De psykiatriska diagnoserna har ökat i antal det senaste decenniet. Hur påverkas en individ av att få en psykiatrisk diagnos? Bipolär sjukdom tillhör gruppen psykiska sjukdomar och kännetecknas av växlingar mellan förhöjda stämningslägen såsom mani eller hypomani samt perioder av depressioner. Sjukdomen delas in i bipolär I och II, där bipolär I är den allvarligare varianten. Syftet med föreliggande studie är att undersöka vilken betydelse diagnosen haft för individer med bipolär sjukdom. Åtta personer, sex kvinnor och två män mellan 39-65 år (medelålder 51.6) diagnosticerade med bipolär sjukdom I eller II intervjuades. Svaren bearbetades med hjälp av induktiv tematisk analys. Resultatet visar att diagnosen haft en klart övervägande positiv betydelse. De huvudteman som framkom var förklaring, förståelse och acceptans, samt adekvat behandling. De samstämmiga uppfattningarna om att diagnosen haft en stor positiv betydelse förklaras bland annat av att majoriteten av deltagarna levt i många år utan rätt diagnos, vilket i sin tur inneburit många år inom den psykiatriska vården utan att få rätt hjälp. Rätt diagnos har inneburit rätt behandling, i synnerhet medicinskt, men även via psykoedukativa och psykoterapeutiska insatser. Rätt typ av behandling har därmed medfört en balans i livet, där funktionsförmågan förbättrats avsevärt, och livskvalitén ökat. Ett fåtal negativa konsekvenser av diagnosen framkom i två teman; initiala effekter av diagnosen samt diagnosens begränsande effekt.

The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the experience of long term grief following a perinatal loss. In particular, the processes of meaning reconstruction and self-changes stemming from perinatal loss were explored by listening to parents in-depth narratives of their experiences of loss and grief. A narrative methodology was used, based on a constructivist epistemology that suggests that people are storytellers by nature and we attempt to organize and make sense of our life experiences by constructing coherent narratives. Participants were 4 couples and 8 individuals whose losses occurred 1 to 35 years before the interview. Interviews followed a reflexive-dyadic interview model. Analysis of the narratives was approached in two ways: First, a voice-centered relational approach was used for initial interpretation and identification of prevalent voices in the stories. Second, five of the stories were written as evocative narratives, which served as a way of incorporating the authors personal experience of perinatal loss, as well as to evoke an empathic understanding of the experience of perinatal loss. The interpretation and discussion of the stories focused on meaning-making that was evident on both an individual level as well as across the larger group of participants. In particular, meaning-making influences and strategies were identified, including influences of the medical establishment and social networks which either served to disenfranchise parents losses or to comfort and ease parents in their grief. The impact of meaning-making on long-term grief was considered, as well as parents reports of positive and negative self-changes that emerged from their struggle with grief. The unique contribution of this project lies in its elaboration of the meaning reconstruction process in the context of perinatal loss; its demonstration of both positive and negative self-changes in a group of perinatally-bereaved parents; its exploration of grief several years to decades following a perinatal loss; its inclusion of the researchers self as both an additional source of data and as a validity check on the presentation and interpretation of participants stories; and the use of evocative narratives to evoke an empathic understanding of a historically disenfranchised form of loss.

This study focused on the process of frequent geographical relocation during childhood and adolescence. Three adult women contributed to this study providing retrospective accounts of their experiences with frequent relocation within Canada. As a group, relocations occurred between 4 and 10 cities, between 8 and 13 schools, between 2 and 4 provinces, and between Canada and Germany. Based theoretically on narrative theory, supported by a social constructionist epistemology, this study used life history interviews to obtain a deeper understanding of the participants experiences, the meanings they derived from them, and their interpretation of causal links amongst elements surrounding relocation. Through the use of narrative analysis, as proposed by Polkinghorne (1995), individual life stories were created for each of the three women who participated in this study. Their stories highlight the complexity of the process of repeated exits and entries into distinct schools, communities, and peer groups. They illustrate the multiplicity of experiences the participants coped with and the many meanings they derived from their relocation experiences. Furthermore, the stories provide causal explanations to short and long-term changes that occurred in their lives as a result of their experiences.<p>Providing support to other reports in the literature, these women described their experiences of fear, anxiety, anger, pain, sadness, and identity loss. Some positive experiences were excitement about change, enjoyment and appreciation of new possibilities, and hope for the future. The three participants connected many factors together in explaining changes in their lives, including family life, personal factors, historical and financial elements, social and environmental context, as well as factors related to their experiences with relocation. Although many different meanings were created at different times, all participants commented on their loss of not having a childhood friend, and on their perception of the value of stability in their lives. Five different focal points emerged as helpful in the interpretation of the narratives: family support and the experience of self-worth; person-environment fit and the experiences of self and belonging; academic ability, social skills, and school environment, as they relate to school adaptation; timing of geographical mobility; and, adjustment-stability cycles in the context of repeated geographical relocation. Implications for support providers and future research are provided.

The aim of the study is to see how teachers and students work in a multicultural school according to a method which teaches students to write before reading with the aid of computers. A further aim to investigate is how pupils with Swedish as a second language develop their linguistic skills using the method. To participate in modern society requires a lot from the individual. To function in a society that is constantly changing requires a good knowledge of the use of language in order to participate as a democratic citizen. It is therefore important that all students develop good linguistic knowledge regardless of their first language. The study is based on interviews with four teachers, operating in a multicultural school. Besides the interviews observations were made of the teachers and students in their daily work with computers. The results of the study showed that the method is language stimulating and develops the second language of the learners. Students received more knowledge than just reading and writing. The student was given an opportunity to develop in inter-cultural contexts, and gained a wider linguistic repertoire. The conclusion was that the teachers were unaware of the opportunities they gave students in their language development. The work contributed to interculturality as a comprehensive foundation for teaching. It was through participation, and meaning creation as starting points in their teaching, but teachers were unaware of their approach to teaching.

This essay examines the persuasive side of music and its affect on consumer behavior when utilized in television commercials. It includes an interpretation of twelve study cases, in which three groups of four people is presented the same commercial, with different music being the only item dividing the groups. This is followed by a few questions about the product. The aim is then to see how the answers differ from one group to another, and how they match the music’s presupposed connotations suggested in the theory part of the essay, thus, observing the communicative, and eventually persuasive, power of music in television commercials. The main question is: how might music utilized in a television commercial power people’s opinions about the product in that commercial. The results show how music may alter people’s opinions about the product in the commercial, and that the interviewees’ opinions, in most cases, match the music’s presupposed connotations. The study’s results confirm what was previously found by Adolfsson in 2007. By comparing results from then and now it adds to the understanding of musical meaning in everyday life.

Syftet med studien var att belysa faktorer som påverkar äldre, över 65 år, patienters upplevelse av beröring, dess effekter samt belysa sjuksköterskans upplevelse av att ge beröring. Metoden är en systematisk litteraturstudie, baserad på 15 vetenskapliga artiklar sökta via databaserna Cinahl, Cochrane och sökmotorn Elin@dalarna.Resultatet visade att genus, livserfarenhet, yrkeskompetens hos sjuksköterskan, relationer samt vilken del av kroppen som berördes var faktorer som styrde patientens upplevelse av beröring från sjuksköterskan.Sjuksköterskors upplevelse av att ge beröring visades genom en helhetssyn av patienten, ge bekräftelse, vårda med respekt samt kunna beröra på ett naturligt sätt. Beröring visades ha goda effekter både hos den äldre patienten och sjuksköterskan genom att relationsbanden mellan dem styrktes, minskade sömnproblemen samt lindrade smärta, stress och oro hos den äldre patienten.

<p>Caregivers of individuals with dementia describe a wide spectrum of caregiving experiences, ranging from very negative to very positive. Previous literature acknowledges these differing experiences, but how and why they differ has rarely been investigated. Dementia caregiving can be burdensome with many psychological, physical, social and financial challenges. However, it can also be an opportunity for growth and transcendence as caregivers find meaning in caregiving. High levels of mutuality (the perception that the quality of the care relationship is positive), reportedly ameliorates negative caregiver outcomes. Thus, this dissertation consists of three studies that explore aspects of the caregiver-care recipient relationship that may enhance positive caregiving experiences. </p><p> The first study was a secondary analysis of factors related to caregivers' perceptions of care relationship mutuality over a 12 month period. Caregivers who reported high mutuality were less likely to be depressed and more likely to provide care for longer periods before deciding to institutionalize the care recipient. The second study was a secondary analysis of caregiver interviews. It revealed that caregivers who reported a positive caregiving experience described both their past and present relationship in loving terms and reported that they understood their care recipient could not reciprocate. These caregivers focused on aspects of the relationship that still existed, rather than on what they had lost. They expressed satisfaction with caregiving, were other-focused, and reported little caregiving burden. The third study was a qualitative descriptive study. Caregivers who reported finding meaning in caregiving were interviewed to explore how they were able to do so. These caregivers used strategies such as accepting the situation, deciding to care, choosing a positive attitude, focusing on the blessings of caregiving, and actively seeking care resources. They demonstrated altruistic values and the determination and discipline to live those values. They also possessed strong faith, love, and social support, and said they had derived strength from past challenges.</p><p> Clinicians and researchers should explore the quality of the caregiving relationship as a critical factor in caregiver and care recipient outcomes. Caregiver interventions should include relationship-building skills and empathy building techniques to offset adverse caregiver outcomes and enhance understanding and acceptance of changes that occur in the care recipient over time.</p> / Dissertation

This project offers an articulation of rationality in terms of normativity—that what it means to be acting rationally, in thought or in deed, can be understood via a notion of being bound or obliged to certain behaviors given a prior structure that delimits what is rational to assert in a discourse or perform in a society. In the explicit articulation of the role of norms in limning rationality, this project also emphasizes the opportunity and obligation to self-critically assess the value of the metalinguistic and metapractical standards that license rational assertions and behaviors. After an introduction, section 2 examines the role of rational constraint in Kant’s account of representation, concluding that the transcendental story his philosophy leaves us with impels us to look for an immanent socio-linguistic account of the normativity that obliges us to think and behave in certain ways, rather than lodging the force of normativity in transcendentality. Section 3 then examines Robert Brandom’s inferential semantics by addressing prominent responses to Brandom’s program, making explicit two ways in which normativity operates in inferentialism—one at the level of objectlanguage in the articulation of the propositional commitments and entitlements that specify propositional content, the other at the level of the metalinguistic appraisal of the standards that drive object-language inferentialism. Section 4 turns to the theoretical status of normativity and its role in practical behavior, where it is argued that a notion of normativity can underpin a theory of intentional states. Examining positions on naturalism, the author proposes that a causal account of intentionality, made explicit by the prescriptive nature of the theory advanced, provides a naturalist view of normativity for which norms are in explanations of social states as laws are in explanations of physical states. Hence the obligation to self-critically reflect on and revise the norms that delimit ethical behavior in social systems is understood as commensurate with the obligation to self-critically reflect on and revise the norms that delimit warranted assertions in epistemic discourse. The conclusion offers some remarks on the prospects for rational revision in both a discipline’s discourse and a society’s standards of behavior.

This study investigates the use of authentic subtitled similar task videos (ASSTVs) and their relationship to second language negotiation of meaning and language production among non-native speakers of English in an online task-based language learning (TBLL) environment. Over the course of two weeks, twenty intermediate nonnative speakers (NNSs) of English from the English Language Institute at Texas A&M University engaged in four communicative tasks in pairs using an online TBLL environment designed specifically for this study, and a chat tool in WebCT Vista, a course management system provided by the university. ASSTVs were videotaped and integrated into the online TBLL environment. Participants were divided into two groups, each of which consisted of five dyads, to test the effects of ASSTVs. Five dyads were provided with the ASSTVs and the remaining five dyads were not provided with them before the task completion process. The first section of this study examines the effects of ASSTVs on negotiation of meaning, and the second section examines the effects on language production. The amount of negotiation of meaning was calculated through the negotiation of meaning sequences model developed by Gass and Varonis and revised for online communication by Smith. Language production was investigated in terms of fluency and complexity with regard to lexical and syntactic complexity. A detailed analysis of the data from the chat-scripts showed that NNSs engage in more negotiation of meaning and produce more fluent and lexically diverse language when provided with the ASSTVs than NNSs who were not provided with them. Based on these findings, this study concludes that using ASSTVs in an online TBLL environment is a viable and effective tool for promoting negotiation of meaning and language production in terms of fluency and lexical complexity.

Research on humility has long been handicapped by the lack of a valid and reliable measure. This research focuses on constructing and validating a measure of Healthy Humility, defined as an unexaggerated, open perception of the abilities, achievements, accomplishments, and limitations of oneself and of others - a perception that focuses primarily, but not exclusively, on the value of the non-self. Through a series of two separate studies using a total sample of 678 undergraduates, an 11-item scale scored on a 6-point Likert scale was developed. A third study using a sample of 183 undergraduates used measures of self-esteem, hope, existential meaning, depression, and anxiety to validate and explore the relationship between the Healthy Humility Inventory (HHI) and the aforementioned variables. Regression analyses supported hypothesized relationships between the HHI and measures of hope and existential meaning, and the trend of the relationship between measures of self-esteem and the HHI, though not significant, also followed along the lines of the hypothesized relationship. A hierarchical regression analysis demonstrated that the HHI explained a significant amount of variance (p<.05) on measures of depression and anxiety above and beyond that explained by self-esteem.