important for clinical staff to be aware of factors influencing adherence in order to support the provision of effective and high-quality care for adolescents.Tiivistelmä
Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää mielenterveyspalveluita käyttävien nuorien hoitoon sitoutumista ja erityisesti psykiatrisessa osastohoidossa olevan nuoren sitoutumista hoitoon. Keskeisinä tavoitteina oli kuvata hoitoon sitoutumisen määrittelyä ja arvioida nuoren sitoutumista lääke- ja ei-lääkinnälliseen hoitoon. Tutkimus sisälsi kaksi vaihetta: vaihe yksi systemaattiset kirjallisuuskatsaukset sekä vaihe kaksi empiirisen tutkimuksen, jossa tieto kerättiin analysoimalla potilasasiakirjoja. Systemaattisen kirjallisuuskatsauksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää nuoren hoitoon sitoutumista ja siihen yhteydessä olevia tekijöitä (alkuperäisjulkaisu I n=15, alkuperäisjulkaisu II n=17). Vaihe kaksi oli osa Oulun yliopistollisen sairaalan psykiatrian klinikan projektia, STUDY-70, joka tuotti kaksi osajulkaisua. Alkuperäisjulkaisun III tarkoituksena oli tutkia osastohoidossa olevan nuoren sitoutumista lääke- sekä ei lääkinnälliseen hoitoon (n=72). Alkuperäisjulkaisussa IV selvitettiin näiden nuoren sitoutumista hoitoon ja erityinen mielenkiinto tässä tutkimuksessa oli perhe- ja kliinisillä tekijöillä sitoutuminen (n=72).
Systemaattisen kirjallisuuskatsauksen perusteella sitoutumisen määrittelyt vaihtelivat. Tästä huolimatta käsitteen määrittelyjen synteesi oli mahdollinen ja se loi pohjan empiiriselle tutkimukselle. Tämän tutkimuksen perusteella nuoren oma tahto ja positiivinen asenne olivat positiivisesti yhteydessä hoitoon sitoutumiseen. Myös perheen toiminta vaikutti hoitoon sitoutumiseen. Nuoren negatiiviset tunteet, yhteistyökyvyttömyys ja mielenterveysoireet vaikuttivat negatiivisesti sitoutumiseen. Lisäksi nuoren saamat erityispalvelut koulussa tukivat osastohoidossa olevan nuoren hoitoon sitoutumista. Vastentahtoinen hoito, viiltely sekä läheinen ja kestävä äitisuhde olivat yhteydessä sitoutumattomuuteen.
Hoitoon sitoutuminen on kokonaisvaltainen prosessi ja yksi hoidon tavoitteista, joka voidaan saavuttaa. Hoitoon sitoutumisen edistämiseksi henkilökunnan tulee tiedostaa ne tekijät, jotka vaikuttavat hoitoon sitoutumiseen. Näin voidaan suunnitella ja toteuttaa laadukasta ja vaikuttavaa hoitoa
Latent Class Analysis of upbringing and mental health status among youth and young adults in Greenland
No full textBackground
Profound socio-cultural changes in Grenland during the last 70 years have resulted in radical
changes in the health and well-being of the population. Suicide rates and mental health problems
have been rising, particularly among the young part of the Greenland Inuit. Previous research
has found that protective factors for mental health in the Arctic often are linked to traditional
activities and Inuit culture. Yet, most previous research has been assessing the youth in general,
and more knowledge is needed, on how the youth and young adults in Greenland differ.
Design and Methods
This thesis was made as a cross-sectional study with data from the Greenland Health Survey
2018 and included 658 respondents between 15-34 years. The thesis sought to investigate
how conditions in upbringing characterise Greenlandic youth and young adults with different
negative and positive mental health outcomes. This was done by latent class analysis with distal
variables.
Results
Four subgroups of youth and young adults were identified based on conditions in upbringing.
Class 1 (n=178, 27%) and Class 2 (n=164, 25%) were both characterised by a relatively low
probability of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) during upbringing and a high probability
of having grown up with strong ties to Inuit culture. These classes had the lowest probability of
negative mental health outcomes. Class 3 (n= 224, 34 %) grew up with the highest probability
of having experienced ACEs during upbringing and the highest probability of negative mental
health. Class 4 (n= 92, 14 %) had the lowest probability of having grown up with strong ties to
Inuit culture and the second-highest probability of an upbringing with ACEs.
Conclusion
Individuals growing up with the combination of an absence of ACEs and with strong ties to
Inuit culture have the best mental health outcomes. This combination fosters good mental health
independent of whether the individuals grew up in a settlement or town and independent of
Danish language proficiency. Individuals growing up with ACEs have the poorest mental health
outcomes. A significant proportion of the youth and young adults in Greenland have ACEs, and
the ACEs investigated often co-occur
Latent Class Analysis of upbringing and mental health status among youth and young adults in Greenland
No full textBackground
Profound socio-cultural changes in Grenland during the last 70 years have resulted in radical
changes in the health and well-being of the population. Suicide rates and mental health problems
have been rising, particularly among the young part of the Greenland Inuit. Previous research
has found that protective factors for mental health in the Arctic often are linked to traditional
activities and Inuit culture. Yet, most previous research has been assessing the youth in general,
and more knowledge is needed, on how the youth and young adults in Greenland differ.
Design and Methods
This thesis was made as a cross-sectional study with data from the Greenland Health Survey
2018 and included 658 respondents between 15-34 years. The thesis sought to investigate
how conditions in upbringing characterise Greenlandic youth and young adults with different
negative and positive mental health outcomes. This was done by latent class analysis with distal
variables.
Results
Four subgroups of youth and young adults were identified based on conditions in upbringing.
Class 1 (n=178, 27%) and Class 2 (n=164, 25%) were both characterised by a relatively low
probability of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) during upbringing and a high probability
of having grown up with strong ties to Inuit culture. These classes had the lowest probability of
negative mental health outcomes. Class 3 (n= 224, 34 %) grew up with the highest probability
of having experienced ACEs during upbringing and the highest probability of negative mental
health. Class 4 (n= 92, 14 %) had the lowest probability of having grown up with strong ties to
Inuit culture and the second-highest probability of an upbringing with ACEs.
Conclusion
Individuals growing up with the combination of an absence of ACEs and with strong ties to
Inuit culture have the best mental health outcomes. This combination fosters good mental health
independent of whether the individuals grew up in a settlement or town and independent of
Danish language proficiency. Individuals growing up with ACEs have the poorest mental health
outcomes. A significant proportion of the youth and young adults in Greenland have ACEs, and
the ACEs investigated often co-occur
Désigner et conserver soie et soieries en Chine
No full textCyrus-Zetterström (Ulla). — Designating and conserving silk and silk fabrics in China.
As China is at the origin of silk fabrics, knowledge of ancient fabrics is acquired by learning Chinese. This instigated the project to establish a vocabulary of technical textile terms for Chinese/ English/French/Swedish ; the stages and difficulties of this project are retraced in this article. The trips made by the author within this project, have helped in showing that China is presently putting this millenary héritage into value : muséums devoted, partly or totally, to silk and to silk fabrics are being restructured or created, and the main ones are indexed in this study.
Le Monde alpin et rhodanien, 2-3e trimestres 1991, Les filières de la soie lyonnaise, pp. 143 à 147.Cyrus-Zetterström (Ulla). — Désigner et conserver soie et soieries en Chine.
La Chine se trouvant aux origines du travail de la soie, la connaissance des soieries anciennes passe par l'apprentissage de la langue chinoise. De là est né le projet d'établir un vocabulaire chinois/anglais/ français/suédois des termes techniques textiles, projet dont les étapes et les difficultés sont retracées dans cet article. Les voyages entrepris par l'auteur dans ce cadre lui ont permis de constater que la Chine met actuellement en valeur ce patrimoine millénaire : des musées consacrés, en partie ou en totalité, à la soie et aux soieries sont restructurés ou créés, et les principaux d'entre eux sont répertoriés ici.
Le Monde alpin et rhodanien, 2-3e trimestres 1991, Les filières de la soie lyonnaise, pp. 143 à 147.Cyrus-Zetterström Ulla. Désigner et conserver soie et soieries en Chine. In: Le Monde alpin et rhodanien. Revue régionale d'ethnologie, n°2-3/1991. Les filières de la soie lyonnaise, sous la direction de Florence Charpigny . pp. 143-147
Every Second Is a Life: Ulla-Carin Lindquist’s Rowing Without Oars
No full text© The Author(s) 2019. Ulla-Carin Lindquist’s Rowing Without Oars relates a life constrained by illness, in which one’s sense of “I am” becomes increasingly faint. She depicts how physical losses can inadvertently open opportunities to explore humanity’s “potential consciousness.” In seeking an answer to the question, “Who am I become to live well in this new world?” Lindquist demonstrates what it means to “become fully human, and everything that the person can become.” She captures this movement toward “potential consciousness” through simple, lyrical language and artfully constructed grammar and syntax that is devoid of deception
COVID-19 impacts in Northernmost Finland
No full textThe COVID-19 pandemic challenged our lives during the years 2020–2022. Impacts could be seen in everyday life, both locally and nationally, through economic, mental and social elements. However, these effects varied depending on the life situation of individuals. This paper aims to gather information from the representatives and operators working in two Finnish municipalities, Inari and Utsjoki, to understand and learn about their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data (20 interviews) were collected between December 2021 and February 2022 and analysed following the principles of the qualitative content analysis. The results suggest that the effects of COVID-19 emerged through issues related to the national border between Finland and Norway, economic challenges, and the pressure that people experienced. However, despite challenges, people were supported by everyday life and a connection to nature, communality and close co-operation. Additionally, local needs were highlighted among participants. The results provide a deeper understanding about the public health impacts in these Northernmost municipalities and can therefore be utilised in future development work. They also provide relevant information on the experiences of Sámi people, and specific views related to Sámi people can be recognised
Économie politique féministe d'intégration dans la CE
No full textA feminist political economics of integration in the EC
Ulla Koch notes that economic analyses, even when they consider social groups, generally ignore the gender element in groups. What is needed is not to take exceptional measures in favour of women a posteriori as if they were a marginal group; the gender parameter must be integrated in analyses to prevent an economic unbalance between the sexes. This parameter should be taken into account both as. concerns resources (an aspect that is often neglected) and as concerns the breakdown of the workload - here, the very definition of work needs review. The author indicates that the creation of the single European market makes a provisional analysis of its consequences on women indispensable, to prevent potential economic unbalance between the men and women rather than attempting to compensate it when it is too late.Koch Ulla, Bolain Nancy. Économie politique féministe d'intégration dans la CE. In: Les Cahiers du GRIF, n°48, 1994. Les femmes et la construction européenne. pp. 121-129
Communicating and complying with COVID-19 actions in northernmost Finland
No full textIn Finland, national and local restrictions were implemented to control the COVID-19 pandemic after the increase of cases, and it changed the everyday life of people. The purpose of our study was to explore public health communication and compliance related to the COVID-19 public health instructions, recommendations, and restrictions in two municipalities in Northernmost Finland, Inari and Utsjoki. We interviewed the representatives and operators working in the municipalities to understand and learn about their experiences. Results suggested that residents complied with different COVID-19 actions, and overall, communication was found to be good. Altogether, guidelines were easy to follow but required the individual’s own activity. Guidelines were also published in Sámi language. National border restrictions were a challenging part of communication and information, and guidelines were found to be contradictory at times. National border actions required resources from the municipalities, e.g. testing, which caused more demands on municipalities operating with already low resources. In the future, it is essential to consider the local situation of the pandemic and harmonise actions and put effort on local cooperation. It is important to invest in clear communication, which reaches people of all ages, and in three Sámi languages
Arktiset olosuhteet ja terveys
No full textArktinen alue muuttuu. Ilmaston lämpeneminen on läsnä ihmisten jokapäiväisessä elämässä, ikirouta ja jäätiköt sulavat, meri on jäätön sekä sadanta ja tuuli ovat erilaisia kuin ennen. Luonto tukee terveyttä ja hyvinvointia, vaikka muuttuneessa ympäristössä ei voida enää toimia kuin ennen. Suurimmat yhteisöjen huolet liittyvät ruoka- ja vesiturvallisuuteen, mielenterveyteen ja globaalin muutoksen mukanaan tuomiin uusiin elinkeinoihin, kuten kaivostoimintaan ja turismiin. Ilmastonmuutos ja ikiroudan sulaminen aiheuttavat taloudellista rasitetta talojen ja teiden vaurioituessa, eläin- ja kasvikunnan muuttumista sekä uudenlaisia riskejä ympäristössä liikkumiseen. Haasteista huolimatta paikallisilla on luja luottamus hyvän elämän jatkumiseen. Heidän, viranomaisten ja tutkijoiden yhteistyötä tarvitaan muutoksien arvioimiseksi kestävän kehityksen tueksi.Arktinen alue muuttuu. Ilmaston lämpeneminen on läsnä ihmisten jokapäiväisessä elämässä, ikirouta ja jäätiköt sulavat, meri on jäätön sekä sadanta ja tuuli ovat erilaisia kuin ennen. Luonto tukee terveyttä ja hyvinvointia, vaikka muuttuneessa ympäristössä ei voida enää toimia kuin ennen. Suurimmat yhteisöjen huolet liittyvät ruoka- ja vesiturvallisuuteen, mielenterveyteen ja globaalin muutoksen mukanaan tuomiin uusiin elinkeinoihin, kuten kaivostoimintaan ja turismiin. Ilmastonmuutos ja ikiroudan sulaminen aiheuttavat taloudellista rasitetta talojen ja teiden vaurioituessa, eläin- ja kasvikunnan muuttumista sekä uudenlaisia riskejä ympäristössä liikkumiseen. Haasteista huolimatta paikallisilla on luja luottamus hyvän elämän jatkumiseen. Heidän, viranomaisten ja tutkijoiden yhteistyötä tarvitaan muutoksien arvioimiseksi kestävän kehityksen tueksi
Knitted fashion : Knitwear designed by Ulla Bergh
No full text“Given that the attention of the academy to fashion as a discipline is so relatively recent, knitwear as an element of fashion has received even less attention. Knitwear is universal—everyone wears it in some form—but its domestic and mass-market connotations have until recently consigned it to a minor role in fashion and textile study.” The above was quoted from Sandy Black (2005), the author of Knitwear in Fashion. Black was right in 2005. Fortunately, after that year an academic interest in knitting and knitted fashion has grown. Several studies have approached knitting from the points of view of a hobby, professional making, fashion, and the use of the garment. These different approaches are most profoundly combined in Knitting: Fashion, Industry, Craft by Sandy Black (2012). This case history is not as extensive as her volume, but in the same spirit I study the designing and making of knitted fashion, clients’ experiences of knitted clothes, and the reactions of the press by analyzing and combining interviews, press, and archival data with an object-based study of 41 knitted items. This study contributes to a larger project, Fashion and Craft in Finland, in which I investigate the past and present of Finnish couture. I start from a wide context of knitwear fashion, then proceed to Ulla Bergh’s position in the Finnish fashion scene, and finally end in the analysis of the production and outfits of this particular designer. In 20th century fashion, knitwear has been strongly connected with a modern, liberated woman. In the 1910s, Gabrielle Chanel started her career by introducing comfortable leisure outfits made of knitted fabrics to wealthy holidaymakers in French seaside resorts. She brought her comfortable but smart clothing to city life and to a broader fashion scene in the 1920s. While Chanel’s relaxed style was based on factory-made jerseys, in the late 1920s Elsa Schiaparelli experimented with hand-knitted creations in haute couture. The third famous early knitwear designer was Jean Patou. He opened Le Coin des Sports, specialized in ready-to-wear knitwear, alongside his haute couture production in the mid-1920s. The sweater girl and the lady-like twinset made knitwear popular in post-war America and Europe. But it was Italy, and above all home-based craft production, that brought knitted clothes into high-end fashion and introduced innovative styles in the 1950s and onwards, with Missoni among the best-known companies. As Potočić Matković (2011) has noted, the rise of knitwear fashion has often been discussed with regard to social reasons. However, there were also technical reasons, as knitting machines developed immediately before knitted fabrics came into fashion in the 1920s. Correspondingly, in the Finland of the 1920s, knitted garments, which had been associated with the intimate sphere of life and home wear, slowly appeared alongside clothes made from woven fabrics. One knitting enterprise in Helsinki started in a usual manner as a home-based craft production. In spite of its name, Konststickeri (meaning “Art Knitting Mill” registered in 1928), the company was not especially artistic in the beginning. This changed in the 1930s when the founders’ daughter Ulla Bergh (1914–1997) took over the artistic leadership of the operation. She developed the artistic style and production methods to the couture level. The company became known by the name Taidekutomo, which was an unofficial Finnish translation of its registered Swedish name Konststickeri. In 1964 the name was registered as Neulottua – Stickat Ulla Bergh. Ulla Bergh’s wide frame of reference was European fashion and Paris haute couture in particular. She often traveled to Paris to be updated about the latest yarn fashions. While in Finland, she received Messages, fashion newsletters edited from 1949 to 1969 by Gurli Rosenbröijer, a Finnish journalist living in Paris. The yarn used for the products was mostly French, especially those of Anny Blatt, and Italian. This yarn was bought from a Finnish agent before and after World War II. During the war and post-war rationing, the designer had to contend with domestic yarn, often of poor quality made from recycled fibers. However, Ulla Bergh also used and appreciated the yarn of one Finnish producer called Kotivilla, established in 1936 in Tammisaari. Ulla Bergh arranged yearly fashion shows targeted to existing and potential clientele, and the press. The shows were presented in her fashion salon in the center of Helsinki, or in famous restaurants either alone or together with other high-end fashion houses. In the beginning of the 1950s, her work was recognized by other leading couturiers, and her company was invited to be a member of Salonkijaosto (the Fashion House Association). When analyzing my Finnish data, I found surprisingly many parallels with other stu- dies of knitwear and knitwear designing. It is a well-known fact in the history of fashion that neither Chanel nor Schiaparelli sketched their fashion ideas. Neither did Ulla Bergh. Unlike other Finnish couturiers, who are known to have drawn to communicate their designs to the client and the makers, she described all of her ideas to her clients, knitters and dressmakers. More recently and in more theoretical design literature than couture histories, Bryan Lawson (2006) has discussed conversation as a design method. Sketching is of course part of the mental process of thinking about a design for many designers. However, Lawson emphasizes the role of conversation along with or instead of visible sketching. He says that it is common for narratives to begin with some “scene setting”, describing the situation. Some characteristics must be named and introduced. When one names something, one often also says something about it. Lawson calls this “identifying”, identifying the design task. The task is generally expressed in the form of needs, desires, wishes, and requirements. The solution, on the other hand, is expressed in terms of physical materials, forms, systems, and components. Ulla Bergh used conversation to identify the design problem and describe situations, needs, desires, wishes, and requirements. Instead of drawn sketches, she gave yarn to the knitter to produce samples, which served as knitted sketches and helped with further conversations. Furthermore, she had some basic garments in her atelier to which she could refer when explaining her new design solutions to clients, knitters, and dressmakers. Claudia Eckert and Martin Stacey published their study of knitwear design in 2000. Their data are much more recent and collected from industrial knitwear designers but include many parallels with my study. They reported that knitwear designers think about quite concrete designs. Previous designs comprise combinations of design decisions: design elements and their interrelationships. New designs comprising simple modifications and combinations of pre-existing elements are easier to imagine—and to communicate—than more complex or radical transformations. Eckert and Stacey also noticed that knitwear designers hardly ever sketch during their design discussions. Most communication about the emergent visuospatial form of their design is done by reference to examples. Designing in words is all the more astonishing, because knitwear design—as well as many other design domains—does not have a standard vocabulary for variations of design elements. Although quite a lot of terminology exists, new structures are invented all the time. The same problem applies to colors: a huge number of colors are perceptually distinguishable, but human languages have only a small range of accepted color names. Thus references to existing examples are more concise and precise than alternative descriptions. It seems that Ulla Bergh has believed in the fact—also found by Eckert and Stacey—that only a direct reference to an example can communicate a design element unambiguously. The designer needs to communicate with at least two types of people: makers and clients. With makers it is easier to share a common cultural background and technical knowledge. With clients, samples and references to existing garments help. But when the recipients are unable to reconstruct the new design from a shared context, or understand its implications, the only way to judge it is through the designer’s authority and confidence. My data reveals the same fact. It was not only the designer’s creativity and technical solutions that were important in the designing sessions; above all, it was her taste and the client’s confidence in it that mattered. In this regard, taste is not a private preference and something merely subjective. Rather, it is a person’s faculty for judging aesthetic value. In this meaning, taste is a quality that some people have more than others. In this case, the designer’s taste seems to have been the basis of operations, although the material quality of clothes was highly valued, too. In the atelier, the knitter used a hand-operated V-bed knitting machine—the brand of which is not known—for most pieces of knitwear. The most often used knitting surfaces were plain knit, different variations of English ribbing, and racking patterns, some of which simulated lace. Although the patterns were few, no two of them were identical. This was not only due to different colors and types of yarn, but also and most importantly to the ways in which two shades of the same yarn or two different types of yarn were combined, often alternating on every second row, and how the knitted pieces were treated when they were ready. They were handled using different methods, such as felting or pressing the surface flat, in order to obtain varying effects depending on the design idea and the use of the garment. The pieces of one garment were knitted as straight panels without giving any shape in the machine. The pressed panel was easier to cut, and it draped in a nicer way than non-pressed fabric. However, certain three-dimensional knits were left as such. Hand-knitted pieces, which were made by knitters in their homes, probably were knitted in shape. However, no such garments are included in the object corpus. Potočić Matković (2011) has made the same observation about knitwear design: few designers are educated as knitwear designers. This is why they treat knitted material as woven fabric, for example, by cutting and sewing instead of shaping in the process of knitting. There are other reasons, too. In Ulla Bergh’s case these were costs and the possibility of further changes in fittings, as garments had seam allowances. In addition to seams, pieces were shaped with darts sewn by a machine, just as a garment made from woven fabric. Usually bust darts and vertical darts were left with dart allowances pressed flat, whereas darts on the armholes on the back of the jackets and blouses were treated in a special way. The dart allowance was cut and unraveled, and the yarn ends were finished into the knit with a needle. This was one of the construction methods that Ulla Bergh developed and liked to use in her designs. The other repeated laborious method was making buttonholes by unraveling stitches in one knitted row in two layers of the knit fabric, on places such as cuffs and the front of a jacket, and then stitching the layers together with a needle simulating the knitted stitches. This type of work as well as other time-consuming finishing jobs were often done in dressmakers’ homes. Ulla Bergh’s way of designing resembled that of Chanel and Schiaparelli, but the knitting had more resemblance to the production of Patou’s outfits, which were knitted as panels and cut and sewn together. The construction methods were both those similar to other knitwear designers and those developed by Ulla Bergh and typical only of her designs. The finishing methods gave a different look to the knitted surfaces, keeping them within a certain framework of elegance and avoiding the image of wild experimentation. The results were perfectly fitted outfits, in which the uniqueness typical of Finnish couture was taken to the extreme. Often the outfits consisted of several items, the combinations of which allowed for flexible use on different occasions. The clients kept and used their outfits for long periods of time, even over decades. The high quality of the materials, good proportions, perfect technique, and simplicity contributed to a style that was never boring. The press praised Ulla Bergh’s designs for the same reason. However, in addition to the taste and style of the designer, the journalists also mentioned the suitability of knitwear for the Finnish climate. Ulla Bergh’s creations from the 1930s to the 1970s were slowly made and long used. Thus they represented “slow fashion” in all meanings of those words long before the concept became known in the fashion literature in the first decade of the new millennium.Peer reviewe
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