In the 21st century, the mobility of world population has posed greater challenges to healthcare practitioners, since they are facing an increasingly diverse patient population from all over the world. At the same time, patients also find it difficult to access and utilize quality health care services in a culturally diverse context. This study examines the role of culture in Chinese international students’ health-seeking behaviours in Canada. The study explores any barriers/perceived barriers that Chinese international students may confront when accessing health care which can prevent them from obtaining quality health care services in Canada. To this end, an intercultural health communication model was employed as a theoretical framework, and semi-structured interviews were used as a data collection tool. While contributing to existing literature on health communication and culture, this study also hopes to contribute to providing Canadian universities and institutions important information regarding Chinese international students’ access to and utilization of health care services with the hope of enhancing the quality of ethnic health care and promoting better health outcomes.

Recent research has proposed a new stage in human development, termed emerging adulthood by Jeffrey Arnett, which is characterized by a prolonged journey to adult roles and responsibilities. This thesis explores the experience of Chinese emerging adults, university students aged 20-25 years using Erikson’s and Levinson’s developmental theories as a theoretical framework. These authors proposed that three major developmental tasks are necessary for the transition to adulthood: separating from family of origin, forming an adult identity and finding the place for the self in the larger society. Qualitative interviews were conducted virtually with 12 Chinese university students to understand their perceptions and lived experience. Qualitative thematic analysis was used to analyze the interview transcripts. The results suggest Chinese emerging adults (a) have a low level of separation from parents; (b) have not formed a clear sense of identity and have not achieved a self-definition in adulthood; and (c) have not made initial commitments to love and work. It is speculated that the Chinese sociocultural context may further postpone its young adults’ independence and autonomy, and this prolonged transition to adulthood is both positive and problematic to Chinese young adults. This study lends support to Arnett’s emerging adulthood theory through its exploration of emerging adulthood in China, where, to date, little research has been done on this subject. It provides rich descriptions of the experience of Chinese emerging adults’ lives and enhances understandings of the role of culture in influencing the emerging adulthood period.

Government of Canada communications professionals work in an increasingly challenging environment, characterized by an intrusive 24/7 media cycle, a frenetic pace of evolving communication technologies, layered accountability requirements, political tension, and waning public trust. Scholars call on professional communicators to help rebuild public trust, which is intrinsic to a healthy democratic government. The Three-dimensional Model for Transparency in Government Communication developed by Fairbanks, Plowman and Rawlins (2007) serves as the theoretical framework for investigating the Government of Canada’s approach to transparent citizen-focused communications from the perspective of communications professionals. The model’s adaptability to the Government of Canada context is tested through 23 qualitative semi-structured interviews with Government of Canada senior communications advisors, managers and executives. The data is analysed using constant comparative thematic analysis. The findings demonstrate that Government of Canada communicators strongly value transparency. Furthermore, the key components of the transparency model – communications practices, organizational support and provision of resources – encapsulate the factors that influence the practice of transparent citizen-focused communications by the Government of Canada. The study concludes by offering recommendations for future research and practical applications.

Much research related to incarceration and re-entry has been focused on male models, and thus ignoring the unique circumstances of women offenders. Previous research argues that evident differences are found between the two sexes and these should not be neglected. Furthermore, both previous research and the theory of cognitive transformation has been utilized to analyse the results in a theoretical framework. The aim with this thesis is to explore the difficulties women face when re-entering into society after a criminal lifestyle. Hence, understand how women encounter and tackle these problems. Qualitative semistructured interviews with six former female addicts and offenders and one operations manager were tape-recorded. Transcription data was analysed using thematic analysis. The results showed that it was difficult to re-establish a healthy relationship with children. All the women came from dysfunctional families and no support from family members was a challenging aspect in the re-entry process. Substance abuse was also found among all the women, which showed that it competed with both parental and employment responsibilities and finding a job was easier than holding down one. Furthermore, ending contact with antisocial peers was important, however, meeting new people was difficult. Lastly, the results showed that all the women had subjective motivation keeping them on the path of lasting change. This study concludes three ways to improve female re-entry processes, (1) greater aid to women with substance abuse, (2) continued therapeutic assistance post treatment and, (3) positive role-modelled guidance for young women.

The research was a Minor Field Study conducted in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The purpose of the study was to explore and analyze Cambodian women's experiences of leadership. A qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews was conducted with a targeted and snowball selection. Seven female leaders from different organizations and from both the private and public sector were the source of our empirical findings. We discovered in our research that the participants had both intrinsic and extrinsic sources of motivation. First, women that were unsure of what motivated them, second motivation grew out of hard work and third motivation was to demonstrate female capacity. The research found that success, challenges, and the benefit of being a female leader were essential components for positive experiences. Important factors for leadership were family background, education and self-confidence/belief in herself. These factors coincided with previous research from Cambodia. The research displayed three types of barriers for Cambodian women -traditional values, higher demands, and personal factors. Most commonly the female had either a democratic or transformational leadership style, but authoritarian and situational leadership styles were also used. The result displayed that one side saw a difference between the genders in their way of leading and the other suggested that leadership is based on personal attributes.

and Key words This thesis deals with the contemporary topic of international migration to Europe, namely the phenomenon of migration from Bangladesh to Europe. While the media and academic literature have paid attention to the migration of residents of the Middle East and Africa to Europe, the issue of migration from Bangladesh to Europe has not been frequent and well- elucidated. Thus, this thesis aspires to solve the following research questions: 1) What are the major reasons and factors inducing migration from Bangladesh in the present day; 2) What are the main points of supply of information having an influence on the decision making of migrants; 3) What are the major trends of migration between the source regions and the final destination. As primary methodical procedures, I selected in-depth and semi-structured interviews with fifteen experts, who were interviewed in Bangladesh between January and February 2018. The following conclusions have been drawn from these interviews: 1) There is no single specific motivation for the emigration from Bangladesh as it proves to be a combination of several factors which elicit migration, whether economical, socio-political, or environmental; 2) The migrants obtain information predominantly from their relatives, friends or brokers, the so-called dalals,...

Teachers need to continuously develop their Information and Communication Technology (ICT) proficiency to keep up with the rapid development of technology, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only made this more apparent. This study aims to understand how EFL-teachers exercise their teacher agency and adapt their teaching in an environment where ICT is the basis for their teaching. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six upper secondary school teachers and then analysed using thematic analysis. The results showed a significant decrease in professional development as a result of reduced contact between colleagues. Most teachers have focused on developing their toolspecific skills. Adaption of teaching strategies has seen the most success in the teaching of writing proficiency. Most teachers are familiar with integrating technology with writing. Most teachers have found strategies to increase the accessibility of information as well as increased clarity of tasks. However, teachers have found it difficult to motivate students who have a hard time working on their own. They have also found it difficult to follow students’ progress in more extensive tasks.

The ways in which advertisements can affect social and brand-related aspects is an area of interest for both companies and society at large. The aim of this study is to examine and identify differences in the production and interpretation of advertisements on Instagram, targeted towards men versus women. There are two research questions: (1) How can the production of Gillette and Gillette Venus’ advertisements on Instagram targeted towards men and women differ? (2) How can the interpretation of Gillette and Gillette Venus’ advertisements on Instagram targeted towards men and women differ, based on the gender of the interpreter?  The study includes a gender perspective and Goffman’s theory on gender and advertisements has been applied. To answer the second research question, Hall’s encoding/decoding theory has been applied.  The study consists of two research methods, a semiotic photo analysis and semi-structured interviews. The photo analysis was used for RQ1 and consisted of six photos, three from Gillette’s Instagram account and three photos from Gillette Venus’s account. The semi-structured interviews helped answer RQ2. A total of ten interviews were carried out, with an even distribution of male and female interviewees. A comparative analysis was used for both research methods to enable comparison between the two genders.  The results showed that there are three main differences in the production of Gillette and Gillette Venus’ advertisements on Instagram. As for RQ2, it was concluded that the gender of the interpreter affected how the advertisements’ overall message was interpreted.

Development organisations are generally believed to be fairly gender equal workplaces, with gender related issues seen as something external or foreign to the organisation. However, all organisations exist within gendered structures, and should not be considered as gender neutral or separate. Building on the theory of feminist institutionalism, this paper aims to study how informal gender power structures are experienced by employees in a development organisation, namely the Folke Bernadotte Academy. To research this, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted to study the experiences and opinions of the respondents. A feminist institutionalist framework identified three areas of particular interest, “Tasks and assignments”, “Support norms” and “Interactions between employees”. After conducting interviews the information was analysed. The conclusions drawn are that FBAs employees describe experiences of some gender power structures. Most notably relating to parenting norms and logic of appropriateness. Seconded employees in general seemed to experience more gender power structures than internal employees. Additionally FBA and its employees seem to express the view that gender inequality is an external problem or that they are unaffected because their workforce is made up of a majority of women.

The emergence of new media tools and social media platforms over the last ten years has created new means of intercultural engagement. On Instagram, there is a growing trend of travel pages and travel bloggers whose aim is to introduce and share with other users the highlights of the destinations they travel to. This also applies to locals in these destinations who wish to portray their country positively and promote it as a tourist destination, particularly in certain countries of the Middle East where there is the added challenge of an ‘unsafe’ image to combat. This research focuses on Lebanon to find out to what extent Instagram can be considered a tool to combat the ‘unsafe’ image of the country, and if users who come across depictions of Lebanon on Instagram perceive the country as a potential tourist destination. Using a mixed methods approach, this thesis combines surveys and semi-structured interviews with Canadian participants to reach its findings. Its theoretical framework makes use of Edward Said’s conception of the ‘other’ (1978), Stuart Hall’s system of representations (1980), Jan Neverdeen Pieterse’s hybridization paradigm (1996), and Eli Pariser’s (2011) echo chamber to analyze its findings. Broadly, findings show that while Instagram can effectively be considered a tool to counter the ‘unsafe’ image of Lebanon, and while the country may be branded as a potential tourist destination to users who come across such depictions of it, algorithm restrictions limit the potential for such depictions to fulfill their potential since they don’t always reach users who perceive Lebanon to be an ‘unsafe’ place.