Men in economically advanced societies are more at-risk of premature mortality due to heart disease than women, and this risk is inversely proportional to their socioeconomic status (SES). In Canada, many public health reports indicate that cardiovascular disease represent about one third of all causes of death and that men’s mortality rates from these diseases are two times higher than women, making it the main contributor to health inequality. Underprivileged men have been identified as being less receptive to cardiac rehabilitation guidelines, yet research promoting heart healthy behaviours has often neglected the social mechanisms that influence the lifestyle of this population. This study aims to understand the social variation in dispositions and commitments toward body care of men from two contrasting socioeconomic groups who have suffered from a cardiovascular incident requiring hospitalization. It draws primarily on Pierre Bourdieu’s socio-cultural theory of practice and his concept of bodily habitus in order to understand distinctive lifestyle patterns in the context of cardiac rehabilitation. Qualitative data was collected through 60 semi-structured interviews of an average duration of 90 minutes. Participants were Francophone men (average age of 57.3) from the Outaouais region of the Province of Québec, Canada. A thematic content analysis showed strong social variation in terms of lifestyle and identified different dispositions towards body care in the context of heart disease. Results are organized according to three key strategies for human flourishing following a heart incident that are relevant to understand the dispositions to adopt (or not) heath practices in the context of cardiac rehabilitation: (a) achieving a sense of security; (b) preserving autonomy; and (c) maintaining dignity. The comparison between socioeconomic groups highlights the incompatibilities of healthcare services and rehabilitation programs with the priorities of underprivileged men. It also flags the potential ethical and political dimension of healthcare by examining notions of health citizenship. In conclusion, the thesis discusses the socio-political characteristics of cardiac rehabilitation programs, and the usefulness of class-based masculinities as an alternative point of view to understand health implications of lifestyles.

This thesis explores how people struggle to make livable lives in the conditions of existence of seeking asylum in the UK. The study is based on ethnographic research, conversations and participant observation, with people seeking asylum in Manchester. Grounding the research in their narratives is a contribution to decolonizing knowledge and doing justice to the sentience of people who are marginalized and pathologized. The narratives are brought into dialogue with feminist and decolonial philosophy and political theory, and with empirical studies of 'refugeedom' from a number of disciplines, to produce a new field of connection from which to map the terrain involved in theorizing livability. While the whole thesis seeks to respond to the narratives, there is a detailed focus on three dimensions which participants emphasize as crucial to livability: settlement in Manchester; the prohibition of employment; the asylum application procedures. These are moments in which livability is claimed as both ethics and practice. From the perspective of the narratives and the ethics which permeate them, livability opens up into questions of recognition, social justice and care. People claim commonality: recognition as human, equality and inclusion in social goods, and care in public settings. These are the practical and ethical supports of livability. The narratives point also towards critiques of 'refugeedom', the policies and practices that form the discursive and material conditions within which people seeking asylum attempt to make livable lives.

Mentoring, coaching, and teacher induction programs continue to gain traction in school jurisdictions across Canada and internationally in an effort to address teacher attrition, support professional growth, and improve teaching and learning. Conceptualized as a patchwork quilt, this thesis by article reports on a qualitative case study that examined the Teacher Induction Program (TIP) implemented in 2009 in the Western Québec School Board (WQSB). Each manuscript or fabric block highlights a different component of the TIP that when stitched together reveals an emerging pattern of how professional learning and development, mentoring and coaching, and teacher evaluation is understood in the school district. Anchored within a social learning theoretical framework, this study asked two guiding questions: 1) What is the influence of the mentor–coach role on experienced teachers’ professional learning, practice, and well-being? And 2) How do the WQSB stakeholders perceive the impact of the TIP? Using a single case study design, data were collected from a variety of sources and stakeholder perspectives, including documents, questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups. Using the Framework Method, data were abductively analyzed with and against the study’s theoretical and conceptual frameworks. The study’s findings indicate that the mentor–coach role has powerful potential to not only support experienced teachers’ practice-based professional learning, but also to cultivate their sense of well-being and flourishing in schools. However, tensions emerged around how different stakeholders perceived the TIP’s impact in the school district. In particular, further attention is required to clarify the purpose and process of mentoring and coaching as well as the role of teacher evaluation within teacher induction. Ultimately, this study highlights the important role an effective mentoring and coaching fellowship can play in supporting veteran teacher professional learning, practice and well-being, which then has the potential to cultivate positive transformational change in a school district.

Conflict is a common problem among families, and children may be negatively affected by this family dynamic. Some family characteristics may protect children from negative effects, even in the midst of conflict. Though little research has been conducted addressing familial effects of humor, the current longitudinal study examined the moderating effect of humor on the relationship between family conflict and child self regulation. Two hundred ninety six two-parent families from the Seattle area were surveyed and observed as a party of Brigham Young University's Flourishing Family Project. Family conflict and coded humor from an observation task were assessed at time 1 and self regulation in the child was assessed at both time 1 and one year later. Results indicated that (1) family conflict negatively influences child self regulation, (2) that humor between fathers and children is associated with child self regulation, and (3) that humor between fathers and children may buffer the effects of family conflict on a child's self regulation. Humor between mothers and children and between mothers and fathers did not moderate the relationship between family conflict and child self regulation. These results suggest that some forms of family humor may provide families with healthy child outcomes. Limitations and implications for family therapy are discussed.

The neighborhoods of Eastleigh in Nairobi, Kenya and Rinkeby in Stockholm, Sweden are both home to Somali populations that have burgeoned over the last 25 years. While situated in vastly different urban contexts, the Somali communities in each location have needs related to public space, particularly when considering their status in both places as a minority group that is often marginalized by Kenyan and Swedish societies. By examining the experiences of each of these two communities in public space and the level of publicness they experience, we can see how the Somali community can be made to feel included or excluded within each city. Using Setha Low’s framework of categorical activities that contribute to a flourishing society, the publicness of spaces in each location is investigated. In addition, the study explores the ways in which publicness is under threat in both places through the means of technologies of control. The resistance to such technologies is argued as symbolic of the fight for inclusion within Kenyan and Swedish society.

No description available.

No description available.

Globally the domestic worker sector is characterised by a sense of “voicelessness”—an esoteric silence fuelled by a dire need to survive. South Africa is heralded as a global ambassador for the rights of these women. Significant sectoral reforms in recent years regulate the transactional element of this employment relationship through stipulated minimum wages and employment standards. The relational element of this engagement, however, remains underexplored. A decade of global scholarship detailing the hardships that characterise this sector has helped to uncover the plight of domestic workers. The study provided the participants with an opportunity to express their experiences and feelings, and the documented findings will hopefully stimulate more scholarly debate on this issue. It is hoped that the study will engender more sensitivity towards the needs of this vulnerable group of workers and promote positive employment relations within the South African labour market. The study describes the lived realities of domestic workers within the South African labour legislative context through five separate but interrelated journal articles. Article 1 provides a detailed “plan of action” that documents the initial considerations and rationale for the study. Guided by existing scholarly discourse, the research questions are highlighted and the proposed research design is presented. Issues related to trustworthiness are debated. This article constitutes the research proposal that was submitted during the initial phase of this research journey. Article 2 presents a transparent account of the methodological considerations that guided the co-construction of meaning within the South African domestic worker sector. Situated within the interpretivist paradigm, with phenomenology as theoretical underpinning, purposive respondent-driven self-sampling resulted in the recruitment of 20 female participants. All of them can be described as domestic workers in terms of Sectoral Determination 7. The pilot study indicated the value of using metaphors while exploring tentative topics. An interview guide facilitated the exploration of key concepts during our engagement. Rich, dense descriptive verbatim accounts of participants’ lived realities confirmed data saturation. In-depth interviews were transcribed and analysed through an inductive process of data reduction. Emanating themes confirmed that the South African domestic workers sector is far from being voiceless if we are only willing to listen. Making these voices heard constitutes a progressive step in future efforts to empower this neglected sector of the labour market. In article 3 a life-cycle approach is used to explore participants’ lived experiences of their work-life cycle. Each individual progresses through these various phases which are contextualised as a transitional process as a result of their unique circumstances and personal trajectory. Findings confirmed the existence of an institutionalised culture of engagement within the sector perpetuated from one generation to the next. Attempts to exit the sector are unsuccessful due in part to their limited formal education and skills repertoire. The article concludes with the notion that domestic workers are trapped within a never-ending cycle of sectoral engagement, and the possibility of exiting the sector remains “but a dream” for many. Article 4 focusses on the reciprocal interpersonal relatedness that often develops due to the prolonged engagement within the individualised sectoral employment context. Characterised by caring and connectedness, this mutually dignified treatment not only signals but also enhances human flourishing. Participants’ accounts of relational reciprocity are indicative of the enactment of cardinal Ubuntu principles within the employment context. The need for actions that surpass the “letter of the law” in order to enhance flourishing within the South African domestic worker sector is advocated. Article 5 explores the role that legislative awareness fulfils in the everyday lives of domestic workers. Findings indicated that empowerment was an unknown construct for all participants. The participants had little or no confidence in engaging their employers on employment issues; this was due in part to their limited legislative awareness. Domestic workers should thus take ownership of their own empowerment efforts. This will sanction their right to assert their expectations of employment standards with confidence and make use of the judicial system to bring about compliant action. The article concluded with the notion that legislative awareness can result in empowered actions though informed employee voices. / PhD (Labour Relations Management), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

Globally the domestic worker sector is characterised by a sense of “voicelessness”—an esoteric silence fuelled by a dire need to survive. South Africa is heralded as a global ambassador for the rights of these women. Significant sectoral reforms in recent years regulate the transactional element of this employment relationship through stipulated minimum wages and employment standards. The relational element of this engagement, however, remains underexplored. A decade of global scholarship detailing the hardships that characterise this sector has helped to uncover the plight of domestic workers. The study provided the participants with an opportunity to express their experiences and feelings, and the documented findings will hopefully stimulate more scholarly debate on this issue. It is hoped that the study will engender more sensitivity towards the needs of this vulnerable group of workers and promote positive employment relations within the South African labour market. The study describes the lived realities of domestic workers within the South African labour legislative context through five separate but interrelated journal articles. Article 1 provides a detailed “plan of action” that documents the initial considerations and rationale for the study. Guided by existing scholarly discourse, the research questions are highlighted and the proposed research design is presented. Issues related to trustworthiness are debated. This article constitutes the research proposal that was submitted during the initial phase of this research journey. Article 2 presents a transparent account of the methodological considerations that guided the co-construction of meaning within the South African domestic worker sector. Situated within the interpretivist paradigm, with phenomenology as theoretical underpinning, purposive respondent-driven self-sampling resulted in the recruitment of 20 female participants. All of them can be described as domestic workers in terms of Sectoral Determination 7. The pilot study indicated the value of using metaphors while exploring tentative topics. An interview guide facilitated the exploration of key concepts during our engagement. Rich, dense descriptive verbatim accounts of participants’ lived realities confirmed data saturation. In-depth interviews were transcribed and analysed through an inductive process of data reduction. Emanating themes confirmed that the South African domestic workers sector is far from being voiceless if we are only willing to listen. Making these voices heard constitutes a progressive step in future efforts to empower this neglected sector of the labour market. In article 3 a life-cycle approach is used to explore participants’ lived experiences of their work-life cycle. Each individual progresses through these various phases which are contextualised as a transitional process as a result of their unique circumstances and personal trajectory. Findings confirmed the existence of an institutionalised culture of engagement within the sector perpetuated from one generation to the next. Attempts to exit the sector are unsuccessful due in part to their limited formal education and skills repertoire. The article concludes with the notion that domestic workers are trapped within a never-ending cycle of sectoral engagement, and the possibility of exiting the sector remains “but a dream” for many. Article 4 focusses on the reciprocal interpersonal relatedness that often develops due to the prolonged engagement within the individualised sectoral employment context. Characterised by caring and connectedness, this mutually dignified treatment not only signals but also enhances human flourishing. Participants’ accounts of relational reciprocity are indicative of the enactment of cardinal Ubuntu principles within the employment context. The need for actions that surpass the “letter of the law” in order to enhance flourishing within the South African domestic worker sector is advocated. Article 5 explores the role that legislative awareness fulfils in the everyday lives of domestic workers. Findings indicated that empowerment was an unknown construct for all participants. The participants had little or no confidence in engaging their employers on employment issues; this was due in part to their limited legislative awareness. Domestic workers should thus take ownership of their own empowerment efforts. This will sanction their right to assert their expectations of employment standards with confidence and make use of the judicial system to bring about compliant action. The article concluded with the notion that legislative awareness can result in empowered actions though informed employee voices. / PhD (Labour Relations Management), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

Spending your time „nurturing what is right‟ enables people to grow and negotiate the problems of life which is more than only fixing what is wrong. The World Health Organisation also defined well-being as more than not ill-being. Flourishing is an optimal state of well-being. The question is, „what is it that flourishers do different from non-flourishers?‟ Pharmacy students prepare themselves for a profession which is being bombarded with change; they are the pharmacists of tomorrow. Among them some students flourish and the others do not. This study aimed to look at possible pathways to flourishing that flourishers utilise. In this way the study addressed several gaps in the knowledge regarding flourishing: 1) The prevalence of flourishing among pharmacy students, 2) The role of demands and resources in flourishing of students, 3) The role of antecedent factors of basic psychological need satisfaction on the basic psychological need satisfaction of students and therefore in their flourishing, and 4) The use of positive affect regulation (an internal strategy) as a pathway to flourishing. A cross-sectional design was utilised. The study population was all the enrolled pharmacy students at the North West University during 2014. A convenience sample of 779 students participated. The measuring battery consisted of the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF; Keyes, 2009), the Emotional Regulation Profile-Revised (ERP-R; Nelis, Quoidbach, Hansenne, & Mikolajczak, 2011), the Balanced Measure of Psychological Needs (BMPN; Sheldon & Hilpert, 2012), statements about the antecedents of basic psychological need satisfaction and statements about demands and resources, developed for the purpose of this study, and a demographic questionnaire. Structural equation modelling, invariance testing and latent class analysis were some of the statistical techniques used to analyse the cross-sectional data. Manuscript one addressed the prevalence of flourishing among pharmacy students as well as possible differences between the year groups. The manuscript also investigated the role of workload as a study demand and the lecturer as a study resource and the possible interaction between them in the flourishing of students. Year group as a possible moderator in the respective relationships between demands, resources, the interaction between them on the one hand and flourishing on the other, were also assessed. 40% of the group flourished whilst 57% was moderately healthy and 3% languished. The different year groups negotiated the demands and resources in their study environment differently in their path to flourishing. The possible pathways to flourishing in this context were identified as the use of lecturer support (a resource), especially when the workload (a demand) is high and the successful negotiation of workload over their four years of study. Manuscript two dealt with the impact of antecedent factors of basic psychological need satisfaction of pharmacy students on their basic psychological need satisfaction and therefore ultimately the influence of these contextual factors on their flourishing. The researcher wanted to determine whether there is a difference in the role(s) that family, peers, lecturers and workload play in the satisfaction of the students‟ basic psychological needs (relatedness, competence and autonomy). Year group as a moderator in these respective relationships was also investigated. Family and peers played the most important role in need satisfaction of students. However, lecturers can actively engage in supporting the need satisfaction of students, which would increase their levels of autonomous motivation and thereby their levels of flourishing. In manuscript three the use of internal strategies as pathways to flourishing were explored. Positive emotion regulation strategies have a positive relationship with well-being. However, a person can dampen or savour his or her positive emotions. The students were clustered into distinctive groups by means of a latent class analysis. Three distinctive groups were posterior identified based on the characteristics of group members, namely flourishers, languishers and moderately healthy students. Regression analyses of the three groups revealed that flourishers are the only group that most likely will utilise savouring positive emotion regulation strategies and refrain from utilising dampening positive emotion regulation strategies. Pathways to flourishing that flourishing pharmacy students utilise are therefore the use of savouring positive emotion regulation strategies and the non-use of dampening positive emotion regulation strategies.