In this research the use of the Lions-Quest programme “Skills for Adolescence“ at an intermediate secondary school level is examined qualitatively. It is investigated how pupils at a German intermediate secondary school perceive the social skills training and how that training affects the social competencies of the pupils. It is also explored if the pupils can relate their acquired competencies with their values and beliefs. Based on the empirical-theological praxis cycle, the planning, carrying out and the results of thirteen one-to-one interviews and three group interviews are presented. Five types of adolescents can be distinguished in terms of knowing and applying social skills as result of different grounded theory coding strategies: the power-conscious, the autonomous, the ambivalent, the self-confident and the competent. This study wants to contribute to a better evaluation of the implementation of social skills programmes at schools and particularly in religious education. / Practical Theology / M. Th. (Practical Theology)

The present research aimed to address two questions. First, is dating anxiety associated with sexual intimacy anxiety? Second, do young people who report harmful sexual behaviour, as an offence or harmful dating behaviour, have higher levels of dating and sexual intimacy anxiety than young people who report no harm, non-sexual harm or sexual and non-sexual harm (generalists)? The Dating Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (DAS-A) was used to measure overall dating anxiety. Questions relating DAS-A sub-factors fear of negative evaluation and social distress - dating were amended to measure sexual intimacy anxiety. A scale to measure partnership anxiety and sexual behaviour anxiety were designed. Participants were 77 young people aged 13 to 18 years (M = 15.4, SD = 1.41). Forty-five (58%) of participants were female and 32 (42%) participants were male. Results found a strong, significant association between higher levels of dating anxiety and higher levels of sexual intimacy anxiety r(75) = .80, p < .001. Young people who reported a sexual offence had significantly higher sexual behaviour anxiety than non-sexual offence (M = 15.82, SD = 6.23, p = .005) and generalist offence groups (M = 21.77, SD = 6.53, p = .044). Despite no other significant differences, a pattern emerged that suggests young people who report harmful sexual or generalist dating behaviour may have higher dating and sexual intimacy anxieties. Furthermore, young people who report harmful dating behaviour may have higher anxieties than young people who report an offence. The implications of the findings for future harmful sexual behaviour and harmful dating behaviour research and practice are discussed.

Young people who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) are disclosing their sexual identity--or coming out--at progressively younger ages, making it more important than ever for the general population to understand, tolerate, and accept diversity in sexual identity. This study was designed to fill the gap in the existing literature about how the coming out process affects LGB young people's families of origin. Three LGB young people participated in the study, along with a member of each of their families. The researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with each of the participants, as well as a conjoint interview with each of the three families. The findings of this interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) study illustrate the many ways in which a young person's coming out reverberates within the family system, offering a relational understanding of the coming out experience. The results of the study emphasize the process-oriented nature of coming out and the means by which that process is influenced by and influences family relationships and overall family dynamics. Centered on the various ways in which LGB young people prepare to disclose their sexual orientation to their families and how their family members adjust to the disclosure, the study offers a historically and culturally situated overview of the coming out experience in the family. Based on the results of the present study, the researcher offers suggestions for future studies on this subject and presents the implications of the study for LGB young people, their families, and family therapists.

Introduction The health of young people in England is an area of concern, nationally and internationally. This has prompted a range of strategies and policies to try to address how health may be improved. However, there has not necessarily been agreement as to how this should best be done. There appeared a case for consideration of alternative or additional approaches to health promotion. Aim This research aimed to construct an assets based model to shape health promotion practice and policy for young people in England. Methods A narrative synthesis was undertaken and highlighted the lack of information regarding which assets might be important for young people’s health in England. This programme of research was developed from those initial findings. Quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to gain a more comprehensive understanding than could be gained by individual methods. This mixed methods research involved secondary data analysis of the Health Behaviours in School Aged Children (HBSC) dataset using regression analysis to identify the assets associated with life satisfaction for English youth. Focus groups and interviews were employed to capture the views of young people regarding assets, health and health promotion. Findings were discussed with practitioners to gather their ideas as to the potential of an assets approach. The different research methods were drawn together by the underpinning theoretical frameworks provided by Assets models and the New Social Studies of Childhood. Results Two themes emerged from the narrative synthesis providing suggestions for health promotion; the ecological approach acknowledged the range of settings that young people inhabit, whilst the holistic approach recognised the interrelationship between risks and assets. Critical discussion consolidated the research findings to propose a list of health promoting assets for young people in England; constructive relationships, safety, positive attributes, independence and opportunity. These findings were brought together into a descriptive model to guide health promotion policy and practice (Figure 1). Constructive relationships appeared as a core asset, providing a foundation from which young people could develop. Having positive attributes was also fundamental to this process, which emphasises the importance of promoting physical and mental health simultaneously. Safety was the third core asset identified through the research strands. There was variation between young people regarding the definition of, and priority assigned to, the additional assets of independence and opportunity. Figure 1: Assets model to shape health promotion with young people Conclusion This research contributes to previous work in the field of assets models by providing new insight into the relatively little researched area of assets approaches to health promotion with young people in England. The complex interrelationships between mental health and assets have been highlighted; providing challenge to frameworks that focus on the quantitative accumulation of assets. The inclusion of young people’s perspectives provided new depth to previous theoretical models and interpretation of quantitative findings. The variation highlighted within this research raises implications for tackling health inequalities. This assets based model provides a framework to shape professional practice and policy thus providing the potential to improve young people’s health and wellbeing in a sustainable and non-stigmatising way.

In this dissertation, the lives of five young people living in Norrköping follows for five years (1998 – 2002) through fieldwork involving observations and recurring interviews. The objective of the study is to describe and analyse the development into adulthood and the creation of a (cultural) identity among a group of young people in a town, which used to be heavily working class. The objective is also to relate this to gender and class, institutional practices, the cultural legacy and changes in society. Primarily qualitative sociological research methods have been applied in the study. Ideas about social interaction and social processes derived from symbolic interactionism constitute one of the scientific foundations of the study. The study deals with the three key transitions; education, work and personal life. These transitions, which are essential to attaining adulthood, are emphasised and problematised in the study. In this study we can see that the process of individualisation in modern society has, in the context of the development of young people into adulthood, taken the form of a stream of messages to which they relate and in which society has, via institutional practices and rhetoric, played an active role. Factors such as gender, class and culture have constituted the conditions for the individualisation process. The mixed messages received by these young people have been representative of the discrepancy between general career possibilities and the actual opportunities which the youths in the study have encountered. These mixed messages have been mediated, as biographical schemes, at home (by parents), at school, in the context of institutional practices and, not least, via local politics, local media and in literature about the town. In its conclusion, this study points out that political and public discourse in Norrköping constitutes a bearer and “preserver” of a patriarchal tradition which contributes to preserving the negative image of the working-class town of Norrköping.

In light of Sweden ratifying the United Nations Convention on the rights of the child, Swedish law supports the right for children to express their opinions and have their voice heard in situations concerning them. The aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of young people’s participation, by investigating how young people’s opinions and attitudes are taken into account in decision making concerning the lack of care shown in 2§ The Compulsory Care of Young Persons Act (1990:52). To explore this subject, this study was based on the textual analysis of 16 court cases from the administrative court from the year 2016, concerning young people aged between 15-18 years old. We found that young people’s opinions and attitudes are generally taken into account in the process of compulsory care. Our results indicate that young people’s opinions and attitudes are taken into account to a higher extent in the whole legal process when the decision of the administrative court corresponds with the young person’s opinion and attitude. In cases where the court’s decision did not correspond with the young person’s opinion and attitude, the opinions and attitudes of children were taken into account to a lesser degree. Our analysis has shown, according to the Ladder of Participation, that all young people can be seen as participators in the process of compulsory care. However, children’s participation is a complex phenomenon and additional research is needed to unpack this subject further.

Using an emergent design, this study developed a program approach for young people in the child headed households of Zambia. Phase I dealt with prior ethnography, Phase II focused on independent living services, and Phase III concerned translation to Zambia. A total of 36 participants from Richmond, consisting of 20 Richmond Department of Social Services workers and youth and 16 Africans, were recruited. Three major themes emerged: feasibility, content, and quality. Lessons learned about translational research highlight the need for uniformity in a cultural screen’s composition. This might enhance the richness of perspectives on young people. Lessons for the Department of Social Services include a need to focus on tracking young people exiting services. This might involve exit interviews with young people and guidance with life decisions. There were lessons about decisions regarding local and expert knowledge in the translation process. This often becomes difficult when there are no assurances of participant uniformity. Paying attention to issues of local and expert knowledge would eliminate decision barriers that might arise during the translational process. Implications for social work education suggest that an emphasis on cultural competency might help students at the BSW and MSW levels to become better managers of adolescents. Implications for practice and policy include enhancing access to education and health for all young people. This process might be facilitated by the enactment of polices that highlight education and health for all young people at national and state levels. The following are crucial considerations for practice with young people: recruiting and training appropriate staff, promoting civic education, collaborating with young people, strengthening community involvement, strengthening agency collaboration, and developing targeted services. Implications for further research include: exploring what areas to consider when making a paradigm jump, considering cultural principles as bridges for making that jump, examining the implications for translational research as opposed to diffusion of innovation, determining what types of research samples would eliminate some of the gender issues that emerge with focus groups, recruiting more young people as participants, and conducting a study that focuses on lived experiences of young people.

Introduction : Les adolescents avec déficiences physiques en transition vers la vie adulte éprouvent des difficultés à établir une participation sociale optimale. Cette étude explore les retombées d'un programme de cirque social sur la participation sociale de ces jeunes selon leur point de vue et celui de leurs parents. Méthode : Étude qualitative exploratoire d’orientation phénoménologique. Neuf personnes avec déficiences physiques, âgées de 18 et 25 ans, ont participé au programme pendant neuf mois. Données recueillies : perceptions de leur qualité de participation sociale à partir d’entrevues semi-structurées en pré, mi-temps et post-intervention avec les participants et un de leurs parents. Le guide d’entrevue validé est ancré sur le Modèle du développement humain- Processus de production du handicap - 2 (HDM-PPH2). L’enregistrement audio des entretiens a été transcrit en verbatim. Le contenu a été analysé avec le logiciel Nvivo 9 à travers une grille de codage préalablement validée (co-codage, codage-inverse). Résultats : Corpus de 54 entrevues. L’âge moyen des jeunes était de 20,0 ± 1,4 années et de 51 ± 3,6 années pour les parents. Selon tous, la participation sociale des jeunes adultes a été optimisée, surtout sur le plan de la communication, des déplacements, des relations interpersonnelles, des responsabilités et de la vie communautaire. La perception de soi et les habiletés sociales, également améliorées, ont favorisé une plus grande auto-efficacité. Conclusion : Cette étude soutient donc le potentiel du cirque social comme approche novatrice et probante en réadaptation physique pour cette population, et appuie la pertinence d’autres études rigoureuses mesurant les diverses retombées possibles et identifiées. / Introduction: Youth with physical disabilities transitioning to adulthood have great difficulties achieving an optimal social participation. This study explores the impact of a social circus program as a new physical rehabilitation approach on the their perceived social participation level of these young adults based on their experience and on their parent’s perspective. Method: Exploratory phenomenological qualitative design. Nine youth with physical disabilities, aged 18 to 25 years were exposed to the program over nine months. Main outcomes: perception of their social participation level documented through pre, mid-term and post semi-structured interviews held with the young adults and one of their parents. Pre-tested interview guide anchored in the Human Development Model-Disability Creation Process-2 (HDM-DCP2) was used. Interview audio content was transcribed, verbatim analysed with Nvivo 9 software through a validated process (reverse-coding) and coding grid (co-coding). Results: Fifty-four interviews were analyzed. The average age of the youth was 20.0 ± 1.4 years; parents’ mean age was 51.0 ± 3.6 years old. According to all, the youths’ social participation was optimized. The impact has been stronger for the communication, mobility, interpersonal relationships, responsibility and community life categories. The social circus program was reported as strengthening their self-perception and social skills that led to a greater self-determination and self-efficacy. Conclusion: This study supports the potential of a social circus program as a new approach in adult physical rehabilitation for this transitioning population. Future research using mixedmethods design study and standardized outcome measures are needed to ensure greater credibility, sustainability, and knowledge transfer of this innovative approach in rehabilitation towards new populations.

The Malý čtenář (The Little Reader) magazine was published between the years of 1882 and 1941. At that time, this was one of the most significant Czech magazines for children and young people. The magazine altered during its existence. Poetry, fiction, nonfiction articles, games, jokes and puzzles remained its constant theme. The magazine was founded by teachers from Poděbrady. Its original role was to present school teaching through more fun and entertainment. Nonfiction articles played a significant role in the early years of the magazine. A big change for the existence of the magazine meant a transition to J. R. Vilímek publishing in 1888. In the 90s of the 19th century, the magazine became a more serious publication, primarily due to its incorporation of high quality poetry. Among the authors of the poems appears Josef Vaclav Sládek, who is regarded as the founder of Czech poetry for children. In these years, the magazine also aimed to appeal to a new target group of readers: adolescent school boys. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the ratio between poetry and prose in Malý čtenář gradually balanced. A key figure in the magazine, František Serafínský Procházka, took the main role in poetry. Prose came with longer serial stories with elements of realism; more fairy tales also appeared....

The thesis discusses the issues of communication of young people with mental disabilities. The theoretical part of the diploma work defines mental retardation. It shows the life of a mentally-disabled young person and explains the educational and employment opportunities of such young people. The theoretical part further focuses on the speech of persons with intellectual disabilities. It provides information about the development of speech and about impaired communication abilities. The work outlines the possibilities of speech therapy, its diagnostics and intervention. A diagnostic test oriented on the communication of young people with mental disability in selected situations of daily life was created within the practical part of the thesis. The speech of pupils was analysed on the basis of a test used in a selected two- year practical primary school, and on the basis of available documents and interview with the class teacher. A proposal of communication development was created for every pupil, which can be used in the preparation of the pupil's individual education plan. The contribution of the thesis is in the created proposal of measures for the development of communication of pupils at two-year practical schools, which is consistent with the school curricular documents. KEYWORDS...