Background

This thesis deals with organizational, cultural and personal factors involved in the execution of biomedical research. More specifically, the prime goal of this thesis is to describe publication culture and to unravel different factors related to biomedical science and scientists that might influence the publication process. I focus on factors related to the scientist him- or herself; perceived publication pressure, burnout symptoms in scientists, self-reported research misbehavior, biases in interpreting scientific information, and personality traits.

According to humanitarian minimal standards, humanitarian programmes should maximise participation of affected populations within their response. Participation has been a key point in proposals, evaluators are aware of it and every aid worker has heard of it. In theory, it is a perfectly implemented, well understood and a well respected construct. In the field of mental health and psychosocial support, participation is core principle number two.

This study examined the implementation of the Enhancing Resiliency Amongst Students Experiencing Stress intervention, which is a teacher mediated, evidence based school intervention, targeting youth who have been exposed to ongoing conflict. Our hypothesis was that posttraumatic symptom levels can be reduced when youth have higher levels of ego resilience and that this can be achieved through a teacher mediated, school intervention. We found that ego resilience is negatively related to posttraumatic symptom levels, while anxiety levels and impairment in functioning are positively related.