This qualitative study investigates teachers' perspective on the use of assistive technology (AT) in their daily teaching and interaction with children with special needs. Previous research has investigated this subject from many different angles but has mostly focused on the effects of AT, whereas this study wants to understand  other complexities such as challenges teachers face and their perspective on the effects of AT. The study was carried out in Sweden and the data was collected from both private and public schools through interviews with teachers based on the aim to investigate the role assisitive technology plays in the education of children with special needs in Swedish schools from the perspective of the teachers. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed with thematic analysis with the knowledge from previous research in mind to increase the research focus based on previous experiences abd existing gaps. This study had several important finding. Most importantly, the teachers expressed that assistive technology encouraged and motivated the children and made it easier for the teachers to present information to the children. At the same time, the teachers expressed that too much use of AT could create an unnecessary dependency for the students, that AT has a risk of being emotionally harmful for the children, and they expressed a lack of training to use these devices properly. From this, it was concluded that there is a need for more collaboration among teachers to echange experiences and ideas and a need for creating an environment that is more conductive to testing, learning, and evaluating technology use. For the future, this will be beneficial for the children using these devices as this will allow us to enhance our knowledge on the subject and improve the experience of the chidren while using these devices in their education.

South Africa has one of the highest rates of rape in the world. Experiencing rape frequently proposes substantial consequences on survivors’ physical, psychological and social wellbeing, which accentuates the importance of providing survivors with help, support, and protection. However, the scarce studies examining survivors’ experiences with the support system indicate many flaws within the system, sometimes even resulting in further harm. This failure of governmental support systems stimulated an increasing manifestation of NGOs as providers of survivor support. It is consequently crucial to understand and evaluate the success of these services to fully understand the quality of available support. The objective of this study was to investigate women rape survivors’ post rape experiences and their journey and subsequent experiences with the counselling provided to them by the Cape Town based NGO Rape Crisis. Fifteen adult rape survivors were recruited via opportunity sampling and asked to participate in one hour long unstructured interviews. In line with the research topic and the research questions, an intersectional feminist paradigm was chosen for the theoretical framework and thematic narrative analysis was applied as the analytic approach. The analysis showed four themes relating to rape survivors’ narratives on post-rape challenges, namely; the silence and stigma that victimises survivors, the psychological effects of rape, help seeking as a last resort, and demystifying counselling. Additionally, five themes around survivors’ experiences of Rape Crisis counselling were established, namely; the value of a professional safe space, building a counsellor relationship, talking and listening, a collaborative effort to finding oneself, and sharing collective stories of pain. The findings highlight the need for more outreach and education efforts around rape, as well the importance for professional yet not too clinical psychological support which incorporates empowerment principles and focuses on help to self-help.

This thesis engages with the issue of the post-WWII rapes of women in Germany committed by the soldiers of the winning parties that occupied Germany after the war. It asks how female survivors of sexual violence during the occupation of Germany in 1945-1949 experienced social responses towards their violation. It pursues these responses in public and private sphere and explores the effect they had on the survivors and their recovery. A qualitative method of thematic analysis is employed to analyse the material consisting of interviews based on secondary sources, empirical research done by historians and psychologists, and reliable news articles that address the issue under scrutiny.The thesis contributes to Peace and Conflict Studies empirically, by exploring sensitive civilians’ lived experiences in a particular post-war setting and theoretically, through an attempt at analysis based on the theoretical framing of ethical loneliness as developed by Jill Stauffer.It shows that the predominantly negative nature of social responses in both public and private sphere held to the condition of ethical loneliness that was a crucial hindrance for the survivors’ recovery. The issue of silence is found to be especially relevant as it pertains both to social responses and to the survivors’ own attempt at coping with the situation, thereby emerging as a key reason for the lasting experience of ethical loneliness.

Depression is a serious mental health condition which affects millions of people around the world. The biomedical model of illness categorises depression as a clinical disorder and primarily physiological in origin. However, conceptions of mental health such as depression may vary contextually because they are shaped by cultural understandings of illness. Research is encouraged to further investigate the context and culture of those affected, in an effort to better respond to local realities and psychologies. A qualitative research approach was utilised in this study, with social constructionism as its paradigmatic point of departure. One in-depth semi-structured interview was conducted with five South African Indian Muslim women from the greater Johannesburg area. Thematic analysis was used to interpret the interviews. Four main themes surfaced; what depression is and is not, causes of depression, treatment and stigma. Each main theme included various sub-themes. In addition, culture and gender arose from the analysis, as influential constructs across these themes. These themes highlighted the complexity and importance of culture and gender on the constructions of depression, for these women. These findings encourage the inclusion for cultural sensitivity in treating Indian Muslim women, and responding to the broader community’s needs. This can assist mental healthcare professionals to integrate culture and gender, as constructs, in offering more effective and appropriate treatment for lay understandings of depression, to respond to local realities. Furthermore, these findings add to a growing body of research which attempts to broaden and deepen understandings of mental health and culture, to better respond to patient’s needs. / Mini dissertation (MA (Clinical Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2021. / Psychology / MA (Clinical Psychology) / Unrestricted

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Symptom management is the main focus of care for patients living with advanced pancreatic cancer (APC). However, evidence shows that symptom management is far from satisfactory for this population. Poorly managed symptoms have had a profound negative impact on APC patients’ and caregivers’ life. While communicating symptoms with healthcare providers is the first step to achieve effective symptom management, some studies have revealed the poor quality of symptom discussions among cancer patients, their caregivers, and healthcare providers. The purpose of this dissertation was to advance the sciences of nursing, symptom management, and patient/caregiver and provider communication in patients with APC. Chapter two, three, and four represented three sub-studies which addressed three specific aims: (1) synthesizing the current evidence regarding the symptom experience of patients with APC, (2) examining recorded healthcare encounters between patients with APC, their caregivers, and healthcare providers to better understand the symptom experiences of patients with APC as told to their healthcare providers, and (3) developing a typology describing patterns and essential elements of real discussions between APC patients/ caregivers and healthcare providers in regards to symptoms. Specifically, chapter two was an integrative review which synthesized sixteen quantitative studies (n=1630 pancreatic cancer patients) and found that pain, fatigue, and appetite loss were primary and intense symptoms experienced by patients with APC. Chapter three was a qualitative descriptive study which used content analysis to examine 37 transcripts of APC patient/caregiver-provider health encounters originally collected for a larger communication study. This study identified ten major symptom groups often described as intense, distressing, and negatively impacting their quality of life. For chapter four, thematic analysis was used to examine 37 transcripts of APC/giver and provider interactions to develop a typology to describe patterns of interactions in regards to symptoms and symptom management. Eight common patient/caregiver-provider interaction patterns regarding symptoms and symptom management were identified. These typologies can be used to enhance patient/caregiver and provider communication programs to promote patient-centered care and improve symptom management in patients with APC. Findings overall will contribute to effective symptom management as it will deepen our understanding of symptom experience and communication processes. / 2 years

New generations of youth are coming of age at a time when digital technology is omnipresent, where devices are our constant companions, extensions of ourselves. It is not yet fully known what effect this mass consumption of digital technology will have on current and future generations. Although not entirely negative, dramatic shifts in human interaction and well-being have already presented themselves, begging understanding. Among these shifts are rising rates of youth struggling with mental health – especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Various international and domestic governing bodies highlight the importance of this burgeoning field of research, turning in part to our technology-loaded ecosystems for answers. Early research has established associations between increased digital screen usage and youth mental ill-health. Questions remain, however and there exist large gaps in counselling psychology research as to how we can best support youth in the digital age. Situated within this debate, the current study establishes a theoretical basis as to the role digital technology plays in youth mental health. The study employs a qualitative methodology, including semi-structured interviewing and thematic analysis. Eight youth were interviewed and asked to share their experiences of the relationship between their devices and their well-being. Thematic findings highlight a conflictual relationship between digital technology use and youth mental health, affecting their relationships with others, themselves, and the world around them. Because digital technology consumption on this scale is so new, this is one of the first available cohorts of youth to actively participate in the exploration of this topic, offering their unique voices in ways that will benefit broader societal understandings of technology and mental health. / Graduate

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This thesis was motivated by the widespread use of social media by children, and the lack of research on perceptions of their own use. It expands on previous research which, while sometimes including children’s voices, largely focuses on the negative impact that social media has on well-being. Instead, this thesis seeks insight into children’s views on their and their peers use of social media, what motivates their particular use, and how they describe the positive and negative experiences of it. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with children between 12 and 15 years old and thematic analysis was used to consider the data, along with an interpretivist and contextualist epistemological approach. The themes included, firstly; social media as a place for children to connect and to spend time, secondly; positive experiences that included, learning and inspiration, fun and happiness, and perspective taking, thirdly; negative experiences relating to privacy and anonymity, bullying and bad feelings, and a lack of social clues, and lastly; a particular peer culture which included gender differences as part of their experience of using social media. The study concludes that, though research on social media and children has been largely looked at in terms of risk, children see it as a normalized aspect of childhood where they socialize with friends, spend time playing and learning about different things, and hang out with their peers. Social media is described as a neutral tool by the children. With this notion of neutrality, by further understanding children’s experiences and perspectives, there could be more support in ensuring that this tool is shaped and used in a way that works more in their best interest. Social media is inevitably a big part of children’s leisure time today, and ‘moral panic’, being a persistent rhetoric around childhood, may not be helpful for children.

The idea of sects has been something observed from a distance, which creates a mystery regarding what occurs in these selective religious groups. In today's media cults is often depicted as mystic groups, but is that a correct portrayal of cults, or is in fact misleading? The purpose of this thesis is to create an overview regarding the mental health by former sect members by the usage of Heider Fritz interpretation of attribution theory. The issue that will be leading this thesis is “How can attribution theory be used to understand sect defectors regarding their mental health?”. This work will be analysed with thematic analysis, due to it being more fitting, regarding to the material based on peoples own stories about their experiences, as well as the usage of theory functioning like framework while reading and later analysing the material. The theory that will function as a base for the work is as mentioned, Attribution theory describe people under the impression that events outside of logical explanation is caused by God. In a religious perspective the roles between God and humans are mentioned several times throughout the Bible. The result of this thesis shows that people in Swedish sects develop mental illness due to the strict image of God and the pressure put on members by parish leaders, that functions as a form om degradation. Although it is important to underline that one cannot generalize the members of a sect, due to the complex individuality prerequisites that each person obtain. The prerequisites vary from person to person and therefore establish the psyche of every individual and the risk of developing a mental illness. / <p>På grund av Covid-19 har opponeringen av uppsatsen skett utanför universitetes lokaler, via Zoom</p>

Based on a motion submitted to the Umeå City Council, "It's in the walls" A thematic analysis of the Umeå municipal council and gendered conditions aims to investigate and understand the gendered conditions for political involvement in the Umeå City Council. To fulfil the purpose, interviews were conducted with women who chose to leave their political assignment and a survey was sent out to the current municipal council. The results show that mainly young women are vulnerable and that their interests are not equally represented as men's. There also seem to be negative experiences of both the physical work environment and the psychosocial work environment.