As the number of cancer survivors continues to rise, there is an increasing need for psychological research to better understand and help individuals cope with their cancer journey. According to Socioemotional Selectivity theory (SST), shortened time perspective and mortality awareness heighten the importance of social and emotional goals. In the present analysis, SST is applied to the unmet needs of cancer survivors. This is done to provide a better understanding of the association between unmet needs of cancer survivors and the impact of such needs on the survivors' psychological well-being, especially in the case of survivor’s awareness of his/her mortality. In keeping with SST theory, we anticipated that for those with higher mortality awareness (e.g., recurrence of cancer, older age, greater mortality ratio), high unmet social and emotional needs, above else, will be associated with lower psychological well-being. Partial support was found for these hypotheses and results are discussed in terms of their contribution to a better understanding of the nature of psychological well-being of cancer survivors.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Univ., 2001. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Den här studien bygger på åtta intervjuer med lärare i ämnet idrott och hälsa från fem olika skolor i grundskolans senare år och gymnasiet. Vårt syfte är att bidra med större kunskap om hur lärare inom ämnet Idrott och hälsa talar om möjligheter och utmaningar för extra anpass-ningar samt deras erfarenheter om olika former av extra anpassningar utifrån ett specialpeda-gogiskt perspektiv. Syftet är också att belysa hur lärarnas föreställningar och erfarenheter har betydelse för hur deras undervisning i Idrott och hälsa kan bedrivas med tanke på tillgänglig-het, likvärdighet och inkludering. I intervjuerna sökte vi svar på hur lärarna i Idrott och hälsa ser på sitt arbete med extra anpassningar och vilka möjligheter respektive utmaningar de upp-lever med dessa samt hur de extra anpassningarna kan göra idrottsämnet tillgängligt för elever i behov av stödinsatser. Vid analysförfarandet har vi kategoriserat resultatet utifrån skolans tre nivåer, organisationsnivå, gruppnivå och individnivå med stöd av tillgänglighetsmodellen från specialpedagogiska skolmyndigheten. Tillgänglighetsmodellen innefattas av den pedagogiska miljön, den sociala miljön och den fysiska miljön. Resultatet i studien visar att lärarna i ämnet Idrott och hälsa ofta utför extra anpassningar i stunden i den praktiska delen av undervisningen samt att de så långt som möjligt försöker planera undervisningen för att inkludera alla ele-ver. Praktiska problem som omklädningssituationerna och schematekniska lösningar där ele-ver exempelvis kunde byta undervisningsgrupp ansågs också som extra anpassningar. Något som samtliga lärare i studien var överens om var att fler lärare och mer stöd från skolans elevhälsa skulle underlätta anpassningarna positivt för elevernas kunskapsutveckling och måluppfyllelse i ämnet Idrott och hälsa.

Thesis (M. Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2017. / Education is indeed essential for the improvement of the performance, competence and effectiveness of parliamentarians. Many countries in the world including South Africa do not require specific minimum qualifications or skills to qualify to be a parliamentarian. As a result, parliamentarians come into the legislature with varying levels of skills and qualifications, which has an impact on their competence and effectiveness. The purpose of the study was to assess the training needs of parliamentarians focusing on the case of the Limpopo legislature. Mixed research method comprising both qualitative and quantitative methods was applied in this study. A survey questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data from thirty-six respondents. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect the qualitative data from seven respondents. The study found that seventy-eight percent of parliamentarians had a bachelor degree and post-graduate. Parliamentarians identified FAMPPLA, PFMA, research analysis, standing rules and orders, presiding over meeting, strategic management, interpersonal skills, speech writing, computer literacy, negotiations, facilitations skills, monitoring and evaluation as their priority training needs. The study further found that parliamentarians prefer two to three day workshops as a mode for training.

Thesis advisor: Mary E. Walsh / Poverty has many deleterious effects on child development, including negative impacts on social-emotional health, a developmental domain schools refer to as non-cognitive skills (Dearing, 2008). Unfortunately, children growing up poor often have underdeveloped non-cognitive skills, which significantly predict academic success and well-being (Farrington et al., 2012). Integrated Student Support (ISS) is one emerging approach that holistically supports cognitive and non-cognitive student development (Moore & Emig, 2014). While ISS has been found to improve academic outcomes, limited research examines its impact on social-emotional outcomes. This study focused on one ISS intervention, City Connects, which provides tailored student support plans to every child in a school via school and community-based services (Walsh et al., 2014). The study had three aims. The first was to examine the percentage of City Connects students with and without a social-emotional-behavioral (SEB) Need across levels of risk and service characteristics (i.e., domains, intensity levels, types) in second grade (N=896). The second was to examine improvement in three teacher-rated non-cognitive student outcomes (Prosocial Behavior, Self-Regulated Learning, Academic Effort) from second-fifth grade for City Connects students with and without a SEB Need (N=896). The third was to compare improvement in the same three non-cognitive student outcomes from second-fifth grade for students with a SEB Need in City Connects schools and comparable schools without the intervention (N=1,778). Multilevel modeling assessed aims 2 and 3. Significantly more students with a SEB Need were deemed higher risk and received more health, early intervention, and SEB/counseling services compared to students without a SEB Need in City Connects schools. Further, significant improvements from second-fifth grade were found in Self-Regulated Learning and Academic Effort for City Connects students with a SEB Need compared to those without a SEB Need. Significant improvements were also found over time in Academic Effort for students with a SEB Need in City Connects schools compared to those in comparison schools. Findings support that ISS improves non-cognitive functioning for students attending high-poverty schools. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

Research was conducted on students with special educational needs (SEN) taking world language (WL) classes at the secondary level in the state of Utah. Ninety-two WL teachers shared their outlooks and experiences on working with this population of students. Data analyses show that there is not a significant increase in the number of students with SEN enrolled in WL classes. Analyses suggest that WL teachers have an average of two students with SEN per class, learning disability being the most common SEN identified. This study also shares teachers' successful and challenging experiences, finding that time and individual attention are examples of critical aspects for students' success. Additionally, the research shows that not all teachers have the professional or academic support to assist their SEN students. This research contributes valuable information for future studies in this field, such as the study of English Language Learners (ELL) categorized as students with learning disabilities because while their lack of English proficiency flags them as needing help, this need does not necessarily equate to a learning disability.

In March 2020 schools in Sweden had to reorganize their organization due to the covid-19-pandemic. The uppersecondary school had to undergo a quick transformation from a traditional education in a brick-and-mortarsetting to distance education in an online setting. Even though this way of organizing education was new toSwedish upper secondary school the Swedish Department of Education (Skolverket, 2020a) argued that studentswith disabilities and in need of special support in school were supposed to be given the same opportunities indistance education as in traditional education.Previous research suggests that distance education could be a challenge to these students in terms of lack ofstructure and motivation. It also shows that there is a lack of competence among teachers regarding this way ofteaching. On the other hand, previous research also shows that some of these students could be favored in thisway of teaching and that it could result in a higher attendance and a more favorable educational setting.The aim of this study is to contribute with knowledge about different professions perceptions regarding distanceeducation and the impact of distance education when it comes to students in need of special support within theSwedish upper secondary school. This is a qualitative study based on 9 semi structured interviews with 3 specialeducation teachers, 3 special educational needs coordinators and 3 teachers.The results suggests that there are certain challenges with distance education, such as a lack of overview of thestudents in the classroom, less time to prepare lessons and a lack of continuity when organizing teaching. Thefindings also suggests that distance education have been positive for certain students who might have had aproblem earlier when it comes to distractions in the school setting. The results also point towards the importanceof realizing that the teaching environment is different in distance education compared to the traditional settingand that is something that needs to be addressed, a development of school staff’s knowledge about onlinelearning is of the essence in order to fully make use of distance education and especially in order to teachstudents in need of special support. In conclusion, there are both benefits and challenges with distance educationand also a need of development in order to fully make use of distance education for students in need of specialsupport and the teaching of these students would probably benefit of future research regarding how to merge thetraditional brick-and-mortar teaching with distance education when it comes to their respective strengths andweaknesses.

Work meaningfulness is fundamental to how employees approach, enact, and experience tasks and interpersonal relationships, and to maintain mental well-being in the workplace. However, research on the antecedents of work meaningfulness is unbalanced, i.e., the heavy emphasis on the supplies (or sources) of work meaningfulness and the insufficient attention on the individuals’ survival and psychological needs. This paper aims to address this research gap of work meaningfulness by incorporating the person-environment fit framework with a special focus on needs-supplies fit type. Drawing on research concerning needs for survival and three basic psychological needs from self-determination theory, a set of needs-based antecedents of work meaningfulness were examined, viz., needs-supplies fit for survival, autonomy, belongingness, and competence (S-ABC needs-supplies fit). Additionally, the interaction effects of S-ABC needs-supplies fit and work orientation (work as jobs, careers, or callings) on work meaningfulness were investigated. The current study applied the two-phased explanatory sequential mixed methods research design (QUAN --> qual = Explain). Results from the phase 1 quantitative survey (N = 363) suggest that work meaningfulness increased as autonomy supplies approached the needed levels and decreased when supplies exceeded the needed levels. Meanwhile, work meaningfulness increased as survival, belongingness, and competence supplies approached the needed levels and remained high or continued increasing (as opposed to an expected decrease) when supplies exceeded the needed levels. Further, the study found interaction effects between work orientation and autonomy and belongingness needs-supplies fit on work meaningfulness, while no interaction was found between work orientation and survival and competence needs-supplies fit on work meaningfulness. Contrary to expectations, the results suggest that individuals who view work as jobs were more susceptible to autonomy and belongingness needs-supplies fit/misfit; while work as callings or careers acted as a buffer and mitigated the otherwise negative effects of autonomy and belongingness needs-supplies fit/misfit on work meaningfulness. Specifically, for people who viewed work as jobs, work meaningfulness increased as autonomy supplies approached the needed levels but decreased when supplies exceeded the needed levels; and work meaningfulness increased as belongingness supplies approached the needed levels and continued increasing as belongingness exceeded the needed levels. When people viewed work as careers or callings, autonomy and belongingness needs-supplies fit/misfit did not significantly influence work meaningfulness. The phase 2 qualitative interview (N = 23) results generally corroborated with the quantitative results and provided empirical evidences that were explanatory to the quantitative results. Implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements and the award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Library and Information Science at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2013. / The purpose of this study was to investigate the information needs and seeking behaviour of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and caregivers, and to examine the role of service providers in disseminating information to OVC and caregivers in Namibia. Although several studies focusing on different aspects of the OVC situation have been done, the researcher could not identify any study that focused on the information needs and seeking behaviour of OVC and their caregivers in Namibia and how the two groups satisfy their information needs at present. In order to obtain data from the respondents, the study adopted qualitative and quantitative research methods for data collection. A questionnaire was mailed to the sampled service providers, while interviews were conducted with OVC and caregivers. Focus group discussions were also held with caregivers and key informants in order to explore the general attitudes, feelings, beliefs, experiences and reactions of the research population with respect to information needs and seeking behaviours. The study took place in the rural community of Ohangwena and the urban setting of Khomas. A total of 566 OVC, 70 caregivers, and 18 services providers from both regions took part in the study. A total of eleven focus group discussions took place; eight focus group discussions were held in Ohangwena, while three were in the Khomas region. Both rural and urban OVC indicated that they needed information in order to access financial vii assistance/grants, child care/support, feeding schemes, and health services. The most important information required, according to the OVC from Ohangwena, was information on school development fund exemption, financial assistance or grants, health services, child care/support and training opportunities. The OVC from Khomas had similar priorities with the exception of training opportunities, which was replaced with counselling. Both rural and urban OVC consulted relatives, teachers, and friends to satisfy their information needs, indicating that people were their most important source of information. The findings from focus group discussions (FGDs) with caregivers and key informants indicated that there are disparities between rural and urban areas in terms of information access and use based on literacy and education. For example, the rural dwellers cited their need for information on educational support, psychological and counselling services, child care/support, and job opportunities. In the urban setting of Khomas, educational support and the establishment of small businesses featured as prominent needs. The FGDs revealed that the radio, traditional leaders, regional councillors, friends and relatives were the most important sources and channels of information in Ohangwena, while in Khomas, friends and relatives, community leaders, and regional councillors were the most popular channels. Social workers and the television were also popular channels in Khomas. The findings of the study indicate that service providers provide a range of services to OVC and caregivers in both rural and urban areas. In the rural areas, the majority of the supporting organisations had health-related programmes focusing on feeding schemes and nutrition, and HIV/AIDS awareness. In urban areas, service providers provided psychosocial support, counselling, and resilience services. The findings reveal that the majority of the service providers used community meetings and public forums to communicate their own information and to create awareness of their services in both regions. The channels that were most frequently used in Ohangwena were community meetings and open forums, while the use of volunteers featured prominently in Khomas. The OVC and caregivers encountered various problems in accessing information, including: long distance to access information and services; language barrier for printed materials; shortage of service providers in rural areas; lack of coordination of service providers; and viii bureaucratic red tape from government departments. Major recommendations stemming from the study include: the need for service providers to provide clear information on how to access the different services that target OVC and caregivers; service providers should collaborate and use mass media channels to disseminate information; the need for a “one stop shop” where all information related to OVC services would be made available; and the need to provide information in local languages. The study concluded that information provision is a crucial resource for OVC and caregivers because it helps them identify and take advantage of available services. Conversely, lack of information leads to the lower utilization of available services and increased poverty and disempowerment. Several recommendations are made on how to improve the flow of information to OVC and caregivers to help them easily locate and use facilities and services that have been set up for them either by the government, or by non-governmental organisations and other service providers. The study also proposes a model to improve the provision of information to OVC and caregivers in the two regions. / University of Zululand

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / The harsh economic environment, lack of adequate caregiving resources, lack of psychosocial support structures poses as some of the challenge’s families caring for the children with special needs face. In exploring the experiences, perceptions and coping strategies applied by families caring for children with special needs care, the study sought to explore the (physical, social, psychological, emotional, financial) experiences of caring for a child with special needs and their experiences of access to services (healthcare, education, social). The caregiver’s perceptions of family, service providers and community member’s reactions towards their children with special needs and the coping strategies applied by families when caring for their child with special needs were also included in this study.