Mature female students encounter a range of challenges, including stereotype threat, which may affect their persistence in academic programs. Research has been conducted on stereotype threat in adult learners, but little research has been done on the impact of stereotype threat on mature female students in higher education. The purpose of this qualitative study using the experience sampling method (ESM) was to investigate how role conflict and social isolation due to age differences affected the learning experiences of mature female students (ages 45-54). The study used a conceptual framework incorporating Steele and Aronson’s stereotype threat theory and the concept of perceived belonging. The research questions explored participants’ use of time and interactions with others to determine the extent to which they may have experienced role conflict and social isolation due to age differences. Using ESM in conjunction with interval-contingent diaries, the study collected data on 5 mature female students enrolled at a national, for-profit undergraduate institution 5 days per week for 4 weeks. Data were analyzed, codes and categories were developed, and themes were identified according to the research questions and diary prompts. Analysis of themes suggested that participants experienced role conflict, struggled with time management, and often felt overwhelmed and exhausted. The themes also indicated that participants interacted favorably with staff and professors but found themselves in conflict with classmates, often as a result of age differences. This study may lead to the development of interventions that can be used to address the unique, diverse needs of mature female students in higher education.

abstract: Many college campuses institute residency requirements intended to provide intentional support, engagement, and assistance in the transition into life as a first-year college student. However, first-year students opting to continue living at home with family and commuting to campus each day has become a growing trend. This group of students can often be more sizable than some may assume and their developmental needs can be consistent with those of their on-campus peers. The objective of this mixed-methods action research study was to better understand how peer-to-peer experiences and opportunities are perceived and to describe and explore the concept of social capital and sense of belonging within the first-year commuter student population. This feeling of isolation can often expand to a lack of campus involvement and engagement in social opportunities. As a result of the perceived needs of this growing first-year commuter student population, a peer mentoring program was launched as a pilot to localize, personalize, and support students by providing a peer student leader in the form of a commuter peer mentor (CPM). Results from the qualitative and quantitative data collected as a part of this study demonstrated that first-year students value specific and easily-identified resources made available to their unique need cases and while many first-year commuter students may feel well supported and connected academically, they articulated challenges with social connections within the university setting. The understandings gained from this action research can inform higher education and student affairs practitioners as they seek to establish or improve programs, resources, and practices that intentionally and thoughtfully support first-year commuter students. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2020

Blended families are an increasingly common type of family cohabitation. However, very little is known about the specifics of relationships between individual members of these families and how these relationships affect the personal well-being of the child in these families. The literature review section summarizes the findings of foreign research dealing with the specifics of relationships between individual members of blended families and how these relationships affect children's well-being in these families. The empirical part describes the research investigation and its results. The aim of the research was to find out what parenting styles are used by parents and stepparents in blended families, to compare relationships between different types of siblings and to find out how these relationships and parenting styles are related to children's well-being in these families and family belonging. Keywords Blended families, well-being, family belonging, parenting styles, siblings

This study explores the role of design as a force that may stabilise cultural identity in a cultural climate of globalisation through the use of visual rhetoric and narrative. It focuses specifically on the heritage and face of a German culture in South Africa. Objects that are found amongst the South African German community are analysed in an attempt to uncover the rhetoric and narrative of the culture’s heritage in a country far removed from their Heimat. The study deals with terms such as Sehnsucht and belonging, of maintaining a sense of cultural difference while being integrated and socially accepted. It uses visual rhetoric as a means to discover elements that may be used by design in order to adequately represent the Germanness of the South African German community in a way that it can be maintained in today’s way of life. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Visual Arts / unrestricted

Due to the cultural preoccupation with romantic love and marriage, little is known about single people (i.e., singles) except that they tend to be stigmatized and to exhibit worse well-being relative to married people. However, these conclusions are largely based on research which has centered the experiences of married people, not singles. Consequently, it remains unclear to what extent singles are actually suffering––that is, to what extent they feel like members of a stigmatized group, as well as to what extent the absence of a romantic bond is responsible for singles’ relatively poorer well-being. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation is twofold: 1) to determine the extent to which singles feel as though they belong to a stigmatized group, and 2) to determine the extent to which singles’ interpersonal relationships may buffer their sense of belonging and well-being. Given the negative cultural attitudes towards singles, I expect that most singles will have a relatively low level of group belonging. Yet, at the same time, I expect that some singles will still be able to meet their belongingness needs through their close interpersonal relationships (i.e., friendships), and that these bonds may support their well-being during singlehood. Consequently, I propose that, on average, singles may exhibit poorer well-being compared to married people, not necessarily because they lack a sense of interpersonal belonging but because they lack a sense of group belonging. Obtaining a more accurate account of singles’ experiences of stigmatization and well-being is essential for identifying the factors that lead to both vulnerability and resiliency in this population. By centering singles’ experiences and applying a belongingness perspective, my research will illuminate multiple pathways to well-being. / Graduate / 2021-07-01

Bakgrund: Äldre personer är en växande grupp i samhället. Förluster och minskat socialt nätverk är en naturlig del i denna fas av livet. Att leva i social isolering kan leda till stora hälsoproblem. Arbetsterapeuters aktivitetsfokus kan användas till stöd för äldre personer i utförandet av meningsfulla aktiviteter som ett led i att motverka social isolering. Syfte: Att kartlägga och beskriva aktivitetsfokuserade åtgärder för att motverka social isolering hos äldre personer med fokus på utfall. Metod: Studiedesignen var scoping review. Datainsamling gjordes genom litteratursökning i databaserna: AMED, Cinahl, Medline, Pubmed och Psycinfo samt manuella sökningar vilket resulterade i tio inkluderade artiklar. Resultat: Artiklar från fyra länder och med olika designer identifierades. Målsättning och syfte med interventionerna var varierande och tre olika underteman identifierades: Motverka social isolering och/eller ensamhet, Stärka och bibehålla god hälsa och livsstil samt Öka delaktighet och samhörighet. Resultatet indikerar att aktivitetsfokuserade interventioner och dess utfall kan motverka social isolering hos äldre personer. Slutsats: Aktivitetsfokuserade åtgärder bidrar med en minskad känsla av ensamhet, ökad upplevelse av samhörighet och ett större aktivitetsengagemang. Det kan därför finnas ett behov av fler arbetsterapeutiska interventioner då gruppen äldre personer i social isolering ökar men ytterligare forskning behövs. / Title: Activity-focused interventions to counteract social isolation in elderly people.Background: Elderly people is an increasing group in society. Losses and reduced social networks are part of aging. To live in social isolation can lead to major health issues. Occupational therapists focus on activities can be used to support elderly people in the performance of meaningful activities as a part of counteracting social isolation. Purpose: To map and describe activity focused interventions to counteract social isolation in elderly people with focus on outcome. Method: A scoping review was used. Data collection was done by literature search in the databases: AMED, Cinahl, Medline, Pubmed and Psycinfo and manual searches which resulted in ten articles. Result: Articles from four countries and with different designs were identified. The goal and aim of the interventions varied and three sub-themes were identified: to prevent social isolation and/or loneliness, strengthen and keep good health and lifestyle and increase participation and fellowship. The results indicate that activityfocused interventions and their outcomes can counteract social isolation in elderly people. Conclusion: Activity-focused interventions contribute with a reduced feeling of loneliness, increased experience of belonging and a greater activity engagement. There may be a need for more occupational therapy interventions as the group elderly people in social isolation increases but further studies are required.

Inclusive education is one major goal nowadays in the whole world. Looking into policy inclusive education is highly valued and quality and equity shall be ensured that every child can benefit to develop his or her full potential. Looking into Europe there is still a gap between policy and practice, especially when it comes to children with intellectual disabilities. This population is considered as vulnerable faced by increased separation and exclusion. A systematic literature review was conducted aimed to understand the benefits of inclusive education for primary school aged children with intellectual disabilities in European countries. 15 articles published between 2010 and 2021 were analysed using narrative analysis. The findings showed overall good progress of this population within academic achievement, the sense of belonging, participation, socio-emotional and cognitive development, and behavioural outcomes. However, poor outcomes were reported as well. To better understand these benefits, they were discussed using the concept of participation by Maxwell and Granlund, the need to belong according to the theory of human motivation by Maslow and Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory. It became obvious that nowhere a system is fully inclusive and that there is still a long way to go. Nevertheless, benefits can be seen already which shows a step towards meeting the best interest of the child by making progress towards a full inclusive education system.

Rural-urban migration has been increasing and is commonly seen in northern cities of Mexico.  Indigenous students do not always have opportunities to receive higher education in their communities, and therefore migrate to urban areas. After migrating they can face certain challenges navigating the urban lifestyle. With the help of the translocality concept, this study employed a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews to explore the reason behind five indigenous students' migration and their experiences of different translocal circumstances. The results and analysis indicated that the students had both similar and different experiences in the various translocal arenas. The analysis showed the reasons behind the students’ migration were often linked to educational opportunities, but they also expressed different aspirations and plans for the future Further, adjusting to their new city environment proved to be challenging. They experienced both a negative and positive sense of place in Monterrey, but Mision del Nayar, the university and other indigenous students helped them feel a sense of belonging. The experiences the students had in the different translocal arenas shaped their narrative, and hence, impacted their sense of place and sense of belonging. Lastly, the students experienced translocal identities on a daily basis. / Migration från landsbygd till städer har ökat och har blivit vanligare i norra städer i Mexiko. Studenter från ursprungsbefolkningar har inte alltid tillgång till högre utbildning i sina samhällen och migrerar därför till stadsområden. Efter migrationen kan de genomgå vissa utmaningar med att navigera sig i den urbana livsstilen. Med hjälp av translokalitetskonceptet tillämpade denna studie ett frågeformulär och semistrukturerade intervjuer för att undersöka orsakerna till fem inhemska studenters migration och deras erfarenheter av olika translokala omständigheter. Resultatet och analysen tydde på att studenterna hade både liknande och olika upplevelser i de olika translokala arenorna. Analysen visade att anledningarna till studenternas migration ofta var kopplade till utbildningsmöjligheter, men de uttryckte också olika ambitioner och planer inför framtiden. Vidare visade sig anpassningen till deras nya stadsmiljö vara utmanande. De upplevde både en negativ och positiv känsla av plats i Monterrey, men Mision del Nayar, universitetet och andra inhemska studenter hjälpte dem också att känna tillhörighet. De erfarenheter som studenterna hade av de olika translokala arenorna formade deras berättelse och påverkade därmed deras känsla av plats och känsla av tillhörighet. Avslutningsvis påvisade studien att studenterna dagligen upplevde translokala identiteter.

This Bachelor thesis is about international students, who travelled to Uppsala to study abroad during the autumn exchange term, which took place between September 2021 to January 2022. Four students from different countries were interviewed about their cultural and social experiences when the students studied abroad and how they oriented themselves in a foreign environment. This thesis focuses on sensory anthropology, which is a subfield. The sensorial aspects are about the international student's experiences and the primary ones are light and darkness, space, flavors, and memories. When it comes to local belonging and imagined communities, the sensory aspects are about the value of individual experiences as well as the collective aspect of establishing a new community. In the period where international students learned, they clarified whether they felt a local belonging to Uppsala.  When it comes to whether the students feel a sense of local belonging in Uppsala, the student's own educational experiences, local belonging, and communities in their home countries are compared to the Swedish students' existing communities at Uppsala. Foreign students also describe their native languages and their encounters with the Swedish language, and how the contrast resulted in feelings of exclusion from the Swedish society.

Thesis advisor: Kyrah Daniels / Thesis advisor: Gustavo Morello / In many ways, college campuses represent a microcosm of the world where standards of whiteness are upheld and larger societal issues are recreated. Though American Muslim populations expand each year in the United States, few college campuses provide space for African Muslim women to fully express their spirituality and other aspects of their identities without compromise. This thesis examines how African Muslim women navigate belonging and dis-belonging in college. Additionally, it explores how African Muslim women use their triple consciousness to negotiate between their racial, cultural, religious, and gendered identities. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Sociology. / Discipline: African & African Diaspora Studies.