Thesis (M.A. (Research Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

Thesis (M.A. (Research Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

This thesis is based on Project Artemis, a critical, girl-centred participatory action research (PAR) project designed as part of an evaluation of Artemis Place, an alternative education program serving “at-risk” girls in Victoria, BC. Nine Artemis Place students between the ages of 15 and 18 worked alongside me as co-researchers to investigate how Artemis Place has affected their lives. Our research also explored girl co-researchers' schooling experiences more broadly and the structural inequities they experience across the multiple contexts of their lives. Our process was rooted in a critical, participatory, collaborative framework, which aimed to investigate, problematize, and address (through social action) the complex forces shaping girls' experiences of marginalization. We used arts-based methods such as photovoice, graffiti walls, journaling and participatory video to cycle through the iterative phases of PAR: exploration/data collection, critical reflection/analysis, and action. We produced a documentary film as our primary research dissemination tool. In this thesis, I undertake my own analysis of our collective research to do a deep reading of girls' resistances to “at-risk” constructions of girlhood, in order to understand their negotiations of the complex forces shaping their daily realities. I complicate the concept of resistance using a hybridized feminist-poststructural (Davies, 2000) and desire-based (Tuck, 2010) framework to explore the ways girls' resistances are produced through flows of desire – creative and productive force – that disrupt, exceed, (re)configure, and/or (re)code “girl” and “risk.” I argue that tracing the “desire flows” (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987) and reconfigurations produced in/through our critical research process, is an important, political move toward sustaining alternative figurations of girlhood. As such, this thesis contributes promising, ethical/affirmative/political possibilities for understanding the complexities of girls' lives and for engaging alongside them in feminist research, praxis, and activism for social justice. / Graduate

With the aging of our population and the higher risk of chronic illness and disability with age, more and more family members may be faced with the experience of having a relative transition into a long-term care (LTC) home. This reality necessitates greater understanding of family care partner needs to ensure wellness throughout their caring career. Using participatory action research, notions of wellness were explored for family partners in care with relatives residing in LTC homes. Using two LTC homes from a privately owned company called Specialty Care, ten family members were interviewed, followed by one focus group at each of the two LTC homes. Three major themes were revealed, each with several sub themes: (1) understanding wellness amidst challenges to keep a sense of wellness in life; (2) self-appraisal: becoming aware of personal beliefs and perceptions that influence wellness; and (3) assessing LTC homes and their influence on the experience of wellness. We not only revealed more about wellness and how it is experienced in the caring context, we also discovered leisure’s role in maintaining wellness and how embedded leisure’s influence is on the various aspects of wellness that family partners in care experience. Relationship-centred care is a framework we used to guide this study. It highlights the importance of family member needs, along with the needs of the residents and staff. With our enhanced understanding of family care partner needs, recommendations were made to the Specialty Care communities so they can work together to ensure optimal wellness is maintained for all parties, including family partners in care.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Miami University, Dept. of Psychology, 2007. / Title from second page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 155-160).

abstract: This project draws on sociocognitive rhetoric to ask, How, in complex situations not of our making, do we determine what needs to be done and how to leverage available means for the health of our communities and institutions? The project pulls together rhetorical concepts of the stochastic arts (those that demand the most precise, careful planning in the least predictable places) and techne (problem-solving tools that transform limits and barriers into possibilities) to forward a stochastic techne that grounds contemplative social action at the intersection of invention and intervention and mastery and failure in real time, under constraints we can't control and outcomes we can't predict. Based on 18 months of fieldwork with the Sudanese refugee diaspora in Phoenix, I offer a method for engaging in postmodern phronesis with community partners in four ways: 1) Explanations and examples of public listening and situational mapping 2) Narratives that elucidate the stochastic techne, a heuristic for determining and testing wise rhetorical action 3) Principles for constructing mutually collaborative, mutually beneficial community-university/ community-school partnerships for jointly addressing real-world issues that matter in the places where we live 4) Descriptions and explanations that ground the hard rhetorical work of inventing new paths and destinations as some of the Sudanese women construct hybridized identities and models of social entrepreneurship that resist aid-to-Africa discourse based on American paternalism and humanitarianism and re-cast themselves as micro-financers of innovative work here and in Southern Sudan. Finally, the project pulls back from the Sudanese to consider implications for re-figuring secondary English education around phronesis. Here, I offer a framework for teachers to engage in the real work of problem-posing that aims - as Django Paris calls us - to get something done by confronting the issues that confront our communities. Grounded in classroom instruction, the chapter provides tools for scaffolding public listening, multi-voiced inquiries, and phronesis with and for local publics. I conclude by calling for English education to abandon all pretense of being a predictive science and to instead embrace productive knowledge-making and the rhetorical work of phronesis as the heart of secondary English studies. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Curriculum and Instruction 2012

abstract: The dynamic nature of Navajo or Diné culture is continuing to be constrained by a mechanistic planning paradigm supporting delivery of colonial subdivisions across the land. Poor housing and subdivision conditions levy pressures on the Navajo People that reduce their ability to cope with environmental, financial and social pressures. This study has taken this complex social justice related health challenge to heart through a 2015-2016 school year of Arizona State University dissertation driven, community-based participatory action research with high school students from Navajo Preparatory School (NPS) in Farmington, New Mexico and community participants from the Shiprock Chapter of the Navajo Nation. Fieldwork focused on case study analysis of cluster settlements across the Navajo Northern Agency and existing subdivisions within the town of Shiprock to develop the Framework for a transformational Navajo model of the Pattern Language (Alexander et al, 1977) for new neighborhood design. Pattern data supporting the Framework was generated at the linked scales of the Navajo nuclear Family Camp, the extended family Cluster Camp, and the community-scaled Constellation Settlement “spatial model” that is proposed by this study as new neighborhood planning model. An ethnographic research methodology was employed with students, faculty, Board leadership and neighboring Shiprock Chapter and Shiprock Planning Commission research participants. The study’s research methodology was anchored by a pioneering Indigenous Planning high school course that was housed within the School’s International Baccalaureate curriculum. Goals for student education in Indigenous Planning theory and much needed Diné planning-based language building were married with practical aims for use of the Diné Pattern Language and Constellation Settlement spatial model for anticipated Shiprock Chapter housing projects. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Design 2017

A participação de usuários de serviços de saúde mental em pesquisas acadêmicas é uma tendência recente que vem, de forma incipiente, sendo adotada no Brasil. São iniciativas interessantes na medida em que promovem a democratização da produção de conhecimento, conferindo a grupos populares a oportunidade de ter se colocarem frente às suas necessidades específicas. Rose (2003) coloca que existem vários níveis de participação e essas iniciativas não representam necessariamente a emancipação dos usuários, sendo necessário que se observe e qualifique o protagonismo dos participantes. A presente tese visa avaliar quais os efeitos do envolvimento de uma associação de usuários (a AFLORE) junto a uma aliança internacional de pesquisa (a ARUCI-SMC). Nos utilizamos da metodologia da pesquisa ação participante afim de que os membros da associação pudessem se envolver diretamente em diferentes etapas desta pesquisa, como a formulação de perguntas de pesquisa e a sistematização da experiência. As análises aqui propostas baseiam-se no conceito de paridade participativa em Nancy Fraser, que é composto por três dimensões interligadas: o reconhecimento, a redistribuição e a representação. Partiremos destas dimensões para avaliar em que medida a parceria de pesquisa promove a paridade participativa dos envolvidos. A participação de usuários em pesquisas na aliança em questão parte do reconhecimento dos mesmos enquanto sujeitos portadores de um saber único, que advém da experiência. No entanto o contrato entre universidade e comunidade e reforça estruturas sociais que bloqueiam a paridade participativa, promovendo a desigualdade. É necessário que a academia se disponha a rever aspectos como a vinculação formal com a universidade e a possibilidade de remuneração para pesquisadores comunitários. Além disso a linguagem é apresentada como aspecto que dificulta a participação de membros da comunidade. Uma estratégia de linguagem adotada nesta pesquisa é a produção audiovisual realizada de forma dialógica entre técnico do audiovisual e pesquisadores, potencializando a sistematização do conhecimento a partir das demandas do grupo de pesquisadores comunitários / The participation of mental health service consumers in academic research is a recent trend that has being adopted in Brazil. Such initiatives promote the democratization of knowledge production. This way popular groups have the opportunity to put forward their specific needs. Rose (2003) states that there are several levels of participation and these initiatives do not necessarily represent the empowerment of consumers, being necessary to observe and qualify the role of the participants. This thesis aims to assess what effects the involvement of an association of consumers (AFLORE) next to an international research alliance (the ARUCISMC). The use of participatory action research methodology enables consumers to be directly involved at different stages of this research. Consumers were involved in the formulation of research questions and the systematization of experience. The analysis proposed here is based on the concept of participatory parity in Nancy Fraser, which consists of three interrelated dimensions: recognition, redistribution and representation. We leave these dimensions to assess to what extent the research partnership promotes participatory parity of those involved. Consumers participation in the alliance research is based on the recognition that they are subjects with a unique knowledge that comes from experience. However, the contract between the university and community reinforces social structures that block the participatory parity, promoting inequality. Academy has to review aspects such as the formal link between the university and community researchers. Also the language is presented as an aspect that hinders the participation of community members. A language strategy adopted in this research is the audiovisual production

The use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in developing countries like Tanzania is considered to be a necessity in order to overcome the challenges that are hindering the country from developing in all sectors and also from reducing the digital divide. As ICT is becoming more and more integrated in societies world wide, its effects are clearly seen i.e. on peoples’ lives, on countries’ economy, opens doors to new opportunities, change how people learn etc. Applying ICT to empower education is one of the national strategies in eradicating poverty in Tanzania. This licentiate research is about the use of ICT tools in the secondary schools arena particularly in the development of e-Learning content and delivery for self learning environment. The main aim is trying to reduce the long time existing problems of lack of learning and teaching resources and inadequacy of qualified teachers in rural secondary schools in Tanzania. The research is focused on two secondary schools as pilot schools at Kibaha district Pwani region. The licentiate research involves multidisciplinary principles in the development of the e-Learning resources. The knowledge of instructional design, learning objects, theories in pedagogy and software engineering principles has been acquired in the course of this study. The licentiate research is also based on the participatory action research methodology throughout the conduction of the research. The licentiate thesis is developed based on the data obtained from the two surveys conducted in a number of secondary schools in Tanzania, data from the readily available reports, literature review and from the participatory activities with the stakeholders. The main stakeholders are students, teachers, head teachers, and Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT) officials. This is an applied type of research designed to solve a practical problem, the outcome of this study is a trial package of e-Learning material for secondary schools at the pilot site. The end product of the whole e-Learning research is the e-Learning Management System (e-LMS) and the proposed name for the system is TanSSe-L (Tanzania Secondary School e-Learning) system. The e-Learning contents will be delivered using a blended mode approach. Three delivery options are considered, first, of using the e-LMS (TanSSe-L) or local server for online delivery, second of using Compact Disc Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) for offline delivery and third of using face to face (F2F) for classroom delivery. This licentiate research is part of the on going e-Learning research work which will lead to a doctoral thesis.

Abstract The purpose of the study was to describe and analyze the process of developing community employment of psychically disabled people and its significance for the participants' quality of life. The following research tasks were addressed: 1) What is the process of developing community employment of psychically disabled people like? 2) What is the significance of community employment for the quality of life of psychically disabled people? The study was carried out as action research with recruited participants, and it was part of the Community Employment project of Keski-Pohjanmaa Association for Social Psychiatry in 1998-2000. A qualitative approach was used. The study was carried out in two stages. The purpose at stage I was to elicit information about the baseline situation before the implementation of community employment. Representatives (N=49) of the collaborators in the Community Employment project (N=23) were recruited to participate in an unstructured interview and psychically disabled workshop clients (N=14) to participate in a thematic interview. The data were analyzed with method of content analysis. The stage I results showed that community employment should be developed as a new type of occupational rehabilitation, and that work was a significant and important aspect of quality of life for psychically disabled workshop clients. At stage II, the aim was to obtain information about the implementation of community employment and its significance for psychically disabled workers. The following persons were recruited to participate: the coordinator of the Community Employment project was recruited to keep a diary during 30.3.1998-31.12.2000 and workers who had moved from workshop into community employment (N=4) to participate in repeated (2) unstructured interviews. The data were analyzed with content analysis, and the QRS NVivo computer software was used to analyze the contents of the diary. Based on the results, participation in community employment helped psychically disabled persons to have meaningful employment, to construct his/her self and everyday life by means of this employment, to become established as a member of the working community and to be able to cope with the tasks at work. Community employment involved factors that both promoted and impaired the persons' capacity to cope with their tasks. The most important conclusion was the empowering significance of employment for psychically disabled persons if the occupational rehabilitation services, such as workshops and community employment, are arranged with a focus on the client. The community employment model developed here did not suit all candidates willing to try it. It is therefore necessary to have a sufficiently large range of different occupational rehabilitation services available, from among which each client can choose one suitable for him/herself. / Tiivistelmä Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli kuvata ja analysoida psyykkisesti vajaakuntoisten avotyötoiminnan kehittämisprosessia ja merkitystä osallistujien elämänlaadulle. Tutkimustehtävänä oli vastata kysymyksiin 1) Millainen on psyykkisesti vajaakuntoisten avotyötoiminnan kehittämisprosessi? 2) Mikä on avotyötoimintaan osallistumisen merkitys psyykkisesti vajaakuntoisen elämänlaadulle? Osallistavana toimintatutkimuksena toteutettu tutkimus oli osa Keski-Pohjanmaan sosiaalispsykiatrisen yhdistyksen Avotyöprojektia vuosina 1998-2000. Tutkimuksen lähestymistapa oli laadullinen. Tutkimus toteutettiin kaksivaiheisena. Vaiheessa I tavoitteena oli saada tietoa lähtötilanteesta ennen avotyötoiminnan toteutusta. Tällöin tutkimustehtäviksi määriteltiin: Millaisia näkemyksiä on Avotyöprojektin yhteistyötahojen edustajilla psyykkisesti vajaakuntoisten työkuntoutuspalvelujen järjestämisestä? Millainen on psyykkisesti vajaakuntoisen työsalin asiakkaan elämänlaatu? Tutkimukseen osallistettiin Avotyöprojektin yhteistyötahojen (N=23) edustajat (N=49) avoimella haastattelulla sekä psyykkisesti vajaakuntoiset työsalin asiakkaat (N=14) teemahaastattelulla. Aineistot analysoitiin sisällönanalyysilla. Vaiheen I tuloksista todettiin, että avotyötoiminnan kehittäminen oli perusteltua yhtenä puuttuvana työkuntoutuspalvelumuotona, ja työ oli merkittävä ja keskeinen elämänlaadun osatekijä psyykkisesti vajaakuntoiselle työsalin asiakkaalle. Vaiheessa II tavoitteena oli saada tietoa avotyötoiminnan toteutuksesta sekä avotyötoimintaan osallistumisen merkityksestä psyykkisesti vajaakuntoiselle osallistujalle. Tutkimustehtäviksi määriteltiin: Millainen on avotyötoiminnan kehittämisprosessi yhden kehittämiseen osallistuneen näkökulmasta? Mikä on avotyötoimintaan osallistumisen merkitys psyykkisesti vajaakuntoiselle? Tutkimukseen osallistettiin Avotyöprojektin projektivastaava päiväkirjan kirjoittamisella 30.3.1998-31.12.2000 sekä työsalilta avotyötoimintaan siirtyneet avotyöntekijät (N=4) toistetuilla (2) avoimilla haastatteluilla. Aineistot analysoitiin sisällönanalyysilla, jossa päiväkirja-aineiston osalta käytettiin apuvälineenä QSR NVivo-tietokoneohjelmaa. Tulosten perusteella avotyötoimintamallin kehittämisessä oli keskeistä asiakkaan aktiivinen osallistuminen arviointi- ja valmennusjaksolle valintaan, yhteistoiminta arviointi- ja valmennusjakson toteutuksessa, avotyökyvyn selvittäminen arviointi- ja valmennusjakson ytimenä, avotyötoimintaan siirtyminen yhteistoiminnassa asiakkaan kanssa sekä avotyöntekijän ja työyhteisön tarpeenmukainen tukeminen. Tulosten perusteella avotyöhön osallistuminen merkitsi psyykkisesti vajaakuntoiselle osallistujalle mielekästä työtä, itsen ja arjen rakentumista työn avulla, työyhteisöön ankkuroitumista ja työssä jaksamista. Työ rakensi avotyöntekijää ja hänen arkeaan rytmittämällä arkea, lisäämällä työtehtävien hallintaa ja vastuun-kantoa sekä vahvistamalla itsetuntoa ja aikuisen roolia. Avotyöhön kuului työssä jaksamista edistäviä ja ehkäiseviä tekijöitä. Tutkimuksen tärkein johtopäätös on työn voimaannuttava merkitys psyykkisesti vajaakutoiselle, kun työkuntoutuspalvelut kuten työsali- ja avotyötoiminta toteutetaan kuntoutujalähtöisesti. Kehitetty avotyötoiminta ei soveltunut kaikille siihen hakeutuneille. Siksi tarvitaan riittävän kattava valikoima erilaisia työkuntoutuspalveluja, joista kuntoutujaa tuetaan valitsemaan itselleen sopivin.