This thesis analyses the scope for the “self-help” model of rural development to succeed in its broadly stated aims of enabling rural women to advance their social status and enhance their own and/or their family’s livelihoods. The thesis is organised around two key sites of investigation. The first questions the potential for “self-help” to operate within existing social relations - expressed in access to land, other assets and resources (including credit), and in different forms, conditions, and relations of labour. The second questions its potential to intervene in, and potentially overturn, these relations. These questions are embedded in a wider analysis of the ways in which individual and collective attempts to advance living conditions (or at least defend them from deterioration) are defined by historically (re)produced social relations. Analysis is centred on the South Indian State of Andhra Pradesh, where the “self-help” policy approach, now widely replicated as a model for central and federal interventions, is most established. This is a mixed-methods study. It draws on statistical analysis of large-scale secondary survey data, analysis of primary fieldwork, and of government policy documents and other relevant documentation. The thesis engages directly with the philosophical issues this raises, to develop a foundation for the logically consistent assimilation of statistical and “qualitative” methods into mixed methods research. Fieldwork centred on two villages in southern Chittoor district and relied primarily on repeated in-depth interviews with members of four self help groups and, where applicable, their husbands (30 respondents in total). Local officials and programme staff and bank managers were also interviewed. In addition, multi-level logit regression analysis was conducted with two large-scale, complex secondary data sets; the All India National Survey Sample (round 61; schedule 10; 2004/05) and the Young Lives Project Survey (round two; 2005/2006). An innovative weighting procedure was applied to adjust for the latter’s non-random sampling procedure.The findings demonstrate the tensions invoked by state policy emphasising agential action in the absence of due regard for the structural relations within which actions not only take place, but in which the conditions for their possibility and articulation are generated, institutionalised, and reproduced. This situation is exacerbated by unfolding ecological crisis in the fieldwork village sites, problematising the land-based solutions traditionally advocated by the Indian Left. The thesis concludes that Andhra’s self-help programmes can perform a non-trivial ameliorative role in the short-term, but this is undermined by a wider tendency to reproduce and potentially exacerbate ongoing processes of rural differentiation.

For most of the 20th century the dominant aim of Swedish educational policy was an integrated public school system under national state control. During the post-war era (1945–1989) this policy led to Sweden having one of the most centralized and integrated school systems in the world. In the 1980s and 1990s, however, there was a profound change in Swedish education policy towards decentralization, deregulation and marketization of the school system. The aim of this thesis is to provide a deeper understanding of the nature and causes of this shift in education policy. The thesis draws from a theoretical framework consisting of Critical Realism, curriculum theory and Neo-Marxism. From a Neo- Marxist perspective the configuration of state education policy is understood as a dominant education ideology. The empirical material consists of state policy documents which are understood as an expression of the dominant education ideology in society. The results indicate a shift in the dominant education ideology in Sweden between 1969 and – 1999: from an emphasis on state governance and goals of equivalence, equality and participation in the school system during the 1970s, towards increasing skepticism regarding state regulation and an emphasis on decentralization and aims to increase parental and pupil influence in the school system during the 1980s, to a dominance of private influence via school choice and competition in the school system during the 1990s. From a theoretical perspective consisting of Critical Realism and curriculum theory, this shift in education policy and restructuring of the school system is understood in relation to economic crises, a rightward shift in politics and the dominance of neoliberal ideas in Sweden during the 1980s and 1990s.

The land reform process in Zimbabwe has raised critical questions about land with regard to ownership and access, productivity of land and the most suitable size of land (small scale or large scale). Over a decade after the most recent phase of land reform in Zimbabwe, critical questions about land are continually debated in an ever-growing literature on land. These questions span a wide margin, from ownership, access, and productivity to who exactly should benefit from land reform processes. One important debate has centred on the question of whether the primary consideration of land reform processes should be aimed at addressing the more ideational aspects of land (return to ancestral land, land as central to personal identities and the subsequent political and social processes of determining who belongs and who is a stranger) or material concerns (relating to questions of food security, livelihood making and the concerns with environmental change). Subsequently, literature dealing with land is often organised around a particular theme such as identity, tenure, politics, political economy, livelihoods and questions relating to environmental change. Using the case of small scale commercial farming families of Mushawasha in Masvingo Zimbabwe who came to own the land as purchase area farmers as a result of the 1930 Land Apportionment Act, this thesis constitutes an attempt to integrate multiple approaches to the question of land, using a critical realist framework. I argue that the link between people and land, which is explored generationally and in the context of broader economic, political, historical and social change in Zimbabwe, is ever changing and is influenced by a number of factors. For that reason, viewing the question of land in a reductionist fashion from either an ideational or a material paradigm is unsatisfactory. What this research reveals is that the links between people and land are tempered numerous factors including generation, gender and residential status. / Dissertation (MSocSci)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Sociology / MSocSci / Unrestricted

Introduction: Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) is an alternative method for providing safe mechanical ventilatory assistance to adult patients presenting with acute respiratory failure. Internationally the utilisation of NIV has increased by 400% during the past decade. The clinical pathway for NIV was collaboratively developed by the multidisciplinary team in the critical care unit in 2012, but implementation into practice did not realise as anticipated. As the burden of chronic disease rises in South Africa, the healthcare system is under pressure to provide evidence-based and costeffective care to more patients. Avoiding endotracheal intubation reduces the patient’s risk of complications which lengthens the hospitalisation period and the cost of hospitalisation. The utilisation of clinical pathways in the South African context is limited. Aim: The overall aim of the study was implementation and evaluation of the outcomes of a person-centred clinical pathway for non-invasive ventilation in the critical care unit. Research methodology: Mixed method design through a personcentred practice development approach utilising emancipatory action research. Several data collection methods are used throughout the phases of the study. A critical realist worldview was held which incorporated the principles of a person-centred approach through collaboration, inclusion and participation. The study was conducted in three interdependent and interrelated phases. During Phase 1, the culture of the critical care units was assessed using a validated 37-item questionnaire to establish the perceptions of the critical care nurses related to evidence implementation. A total of twenty-three registered nurses participated. Additionally, the content of the clinical pathway was adapted following a rigorous literature review in collaboration with the internal facilitators and validated via a Delphi with critical care experts. Phase 2 was dedicated to the collaborative development of an implementation strategy for the implementation of the clinical pathway in the critical care unit. During Phase 3, the outcomes of the implementation of the clinical pathway for NIV was evaluated. Findings: The collaborative utilisation of a person-centred practice development approach for the implementation and evaluation of the clinical pathway for NIV, aided the researcher in identifying moral injury amongst critical care nurses, which inhibits the implementation of research evidence into practice. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Nursing Science / PhD / Unrestricted

Though more recognition has been placed on the cruciality of university staff in their roles supporting the internationalization of higher education (HE), research-based understandings of micro level engagement have been largely neglected. This critical realist scoping study explores the extent of peer-reviewed articles published between 2017 and 2022 regarding university staff experiences and perceptions of internationalization in Australian and South Korean HE. A total of 34 relevant articles were found using a systematic approach to data collection. The findings confirm previous studies which demonstrate that internationalization research largely focuses on the perspectives and experiences of academic staff while non-academic staff and HE leadership and management are under-researched. Six dimensions of internationalization were represented, with ‘Teaching, Supervising, and Supporting Students’ being the most-researched across the body of literature overall and the ‘Internationalization of the Curriculum’ and ‘English-Medium Instruction Practice and Policy’ the most-researched in Australia and Korea respectively. The review also brought up several conceptual issues. While all university staff research participants in the Korean HE context were explicitly defined based on their nationality, ethnicity, and/or cultural background, university staff participants in the Australian HE context were often not described beyond their occupation. However, the majority of articles researching staff interactions with international students in the Australian HE context did include descriptions of national, ethnic, and/or cultural background. Additionally, the authors of the selected articles in both contexts rarely disclosed their own subjectivity and connection to the topic being researched. This study has illuminated the need for future research on the perspectives and experiences of all university staff in relation to internationalization and argues for future research that acknowledges the positionality of the researcher and the complexity of the identity of its participants.

Smartphones are omnipresent and indispensable in today’s society. Research in psychology and education points to both helpful and detrimental implications of smartphone usage for performance and well-being. Competitive and high-performance athletes represent a subsection of a demographic deeply intrenched in smartphone usage, yet few studies have shed light on the impact of smartphones usage in athletes’ lives. The overarching aim of this research was to advance knowledge on athletes’ use of smartphones. The mixed methods research program, with sequential pacing and qualitative priority, was informed by a critical realist paradigm. Data were collected through focus groups, remote tracking and surveys, and individual interviews with competitive and high-performance athletes. The research culminated in four distinct but related studies and four articles. The purpose of Study 1 was to qualitatively investigate varsity athletes’ lived experiences with smartphones. Five focus groups were conducted with a sample of 21 varsity athletes (9 men, 12 women) representing nine different sports (i.e., track and field, basketball, rowing, fencing, Nordic ski, rugby, swimming, lacrosse, and soccer). The inductive and reflexive thematic analysis led to the creation of three main themes. The first theme pertained to general usage experiences (i.e., characteristics of usage, awareness and nature of usage, restrictions of usage), revealing that social media is a focal point of athletes’ usage. The other two themes concerned athletes’ concurrent experiences of negative (i.e., stress, distraction, disengagement) and positive (i.e., self-regulation, social connectedness) smartphone usage. The majority of varsity athletes (81%) self-identified as moderate or heavy smartphone users, and relied on their devices throughout the day for communication and self-management. Findings suggest that smartphone usage exists along a continuum of negative/unhelpful to positive/helpful usage rather than as distinct “good” or “bad” usage. Usage is complex and often paradoxical for sport preparation, performance, recovery, and well-being. The purpose of Study 2 was to develop and pilot test a novel research application designed to examine, in an ecologically valid way, the prevalence and features of smartphone usage among a sample of athletes, in tandem with a selection of psychosocial variables. An interdisciplinary research team was formed to create the mobile research application and measure its tracking ability and accuracy to inform Study 3. The smartphone usage of five (n = 5) studentathletes was tracked in real-time over a 15-day period. Participants also completed a mobile self-report survey on psychosocial variables deemed important to athletes’ performance and wellbeing (i.e., mindfulness, mental health, and self-regulation). Results of the pilot study demonstrated a sizable range in total hours of smartphone usage, with an average of 31.1 hours per week, predominantly for social media. Real-time smartphone usage averages surpassed athletes’ self-reported time spent studying (20h per week) and training for sport (11.4h per week). All participants reported moderate-to-high self-regulation capacity, mindfulness, and mental health. The pilot study provided proof of feasibility for a longitudinal study using the research application and methods. It afforded the opportunity to make technical adjustments based on participant feedback, enhance usability and ecological validity, and subject the data to preliminary algorithms to extract detailed information from a large data pool. Building on Study 2, the purpose of Study 3 was to investigate the prevalence and features of competitive student-athletes’ smartphone usage and psychosocial outcomes using a longitudinal in vivo design. Over the course of one year, student-athletes’ smartphone usage was automatically tracked via the mobile app they installed on their phone and they also completed a self-report survey through the app on a monthly basis to assess self-regulation, mindfulness, mental health, stress, loneliness, and perfectionistic self-presentation. Although 20 participants volunteered to complete the study, only 10 participants consistently completed the survey and were retained in the final dataset. Descriptive analyses showed that the student-athletes used their smartphones for an average of 24.15 hours per week, predominantly for social media, and they formed two distinct user groups (i.e., heavy and light usage). Psychosocial profiles revealed they had moderate-to-high psychosocial functioning and highly nuanced changes in psychosocial outcomes and usage over time. There were no significant relationships between amount of smartphone usage and psychosocial outcomes, except for one positive relationship between usage and mental health in the winter. Findings support a new wave of literature deemphasizing a simple negative relationship between smartphone usage and psychosocial outcomes, and encourage further study of individual characteristics, such as purpose of usage. This study illustrates that although it is resource intensive, it is feasible to leverage the smartphone as an in vivo research tool to collect complex, ecologically valid usage data in tandem with psychosocial self-reports. It lays a foundation for larger-scale studies to assess the impact of athletes’ usage on their psychosocial functioning. The purpose of Study 4 was to qualitatively examine the self-regulatory processes, conditions, and outcomes related to the smartphone usage of competitive and high-performance athletes, and to postulate a model to inform research and applied practice in this area. Guided by the results of the previous studies showing prevalent social media usage among athletes, Study 4 also furthered explored athletes’ use of social media. Twenty-four (n = 24) competitive and highperformance athletes from eight different sports participated in individual, in-depth interviews. A directed content analysis, informed by the models of self-regulated learning and self-regulatory strength, was performed to analyze the data. While many themes aligned with components of both or either self-regulation models, new themes were generated. To account for all the data and explain athletes’ smartphone usage in and around the sport setting, the “Self-regulation and Smartphone Usage Model” (SSUM) was created. The SSUM includes five broad components: (a) self-regulation capacity, (b) self-regulation processes, (c) conditions (i.e., context of usage, type of usage, awareness of usage, autonomy of usage, and concurrence of usage), (d) outcomes, and (e) self-regulation competencies. Findings support a paradoxical relationship between smartphone usage and self-regulation. On the one hand, athletes use their smartphones to engage and master helpful self-regulation processes and on the other, they face increased self-regulatory demands because of their smartphones—particularly social media—which can lead to self-regulatory depletion. Overall, the current research sheds light on a new facet of competitive athletes’ livesthe smartphone. It underscores a deeply individualized, nuanced relationship between athletes and their phones, regardless of age, sex, type of sport, or competitive level. These devices can both inhibit and facilitate self-regulation and influence performance and well-being. Regardless of the purpose of usage, smartphones must be effectively managed. Thus, athletes must develop self-regulatory competencies specifically for this tool. This research shows the value of tracking real-time usage of phones and provides a conceptual map for working with athletes to leverage the benefits of smartphone technology.

Research emphasises the importance of the mother-infant relationship for infants’ well-being. To benefit interventions, the current research, using a critical realist lens, investigates an area that research has neglected, which is the subjective experience of the mother-infant relationship, including experiences of moments of connection. Bourdieu’s ‘thinking tools’ enables exploration of mechanisms that may affect the mother-infant relationship. How the study’s results can inform health visiting practice is considered. Six mothers were interviewed, four of whom participated in a video of their mother-infant interaction. Two focus groups, each with six health visitors, discussed their practice in the context of supporting the mother-infant relationship. Interpretative phenomenological analysis and thematic analysis were employed. This research indicated a high arousal state, referred to as Vigilantia, was experienced by mothers and infants. Vigilantia appeared to support mothers’ drive to make sense of their young infants but also seemed associated with mothers’ reliance on a discourse of the ‘traditional baby’, which stressed instrumental care and omitted the relational infant. The mothers found it difficult to make sense of the “bizarre” relational connection they felt for their infants. Health visitors described obstacles to supporting the mother-infant relationship associated with their service’s design and their role. Health visitors also seemed to identify with some mothers and in doing so could overlook the infants. Neoliberal values discount the relational and these values affect the experience of the mother-infant relationship. Ideas for improving practice are suggested, as well as acknowledgment of the need for social structural changes.

Critical Realism, the Capabilities Approach, and Marxism, all have underdeveloped theoretical problems. For Critical Realism, the ceteris paribus clause, which is used to asses an ideological critique, does not properly specify what other things warrant the dismissal or acceptance of said critique. For the Capabilities Approach, a proper ontology or metaphysics is missing, and the claim that the Capabilities Approach can be metaphysically neutral is false. Finally, Marxism is good at describing the more onerous aspects of capitalism (e.g., alienation, exploitation, crisis), but it does not provide normative force for seeing these descriptions as bad. I argue that these three schools of thought, when connected through the ontology of Critical Realism, can be rendered mutually inclusive, and each theory can help address the lacuna in its respective counterpart. Critical Realism gives to Marxism and the Capabilities Approach ontological justification, and the Capabilities Approach gives to Critical Realism and Marxism normative force. And finally, Marxism gives to the Capabilities Approach a more radical, but consistent twist that furthers the goal of realizing our shared human powers.

The focus of this thesis is to investigate how gender related concepts have used in practice from Simone De Beauvoir’s “The second sex”, to Judith Butler’s “Bodies that matters”. The other texts used are “the traffic in women” by Gayle Rubin, “Gender: an ethnomethodological approach” by Suzanne Kessler and Wendy McKenna and “Gender and power” by Robert Connell. In my theoretical part I use the idea that categories are human inventions, that no categories including those important to the gender issue are more correct than any other and that the usefulness of categories can only be measured by the usefulness of the theories attached to them. I am also inspired by the theory of critical realism that claims that research must focus on the internal mechanisms that causes the effects that we are observing. The method used is an adaptation of philosophical conceptual analysis where I have analyzed how gender related concepts such as “men” and “women” are used in my empirical material. The focus was to create an understanding of how gender categories where used in the texts that I where analyzing. There is also a metatheoretical approach where the empirical material is used in order to get an understanding on how to create new theories. The conclusions of this thesis is that the theoretical concept of gender has developed from a description of how social forces affected people in the category “women” different from those in the category “men” to a more and more intricate philosophical and theoretical discussion of how to understand and analyze this difference. The second conclusion is that all the authors of my material are struggling with how the relation between the sexed\gendered bodies and the social characteristics of men and women should be explained. This leads to a number of problematic conclusions that I claim can be solved by not using specific theories about gender but instead focusing on general social theories based on causality and internal relations that explains the phenomena that are studied.

Drawing on a critical realist approach and especially Derek Layder’s ‘Domain Theory’ (Layder 1997; 2006) this thesis explores the richness and complexity of young people’s social capital. The study used a mixed methods design which incorporated sequential and concurrent data collection and analysis comprising 16 in-depth interviews, 17 discussion groups and a survey questionnaire (n=500). Twenty one organisations participated in this study, accessed through youth groups, the youth justice system, one school and one college from the Midlands area, in the 13-19 age range. The total sample using all research methods was 574 young people. Young people’s maintenance and enhancement of social capital is seen as a process which has to be negotiated in a continuous interaction between self, situated activity, social settings and contexts. Within this, critical creative agency, a positive outlook on life and being able to make the leap of trust become agentic mediating factors which help young people to navigate life situations and take the necessary risks to develop a more dynamic social capital. The study challenges some common discourses on diversity, especially those referring to bonding and bridging social capital (Putnam 2000). Contexts of privilege but also of gender and ethnicity are important mechanisms that have a strong impact on the access to social capital resources and points towards the resiliency young people are able to build. Policy and practice need to build on the situated activity of young people and not erode it. Enhancing young people’s existing social capital is achieved by building on their existing resourcefulness, strengthening their existing support networks, opening up new horizons and creating access to new resources within a strength perspective. Institutions need to enhance resiliency and positive risk taking, nurture trusting relationships with significant others and enhance young people’s outlook on life.