abstract: Wellness in the workplace is a significant concern for many companies as employees experience both physical and mental health issues based on the environment in which they work. Both sedentary behavior and job-related stress, which may cooccur, are associated with the development of chronic disease, occupational stress, absenteeism/presenteeism in the workplace, increased employee turnover, and ultimately higher health care costs for companies. The development and implementation of workplace health promotion programs (WHPPs) is a popular, and at times, highly successful option to mitigate these issues. Yet, even when companies offer WHPPs, there still tends to be a lack of overall awareness, participation, and sustained engagement. Existing research regarding recreational music making (RMM) in the workplace and music therapy to improve wellness may serve to support the development of music therapy-based WHPPs as an effective solution. The evidence-based field of music therapy is an established health profession that uses music interventions to assist individuals in achieving their non-musical goals. This clinical project serves to highlight existing literature in support of the development of music therapy-based WHPPS. Furthermore, by tethering the tenets of previously successful WHPPs, the basic principles of collectivism, and the structural underpinnings of community music therapy, this clinical project offers evidence-based experientials and assessment tools for future implementation. Treatment domains addressed are physiological and psychosocial. Proposed goals include increased opportunity for physical activity, increased opportunity for stress-reduction and relaxation, and increased opportunity for social interaction among participants. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Music Therapy 2020

This research is concerned with understanding the role of consumer behaviour in microinsurance. There are notable factors such as premium flexibility, household income and marital status which serve as demand determinants of microinsurance; however the ultimate challenge is to influence consumer behaviour enabling growth of this insurance product. An established microinsurance sector results in the financial inclusion of low income consumers currently situated at the Bottom of the Pyramid, this is followed by economic development and subsequently economic growth for the broader society.Data was collected using a questionnaire from participants residing in East Bank, Alexandra, a South African township with a significant number of households in the LSM 1-4. The questionnaire collected data relating to basic financial services, characteristics of the Bottom of the Pyramid, as well as short term microinsurance demand.The findings show an immediate need towards the understanding of consumer behaviour by microinsurance stakeholders, including government and the private sector. It is only through innovation, partnership and low income consumer understanding that the desired levels of microinsurance demand will be attained. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Set in New Orleans, Louisiana, this qualitative dissertation study integrated case study, participatory, and ethnographic methods to examine how young Black girls curate joy, resist everyday violences, and promote well-being in their daily lives through the use of photography, Black girl literacies, and collective art making. Given that this country sits on a national inheritance of anti-Blackness and misogyny—both amplified during a global pandemic, Black girls have been implicated in these oppressive structures during precarious times. Contemporary and historical events have demonstrated the precarity of the lives of Black people, especially Black girls. As Kimberlé Crenshaw (2020) shared, “If we are ever truly to protect young Black women like Toying Salau or Breonna Taylor, we must first tell their stories.” This 6-month study inquired how young Black girls (ages 7-9 years old) become/are researchers of their own lives within the exacerbated social conditions of the pandemics of racism, sexism, COVID-19, and natural disasters. The participating Black girls generated content, art, and conversations from their lived experiences, much as Black people have been doing for their counter-narrative and truth telling. Scholars (Fontaine & Luttrell, 2015; Ghiso, 2016; Templeton, 2020) have documented the need for young children to find their voice to share their perspectives within the classroom space as well as examined the generative role of photography to foster inquiry among young children. This participatory study documented how three Black girls in early childhood education engaged with their artistic research through the use of disposable cameras and community art spaces during a time of multilayered and intersectional pandemics in their racial and gendered identities. The intent was for this study to be about and for the girls and their families and their city, with a potential consequence of adding/initiating conversations about the creative journeys needed/possible of remaking (early childhood) spaces for Black girls with Black girls and their families who are living and thriving in complex and unique ways in a society that makes it hard for them to live fully (or with ease) and thrive effortlessly. There were so many hard questions about identity posed to the girls during this study, and their articulations of themselves through words and art show how they are living the answers willfully and courageously.

Over 200 million women and girls alive today have been victims of Female Geni-tal Mutilation / Cutting, and another 3,6 million are at risk every year. This tradi-tional practice is widespread and has gained a lot of attention from Non-governmental organizations, scholars and medical professionals around the world, stating warnings about the harmful effects. Yet, the prevalence and continuance are still not regressing in a desirable rate. Many countries have enacted legislative actions against the practice, among these countries is the West African nation of The Gambia. The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine and analyse what experiences and perceptions NGOs in The Gambia have with using legislative ac-tion against FGM /C, how their work has changed due to the legislation as well as examine their perception on local community attitudes towards the law. This has been done using the theories of Cultural Relativism vs Universalism and through selected concepts within Hofstede's Theory of Cultural Dimensions. This study will theorise what happens when a law representing western norms and values gets implemented in a society where culture, traditions and the collective group is high-ly important. Our findings show that The Gambia, in particularly local communi-ties, holds a strong cultural relativistic mentality and is characterized by a collec-tivistic culture in which the power distance is high. This society puts emphasis on collective identity, solidarity and collective decisions as well as traditional heritage and cultural values. Implementing a law that promotes western values thus brings problems and a lack of efficiency.

Tidigare forskning visar att karriärval påverkas i och av olika kulturer på olika sätt. Samhällen präglas av ett individualistiskt och kollektivistiskt kulturellt tänkande, vilket även det har förmåga att påverka karriärval på olika sätt. Enligt flera forskare finns ett behov av att som vägledare vara medveten om hur karriärval påverkas i och av andra kulturer. Hur karriärval påverkas i och av andra kulturer är dock kunskap som saknats på studie- och yrkesvägledarprogrammet. Det här är problematiskt, eftersom det utan denna kunskap finns en överhängande risk för att som vägledare påverka vägledningsprocessen med det egna kulturella tänkandet. Med sikte mot att som vägledare i ett västerländskt land och med ett eventuellt individualistiskt kulturellt tänkande löpa mindre risk för att påverka vägledningsprocessen, undersöker examensarbetet karriärval i en kollektivistisk kultur. Det icke västerländska land med en kollektivistisk kultur som undersöks är Turkiet. Studiens syfte är att redogöra för hur turkiska universitetsstudenters karriärval påverkats av och kan förstås utifrån Turkiets kollektivistiska kultur. Frågeställningarna som behandlas för att uppfylla syftet är: Vilka påverkansfaktorer framträder i turkiska universitetsstudenters karriärval? Hur kan framträdande påverkansfaktorer i turkiska universitetsstudenters karriärval förstås mot bakgrund av Turkiets kollektivistiska kultur? Studien bygger på en kvalitativ metod och på sex intervjuer. Teoretiska begrepp som kulturella värden, habitus, kapital, handlingshorisont och position används för att analysera resultatet. Resultatet visar bland annat att familjen och tankar om en framtida ekonomi är framträdande påverkansfaktorer i turkiska universitetsstudenters karriärval. Mot bakgrund av Turkiets kollektivistiska kultur, kan dessa framträdande faktorer förstås genom individers skäl till att utföra kulturella värden i karriärvalen. / Previous research shows that career choices are influenced in and by different cultures in different ways. In addition, societies are characterized by an individualistic and collectivistic thinking, which also could influence career choices in different ways. According to several researchers, there is a need as a career counselor to be aware of how career choices are influenced in and by other cultures. How career choices are influenced in and by other cultures, however, is knowledge that has been missing throughout the Program of Study and Career Guidance. This is problematic, because without this knowledge, there is an imminent risk of influencing the career guidance process with the counselor’s own cultural thinking. With a starting point of being less of a risk to influence the career guidance process as a career counselor in a Western country and with a possible individualistic cultural thinking, this final thesis examines career choices in a collectivist culture. The nonWestern country with a collectivist culture that is being examined is Turkey. The aim of the study is to give an account of how Turkish university students’ career choices have been influenced by, and can be understood based on, Turkey’s collectivist culture. The questions addressed to fulfill the aim of this study are: What are the prominent factors influencing Turkish university students’ career choices? How can prominent factors influencing Turkish university students’ career choices be understood in the light of Turkey’s collectivist culture? The study is based on a qualitative method and on six interviews. Theoretical concepts as cultural values, habitus, capital, horizon of action and position are used to analyze the result. The result shows, among other things, that the family and thoughts about a future economy are prominent factors influencing Turkish university students’ career choices. In the light of Turkey’s collectivist culture, these prominent factors can be understood by individuals’ reasons for carrying out cultural values in their career choices.

Party-political involvement of young citizens is decreasing. Sociologist Zygmunt Bauman (2002) believes that democracy is a balance between individual freedom and collective safety. But today, collective safety is being abandoned as a defensible value. At the same time, the school has a democratic mission that rests on both of these opposing moral traditions; individualism and collectivism. Have the collective values been undermined in favor of increased individual freedom even within the school system? The purpose is to investigate the link between individualization and democratic competence of secondary school students. The theoretical approach is based mainly on Bauman's theory of the individualized society. Central concepts are individualism, collectivism and democratic competence. The method is a quantitative survey conducted at two secondary schools in southern Sweden of 168 high school students who study a program with a social science profile. The result indicates a connection between individualization and system confidence, as well as some variations based on gender, grade, domestic or foreign background, parents education level and political activity.

Young white men with a working background are described as the losers of the postindustrial society: as being in a marginalized position in which they are at risk of being rejected in the educational system, in the labour market and in social relations. This study examines to which degree the descriptions, provided by the Swedish political parties Socialdemokraterna and Moderaterna through semi-structured interviews, of a marginalization among young white men with a working class background in Sweden coincides with ideas of the postindustrial knowledge society as an explanatory model. Further, the study examines the solutions presented by the parties as a response to a marginalization among young white men with a working background in Sweden. The result shows that the problematization of a marginalization among these young men largely coincides with the postindustrial knowledge society as an explanatory model. Furthermore, it is possible to identify ideological dividing lines in the solutions that are launched: where collectivist views of society are most evident in the solutions presented by Socialdemokraterna, and individualistic views of society in the solutions presented by Moderaterna. An optimistic view of man is further identified in the solutions presented by both parties.

There is a large amount of literature about corruption and its impacts on conflict and democratization. In the latest decades, scholars have also tried to explain why political corruption trickles down to the public sector. However, less is known about under what circumstances that political corruption trickles down to the private sector. This is the puzzle for this thesis. A second contribution is to look at ethnically heterogenous countries in particular, as possible links between ethnicity and corruption have rarely been covered by previous research. The research question that guides this thesis is: Why do some politically corrupt, ethnically heterogenous, countries experience higher levels of private sector corruption than others? The possible relationship between ethic politization and private sector corruption will be investigated. Based on theories of norms and group behaviour, the paper formulates the hypothesis: higher levels of ethnic politization increases the risk for/level of private sector corruption. Through a Sructured Focused Comparison, the paper will compare two cases: Kenya and Tanzania. The study finds support for a relationship between ethnic politization and higher levels of private sector corruption. However. parts of the suggested causal mechanism will need further revising by future research.

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