Att vårda en närstående person med demens innebär en stor börda för anhörigvårdaren vilket kan resultera i psykisk ohälsa. Stöd är en viktig del för att minska bördan. Syftet med studien var att ur ett omvårdnadsperspektiv belysa anhörigas upplevelse av psykosocial börda och psykosocialt stöd vid vård av en person med demens i hemmet. Studien var en systematisk litteraturstudie som baserades på 15 vetenskapliga artiklar. I resultatet framkom att anhöriga som vårdar en person med demens upplevde en psykisk och fysisk börda. Den tyngsta psykiska bördan uppgavs vara brist på egen tid och att känna sig isolerad från omvärlden. Anhörigvårdarens individuella uppfattning om sig själv och förhållandet till personen med demens påverkade bördan. Informellt socialt stöd visade sig viktigt och minskade risken för depression. Det framkom att socialt stöd och stödgrupper var betydelsefullt för den anhörige. De anhöriga kände att de inte fick det stöd som behövdes från hälso- och sjukvårdpersonal. Därför behövs mer kunskap hos formella vårdgivare för att kunna möta behovet av stöd för anhöriga till en person med demens. Ökad kunskap och förståelse om psykosocial börda ger sjuksköterskan större förutsättningar att kunna ge anhörigvårdaren ett adekvat stöd. Ytterligare forskning krävs för att utvärdera sjuksköterskans roll som psykosocialt stöd.

Syftet med denna studie har varit att undersöka och jämföra hur fyra professionella inom olika människovårdande yrkesgrupper uppfattar sina möjligheter att uppmärksamma och hjälpa barn som upplever föräldrars konflikter med anledning av separation. Studien har genomförts med hjälp av en kvalitativ metod genom att intervjua en: skolkurator, skolpsykolog, samordnare och familjerättssekreterare. De teoretiska utgångspunkter vi använt oss av är professionsteori med begreppen jurisdiktion och handlingsutrymme samt nyinstitutionell teori inbegripande begreppet organisatoriskt fält. Utifrån dessa teorier och begrepp har vi undersökt och jämfört hur en skolkurator, en skolpsykolog, en samordnare och en familjerättssekreterare enskilt och i jämförelse med varandra beskriver sitt arbeta, om problematiken framkommer i yrkesgruppernas arbete samt hur de arbetar i möten med barn. Alla informanter beskriver att barn kan må dåligt av föräldrars konflikt med anledning av separation. I vissa fall, och i olika utsträckning kan detta komma till uttryck i mötet med de professionella i studien. De uttryck hos barnen som lyfts fram i studien är dåligt mående, beteendeproblem, koncentrationssvårigheter och försämrade skolprestationer. Representanterna från de olika professionerna har olika förutsättningar att hjälpa dessa barn beroende på deras olika utgångspunkter och arbetsuppgifter / The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine and compare how professionals in four groups in Human Services perceive their possibilities to see, understand and help children who experience parental conflicts due to separation. A qualitative method has been used, where the selection of participants was made through appropriate sampling. The theoretical basis applied involves professional theory with the concepts jurisdiction and scope for action, as well as new institutional theory including the concept organizational field. Based on these theories and concepts we have examined and compared how the professionals from four occuapational groups; school counselor, school psychologist, coordinator and secretary of family law, individually and in comparison with each other, describe their work with this type of problems and how they act in meetings with children. The results show that the professionals have the experience that children may feel bad about the conflict between their parents in connection with separation. In some cases, and to a varying extent, this may be expressed in meetings with the professional groups in the study. The reactions of the children highlighted in the study are bad mood, behavioral problems, difficulty to concentrate and deteriorating school performance. The professionals from the different professional groups, depending on their jurisdiction and scope for action, have different abilities to help the children showing these reactions.

This master thesis includes 65 pages, 5 pictures, 4 tables, 41 literary sources, in the Lithuanian language. The object of this final work is leasing. The purpose of this study is to discuss theory and practice of leasing, describe problems, which hinder Lithuanian leasing market development and prognoses leasing market perspectives. In order to reach the purpose of this work it is important to solve the following problems: • to specify the essence and necessity of a leasing; • to overdraw the advantages and disadvantages of leasing; • to research the main leasing stages in Lithuania; • to research main leasing evolution stages in world and in Lithuania; • to structure leasing payments; • to make an analysis of Lithuanian leasing market. Specifing the essence and necessity of a leasing, overdrawing the advantages and disadvantages of leasing, researching the main leasing stages in Lithuania and analysising the leasing market of Lithuanian it was used books of national and foreign authors, various literature source of teaching means and scientific articles. Also it was used the methods of comparison, calculation of real present value, structural analysis and quantitative (qualitative) changes analysis.

The subject of the presented thesis focuses on foster care exercised by children´s relatives. The target is to ascertain possible different roles in kinship foster care and different attitudes to the aforementioned, record the experience of kinship care givers, their viewing and experiencing of childcare. I wanted to know if fostering had brought any positives into their lives and on the other hand if there are any negatives related to such care. The theoretic part of my thesis describes the history of foster care in different periods, explains the terms like family, social role and attachment. Furthermore, particular forms of foster care are explained and foster care exercised by children´s relatives is described in more details. Attention is also paid to the relationship and contact between a child and his/her parents. The Authority for social and legal protection of children (OSPOD in Czech) has an essential role in foster care together with assisting organizations, which are described in the last chapter of the theoretic part. I used qualitative methodology for research purposes and semi-structured interviews for collection of data. The research file contained eight respondents which were selected based on simple purpuseful sampling. The research file consisted of foster parents caring for children of their relatives. I determined reasons why the children had been placed into foster care, how the foster parents experience such care and how they view it themselves. The results of the interview analysis helped me to uncover and understand the basis of kinship foster care. According to similar signs, they were divided into several areas. The first area focused on the reasons why the child had been placed into kinship foster care. The main reasons included various types of addictions, child neglect, failure to provide suitable housing or lack of interest in the child. The second area related to the feelings of foster mothers when accepting the child. Their decision-making process is described here, including their motivation and fears related to fostering. In most cases, foster mothers had enough time for making their decisions on fostering. Half of the foster mothers found it natural; the other half had ambivalent feelings for it. The third area is dedicated to changes in wider personal relationships and relationships in the family, in particular, to the impact of foster care on relations between partners and the potential influence on the relationship of foster parents with their own children. Relations with biologic children of the foster parents had an important role as well. The fourth area includes basic characteristics of childcare. Most foster mothers noticed significant changes in their lives. Foster care had a negative impact on the quality of their lives but it principally became a source of vitality and optimism for them. Foster mothers faced problem situations related to intergenerational differences, behaviour of children and problems at school. They also worried often about the future of their foster children. Some foster mothers accepted the role of a mother that predominated over their other life roles. Others had no problems in separating their roles and shifting from one role to another. Most conflicts in the role appeared when the child was fostered by his/her grandmother. The last area contains conditions that have helped foster mothers to reduce the burden of foster care. Foster mothers appreciated help of their families, which they preferred, and sufficient financial security. They gladly accepted the help of assisting organizations and the services offered by them. Mandatory education and the possibility to share their experience with other foster parents were of great importance too.

Magister Public Health - MPH / The Zambia Demographic Health Survey reports that 81% of the population of Mansa District, Zambia lives in extreme poverty. Eleven percent (11%) of this population is estimated to be HIV positive. Many of this HIV positive population were the primary breadwinners in their households prior to the onset of AIDS. The majority of them are cared for by family members (PCGs) with limited training. Home Based Care programmes provide care and support to patients at their homes. However, this support does not extend to the caregivers. This explorative study investigated the psychological, social and informational needs of primary caregivers of AIDS patients in Mansa District, Zambia. It was envisaged that the findings of the study would assist home-based care organizations to provide comprehensive support and care to the primary caregivers, in addition to patients. Methods A qualitative research approach was chosen to gain an in-depth understanding of healthrelated experiences of caregivers while taking into consideration the context within which this phenomenon takes place. Twenty-six caregivers who provide basic care and support to family members who had advanced HIV-disease were recruited into the study. All AIDS patients in the study were former breadwinners of their households. Purposive, maximum variation sampling was used to select non-homogeneous cases of family caregivers, who provided services to AIDS patients within their homes. It was envisaged that such a heterogeneous sample would provide wide variations in experiences, and this would contribute to the range of issues pertaining to caregiver needs being covered. Three Focus group discussions were conducted, audio-tape recorded and transcribed. Findings The findings of the study highlight that caregivers have the following psychological needs: reciprocated sympathy and appreciation from society and their patients, stress coping mechanisms, and the capacity to display patience despite unreasonable demands made by the patients for whom they are caring. The study highlights that caregivers face numerous challenges in dealing with conflicting relationships and in handling stigma and discrimination, and that they are in need of a strong social support network. It also emphasizes that many of the primary caregivers lack adequate information about social services organizations that can assist them with training. The training will enable those (PCGs) to provide care in a manner that does not compromise the safety of the patients or themselves, as well as give them opportunities for education and skills development for income generation that will make it possible for them to provide for the upkeep of the family. Conclusions Home-based care workers are best placed to support PCGs at home. The training of such home-based workers should be extended to take in consideration the specific needs of these caregivers. In addition, the role of primary caregivers should be acknowledged in national HIV/AIDS strategies.

Young adult dystopian fictions follow the patterns established by the classic adult dystopias such as George Orwell's 1984 and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, but not completely. Young adult dystopias tend to end happily, a departure from the nightmarish ends of Winston Smith and John Savage. Young adult authors resist hopelessness, even if the fictional world demands it. Using a rhetorical approach established by Wayne Booth in The Rhetoric of Fiction and The Company We Keep, this thesis traces the reasons for the inclusion of hope and the strategies by which hope is created and maintained. Booth's rhetorical approach recognizes that a narrative is a relational act. At issue in this study is the consideration of what follows from viewing a narrative as a dynamic exchange between text, author and reader. Through a focus on rhetoric as identification, the responsibilities of both the author and the reader to a text are identified and discussed. Three young adult novels, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, The Giver by Lois Lowry and Feed by M.T. Anderson will be analyzed as case studies. Together the analysis of these novels reveals that storytelling is an act of forging identifications and forming alliances. The reader becomes more than just a spectator of the author's rhetoric; the reader is a fully involved member of the interpretive and evaluative process.

Against the background of evidence that parent involvement benefits learners, parents, schools and communities, a need has arisen for effective parent involvment strategies to be developed particularly in rural and disadvantaged communities. A literature study investigated models of parent involvementand the provision of education in North West Province. Barriers to parent involvement in schools were also investigated. A qualitative methodology was used to investigate parent involvement in three rural schools in North West Province. Data were gathered by means of observation, semi-structures focus group interviews with parents and educators and semi-structures in-depth interviewswith principals of participating schools. Thus parents and educators blame each other for lack of participation. Other findings relate to the lack of resources and facilities in schools. Guidelines for proper parent involvement were proposed. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Comparative Education)

Nicknames have been analysed, recorded and processed in many diverse ways by different languages, scholars and communities. In Zulu, many works of similar type have all been the size of an article up until 1999. This research on the subject is one of the first done in this depth. Nicknames form part of a Zulu person's daily life. They identify him/her more than the real or legal name. They shape him/her more than any other mode of address. They influence behaviour, personality, interaction based activities and the general welfare of an individual. They discipline, they praise, they mock too. Surprisingly, they are regarded as play items. They are even termed playnames (izidlaliso). But they are as serious as any item that makes an individual to be a significant figure in the community. They are unique in the sense that they stick more obstinately on the victim should he/she try to get rid of them. They are capable of staying for life. They only vanish to give others a chance to feature on the same individual. They are so poetic. A talented onomastician can tell a full story about an individual without him grabbing what is being said about him just because the story is spiced with just a single figurative nickname. They haunt the whole arena of the parts of speech in a language, especially the Zulu language. They modify the well known meaning of words into special references that paint in bright colours the character of an individual. Zulu nicknames processes visit all possible languages and adapt items from into Zuluised special terms that a capable of inheriting an onomastic status. They originate even from the most sensitive sources like people's private lives. The only challenging area about nicknames is that bearers do not want to expose them to peale who are not known to them, even if they do not fall into a category of nicknames for ridicule. Finally, nicknames have been exposed here as linguistic items that organise the community into makers and bearers, and then users of nicknames. / African Languages / D.Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

As a whole, eating disorders have been characterised as having the following key features: a persistent over concern with body size and shape; and weight control behaviours such as fasting, exercise, and self-induced vomiting. However, there tends to be a blurred line between those that do and do not meet diagnostic thresholds as the level of psychological distress is comparably similar. This study examined whether psychological inflexibility (from an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy perspective) was associated with eating disorders and whether it mediated the relationship between childhood abuse and invalidation and eating disorders. This was considered to be important because high rates of abuse have consistently been found in this population, yet not everyone goes on to develop an eating disorder. In addition, the role of emotional abuse has been largely neglected. A clinical sample of 190 participants with a clinical or subclinical eating disorder were recruited from eating disorder charities and support forums; they completed a range of questionnaires measuring experiences of abuse and maternal/paternal emotional invalidation in childhood, current levels of cognitive fusion and experiential avoidance and current levels of eating pathology. The sample was split into three groups based on their Eating Disorder Risk Composite scores: elevated, typical and low clinical range. It was found that those in the elevated clinical range (most severe eating pathology) had the poorest emotional processing and significantly higher levels of psychological inflexibility, thought-shape-fusion, depression and anxiety than those in the low clinical range (least severe eating pathology). In terms of predicting current levels of eating pathology, three variables emerged as significant predictors: emotional processing, thought-shape fusion and depression. In terms of predicting current levels of psychological inflexibility, five variables emerged as significant predictors: childhood emotional abuse, emotional processing, thought-shape-fusion, depression and anxiety. The results add novel findings to the literature regarding the role of early experiences on the development of psychological inflexibility, and the role of psychological inflexibility in the maintenance of eating pathology and psychological distress. Clinical implications of these findings in relation to assessment, formulation, intervention and prevention are discussed.

Against the background of evidence that parent involvement benefits learners, parents, schools and communities, a need has arisen for effective parent involvment strategies to be developed particularly in rural and disadvantaged communities. A literature study investigated models of parent involvementand the provision of education in North West Province. Barriers to parent involvement in schools were also investigated. A qualitative methodology was used to investigate parent involvement in three rural schools in North West Province. Data were gathered by means of observation, semi-structures focus group interviews with parents and educators and semi-structures in-depth interviewswith principals of participating schools. Thus parents and educators blame each other for lack of participation. Other findings relate to the lack of resources and facilities in schools. Guidelines for proper parent involvement were proposed. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Comparative Education)