My thesis examines Dubliners through the lens of Rene Descartes’s mind-body dualism to explain the relationship between contrasting themes in the text and demonstrate how they are connected. In an explication of the three words introduced by Joyce in the introductory paragraph of the first story in his collection, namely paralysis, gnomon, and simony, linking them with their more subtle but equally significant antonymic themes, which I propose are progression, epiphany, and grace, I show that Joyce was as compassionate as he was contemptuous of his countrymen. I propose that recognizing this balance helps us better understand what Joyce may have meant by making no apology for the brute-like spectacle he projects in his nicely polished looking-glass. Moreover, I argue that Dubliners serves as a fictional canvas upon which Joyce projects his dream of an Ireland that can transcend the tedium-inducing confines of its past.

I read witness poetry as a model of response to suffering. Compassion is feeling together with another. Compassion is, then, opposed to empathy’s feeling as another. Compassion can be better understood through the witness poetry that privileges metonymical relationships in which readers are contiguously positioned in relationship to a speaker. This emphasis on relationship can be contrasted to the collapse of relationship in identification in which a reader reads as though he or she is the lyric I, the poetic voice, rather than a listener. I discuss this reader-as-listener in contrast to the trauma studies-influenced discourse surrounding witness poetry, a discourse which focuses on indexical poetic evidence of a poet’s wounds and the transferability of the poet’s trauma to readers. Compassionate response, as demonstrated by this poetry, is premised on a recognition of one’s intimacy with or distance from that which one witnesses. Distance is not synonymous with disengagement, but rather with the space of relationship through which connection and consideration is possible. All intimacy involves some distance; the two are not opposites, but a continuum. Witness involves waiting: response derives from the time of relation through which it might form. This waiting has reflection as its retrospective partner. Together, they form commemoration, which brings reflection into future and communal celebration and remembrance. Com-memoration is linked to com-passion in this communal element. My project engages witness poetry as a communal form inviting feeling in community, response to widespread suffering, and the establishment of relationship and connection. / Thesis (Ph.D, English) -- Queen's University, 2013-06-18 10:21:39.793

Denna kvantitativa studies syfte var att undersöka om det förelåg någon skillnad i uppmätt självmedkänsla mellan föräldrar och icke-föräldrar samt mellan kön. En enkät delades på Facebook som innehöll Neffs formulär för att mäta självmedkänsla och andra kompletterande frågor. Den besvarades av 144 respondenter, varav 97 passade in i målgruppen, som var män och kvinnor mellan 25-35 år och som var i ett förhållande. En två-vägs ANOVA genomfördes och visade en tendens, mellan kön. Män hade högre självmedkänsla än kvinnor. Ingen signifikant skillnad mellan föräldrar och icke-föräldrar fanns. Inte heller fanns någon signifikant interaktionseffekt mellan kön och föräldraskap. / This quantitative study’s purpose was to examine if the was any difference in measured self-compassion between parents and non-parents and between the sexes. A survey was published on Facebook, it consisted of the self-compassion formula made by Neff and other additional questions. It was answered by 144 respondents, 97 of them qualified in my target group. My target group was men and women in the age between 25-35 that were in a relationship. A two-ways ANOVA was made and one tendence was seen, between the sexes. Men had a higher amount of self-compassion than women. There was no differences in measured self-compassion between parents and non-parents. Nor was there any significant interaction effect between the sexes and parenthood.

This study examines the impact of self-care on compassion fatigue and retention of Black social service professionals. The goal of this research was to identify the relationship between self-care and its impact on compassion fatigue and retention. The research explored personal and organizational factors that play a role in compassion fatigue and retention. There were thirty-five social service professionals that participated in the survey that was comprised of three scales. Relationships were found in regards to increasing self-care and decreasing compassion fatigue, and a relationship of increasing self-care and increasing retention. The research examined the theoretical framework of the Afrocentric perspective and how it can be utilized to promote self-care in Black social service professionals.

The purpose of this study was to investigate perceptions and experiences of compassion fatigue that exist among social workers who work with the investigative work of unaccompanied children and adolescents. The study further investigated their experiences of preventive and counteracting actions. In this qualitative study, interviews were conducted with six social workers who worked with unaccompanied children and adolescents. The results show that social workers have experiences of compassion fatigue. There are many descriptions of burnout syndrome, and a few descriptions of secondary traumatic stress. The results also show that social workers have many ideas about how to prevent or counteract compassion fatigue, both with ideas in the form of self-care or ideas about organizational changes. / Syftet med studien var att undersöka vilka upplevelser och erfarenheter av compassion fatigue som finns bland socialsekreterare som arbetar med utredningsarbete av ensamkommande barn och ungdomar. I studien undersöktes också deras upplevelser av förebyggande eller motverkande åtgärder. Studien är kvalitativ och sex socialsekreterare som arbetar med ensamkommande barn och ungdomar intervjuades. Resultatet visar att socialsekreterarna har upplevelser och erfarenheter av compassion fatigue. Det finns många beskrivningar av utmattningssyndrom, och ett fåtal beskrivningar av sekundär traumatisk stress. Resultatet visar också att socialsekreterarna har många tankar om hur man förebygger eller motverkar compassion fatigue, både i form av egenvård eller idéer om organisatoriska förändringar.

The purpose of this study is to expand on the existing framework for the analysis of compassion fatigue by exploring contributing factors not traditionally examined such as increases in the number of patients assigned to each nurse, more hours of work per shift, the use of non-licensed clinical personnel instead of licensed clinical personnel, and changes in work flow management. This thesis explores one main research question: How does the corporatization of America’s healthcare system contribute to nurse’s lived experience of compassion fatigue? Michael Burawoy’s extended case method is deployed in order to gain a broader understanding of compassion fatigue. Content analysis of one semi-structured life world interview and two nurses’ blogs reveal four major themes that enlarge the scope of compassion fatigue: professional disheartenment, adverse implications, ethical conflict, and technological distress. Results reveal that the corporatization of America’s healthcare contributes to compassion fatigue amongst nurses. An alternative approach to compassion fatigue considers the socio- economic and political environment of compassion fatigue and how that contributes to nurses’ lived experience of compassion fatigue.

MA,Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, 2002

Bakgrund: Tidigare forskning visar att vårdtyngden på sjukhusen ökar vilket leder till att vården blir påverkad, då sjuksköterskor anser att de inte vårdar etiskt och moraliskt rätt. Detta på grund av att det inte finns tillräckligt med tid att ge varje patient ”det lilla extra’’ och prioriteringar måste ske. Stressen hos sjuksköterskor ökar på grund av att prioriteringar är medvetna men inte självvalda, medvetenheten leder till att de arbetar på ett sätt sjuksköterskan själv anser är etiskt fel. Denna etiskt betingade stress leder till att kvaliteten på vården påverkas. Stressen kan leda till självanklagelser som “borde jag ha sprungit snabbare mellan patienterna”. På grund av bristfällig återhämtning försvinner krafterna till att ge en god vård. Syfte: Att belysa skyddsfaktorer som förebygger Compassion fatigue (CF) hos sjuksköterskor. Metod: Allmän litteraturöversikt. Där vårdvetenskapliga artiklar av kvalitativa, kvantitativa och mixad metod har använts. Resultat: Få stöd av sina kollegor, ledning och familjemedlemmar var viktiga faktorer för att förebygga CF. Kunskap hur sjuksköterskorna själva fungerar för att kunna minska sin stress, samt att känna compassion satisfaction var viktiga aspekter för att kunna förebygga CF. Slutsats: När sjuksköterskorna kände en mening med vårdandet kunde CF förebyggas.

Background: Negative forms of self-relating such as self-criticism and self-judgement are known to contribute to poor mental health across diagnoses including eating disorders. Negative self-relating can lead to avoidance or suppression of emotions, and poor attachment relationships can lead to deficits in self-reassuring abilities. Self-compassion is a construct which is gaining attention in clinical research as a potentially important and healthy way of relating to the self in the face of painful or difficult experiences. Systematic review: A systematic review of the literature eating disorders and self-compassion suggested that lower levels of self-compassion are related to worse eating disorder pathology, particularly emotional eating, and body image dissatisfaction. Findings suggest that self-compassion training may have a role in multimodal prevention and treatment approaches for eating disorders, disordered eating and body image problems, particularly bulimia or binge eating disorders. The role in restrictive eating behaviour is less clear and warrants further research. Aims: This study was a cross-sectional study design with a purpose of conducting Confirmatory factor analysis on the Self-Compassion Scale – Short Form, and correlational analysis of the relationship between self-compassion, (as measured on SCS-SF) with emotion regulation difficulties, alexithymia and distress. Participants and procedure: 297 people referred to an adult clinical psychology service in Scotland completed the SCS-SF and measures of emotion regulation, alexithymia and distress. Results: CFAs did not support six factor or hierarchical models for SCS-SF. Instead a two-factor model was supported. Correlation analysis indicated that self-compassion is inversely associated with difficulties in emotion regulation, alexithymia and distress. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that self-compassion was a unique predictor of distress. Implications: Further clarification of the construct of self-compassion, its role in psychopathology and how it should be measured is required. It is important that as research involving self-compassion and its role in mental health services progresses, that psychometrically valid measures are employed. Furthermore, correlation and regression analyses suggest convergent validity for the construct of self-compassion, and support theoretical links with emotion regulation. Conclusions: Self-compassion appears to be an important variable in eating disorders pathology and appears to be linked with adaptive emotion regulation in clinical populations. However results suggest longitudinal research and a more robust measure is required for use in clinical populations, especially if information about facets of the construct are to be understood.

Bakgrund: Medlidande kan ses som något sjuksköterskan bör ha förmågan till för att kunna ge en god vård. Genom att ta del av patientens känslor och lidande byggs en god vårdrelation, men att ständigt utsättas för andras lidande kan få konsekvenser. Sjuksköterskor som drabbas av compassion fatigue riskerar att förlora sin empatiska förmåga vilket speglas i både den vårdande relationen och patientsäkerheten. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att belysa hur compassion fatigue kan förebyggas hos sjuksköterskor. Metod: En deskriptiv litteraturstudie som inkluderar både kvalitativa och kvantitativa artiklar. Analysen som utfördes var en innehållsanalys. Resultat: Analysen resulterade i tre huvudkategorier: Förebyggande genom ökad kunskap och reflektion, genom mentorskap och stöd samt genom stresshantering. Samtliga kategorier har visats vara förebyggande mot CF och kan implementeras i vården som helhet. Slutsats: I dagsläget är kunskapen om CF bristfällig men genom ökad kunskap och förståelse kan riskerna för att drabbas minska. Goda vårdrelationer och minskad stress är två nyckelfaktorer i att förebygga uppkomsten av CF. En sjuksköterska som har tid för återhämtning kommer kunna ge en bättre vård.