Individuals with developmental disabilities, especially those with high support needs, are less likely to obtain competitive employment through traditional means than their neurotypical peers. This qualitative phenomenological study explored the lived experience of seven familial entrepreneurs who responded to the lack of opportunities for their loved ones by creating a business to provide them a job. Findings from this study revealed that familial entrepreneurship is a hybrid-type of employment that has similar characteristics to traditional pathways of employment, but is distinct. It offers a post-secondary option in an environment where individuals with developmental disabilities can develop work skills, have social relationships, interact with members of the community, and in some situations, earn income. The businesses also provide training programs, settings for evaluations and assessments, and become vendors of government-supported employment programs, expanding their impact from the person they are designed to support, to the broader community. Employees and participants at the businesses experience an improvement in quality of life, access to a supportive community, and belonging. For the familial entrepreneurs, the study found that they encounter an immense learning curve in the areas of industry knowledge; business practice; supervising, employing and training individuals with developmental disabilities; and how to gather resources and support. This study also revealed that more clarity is needed to determine if this pathway can provide long-term sustainable employment outcomes. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2019. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

This phenomenological research study examined the perceived experiences of K-12 queer school leaders in school workplaces. This study discussed events, state laws, workplace polices, and related repeated studies that demonstrate that K-12 queer school leaders experience challenges in school spaces because of their sexual and/or gender identities. The sample population for this study consisted of 10 participants. The data collection consisted of a recruitment survey, individual interviews, and document review of state laws and policies. The analysis of data included survey data, transcribed interviews, and document reviews. The data were coded and triangulated for reliability and the analysis was guided by queer theory, script theory, and Foucault’s work on perspectives on power-knowledge. There were three key findings that emerged: queer school leaders’ suitability, queer negotiations in school spaces, and institutionalized homophobia and gender-based prejudices in the school spaces. The results contemporaneously indicate that policy, procedures, practices, and hegemonic power constitute the producers and pushers of an institutionalize cis/hetero-patriarchy narrative. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

This phenomenological study explored the perceptions and lived experiences of female West Indian immigrant students as they academically and socially acculturated while attending Florida Atlantic University (FAU). Snowball techniques were employed to select 11 female immigrant West Indian undergraduate and graduate students living in southeastern Florida and attending FAU. Data were gathered from two in-depth one-on one interviews with each participant. Stories emerged that highlight the immigrant experiences of these female West Indian students. Such narratives have been lacking in the higher education literature about how this population of women persists in colleges and universities in the United States (U.S.). Six findings emerged that constituted the acculturation and adjustment experiences of these women: 1) family influence, 2) financial difficulties, 3) emotional and physical challenges, 4) institutional support, 5) women’s empowerment, and 6) host society adaptation. In conclusion, female West Indian immigrant students are a valuable asset and provide a tremendous benefit to higher education institutions in the U.S. in terms of cultural and academic contributions that they offer. More attention needs to be paid towards better preparing university staff, administrators, and faculty. This can lead to increased retention and graduation rates. The study gives voice to these women whose lived experiences in higher education have been so seldom addressed. Analysis of their experiences suggests a plan of action that includes: family engagement programming, on-campus financial support, student health services outreach, healthier dining options, mentorship programs, immigrant student support services department, online community support, faculty, cultural awareness, and immigrant student programming. Recommendations for future research are also discussed. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2019. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Due to recent advances in medical technology, the number of children with special healthcare needs (CSHCN) is steadily growing in the United States. CSHCN comprise more than 40% of overall healthcare costs nationwide, even though this group is only comprised of 16% of the U.S. child population. There are significant differences between private and public health plans in terms of cost, adequacy, and parent satisfaction. As an added benefit, some public and private health insurance plans offer nursing care coordination (or nursing case management) services. The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of parents of CSHCN enrolled in public and private insurance with or without a nurse care coordinator assigned. A phenomenological approach was used. One-to-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 participants. Colaizzi’s (1978) eight steps of data analysis was the selected methodological interpretation. Five themes emerged from this study: Struggle with Self-Preservation, Abandonment and Isolation, Self-Reliance and Advocate, Interdependence, and Lifeline. These study findings highlighted the major differences with parents navigating their child’s health insurance. These differences were dependent on the type of insurance and sources of support available. The experience of parents with a nurse care coordinator differed from parents without a nurse. Parents of CSHCN enrolled in public insurance with a nurse care coordinator considered the nurse to be a primary source of support. These nurses were instrumental in solving problems with the public health plan. On the contrary, parents with CSHCN enrolled in private insurance without a nurse care coordinator carried this additional burden. There were also noticeable differences in parents’ satisfaction with the adequacy and cost of their child’s health insurance. Parents of CSHCN enrolled in private insurance voiced dissatisfaction with higher costs associated with their child’s plan. Meanwhile, parents of CSHCN enrolled in Medicaid expressed that out-of-pocket expenses were covered. Results from this study can be used to make policy changes by insurance companies. Incorporating nursing care coordination not only results in healthcare savings for the health plan but improved health outcomes for its members as well. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2016) contends meeting the challenge to transform care will require the successful leadership development, preparation, and role support of the next generation of nurse leaders. Despite the urgency to transform care, meeting the challenge to lead this charge cannot be accomplished without the successful recruitment and retention of Millennial nurses to leadership positions. Identifying the leadership role expectations and support variables that are important to these young managers and creating the milieus that support these views serve to address many pressing succession planning needs. This study explored the experience of being a Millennial nurse manager, seeking to understand how these young nurse managers make meaning of their lived experience. This was a qualitative interpretative phenomenological research study. Three theoretical perspectives contributed ideologies that framed this inquiry: Ray’s (1989) theory of bureaucratic caring, generational cohort theory (Strauss & Howe, 1991), and authentic leadership theory (Avolio & Gardner, 2005). A purposeful targeted national sample of 25 Millennial nurse managers with a minimum of one year of nurse manager experience in the role participated in audio-recorded telephone interviews. Content analysis identified seven themes: Coming into the Role, Learning as I Go, Having the Support of My Director, Making an Impact, Helping Staff Succeed, Managing Change, and Trying to Stay Balanced. Findings from this study suggest Millennial nurse managers gauge role success and satisfaction in relation to their perceived levels of support and development and their ability to master role expectations. Additional findings suggest adequate succession planning for the nurse manager role remains challenged by the lack of formal mandated requisites for the role. The nurse manager role as it stands varies significantly among organizational settings regarding responsibilities, mechanisms of support, number of direct reports, and span of control. Recommendations included the need to address the nurse manager role, academic requisites, and developmental variances in practice. Additionally, re-evaluating the organizational responsibility to the leadership development of these young nurse leaders is recommended to ensure their retention and success in the role. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

This empirical study explores Chinese scholars’ conceptions of the characteristics of quality in research. It follows a phenomenology approach and uses four mixed qualitative methods (online survey, interview, focus groups and document analysis). Phenomenological coding strategies and Pierre Bourdieu’s field and cultural theory are utilised to analyse the data and achieve a theoretical understanding of the findings. It is found that the participants viewed quality via multifarious lenses and identified diverse actual criteria. They nominated many ‘normal’ criteria that were similar to the western standards of research quality, especially the methodological ones, and some ‘abnormal’ ones which were indigenous and contextual in nature (i.e., related to the particular context of educational research in China). The participants elaborated their criteria through 3 layers: methodology (technical quality criteria), contextualisation (i.e., criteria that were about the relationship between the research and the context), and criteria related to the impact of research. The contextual issues (e.g., job title evaluation system, research policy and administrative interference) generated “unscholarly” criteria, and hindered the academics’ good intention to consider and follow the conventional criteria in action. They influenced the academics’ opinions of quality and their ways of conducting research. In the participants’ eyes, doing research in China was tantamount to writing papers, and it was not about assuring quality but reflected the academics’ struggles to meet all sorts of requests at institutional and national levels. The participants looked for an impact of research at the practical level (e.g., teaching and learning), and suggested a combination of both theoretical and practical significance of research. Powerful academics have not created cultural and scholarly debates to consider and select the criteria nominated by other academics, and have not used them in the government and institutional documents. In Bourdieusian terms, quality as reflected in some aspects of the habitus of participants has been greatly influenced by the field, the capital and the symbolic power; but the habitus of most scholars has not yet managed to affect the field. There is much in the field that could be altered to enable the habitus to affect and develop the quality of educational research. This current study provides recommendations for educational research, university-teachers’ research and practice, researcher development, as well as research policy and management in the Chinese context, and/or abroad.

Yukon is unique in Canada for its four orders of government—federal, territorial, First Nation and municipal. Determining the differences in communication characteristics, strategies, mechanisms, and processes of the governments can assist with effective communication among them, leading to new opportunities. Interviews with 20 participants representing elected, appointed, and senior staff positions from four orders of government extracted thoughts and experiences on intergovernmental communication through the phenomenological tradition. Strong internal communication complements effective external communication; government individuals do not understand all the structures and processes of other governments, but instead make assumptions that can create friction and conflict while a sincere desire to improve communication is evident. Lack of time, capacity, and knowledge are contributing factors to poor communication efforts. Interpersonal communication is the key to establishing stronger relationships and rebuilding trust. Recent self-government status for Yukon‘s First Nations provides opportunities for expansion and inclusiveness of intergovernmental communication. Key words: intergovernmental communication, interpersonal communication, Yukon governments, relationships.

This qualitative phenomenological study involving in-depth interviews with seven educators in K-12 and higher education examines the role that the microblogging service Twitter plays in the formation and development of Personal Learning Networks (PLN) among educators. A double hermeneutic data analysis shows that Twitter plays a role in the formation and development of PLNs by allowing educators to; engage in consistent and sustained dialogue with their PLN, access the collective knowledge of their PLN, amplify and promote more complex thoughts and ideas to a large audience, and expand their PLN using features unique to Twitter. This research also examines the nature of a PLN and shows that participants believe their PLN extends beyond their Twitter network to encompass both face-to-face and other ICT mediated relationships. Secondary research questions examine how Twitter differs from other social networking tools in mediating relationships within a PLN, what motivates an educator to develop a PLN, how trust is established in a PLN, what the expectations of reciprocity are within a PLN, and what is the nature of informal learning within a PLN. Keywords: Twitter, microblogging, Personal Learning Network, PLN, informal learning

Title: Reading in the Digital Age - Tablet in the Reader 's Personal Information Environment Author: Mgr. Tomáš Bouda Abstract: In this dissertation thesis we observed the phenomenon of reading in the context of personal information environment in digital age. An analysis of the evolution of reading and its implication on reading habits has been done. Secondly, we introduced phenomenology approach to study reading phenomena. The goal of the qualitative research was to describe an experience of intensive tablet users while reading scientific literature in digital format. Interpretative phenomenological analyses and Positive and negative affect scale (PANAS) were used as research methods with six participants. Conceptual structure representing the phenomenon has been developed as an outcome. It contains a) broader context of personal information environment, b) reading, annotating and underlining of digital text and c) reading experience with a focus on somatosensory perception. Comparison with two similar research studies has been done. As a practical outcome, several weaknesses in a design of tablets and reading applications were identified.

Text in Afrikaans / Die doel van die navorsing is om die individu se aanpassing tydens integrasie te ondersoek. 'n Gedragsprofiel vir aanpassing word in die literatuuroorsig voorgestel volgens sin van koherensie as konstruk van die salutogenese paradigma. Empiries word die lewensorientasievraelys as psigometriese instrument gebruik om sterkte van sin van koherensie te bepaal. K walitatiewe onderhoude, gegrond op fenomenologiese beginsels, word gebruik om aanpassing kwalitatief te evalueer. In die navorsingsontwerp is daar sprake van verkennende, beskrywende en verklarende navorsing en nie-waarskynlikheidsteekproeftrekking word gebruik. Kwantitatiewe en kwalitatiewe resultate word gekoppel ten einde inteme geldigheid op kontekstuele vlak te verseker. Bevindinge toon dat betekenisvolheid van die integrasieproses die vemaamste verskil maak tussen aanpassing en nie-aanpassing. Verstaanbaarheid binne grense van die onmiddellike omgewing en hantering van instrumentele eise sonder om die fokus op emosionele parameters te plaas, fasiliteer verdere aanpassing. Relevante sleutelwoorde is aanpassing, stres, patogenese, salutogenese, sin van koherensie, verstaanbaarheid, hanteerbaarheid, betekenisvolheid, fenomenologie en triangulasie. / The aim of this research is to study individual coping during integration. A behavioural profile for coping is proposed in the literature study based on sense of coherence, a construct of the salutogenesis paradigm. Empirically the psychometric instrument, orientation to life questionnaire, is used to determine the strength of sense of coherence. Qualitative interviewing, based on phenomenological principles, is used to evaluate coping qualitatively. In the research design there are signs of exploratory, descriptive and explanatory research and nonprobability sampling is used. Quantitative and qualitative results are combined to ensure internal validity on a contextual level. Findings showed that meaningfulness of the integration process is the major difference between coping and not coping. Comprehensibility within the boundaries of the immediate environment and the management of instrumental demands without focusing on the emotional parameters, facilitate further coping. / Industrial Psychology / M.A. (Industrial Psychology)