M.Ed. (Education Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Cur. (Nursing Science (Critical Care)) / Qualified critical care nurses are under internal and external stresses in the workplace, relating to role conflict, role ambiguity, increased workloads, the need for rapid decision making and the speedy delivery of care. However, having inexperienced students in critical care units put responsibility and additional stress on the qualified critical care nurses within the units. This may result in some of these qualified nurses not being willing to help with the education of the students. The purpose of the study was to explore and describe the experiences of QCCNs regarding students working in CCUs in a Gauteng Academic Hospital and to describe the recommendations to support the QCCNs in the critical care units. The research question asked was: What are the experiences of the QCCNs regarding students working in the CCUs? A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual design was followed to provide an in depth description and understanding of the experiences of QCCNs regarding students in critical care units. The study followed a hermeneutic approach. The accessible population was QCCNs currently working in the CCUs in a Gauteng Academic Hospital. A purposive sampling method was followed. Focus group interviews were conducted to collect data. The participants were asked these questions: ‘How do you experience the students working in your unit?’ The follow up question was: ‘What can be done to help you?’ Data saturation occurred on the fourth (4) focus group interview. Data collection took place on field trips and was transcribed verbatim from a tape recorder. Ethical considerations were upheld at all times during the study. Data was analyzed using Tesch method. The results comprised of a central theme, namely, qualified critical care nurses experience working with students in critical care units as stressful, increasing workload and a burden. The four (4) themes that emerged were: stress and increased workload, emotions about working with students in critical care units, attitude of qualified critical care nurses towards working with students and recommendations for CCUs to handle stress. From the findings and the main themes that emerged, recommendations to support the QCCNs were described. Trustworthiness of the data collected was upheld at all times during the study.

Online-gaming (OG) is a fast-growing phenomenon that could have a major impact in people's life. This study analyses the impact online-gaming has on cohabitational-love relationships and outsiders of the OG world. The study is based on six qualitative interviews with couples engaged in the world of internet-usage and OG. The interviews were performed both individually and together with their partner. There are many positive effects that comes with internet and OG, but there are also plenty of negative. Central questions for this study are therefore how OG are perceived within the relationships and how the potential consequences it leads to are dealt with. The study also discusses who the problem initiator is, and how the negotiation within the relationship looks like. Previous research shows conflict as a result of too much time spent with online-gaming. The result of this study therefore aspires to add a complementary layer to what may be the cause of these conflicts. The result shows that a lack of accountability and too much time spent involved with OG creates reasons for conflict. The presented solution included mutual agreement for what is to be seen as a fair amount of time spent with OG. If the time exceeds stated agreement, it seemed to be a reason for conflict. But if not, OG would mostly be seen as something positive for both parties when it comes to their individual well-being.

Using both qualitative and quantitative methodology, this thesis investigates the tactics used by long-distance relational partners, the differences in use of the tactics between long-distance and proximal partners, the relationship among the maintenance tactics, and the relationship of the tactics to relational satisfaction. Seven relational maintenance strategies were identified from the investigation: affirmation, expression, high tech mediated communication, low tech mediated communication, future thought, negative disclosure, and together-time. Significant differences in the use of maintenance tactics between long-distance and proximal partners were discovered and several tactics were found to correlate with relational satisfaction for both relationship types. It is concluded that relational maintenance should be viewed from a multi-dimensional perspective that recognizes the impact relational dialectics have on relationships.

La presente investigación describe la experiencia subjetiva de jóvenes de 20 a 25 años que mantienen relaciones románticas a larga distancia. Se recurrió a un diseño fenomenológico hermenéutico mediante el estudio de caso múltiple haciendo uso de los sistemas conversacionales de González Rey (2007). Participaron tres jóvenes con quienes se tuvo dos conversaciones con cada uno. Se encontró que la experiencia relacional previa influye en la experiencia subjetiva de la relación romántica actual a través de la imagen subjetiva que forman los participantes de sí mismos y de la pareja. Los objetivos educacionales y profesionales son relevantes en la manera en que los participantes configuran sus relaciones románticas y en la determinación de las aspiraciones e intenciones con la pareja. El cuerpo, en sus dimensiones física y mental, juega un papel importante en el intercambio virtual y el desarrollo de la intimidad de los participantes con sus parejas. La incertidumbre es un factor central en la vivencia de desencuentros entre los participantes y sus parejas. Los resultados de la investigación permiten plantearse que la interacción virtual da lugar a nuevos esquemas para pensar al otro y a uno mismo. Las relaciones inter e intrapersonales parecen verse afectadas por el avance de las tecnologías de la comunicación. / The present research describes the subjective experience of people between the ages of 20 and 25 who maintain long-distance romantic relationships. A hermeneutical phenomenological design was applied through a multiple case study employing González Rey’s (2007) conversational systems Three young people participated in the study. The researcher had two conversations with each one. It was found that the previous relational experience influences the subjective experience of the current romantic relationship through the subjective image that the participants form of themselves and of their couple. Educational and professional goals are relevant in the way participants shape their romantic relationships and in determining their aspirations and intentions with the partner. The body, in its physical and mental dimensions, plays an important role in the virtual exchange and the development of the intimacy of the participants with their partners. Uncertainty is a central factor in the experience of disagreements between the participants and their partners. The results of the research allow us to think that virtual interaction gives rise to new schemes to think about the other and oneself. Interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships seem to be affected by the advancement of communication technologies. / Tesis

Mentoring has been recognized as an important relationship in a variety of circumstances. This study was conducted for the purpose of determining the perceived benefits or disadvantages of a mentor relationship and identifying characteristics of the relationship. Another objective was to explore to what extent the nature of the mother/daughter relationship functions as a factor that makes the choice of a mentoring pattern more likely. The study sample consisted of 47 females, 12 graduate students and 35 assistant or associate professors on the faculty at Utah State University. The subjects completed several mother/daughter inventories, a mentoring inventory, and a personality inventory. Twenty subjects were interviewed for a more in-depth exploration of both their mentoring experience and mother/daughter relationship. Subjects were divided into groups based on gender of the person most facilitative of their professional objectives. The male-Mentored, female-mentored, and non-mentored groups were comparable on measures of perceived mother.daughter relationship characteristics and personality variables. The relationship between the score on a mother/daughter attention measure and total mentor score was .29. The Pearson correlations between perceived mother rejection and father love was -.61. Subjects were categorized as to whether they et the criteria for having had a mentor based on scores on a mentor inventory. Seventy-eight percent of subjects who specified females as most significant to their career met the criteria for having been mentored. Fifty percent of subjects who indicated a male was most facilitative scored high enough to meet the criteria. A multiple regression model used to predict total mentor score based on perceived mother attention and gender of mentor accounted for 20% of the total variability. An interaction was present between gender of the individual specified to be most significant tot he protege and perceived mother attention. Separate multiple regression equations resulted in a correlation of .53 between mother attention and mentor score when the specified individual was male and .16 when the individual named was female.

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The purpose of this qualitative study was to use grounded theory and case study methodology to identify and describe the ways that an upper elementary school teacher makes students feel known and respected for who they are by creating a relationship-driven classroom community. Analyzing how a teacher uses a relationship-driven classroom community has the potential to improve upon existing classroom community models. Data were collected from a teacher questionnaire, student questionnaire, samples of student work, document collection, two formal interviews with ten students, two formal interviews the teacher, and descriptive field notes from observations. Results indicated creating teacher-student relationships that make students feel known and important has the potential to offset the issues resulting from the disconnect between teachers and students and could lead to greatly improved student achievement. The results also provide new directions in the following areas: (a) teacher-student relationships, i.e., making students feel known and important; (b) creating classroom communities that are formed around teacher-student relationships; and (c) accounting for the mismatch between teachers and students.