Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

Title from title page of PDF (University of Missouri--St. Louis, viewed February 22, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 300-314).

Thesis (MPhysT. (Faculty of Health Sciences))--University of Pretoria, 2003. / Summary in English. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 231-236). Also available online.

Aim: The aim of the thesis was to investigate the impact of gaze-based assistive technology on daily activities in children with severe physical impairments and without speech. The objectives were to develop and pilot a gaze-based assistive technology intervention (GAT intervention) at home and in school for these children and to understand its impact on daily activities as experienced by their parents. Methods: Study I was a pilot study in which the basic components that were developed for the intervention were evaluated for students with physical impairments. The study aimed at improving the use of computers as assistive technology (AT) in school. Based on the findings in Study I, the GAT intervention was developed. The GAT intervention aimed at implementing gaze-based AT in daily activities. It consisted of two parts; having access to gaze-based AT and having access to services from a multi professional communication team during nine to ten months. Studies II-IV concerned gazebased AT for children with severe physical impairments without speech who participated in the GAT intervention. The participants were ten children (ages 1-15) (Studies II, III), and their parents (Study IV). Studies II and III had longitudinal designs and children were followed during 15-20 months with repeated measurements before, after and at follow-up. In Study II children’s repertoire of computer activities, extent of use, and goal attainment with gaze-based AT was evaluated, as well as parents’ satisfaction with the AT and with services. In Study III children’s eye gaze performance when using gaze-based AT was examined. In Study IV, parents were interviewed twice with the aim of  exploring their experiences of children’s gaze-based AT use in daily life. In Study IV a hermeneutical approach was used. Results: The findings of Study I showed that the basic components of intervention improved the use of computers in school. Study II showed an increased repertoire of computer activities with the gazebased AT, maintained use in daily activities for all at follow up, and that all children attained goals for gaze-based AT use in daily activities. Parents were satisfied with the gaze-based AT, and with the services in the GAT intervention. In study III, nine children improved in eye gaze performance over time when using the gaze-based AT in daily activities. Study IV revealed that children’s gaze-based AT usage in daily activities made a difference to parents since the children demonstrated agency, and showed their personality and competencies by using gaze-based AT, and for the parents this opened up infinite possibilities for the child to do and learn things. Overall, children’s gaze-based AT usage provided parents with hope of a future in which their children could develop and have influence in life. Conclusions: This thesis shows that these children with severe physical impairments and without speech acquired sufficient gaze control skills to use gaze-based AT for daily activities in the home and at school. The gaze-based AT had a positive impact on performing activities, for example, play activities and communication- and interaction-related activities. For the parents, children’s gaze-based AT usage made a difference since it shaped a hope of a better future for their children, where they can develop and gain influence in their future life. Furthermore, the children continued to perform daily activities with gaze-based AT over time. This finding suggests that key persons were provided with sufficient knowledge and skills to support children in maintained use of gaze-based AT after withdrawal of the services provided in the GAT intervention.

The organization of work in the Western welfare states has made use of psychological know-how since the early twentieth century, for instance by making the practices of ‘psychotechnics’ and ‘human relations’ a part of the production apparatus. The last decades, however, have seen the development of a new economy based on information and communication technologies and with a related shift in organizational ideals from large hierarchical structures to networks of self-governing units – a change sometimes labelled the third industrial revolution. This development has meant new possibilities for the deployment of psychological knowledge in organizational management. The present study takes as its geographical starting point the greater Stockholm area in Sweden. Through a variant of multi-sited fieldwork it investigates the distribution of psychological know-how in and through different institutions – such as school, work life, health care – by which the average ‘worker-citizen’ is supposed to acquire a ‘psychological toolbox’, thus becoming a kind of amateur psychologist or therapist, ready and able to take responsibility for his or her own productivity, well-being and health. The study depicts this ideal of psychological self-regulation: its discourse and practices, and how it emerged as a part of the technological and organizational developments of the third industrial revolution.

No description available.

Sportinėje veikloje ypač svarbu sportininkus mokinti saviugdos, nes tuomet atletai atskleidžia prigimtinius gebėjimus, mokosi vertinti savo galimybes, stiprinti pasitikėjimą savimi, prisiimti asmeninę, grupinę ir socialinę atsakomybę, suvokti save kaip grupės, bendruomenės, visuomenės narį ir mokytis dalyvauti visuomenės gyvenime. Šioje veikloje mokomasi atrasti saviraiškos būdų realizuoti savo norus, geriau suprasti ir pažinti savo idėjas, patirti savo asmenybės svarbą ir pripažinimą. Saviugda ypač reikšminga paauglystės metais, kai formuojasi charakteris, valia, dorovinės nuostatos, gyvenimo tikslai, didėja protinės ir fizinės galios. Tyrimo tikslas: ištirti elito tenisininkės fizinės saviugdos edukacinio skatinimo galimybes. Tyrimo uždaviniai: Ištirti fizinės saviugdos kokybę įtakojančius veiksnius. Nustatyti elito tenisininkės savistabos rodiklių pokyčius. Ištirti sportininkės rengimo makrociklo sudarymo, remiantis savistabos rodikliais, tendencijas. Išanalizuoti edukacinio skatinimo metodų taikymo metiniame rengimo procese ypatumus. Darbo metodai. Teorinė analizė ir apibendrinimas. Dokumentų analizės metodas. Anketinė apklausa. Statistinė analizė. Tyrimo dalyviai (n=1). Tyrimo etapai. Pirmajame etape, siekiant išsiaiškinti pagrindines mokymo(si) ir sportavimo dermės sąlygas bei pradines tyrimo pozicijas, buvo studijuota pedagoginė, psichologinė, sportinė literatūra. Antrojo etapo metu suformuluota darbo hipotezė, apibrėžti tyrimo uždaviniai, sukurta tyrimo metodika... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / In sportive activity, it is very important to teach sportsmen of self-help, as then athletes reveal their natural abilities, learn to appreciate their possibilities, enhance their self-confidence, assume personal, sectional and social responsibility, perceive themselves as members of a group, community, society and learn to participate in society life. This activity teaches to find the ways of self-expression to realise their own wishes, to perceive and acknowledge better their own ideas, to feel the importance and appreciation of their own personality. The self-help is very important in adolescence, when a character, will, moral attitudes, and aims of life are formed, when mental and physical capacity is increasing. The aim of the research: to investigate possibilities of educational promotion of elite tennis player’s physical self-help. The objectives of the research: to investigate factors influencing quality of physical self-help; to ascertain the alterations of the elite tennis player’s introspection indices; to explore the tendencies of creation of the sportswoman’s training macro-cycle with reference to the indices of introspection; to analyse the possibilities of elite tennis player’s educational promotion. The methods of the research: theoretical analysis and generalization, the method of documents’ analysis, questionnaire, statistical analysis. Participants of the research (n=1). Stages of the research: In the first stage, on purpose to ascertain the main... [to full text]

Over the past fifty years, numerous cultural and structural changes have profoundly altered how heterosexual women and men in North America envision and live out their intimate lives. As key social structures where individuals typically sought guidance about their relationships have lost cultural potency, and insecurities about social and economic structures have grown, people have turned increasingly to alternative sources of advice, of which self-help books are a readily available option. In three interrelated studies, this dissertation considers one of North America’s most popular and lucrative book genres—relationship advice—and its readers. On a textual level, it examines connections between ideological shifts in advice and macro-level changes; with regard to audiences, it asks what generates particular modes of self-help reading. All studies then consider the implications of ideological shifts and modes of reading for the creation or maintenance of social boundaries and attendant inequalities. While prior theoretical and empirical work on relationship advice products and audiences has considered time-limited samples of women’s texts, and research in reception studies has emphasized the importance of gender in generating modes of reading, this dissertation contributes new insight by looking longitudinally at bestselling advice books, offering the first detailed look at books for men, and considering the influence of variables beyond gender in channeling readers toward particular modes of reading. Findings demonstrate strong coupling between ideological trends in advice and broader social changes, and an interlocking effect of readers’ biographical, demographic and psychological factors on modes of reading. Analyses of texts and readers also reveal how the genre reinforces social inequalities. Paper 1 corrects presumptions about advice book content by identifying new ideological trends, Paper 2 develops a conceptual and theoretical vocabulary for understanding constructions of ideal masculinity, namely through identification of a process of “masculinizing” intimacy, and Paper 3 newly identifies two modes of reading—targeted and habitual—and generates theoretical insight broadly applicable to reception studies.

In recent years there has been considerable interest and research examining psychological distress resulting from athletic injuries, as well as coping strategies for an enhanced recovery. The purpose of this study was to examine the psychological effects of sport related concussions and to determine if participation in support groups can reduce these psychological side effects. Participants included concussed male and female varsity or comparable elite level athletes who were placed in either a control or an experimental group. All subjects completed the Profile of Mood States and the Post Concussion Rating Scale. Participants in the experimental group received three support group intervention sessions, while those in the control group received no intervention. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. It was revealed that participants in the experimental group improved their mood state. In addition to the impact of support groups on concussed athletes, factors influencing their moods were also identified including the concussion history of the athletes, the stage of rehabilitation, gender, and number of concussion symptoms.

Over the past fifty years, numerous cultural and structural changes have profoundly altered how heterosexual women and men in North America envision and live out their intimate lives. As key social structures where individuals typically sought guidance about their relationships have lost cultural potency, and insecurities about social and economic structures have grown, people have turned increasingly to alternative sources of advice, of which self-help books are a readily available option. In three interrelated studies, this dissertation considers one of North America’s most popular and lucrative book genres—relationship advice—and its readers. On a textual level, it examines connections between ideological shifts in advice and macro-level changes; with regard to audiences, it asks what generates particular modes of self-help reading. All studies then consider the implications of ideological shifts and modes of reading for the creation or maintenance of social boundaries and attendant inequalities. While prior theoretical and empirical work on relationship advice products and audiences has considered time-limited samples of women’s texts, and research in reception studies has emphasized the importance of gender in generating modes of reading, this dissertation contributes new insight by looking longitudinally at bestselling advice books, offering the first detailed look at books for men, and considering the influence of variables beyond gender in channeling readers toward particular modes of reading. Findings demonstrate strong coupling between ideological trends in advice and broader social changes, and an interlocking effect of readers’ biographical, demographic and psychological factors on modes of reading. Analyses of texts and readers also reveal how the genre reinforces social inequalities. Paper 1 corrects presumptions about advice book content by identifying new ideological trends, Paper 2 develops a conceptual and theoretical vocabulary for understanding constructions of ideal masculinity, namely through identification of a process of “masculinizing” intimacy, and Paper 3 newly identifies two modes of reading—targeted and habitual—and generates theoretical insight broadly applicable to reception studies.