In this qualitative study I explored how postgraduate psychology students treat gender in their accounts of their future profession, using a social constructionist framework. I considered how this group of future psychologists drew upon gendered accounts in three different settings in which they found themselves within the profession. These included exploring how participants constructed their own gendered identities in their narratives of how they came to be pursuing professional training in psychology; how gender featured in their accounts of therapeutic processes and interactions with clients; and finally, their reflections on gendered participation in the broader field of psychology. Interview data from two semi-structured focus group discussions with 12 postgraduate psychology students was analysed using social constructionist thematic analysis. Three main themes were identified that related to participants’ gendered accounts according to their personal, professional and more general constructions of gender, namely: 1) psychology as a profession of choice; 2) setting the scene within psychology in terms of gender, which was divided into: a) a construction of gender from the psychologists’ perspective, and b) psychologists’ construction of gender from their clients’ perspectives. The third and last main theme was 3) Increased competition for females as a consequence of women’s empowerment. This study intended to contribute to the expansion of existing literature by addressing the issue of gender and its related aspects in the field of psychology in a South African context, given the dearth of extended research conducted in developing countries so far. The findings supported those of previous studies to an extent, but mainly redressed the perspective of gender through the identification of new themes. By looking into postgraduate psychology students’ constructions of their own gendered accounts it appeared that upcoming psychologists viewed gender in complex ways, instead of typically reported notions of difference, inequality and inferiority or superiority. In this way, the benefit of understanding professional development within the field of psychology served as a valuable point of departure in understanding debates around how gender was implicated in the clientele psychologists serve. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Psychology / unrestricted

The present licentiate thesis aims to investigate students’ written reflections after reading a Kenyan short story, distant from the students’ previous experiences from a geographical, cultural and societal point of view. The study was carried out at Swedish upper secondary school with 83 16- and 17-year-old students in year one and two at a college preparatory program. After individual reading of the Kenyan short story “Treadmill love” (“Kärlek på löpande band”, Kahora, 2006/2010) the students were instructed to write down “what in the short story they took notice of”). The research questions that guide the study deal with aspects such as what themes can be identified in the students’ written reflections about the short story, what characterizes the interaction between the students and the short story, and what kind of choices connected to the teaching and learning of literature the teachers of these students face? The findings reveal a tendency to use the short story a source of factual information of society and geographical as well as cultural aspects. This may lead to a meta-perspective and suggests a critical literacy. The same students’ reading strategies tend to enhance what they consider as exotic in the text, which contributes to an imagined authenticity. At the same time, the aesthetic aspects are de-emphasized and aesthetic and literary characteristics of the text risk remaining unnoticed, The results also show how some of the students tend to define literary aspects of the text, such as choice of language, form and characters’ actions, with what they describe as “non-western” qualities. In these cases, the students move away from the text, which also tends to strengthen binary oppositions of “us and them”. A pedagogical implication of the study concerns the necessity, when reading world literature, of helping the students develop their ability to shift perspectives and observe their own subjective point of departure from a critical perspective. But equally important is the need of tools for putting focus back on fiction as an aesthetic and fictional piece of work.

Thesis (M.A. (African Languages)) --University of Limpopo, 2015. / This research ‘Nxopaxopo wa switlhokovetselo hi ku kongomisa eka tsalwa ra Swilo swa humelela’ hi KJ Ngobeni na SJ Malungana highlights what happens in schools nowadays in the era of democracy. There is lack of discipline in schools. Educators are not respected by learners. Circuit managers no longer pay visits to schools for inspection. Black people fought to dismantle separate development, racial segregation and in particular to overthrow the white minority regime commonly known as Apartheid. This research also gives the historical background of protest poetry, its characteristics and its causes. Lastly, we analyse twenty selected poems from Swilo swa humelela by K.J Ngobeni and S.J Malungana. This research consists of five chapters. Chapter one outlines the background to the research, its aim and definition of important terms used in the study. These are terms about poetry such as protest poetry, enjambment and rhetorical questions. This chapter will also present the literature review. Chapter two examines the research methodology used in the study. Explication of two types of research methods, namely qualitative and quantitative research methods are discussed. Chapter three deals with protest poetry in details, its characteristics, origin, causes and its functions. Chapter four gives a critical analysis of twenty selected poems from the book Swilo swa humelela by K.J Ngobeni na S.J Malungana. Chapter five looks at the general conclusion, which indicates the research findings and recommendations of the study.

The aim of this paper is better understanding how children think about the world and what they know about how it goes there. The ambition of the research is to find meanings that children attach to the death. One of the prerequisites of research is the assumption that images of death can not be asked directly without causing undesirable reduction of potentially rich answers. For this reason, Thematic Apperception test was elected as a tool and the children told stories to a pre-selected board. Eleven children, at the age from 9 to 10 years collaborated on the research. As a comparative sample was subjected to the same test a group of eleven young adults aged 19 to 20 years. Stories of children and adults were subsequently subjected to thematic analysis, one category was the meaning of death for actors in the story. Results of the analysis were then put into context with Klatt (1991).

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Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / In this thesis, I use gender and human rights approaches to examine and analyse the major causes of maternal mortality, which result from delay in seeking maternity care and failure to attend maternity care during pregnancy. A gender approach was used to identify and analyse inequalities that arise from belonging to one sex or from unequal power relations between sexes and how these impact on women accessing maternity care. The Human Rights approach was used to identify and analyse health system related factors that led women to delay seeking care and also failing to attend maternity care. A qualitative multiple case study methodology was followed with data analysed thematically. Findings were interpreted in the context of the International Bill of Rights, the South African Bill of Rights and International Human Rights treatises. Maternity women are unable to access maternity care because of their unmet gender equity needs, and because of maternity services that are not respecting, protecting and fulfilling their human right to access health care. A Gender-Human rights model of accessibility to quality maternity care is developed to assist health care providers in promoting availability of maternity services to health consumers. The model propositions are based on the major concepts which are: Gender equity, Women empowerment, Human rights to quality health care, Evidence Based Health Care, and Support during labour.

The aim of this paper is better understanding how children think about the world and what they know about how it goes there. The ambition of the research is to find meanings that children attach to the death. One of the prerequisites of research is the assumption that images of death can not be asked directly without causing undesirable reduction of potentially rich answers. For this reason, Thematic Apperception test was elected as a tool and the children told stories to a pre-selected board. Eleven children, at the age from nine to ten collaborated on the research. All of them attended, or just completed 3rd class in Prague's elementary schools. The research showed that in the stories of children who would still not reach the stage of abstract intellectual operations already appear phenomena such as paradox, the cycle of life, psychological causes as the reason of death, or the idea that memories of the deceased man is a "being with him "and can be a relief. So it seems that the time when developmental psychology theory replace the concrete to the abstract for some other, better reflect reality is not so far. KEYWORDS conception of death, childhood, narrative approach, TAT, thematic analysis of the story

The present thesis deals with the US strategic approach and posture to cybersecurity from a national point of view. On such a topic much has been written already, nonetheless the present work finds a degree of originality by tackling such object of analysis shifting the focus to a ideational perspective. By drawing insights from the meta-theory of Constructivism and the rich research tradition on strategic culture, the present thesis aims at understanding what kind of norms seem to be informing/mirroring what has been labelled the US "cyber strategic culture", and if it is possible to speak of a "shift", or at least track an evolution regarding them, in a historical timeframe that runs from the early 2000s up to the present days. To pursue the stated research agenda, a methodology grounded in discourse and thematic analysis is utilised, with an analytical framework centred around two opposite "thematic normative categories" (themes) called "defensiveness" and "offensiveness", each characterised by a "story" made up by three sub-themes, delineating specific strategic behaviours. A set of official strategies, all tackling cybersecurity and published during the mentioned timeframe by both the White House and the military, form the primary sources to which such methodology is applied, with particular...

Författarna till uppsatsen hade i sin kliniska erfarenhet liknande upplevelser kring en bristfällig adressering av trauma i patienters historia samt en känsla av ökande antal ADHD-diagnoser. Tankar och funderingar uppstod kring om det förelåg samband mellan dessa tillstånd och hur trauma används i den kliniska verkligheten. Det huvudsakliga syftet med denna uppsats var att undersöka upplevelsen av klinisk utredning gällande trauma och ADHD hos psykologer verksamma på BUP, samt undersöka om psykologer på BUP upplever ett eventuellt samband mellan trauma och ADHD samt om trauma förbises inom klinisk utredning till förmån för ADHD. Inom ramen för dessa frågor genomfördes åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer med psykologer verksamma på BUP vid olika regioner i Sverige. Den insamlade datan bearbetades genom tematisk analys. Resultatet redovisas genom de tre huvudteman som identifierats: Vad är trauma egentligen?; Symtomöverlapp; Att hitta eller inte hitta trauma, det är frågan. Det framkom att trauma är brett och svårdefinierat, underdiagnostiserat sett till de manualer som finns tillgängliga och tenderar att undvikas i kliniskt arbete. Resultatet visade också att ADHD troligtvis är både över- och underdiagnostiserat och är en diagnos där det inte råder samstämmighet kring etiologi. Det är också tydligt att de två tillstånden har ett omfattande symtomöverlapp och att differentieringen mellan dem är mycket problematisk. Slutsatser som dras utifrån resultatet innefattar att psykologer vid BUP dels upplever att trauma förbises vid klinisk utredning och dels att ADHD felaktigt kan tillskrivas i vissa kontexter när trauma föreligger som primär problembild för patienten. / The authors of the study had similiar experiences from their clinical work regarding an insufficient focus on trauma in patients history and a feeling that the number of ADHD-diagnosis was increasing. Questions emerged about whether there was a connection between the two conditions and how trauma is used in clinical practice. The main purpose of the study was to examine psychologists experience of clinical assessment regarding trauma and ADHD working within the child and adolescent psychiatry, as well as examining if psychologists experience a possible connection between trauma and ADHD and if trauma is overlooked in clinical assesment in favor of the ADHD-diagnosis. Eight semistructured interviews with psychologists working at child and adolescent psychiatry in Sweden was carried out. The collected data was processed through thematic analysis. It emerged that trauma has a wide understanding and is difficult to define, that it is underdiagnosed looking at the manuals available and tends to be avoided in clinical work. The findings also showed that ADHD probably is both over- and underdiagnosed and that it’s a diagnosis where there is not unanimity regarding etiology. It is also clear that these two conditions have a symtom overlap that is extensive and differentiating between the two is very difficult. Conclusions drawn from the findings include that psychologists working within child and adolescent psychiatry experience partly that trauma is overlooked in clinical assessment and partly that ADHD may be ascribed inadequately in certain contexts when the primary problem for the patient is trauma.

The goals of Swedish integration policy consist of equal rights, obligations and opportunities for all, regardless of ethnic and cultural background. However, previous research shows that there is an inequality between native Swedes and refugees in terms of living standards. In addition, it appears that there is frustration over the shortcomings of social work practice in terms of the challenges surrounding integration. From a refugee perspective on integration in Sweden, the study aims to achieve an in-depth understanding from some of those who live in the reality of integration. A thematic analysis has been carried out on secondary data to achieve the purpose of examining Syrian refugees' experiences of what is important and what constitutes an obstacle to integration. The results show that relationships with Swedes appear to be the most significant factor for feeling integrated as a refugee. Stereotypes and prejudices, lack of language skills and settlement location appears to lead to social and spatial isolation for many refugees. Experiences of a randomized system at the Swedish authorities also appears to lead to mistrust of the authorities that are set to cooperate for integration. Finally, it appears that the process of asylum and establishment entails many psychological strains, causing experiences of passivity in the integration process. Finally, the results have been analyzed in relation to previous research and the theoretical concepts of social capital, with focus on Putnam’s distinction between bonding and bridging social capital, stereotypes and prejudices. / De svenska integrationspolitiska målen utgörs av lika rättigheter, skyldigheter och möjlighet för alla oavsett etnisk och kulturell bakgrund. Det framkommer däremot i tidigare forskning att det finns en ojämlikhet mellan infödda svenskar och flyktingar vad gäller levnadsstandard. Därtill framkommer att det råder frustration över det sociala arbetets tillkortakommanden vad gäller utmaningar kring integrationen. I studien intas flyktingars perspektiv på integration i Sverige, med målet att uppnå en fördjupad förståelse från några av dem som lever i integrationens verklighet. En tematisk analys har genomförts på sekundärdata för att uppnå syftet att undersöka syriska flyktingars upplevelser om vad som är betydelsefullt samt utgör hinder i integrationen. Av resultatet framkommer att relationer till svenskar framkommer vara den mest betydande faktorn för att som flykting uppleva sig integrerad. Stereotyper och fördomar, bristande språkkunskaper samt bosättning uppges innebära en social och spatial isolering för många flyktingar. Det framkommer vidare att upplevelser av ett slumpmässigt system hos de svenska myndigheterna föranleder misstro till de myndigheter som är satta att samarbeta för integration. Slutligen framkommer att asyl- och etableringsprocessen medför flertalet psykiska påfrestningar, något som påtalas föranleda upplevelser av passivitet inför den egna integrationsprocessen. Resultatet har slutligen analyserats utifrån tidigare forskning, de teoretiska begreppen socialt kapital, med fokus på Putnams distinktion av sammanlänkande och överbryggande socialt kapital, samt stereotyper och fördomar.