Na construção de políticas sociais atribuiu-se um papel central à família na proteção social e no cuidado com os seus membros. Na saúde, a família assume essa centralidade na Estratégia de Saúde da Família (ESF), sendo compreendida como objeto da atenção em saúde. Essa centralidade se deu a partir de uma pretensão de mudança no modelo assistencial que visasse a integralidade do cuidado e um olhar para as condições de vida como fundamentais no processo saúde-doença. Tais transformações nos sentidos e práticas de saúde têm sido desafiadoras. A partir da perspectiva Construcionista Social, que orienta esse estudo, compreendemos que os sentidos são construídos nas interações entre as pessoas e que esses configuram práticas sociais. Diante deste quadro de desafios na ESF e a partir da perspectiva adotada, temos como objetivo compreender os sentidos produzidos por profissionais de equipes de saúde sobre famílias em contextos de reuniões de discussão de família/caso na ESF, buscando analisar como esses configuram a produção de práticas de cuidado e também como se dá a dinâmica de construção desses sentidos a partir das negociações entre os participantes. A constituição do corpus foi feita a partir da observação e registros em áudio de 16 reuniões de duas equipes de saúde da família, contando com 26 participantes, dentre eles profissionais e estagiários de diferentes especialidades. A análise foi feita a partir da perspectiva das práticas discursivas, com os seguintes passos: 1) transcrição do material; 2) leitura intensiva e organização do material; 3) construção de sentidos sobre a família, e análise dos repertórios interpretativos, discursos usados, e implicações para ação; e 4) narrativa ilustrativa da dinâmica dos sentidos. Os sentidos construídos na análise foram: a) Família como pessoas que moram juntas: os repertórios usados descreviam os modos de ser família a partir do ambiente em que ela vive, entendendo a família como informante e cuidadora dos seus membros; b) Família como responsável pelo cuidado: repertórios de família como aquela que dá suporte aos seus membros e é responsável por eles; e, por vezes, está sobrecarregada com esses cuidados; c) Família como problema: repertórios que configuravam a família como aquela que é responsável pelo problema de saúde dos seus membros, como aquela que funciona como um estressor para eles ou como aquela que está em situação de risco; e d) Família como rede de relações, sentido que foi usado, mais comumente, em conversas sobre casos complexos, com discussões voltadas para configurações, estruturas e dinâmicas familiares. A partir da análise do processo de discussão da equipe em torno de um \"caso\", foi possível ilustrar o dinamismo desses sentidos nas conversas e como esses são negociados a todo momento. A análise nos permite considerar que há esforços dos profissionais em voltar a atenção do cuidado para a família, porém ainda são comuns práticas centradas no indivíduo e pouco pautadas no contexto e nas condições de vida das famílias. Compreendemos que dar visibilidade a esses diferentes sentidos e seu uso permite reflexões sobre como cada forma de descrever as famílias possibilita a construção de práticas distintas, o que pode contribuir para uma maior reflexão dos profissionais de saúde sobre sua prática cotidiana (Apoio Capes e Fapesp- 2014/08618-6). / In constructing social policies, a central role has been assigned to the family regarding its social protection and care for its members. In Health, the family assumes such centrality in the Brazilian Family Health Strategy (FHS), being understood as a health care object. This centrality is given from an intention of changing the health care model, which should aim integrality of care and a look at/attention towards the living conditions as fundamental in the health-illness process. But the changes in the meanings and health practices have been challenging. From the social constructionist perspective, which guides this study, we understand that the meanings are built in interactions among people and that such constitute social practices. Given these elements - challenges in the FHS and the said perspective - we aim to understand the meanings produced by health team professionals about families in contexts of FHS family discussion meetings. We seek to analyze how these meanings shape the production of care practices and also how these senses are dynamically constructed from the negotiations among participants. The corpus construction was structured from observation and audio records from 16 FHS teams meetings, with 26 participants, including professionals and trainees from different specialties. The analysis was based on the discursive practices perspective, with the following steps: 1) material transcription; 2) intensive reading and material organization; 3) construction of meanings about family, and analysis of interpretative repertoires, discourse use, and implications for action; and 4) illustrative narrative of meanings dynamics. Meanings constructed in the analysis were: a) family as people who live together: the repertoires described the ways of being family considering the environment they live, understanding family as informant and caregiver of its members; b) family as responsible for care: Family repertoires as that which supports its members and holds accountability for them; also, sometimes becomes overloaded with such stewardship; c) Family as problem: repertoire that conceived family as being responsible for members\' health problems, acting as a stressor to them or as one that is at risk; d) Family as relationships network, meaning more commonly attributed in conversations about complex cases, with discussions oriented to settings, structures and family dynamics. From the analysis of a team discussion process on one \"case\", it was possible to illustrate the dynamism of these senses in conversations and how they are negotiated at all times. The analysis demonstrates that professionals endeavor to turn their efforts towards the family, but practices are still commonly centered on the individual and less grounded in context and living conditions of families. We understand that giving visibility to these different senses and their use allows reflections on how each way of describing families allows the construction of different practices, potentially contributing to greater reflection of health professionals about their daily practice (Support Capes and FAPESP- 2014 / 08618-6).

Middle school programs occupy a unique place in choral music education. This study builds upon and makes a unique contribution to the body of literature in choral music education by introducing critical participatory action research into the social ecology (Shotter, 1993) of the middle school choral classroom during the “regular” school day with a non-select choral ensemble. I employed critical participatory action research methodology—a collaborative approach to understanding specific problems in education—because it is a systematic research process conducted for the purpose of generating knowledge that is valid and vital for the well being of learners, communities of learners, and for promoting social change (Carr & Kemmis, 1986; Herr & Anderson, 2005; Kemmis and McTaggart, 1987; Mills, 2010). The purpose of this critical participatory action research study was to create a collaborative model of practice in order to make sixth grade choral music education more relevant and meaningful for learners. In order to accomplish this, I created a constructionist learning environment, applying domains of relevance set forth by Gergen (2001), and examined how this model of practice impacted the pedagogical practices of 19 sixth grade chorus students and their chorus teacher over the period of one semester. All participants collected evidence in the form of video recordings, interviews, journals and portfolios. All evidence was considered in light of the changes that occurred—individually and collectively—in pedagogical and organizational practices and in regard to the original research questions. This report illuminates ways that constructionist principles might be used to create a collaborative model of middle school choral music education and the pedagogical and social practices that emerge when beginning sixth grade students and their chorus teacher share responsibility for teaching and learning.

This thesis explores the social construction of female online child sex offenders within Canadian newspapers from 2010 to 2017. While child sexual exploitation is not a new phenomenon, the nature of this threat, in terms of the ways in which it is facilitated, has changed significantly over the past decade. Notably, a key factor contributing to the sexual exploitation of children in today’s society is the Internet. The anonymity afforded by the Internet, the accessibility to the Internet, and the lack of accountability associated with the Internet (Cooper, 1998) all work together to create a social environment that is conducive to child sexual exploitation. This research explores this new phenomenon, as perpetrated by women. Informed by the social constructionist approach, relevant findings from a review of literature on the media representation of female offenders are then compared to findings from the examination of Canadian newspaper articles pertaining to female online child sex offenders to recognize similarities and differences between respective representations in the media. The results of this work suggest an increase from 2010 to 2017 in the number of Canadian media articles about female online child sex offenders as well as an increase in teacher representation in those crimes. As a result, a progression in the social construction of child sex offenders as well as teachers in Canada is presented.

Titel: “Exposed – but in different ways”. A vignette study on social workers' view of addicted clients based on beliefs about gender. Authors: Caroline Johansson and Linn Johansson. The purpose of this essay was to investigate whether gender affects how social workers in the addiction area assess the client's situation. This was done through a vignette study with a qualitative approach in which six social workers' from four different municipalities participated. The fictional case description was about a client who was in a situation where the use of alcohol and prescription drugs was highlighted. Social factors were also reported when the person in question had two children, a former partner, a current partner and two parents. Two vignettes were constructed with the same content, the only difference was that in vignette 1, the main character was a woman and in vignette 2, the main character was a man. Three social workers received vignette 1 and the remaining three received vignette 2. Individual interviews were conducted and the result was analyzed using a social constructivism perspective focusing on gender. This was done by using the concepts genus order, heterosexual matrix, typing and stereotyping and "making gender". Previous research within the field was also included in the analysis. The result showed that the social workers' made different assessments based on beliefs about gender in a number of different areas. The conclusion is that a discussion needs to be raised about how to create gender equality in social work services which takes into account the different positions that gender entails in society.   Keywords: sex, gender, social worker, addiction, social constructionism.

Anorexia as a nosological category has developed in a western context and is now being applied to people around the world. In order for researchers to know they are asking the right questions about AN as knowledge expands, it is important to understand what meanings Anorexia carries and how those meanings manifest locally. The present study to aid in that understanding by employing a mixed methods (survey and in-depth interviewing) research approach in answering the following question: In what ways are Taiwanese students' explanatory models of anorexia nervosa (AN) congruent with or different from professional understandings derived from the western Bio-medical perspective? In answering this question, this study first addresses the current state of research on anorexia as well as the recent findings from studies done in Asia. Subsequently, the findings of the present research address what are young, Taiwanese adults' notions of the causality of AN. In particular, the present research found that student explanations of AN are focused predominantly on two causal forces; namely, the desire to be thin or the inability to eat as a result of psychosocial pressure arising from some interpersonal interactions. Additionally, Taiwanese students also maintain that AN can be explained by other less common factors. For instance, significantly more males than females believed that AN could be explained by some physiological dysfunction in the anorectic person. This study seeks to contribute to the literature by examining how college-age Taiwanese understand and conceptualize AN; which in turn may help towards understanding how other research conducted among Chinese populations has produced findings that are incongruent with the expectations suggested by the western, biomedical model of anorexia nervosa. There is further need for cross-cultural research on AN including lay understandings. This should focus not only on the "accurateness" of lay models as has been the case with the majority of research on lay models of AN in the past, but future research should consider the appropriateness of current research and public health models that influence both research and policy.

The relationship between the body, food and exercise is complex and remains poorly understood within the athletic population. Much of what is currently known stems from disordered eating literature grounded in objectivist perspectives. While this literature has been fruitful, it has limited our understanding of athletes' eating and body experiences as they have primarily been conceptualized through an objectivist lens as pathological and/or linked to individual psychological deficiencies (e.g., low self-esteem, body image distortion). In turn, the ways in which food and exercise are negotiated and experienced by athletes in the context of taken-for-granted social, cultural and gendered discourses had not yet been explored. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation was to use an alternative theoretical perspective (i.e., feminist psychology) to look beyond the traditional objectivist notion of `disordered eating' and explore the complex relationship between the body, food and exercise in athletes (i.e., male and female distance runners), including the underlying meanings surrounding the athletic body and the role of gender and power in the social construction of their body experiences. A narrative approach drawing from Sparkes & Smith (2008), Smith & Sparkes (2008, 2010), and Riessman (1993, 2008) was used to accomplish this research goal. As such, participants were asked to tell stories about their body experiences, in relation to both eating and exercising, over the course of two separate individual interviews, as well as to create a visual representation/story of their running experience. These stories stood as the backdrop through which meanings were sought, as they provided a window into larger social, cultural and historical narratives as well as the process of individual meaning-making around the body, food and exercise (Riessman, 1993, 2008; Smith & Sparkes, 2010). A total of nine recreational distance runners (5 males, 4 females) and three elite (i.e., collegiate or post-collegiate) distance runners (1 male, 2 females) participated in the study. Together, these 12 runners produced a sum of 23 narrative interviews and 11 visual narratives, all of which underwent a combined thematic, dialogic/performance and visual analysis. The results of this thorough analysis indicated that the runners' stories were primarily situated in broader self-identity narratives and further demarcated by one of two opposing running narratives that shifted the meanings around the body, food and exercise in complex ways. Furthermore, their stories, along with the construction of meanings around the body, food and exercise, were found to be situated and negotiated within gendered narratives of the self. The ways in which the runners drew upon these narratives, and formed meanings within them, directly impacted their thoughts, emotions and behaviors around their bodies, food and exercise in both empowering (i.e., positive and healthy) and/or disempowering ways. As such, this study highlighted the complexity of the body, food and exercise relationship in distance runners and demonstrated how athletes' eating and exercising practices are socially and culturally formed through the narratives made available to them.

This qualitative study focused on retired school principals’ involvement in special education. More specifically, it explored various ways former principals conceived of their leadership identity and accounted for their level of involvement in special education and with students identified or identifying as disabled. The following research question guided this study: How do former principals account for their involvement with special education and/or disability? The study’s subquestions were: What are principals’ accounts of being, becoming, and remaining involved with special education and/or with disability?; In what ways do principals attend to special education and/or disability?; and How do principals conceive of their leadership identity given their accounts of involvement with special education and/or disability? Narratives shared by former principals regarding what it means to be involved with special education and/or disability and relationships between conceptions of involvement and identities served as the primary source of data. These conceptions included, but were not limited to, perceived ways principals’ viewed their attentiveness and commitment to special education. In this study leadership identity was understood as a professional identity in relationship to one’s identities and in response to others’ identities. Employing a phenomenographic approach, findings were grouped into pools of meanings, labeled as categories of description, and presented in an outcome space—a visual representation of results illustrating how participants experienced and attributed variation in meaning to the research phenomenon. Findings revealed former principals accounted for their involvement with special education and/or disability through professional responses, risk-taking, and working toward the social transformation of their schools. Participants experienced involvement as active presence, critical reflection, advocacy, and resistance. Findings suggested principal involvement in special education is influenced by their experiences with disability and relationships with individuals with disabilities. Furthermore, participants experienced identity through compassion, learning, spirituality, and dis/abled-ness. This study also revealed a nexus between participants’ confidence and involvement, suggesting the greater participants’ confidence to lead in special education, the more directly involved they were with and among students with disabilities; the less confident, the more they assumed a “supportive” role leading in this area. Personal experiences with disability—that was, participants having a child with a disability and/or having a disability themselves—facilitated increased leadership involvement. Participants who conceived leadership identity through a sense of spirituality and dis/abled-ness were more inclined to take risks and work toward socially transforming their schools. Discussion of how leadership preparation programs can recruit and prepare school leaders by focusing conversations around role expectations associated with leadership in special education is provided. Future research should consider how a leader’s identity affects leadership of students with disabilities and address the unique positionality of principals who are also parents of children with disabilities.

This study explored the discursive subject positions that 18 parents, teachers and administrators involved with children identified as experiencing learning difficulties in a Queensland regional primary school between September 2003 and August 2004 drew upon to explain the causes of those children’s learning difficulties. The study used a post-structuralist adaptation of positioning theory and social constructionism and a discourse analytic method to analyse relevant policy documents and participants’ semi-structured interview transcripts to interrogate what models were being used to explain a student's inability to access the curriculum. Despite the existence of alternative explanatory frameworks that functioned as relatively undeveloped resistant counternarratives, the study demonstrated the medical model’s overwhelming dominance in both Education Queensland policy statements and the participants’ subject positions. This dominance shapes and informs the adult stakeholders’ subjectivities and renders the child docile and potentially irrational.

<p>Happiness research is advancing as an academic discipline as well as on the political agenda. An aspect, largely ignored in the field, is what impact an individual’s construction of the good life has on his or her subjective well-being. The purpose of this paper was to investigate how people in different situations in life and with different backgrounds construct the idea of a good life and the importance these constructions may have in explaining subjective well-being. Despite the differences between themselves, the respondents’ constructions of the good life were shown to have a lot in common. Some factors in the good life were shared by the respondents, such as relations to other people, access to food, water and housing, whereas in other aspects, such as money and time, the constructions of the good life differed quite a lot from one another. When evaluating their own lives the respondents used quite different criteria mostly corresponding to their idea of the good life. If this is a general pattern, possible to replicate in other studies, one may in the future be able to draw the conclusion that the construction of the good life has an effect on our subjective well-being.</p>

<p>In November 2006 and July 2007, changes were made to the Social Services Law and the Criminal Injuries Law, defining children who have witnessed domestic violence as crime victims. The objective of our study is to examine if these changes have affected how social workers responsible for child protection inquiries interact with children who have witnessed domestic violence, and to what extent these children’s need of support are taken into account. Qualitative interviews have been carried out with five social workers, with the aim to evaluate how they meet and become aware of these children. Our problem-formulation is based upon the question how social services implement the recent changes to the law. The framework for analysis combines a social constructionist approach with a critical perspective. The study identifies shortcomings when it comes to the ways in which these children are encountered and the extent to which they are allowed to participate in the investigation process. The social workers interviewed have little knowledge about how children are affected by domestic violence, and also about these children’s need of help and support. The study further shows that children are not perceived as actors that have a right to participation and to be involved in the process. However, even if parents tend to be the focal point of child protection inquiries, there are also social workers who try to bring children’s rights to the fore and find ways to support these. The study thus supports the notion that it is important to see children as actors and individuals in their respective situation rather than as passive victims whose needs are overshadowed by those of the adults.</p>