Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / In the psychology literature, we found few studies investigating the ethical dilemmas of working with groups and how psychologists define and deal with them .Given this finding of a lack of studies in group ethics which, in their majority, have a prescriptive and instrumental ethical understanding, we evaluated that the challenge would be to expand the study on this theme so that new visions, more processual and dialogical on ethics, may be developed. Thus, interested in generating understandings that discuss the ethical world which is created in group conversations, we present a discursive proposal on this issue. This type of reflection involves us in discussions on the various cares spent on conversational interactions. In the present research, we preferred the study of the discursive practice that we named Management of Personhood, which relates to the discursive construction of self in conversation. It is noteworthy that when we talk about Management of Personhood we are referring to any statement that uses linguistic resources related to personal issues (ex: for me, I, particularly, in my opinion, I think so, among others) as well as those which speakers consider to belong to an alleged personhood. Thus, the overall objective of this research was to understand how psychologists, who conduct groups, managed Personhood during talks on group ethics, as well the roles that this management plays in conversation. Two groups on ethics in groups were conducted weekly and separately, making up for five meetings for each group and a total of 10 meetings for both. The 10 male and female participants varied in age (23 to 46 years) and worked in several areas: health, clinical and organizational. After completion of these groups, we transcribed the 20 hours of group talks, which were analyzed according to Discourse Analysis, influenced by the social constructionist perspective, more precisely by Discursive Psychology. From this theoretical-methodological perspective, we identified different functions related to Management of Personhood. Four roles emerged: dealing with differences; seeking adepts in diversity, normalizing differences, and questioning the established. Thus, the personal presentation of himself/herself of the participants in these conversations allowed a conversational neutralization of possible threats, ensured a dialogic space for the coexistence of different systems of meaning, favored the construction of normality in regards to different ways of professional performance and enabled a questioning in relation to knowledge already confirmed. We concluded that the Management of Personhood in group talks on ethics occurs in order to legitimize other possibilities of meaning for ethical aspects and, paradoxically, makes the conversational field on ethics delicate and controversial. / Na literatura em Psicologia, encontramos poucos trabalhos que investigam os impasses éticos do trabalho com grupos e como os psicólogos negociam sua definição e seu enfrentamento. Diante dessa constatação de uma escassez de trabalhos no campo da ética grupal os quais, em sua maioria, apresentam uma compreensão ética prescritiva e instrumental, avaliamos que o desafio está em ampliar os estudos neste campo temático de tal modo que novos olhares sobre a ética, mais processuais e dialógicos, possam ser elaborados. Assim, interessados em gerar entendimentos que discorram sobre o mundo ético que se cria nas conversas grupais, apresentamos uma proposta discursiva sobre este tema. Esse tipo de reflexão nos envolve em discussões sobre os diversos cuidados conversacionais despendidos em uma situação de interação. Privilegiamos, nesta pesquisa, o estudo acerca da prática discursiva denominada por nós como o Manejo da Pessoalidade, a qual se refere à construção discursiva de si numa conversa. Vale destacar que ao falarmos de Manejo da Pessoalidade estamos nos referindo a qualquer enunciado que utilize recursos lingüísticos relacionados a questões pessoais (ex. pra mim, eu, particularmente, na minha opinião, eu penso assim, entre outros), bem como que resgate assuntos que os interlocutores anunciam como pertencente a uma suposta pessoalidade. Diante disso, o objetivo geral dessa pesquisa é compreender como psicólogos que realizam práticas grupais, em situação de interação em grupo, manejaram a Pessoalidade durante conversas sobre ética grupal, bem como as funções que esse manejo exerce na conversa. Para tanto, foram realizados dois grupos de sensibilização sobre o tema da ética nas práticas grupais, com psicólogos coordenadores de grupo. Estes aconteceram semanalmente e de forma separada, perfazendo cinco encontros para cada grupo, num total de 10 encontros na pesquisa. Os 10 participantes apresentaram idades variadas (entre 23 e 46 anos), eram de ambos os sexos e atuavam em diversas áreas: saúde, clínica e organizacional. Após a realização destes grupos, transcrevemos as 20 horas de conversas grupais, as quais foram analisadas segundo as propostas de análise do discurso, influenciadas pela perspectiva construcionista social, mais precisamente pela Psicologia Discursiva. A partir dessa perspectiva teórico-metodológica, foram identificadas diferentes funções relacionadas ao Manejo da Pessoalidade no debate sobre ética. Da análise empreendida, emergiram quatro funções: lidando com divergências; buscando adeptos na diversidade; normalizando a diferença; e problematizando o estabelecido. Assim, a apresentação de si mesmo nestas conversas permite uma neutralização de possíveis ameaças conversacionais, garante um espaço para a convivência dialógica de diferentes versões de sentido, favorece a construção de uma normalidade no que se refere às diferentes formas de atuação profissional e possibilita um questionamento em relação a conhecimentos já corroborados. Concluímos que o Manejo da Pessoalidade em conversas grupais sobre ética ocorre de forma a legitimar outras possibilidades de significação para aspectos éticos e, paradoxalmente, constrói o campo conversacional sobre ética como um espaço delicado e polêmico. / Mestre em Psicologia Aplicada

Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais / In contemporary society, the meaning of diabetes mellitus is associated with a pathological conception, linked to the idea of deficiency and individual responsibility. Consequently, people with diabetes are constantly being called to respond for the appearance of illness or the complications of non-adherence to prescribed forms of care by health professionals. Therefore, the aim of this study was to understand how people with Type 2 diabetes mellitus and their caregivers and / or companions manage the process of accountability in a situation of group interaction. Discursive Psychology, a British proposal for conducting discourse analysis, inspired by social constructionist epistemology was adopted as the theoretical and methodological framework. Five workshops were performed and 25 people (middle-aged adults and seniors from 30 to 70 years) both male and female with Type 2 diabetes mellitus and their caregivers or companions (family, friends, and neighbors), users of services of a Basic Family Health attended. The steps of our analysis were: a) transcripts of the conversations of the group, b) curious, attentive and interrogative reading of the material collected, c) identification of excerpts from conversations that were related to the process of accountability, d) identification of excerpts that illustrate different discursive strategies related to the process of accountability, and e) analysis of the use of discursive strategies for managing accountability. The focus was to understand the role of discursive strategies and their effects on interaction during the conversations of the groups. Through analysis, two discursive strategies were named according to their role in the interaction: 1) "Blaming others: Assigning responsibility to others" and 2) "Blaming oneself." The latter strategy had two distinct movements, so they were categorized into two sub-strategies: "Taking responsibility: the use of other forms of care" and "Taking responsibility: the getting used to living with diabetes." Throughout the analysis, we observed that the discursive strategies allowed participants to put themselves discursively into interactional context in order to present themselves as people who take care of health and manage possible charges. In addition, through analysis, Accountability was understood as something discursively constructed and directly related to situational demands of the interactive context and socio-cultural expectations and not as something that can be defined as an internal psychological construct, as a process decision-making nor as causal attribution. This study therefore invites critical reflection on ways to talk about diabetes and its impact on the lives of people with the disease, their caregivers and health professionals. / Na sociedade contemporânea, os sentidos do Diabetes mellitus estão associados a uma concepção patológica, ligada à ideia de déficit e de responsabilidade individual. Nesse sentido, as pessoas com diabetes são constantemente chamadas a responder seja pelo surgimento do adoecimento ou pelas complicações decorrentes da não adesão às formas de cuidado prescritas pelos profissionais de saúde. Diante disso, o objetivo deste estudo foi compreender como pessoas com Diabetes mellitus tipo 2 e seus cuidadores e/ou acompanhantes, em situação de interação em grupo, manejaram o processo de Responsabilização. O referencial teórico-metodológico adotado foi a Psicologia Discursiva, uma proposta inglesa para realização de análise do discurso, inspirada pela epistemologia construcionista social. Foram realizadas para este trabalho cinco oficinas em grupos, das quais participaram 25 pessoas (adultos de meia idade e idosos de 30 a 70 anos), de ambos os sexos, com Diabetes mellitus Tipo 2 e seus cuidadores e/ou acompanhantes (familiares, amigos, vizinhos), usuários dos serviços de uma Unidade Básica de Saúde da Família. Os passos da nossa análise foram: a) transcrição das conversas do grupo; b) leitura curiosa, atenta e interrogativa do material coletado; c) identificação de trechos de conversas que estivessem relacionadas ao processo de Responsabilização; d) identificação de trechos que ilustravam diferentes estratégias discursivas relacionadas ao processo de Responsabilização; e e) análise do uso das estratégias discursivas para o manejo da Responsabilização. O foco da análise consistiu em entender a função das estratégias discursivas e os seus efeitos na interação ao longo das conversas dos grupos. Por meio da análise, foram nomeadas duas estratégias discursivas de acordo com sua função na interação: 1) Responsabilizando aos outros: atribuindo responsabilidade a terceiros e 2) Responsabilizando-se . A última estratégia apresentou dois movimentos distintos, por isso foram categorizadas duas sub-estratégias: Responsabilizando-se: o uso de outras formas de cuidado e Responsabilizando-se: o acostumar-se a viver com diabetes . Ao longo da análise, observou-se que as estratégias discursivas permitiram com que os participantes se colocassem discursivamente no contexto interacional de forma a apresentarem-se como pessoas que cuidam da saúde e administrarem possíveis acusações. Além disso, por meio da análise, foi possível compreender a Responsabilização como algo construído discursivamente e diretamente relacionado às demandas situacionais do contexto interativo e às expectativas sócio-culturais e não, como algo que pode ser definido como um constructo psicológico interno, como um processo de tomada de decisões ou atribuição de causalidade. Esse estudo convida, portanto, a uma reflexão crítica sobre as formas de conversar sobre diabetes e seu impacto na vida das pessoas com a doença, seus cuidadores e os profissionais de saúde. / Mestre em Psicologia Aplicada

The application of Adventure Therapy mediums for therapeutic, recreational and team building purposes have become increasingly popular over the past thirty years. These activities take place in a variety of contexts. One such a context that is designed and built with the explicit aim of providing challenging, adventurous activities is the high ropes course. Documented application of Ropes Courses largely consists of group-focussed application and the use of these courses in contexts where the focus is on the individual has been explored to a lesser degree. In this study analysis focuses on the interaction between a therapist and a client during a shared high ropes activity. At the time of the study, participants were also engaged in an individual psychotherapeutic process independent of the study. The study is informed by a Social Constructionist approach and in particular by Discursive Psychology. The work of members of the Discourse and Rhetoric Group at the University of Loughborough ( in particular that of Potter and Edwards) forms an integral part of the epistemology and methodology applied in this study. In this approach there is a strong emphasis on the accomplishment and management of action in interaction. Discourse is conceptualised as a resource that functions to accomplish action and discursive analysis focuses on the manner in which discursive resources are employed to achieve action in interaction. Discursive psychologists view the material context as well as embodiment as important contributors to the construction of action. These aspects are particularly relevant in a Ropes course context where physical activity is prominent. A theory of action in interaction proposed by Charles Goodwin informs the current exploration of the contribution of embodiment and materiality to the organisation of action. / Dissertation (MA (Clinical Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Psychology / unrestricted

This qualitative study examines the relationship between professional group belonging and what individuals deem valuable within the creative partnership projects they carry out together in schools. There were three consecutive stages to the research. The first stage was the phenomenographic analyses of interview transcripts from twenty three teachers and twenty three creative practitioners who partnered each other to run year long projects. The second stage was the aggregation of the resulting forty six analytic outputs into formats permitting inter-group comparisons to be made. This stage included three separate analyses: not only was an individual¿s professional group belonging shown to impact on what they deemed valuable, but partnership type, i.e. new versus established, also had a substantive impact. The influence of school type was examined and shown to have a lesser effect. The third stage was the use of formal, academic theories to interrogate trends appearing in the results: social identity theory and social representations theory, alongside discursive psychology and readings of identity from cultural studies, were mobilized as consecutive lens on the analytic outcomes. These theories were found to be apposite and a deeper comprehension of creative partnership dynamics was arrived at. This study evidences not only a difference between what teachers and creative practitioners respectively value, but shows how the application of theory is a valuable aid in understanding the variations. This represents a major contribution to the field as the use of formal academic theories does not, as yet, feature in the discourses underpinning creative partnership work.

This qualitative study examines the relationship between professional group belonging and what individuals deem valuable within the creative partnership projects they carry out together in schools. There were three consecutive stages to the research. The first stage was the phenomenographic analyses of interview transcripts from twenty three teachers and twenty three creative practitioners who partnered each other to run year long projects. The second stage was the aggregation of the resulting forty six analytic outputs into formats permitting inter-group comparisons to be made. This stage included three separate analyses: not only was an individual's professional group belonging shown to impact on what they deemed valuable, but partnership type, i.e. new versus established, also had a substantive impact. The influence of school type was examined and shown to have a lesser effect. The third stage was the use of formal, academic theories to interrogate trends appearing in the results: social identity theory and social representations theory, alongside discursive psychology and readings of identity from cultural studies, were mobilized as consecutive lens on the analytic outcomes. These theories were found to be apposite and a deeper comprehension of creative partnership dynamics was arrived at. This study evidences not only a difference between what teachers and creative practitioners respectively value, but shows how the application of theory is a valuable aid in understanding the variations. This represents a major contribution to the field as the use of formal academic theories does not, as yet, feature in the discourses underpinning creative partnership work.

The overall aims of this thesis are to describe women’s experiences of breast cancer from a gender perspective, describe women’s experiences of an art therapy intervention and the effects of an art therapy intervention on self-rated coping resources and quality of life. The thesis presents results from a study with 42 women with primary breast cancer without distance metastasis who participated in a randomized intervention study with art therapy carried out between 2001 and 2004. All women were recruited as they were referred to the Department of Oncology at Umeå University Hospital in northern Sweden for postoperative radiotherapy. They were randomized to an intervention group (n = 20) with individual art therapy for 1 hour/week during postoperative radiotherapy, or to a control group (n = 22). The women were between 37–69 years old and had a range of educational and socioeconomic backgrounds. All 42 women completed questionnaires in connection with three interview occasions during six months: at baseline (start of radiotherapy), two and six months later. The questionnaires assessed coping resources, quality of life, symptoms, and self-image. In addition, all women were interviewed about their experiences, and were asked to write a weekly diary about their experiences of breast cancer during the six months of participation. All women signed a written consent form in which they were assured voluntariness and that ending their participation would not affect the care or medical treatment in any way. The study protocol was approved by the Umeå University Ethical Committee at the Medical Faculty (archive number 99-386). In this thesis, part of results from the study is reported. The results presented in the first study show an overall increase in coping resources as measured by the Coping Resources Inventory (CRI) among women with breast cancer after taking part in the art therapy intervention. Significant differences were seen between the study group and the control group in the total score on the second occasion and in the social domain on the second and third occasions. The second study reports results of the art therapy intervention, with regard to quality of life aspects as measured by the instruments WHOQOL-BREF and EORTC QLQ-BR23, at baseline (start of radiotherapy) and two and six months later. Significant increases in total health, total quality of life, physical health and psychological health were found in the art therapy group compared to the control group. A significant positive difference was also found within the intervention group, concerning future perspectives, body image and systemic therapy side effects. The third study builds on previous quantitative results, drawing on gender theories and, taking a discursive approach in analyzing the women’s use of interpretative repertoires in diaries and interviews. The results show a connection between participation in art therapy, talking about protecting one’s own boundaries, and scoring higher on the CRI compared to the control group. A connection between the control group, repertoire conflicts, and lower scores on the CRI was also found. The fourth study presents further knowledge about women’s trajectories, in art therapy, towards helpful management of restraining boundaries. We were inspired by discursive psychology and the analytic concept of subject position. The result shows that art therapy helped women to get access to subject positions that enabled them to protect and strengthen their boundaries and put forward their own needs. Taken together, the results from all four studies support art therapy as a valuable complement in oncology care and rehabilitation of women with primary breast cancer in similar contexts.

This dissertation is a study of a relatively new teacher function in nurse education, a teacher function that can be called clinical teacher, link lecturer, link teacher or lecturer involved in practice. The study departs from a constructivist perspective and the aim is to study the introduction, performance and regulation of this teacher function. The material consists of internationally and nationally published research 1978-2009, reports from the authorities, job ads for clinical teachers, job descriptions and contracts, archive material, evaluation studies, professional journals, texts on the Internet and 15 interviews with clinical teachers in Sweden. Using discourse analysis this material is studied in terms of interpretive repertoires, subject positions and ideological dilemmas. The primary focus of this dissertation concerns what problems the new teacher function is supposed to solve, how the problem should be solved, the effects of the chosen solutions and what´s staged, challenged and reproduced. Secondly, this dissertation highlights what categories of teachers are required and in demand for the new teacher function, how the teachers themselves manage their function and how the teacher function is maintained and challenged. The analysis identifies and highlights current interpretive repertoire, teachers possible subject positions and ideological dilemmas and how they are governed and challenged in the teaching function.

Abstract In accordance with several scholars in the field of human resource management, developing employee commitment towards the employing organization is valuable due to the assumption that it increases their satisfaction, productivity and adaptability. By taking a pedagogical perspective focusing on impact processes, the aim of this master thesis is primarily to identify the constructions and functions of interpretive repertoires, of a few employees, in their descriptions of how the experience of Nynas’ Corporate Group Induction has influenced their commitment to Nynas, but also to categorize the constructions and functions of interpretive repertoires in a booklet underlined during the Corporate Group Induction, which I refer to as “This is Nynas”. In addition, the aim is to identify if other employees at Nynas share similar experiences, regarding the influence of the Corporate Group Induction. Moreover, the primary methodological approach used and theoretical perspective taken in this study is discursive psychology, based upon the premises of social constructionism. The empirical material is mainly consisting of interviews with six employees at Nynas, as well as of an analysis of the booklet “This is Nynas”. Additionally, the empirical material consists of a web-survey, based upon a five-point Likert scale, containing a sample of 25 employees. The study has identified two main interpretive repertoires in the booklet “This is Nynas”, explicitly the identity and the internalize repertoires, as well as subversions of these repertoires. In relation to this, the study has found that the interviewees in their language use to a large extent emphasize the interpretive repertoires constructed in “This is Nynas”. Furthermore, this master thesis have identified that the interviewees constructed certain interpretive repertoires when describing the experience of the Corporate Group Induction, and its influence on their commitment to Nynas, namely: the enhancement, the involvement, the development, the reciprocity and the constancy repertoires. Moreover, the study illustrates that the interviewees generally highlighted the Corporate Group Induction as having a strengthening influence on their commitment to Nynas, especially in relation to feelings of being a part of the company, due to the fact that they experienced themselves as active participants during the program. Furthermore, the result shows that the interviewees perceived the Corporate Group Induction as a sign of reciprocal dedication between themselves and Nynas, particularly on the subject of their integration into the company. Finally, the study has found that the experience of those who participated in the survey corresponded to a high extent with the interviewee’s experience of the Corporate Group Induction, and its influence on their commitment.      Keywords: induction program, Corporate Group Induction, social constructionism, discourse analysis, discursive psychology, discursively constructed, reflexivity, commitment, affective, continuance, normative, Likert scale, late modernity, strategic sampling.

CFS/ME (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) is a distressing and potentially debilitating condition. It can also be understood as a contested condition, surrounded by controversy about its nature, causes and treatment. Previous research indicates that those affected experience this climate of contestation as a troubling and discrediting assault, not only on the nature of their condition, but also on their identities. However, little attention has been paid to the voices of young people living with CFS/ME. This thesis extends a relatively small literature in new directions, focusing a constructionist, discursive narrative lens on the accounts of ten young people (aged 13-18) living with a diagnosis of CFS/ME. Narratives constructed during repeated interviews over a year, and drawing on multimodal materials collected by participants over that period, were analysed for their content, structure and performance, with reference to the local and broader contexts of their production. This analysis demonstrates that teenagers construct rich, multi-layered narratives with the potential to enhance understanding of their situation and broader features of the social world. As they speak of the onset of illness, attempts to live with enduring, unpredictable symptoms and their psychosocial consequences, and (for some) the possibility of 'moving on' from the worst of illness, this analysis throws new light on how young people's narratives can be understood as simultaneously constructing the condition ('M.E.') and the identities of those involved ('me' and others), in ways that engage with, reflect and resist prevailing discourses. It is argued that the discursive contexts of CFS/ME and adolescence raise particular challenges for young people as they try to construct credible narratives that convey the full extent of their difficulties, while resisting stigmatising identities (eg, as 'complaining', 'lazy' or otherwise 'not normal'). This analysis highlights implications for them, their families and those who work professionally with them; and for the ongoing social construction of CFS/ME in young people.

Pedagogical documentation is a certain procedure for documenting that, in recent years, has been embraced in several Swedish preschools. Teachers document children’s actions and conversations usually by photos or video recordings. This documentation is to be used for a pedagogical purpose. However, studies and governmental inspections have shown that pedagogical documentation gives rise to many questions among preschool teachers. The purpose of this study is to gain insight into what is being expressed when preschool teachers discuss pedagogical documentation, focusing on themes of content and on the participants’ expressions of their points of view. The data is comprised of transcriptions from audio recordings of discussions conducted in a research circle. The participants are eight preschool teachers that met over the course of one year. Each meeting focused on the documentation provided by a different participant. In that way the contents of the discussions were framed by the teachers own questions and narratives. Theoretically, the study departs from Social Constructionism and Discursive Psychology. The preschool teachers’ utterances have been analyzed using concepts of interpretative repertoires and ideological dilemmas. The results show the main themes to be: Knowledge content in a preschool setting, children’s learning, the teacher’s role and implementation of pedagogical documentation. The participants’ joint position is that the knowledge content at the preschool level is defined by the curriculum for the preschool. Concerning children’s learning and the teacher’s role, two main standpoints are disclosed. Ideologically those standpoints derive from two opposing theories of education. Based on how the standpoints have been expressed I have called them ”predetermined learning” versus ”non-predetermined learning”. One main distinction between the standpoints is that predetermined learning emphasizes the results of learning, while non-predetermined learning emphasizes the processes of learning. The participants’ utterances show that teachers tend to subscribe to the idea that there is only one acceptable way of working with pedagogical documentation. This sometimes creates performance anxiety and feelings of not succeeding and has led to arguments advocating an alternate approach; pedagogical documentation can be done in many ways. The ideological dilemmas within the discourse can be perceived as resources by which the participants argue about knowledge, learning, teaching and about the implementation of pedagogical documentation. / <p>Licentiatuppsatsen har författats inom forskarskolan "Utforskande lärprocesser och literacy: förskolebarns lärande i språk, matematik och naturvetenskap" som genomförts i samarbete mellan Stockholms universitet, Uppsala universitet, Umeå universitet och Högskolan i Dalarna.</p>