Knut Ekker

Health in older cat and dog owners: The Nord-Trondelag Health Study (HUNT)-3 study

Aim: The main objective was to compare older male and female cat, dog, and non-owners with regard to demographic and health-related characteristics. Method: Data in the present cross-sectional population study were drawn from HUNT-3 in Norway. A total of 12,297 persons (5631 men; 6666 women) between the ages of 65 and 101 years were included, of whom 2358 were pet owners. Results: The main finding was that owning a dog demonstrated several health-related characteristics to a higher positive degree than both non-pet and cat ownership among the participants. Cat owners showed higher body mass index values and higher systolic blood pressure, and reported worse general health status. They also exercised to a lower degree than the others. Conclusions: As the result implies that older cat owners are negatively outstanding in many aspects of health compared with the dog owners, in the future, more focus must be put on the worse health of those. Further, there were more married male than female cat and dog owners. This probably depends on traditional cultural thinking; the man is the owner of the pet even if the woman lives with and cares about it. It is important to point out that different groups in the population might select different pets. Consequently, the findings showing a correlation between pet ownership and health may be owing to unrelated confounding factors.

Inner strength in relation to perceived physical and mental health among the oldest old people with chronic illness

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine inner strength, defined as connectedness, firmness, flexibility, and creativity, and its relation to mental and physical health in a sample of the oldest old chronically ill women and men living at home. Methods: A sample of 79 older women and 41 men in the age range of 80–101 years old (mean = 87.5) participated in this study. Inner strength measured by Resilience Scale, Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC), Purpose in Life Test (PIL), and Self-Transcendence Test (STS) was viewed in relation to mental and physical health (SF-36 Health Survey). Results: Experiencing connectedness, firmness, flexibility, and creativity were equal for women and men. SOC, PIL, and STS showed moderate inner strength. Medium and low resilience made the participants feel vulnerable. A significant correlation was observed between the variables for inner strength and mental health for women, men, and the total sample. STS was associated with mental and physical health for the total sample and for women. Conclusions: Although the oldest old women and men were vulnerable, they had inner strength. Encouraging participation using the inner strength of the oldest old can contribute to strengthen their experiences of independence, integrity, and enjoying life.

Depression in older cat and dog owners: the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT)-3.

Objective: Depression constitutes a major health problem for older people, in this study defined as people 65 years of age and older. Previous studies have shown that mental health among older people who live with animals could be improved, but contrary results exist as well. Therefore, the objective of the present population study was to compare the self-rated depression symptoms of both female and male non-pet owners, cat owners, and dog owners. Method: The participants in this cross-sectional population study included 12,093 people between the ages of 65 and 101. One thousand and eighty three participants owned cats and 814 participants owned dogs. Self-rated depression symptoms were measured using HADS-D, the scale of self-administered depression symptoms in HADS (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale). Results: The main results showed higher mean values on the HADS-D for cat owners than for both dog and non-pet owners. The latter group rated their depression symptoms the lowest. When dividing the ratings into low- and high-depression symptoms, the logistic regression analysis showed that it was more likely that males who owned cats perceived lower depression symptoms than females who owned cats. No interactions were recognized between pet ownership and subjective general health status, loneliness, or marital status. Conclusions: Our results provide a window into the differences in health factors between older females and males who own cats and dogs in rural areas. Results from population studies like ours might increase the available knowledge base when using cats and dogs in clinical environments such as nursing homes.

Critical success factors from outsourcing theories as determinants of leadership roles in IT outsourcing projects

The contingent approach to management is applied in this paper by making leadership roles dependent on critical success factors. Six leadership roles are made dependent on 11 critical success factors derived from outsourcing theories. An empirical study was conducted in Norway. Results indicate that the most critical success factor for the client organisation is core competence management. Core competence management is best achieved when the outsourcing project manager focuses on the entrepreneurial role.

Simulation-Games as a Learning Experience: An Analysis of Learning Style and Attitude

The authors explore the degree to which individual learning styles affect pre-simulation attitudes toward teamwork and post-simulation perceptions of the value of the simulation as a learning experience among third-semester university-level participants in a large-scale telematic simulation-game in Bremen (Germany). The learning style trait pairs ‘academic type’ and ‘interpersonal type’ are introduced as explanatory variables, first as categorical variables, then as continuous variables in multiple regression analyse. The results show that the pre-simulation attitude toward teamwork and interpersonal type explain variation in perceptions of the simulation experience. Qualitative data from debriefing teleconferences generally reflect the quantitative analysis.

An IT outsourcing governance model for mobile learning and organisation

Information Technology (IT) governance is concerned with decision rights, resource mobilisation and strategic alignment to achieve more benefits from information systems. In an outsourcing relationship, governance arrangements shift from being intra-organisational to being inter-organisational. Inter-organisational relationships are often based on virtual organisations, especially in offshore arrangements. Mobile learning and organisation will enhance the performance in outsourcing arrangements. A framework to discuss these issues is introduced in this paper in terms of an IT outsourcing governance model. Mechanisms in the model were empirically rated in a survey in Norway.

NLS: A Reflection Support System for Increased Inter-Regional Security

Cooperation across national borders is of paramount importance for the security in border close regions. Timely and adequate training, reflection, and preparation are core tools for facilitating and stimulating such interregional cooperation. Hence, NetAgora, a service oriented web portal for security cooperation, was designed. In NetAgora there is first a service package with accident-and emergency scenarios. Here multi-actors can train their cooperation and decision making skills. The R-statistics open source package is applied for recording and analyzing data from those training occasions. In subsequent debriefing sessions this is used for post-learning. Further, from anticipatory modeling and simulation it is found that rescue operations are delayed and misguided due to shortcomings in the communication between security command and communication centers. Hence, the NetAgora Learning System is designed and prototyped in order to overcome that problem. It will facilitate and stimulate reflection in action and double loop learning and aims at improving communication patterns by anticipatory pre-learning.

Emergency management training: Making sense of rich qualitative data

Content analyses with the assistance of computers date back over 50 years and allow analysis of unstructured text by looking at concepts and expressions used. Emergency management training also has a long history of using computerized tools to enhance the training process. This paper presents an analysis of rich qualitative data from a web based crisis management training tool used with emergency response personnel in the mountainous border region between Norway and Sweden. Using the NVivo software package the paper demonstrates the efficiency of handling rich sources of textual communications between police, fire and ambulance teams communicating with representatives of power companies and county and municipality officials in responding to emergencies. The analysis shows distinct patterns of concepts and terms used by the various emergency response agencies in the two native languages. In order to compare the concepts and terms used on agencies on both sides of the border it was necessary to provide a translation of the transcripts to English of the two police agencies to illustrate differences across the border.