Meaning-making is an important process to the personal and professional development of students in higher education. Today’s educators need to acknowledge and encourage the meaning-making process in order for these quarter-life students to enjoy an enriched life of meaning, as well as excel in academia. I challenge educators to apply meaning-making to their own lives in order to gain a deeper understanding of their personal purpose in their lives and as educators on college campuses. Written within a Scholarly Personal Narrative methodology, my thesis proposes that, through the deep and personal meaning-making process, students and educators can create a more meaningful experience in the classroom on today’s higher education campuses.

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on organizational spirituality in an effort to distil the importance of spirituality research and make the case for the “spiritual turn” in organization studies. The paper examines current arguments for and against spirituality in organizations. It suggests that despite dilemmas and controversies in the literature, spirituality research makes a significant contribution. Particularly, the benefit of taking the “spiritual turn” as a response to a crisis of meaning in organizations may be to better define the spaces of programmatic versus existential meaning making and to gain more insights into where organizational meaning making and existential, individual meaning can exist in their respective spaces. It is suggested that spirituality research may need to build on a variety of perspectives from critical management theories to discourse studies to protect existential meaning making as a lived and socially constructed experience. The paper develops some approaches for how this may be accomplished and discusses future directions of the “spiritual turn” in organizational studies.

Rationale and Aims: Grief research has highlighted the difficult reactions experienced by people bereaved by suicide, with studies also looking at the importance of sense and meaning making. There is limited research looking at experiences of individual kinships, for example partners of people who have taken their own lives. The current study therefore aimed to gain an in-depth understanding of the experiences of people who have lost a partner to suicide, using a qualitative approach. The research sought to explore the following:What are the experiences of people whose partners have taken their own lives and how do people experience trying to make sense and meaning of their partner’s death? Method: Semi-structured interviews were carried out with seven participants (two men) who had lost their partner to suicide more than two years previously. Verbatim transcripts of the interviews were then analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Results: The analysis produced four master themes, including: “Pervasive impact of loss – “oh god, its such a disaster”; “The search for understanding – “There are so many questions that are unanswerable, like ‘why’?”; Challenges and ways of coping – “All the challenges they just come daily, hourly, minute by minute”; and, “Looking to the future – Its been a turning point for me, and a catalyst for change”. A description of these master themes and the related subordinate themes is presented. Conclusion: The results of the analysis are considered in light of existing theory and their clinical implications.

Mothers with cancer are required to make medical and social decisions while attempting to balance their own physical, psychological and social needs with the needs of their children. To explore the decision-making process, in-depth interviews were conducted with 7 mothers with a cancer diagnosis and children aged birth to 6 years. They were asked to describe: 1) types of decisions; 2) process they used to make decisions; 3) conditions of their lives; 4) meanings assigned to their decisions. The grounded theory method was used. The driving force behind decision-making was the mothers’ desire to maintain the mother-child bond, influenced by the context of their lives. Making decisions to maintain the mother-child bond involved managing: 1) distance; 2) physical changes; 3) the information shared; and 4) the ongoing chain of decisions. The findings have implications for improving the quality and usefulness of psychosocial supports for mothers with cancer and their families.

Mothers with cancer are required to make medical and social decisions while attempting to balance their own physical, psychological and social needs with the needs of their children. To explore the decision-making process, in-depth interviews were conducted with 7 mothers with a cancer diagnosis and children aged birth to 6 years. They were asked to describe: 1) types of decisions; 2) process they used to make decisions; 3) conditions of their lives; 4) meanings assigned to their decisions. The grounded theory method was used. The driving force behind decision-making was the mothers’ desire to maintain the mother-child bond, influenced by the context of their lives. Making decisions to maintain the mother-child bond involved managing: 1) distance; 2) physical changes; 3) the information shared; and 4) the ongoing chain of decisions. The findings have implications for improving the quality and usefulness of psychosocial supports for mothers with cancer and their families.

Drawing and coloring have been part of young students text making as  longas the writing system has been used, but with the increased use of digital tools and an enlarged focus on accountability of today there is a reinforced educational interest to understand what constitutes multimodal student texts in the context of classroom practice. This thesis project overall aim is to highlight and discuss the opportunities and difficulties in the assessment of language and knowledge-developing multimodal text work in a multilingual educational context.Conceptually the study is grounded in sociocultural theories, in sociosemiotic theory and in multiliteracies research. The methods used consist of qualitative multimodal text analysis and semi-structured interviews with students and their teacher.The three empirical studies were carried out, each having a different perspective. The first study looks at the text production of students in an integrated work of drawing, coloring and writing. The second study focuses how students reason when they choose to draw, write or both draw and write when they report to their teacher what they have learned. The third study discusses what the teacher highlights when assessing her students’ multimodal text productions. Overall, the results show that the semiotic resources, images and color, dominate students’ text productions and that the teacher attaches great importance to the illustrations, but that she, despite the best intentions, has trouble using multimodal criteria when assessing the students’ different ways of expressions and semiotic resources into a whole. It seems to be problematic for the teacher to allow students to freely interpret and independently design the task while she at the same time intends to make an overall assessment of how the content is presented. The results also indicate that it is difficult  for  the  students  to  verbalize  their  thoughts on the assessment and in practice; the teacher more often is focused on assessing abilities relating to how thoroughly the students carry out the process of documenting rather than encouraging the students to develop and express their knowledge. Finally, the thesis concludes with discussing the content of an ongoing need for research, especially regarding the consequences it may have for younger students, whatever language background they have. / <p>Ytterligare delarbeten</p><p>Borgfeldt, E., &amp; Lyngfelt, A. (2017). ”Jag ritade först sen skrev jag”. Elevperspektiv på multimodal textproduktion i årskurs 3. Forskning om undervisning och lärande 2017: 1 vol. 5, s. 64-88. http://www.forskul.se/tidskrift/nummer18/jag_ritade_forst_sen_skrev_jag_ __elevperspektiv_pa_multimodal_textproduktion_i_arskurs_3Borgfeldt, E. (2017).</p><p>Multimodal textproduktion i årskurs 3 – analys av en lärares bedömning. Educare: 2017: 1, s. 118-151. Malmö: Lärande och samhälle, Malmö högskola. https://www.mah.se/upload/FAKULTETER/LS/Dokument%20LS/Educa re%2017.1%20muep.pdf</p>

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Many advanced cancer patients struggle with distress including depressive symptoms, anxiety, anger about cancer, and anger toward God. Cancer patients may perceive their illness as an injustice (i.e., appraise their illness as unfair, severe, and irreparable or blame others for their illness), and this may be a risk factor for distress. To date, illness-related perceptions of injustice have not been examined in cancer patients. Based on prior research and theory (i.e., Just World Theory, Park’s Meaning Making Model, and Loneliness Theory), there are multiple ways to conceptualize the relationship between perceived injustice related to the cancer experience and distress. The purpose of this project was to compare two theory-based conceptualizations of the relationships between perceived injustice and distress symptoms in advanced lung and prostate cancer patients. Aims were to (1) examine the direct effects of perceived injustice on distress symptoms; (2) examine the indirect effects of perceived injustice on distress symptoms through meaning making and acceptance of cancer (my conceptual model), examine the indirect effects of perceived injustice on psychological outcomes (i.e., distress symptoms and acceptance of cancer) through meaning making (Park’s Meaning Making Model), and compare the two models; (3) examine loneliness as a potential moderator of the mediations based on my conceptual model; and (4) explore whether the associations based on my conceptual model differed between advanced lung and prostate cancer patients. Cross-sectional data from advanced lung (n = 102) and prostate (n = 99) cancer patients were examined. Seven models were tested using path analyses. Results partially supported my conceptual model; perceived injustice was directly and indirectly associated with distress symptoms through acceptance of cancer but not through meaning making. Findings did not support Park’s Meaning Making Model, as meaning making did not help account for the associations between perceived injustice and psychological outcomes. Path analyses also indicated that loneliness was not a significant moderator of the mediations based on my conceptual model. Furthermore, associations based on my conceptual model did not differ between advanced lung and prostate cancer patients. Given mixed support for my conceptual model, supplemental path analyses were conducted that included loneliness as an exploratory mediator of associations between perceived injustice and distress symptoms. Findings suggested that perceived injustice was indirectly associated with distress symptoms through loneliness and acceptance of cancer. Findings support testing acceptance-based interventions to address distress related to perceived injustice in advanced cancer patients.

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This dissertation examined the relationship between attachment insecurity and complicated grief by testing a path model of variables that were hypothesized to mediate this relationship. Three meaning-making variables were tested as potential mediators: benefit-finding, sense-making, and positive reappraisal. First, a series of principal components analyses were performed to determine the factor structure of these meaning-making variables. After these constructs were identified, a series of hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to determine the unique contribution of each of the primary variables in predicting either complicated grief or one of the meaning-making variables. As hypothesized, some of the attachment and meaning-making variables were highly associated with complicated grief. Attachment insecurity variables were also associated with some of the meaning-making variables suggesting that attachment may have some influence on how individuals use meaning-making strategies in the midst of a loss. These variables were then entered into a path analysis that accounted for other relevant risk factors. It was found that, contrary to the main hypothesis, the meaning-making variables did not appear to mediate the relationship between attachment insecurity and complicated grief. Multiple regression was used to determine the relative impact of meaning-making and attachment variables on complicated grief because these variables have not been previously included in one statistical model. The results suggested that both meaning-making and attachment insecurity variables can play an important role as risk factors for complicated grief and that these relationships are still present after accounting for the closeness that an individual reported towards the deceased. It was concluded that both sets of variables, attachment and meaning-making, should be included in models of the development of complicated grief and that both may have clinical implications in terms of how to approach counseling for individuals struggling with complicated grief. More research on this topic is needed to look at similar research questions within specific populations. It was also suggested that in the future, researchers need to find better ways to measure meaning-making constructs because the current findings suggest that meaning-making may be even more multifaceted than has been suggested in previous literature. / text

The aim of this paper was to examine how grief affects the physical, social, psychological and spiritual dimensions according to Van Deurzen’s existential psychology theory, and how grief is handled according to Parks’ meaning-system theory. The human being is controlled, according to Van Deurzen, by physical, psychological, social and spiritual forces, also called dimensions. These forces are challenged when we experience a crisis. The search for meaning is important to humanbeings according to Park. Religion can offer a meaning-system that helps people manage crisis. The empirical study involved a qualitative approach with a primarily theory-driven analysis. Eight semistructured interviews were conducted with mourners that had lost their spouses and had attended a grief group organized by the local parish. The results showed that grief affected the respondents’ different aforementioned dimensions in different ways. Not all respondents’ dimensions were affected by grief. In some cases there was no change. The results showed above all that many respondents’ developed the social dimension despite the loneliness they felt after their spouse’s death. The results indicated that several respondents’ used religion as a meaning-system, and for others ‘the feeling of being needed’ was also of importance as a meaning-system. Several respondents expressed the significance of attending the local parish grief group as providing a positive impact on how they were able to cope with their grief. Suggestions for future research are provided.