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Social isolation is a concern for the health of older adults in Canada. Community-engaged arts (CEA) programs are thought to support social inclusion but how such programs contribute to building community connections for older adults at risk of social isolation is poorly understood. This study, therefore, is aimed to explore the experience of community for this population in the context of a CEA program as well as the role the program plays in that experience. A qualitative study using ethnographic methods was conducted to answer two research questions: (1) What does community mean to seniors in the Arts, Health and Seniors program? (2) What is the role of the Arts, Health and Seniors program in the participants’ experience of community? Data were collected over a six week period using participant observation, semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The sample was a group of 20 urban-dwelling seniors at risk for social isolation who participated in a CEA program once a week. Regular group art sessions were observed by the researcher and extensive field notes were recorded. Interviews were conducted with five senior participants and four other key informants (including two artists, a senior worker, and an administrators), and documents related to the community were reviewed. Data were analyzed throughout the data collection process and interpretations were noted. Through immersion in the data and a movement between the data and interpretations, themes were developed. Connections between themes were explored and taken back to the data. Findings were presented as a detailed description of the participants’ experience of community. Community for the participants focused around the Seniors Centre where the program was held. The participants expressed that the meaningful relationships at the centre made it ‘another home’ and was a place they could find resources to adapt to challenges. The CEA program provided a unique experience of community through working together as a group and making new social connections. For health professionals working with older people at risk for social isolation, this research will add to the understanding of how community is experienced by older adults and how community is supported by CEA programs.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate if the political participation has increased in practice for the former excluded indigenous people in Bolivia during the Morales administration and with the establishment of a new constitution, in order to see whether democracy has been deepened in the country or not. The thesis is carried out with a case study design and material consists mainly of qualitative interviews with different indigenous organizations and NGOs, as well as previous research on the area. The theoretical framework is based on dimensions on participation in where the three areas of inclusion, spaces for participation and influence are examined in order to investigate the purpose. The thesis argues that the political participation has not increased for all of the different indigenous groups, but for some; the smaller indigenous groups in the lowland have not experienced an increased political participation, whilst the three biggest indigenous groups, Aymara and Quechua in the highland, and Guaraní in the lowland, feel that their political participation has increased. Since some indigenous groups have experienced change and an increased political participation it is argued that the democracy has been deepened to a small degree.

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This dissertation looks at the challenges that deliberative democratic theory encounters when it tries to offer a rich account of inclusion yet refuses to acknowledge the legitimacy of external protest. While sympathetic to deliberative democracy’s goals, I challenge this focus upon the deliberative group as the theory tries to satisfy requirements of inclusion and legitimacy. In response I offer a normative account of protest within a larger deliberative framework – one that offers a more comprehensive account of democratic inclusion. I look at critiques of deliberative democracy, particularly in terms of the theory’s ability to account for pluralism, and I argue that in order to meet this challenge we need to offer a normative justification of protest. Moreover, we need to do this not only to achieve full and effective inclusion but also to deal with the lack of efficacy that marginalized deliberants may encounter even when requirements of formal and effective inclusion are met. As I address these challenges I offer a theory of protest-as-deliberation in which I develop a normative justification of protest and set out the conceptual changes that allow this justification to be normatively and practically viable. My account takes protest, as something outside of and in opposition to the deliberative group, seriously and extends the deliberative framework to include protest; importantly, it does this without co-opting protestors. Drawing from previous critiques, I develop the normative and practical links that are necessary in order to facilitate a deliberative dialogue between protestors and the deliberative group. The conceptual changes that are necessary in order to realize protest-as-deliberation require that we re-evaluate the impact that deliberative criteria of reason-giving has upon effective inclusion and people’s efficacy and that we change these criteria accordingly. Additionally, we need to revisit the democratic capacity of the public sphere, reconceptualized as the deliberative polity in which the process of protest-as-deliberation takes place. When we do this we ought to place a greater emphasis upon available public spaces, both physical and conceptual, that deliberants and protestors need in order for effective deliberation and contestation to occur. / Thesis (Ph.D, Political Studies) -- Queen's University, 2008-12-01 14:58:51.95

For students with emotional and behavioural issues the bridge from middle years to senior years can be particularly challenging. This transition is especially problematic if the students are moving from self-contained or specialized programming supports in middle years to inclusive senior years environments. This qualitative research study examined the perspectives and experiences of four principals and three student services personnel regarding the transition of students from specialized middle years placements to inclusive senior years schools. Each participant was asked their opinions on what strategies, structures, policies and supports assisted with the transition process as well as those that detracted from successful transitioning. Qualitative analysis of the data suggested that students need to connect with a positive adult upon transitioning to senior years, and they need to perceive that their senior years school is a safe and positive place for them to attend.

The purpose of this study is to investigate meanings of inclusion at different levels of the education system in relation to the New Zealand Curriculum Framework and Special Education 2000 policies. My specific focus is to make connections between policy and practice in relation to the inclusion of students with disabilities in a secondary school setting. Through using an ethnographic qualitative methodology I am able to gain an in-depth understanding of the perspectives of participants at all levels within the state education system, (students, school staff, parents, support agencies and state representatives), particularly those directly involved within the school. Data was collected by way of participant observation, semi-structured interviews and document analysis. Data analysis was ongoing throughout the study, through a method of modified analytic induction. My analysis draws on the theoretical perspectives of interpretivism and radical humanism, both of which are underpinned by a social construction epistemology. This provides the necessary theoretical link for understanding the connections between macro- and microlevel social action in terms of policy intentions and classroom practices. My findings serve to highlight the inconsistencies, contradictions and points of congruence between the New Zealand Curriculum Framework and Special Education 2000, the intentions of the policy makers and classroom implementation. Six themes emerge from the findings. These are Walking The Tightrope: issues of contestability; Privileged Knowledge; Blurring The Edges; Power Struggles; Maintaining Normality; and Excluding The Included. These themes demonstrate that a shift by the state to utilitarianism diverged from principles of inclusion that were simultaneously being promoted in the curriculum documents. The conflicting messages at a state level were being replicated within the school, and thus the status quo was maintained because the only inclusion models the school had available to them were those based on traditional special educational ideologies. The result was a context of continued exclusion, which continued to permeate through to daily classroom practices.

This qualitative study is concerned with the development of inclusive values and practices in an Aotearoa New Zealand school. It focuses on the experiences of staff and leadership in the development of inclusive culture within their school. Since the launch of Special Education 2000 in 1996, it has been the stated aspiration of the Ministry of Education to create a ‘world class inclusive education system’. This thesis is part of an effort to assist schools, in the Aotearoa New Zealand context, to get closer to the aspiration of inclusion. It is hoped that this research can contribute to the sustainable development of inclusion within our schools, and that the values expressed by the ideal of inclusion can become firmly rooted in our learning communities. The research involved embedding myself in an Aotearoa New Zealand co-educational high school as a qualitative critical ethnographic researcher. Using participatory observation and semi-formal and informal interviews I examined the experiences of a school community developing inclusive values. During an academic year the school utilised a framework for inclusive change known as the Index for Inclusion. The Index provided the framework in which the school community could explore their values, how those values were translated into practice, and to guide the change process. My analysis drew on hermeneutic phenomological theoretical perspectives underpinned by a social constructionist epistemology. I utilise a theoretical construct of culture, or model, in which to frame the change process within the subject school. The tension between neoliberalism and inclusion based on social justice, and between a model of special education and definitions of ‘disability’ and ‘inclusion’ creates a dynamic that enables the co-creation of knowledge as well as possible futures. The methodology I employed was critical ethnography. Critical ethnography allows the researcher to become a participant in the project. Using a critical ethnographic methodology, the researcher/researched relationship was also a pedagogic relationship. Throughout the year of this study the staff at the subject school reflected on the core values of their school and made changes necessary to begin to align their practice with those values. I argue that inclusion is linked to culture, and as a result, efforts to create a ‘world class inclusive education system’ must take place in the setting of the school culture. As culture is multi-layered, the change process requires time, perseverance, and at times involves pain. Change involves a renegotiation of meaning and a negotiation of expression. I argue that in a devolved educational system such as Aotearoa New Zealand, the individual school provides a ‘shady place’ in which work can be carried out to counter neoliberal policies and inculcate values of inclusion based on social justice. An ancillary argument in this thesis is that no research is neutral, and that it is an ethical responsibility of the researcher to be aware of whom their research benefits. This awareness does not compromise research; it gives research relevance.

The most promising therapy for cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease focuses on enhancing the patient’s immunity to viral pathogens. In this investigation, the therapeutic efficacy of bulk-cultured cytotoxic T lymphocytes was examined in primary murine cytomegalovirus infection. Virus-specific cytotoxic T cells (CTL( were generasted using immune spleen cells stimulated with irradiated murine CMV-infected cells. These CTL demonstrated significant cytolytic activity in a chromium-release assay. They were administered to mice infected with a lethal dose of murine CMV. The group receiving 107 CTL had a 50% reduction of mortality and lost 10% less weight. Virus titer of mice who received 107 CTL decreased 10 fold in the lungs and spleen and decreased 100 fold in the salivary gland. However, the therapy failed to decrease serum aminotransferase levels or restore lymphocyte blastogenic responsiveness. Although the mechanism is unclear, this therapy was effective in reducing mortality, morbidity, and virus titer in select organs. / Center for Medical Education

The main purpose of this study was to actively engage with members of the rural community to establish how they understand the implementation of inclusive education in their community and how they perceive their role in the implementation process as it unfolds in their communities. The researcher acknowledges that inclusive education has been widely researched in South Africa. A number of studies focused on the parents’ role, teachers’ attitudes, addressing barriers to learning, people living with disabilities and the implementation of the policy on inclusive education. However, very limited research has been conducted on the community’s perceptions and its role towards the implementation process. A qualitative phenomenological design was followed to obtain an in-depth understanding of members’ experiences regarding the implementation of inclusive education. Participants in this study were from a marginalised rural community (characterized by the lack of access to resources and service delivery) in the Ehlanzeni region in Mpumalanga. The participants were purposively selected by employing the snowball sampling technique to ensure the inclusion of community members who represent the voices of the community. Data collection involved a six hour work session with 58 participants and six semi structured individual interviews with five members who attended the work session and the sixth, who did not, to crystallise the themes that emerged in the work session. Findings in this study revealed that the community understands inclusive education as creating spaces for all to learn, a project that involves the whole community and the facilitation of collaboration between stakeholders. They perceive the role that they could play in the implementation of inclusive education as accepting responsibility to include all members of the community, supporting those who care for people with disabilities, changing infrastructure to accommodate disability in communities and challenging the unequal distribution of resources. Conclusions drawn from the study suggest that inclusive education is a continuous and ongoing process that requires the development of collaborative relationships and support for all role players in enhancing the inclusion process. It is recommended that the Department of Education involve all stakeholders from different sectors at all levels to facilitate the implementation of inclusion in their communities. / Thesis (MEd (Educational Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013