The thesis has as its consistent theme the questioning of the nature of empirically based sociological inquiry. Deriving its initial impetus from the Social Studies of Scientific Knowledge, Part I pursues the methodological implications of the problematic of reflexivity through an empirical research project - what counts for lay people, non-scientists, as knowledge - via the analysis of interviews with people for whom the irruption of Multiple Sclerosis has breached their belief in the nature and efficacy of medical science. The failed 'solution' of Part I's culminating chapter however - to embody reflexivity in the form of analytic writing - begins the turn of the thesis against its original grounds. In a pivotal central chapter, it is recognised that the transformative acts of recording and transcription means the transcripts (upon which the analysis has been based) are irrecoverably different from the original speech. The object of analysis is not talk, but texts. Attention shifts from the question of analysis to the data as writing, texts whose value for research depends on their being different from either fiction or pure speculation (philosophy). Drawing then on contemporary work in philosophy and literary theory, Part II pursues this as a threefold question of the datatexts' relation to their referents, re-reading them in turn through their bearing on the philsophical Question of the Self, against the quasi-literary form of autobiography and as dialogue, an event in (written) speech in which the knowledge was produced. As the work proceeds, it is recognised that their epistemological status derives, not from their ostensive referents, but in the work of reading against their form, producing particular iterpretable meanings. Finally, engendered by re-reading the datatexts against Plato's Phaedrus qua dialogic inquiry, the thesis shifts from the question of referents towards the chiasmic relation betwen the form of the written and the figurality, the rhetoric of reading, which raises fundamental questions about the knowledge produced in/by sociological inquiry on the basis of the interpretability of data. As itself a written text, the final form of the thesis - which has moved, not towards a forseen conclusion but by putting into question the grounds of each position as it is achieved yet consistently focused on 'the same' data - is of substantive theoretical import: essential to its questioning of what such knowledge 'is'.

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The present study examined the relationship between life event stress, illness and alcohol use as a function of one's social support level and personality, while taking into account the "contamination" of past life event research and the potential differential response to life event stress (i.e., depression, psychosomatic disorders and alcohol use). Three hundred and three university undergraduate students voluntarily completed an extensive questionnaire. In addition to demographics and life event stress, predictor variables measured were: social support, including loneliness; anxiety, rationality, and self concept. Outcome measures included depression, psychosomatic disorders, and alcohol use. According to the study results, life event stress was observed to be associated with mental and physical illness but was found to be unrelated to alcohol use. The "contaminated" events seemed to account for the stress-illness relationship. Uncontaminated life stressors did not interact with social support or personality variables to predict any of the outcome measures. Further, according to canonical correlation analysis, the predictor canonical variables related similarly, not differentially, to the outcome canonical variables. Life event stress did not seem to predict different outcomes among different people. It was concluded that little, if any, relationship exists between life stress and mental or physical illness, nor does this study provide support for a relationship between life event stress and alcohol use. These findings were suggested to be as a result of methodological problems. In the future, there is a need to reconceptualize stress and measure it differently, including utilizing longitudinal designs.

Past research on attitudes toward the mentally ill has produced conflicting results, due in part to methodological problems. The present study examined this issue using a more sophisticated design. Randomly, 600 residents of Delaware County Indiana were chosen from the telephone directory to be the recipients of a mail survey. Of these, 206 responded, yielding a return rate of 34.5%. Each subject was randomly assigned to either the experimental group that read a case vignette which described a hypothetical mental patient, or the control group which read about a medically ill patient. In both conditions there were three levels of severity of behavior. Thus, three cases described hypothetical patients labeled as mentally ill with a range of severity of psychopathology, and three described comparably behaving medical controls. It was found that the mentally ill were rejected significantly more than medical controls at each level of severity. Respondents also rated the mentally ill as less predictable, and having less hopeful outcomes, than the medical controls. In addition, beliefs about mental illness were not sufficient to account for all rejection. Finally, no demographic characteristics of the population were found to significantly correlate with rejection. / Department of Psychological Science

The prevalence of smoking among individuals living with mental illness is high. The purpose of this study was to describe the knowledge, confidence, attitudes, training, nursing practice, perceived overall ability, interest and demographics of psychiatric/mental health nurses regarding tobacco use among psychiatric inpatients. A non-experimental descriptive correlational cross-sectional design was used. Sixty surveys were returned with an overall response rate of 39%. A minority of nurses were knowledgeable about the “5As” of smoking cessation, (Ask about smoking, Advise to quit, Assess readiness to quit, Assist with quitting, Arrange follow-up), a well known intervention framework. Most psychiatric/mental health nurses were confident about assisting patients with tobacco use and attitudes toward intervention were more positive than reported in the literature. However, actual tobacco-related nursing practice was sub-optimal. Minimal tobacco-related training during entry level into nursing practice may be one reason for this situation. Nurses require systemic support to enhance tobacco-related nursing practice.

This study is a measure the effectiveness of the “Buffet Busters” teaching resource in improving children’s knowledge about foodborne illness and the basic epidemiological principles when used within the provincial and territorial science units focused on the human body. The student sample consisted of 78 children in Grade 5 and the study was implemented in both French and English. Student knowledge was measured both pre and post implementation by questionnaire. Teacher interviews were also used to collect information regarding the value of the “Buffet Busters” resource in their classrooms. The study was able to conclude that children’s knowledge of foodborne illness improved in many topic areas. Improved knowledge was most significant in the understanding of general sources of agents which cause foodborne illness, and food related sources where these agents can be found. Entrance knowledge of personal hygiene and food preparation as a means to prevent foodborne illness was well established. The difficulty of the resource was examined and it was found to be suitable for its intended use in Grade 5 classrooms with minimal modifications. It is suggested that since “Buffet Busters” is an approved resource for Grade 5 science it should be more widely used to support curricular outcomes.

Many deprived and abused children living in the care system have had life experiences that have pushed the boundaries of their knowledge, endurance and ability to cope to the limit and beyond. Psychotherapy with these children can be very stressful and the 'ordinary acceptable environment' (Hartman 1939) can be replaced by an environment of extreme threat and hostility. The normal boundaries of work may be questioned and the normal structure of psychoanalytic technique may be difficult to maintain. The aim of this research is to examine how these children and young people present in the consulting room and the impact this has upon clinical practice. In this study I describe in detail my work with five children, each with a history of abuse and deprivation and living in foster care. These children present extremely problematic behaviour which is difficult to manage and understand. I describe the psychic reality of these children and explore the difficult process of bringing about psychic change. When working with these children it is necessary to think about the impact of each child's history upon his/her development. The psychotherapist's task is to provide an environment which will enable the child to develop a more secure and flexible frame of mind in which toxic internal representations are replaced with more benign internal representations of the self and more benign internal object relationships. In doing this, the therapist has to simultaneously acknowledge both the patient's separation and intrusive anxieties and has to maintain contact with the patient, whilst also allowing the necessary distance to develop between the therapist and the patient to enable his/her interventions to be of benefit. In trying to achieve this task, I suggest that it is useful for the therapist to think about the therapeutic management of the clinical process.

The arguments in the literature for and against "mental illness", are shown to founder on the lack of a thorough analysis of the sense of "illness" itself. Such an analysis is developed in the present study in three main stages. STAGE ONE: The ordinary use of "dysfunction" is examined. The term is shown to imply a particular kind of value judgement, derived, in respect of objects, from the purposes of living things for them. STAGE TWO: The sense of "illness" is interpreted from examples of physical illness by comparing and contrasting it with "dysfunction". An important logical link with "action" is identified, which provides an interpretation of the particular kind of negative evaluation implied by "illness". The relationship between "illness" and "disease" is examined in terms of this negative evaluation. STAGE THREE: The results of stage two are generalised from "physical illness" to "mental illness" by way of the notion of "action". "Mental illness" is examined as illustrated by examples of four main kinds of condition - organic psychosis, neurosis, addiction and functional psychosis. In respect of the first of these, "mental illness" is shown to be similar in its logical properties to "physical illness"; in respect of the remaining three, it is shown to be different, but in three quite distinct ways. In each case, however, the properties of "mental illness" are derived consistently with the interpretation of "illness" developed from examples of physical illness in stage two. "Mental illness" and "physical illness" are thus shown to be logically equivalent. In a concluding section, the implications of this result for the debate about "mental illness" are examined.

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