Yes / Informal caregivers of people with dementia develop their own beliefs about the condition, referred to as Dementia Representations (DRs), as they try to make sense of the changes they are observing. The first aim of this study was to provide a profile of the types of DRs held by caregivers. The second aim was to examine the impact of caregivers’ DRs on their well-being, satisfaction with life (SwL) and caregiving stress. Methods: Participants were 1264 informal caregivers of people in the mild-to-moderate stages of dementia from time-point 1 of the IDEAL cohort study. Measures: DRs were measured using questionnaire items covering: Identity, Cause, Control, and Timeline. Results: Almost half (49.2%) of caregivers used a diagnostic term to describe the person’s condition, although 93.4% of caregivers stated they were aware of the diagnosis. Higher well-being, SwL, and lower caregiving stress were associated with the use of an identity term relating to specific symptoms of dementia, attributing the cause to ageing or not knowing the cause, and believing the condition would stay the same. Lower well-being, SwL, and higher caregiving stress were associated with believing there was little that could be done to control the effects of the condition. Conclusion: Healthcare professionals should assess and gain an understanding of caregivers’ DRs in order to provide more tailored information and support. / Economic and Social Research Council (UK) and the National Institute for Health Research (UK) grant ES/L001853/2

Adipositas gilt seit einigen Jahren als eine der häufigsten chronischen Erkrankungen des Kindes- und Jugendalters. Welche Faktoren zu einer erfolgreichen Behandlung der Adipositas im Kindes- und Jugendalter führen, sind jedoch noch immer nicht ausreichend geklärt. Ein wichtiger – bisher jedoch weitgehend unbeachteter – Faktor, welcher möglicherweise wegweisend für den Therapieverlauf sein kann, ist das subjektive Krankheitskonzept der betroffenen Kinder. Das bedeutsamste theoretische Modell, welches den Einfluss der individuellen Krankheitsvorstellungen auf den Regulationsprozess eines Menschen im Umgang mit Erkrankungen beschreibt, ist das Common Sense Model of Illness Representation (CSM) von Howard Leventhal. Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war es die subjektiven Krankheitskonzepte adipöser Kinder zu erfassen und ihren Einfluss auf den Regulationsprozess zu analysieren. In einer ersten Untersuchung wurde mittels Daten von 168 adipösen Kindern im Alter von 8 bis 12 Jahren zunächst ein Fragebogen zur Erfassung der subjektiven Krankheitskonzepte entwickelt. Die Ergebnisse weisen darauf hin, dass der Fragebogen als reliabel und valide eingeschätzt werden kann. Mit Hilfe dieses Fragebogens konnte nachgewiesen werden, dass adipöse Kinder Konstrukte über ihre Erkrankung haben, welche in eigenständigen Dimensionen gespeichert werden. Die gefundenen initialen Krankheitskonzepte adipöser Kinder ergeben ein homogenes erwartungskonformes Bild. In einer zweiten Untersuchung wurden anschließend die subjektiven Krankheitskonzepte adipöser Kinder, die Bewältigungsstrategien sowie gesundheits- und krankheitsrelevante Kriteriumsvariablen untersucht. Die Befragungen erfolgten vor Beginn einer stationären Reha (T1), am Ende der Reha (T2) sowie sechs Monate nach Reha-Ende (T3). Von 107 Kindern liegen Daten zu allen drei Messzeitpunkten vor. Es konnte ein Zusammenhang zwischen Krankheitskonzepten, Bewältigungsstrategien und spezifischen Kriteriumsvariablen bei adipösen Kindern nachgewiesen werden. Die Analyse der Wirkzusammenhänge konnte zeigen, dass die kindlichen Krankheitskonzepte – neben den indirekten Einflüssen über die Bewältigungsstrategien – die Kriteriumsvariablen vor allem auch direkt beeinflussen können. Der Einfluss der initialen Krankheitskonzepte adipöser Kinder konnte hierbei sowohl im querschnittlichen als auch im längsschnittlichen Design bestätigt werden. Zudem konnten vielfältige Einflüsse der Veränderung der subjektiven Krankheitskonzepte während der Therapie gefunden werden. Die Veränderungen der Krankheitskonzepte wirken sowohl mittelfristig auf die individuellen Bewältigungsstrategien am Ende der Reha als auch längerfristig auf die adipositasspezifischen Kriteriumsvariablen Gewicht, Ernährung, Bewegung und Lebensqualität. Die Befunde stärken die Relevanz und das Potential der zielgerichteten Modifikation adaptiver bzw. maladaptiver Krankheitskonzepte innerhalb der stationären Therapie der kindlichen Adipositas. Zudem konnte bestätigt werden, dass subjektive Krankheitskonzepte und ihre Veränderung innerhalb der Therapie einen relevanten Beitrag zur Vorhersage des kindlichen Therapieerfolgs über einen längerfristigen Zeitraum leisten können. / Obesity has been considered one of the most common chronic illnesses in children and adolescents for some years. The factors that contribute to a successful treatment of obesity in children and adolescents have however yet to be adequately identified. One important – but so far largely neglected – factor which could be crucial to the therapeutic process is the subjective concept of illness in the children affected. The most significant theoretical model to describe the influence of the individual notions of illness on a person’s regulatory process in dealing with illnesses is the Common Sense Model of Illness Representation (CSM) developed by Howard Leventhal. The aim of this thesis was to record the subjective concepts of illness in obese children and to analyse their influence on the regulatory process. In a first study, a survey was developed to collect data on the subjective concepts of illness in 168 obese children between the ages of 8 and 12 years. The results indicate that the survey can be considered reliable and valid. With the aid of this survey, it could be proven that obese children have constructs of their illness that are stored in independent dimensions. The initial concepts of illness found in obese children give a homogeneous picture that conforms to expectations. A second study analysed the subjective concepts of illness in obese children, as well as coping strategies and health and illness-relevant criterion variables. Surveys were carried out before the start of in-patient rehab (T1), at the end of rehab (T2) and six months after the end of rehab (T3). The data of 107 children is available from all three instances of measurement. It was possible to prove a connection between concepts of illness, coping strategies and specific criterion variables in obese children. An analysis of cause-and-effect relationships was able to demonstrate that – as well as indirectly influencing the coping strategies – the children’s concepts of illness had above all a direct influence on the criterion variables. The influence of the initial concepts of illness in obese children could thus be confirmed both in a cross-sectional and in a longitudinal design. In addition, multiple influences were found of changes to the subjective concepts of illness in the course of therapy. Changes to concepts of illness have both a medium-term effect on individual coping strategies at the end of rehab and a longer-term effect on the obesity-specific criterion variables weight, diet, movement and quality of life. The findings reinforce the relevance and potential of the goal-orientated modification of adaptive or maladaptive concepts of illness within the in-patient treatment of childhood obesity. In addition, it was confirmed that subjective concepts of illness and the changes they undergo during therapy can provide a relevant contribution to predicting the success of a child’s therapy over a longer period of time.

The aim of this thesis is to develop theories and formal methods to endow a computing machinery with capabilities to identify, represent, reason and evaluate complex activities that are directed by an individual’s needs, goals, motives, preferences and environment, information which can be inconsistent and incomplete. Current methods for formalising and reasoning about human activity are typically limited to basic actions, e.g., walking, sitting, sleeping, etc., excluding elements of an activity. This research proposes a new formal activity-centric model that captures complex human activity based on a systemic activity structure that is understood as a purposeful, social, mediated, hierarchically organized and continuously developing interaction between people and word. This research has also resulted in a common-sense reasoning method based on argumentation, in order to provide defeasible explanations of the activity that an individual performs based on the activity-centric model of human activity. Reasoning about an activity is based on the novel notion of an argument under semantics-based inferences that is developed in this research, which allows the building of structured arguments and inferring consistent conclusions. Structured arguments are used for explaining complex activities in a bottom-up manner, by introducing the notion of fragments of activity. Based on these fragments, consistent argumentation based interpretations of activity can be generated, which adhere to the activity-centric model of complex human activity. For resembling the kind of deductive analysis that a clinician performs in the assessment of activities, two quantitative measurements for evaluating performance and capacity are introduced and formalized. By analysing these qualifiers using different argumentation semantics, information useful for different purposes can be generated. e.g., such as detecting risk in older adults for falling down, or more specific information about activity performance and activity completion. Both types of information can form the base for an intelligent machinery to provide tailored recommendation to an individual. The contributions were implemented in different proof-of-concept systems, designed for evaluating complex activities and improving individual’s health in daily life. These systems were empirically evaluated with the purpose of evaluating theories and methodologies with potential users. The results have the potential to be utilized in domains such as ambient assisted living, assistive technology, activity assessment and self-management systems for improving health.

Thesis (MA (Sociology and Social Anthropology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The thesis examines the lives of four families in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal and what the situation in which these families find themselves tells us about race, poverty and social change in contemporary South Africa by using ethnographic participant observation techniques. Central to the thesis is a concern with contradiction expressed in the entanglement of these four families with a particular moral order. This moral order is the basis of continued material survival, but at the same time, it is not adequate to transform conditions of poverty nor to change feelings of entitlement, making it impossible for these families to imagine their condition as shared with other races. The problem appears to be just about individuals not thinking correctly about their position and about them not seeing how many South Africans are struggling to survive and therefore share similar difficulties. The thesis shows that the difficulties experienced have rather more to do with changing the families' common sense notions. Their common sense is grounded in material realities, in realties of institutions that provide for them but also dictate a particular way of seeing the world, a moral order. Common sense is embedded in the material practices of people, in how they inhabit space and make place for themselves, in how they interact with family, in how they work with the institutions that are the very condition of their survival, and in how they come to understand and judge the past. At the moments when the limits of the moral order become clear, it is then not the moral order that comes into question but rather it is reasserted through explanations based on particular structural changes as contingencies that reinforce the moral order rather than challenge it. It is at these moments that people reassert race since their common sense explanations seem limited. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie proefskrif ondersoek die alledaagse lewens van vier families in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal en wat hul situasie ons kan vertel van ras, armoede en sosiale verandering in 'n kontemporêre Suid-Afrika gebasseer op deelnemende waarneming en etnografiese tegnieke. Sentraal tot die proefskrif is 'n fokus op die teenstrydigheid wat voorkom in die verstrengeling van hierdie vier families met 'n bepaalde morele orde. Hierdie morele orde is die grondslag vir voortgesette materiële oorlewing, maar terselfde tyd is dit nie voldoende om die kondisies van armoede te transformeer of om hul gevoelens van geregtigheid te verander nie en maak dit amper onmoonltik vir die families om hulle kondisie as gedeel en gemeenskaplik met ander rasse te sien. Die probleem blyk om meer te wees as net individue wat nie korrek nadink oor hul posisie nie of nie sien hoeveel ander Suid Afrikaners sukkel om 'n bestaan te maak nie en dus soortgelyke probleme ervaar. Die tesis wys dat dit het eerder te doen met 'n verandering in wat die families „weet‟ gebaseer op hulle gesonde verstand (common sense). Hulle gesonde verstand is gegrond in materiële realiteite, die realiteite van instellings wat vir hulle voorsiening maak en gevolglik die spesifieke wyse waarop hulle die wêreld sien dikteer; 'n morele orde. Hulle gesonde verstand is gegrond in die materiële praktyke van mense, in hoe hulle in ruimtes leef en plek maak vir hulself, in hoe hulle omgaan met familie, in hoe hulle te werk gaan met instellings wat die basis is vir hulle oorlewing en in hoe hulle sin maak van die verlede asook dit oordeel. In die oomblike wanneer die grense van die morele orde bereik word, is dit nie die morele orde wat bevraagteken word nie. Die morele orde word eerder gehandhaaf deur regverdigings gebasseer op spesifieke strukturele veranderings wat dit verder versterk, eerder as uitdaag. Dit is in hierdie oomblikke wat mense fokus op ras omdat hulle gesonde verstand se rationalisasies of regverdigings beperk is.

Os estudos situados no campo de intersecção entre a psicologia e a política têm contribuído de forma significativa para a investigação de diversos fenômenos ligados ao comportamento político. Entre os principais temas abordados nesse campo interdisciplinar, está presente a participação política. Os referenciais que abordam tal temática, via de regra, têm privilegiado os processos e os fatores implicados na participação política. A presente pesquisa teve como foco de interesse compreender esse fenômeno partindo das perspectivas dos sujeitos e das tensões por eles vivenciadas. A partir do referencial vigotskiano, em articulação com a teoria gramsciana, objetivou-se estudar os sentidos e os significados atribuídos à participação política por sujeitos do setor de educação de um assentamento rural vinculado ao MST. A práxis política, ação intencional que visa a intervenção no homem enquanto ser social, é a categoria central do trabalho. Ela é entendida aqui como imersa em uma realidade social e política gramsciana e orientada a partir de uma subjetividade vigotskiana. Segundo o referencial aqui adotado, a constituição do sujeito é perpassada a todo o momento pelas relações sociais nas quais ele está inserido, ou seja, as tensões presentes no campo social e econômico também se manifestam no campo da subjetividade, na organização do seu drama subjetivo. Participaram da pesquisa quatro sujeitos adultos. Foram priorizados como participantes os envolvidos com as atividades de educação de crianças e jovens no assentamento. O corpus empírico foi construído por meio de duas entrevistas individuais com cada participante e observações de atividades que envolviam o setor de educação do assentamento. As informações obtidas por esses dois instrumentos foram articuladas durante a análise. A análise foi elaborada a partir da construção de categorias baseadas nas entrevistas e nos referenciais teóricos. Foram realizadas análises individuais e uma análise transversal com o intuito de abordar elementos comuns aos quatro sujeitos. Os principais conceitos que orientaram o olhar para o corpus empírico foram: práxis política, sentido, drama e senso comum. Evidencia-se que a práxis política deve ser entendida como um processo em constante movimento e transformação, relacionado a dimensões diversas: gerais e específicas; objetivas e subjetivas; cognitivas e afetivas. Além disso, o entendimento da práxis política não pode se limitar somente à participação no movimento social, mas deve abranger vivências nos diferentes campos da vida dos sujeitos: família, religião, trabalho, etc. Os papéis desempenhados nesses diferentes campos se entrelaçam com o papel de militante. Os sujeitos demonstram passar por contínuos processos de mudança relacionados à práxis política. Destacam-se aqui mudanças ligadas aos seus sentidos, aos seus dramas subjetivos e ao senso comum. Tais mudanças são apenas possíveis a partir das contradições e potenciais críticos presentes na própria subjetividade dos participantes. Por fim, defende-se a importância de se entender a práxis política dos sujeitos enquanto processo concreto sempre manifestado a partir de um contexto específico e um projeto/objetivo determinado. / Studies located in the field of intersection between psychology and politics have contributed significantly to the investigation of various phenomena related to political behavior. Among the main topics discussed in this interdisciplinary field, political participation is present. As a rule, the references that deal with this theme have privileged the processes and factors involved in political participation. This research focused on understanding the phenomenon starting from the perspective of the subjects and the tensions they experienced. From the Vigotskyan point of view, in conjunction with the Gramscian theory, the research aimed at studying the senses and significances attributed to political participation by individuals of the education sector of a rural settlement linked to the MST. The political praxis, which is an intentional action aimed at the intervention in men as a social being, is the central category of this work. It is understood here as immersed in a social reality and in a Gramscian-oriented politics from a Vygotskian subjectivity. According to the framework adopted, the constitution of the subject is constantly permeated by the social relations in which the subject is embedded, i.e., the tensions that are present in the social and economic fields are also manifested in the field of subjectivity, in the organization of their subjective drama. The participants of this research were four adult subjects. Those involved with educational activities for children and young people in the settlement were prioritized as participants. The empirical corpus was constructed through two interviews with each participant and observations of activities involving the education sector of the settlement. The information obtained by these two instruments were articulated during the analysis. The analysis was performed from the construction of categories based on the interviews and on the theoretical framework. Individual and across-sectional analyses were performed in order to approach common elements to the four subjects. The main concepts that guided the look for the empirical corpus were political praxis, sense, drama and common sense. It is evident that the political praxis must be understood as a process in constant motion and transformation, related to different dimensions: general and specific, objective and subjective, cognitive and affective. Furthermore, understanding the political praxis can not be limited only to the participation in the social movement, but it must cover experiences in different fields of the subjects life: family, religion, work, etc. The roles played in these different fields intertwine with the role of being an activist. The subjects demonstrate they undergo continuous change processes related to political praxis. Changes linked to their senses, to their subjective dramas and to common sense stand out from the analyses. These changes are only possible from the contradictions and critic potential present in the participants\' own subjectivity. Finally, we advocate the importance of understanding the political praxis of the subjects as a concrete process that is always manifested from a specific context and a determined project / goal.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-03-15T13:33:24Z No. of bitstreams: 1 André Vinícius Seleghini Franzin.pdf: 1557469 bytes, checksum: e477e83ba22bbec7731c88e610492af7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-15T13:33:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 André Vinícius Seleghini Franzin.pdf: 1557469 bytes, checksum: e477e83ba22bbec7731c88e610492af7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-21 / The aim of this work is to present common sense as a fundamental category of knowledge and as an epistemological criterion of legal thinking. We start by presenting some of the key meanings that the expression "common sense" has assumed in the history of philosophy, and then delineates the fundamental notes of a concept that recognizes the alethic value of common sense, in accordance with the investigation of the Italian philosopher Antonio Livi. We analyse, then, from the same philosophical context, the structure of legal knowledge, seeking to discern its formal object and its own purpose. Finally, we examine how – and to what extent – the common sense thus conceived can offer an adequate epistemic foundation to legal knowledge / O objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar o senso comum como categoria fundamental do saber e como critério epistemológico do conhecimento jurídico. Partiremos da apresentação de alguns dos principais sentidos que a expressão “senso comum” assumiu na história da filosofia, delineando, em seguida, as notas fundamentais de um conceito que reconheça o valor alético do senso comum, inserindo-o em um contexto metafísico e gnosiológico realista, com esteio nas investigações do filósofo italiano Antonio Livi. Analisaremos, em seguida, a partir desse mesmo contexto filosófico, a estrutura do conhecimento jurídico, buscando discernir o seu objeto formal e a sua finalidade própria. Finalmente, ponderaremos de que maneira – e em que extensão – o senso comum assim concebido pode oferecer uma adequada fundação epistêmica ao conhecimento jurídico.

A universalidade do juízo de gosto não tem um princípio objetivo porque não pretende determinar nenhum objeto. Mas para assegurar sua necessidade e escapar da contingência da experiência, ela se ampara no princípio exemplar do senso comum (Gemeinsinn), ou seja, num princípio subjetivo que determina apenas por sentimento, e não por conceito, aquilo que apraz ou não apraz. No entanto, sob a pressuposição de um assentimento universal a respeito do que é belo, a necessidade neste juízo adquire uma representação objetiva baseada no fundamento de nosso sentimento. É na dedução deste fundamento do sensus communis que se concentra nosso esforço nesta dissertação, pois tentaremos mostrar que ela percorre toda a Crítica da Faculdade de Julgar Estética. / The universality of judgement of taste has none objective principle because does not intend to determine any object. Nevertheless, in order to assure its necessity and to escape from the experience\'s contingency, this universality supports itself in exemplary principle of common sense (Gemeinsinn), in other words, in a subjective principle which determines what is pleasure or not, only by feeling and not by concept. Although, under the presupposition of a universal agreement regarding what is beautiful, the necessity in this judgement acquires an objective representation based on our feeling\'s ground. It is in this deduction of this ground of sensus communis that concentrates our effort in this dissertation, because we will try to demonstrate that it courses through the entire Critique of Aesthetic Judgement.

O modo como educadores, comunicadores e profissionais ou pesquisadores ad-vindos das mais variadas áreas do conhecimento concebem a Educomunicação nascida no espaço da pesquisa na Universidade de São Paulo é essencial para a legitimação desta nova área da ciência. São agentes que inter-relacionam os campos da comunicação e da educação, agem intervindo em espaços da educação formal, não-formal e informal, transformam sujeitos que estão em fase cognitiva e alteram realidades em uma sociedade permanentemente impactada pela tecnologia. A práxis de tais educomunicadores, quando analisada, mostra que este conhecimento constituído é, ao mesmo tempo, saber popular e saber científico. Ou seja, a Educomunicação anterior à fase de sua legitimação continua a ocorrer sem que seus fundamentos sejam atribuídos a parâmetros e paradigmas. Surgem, daí, outras nomenclaturas para o mesmo processo que reúne senso comum e saber científico. O ponto de referência para isso são as pesquisas desenvolvidas a partir do Núcleo de Comunicação e Educação da Escola de Comunicações e Artes da USP que reuniram, em dissertações e teses, conteúdo teórico basilar para que o conceito de Educomunicação fosse constituído, no final dos anos 1990, como campo científico emergente. Nos anos que se seguiram essas reflexões iniciadas na pesquisa empírica passaram a fazer parte de projetos desenvolvidos em quase todos os Estados brasileiros. Pesquisadores da inter-relação comunicação/educação relacionavam, assim, suas práticas à Educomunicação conceituada pela ECA/USP, transformavam tais experiências em relato científico e apresentavam o resultado em papers inscritos nos congressos nacionais anuais da Intercom. Esse movimento de adesão ao conceito provoca situações em que (1) as mais variadas experiências de produção midiática em escolas são atribuídas à Educomunicação e (2) práticas que correspondem aos preceitos do novo campo da Educomunicação conceituado pela USP são denominadas de outras maneiras por seus autores, como, por exemplo, comunicação/educação, mídia-educação, mídia educativa, educomídia, entre outros pseudônimos. O posto, contudo, de campo científico legitimado, com regras e tensões internas, próprias, é da Educomunicação, que em 2011 dá nome a dois cur-sos de graduação, na USP e na Universidade Federal de Campina Grande/PB. São conclusões de uma investigação científica edificada nos métodos qualitativos e quantitativos, resultado do debruçar sobre os bancos de dados (a) do Programa de Pós-graduação da ECA/USP, onde estão as dissertações e teses que focaram o objeto da inter-relação comunicação/educação, e (b) da Intercom, cujos congressos nacionais anuais reuniram o que foi produzido e atribuído à Educomunicação e outras nomenclaturas que concebem igual objeto. Isso tudo compreendido no espaço-tempo de duas décadas, desde os ensaios do conceito, suas críticas internas e externas, até o espetáculo da reprodução. / The way how educators, communicators, and professionals and researchers of the most varied fields of knowledge understand Educommunication brought up in the field of research at Universidade de São Paulo is essential for the legitimacy of that new field of science. They are agents who interrelate the fields of communication and education, they act intervening in spaces of formal, non-formal and informal education, transforming subjects who are in cognitive phase and change realities in a society permanently impacted by technology. When analyzed, the praxis of such educommunicators, shows that such knowledge is at the same time composed of popular knowledge and scientific know how. That is, the Educommunication previous to its legitimacy phase continues to be carried out without attributing its principles to parameters and paradigms. Thus, from that condition other terminologies arise for the same process which combines common sense and scientific know how. The reference points for that are the researches developed at Núcleo de Comunicação e Educação of Escola de Comunicações e Artes at USP which collects dissertations and theses, comprising basic theoretical content so that the Educommunication concept was developed at the end of the 1990s, as an emerging scientific field. Some years later such reflections, starting from empiric researches, became part of the projects developed in almost all the Brazilian states. Researchers into the communica-tion/education interrelationship reported their practices to the Educommunication ap-praised by ECA/USP, they changed such experiences into scientific report and presented their results in papers produced for intercom annual national congresses. Such an adherence movement to the concept brings about situations in which (a) the most varied experiences in media production in schools are assigned to Educommunication and (b) practices corresponding to the precepts of the new field of Educommunication appraised by USP are called otherwise by authors as, for example, communication/education, media-education, educative media, educomedia, among other pseudonyms. However, the condition of legitimized scientific field, with its own rules and internal tensions, is the one called Educommunication, which in 2011 assigns names to two graduate courses, at USP and at Universidade Federal de Campina Grande/PB. These are some conclusions drawn from scientific research based on qualitative and quantitative methods, resulted from databank enquiry into (1) Graduate Study Program at ECA/USP, in which one collects dissertations and theses focusing on the subject of the communication/education interrelationship, and (2) intercom, whose annual national congresses have collected what has been produced, and assigned to Educommunication and other similar terminologies which deal with the same subject. All that comprised into the space-time of two decades, from essays on the concept, its internal and external criticism to the reproduction show.

My dissertation tracks the production of "common sense" about female sexuality and psychology in nineteenth-century sensational British literature. I move from the sensation novel's heyday, represented by Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone (1868) and Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret (1862), through the fin-de-siècle Gothic literary revival with Bram Stoker's Dracula(1895), and conclude with a reading of the representation of aberrant female sexuality in the emergent science of nineteenth-century sexology. For Victorian readers, few things could have seemed further removed from sensation literature--from lurid crime novels to sordid news stories to sexualized science--than common sense. Yet, my project illustrates the role of sensational literature in provoking the dark millennial fantasies that passed as common sense and often animated theories of femininity expressed in late-Victorian science. Common sense retains its rhetorical force through the assumption that its premises arise naturally and apply universally. But if we take a historical view, a troubling pattern emerges: common sense has often worked to preserve reactionary views of femininity. For example, in the nineteenth century, common sense led medical professionals to the belief that a woman's reproductive system left her constitutionally more susceptible to "hysteria." define common sense as the product of the frequent iteration of a particular train of associative logic that results in the naturalization and legitimation of claims about reality, even if those claims are both sensationalized and arbitrary. The rhetorical force of common sense requires the perpetual obscuration of its origins. The elusive and frustrating quality of common sense as a cognitive category derives from its ability, in Stuart Hall's words, to "represent itself as the 'traditional wisdom or truth of the ages,' [when] in fact, it is deeply a product of history, 'part of the historical process'" ("Gramsci's Relevance" 431). Hall describes this type of associative relationship between disparate figures often exemplified in the logic of common sense as "an articulation." What Hall refers to as an "articulation" might also be called, when viewed through the lens of literary theory, a "metonymic chain," wherein the literal term for one thing is applied to another with which it becomes linked, articulated. Both terms—articulation and metonymic chain—effectively describe the illusion of necessary correspondence in mere arbitrary association. My translation of this cultural phenomenon into the framework of literary analysis allows for a precise description of the rhetorical transformations involved in conjuring common sense. With frequent iteration, metonymic association may appear to be based on some more substantial similarity—not circumstantial, but necessary; not the product of sensationalism, but the inevitable conclusion derived from and constituting common sense. Common sense regarding female sexuality has frequently been preserved through sensationalism; but paradoxically, sensationalism is often most effective when its characteristic paranoia seems somehow self-evidently justified, even rational. In other words, sensationalism works best to consolidate the paranoid patterns of associative logic informing the nineteenth-century figuration of femininity when it appears not to be working at all—when sensationalism takes on the weight of common sense.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a chronic illness that affects approximately five million premenopausal women in the United States and is associated with significant cosmetic, reproductive, metabolic, and psychological consequences. Despite its prevalence, few studies have explored the lived experiences and illness perceptions of women living with PCOS. Identifying illness perceptions of women living with (WLW) PCOS is important, because mounting research suggests that a person's perceptions of their chronic illness and its management determine that person's coping behaviors (e.g., adherence, self-management) and, consequently, illness outcomes. In this dissertation, the Common Sense Model (CSM) is used as a framework to identify the illness perceptions of PCOS held by WLW the syndrome. As such, this dissertation is the first to test the ecological validity of the CSM in a population of women diagnosed with PCOS. In addition, the relationship between illness perceptions and (1) infertility, a common symptom of the syndrome, and (2) health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is explored. Lastly, this study makes a novel contribution to the literature by describing one of the first samples of WLW PCOS recruited through a social networking site. This includes a discussion of the participant's demographic information, fertility experiences, and HRQoL. This is a two-phase mixed methods study. Phase one consisted of an online quantitative survey capturing data on 376 participants' demographic information and medical history. Data were also collected on each participant's HRQoL using the SF-36, a generic, well-validated measure of the phenomenon. Of the 376 survey participants, 34 were interviewed via phone or video chat in the fall 2013 and spring 2014 semesters. Quantitative data were downloaded from Qualtrics® and analyzed using SAS statistical software version 9.3. In this analysis, descriptive statistics were generated to describe sample characteristics and SF-36 domain scores were calculated for each participant. In the qualitative analysis, data were analyzed through a series of sorting techniques and transcripts were imported into NVivo 10 and subjected to content analysis. The mean age of survey participants was 31.8 years (SD=5.8). Respondents were primarily non-Hispanic (92.5%), white (88.3%), straight (94.4%), and married (73.4%) with a college education (64.1%). On average, participants reported living with PCOS for 7.6 years (SD=6.1). Approximately half of the sample reported having biological children (47.9%) and currently trying to conceive (42.1%), and most participants reported a history of infertility (70.7%). In addition, almost half of the total sample reported heights and weights that placed them in the morbidly obese category (BMI>35). Lastly, a history of depression (63.6%) and anxiety (68.6%) was common among participants. Few survey participants reported their general health as being excellent (2.6%) or very good (27.4%). Similarly, women reported the lowest levels of functioning on the dimension of vitality, meaning that, in general, women reported feeling tired and being low in energy. Conversely, women reported the highest scores on the dimensions of physical functioning and role limitations due to physical health, meaning that, in general, women did not report that their health limited their physical abilities or caused problems with work or other daily activities. Interview findings suggest that WLW PCOS generally have illness perceptions of the syndrome that are consistent with the domains identified in the CSM. In addition, it was found that, in relation to their illness cognitions, WLW PCOS described the extent to which they felt they had a comprehensive understanding of the syndrome, a phenomenon labeled illness coherence. Similarly, participants identified PCOS as a common condition (i.e. labeled perceived prevalence). Lastly, a number of relationships were identified between illness perceptions and (1) infertility status and (2) HRQoL scores. Overall, this dissertation identifies a number of implications for patient education, provider education, clinical practice, and policy improvements. Examples include addressing (1) unmet information needs, (2) significant psychological morbidity and unmet mental health needs, (3) breastfeeding challenges and need for breastfeeding support, (4) poor quality of care and low patient satisfaction, and (5) limited access to care - all among women living with PCOS.