Although about half of all rape victims are adolescents, the bulk of the research on sexual victimization is focused on college or community samples of adult women. As such, little is known about adolescent risk of sexual victimization. Adolescence is an important developmental phase in life, in which an individual undergoes major social and biological changes. These changes may make them more susceptible to environmental characteristics, such as family climate, compared to adults. Environmental factors may influence risk taking among adolescents, which may increase the risk of sexual victimization. The theory of social support can be useful in understanding why some young individuals are sexually victimized and others are not. Data for the analysis is derived from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). The current study uses the in-home interviews from Wave I, Wave II, and Wave IV of Add Health. The purpose of the study is to examine the relationship between social support, risky behavior, and sexual victimization. Specifically, whether risky behavior mediates the relationship between adolescent sexual victimization and social support will be examined.

No description available.

In recent years, the Internet has emerged as a popular tool for providing social support to chronically-ill populations. However, research is limited in understanding the distinct needs of older cancer survivors who are less comfortable with Internet technology than younger generations. In this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 cancer survivors over age 50. Thematic analysis was used to help understand their wants and needs when using the Internet for social support. Four main themes were found: 1) the need to take charge of health outcomes, 2) the benefits of knowing they are not alone in their cancer journey, 3) how to maximize online resources for cancer support, and 4) how the spirit of survivorship is imperative for quality of life. These findings can be used to guide the delivery of online social support interventions, as well as facilitate easy access to such interventions by older cancer survivors.

No description available.

No description available.

This study aims to examine howdifferent forms of social support are perceived to affect the recovery process of people with severe mental health difficulties, and what factors people within this group perceive as being most beneficial for their recovery. This study was conducted in Uganda for eight weeks during November 2013 and December 2013 and is based on semi-structured interviews with people in recovery from severe mental illness such as bi-polar affective disorder and schizophrenia. This study is using Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), which is a qualitative research approach, and the strength of IPA is its commitment to examine lived experience and personal meaning in detail. This study has shown that social support received from service user organisations was perceived to highly affect the recovery process in a most fundamental way. The service user organisations/associations were seen as platforms providing acceptance, understanding and recognition of what one has been or are going through. In terms of social support from family members, this was neither described as particularly helpful or hindering for the recovery process by most of the participants; this finding was somewhat unexpected but could be explained due to the complexity that proved to exist within the relationships between the participants and their family members. Medication was perceived as very important in terms of recovery, however it was strongly pointed out that medication alone was not enough. Despite this a majority of the participants had negative perceptions regarding both the dosage and the prescribed medicine itself particularly the prescription of Chlorpromazine, here feelings of being overmedicated and dealing with severe side effects were expressed, leading to some of the participants changing the prescribed dose on their own, so called manipulative medication.

Populations in developed and developing countries are becoming increasingly sedentary and the adverse health effects of relatively sedentary lifestyles, the so called lifestyle diseases, are now obvious. However, moderately vigorous physical activity is positively linked via a cause-and-effect relationship with a range of improved health outcomes. Broadly, current physical activity recommendations suggest that adults should achieve a total of at least 30 minutes a day of at least moderate intensity physical activity on five or more days of the week; however, estimates suggest that the majority of adults in the Western World do not meet these recommendations. Many of the factors involved in the initiation and long-term maintenance of physical activity are not fully understood. Considering the rapid pace of technological development and the general move away from labour-based economies, it does appear that the required level of physical activity necessary for optimal health needs to come from leisure-time activity– specifically, planned, regular, moderately vigorous exercise and/or sport. Unfortunately, many people experience great difficulty in engaging with and maintaining a physically active lifestyle and typically there is a rather large gap between what people know to be healthy and what they actually do. The general aim of this project was to design, implement and evaluate the clinical, social and behavioural effectiveness of a buddy-Motivational Interviewing intervention (buddy-MI) in assisting relatively sedentary adults to adopt and maintain regular physical activity for the purpose of improving their cardio-respiratory fitness, health, and quality of life. Specific aims of the intervention included formally involving social support (via the self-selected motivational-buddy) and strengthening individuals’ motivation for and movement toward their physical activity goals. The experimental intervention specifically aimed to extend the MI treatment effect by enhancing participants’ commitment to physical activity over time via intra-treatment social support (support provided within treatment sessions) as well as extra-treatment social support (day-to-day support) provided by the motivational-buddy. A fundamental was to deliver the intervention in a format that could realistically be implemented within typical primary care settings, workplaces, schools or other similar setting: to work towards healthier more active communities and to potentially reduce health system resource utilisation. Using a repeated-measures pragmatic parallel group randomised controlled trial (RCT) design, relatively sedentary adolescents and adults, in stable health, recruited from a university campus population were allocated to one of two interventions. In the experimental intervention, participants were supported by a self-selected motivational-buddy and they received 2-4 sessions of buddy-MI over a period of 12-months (participant determined schedule) as well as pro-active follow-up emails. The control intervention was standard care MI, and the same email follow-up as in the experimental group but without the additional support of a motivational-buddy. The main outcomes were self-reported physical activity, cardio-respiratory fitness and health related quality of life. These primary outcomes were measured at four time-points over the 12-months intervention and follow-up period and quantitative methods were used to analyse the data. Qualitative data were also analysed and presented in relation to the motivational-buddy component of the intervention. The study evaluated the feasibility and incremental effectiveness of motivational-buddy support compared to one-on-one MI in people who had expressed an interest in becoming more physically active. It used a novel intervention design incorporating self-selected motivational-buddies in an effort to mitigate the twin problems of poor adherence and behavioural regression that are commonly associated with physical activity promotion programmes. The intervention was found to have merit and the potential implications for the health-care system, and the wider community, are discussed.

No description available.

Någon gång i livet kommer de flesta individer tvingas möta på de svårigheter som en sorg för med sig. Sorg är en reaktion på en förlust. Syftet med studien var att belysa stödformer som kan hjälpa individer i deras sorgeprocess. Där sorgeprocessen i detta fall relaterar till förlusten av en närstående. Deltagarna var 23 stycken kvinnor mellan åldrarna 19-62 som hade upplevt en sorgeprocess till följd av närståendes bortgång. Materialet bestod av en enkät med öppna frågor. De insamlade enkäterna analyserades genom en meningskoncentrering för att bilda övergripande teman. För att kontrollera reliabiliteten i analysen genomfördes ett interbedömarreliabilitetstest. Studien resulterade i att familj, partner och vänner ansågs som det mest betydelsefulla stödet. Hur man upplever och hanterar sorg är individuellt. Därmed är även tidsaspekten för en sorgeprocess varierande.

This thesis describes the relationship between adult attachment style, coping strategies, identity development and perception of social support. 107 participants answered four self-report questionnaires examining their attachment style, coping strategies, identity development status and perception of social support. Correlation analyses were used. Results showed secure attachment to significantly positively correlate with identity moratorium and to negatively correlate with identity foreclosure. Avoidant attachment significantly positively correlated with denial and mental disengagement and negatively correlated with seeking social support. Individuals with high avoidant attachment scores were more likely to have high scores for identity diffusion, more likely to perceive fewer available social supports and were less likely to be satisfied with this support. Anxious ambivalence positively correlated with denial and mental, behavioural and alcohol/drug disengagement, and negatively correlated with active and planning which are pro-active coping strategies. Anxious ambivalence positively correlated with identity diffusion and negatively with identity foreclosure. Individuals with high anxious ambivalence scores were more likely to be dissatisfied with social support. Overall, secure attachment was found to correlate with acknowledging the need for an identity search. Insecure attachment was found to relate to less effective coping methods, to correlate with not acknowledging the need for an identity search and dissatisfaction with social support. Results are considered in terms of attachment styles and applications, for example in therapeutic settings.