This study used thematic analysis to investigate the blogs of parents of children diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Condition, with a particular focus on themes that emerge when parents write about themselves, their child and their family relationships. The first stage of the study involved a broad analysis of the first six months of entries presented within eight blogs. Themes which emerged during this stage included ‘Coping’, ‘Searching for an explanation - Meaning making’ and ‘Sense of belonging vs not belonging’. The second stage of the study involved a deeper analysis of two of the eight blogs, used as case studies, which were selected due to differing on aspects of the themes found during the first stage of analysis. Themes which emerged from the second stage were a superordinate theme of ‘Searching for an explanation - Meaning making’, with subordinate themes of ‘Relationship with ASC’ and ‘Relationship with society’. There were only brief mentions of family relationships within the blogs, except the relationship with the child and it seemed that parents often made sense of their experiences through their relationship with ASC and their relationship with society. Many of the parents who blogged reported changes in their relationship with society due to feeling that others do not understand and a sense of not belonging. It seemed that blogging provided a sense of belonging and a way of being understood for these parents, as well as a source of information to help parents explore ASC and their relationship with ASC. The themes that emerged may provide important information for clinicians and the implications of the research findings are discussed. The limitations of the study are noted and there are suggestions for future research.

This study is a thematic analysis of written plan-descriptions associated to valid detail-plans in the city of Umeå. These plan-descriptions are used as gateways to how planners and architects have reasoned when it comes to planning decisions. The thematic analysis is conducted on 24 selected detail-plans in the city of Umeå and has the starting point of the three themes of Mobility, Green space and Safety. The themes are identified as important to study in the light of the sustainable development concept where new modes of transportation, better knowledge about how nature affects us and a safe environment for everyone are propagated. By making better use of the fine source of information and insights that are the detail-plans students, researchers and practitioners can more effectively steer their efforts towards areas that really are in need of change. There is also something to be learned about the connection between process and outcome in physical planning. The results of this study show first of all that the scope and the thoroughness of detail-planning have changed over time. During the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s the plans generally covered larger areas and the descriptions where short and concise. In present time the plans generally cover smaller areas but are very exhausting in their investigative preparing work and associated documents. Other findings are that the goal of a safe environment in the detail-plans mostly is connected to traffic-safety.

Social stigma against gender diverse people continues to exist (Rieger & Savin-Williams, 2012), and this extends to gender nonconforming youth (D’Augelli, Grossman, & Starks, 2006). Expression and exploration of fluid gender identity and gender roles are part of typical human development (Institute of Medicine, 2011). Childhood gender nonconformity is defined as variation from norms in gender role behavior (Adelson & The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2012). Recommendations for research with gender nonconforming youth include gaining a clearer understanding of safe relationships, which currently lacks in the counseling literature (Institute of Medicine, 2011). Safety occurs when an individual takes psychological and interpersonal risks without fearing negative consequences (Edmondson, 1999). This study explores safety among gender nonconforming youth through the theoretical perspective of constructivism (Lincoln, Lynham, & Guba, 2011) and queer theory (Plummer, 2011) and will utilize the qualitative methods of photo-elicitation (Harper, 2002) and thematic analysis (Boyatiz, 1998). Implications for counseling practitioners, counselor educators, and future research will be discussed.

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / Divorce and self-efficacy are areas that have been studied quite widely and extensively in recent decades. Going through a divorce has an effect on how parents actually parent their children, which in turn has an effect on the behavioral, emotional, social and academic outcomes of the child. Divorce is considered a significant factor in determining emotional and social problems that children begin to exhibit. However, few research has been conducted on the relationship of divorce with parental self-efficacy and perception of parenting among divorced parents in South Africa. Therefore, this study used qualitative interviews to explore the impact of divorce on parental self-efficacy and perceptions of parenting among ten divorced parents from working to middle class community in Cape Town, South Africa. . The interviews were analyzed by making use of thematic analysis. Results showed that, although participants experienced an initial period of extreme emotional distress and feeling overwhelmed at being a single parent, their confidence in their parenting increased over time as they began to adjust to their new lives and received adequate and regular support. This was accomplished through various techniques and coping mechanisms employed by the participants, and with their social support structure playing a significant role on their parental self-efficacy. This study contributes to the research that has been conducted on parental self-efficacy, specifically, the research that has been conducted in a South African context, which has been generally lacking in terms of previous research.

The 1990's saw a rapid growth in the use of Enterprise Systems by organisations to undertake quick and strategic decisions. Significant to the use of Enterprise systems, is their implementation in the organisation. The increased use of paper documents in government organisations and the augmented implementation rate of Electronic Document Management Systems within government organisations in New Zealand, is what triggered this research and subsequently the framing of the research objectives and thereby the research question. This research encompasses the factors which affect the implementation process of an Enterprise Document Management System and thereby render it a success or a failure. The study used an ethnographic approach in order to introduce rigour in the research. The data was collected by conducting eight semi-structured interviews at the client organisation. The interviews were transcribed and later coded using an open - coding methodology. A thematic analysis based schema was developed to later analyse the coded data.The research found that, factors such as change management, behaviour management / emotions, communication, implementation process approach and system functionality had profound effects on the implementation success of the Electronic Document Management System in the research organisation. The thesis has been mostly written in the first person to represent the author's interpretation of the implementation process and its related factors.

Latin-Americans have become major contributors in Major League Baseball, but face many challenges acculturating to living and playing in the United States. This research examined the acculturative support provided to Latin-American players by teams in the South Atlantic League of Minor League Baseball and whether or not people involved think that support was effective. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with front-office members and Latin-American former players, and transcriptions were analyzed for emerging themes using QDA Miner content analysis software. Three main themes emerged from the interviews: the language barrier, interaction between Latin-American and Anglo-American teammates, and the youth of Latin-American prospects. These themes were identified both as presenting the biggest challenges to the acculturation of players and also areas where assistance should be focused in order to be of the most benefit. All interview subjects believed the support currently provided for Latin-American players was effective, but that there are still areas where improvements can be made. Future research should explore acculturation from current players‟ perspectives, instead of taking a front-office approach, and would not only provide information on the player‟s opinions of current acculturative practices, but also their attitudes and beliefs about acculturation and whether they view it as a positive or negative experience.

Research has yet to explain how individuals develop and incorporate their religious and spiritual views into their sense of self and romantic relationship beliefs and behaviors. The current study seeks to understand how individuals and couples understand their spiritual and religious beliefs and use them to negotiate satisfying marital relationships. Self-discrepancy theory assists in understanding the ways in which individuals and couples navigate the development of their spiritual, religious, and relationship beliefs, as participants beliefs are often fluid as they work to reconcile various discrepancies. To understand how participants experience these beliefs in family of origin, courtship, and the early years of marriage, a story-telling methodology is employed. Many couples experience their religious beliefs as being focused on the organization, denomination, rites, and rituals, whereas spirituality is more often about beliefs, movement or questioning, and connection to a God or Higher Power. Spiritual and religious beliefs influenced the way participants viewed romantic relationships in terms of marriage, sex, marital cohesion, dating, family of origin, children, pregnancy, cohabitation, and divorce. This study represents participants' lived experiences and the various ways in which spiritual and religious beliefs permeate into other aspects of marital life. Interestingly, there appears to be a high salience of religious and spiritual beliefs in regards to relational beliefs and behavior beginning in adolescence leading up to marriage and then a reduction in saliency for some after marriage until the presence of children when saliency increases for some couples.

The purpose of this study was to describe the experience of using sports supplements, from a risk theory perspective. Thematic analysis was used to conduct a secondary data analysis on 18 interviews done with young men who were interested in supplements. Participants were recruited from Guelph area commercial gyms and campus athletic centres. Participants used supplements because they worked out and wanted to gain muscle. Supplements, and especially protein, were part of a common knowledge among people who worked out. Participants evaluated whether supplements were ‘worth it’ by evaluating the cost, efficacy, and safety of supplements. Participants altered their behaviour in response to their perception of the riskiness of supplements, in order to feel safe. Many participants valued information from health professionals but found it lacking. Most information was available from sources that participants did not feel were credible.

In the aftermath of armed conflict, peace and justice are no longer perceived as contradictory. Scholars and practitioners alike have increasingly argued that societies emerging from periods of conflict or repression need to address legacies of past mass violence and human rights abuses in order to sustain peace. This is the rationale behind the evolving field of transitional justice. While it is stated that transitional justice also makes headway in contemporary peace agreements, existing literature tends to remain unspecific. Albeit being the most victim-centred among the range of transitional justice mechanisms, the incorporation of reparation for victims of mass violence into peace agreements is particularly under-researched. This research gap is even more puzzling as it is a “basic maxim of law that harms should be remedied” (Roht-Arriaza 2004: 121). In response to this, this thesis establishes that only around a third of intra-state peace agreements signed from 2000 to 2009 have addressed reparation. Further, by means of an analytical framework that embeds thematic analysis within the structure of framing theory’s model of meaning-making, it maps how the studied peace agreements assign meaning to reparation in their texts. As a result, two themes labelled ‘reparation as the fulfilment of basic needs’ and ‘reparation as an act of justice’ are identified as constituting the broader patterns of meaning held within peace agreements’ reparation provisions. While the language of the latter equips harmed individuals with rights as victims, the former theme focuses instead on individual vulnerability and collective development needs. It deemphasises the link between harm experienced and violation committed. As it is suggested that the employment of particular themes and terminology lifts certain issues up the agenda while marginalising others, peace agreements’ authoritative meaning-making directly impacts on the lives of those victimised during conflict. Hence, this thesis highlights the need for more systematic research in this area to strengthen evidence-based reparation advocacy during peace processes.

The 1990's saw a rapid growth in the use of Enterprise Systems by organisations to undertake quick and strategic decisions. Significant to the use of Enterprise systems, is their implementation in the organisation. The increased use of paper documents in government organisations and the augmented implementation rate of Electronic Document Management Systems within government organisations in New Zealand, is what triggered this research and subsequently the framing of the research objectives and thereby the research question. This research encompasses the factors which affect the implementation process of an Enterprise Document Management System and thereby render it a success or a failure. The study used an ethnographic approach in order to introduce rigour in the research. The data was collected by conducting eight semi-structured interviews at the client organisation. The interviews were transcribed and later coded using an open - coding methodology. A thematic analysis based schema was developed to later analyse the coded data.The research found that, factors such as change management, behaviour management / emotions, communication, implementation process approach and system functionality had profound effects on the implementation success of the Electronic Document Management System in the research organisation. The thesis has been mostly written in the first person to represent the author's interpretation of the implementation process and its related factors.