In this paper, I consider historical periods, linguistic categories, and social theories in relation to Hindi in order to trace out the character and trajectory of the language. From sixteenth-century courtly contexts, to the adoption of the Devanagari script in the twentieth century by nationalists, Hindi has a polyvalent and yet specific history. I discuss these contexts in which social contact led to linguistic change and in which Hindi acquired many of the lexical, syntactical, and phonological characteristics by which it is recognized today. I conclude with a section that considers the motif of language and power, and I suggest that the production of knowledge and power in language use, offers both the means of distinction and expression or, in another sense, of hierarchy and communitas. A thread that runs throughout the paper is attention to the contexts in which language use enables elaboration and in which elaboration is eschewed in order to attain social unity. Pursuing a descriptive historical-linguistic project, I neither affirm nor deny the politics of such language use, but rather I indicate the ways in which actors and agents use Hindi to help articulate their agency. / text

The present thesis is an attempt to study some of the social theories of Islam, not as logical ideas existing in a vacuum, but rather as idealogies which are in close interaction with the social conditions in the midst of which they arise. It should be remembered at this point that this thesis is not intended to be a comprehensive research into the entire field of the sociology of Islam. The job is too enormous to be undertaken by a single researcher. This work is restricted to the study of one aspect of it, that is: the dilemma of Islam, or in other words, the conflict between idealism and realism in the history of Islam. The conflict between idealism and realism exists, as we shall see later, in almost every phase of the human society, but it may not be an exaggeration to say that in the history of Islam it manifested itself in a very intensive form. In this thesis the attempt is made to discuss the reason for, and the development of, this peculiar aspect of Islam. / text

Background: Virtual reality (VR) offers potential for enhancing physical activity and engagement among older adults in long-term care (LTC) facilities. This addresses the need for health maintenance and independence. Yet, limited research exists on VR acceptance and its optimization for promoting physical activity. Older adults' VR gaming experiences and the social and contextual factors affecting acceptance are underexplored. This study aims to investigate these unique experiences to inform the design of inclusive VR technology in LTC, enhancing physical activity and well-being. Objectives: My dissertation has two objectives: (1) to examine the individual and social factors that impact the acceptance of VR games among older adults in LTC facilities and (2) to explore LTC residents’ experience with VR games and the meaning they associate with their gaming experience. Methods: To reach these objectives I conducted two studies: (1) a scoping review of 5 articles to identify evidence on older adults' acceptance of physical activity VR games in LTC facilities, describe research designs used, define key acceptance concepts, and identify knowledge gaps for future research and (2) a mixed-methods study, including a series of gaming sessions with 20 older adults residing in a healthcare center followed by a composite questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with 15 older adults and 4 staff members. Results: The scoping review identified a knowledge gap in VR acceptance among older adults in LTC. Varying acceptance levels and inconsistent concept definitions were found, emphasizing the need for an integrated approach combining qualitative and quantitative methods. Only one study used validated tools for assessing acceptance. The quantitative study involved VR gaming sessions with 20 participants aged 65 and older, revealing significant positive correlations between perceived ease of use and Selective Optimization with compensation (SOC) strategies. No significant relationship was found between Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Future Time Perspective (FTP). Prior gaming experience led to higher SOC and socioemotional Selectivity (SST) scores, higher game self-efficacy, and increased hedonic motivation. Age and gender had no impact. Participants viewed VR as user-friendly and useful, with positive attitudes toward aging and physically demanding activities. The qualitative revealed themes related to enjoyment, physical activity, social connection, and individual preferences. Staff perspectives addressed relevance, personalization, training, and organizational barriers. The study highlighted the potential benefits of VR gaming for LTC residents, offering insights for technology development. Conclusion: This study offered a comprehensive understanding of VR gaming acceptance among older adults in LTC settings, highlighting the significance of individual and social factors in technology acceptance. Personalized design, support, education, trust, and safety are crucial. Integrating social theories of aging is essential to understand older adults' needs and preferences. Implications for VR design include user-centered approaches, intuitive interfaces, customization, social interaction, and safety considerations. Addressing limitations and biases in future research can promote effective use of VR as a therapeutic tool for older adults in LTC.

As individuals, college students make choices that both reflect their past lives and constitute their futures. In this research I examine the ways five college sophomores built their lives in the complex world of a research university campus. Using case study analysis I look at how the students negotiated the considerable academic and social demands of their daily lives. College impact models and literature about theories of practice and decision making inform the analysis. Human agency and fields of practice help to explain the behaviors of these students. The research reveals that students take a myriad of paths to negotiate the intricacies of the college context and construct their lives, but that they are guided along those paths by their goals for the future. I interviewed five sophomores at a Doctoral/Extensive university repeatedly over one semester. I discovered that their families and their pre-college academic experiences mattered throughout their first few semesters as they learned to play the college game. Survival depended on their backgrounds, their skills, and the strategies they used to adapt to their new environment. The extent and quality of their interaction with peers, faculty, and other adults on campus also reflected their instrumentalism and indicated their efforts to find a space within the larger campus. Their adjustment to the field of the academy showed a commitment to vocational goals in the long and short term. My analysis illuminates the idiosyncratic process of choosing a major and the nature of a students commitment to a discipline. Taken together, these categories of student life show a complex building process with some similarities and many individual variations.

Youth sex offenders are not a homogenous population. They differ in terms of race, social class, victim preferences (both in terms of age and in terms of whether the victim is known to the offender or not), their modus operandi to gain compliance, levels of aggression and physical violence, the types (“hands on” or “hands off”) and levels (level 1, 2, or 3) of offences and lastly their motivations for committing a sex offence. The motivations are linked to the risk factors to which an individual is exposed, for example, a youth that was previously sexually victimised could sexually act out his experiences. A qualitative approach was used in this study. The researcher aimed to gain a holistic comprehension of the risk factors that youth attribute to their sex offending behaviour and thus this was the most appropriate approach to use. A semi-structured interview schedule was used as the data collection method as this allowed the researcher the freedom to change the sequence and forms of the questions in order to follow up on responses. The function of this interview schedule was to direct the researcher to ensure that she covered all the themes needed to obtain the necessary data. The interview schedule was made up of nine categories, namely: biographic characteristics, academic performance, extramural activities, substance use, family substance use problems, family and community violence, emotional status, caring and attachment to family and peers, sexual abuse and knowledge about sex. After the interviews were conducted, the data was transcribed, analysed and interpreted. The researcher made use of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to determine the emergent themes. The researcher eliminated the emergent themes that were impossible to label, or those deemed to be irrelevant to the study. Thereafter, the researcher clustered the emergent themes into sub-ordinate themes and validated these main and sub-ordinate themes. The researcher then provided a textural description to depict the experience and a structural description to depict the possible explanation of the experience of the respondents. Finally, a composite description provided the structure for the interpretation of the data. The researcher interpreted the main and sub-ordinate themes with relation to the literature review and the theories deemed useful in explaining the risk factors associated with youth sex offending, namely: Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory of personality development, Albert Bandura’s social cognition theory, William Marshall and Howard Barbaree’s integrated theory, and Neil Malamuth’s confluence model of sexual aggression. The analysis and interpretation of the data revealed certain possible risk factors that could contribute to the phenomenon of youth sex offending in South Africa. The researcher provided possible methods of addressing these risk factors. The dearth of knowledge regarding the phenomenon of youth sex offending highlights the need for further research and the researcher made several recommendations regarding future research prospects in order to address this social problem and to give youth sex offenders the best chance of adopting pro-social behaviour. Copyright / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

Les personnes atteintes de troubles concomitants (TC) de santé mentale et d’usage de substances présentent des besoins biopsychosociaux particuliers et complexes, qui peuvent rendre leurs prises en charge plus ardue pour les professionnels de la santé. Au Canada comme dans d’autres pays, les infirmières et les infirmiers sont fréquemment appelés à intervenir auprès de personnes atteintes de TC par le biais d’une approche intégrée des soins centrés sur leurs besoins particuliers. Toutefois, les études soulignent des difficultés et barrières inhérentes à la complexité de cette prise en charge par les infirmières, comme le sentiment de fardeau ou d’échec professionnel, les attitudes défavorables ou l’inconfort à l’égard de ces personnes et le manque de connaissances ou d’habiletés quant à certaines approches psychothérapeutiques essentielles. Qui plus est, rares sont les occasions de formation continue portant spécifiquement sur les TC pour soutenir et mieux outiller les infirmières dans le développement de leurs compétences. Cette thèse par articles présente les résultats d’une étude visant à comprendre dans quelle mesure et de quelles manières un programme de formation continue virtuel portant sur les TC a contribué au développement des compétences des infirmières. Le programme de formation continue virtuel sur les TC développé et mis en place en 2018 au Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) en s’appuyant sur le modèle Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (©ECHO), s’adresse à l’ensemble des professionnels de la santé et des services sociaux du Québec. Celui-ci constitue un modèle de formation continue visant à soutenir le développement des compétences de ces professionnels dans la prise en charge de conditions de santé chroniques et complexes. Le modèle ECHO repose sur trois théories sociales de l’apprentissage, incluant la Théorie sociale cognitive, la Théorie des communautés de pratique et la Théorie de l’apprentissage situé. Le programme ECHO sur les TC comprend des séances éducatives virtuelles offertes en continu, d’une durée de 90 minutes à chaque deux semaines, guidées par une équipe interprofessionnelle d’experts dans le domaine des TC. La participation au programme s’effectue par l’entremise de visioconférences simultanées, au cours desquelles les professionnels inscrits au programme sont invités à présenter une situation clinique vécue, laquelle faisant ensuite l’objet d’une riche discussion entre pairs et d’une rétroaction personnalisée par l’équipe d’experts. Des capsules didactiques portant sur les pratiques exemplaires dans le domaine des TC sont également présentées aux participants, en fonction de leurs besoins d’apprentissage. Un devis mixte convergent a été utiliser pour collecter et analyser les données QUANtitatives et QUALitatives issues d’une population potentielle de 65 infirmières ayant participé au programme de formation ECHO sur les TC pour les vagues de formation 2018-2019 et 2019-2020. Dans le volet QUAN, une étude de cohorte prospective observationnelle a été mené pour mesurer l’évolution des infirmières à six mois (T1) et 12 mois (T2) suivant leur entrée au programme (T0) quant à leur: 1) sentiment d’auto-efficacité; 2) participation; 3) satisfaction et acceptabilité; 4) connaissances; 5) attitude; et 6) perception de la performance clinique. Dans le volet QUAL, une étude descriptive interprétative a été réalisée auprès de 10 infirmières ayant participé au programme ECHO, afin d’explorer leur expérience et perceptions à l’égard du développement et de la mise en pratique de leurs compétences, ainsi que des facteurs ayant influencé ce processus. Enfin, l’emploi d’une stratégie de comparaison des résultats QUAN et QUAL a facilité leur intégration, permettant ainsi de mettre en évidence leurs similitudes, différences ou éléments de complémentarité. Les analyses de variance effectuées dans le volet QUAN de l’étude ont indiqué une amélioration significative quant au niveau de connaissances sur les TC (pT1–T0 = 0,0045; pT2–T0 = 0,0014) et au score d’attitude à l’égard des TC (pT1–T0 = 0,0472 ; pT2–T0 = 0,0139) des infirmières (n = 28) à T1 et T2. En contrepartie, seules les infirmières (n = 16/28) ayant participé à au moins 25 % des 20 séances virtuelles offertes au cours d’un curriculum de formation ont montré une augmentation significative de leur sentiment d’auto-efficacité à T2 (pT2–T0 = 0,0213). En complémentarité, l’analyse thématique réalisée dans le volet QUAL de l’étude a mis en lumière qu’au cours de leur participation, les infirmières ont davantage développé huit éléments de compétences propres à la pratique auprès de personnes atteintes de TC, et que plusieurs facteurs d’ordre personnel, interpersonnel, contextuel et organisationnel avaient facilité ou contraint ce processus. Enfin, les constats mixtes de l’étude, illustrés par six thèmes, font état de six conditions clés pour favoriser le développement des compétences et leur mise en œuvre dans la pratique: 1) des expériences de mise en pratique et de validation; 2) des relations de réciprocité et de confiance en contexte de formation interprofessionnelle; 3) un partage d’expériences similaires entre pairs et des activités de mentorat; 4) une collaboration avec des experts; 5) une attitude positive solidifiée à l’égard de l’exercice de son rôle professionnel en situation de complexité et d’adversité; et 6) des expériences d’apprentissage d’équipe, adaptées aux particularités des milieux et en partenariat avec les organisations. Cette étude a permis de mieux comprendre comment un programme de formation continue virtuel sur les TC reposant sur le modèle ECHO a contribué au développement des compétences des infirmières. Les résultats suggèrent que dans certaines conditions, le programme de formation ECHO sur les TC peut favorablement contribuer au développement des compétences des infirmières et au renouvellement de leur pratique. Des recommandations sont formulées à l’effet d’orienter la recherche vers l’évaluation des effets du modèle ECHO sur le changement des pratiques et la santé des personnes atteintes; et d’explorer des avenues de recherche visant la conjugaison de stratégies auprès des professionnels et sur le plan de l’intervention, du contexte et des organisations, pour favoriser la mise en œuvre effective des pratiques exemplaires. / People with concurrent disorders (CD) in mental health and substance use have specific and complex biopsychosocial needs, which can make their care more challenging for healthcare professionals. In Canada, as in other countries, nurses are frequently called upon to intervene with people with CD through an integrated approach to care that focuses on their specific needs. However, studies point to difficulties and barriers for nurses caused by the complexity of this care. These include feelings of being burdened or of professional failure, judgmental attitudes about or discomfort with these individuals, and lack of knowledge or skills in certain essential psychotherapeutic approaches. Moreover, there are few continuing education opportunities specifically focused on CD to support nurses and give them the tools they need to develop their skills. This article-based thesis presents the results of a study carried out to understand how, and to what extent, a virtual continuing education program on CD contributed to nurses’ competency development. The virtual continuing education program for CD was developed and implemented in 2018 at the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM), based on the Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (©ECHO) model. It is intended for all health and social services professionals in Quebec. ECHO is a model of continuing education designed to support the competency development of these professionals in the management of chronic and complex health conditions. The ECHO model is based on three social theories of learning, including the Social Cognitive Theory, the Communities of Practice Theory, and the Situated Learning Theory. The ECHO program for CD consists of 90 minute virtual educational sessions, offered bi-weekly on an ongoing basis. The sessions are guided by an interprofessional team of experts in the field of CD. Participation in the program takes place through videoconferences, during which professionals enrolled in the program are invited to present a real-life clinical situation, which is then the subject of a rich peer discussion and personalized feedback from the team of experts. Short didactic presentations on best practices in the field of CD are also presented to participants, based on their learning needs. A convergent mixed-methods design was used to collect and analyze QUANtitative and QUALitative data from a potential population of 65 nurses who participated in the ECHO CD program during its first two cycle (2018–2019 and 2019–2020). In the QUAN component, a prospective observational cohort study was conducted to measure nurses’ evolution at six months (T1) and 12 months (T2) following their entry into the program (T0) with respect to their: 1) self-efficacy; 2) participation; 3) satisfaction and acceptability; 4) knowledge; 5) attitude; and 6) perceived clinical performance. In the QUAL component, an interpretive descriptive study was conducted with 10 nurses who had participated in the ECHO program. The study explored their experiences and perceptions regarding the development of their competency and their clinical practice, as well as factors that influenced this process. Finally, a strategy of comparing QUAN and QUAL results facilitated their integration and thus highlighted their similarities, differences, or complementary elements. Longitudinal analyses of variance performed in the QUAN component of the study indicated a significant increase in the level of knowledge about CD (pT1–T0 = 0.0045; pT2–T0 = 0.0014) and in the attitude score toward CD (pT1–T0 = 0.0472; pT2–T0 = 0.139) of nurses (n= 28) at T1 and T2. In contrast, only nurses (n = 16/28) who participated in at least 25% of the 20 virtual sessions offered during a program cycle showed a significant increase in their self-efficacy score at T2 (pT2–T0 = 0.0213). In addition, the thematic analysis conducted in the QUAL component of the study revealed that, during their period of participation, nurses further developed eight competency elements specific to practice with people with CD, and that several personal, interpersonal, contextual, and organizational factors either facilitated or constrained this process. Finally, the study’s mixed-methods findings, illustrated by six themes, point to six key conditions that foster the development of nurses’ competencies and their implementation in clinical practice: 1) Opportunities for practice and validation; 2) Reciprocal and trusting relationships in an interprofessional learning environment; 3) Peer-to-peer sharing of similar experiences and mentoring activities; 4) Collaboration with experts; 5) Reinforcement of positive attitudes about performing professional role in complex and adverse situations; and 6) Learning experiences that are team-based, tailored to the setting specifics and receive organizational support. This study provides a better understanding of how a virtual continuing education program for CD, based on the ECHO model, contributed to nurses’ competency development. The results suggest that under certain conditions, the ECHO program for CD can contribute positively to the development of nurses’ competencies and the renewal of their clinical practice. Recommendations are made in two areas: first, to direct research toward evaluating the impact of the ECHO model on practice change and health outcomes; and, second, to explore research avenues for combining strategies among professionals and with regard to intervention, context and organizations, to support effective implementation of best practices.