Public funding of higher education has declined substantially in recent years (Alexander, 2000; Esposito, 2010; Mortenson, 2012; NACUBO, 2011; Redd, 2014; Serna and Harris, 2014), while operating costs and demand have increased (Desrochers and Kirshstein, 2012; Mortenson, 2012; Mumper and Freeman, 2011; NCSES, 2014; Serna and Harris, 2014; St. John and Parsons, 2004), forcing institutions to look for alternative sources of revenue (NCSL, 2010). One such alternative source of revenue is alumni giving (Monks, 2003; Archibald and Feldman, 2012; CAE, 2014). Research has shown that the factors that influence alumni financial giving include demographic characteristics (Hoyt, 2004; Monks, 2003), academic experiences (Monks, 2003; Pumerantz, 2005), social experiences (Monks, 2005; Thomas and Smart, 2005; Volkwein, 1989), and alumni participation variables (Gaier, 2005; Gallo and Hubschman, 2003). Although there is ample evidence to support the importance of alumni giving, researchers have not examined the factors that influence young alumni giving. This study sought to determine if demographic characteristics, academic experiences and social experiences explain the variance in alumni giving to their alma mater within five years of graduating. I conducted a case study at a single institution and used Volkwein's (1989) model of giving coupled with data from the 2011 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) that captured alumni's demographic characteristics and measured their academic and social experiences while in college. I merged NSSE with data about giving that I retrieved from the Development Office at the selected institution. The variables included five Demographic items, fourteen Academic Experience items with numerous sub-items, and twelve Social Experience items with numerous sub-items. Exploratory factor analysis revealed five academic factors and four social factors. The results of a multiple regression analysis revealed that only one factor, Class Assignments, explained the variance in young alumni giving, but it may have been spurious. It would appear that demographic characteristics and academic and social factors determined from NSSE are not particularly useful in explaining giving by young alumni. Indeed, only 14.5% of participants actually made a donation within five years of graduating. Clearly more research is needed to expand upon the literature about alumni giving. / Ph. D.

Background: In Sweden, eight percent of all people by the age of 65 years or older have a dementia disease. The healthy spouse received or unconsciously took the role as caregiver in the home which could cause psychological and physical stress. Therefore it is important that nurses have good understanding of how the healthy spouses experience their life situation. Aim: The aim of this study was to describe spouses´experiences of living with a partner with dementia disease. Methods: This literature study was performed with a qualitative method. Nine scientific articles have been quality checked and analyzed with inspiration from Friberg´s way of thinking. The databases Cinahl and PubMed were used. Results: The literature study resulted in the construction of five categories followed by 13 subcategories. The result of the literature study shows that the healthy spouses are affected physically and mentally by living with a partner with dementia disease. A change in the life situation, which entails that the healthy spouse must adapt and change everyday life for the dementia suffering partner's abilities and skills. Conclusion: Living with a partner with dementia disease means a strain for the healthy spouses. It is important for nurses to pay attention to the healthy spouses´well-being. By this study the nurses hopefully understand that it is important to focus on both partners´ needs.

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All mothers and newborns deserve competent care and continuous support during the intrapartum period (Tinker et al., 2006:269). According to the Saving Mothers: Fifth Report on Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths in South Africa, 2008-2010 (SA, 2011:4), the maternal mortality rate (MMR) is 176.22/100 000 live births (SA, 2011:4). The majority of maternal deaths are preventable and have many common preventable factors which are mostly related to the knowledge and skills of the healthcare providers and the challenges within the health care system (SA, 2011:5). The research was conducted in an attempt to make a meaningful contribution to the body of knowledge, specifically knowledge related to the experiences of women regarding the quality intrapartum care in a public hospital in Gauteng Province, and to make recommendations to enhance the quality of intrapartum care. A qualitative study design was used and data collected with the use of individual in-depth interviews. Purposive sampling was used to select participants who represent the target population. The sample used for the study included all women who had given birth within 24 hours before the interviews by normal vaginal delivery. A pilot study was conducted and the interview schedule was finalised. Sixteen individual in-depth interviews were done until data saturation had been achieved. Trustworthiness was ensured according to the principles of credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability. A digital voice recorder was used to capture data and the data were transcribed verbatim. Field notes were written down for each interview. Data analysis was done by means of content analysis by the researcher and an independent co-coder. Themes and sub-themes were identified. The findings indicated that most of the women‟s experiences were positive regarding the quality of intrapartum care while a lesser percentage had had negative experiences. Identified areas of concern are staff attitudes, communication and staff shortages. Conclusions drawn are that women‟s experiences of quality of intrapartum care were that it is not of the highest standard. There is a need for provision of continuous emotional support during labour, improvement of staff attitudes and promotion of rooming-in, and a need not to be separated from their babies for long periods of time The research concluded with the researcher‟s recommendations for policy, nursing practice, nursing research and nursing education, for the enhancement and adherence of midwives to recommendations in improving the quality of intrapartum care in public hospitals. / MCur, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Most previous research into cochlear implant (CI) mediated music listening deals with the mechanisms and efficacy of music perception and does not often account for the listeners real-world musical experience. Measurements of music perception ability are based on listening tasks such as pitch-discrimination, timbre-recognition and rhythmic-identification, and rarely (if ever) relate to the individual experience of the human subject. The exploration of musical experience, however, is based on a holistic view of the ways in which individual people experience music, which can be informed by the interaction of a multitude of factors. For the purposes of this thesis, three categories of experience are considered to coalesce to inform the general musical experience: sensory experience, cognitive experience and social/environmental experience. This thesis moves towards consideration of the real-world musical experiences of cochlear implant users (CIUs) with a view of developing strategies that can be implemented to improve those elements of the musical experience that may be problematic. The thesis comprises three main sections as follows: The first section investigates the musical experiences of CI users (CIUs) by means of a questionnaire study and the consideration of information gained from music focus groups and conversations with implant users. Results show a great deal of variability in the musical experiences of CIUs but many people report positive experiences of music despite suffering from what may be described as ‘poor’ music perception. The second section outlines the design, development and implementation of a multi-channel mixer application, which is used in a study exploring the way in which CIUs mix multi-channel music, to gain insight into their experience of musical elements. Analysing the user-generated mix data provides considerable insights into various elements of the musical experience of participants. Again, results show a large degree of variability on this issue amongst CIUs, and also that the average mixes of CIUs differ significantly from that of a control group of normal-hearing (NH) participants. The third section describes the composition, development and evaluation of a musical work specifically composed for CIUs but designed to be enjoyable for both CIUs and NH audience members alike. The aim of this composition is to promote a positive musical experience by addressing elements of the sensory, cognitive and social/environmental experience based on findings of this research. This thesis concludes by suggesting that the ideal approach for improving the musical experiences of CIUs should focus on the individual, due to the great deal of variability within this population, and presents some implications of this work and suggestions for future research in this area.