Background: There is a burgeoning population of older adults globally and there is an increasing urgency in the policy literature to understand the health issues facing this population. A social exclusion lens provides an opportunity to understand health inequity and disadvantage among vulnerable populations. There is limited research examining how social exclusion plays out for older women, particularly in the rural context. This study examines the social exclusion experiences of Canadian, rural, older women and highlights policy implications for global health practitioners. Methods: Guided by the principles of interpretive description, this qualitative study included eight participants who identified as women, 65 years or older, spoke English, and who lived alone in private households in rural communities of Durham Region, Ontario. Concurrent data collection and analysis was conducted using an inductive approach. One-to-one, semi-structured interviews were completed. Findings: Six themes illuminate the exclusion experiences of rural, older women and they include: “Expectations of ageing in rural communities”; “Navigating the tensions of belonging within the social fabric”; “Singlehood isolation”; “Driving independence”; “Health infrastructure and changing personal health”; “Affording ageing”. Implications & Contributions: The study adds a Canadian, rural perspective to the global conceptual literature on social exclusion. It illuminates the unique ways in which female gender and rural context influence social exclusion experiences. Implications for global health policy include: recognizing health as a key category of exclusion and the need to address health equity, adopt a gender-specific and life-course approach to address social exclusion, foster a sense of belonging and peer connection, utilize unconventional channels for engagement, implement social support schemes and health programming which considers non-traditional families or single status as norm for family composition, and support affordable access to health-promoting programs and services. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / This study examines how older (senior) women, living in rural communities in Durham Region, Ontario experience social exclusion, and aims to help inform global health policies for older adults. Social exclusion is a way of understanding how processes interact to impact on someone’s ability to participate fully in their life Six themes were identified and add to the global evidence on social exclusion. This Canadian study shows the unique ways in which female gender and the rural context influence on social exclusion experiences. Global health policy implications include: health is a key category of exclusion and addressing health equity is important, adopt a gender-specific approach that considers what happens over a lifetime that contributes to women’s exclusion, foster a sense of belonging and peer connection, use unconventional channels of engagement, and implement social support schemes and health programming which considers non-traditional families or single status as norm for family composition.

No / Public discourse in Britain sees teenage motherhood as a pernicious social problem where mothers, their children and society generally will all suffer. Fathers are seen as feckless. This is reflected in New Labour's teenage pregnancy strategy, which understands teenage parents as victims of ignorance, mis-information, and low expectations. But a review of the research evidence finds that the age at which pregnancy occurs has little effect on social outcomes. Many teenage mothers describe how motherhood makes them feel stronger, and marks a change for the better. Many fathers seek to remain connected with their children. For both, parenting seems to provide an impetus to take up education, training and employment. Teenage parenting may be more of an opportunity than a catastrophe, and often makes sense in the life worlds inhabited by young mothers. The paper ends by asking how we can explain this yawning gulf between the experience of teenage parenting and policy, and concludes that this largely rests on assumptions of rational choice, in turn creating a `rationality mistake'.

No / Dementia has been a latecomer to the field of service user involvement. Although there are now beginning to be welcome signs of improvement in the inclusion of the service-user voice, at present those with milder cognitive impairment, those who are still living at home, and those who come from white, professional s are over-represented. The BSc/MSc Dementia Studies programmes at the University of Bradford recruit part-time students who are already employed in the field of dementia care. The majority of students work in long-term or intermediate care, with smaller sub-groups working in the community, in acute care and on general hospital wards. The client groups with dementia they encounter in these settings are diverse, and tend to have different needs and perspectives from those articulated by mainstream service user groups. For this reason we have been seeking to develop an inclusive approach to service user involvement in the degree programmes we run, in order to ensure that the whole range of experiences of dementia is covered. Over the last five years this has involved developing an outreach programme in order to involve people with dementia in the environments where they spend their time, rather than restricting service user involvement to on-site activities at the University. This presentation showcases one such project which involved members of the course team working with clients attending a resource centre for older people with dementia to develop a series of short film clips (Bay Tree Voices) which were then embedded into the course learning materials in order to model alternative approaches to communication. The presentation includes formal and informal evaluations of these film-based teaching resources from service users, students and care staff.

Yes / Purpose – This research paper aims to examine the mental health needs of young adults and to discuss how well these are met from the vantage‐point of the patients. Young adulthood is identified as an epidemiological risk for developing mental health problems and so the care provided during these developmental years is investigated to assess efficacy and experience. Design/methodology/approach – After interviewing 35 young adults, it was found most people are aware of the genesis to their problems and have strong views about the level of support and types of treatments offered. Findings – Like other writings, this research finds that many of the needs presented by young adults are unique to this transitional phase in life and administratively determined age structures on which current mental health care is configured do not adequately meet these needs. Research limitations/implications – The small sample size (35) and the geographical region covered means caution should be exercised in drawing any generalisations. Further research on outcomes after the mid‐20s by reflecting on service experience during the 18‐25 transformational years would be a useful area for exploration. Practical implications – This paper makes some powerful recommendations on why service provision must meet service user needs and how the recent equality legislation may provide impetus to this. All of this needs to start with examining the age boundaries on which mental healthcare is designed.

The thesis "Development of Czech social inclusion policies" looks at what factors influenced the development of social inclusion policy, focusing primarily on socially excluded Roma since 1989. In the period after 1989 Czech public and social policy was under influence of many factor including both external ones, resulting from the efforts of the Czech Republic to join the European Union, or later from the membership itself, as well as internal ones, arising from the need to ensure the functioning of the system in a rapidly changing socio-economic conditions. When mapping the development of the policy attention is paid particular to the impacts of the process of European integration and institutional changes that are reflected in the implementation of social inclusion policies. Furthermore, the text seeks to uncover the causes and effects of changes in development of examined policy. Those identifying factors that may be considered essential for the development of Czech social inclusion policies, went from thematic analysis of interviews with experts. Data obtained from respondents are then often supplemented by more detailed information from literature and public policy documents. Changes in the Czech social inclusion policies since 1989 are explained also using theories of Europeanization and the...

The study institution is a non-profit organization with a model developed from the continuous implementation of needs assessments of the families of adolescent parents in Puerto Rico, with the purpose of increasing their social inclusion potential. Addressing social exclusion and stigmatization of adolescent parents is vital because it generates a dual benefit for social interactions and growth. The social inclusion concept used and further elaborated for adolescent mothers is described by researchers as the level of access to engaging with institutions and societal relationships. This program evaluation was developed to understand the outcomes and effectiveness of the organization's social inclusion interventions. There is a gap in knowledge for comprehensive and family-centered adolescent parent's programs related to their potential for social inclusion. Guided by complex systems theory, the key research questions were designed to assess the potential gains in social inclusion characteristics for the organization's participants. The study utilized organizational, administrative data and used a pre- and post-test design with a comparison group. McNemar test findings indicated statistically significant increase for the intervention group regarding their social inclusion (p < .001); while Wilcoxon test findings indicated statistically significant gain in nurturing family environments (p = .006) and socio-economic positions (p < .001). Further research is recommended to assess the life-course protective factors' characteristics and the social inclusion pathways. The positive social change includes further understanding of social inclusion for adolescent mothers and its related ecological perspectives.

The main purpose of this thesis is introducing and proposing perceived accessibility as an important and so far overseen complement to conventional, objective accessibility in sustainable transport. Perceived accessibility is defined as the possibilities and ease of engaging in preferred activities using different transport modes. Implications for sustainable transport planning along with possible social outcomes related to perceived accessibility are also discussed.   The thesis comprises two empirical studies. In Study I a psychometric measure (PAC) that captures perceived accessibility was developed and validated in three different datasets by exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. All data was collected in Karlstad, Sweden in 2013 and 2014 with a total of 750 participants (bus travelers). Perceived accessibility is suggested as a complement to objective accessibility by contributing with the traveler perspective.  Study II aimed at examining determinants of perceived accessibility focusing on service quality aspects, feelings of safety, age, and trip frequency. Study II used the same data as Study I in a conditional process model to look at the relations between perceived accessibility and its proposed determinants. Service quality and feelings of safety were found important predictors of perceived accessibility, and safety also explains part of the effect of quality on perceived accessibility. These relationships were not dependent on trip frequency (as in how often one travels by public transport). Age also predicted perceived accessibility, and a follow-up cluster analysis showed that elderly and people in their thirties experience significantly lower perceived accessibility than other age groups. / Denna licentiatuppsats behandlar upplevd tillgänglighet, det vill säga resenärsperspektivet på tillgänglighet, som ett viktigt komplement till konventionell (objektiv) tillgänglighet inom hållbart resande. Uppsatsen introducerar upplevd tillgänglighet och dess nytta och plats i forskningen samt implikationer för planering och utvärdering av hållbara transporter. Vidare behandlas påverkansfaktorer för upplevd tillgänglighet samt relaterade individuella utfall som subjektivt välbefinnande och social exkludering/inkludering utifrån teori och empiri.   Uppsatsen innefattar två empiriska studier. Studie I utvecklar och testar ett psykometriskt mätinstrument för upplevd tillgänglighet med data från tre enkät-tillfällen (n= 750) i Karlstad. Dataset 1 analyserades med explorativ faktoranalys för att få fram ett instrument som fångar upplevd tillgänglighet (PAC) och validerades därefter i två dataset. Studie II avsåg att undersöka vad som bidrar till upplevd tillgänglighet med fokus på kvalitetsattribut i resan (service quality), resenärens upplevda trygghet, samt ålder och resvana. Samma data som i studie I användes i en conditional process model för att undersöka sambanden, samt i en klusteranalys för att ytterligare undersöka skillnader i resultatet mellan olika grupper av resenärer. Resultatet visar att upplevd tillgänglighet kan ha betydelse som komplement till befintliga mätningar och utvärderingar av tillgänglighet genom att bidra med resenärsperspektivet. Ett antal påverkansfaktorer för upplevd tillgänglighet kan konstateras, däribland kvalitet samt resenärens upplevda känsla av trygghet. Betydelsen av kvalitet för tillgänglighet är densamma oavsett hur ofta man reser, däremot upplever de som reser ofta en signifikant högre tillgänglighet än de som reser sällan. Äldre resenärer och resenärer i 30-årsåldern påvisar signifikant lägre upplevd tillgänglighet. / This thesis proposes perceived accessibility as a complement to conventional accessibility in sustainable transport planning and evaluation. Perceived accessibility is defined as the possibilities and ease of engaging in preferred activities using different transport modes and captures the traveller experience and perspective of accessibility. The thesis introduces an instrument for measuring perceived accessibility (PAC) along with determinants for perceived accessibility, such as feelings of safety, age, and perceived quality. Related social outcomes such as social inclusion and subjective well-being are discussed, along with possible implications for transport planning and suggestions for future research.

The dissertation analyzes labour market projects co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF) targeting unemployed migrants and ethnicized groups. The analysis is qualitative, discourse-oriented and based on Foucault’s concept of governmentality. More specifically, it is highlighted how the target groups are ethnicized through discourses of employability and learning. The thesis consists of four articles. In the first three articles, focus is mainly on how the projects present themselves through their project descriptions in the ESF project bank and the fourth article is mainly based on ethnographic material. Overall, this dissertation highlights different aspects of inclusion work directed towards migrants and ethnicized target groups that can be seen as problematic and sometimes contradictory. Tendencies to individualize unemployment and thus positioning the unemployed project participants as responsible for their situation is interrogated in the thesis. Further, it is analyzed how culture and ethnicity is used in ways that are likely to strengthen the target groups ‘Otherness’ in relation to a ‘Swedishness’ that often become synonymous with what is perceived as normal and thus widening the gap between ‘us’ and ‘them’ when the stated goal is the opposite. This dissertation can serve as a starting point to reflect on how inclusion efforts and labour market projects seeking to produce social inclusion and employability may be at risk to categorize people in different ways, which can sometimes be problematic in relation to what the efforts seek to achieve. / I avhandlingen studeras arbetsmarknadspolitiska åtgärder, i form av projekt finansierade av Europeiska socialfonden (ESF), riktade mot arbetslösa migranter och etnifierade grupper. Analysen är kvalitativ, diskursorienterad och utgår från Foucaults begrepp governmentality. Mer specifikt belyses hur projektens målgrupper etnifieras genom diskurser om anställningsbarhet och lärande. Avhandlingen består av fyra artiklar. I de tre första artiklarna fokuseras främst hur projekten framställer sig själva genom projektbeskrivningar i ESFs projektbank och den fjärde artikeln utgår främst från etnografiskt material. Sammantaget belyser avhandlingen olika aspekter - som kan ses som problematiska och ibland motsägelsefulla - av inkluderingsarbete riktat mot migranter och etnifierade målgrupper. Det handlar om tendenser att individualisera arbetslösheten och därmed i hög grad ansvariggöra de arbetslösa projektdeltagarna för sin situation. Det handlar också om att använda kultur och etnicitet på ett sätt som riskerar att förstärka målgruppernas ’annorlundahet’ i relation till den ’svenskhet’ som inte sällan blir synonymt med vad som uppfattas som normalt och på så sätt vidga gapet mellan ’vi’ och ’dem’ när den uttalade målsättningen är det motsatta. Avhandlingen kan fungera som en utgångspunkt för att reflektera kring hur inkluderingsinsatser och arbetsmarknadsprojekt riskerar att sortera och kategorisera människor på olika sätt, som kan vara problematiska i relation till vad insatserna vill uppnå.

Introduction: An increasing number of children in need of special support are included in mainstream schools. The roles of teaching assistants have changed with the inclusion of these children. Social partic-ipation is an essential aspect of inclusion, possible to be achieved in schools. In the literature social participation in elementary schools is studied in terms of friendships and relationships, contacts and inter-actions, perception of pupil with special education needs and acceptance by classmates. The impact that teaching assistants have on social participation has been questioned due to low or no education or training to work with children in need of special support. The aim is to investigate the social participation dimen-sions and the impact that teaching assistants have on the social participation of children in need of special support in mainstream elementary schools.Method: A systematic literature review was performed exploring four databases.Results: Nine studies in total were found. Seven studies examined social participation dimensions of con-tact and interactions, four – perception of pupil with special education needs. Friendships and relationships and acceptance by classmates were examined in two studies. Six studies identified negative impact of teaching assistants on social participation of children in need of special support, and three showed positive and negative results. The impact is attributed to the roles of teaching assistants, and participation in class.Conclusion: All four dimensions of social participation were studied in the articles, but no studies explored all dimensions at once, therefore complete impact of teaching assistants cannot be entirely realized yet. Nevertheless, the negative trend of teaching assistants’ impact on the social participation of children in need of special support found in this systematic review implicates two possible approaches. The role of teaching assistants could be shifted and adapted to suit the abilities of teaching assistant. Education and training of teaching assistants are necessary to support social participation of children in need of special support.

The overall aim of this thesis is to discover, to value and to explain, if and why Supported Employment functions in a Swedish context and to also highlight those mechanisms which provide meaningful conditions within that context, when a person with a disability reaches, procures and retains employment. The empirical part consists of four studies that examine (1) whether SE has an effect on the employment rate, disposable income and sum of allowances, (2) the employer´s perspective of employing people with disabilities, (3) how employers perceive support from SE in the employment process and (4) how employees with disabilities perceive their work situation and social inclusion in the workplace. The studies within the thesis show that in a Swedish context, SE is encompassed by norm structures, production structures and economical structures which affect conditions for people with disabilities to reach, procure and retain employment. Supported Employment’s mode of practice and the ability to meet, co-exist and co-operate with these social structures has, in many ways, affected the prerequisites for people with disabilities to reach employment. These structures do not in themselves however, constitute a sufficient frame of ideas to enable an understanding of how SE works in a Swedish context, or how to explain the factors that affect conditions when people with disabilities reach, procure and retain employment. In the qualitative studies, trust features prominently and is considered an important mechanism in holding the process together.