This is an in-depth comparative study of the strategies used to counteract bullying at schools. It provides an international perspective on such strategies: Studies in South African schools are used to provide an African perspective: Australian research is used to provide an Oceanian perspective: Japanese research to provide an Asian perspective; and research conducted in England is used to provide an European perspective on bullying at schools. The extent and nature of bullying in schools was discussed in great detail, as well as the characteristics of bullies and their victims. The causes of bullying, as well as the effects of bullying on learners in the school situation are reviewed. The concept of cyberbullying was expanded upon. The role of the governments, the schools and independent organizations in combating bullying was investigated. To conclude the study, the laws concerning bullying at schools in the four countries are scrutinized and recommendations are made, based on the conclusion that bullying at school can indeed be counteracted successfully. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2008.

This thesis takes as one point of departure the concept of the expanded curriculum where curricula encompass both the formal steering documents, as well as that which goes on within the framework of preschool education and through the actors in preschools. The overarching purpose is therefore to generate knowledge about what conditions for learning the work of teachers make possible when curricula are created in preschool settings for children aged between 1 and 3. The purpose is also to contribute with knowledge about what these created curricula would mean for children’s agency, and the importance they can have for children’s opportunities for learning and development. The three empirical studies consist of digitally recorded interviews with teachers and video observations with a focus on teachers’ communication with children in preschool. The discussion in the overarching text is constructed around three aspects that emerge in the overall results of the studies. First, the studies reveal how teachers’ work can be likened to a limiting curriculum which, on the one hand, is entirely child-centered, with the children as seen actors, but, on the other, can be interpreted as entirely teacher-centered. Secondly, there is the discussion about the affirmative curriculum, where children are presented as affirmed actors. In other words, content becomes those things that children are interested in, and their modes of expression are seen, affirmed and often repeated. Finally there is the discussion about the possibilities and dilemmas related to an expanding curriculum where children are regarded and treated as real actors in the sense that their intentions and expressions are taken seriously as relevant challenges. The current curriculum text for Swedish preschool can, in this sense, be seen as an obstacle in that its formulations are extremely broad-based, as discussed related to the results of this thesis.

Bakgrund: Att en god hälsa uppnås är ett av målen med hälso- och sjukvården. För att sjuksköterskan ska nå detta mål är hen i behov av sina kunskaper och egenskaper. Den personcentrerade vården ligger till grund för sjuksköterskans profession varpå den respektfulla kommunikationen mellan sjuksköterskan och patienten är essentiell. Likaså är det verbala samt icke verbala språket avgörande för kommunikationen. Stress och tidsbrist kan leda till att sjuksköterskor upplever den givna informationen som otillräcklig. Därför är det betydelsefullt att undersöka sjuksköterskans kommunikation utifrån ett patientperspektiv.   Syfte: Att belysa patienters upplevelser av sjuksköterskans kommunikation i vårdmötet. Metod: Denna studie är en litteraturöversikt av redan befintligt material, varpå tolv vetenskapliga artiklar framtagits genom sökningar i två databaser. Dessa artiklar analyserades enligt Fribergs metod av författarna, som därefter framställde det nya resultatet i huvud-och subteman. Resultat: Resultatet för denna litteraturöversikt presenteras i två huvudteman: (1) Sjuksköterskans egenskaper i kommunikationen och (2) Betydelsefulla aspekter i kommunikationen. Dessa genererar i två subteman; (1) Stödja och involvera samt Engagemang och respektfullhet, (2) Språket samt Lyhördhet. Diskussion: Kommunikationen är en betydelsefull del i vården och blir således ett komplext område för sjuksköterskan att främja. De centrala fynden som diskuteras är sjuksköterskans egenskaper, kunskaper, språket samt patientens delaktighet. Resultatet diskuterades även utifrån Jean Watsons teori om den mänskliga omsorgen samt utifrån konsensusbegreppet hälsa. / Background: One of the goals in the health care is that good health is achieved. For the nurse to achieve this goal he or she is in great need of his or her skills and qualities. The person-centered care is the basis of the nurse profession whereupon the respectful communication between the nurse and patient is essential. Similarly the verbal and non-verbal language is important for the communication. Stress and lack of time can lead to nurses experiencing the given information as inadequate. Thus, it is important to examine the nurses’ communication from a patient perspective. Aim: To explore patients’ experiences of nurses’ communication within the healthcare meeting. Method: This study is a literature review of existing material, whereupon twelve articles were developed by searches in two databases. The selected articles were analyzed by the authors according to Friberg's method, whom then presented the new results in main and subthemes. Results: In this literature review the results are presented in two main themes; (1) The nurse characteristics in the communication and (2) Significant aspects in the communication. These generated in two subthemes each; (1) Support and involve and also Commitment and respectfulness (2) Language and Responsiveness. Discussion: Communication is significant in the healthcare and thus becomes a complex area for the nurses to encourage in the all patients care. The main findings discussed in this study is the nurse’s characteristics, knowledge, language and the patient participation. The results of this study were also discussed based on Jean Watson’s theory of human caring, as well on the basis of the consensus concept health.

The relationship between the police and the public is largely mediated through policing practice and procedure. The perspective of the officer on the individual level, as well as that of the cumulative police force of a community, frames these practices, ultimately influencing the types of interactions that play out between officers and civilians. This paper looks at the ways in which police officers perceive their communities, their jobs, and themselves in the larger practice of policing. Based on ethnographic research on police in the Atlanta area, this work focuses on the perspective of police officers, and how they are affected by training and their experiences in law enforcement. This study suggests that an ontological shift, which is experienced through training and working as a police officer, contributes to a conceptual division between the police and the public for officers, affecting larger public relations.

This thesis includes a body of work that explores our visual relationship to the physical spaces and places we inhabit in our everyday lives. Today we live in a complex world where we are bombarded with fragments of information and inundated with distractions. As designers, we are equipped with tools and methods that allow us to experience and interpret our environment through multi-faceted perspectives and from different viewpoints. My approach to graphic design adopts techniques and practices from a mix of different disciplines. The work focuses on a design process that alternates between the parallel depiction of first-person and third-person vantage points mediated through contemporary technologies.

This thesis is an exercise in creative writing exploring the first-person relationships between six main characters. With half born before the apocalypse and half born after, each bring to the table new perspectives on the purpose of life. Questions of religion, government, and free will are brought to the fore. In the end, there is no right answer to any of these questions. Readers will only discover more about themselves in finding which character they relate to most, or dislike the most. This will show readers what their own opinions on such issues are. The significance will be that readers will understand more about themselves, and how they see and value life itself.

As an artist, I am interested in understanding how and why humans interact with the natural world. I examine my own individual behaviors and practices and research impacts made on nature by humans as a whole. I am drawn to nature for a multitude of reasons, including aesthetic beauty, psychological wellness, unraveling the mysteries of the universe and trying to understand the origins of life. As an artist I explore the dialectic relationship between everything we perceive outside of ourselves as the environment, and the way we think of ourselves in relation to that environment. I believe in the interconnectedness of all living things and I am interested in understanding why humans are the only species which act against their best interests in preserving the habitat that is necessary for survival. These questions bring me to address the issues of greed, consumption, and control over resources in my art practice.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Bakgrund: Eutanasi är lagligt i ett fåtal platser i världen. I länder där det är otillåtet är detta ett outforskat ämne, särskilt ur ett patientperspektiv. Palliativ vård anses vara ett alternativ till eutanasi, trots detta önskar en del personer att avsluta livet med eutanasi. Syfte: Att beskriva anledningar till varför vuxna personer vill påskynda döden med hjälp av eutanasi och att beskriva undersökningsgruppen i utvalda artiklar. Metod: En deskriptiv litteraturstudie byggd på elva kvalitativa vetenskapliga artiklar hämtade ur databaserna Cinahl, PubMed och PsycINFO. Huvudresultat: Resultatet visade att bristande symtomkontroll, i synnerhet smärta, var en vanlig anledning till att önska eutanasi. Funktionsförluster gjorde att deltagare förlorat sig själva och inte längre kunde delta i aktiviteter som tidigare. Rädslor för framtida lidande och förlust av självständighet uttrycktes. De önskade en värdig död genom att återta kontroll över sin kropp och sitt liv. De ville inte vara en börda ochkände sig inte längre behövda. Undersökningsgrupperna innehöll deltagare från länderdär eutanasi är lagligt såväl som olagligt. Deltagare varierade i antal, ålder ochmedicinskt tillstånd. Slutsats: Eutanasi är relativt outforskat ur perspektivet från de som önskar sjukvårdens hjälp med att avsluta livet. Det förekommer att svårt sjuka och äldre utan livshotande sjukdom, vill dö i förtid. En vanlig anledning bland deltagarna, var att återta kontroll över kroppen samt bestämma hur och när livet tar slut. Eftersom individens syn på en värdig död ibland skiljer sig från vad sjukvården tillåter och anser värdigt, förekom rädslor för en smärtsam och utdragen död. / Background: Euthanasia is legal in a few places in the world. This is a subject with limited research made in countries where it is not legal especially from a patientperspective. Palliative care is considered an alternative to euthanasia but requests foreuthanasia still occurs. Aim: Describe the reasons behind a wish to hasten death through euthanasia among dults and to describe the study group of selected items. Methods: A descriptive literature study based on eleven scientific articles with qualitative approach collected from the databases Cinahl, PubMed and PsycINFO. Main results: The result showed that lack of symptom control and pain in particular seemed to be a common motivating factor to wish for euthanasia. Also loss of functions among participants led to feelings of identity loss and being unable to participate inactivities like before. Participants expressed fears of having to endure suffering as well as being dependent on others. They wanted to die with dignity by regaining control of their own bodies and lives with euthanasia. They did not want to be a burden and no longer felt needed. Study groups included participants from countries where euthanasia is legal and illegal. Participants varied in number, age and medical condition. Conclusion: Euthanasia is a relatively unexplored subject from the perspectives of people who wish for medical help to end their lives. It occurs that severely ill people as well as elderly without a terminal disease want help to end their lives prematurely. A common desire among participants was to regain control of their bodies and determine how and when life should end. Fears of suffering a painful and prolonged death occured since the individual’s vision of a dignified death sometimes differs from what healthcare permit and deem worthy.

According to research children in families that obtain social welfare are exposed to problems with their health and development. The aim of this study is to explore social workers way of working with child perspective in their everyday work with families and social welfare. It also aims to explore the social workers discretion and if it affects their work on child perspective. This study used a qualitative methodology and used semi-structured interviews to collect data. The data was later analysed through content analysis. Four themes emerged from the data analysis; definition of the child perspective, lack of time, financial framework, unclear frameworks and laws. The social workers experienced that lack of time has a negative effect on their possibility to document the child perspective in their work. The social workers expressed that they have possibilities through their discretion to influence the work situation, which has a positive effect on the work.  The study concludes that social workers want to work with child perspective but need more resources and time to do so. / Enligt forskning utsätts barn i familjer som uppbär långvarigt försörjningsstöd för mer problem med sin hälsa och utveckling i jämförelse med barn som lever i självförsörjande familjer. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur socialsekreterare arbetar med barnperspektivet i det dagliga arbetet med barnfamiljer inom ekonomiskt bistånd och hur socialsekreterarna förhåller sig till handlingsutrymmet som förekommer på deras arbetsplats. I denna studie använde jag mig av en kvalitativ forskningsmetod med semistrukturerade intervjuer där jag intervjuade fyra socialsekreterare för att samla in data. För att göra min analys har jag använt mig av Michael Lipskys gräsrotsbyråkrati teori. Resultatet har senare analyserats med en innehållsanalys. I innehållsanalysen framkom fyra teman; Definition av barnperspektivet, tidsbrist, budgetramar och oklarheter i lagar och riktlinjer. Resultatet av studien visade att socialsekreterarna har olika definitioner av vad ett barnperspektiv är och att de upplever tidsbrist. Tidsbristen resulterar i att tiden för dokumentation av barnperspektivet minskar. Det framkom även att socialsekreterarna anser att de delvis har ett stort handlingsutrymme när det gäller att fatta beslut gällande specifika ärenden. Studien drar slutsatsen att socialarbetarna anser att barnperspektivet är viktigt samt att de vill arbeta med det. Dock behöver socialarbetarna mer resurser och tid.