The discovery that it is possible to identify an individual before the onset of first episode psychosis and that treatment may prevent or delay onset have led to a proliferation of early intervention clinics designed to intervene before symptoms of psychosis have fully appeared. Early intervention has generated considerable debate, given the risks associated with intervening and that the majority of those identified will never develop full-blown psychosis. Despite potential stigmatizing effects, little is known about young people’s views regarding the favourable and/or adverse consequences of early intervention. This research examines the experiences and meaning of illness in young people identified as being at ultra high risk for psychosis and participating in a psychological intervention program. Specifically, the study uses photo elicitation to explore how participants construct and interpret their experiences, and the impact an at risk label has on their sense of self, identity, and social relationships. Five young people were invited to photograph their daily experiences at home, at school, and in the community. The participants and I then analyzed the photographs together in a photo elicitation interview. I further analyzed the visual and textual data from an interactionist perspective, exploring the concept of stigma and its relationship to young people’s experiences. Visual and narrative data revealed that young people reject their at risk status and redefine their experiences to fit with more acceptable and familiar notions of health. Participants are conscious of the stigma associated with psychosis and actively undertake strategies of resistance to avoid stigmatization and uphold a normal self conception and social impression. Photo elicitation provided insight and understanding into the experiences of young people at risk for psychosis that were not available through more traditional methods. The results from this study support the call for a reconsideration of the psychosis risk paradigm. There is a need to increase awareness about the power of diagnostic information and the labeling process. Non-specialized settings such as schools and community health centres may offer more appropriate environments for mental health monitoring and intervention.

School-age children with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) possess valuable knowledge about themselves. They have experience and ability to offer insight about living with CF. Previous studies, exploring the perceptions of CF children, give little attention to eliciting and listening to their voices. Also, traditional data collection methods limit children from participating in research. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe how school-age children with CF see themselves in the world they live. The study utilized qualitative description methodology. Symbolic Interactionism served as the researcher’s philosophical lens. It is a perspective that seeks to understand the social world of others, as they perceive it. Photo elicitation was used as the primary data collection method. Each participant was asked to take photographs about “What it is like to be you”. Photographs were then used to stimulate and guide an audio-recorded interview and make a photo book for the child to keep. Data were analyzed using Boyatzis method of inductive thematic content analysis. Sixteen children with CF between the ages of 8 to 11 were purposively recruited from the Southeastern United States. Data saturation was achieved after 13 interviews. Rigor was maintained by a variety of ways including bracketing, peer evaluation, and member checking. Five themes emerged from the data Me Being Me, My Medicine and Treatments, My Family, My Friends and Other Key Relationships, and My World. Findings revealed that life does not revolve around CF, but instead centers on “me being me” and living a normal life. Additionally, photo elicitation empowered participants to be authors of their own stories, and promoted communication between them and the researcher. In knowing the reality of children, nurses and other multidisciplinary CF team members are better equipped to design and plan interventions that are meaningful, beneficial, and satisfying to the child and his or her parent. The results of this study demonstrate children can be active participants in research and provides opportunities to transform nursing care by developing and evaluating strategies for the delivery of care to children with CF. Recommendations for future research include expanding this study to other CF centers and including the perceptions of parents, nurses, and other CF health care providers. Additionally, because perceptions a person holds about them selves and the world change overtime, a follow-up study when participants reach adolescence and adulthood is suggested.

Thèses (M.Sc.)--Université de Sherbrooke (Canada), 2000. / Titre de l'écran-titre (visionné le 20 juin 2006). Publié aussi en version papier.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-124). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 125-136).

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1996. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 56-59).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-124). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph.D) - University of Queensland, 2007. / Includes bibliography.

Roots: They take hold; they grow, expand and change, creating networks and sub-networks as they start to break above the earth's surface and stretch up higher towards the sky day by day. Roots can be taken out (the stock, stem or trunk removed), but both the memory and the evidence of the roots' existence will continue to remain for a while to come. The idea of "roots" applies to so much: from artists taking inspiration from previous artists, even at times to mirror the change in the world which one artist had previously documented; from the places we establish our families and create our memories, to a good deal more.

abstract: Natural photosynthesis features a complex biophysical/chemical process that requires sunlight to produce energy rich products. It is one of the most important processes responsible for the appearance and sustainability of life on earth. The first part of the thesis focuses on understanding the mechanisms involved in regulation of light harvesting, which is necessary to balance the absorption and utilization of light energy and in that way reduce the effect caused by photooxidative damage. In photosynthesis, carotenoids are responsible not only for collection of light, but also play a major role in protecting the photosynthetic system. To investigate the role of carotenoids in the quenching of the excited state of cyclic tetrapyrroles, two sets of dyads were studied. Both sets of dyads contain zinc phthalocyanine (Pc) covalently attached to carotenoids of varying conjugation lengths. In the first set of dyads, carotenoids were attached to the phthalocyanine via amide linkage. This set of dyads serves as a good model for understanding the molecular "gear-shift" mechanism, where the addition of one double bond can turn the carotenoid from a nonquencher to a very strong quencher of the excited state of a tetrapyrrole. In the second set of dyads, carotenoids were attached to phthalocyanine via a phenyl amino group. Two independent studies were performed on these dyads: femtosecond transient absorption and steady state fluorescence induced by two-photon excitation. In the transient absorption study it was observed that there is an instantaneous population of the carotenoid S1 state after Pc excitation, while two-photon excitation of the optically forbidden carotenoid S1 state shows 1Pc population. Both observations provide a strong indication of the existence of a shared excitonic state between carotenoid and Pc. Similar results were observed in LHC II complexes in plants, supporting the role of such interactions in photosynthetic down regulation. In the second chapter we describe the synthesis of porphyrin dyes functionalized with carboxylate and phosphonate anchoring groups to be used in the construction of photoelectrochemical cells containing a porphyrin-IrO2·nH2O complex immobilized on a TiO2 electrode. The research presented here is a step in the development of high potential porphyrin-metal oxide complexes to be used in the photooxidation of water. The last chapter focuses on developing synthetic strategies for the construction of an artificial antenna system consisting of porphyrin-silver nanoparticle conjugates, linked by DNA of varied length to study the distance dependence of the interaction between nanoparticles and the porphyrin chromophore. Preliminary studies indicate that at the distance of about 7-10 nm between porphyrin and silver nanoparticle is where the porphyrin absorption leading to fluorescence shows maximum enhancement. These new hybrid constructs will be helpful for designing efficient light harvesting systems. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Chemistry 2011