Students with internalizing behaviors are often overlooked in terms of receiving interventions that could change academic outcomes and prevent problems that could have serious implications, including social withdrawal, social isolation, and suicidal ideation. Recent research has found the use of social emotional learning (SEL), school-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS), and social skill instruction, to be effective in treating students with both internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. The use of peers has also shown promise in helping students with behavior problems. In this study, a multiple baseline across participants' design was used across two playgrounds to evaluate a buddy bench intervention, which utilized peers to help socially withdrawn students increase social engagement and peer interactions and decrease social isolation. All students (N = 448) in grades 1st through 6th were observed during the pre-lunch recess period. Results revealed that from baseline to intervention phases there was a decrease of between 19% (on the 4th to 6th grade playground) and 24% (on the 1st to 3rd grade playground) in the number of students engaged in solitary behavior on the playground. The majority of students reported positive attitudes towards the intervention. Teachers reported mixed feelings about the social validity of the Buddy Bench. Limitations and implications are discussed.

This dissertation explores the social and political dimensions of aesthetic autonomy as it is given formal expression in Wallace Stevens’s poetry of the 1930s and the early 1940s. Whereas modernist claims to autonomy are often said to rest upon an ideological assertion of art’s detachment from socio-historical concerns, I argue that, in Stevens’s work, autonomy is conceived in relational terms, which gives rise to new lines of interconnection between his poetry and its cultural situation. Written over a period when the political efficacy of literature became a staple of discussion among a myriad of writers and critics, Stevens’s poetry offers an understanding of autonomy not as an escape from, but as a productive condition for imagining alternative forms of engagement with the historical crisis with which it has to reckon. In taking into account the cultural context from which Stevens’s poetics of autonomy emerged, my study aims to highlight the significance of the concept to the poet’s exploration of the tension between aesthetic and social domains, to his imaginative formations of collective agency, and to the vexed relationship between poetic and philosophical modes of thinking. By transposing the theoretical discussion of autonomy into the register of historical scrutiny, I hope to pave the way for a rethinking of autonomy and its relevance to the period’s radical and modernist writing, literary debates, and cultural politics. For this purpose, I draw on recent theories, such as those offered by Jacques Rancière and Alain Badiou, on poetry, politics, and (in)aesthetics, which serve to complicate the working definitions of modernist autonomy as literature’s immunity from the world, and to indicate an alternative path for analyzing its critical and contextual implications.

An increasing number of older adults is experiencing mental health problems, which may result from loneliness and social isolation. Although research has noted the positive impact that community programs might have on the social connectedness of older adults, there is a scarcity of research exploring older male adults' experiences in these programs. Men's Sheds, developed in Australia in the 1990's, is one program that integrates older men into the community. Men's Sheds have recently begun in Manitoba, allowing me the opportunity to develop a theoretical model of the processes of involvement of older male adults in this program. I conducted in-depth interviews with Men's Sheds participants (N = 12), and analyzed data using constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006). Findings provide insight into participants’ experiences throughout their initial, current, and continued involvement in Men’s Sheds, which may serve as a model for community organizations attempting to increase participation among this demographic.

Purpose: To examine the relationship between social engagement (SE) and health care use (HCU) in baby-boomers (age 45-64) and older adults (65+). Methods: Data from the Wellness Institute Services Evaluation Research III was used. SE was assessed using measures of formal, informal, and civic activities. HCU was assessed using administrative health care records (hospital use and length of stay, overall general and family physician use). Results: Higher formal SE indicated higher contact with physicians in general, higher hospital visits, and longer lengths of stay in hospital. Higher informal SE indicated shorter lengths of stay. Results were found while controlling for demographic variables, chronic conditions, and self-rated health. Older adults had higher HCU overall, compared to baby-boomers. Conclusion: While further research is necessary, this study has implications in determining the impact that certain types of SE can have on the health care system for different age groups.

Purpose: To examine the relationship between social engagement (SE) and health care use (HCU) in baby-boomers (age 45-64) and older adults (65+). Methods: Data from the Wellness Institute Services Evaluation Research III was used. SE was assessed using measures of formal, informal, and civic activities. HCU was assessed using administrative health care records (hospital use and length of stay, overall general and family physician use). Results: Higher formal SE indicated higher contact with physicians in general, higher hospital visits, and longer lengths of stay in hospital. Higher informal SE indicated shorter lengths of stay. Results were found while controlling for demographic variables, chronic conditions, and self-rated health. Older adults had higher HCU overall, compared to baby-boomers. Conclusion: While further research is necessary, this study has implications in determining the impact that certain types of SE can have on the health care system for different age groups.

An increasing number of older adults is experiencing mental health problems, which may result from loneliness and social isolation. Although research has noted the positive impact that community programs might have on the social connectedness of older adults, there is a scarcity of research exploring older male adults' experiences in these programs. Men's Sheds, developed in Australia in the 1990's, is one program that integrates older men into the community. Men's Sheds have recently begun in Manitoba, allowing me the opportunity to develop a theoretical model of the processes of involvement of older male adults in this program. I conducted in-depth interviews with Men's Sheds participants (N = 12), and analyzed data using constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006). Findings provide insight into participants’ experiences throughout their initial, current, and continued involvement in Men’s Sheds, which may serve as a model for community organizations attempting to increase participation among this demographic.

The possibility that lifestyle factors may delay or accelerate cognitive decline in aging has garnered significant attention and a considerable body of research has formed. However, investigating the relations between social engagement and cognitive function in aging have been somewhat equivocal in their findings and there is a lack of understanding of the mechanisms by which social engagement may impact cognitive function and the role of factors limiting social engagement. The aim of this dissertation was to build on current understanding of how specific aspects of social relationships relate to cognitive functioning in older adulthood and how these aspects are affected by challenges and barriers to social participation. This dissertation is comprised of three studies addressing several specific research questions. Study one (Chapter 2) examined whether relations with cognitive performance over time differ for structural aspects of social relationships (social network and social contact) versus functional/subjective aspects of social relationships (loneliness and social support) and whether the associations are between cognitive performance and stable, “trait-like” components of social relationships or fluctuating “state-like” components of these constructs, using autoregressive latent trajectory modeling of data from the Health and Retirement Study. Study two (Chapter 3) used a multilevel modeling approach to examine whether the spouses/partners of individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia experience a within person decline in cognitive performance and whether changes in structural and functional/subjective aspects of social relationships interacted with a spouses’ diagnosis of memory disease to predict within person change in cognitive performance. Study three (Chapter 4) investigated whether rejection sensitivity, social avoidance, and fears of negative social evaluations were predictive of lack of social participation and loneliness in a sample of Vancouver Island older adults. These factors have previously been investigated in younger adults as risk factors for loneliness and social withdrawal, but social isolation in older adulthood is often attributed to lack of social opportunities. This dissertation demonstrates the importance of considering precise aspects of social relationships, including barriers to social participation, and their relations to cognitive functioning. / Graduate / 2019-12-12

O presente trabalho tem por objetivo refletir acerca dos papéis de intelectual e escritor engajado desempenhados pelo autor pernambucano radicado em São Paulo Marcelino Freire. Para tanto, fez-se, num primeiro momento, um percurso por algumas definições de intelectual, com o propósito de compreender a função desse sujeito na contemporaneidade, e procurou-se verificar e exemplificar como ocorre o engajamento de intelectuais na literatura. Em seguida, discutiu-se o agenciamento de Freire tanto na cena cultural como curador, palestrante, colunista, por exemplo quanto literária. Por último, a fim de diagnosticar como ocorre o engajamento mais especificamente na escrita ficcional freiriana, analisamos cinco contos do autor cuja temática central é o racismo ainda presente na sociedade brasileira e, ao mesmo tempo, a resistência do povo negro, a saber: Faz de conta que não foi. Nada. (Angu de sangue), Trabalhadores do Brasil, Solar dos Príncipes e Curso superior (Contos negreiros) e Favela Fênix (Amar é crime). / This paper aims to explore Pernambuco-born and São Paulo-based author Marcelino Freires place as an intellectual and engaged writer. In order to do so, at first we analyzed some definitions of intellectual, with the purpose of understanding the function of this subject in the contemporary world, and we sought to verify and exemplify how intellectuals social and political engagement occurs in literature. Then Freire\'s performance was discussed both in the cultural scene as a curator, speaker and columnist, for example as well as in the literary scene. Finally, in order to establish how social and political engagement occurs more specifically in Freires fictional writing, five short stories by the author in which the theme is racism still present in Brazilian society and, at the same time, the resistance of the black people were analyzed, namely: Faz de conta que não foi. Nada. (Angu de sangue), Trabalhadores do Brasil, Solar dos Príncipes e Curso superior (Contos negreiros) e Favela Fênix (Amar é crime).

Este trabalho surgiu do interesse em compreender as relações entre o Projeto UNI: Uma Nova Iniciativa na Formação dos Profissionais de Saúde: União com a Comunidade e os movimentos populares de saúde a ele relacionados. Desenvolveu-se como um estudo de caso na região Sul do município de Londrina – PR, através da utilização de um método qualitativo que compreendeu análises documentais, entrevistas semi-estruturadas individuais e coletivas, bem como contribuições etnográficas, através das observações realizadas em campo. Os resultados obtidos foram descritos e discutidos dentro de sete categorias analíticas construídas e teoricamente relacionadas ao trabalho, sendo elas: articulação, autonomia, organização, parceria, cultura política, oposição e participação. A análise destas categorias revelou um significativo impacto positivo do Projeto UNI nas organizações comunitárias, ao longo dos últimos oito anos, as quais conquistaram maior capacidade e instrumentos de luta, ampliando sua participação na sociedade, principalmente nos espaços criados pelo Sistema Único de Saúde. / This study was developed from the interest in understanding the relationship between the UNI Project: a New Iniciative in Health Professionals´ Education: Community Based and the Health Community Groups related to it. It is a case study about the southern district of Londrina, a city in Paraná State. Using qualitative approachs, the author analyzed documents, individual and colective semi-structured interviews, as well as ethnographic information gathered in the field observation. The results were presented and discussed though seven analitycal categories: articulation, autonomy, organization, partnership, political culture, opposition and participation. The final considerations showed an extremaly positive impact of the Project on these Community Groups during the last eight years. The community has become more participative in the defense of their rights, especially regarding the local public health system.

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