No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Teachers want to be in schools where their identities are authentically affirmed. However, some educators in predominantly Black schools perceive that they are not always afforded the same level of value and respect as their colleagues in mostly White or mixed schools. Instead, teachers in predominantly Black schools seem to have experiences associated with frustrations that often go unheard of or dismissed for various reasons. Schools with predominantly Black student populations are often associated with challenges in retaining teachers, commonly referred to as teacher retention or teacher turnover. This turnover can have an impact on the academic progress of the students due to a lack of consistency in keeping qualified teachers. After working in a predominantly Black school for 3 years, I began to question the influence of teacher experiences in these areas and how they relate to the retention rate. Conversations with fellow staff members about perceived inequities and muted concerns prompted an interest in this study. There is a commonly held belief that schools with predominantly Black student populations face challenges in achieving consistent academic success compared to their counterparts. This study will examine the factors that influence teacher retention in predominantly Black schools by reviewing the experiences of those who teach in these schools. I used Narrative Inquiry to help understand the factors that play a role in encouraging or discouraging teachers from predominately Black areas.

Gripped by the mechanics of “walking into a sea of whiteness,” I frame this master’s thesis through the following research question: What are the live(d) experiences and stories of a teacher candidate of colour in relation to race and racism in Teacher Education? Responding to this question, I engage in a personal narrative inquiry to examine and interrogate my own live(d) experiences and stories as a teacher candidate of colour in the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa from 2018 to 2020. I specifically dwell in the (im)possibilities of my travelogue in the two-year program, as I travel to the past to write in the present. A process that unfolds as I arrange that journey in the following: on arrival, on beginning, on collapsing, and on finding community. The writing of which is story(ed) in my live(d) experiences through narratives, as well as journal entries and poems, which are analyzed through a closed reading, complicating and troubling the notion of racism and “white spaces” in Teacher Education.

Background: Diastasis rectus abdominis (DRA) is a separation of the rectus abdominis during and after pregnancy. Physiotherapy is the first choice of intervention but it is unclear which type of training is the most effective.  Purpose: The aim of the study was twofold. The aim of the first part was to evaluate the effects of training the rectus abdominis in women with DRA postpartum. The aim of the second part was to describe how these women experienced this training program.  Method: Three women were included in the study. Firstly a single subject experimental design with A-B design was implemented. Inter-recti distance (IRD), activity impairment, muscle strength and endurance, pain and aesthetics was measured. Secondly a qualitative design was carried out to describe the participants' experiences. It was implemented with interviews analyzed with qualitative content analysis.  Results: Two of the participants got significantly decreased IRD. One of the participants got significantly improved in the activity impairment ´getting up from lying down with and without a weight´. There was no improvement in the other outcome measures. Two categories comprised by two subcategories each were identified by the qualitative analysis: positive and motivating experiences of the training and experiences of positive results of the training. The categories reveal positive experiences of the training design and exercises as well as becoming stronger and gaining trust to use the body again as the main result after the training period. Conclusion: An individually designed training program focusing on the rectus abdominis muscle could be effective for reducing the IRD and getting stronger when getting up from lying down in women with DRA 2-12 months postpartum. Training the rectus abdominis with regular supervision was experienced positively and motivating after pregnancy. The most important experienced result was becoming stronger and gaining increased trust in the body.

While many studies of risk factors for psychosis focus on positive symptoms, such as subthreshold levels of hallucinations and delusions, fewer studies have examined negative symptoms in the early course of the schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders. This relative lack of focus on the role of negative symptoms is problematic, given findings that negative symptoms, such as a loss of motivation and pleasure (MAP), are associated with a more persistent and impairing course of psychosis, and tend to appear earlier in the development of psychotic symptoms. Psychotic disorders, which afflict approximately 3-5% of the population, tend to emerge in late adolescence/early adulthood and are among the most debilitating and costly of mental disorders. The current project explored three areas of negative symptoms in young adults who demonstrated a range of psychotic-like experiences (PLEs). First, a review of the literature pertaining to negative symptoms across the span of psychosis was conducted. Second, we tested whether experiential negative symptoms – specifically MAP deficits – were associated with increases in PLEs, including those that are experienced as distressing (PLEDs). Third, we examined the potential influence of episodic memory performance factors on the relationship between MAP symptoms and PLEs/PLEDs. Collectively, this project highlights the importance of including negative symptoms (i.e., MAP deficits) and/or cognitive performance (i.e., associative/relational learning/memory) outcomes when evaluating people with PLEs/PLEDs to identify those who may be at greater risk for developing a psychotic disorder. / Psychology