No / The European RHAPSODY project sought to develop and test an online information and support programme for caregivers of individuals diagnosed with young onset dementia. The objectives were to assess user acceptability and satisfaction with the programme and to test outcome measures for a larger effectiveness study. DESIGN: A pilot randomised controlled trial in England, France, and Germany was conducted with 61 caregivers for adults with young onset Alzheimer's disease or frontotemporal degeneration. Evaluations at baseline, week 6, and week 12 assessed user acceptability and satisfaction. Use of the programme was measured from online back-end data. Qualitative feedback on user experiences was collected via semi-structured interviews. Measures of caregiver well-being (self-efficacy, stress, burden, frequency of patient symptoms, and caregiver reactions) were explored for use in a subsequent trial. RESULTS: Participants logged in online on average once a week over a 6-week period, consulting approximately 31% of programme content. Seventy percent of participants described the programme as useful and easy to use. Eighty-five percent expressed intent to use the resource in the future. Reductions in reported levels of stress and caregivers' negative reactions to memory symptoms were observed following use of the programme. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicated that the RHAPSODY programme was acceptable and useful to caregivers. The programme may be complementary to existing services in responding to the specific needs of families affected by young onset dementia. Distribution of the programme is underway in England, France, Germany, and Portugal.

In this study an ecosystematic approach to sports coaching is forwarded. This approach is illustrated using the analogy of an ecology of ideas. Ideas informing the life span of a coach within an elite team are explored. The researcher engaged four subjects in conversations the life span of a coach in an elite team. these conversations are viewed as co-constructions of realities. The coach abides within a team for a limited time. he or she enters an existing ecology of ideas, which can contribute to, or detract from, the efficacy of the coach in a team. This ecology of ideas evolves as aold meanings shift and new meanings emerge. These menings are explored in this disertation. An awareness of the ecology of ideas within a team can inform the coach to perturb the ecology of ideas in a direction that is mutually qualified as successful / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical psychology)

Exploring the resilience construct is highly relevant for the field of learning disabilities. Resilience is a dynamic process of adaptation that involves interactions between a range of risk and protective factors. This research presents recent learning disability and resilience literature, focussing on the risk and protective factors in the lives of those with learning difficulties. Children with a learning disability often have associated emotional, behavioural and social difficulties that may become major obstacles to positive future outcomes. Historically little attention has been paid to the experiences of mothers of children with a learning disability and how the mother-child relationship may or may not foster the development of resilience in the learning disabled child. This research explores the issue within a qualitative framework / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Guidance and Counselling)

The Media High Council (MHC) was put in place by the 2003 constitution of the Republic of Rwanda as amended to today. As article 34 clarifies, the MHC is an independent institution which aims to address issues of media and press freedom. In the same spirit, the law number 30 /2009 of 16/9/2009 determines its mission, organisation and functioning. According to article 2 of this law, the Media High Council is responsible for protection, control and promotion of media and media professionals. Based on normative theories, qualitative methods and thematic analysis, this study has explored the policy formation of the Media High Council and how it has been balancing the seeming contradictory responsibilities of protecting and controlling media from 2007 to 2010. / Communication Science / M.A. (Communication)

This study examines how travelogues by the Russian author Anton Chekhov, an American, George Kennan and a British citizen, Harry de Windt, contributed towards establishing the image of Siberia towards the end of the 19th century, juxtaposing their individual views against the commonly perceived view of the region at the time. In examining the texts, a literary analysis is merged with elements of other approaches, through a strong thematic focus, centring on the cultural and ideological assumptions implied in the texts. The findings reveal that both native inhabitants and foreigners are capable of expressing a justifiable opinion on a locality, resulting in different versions of what is observed, from divergent points of view. Although the three writers in this study appear to support a negative view of Siberia, closer investigation show evidence of optimism about the eventual destiny of a region in a stage of transition. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M.A. (Russian)

Options and possibilities for lesbian parents have changed fundamentally since the turn of the millennium. A legal change in 2003 enabled a same-sex couple  to share legal parenthood of the same child. An additional legal change, in 2005, gave lesbian couples access to fertility treatment within public healthcare in Sweden. The present thesis focuses on families where two women share legal parenthood of their children. It aims to provide knowledge about lesbian parenting couples and their children, and to focus on the interplay between family members within lesbian families, and between family members and their surroundings. Furthermore, the thesis aims to visualize and analyse notions of heteronormativity and homonormativity in contemporary Sweden. The thesis draws on interviews with 118 parents in 61 families, and 12 children in 11 families. The participants’ stories, descriptions, reflections and discourses have been analysed using discursive psychology and thematic analysis. The thesis includes five empirical papers. Paper I focuses on encounters with healthcare professionals prior to and during pregnancy, at childbirth and during the early stages of parenthood. Paper II deals with the participants’ experiences of second-parent adoption processes. Paper III focuses on equality in parenting relations. Paper IV focuses on encounters with fertility clinics within public healthcare. Paper V highlights the children’s reflections and shows how the children talk about fathers and donors. / För lesbiska par har förutsättningarna för föräldraskap förändrats i grunden sedan millennieskiftet. År 2003 möjliggjorde en lagändring att ett barn kan ha två rättsliga föräldrar av samma kön. Ytterligare en lagändring öppnade år 2005 möjligheten för lesbiska par att få barn genom assisterad befruktning inom svensk sjukvård. I avhandlingen fokuseras familjer där två kvinnor delar det rättsliga föräldraskapet om sina gemensamma barn. Studien syftar till att bredda kunskaper om lesbiska familjeliv och fokuserar samspelet mellan familjemedlemmar såväl som samspelet mellan familjen och dess omgivning. Vidare syftar studien till att synliggöra och analysera uttryck för heteronormativitet och homonormativitet i dagens Sverige. Studien bygger på intervjuer med 118 föräldrar i 61 familjer och 12 barn i 11 familjer. Deltagarnas berättelser, beskrivningar, reflektioner och diskurser analyseras med diskursiv psykologi och tematisk analys. Avhandlingen består av fem empiriska artiklar och en kappa. I Artikel I analyseras föräldrarnas berättelser om att möta sjukvården i samband med graviditet och förlossning. Artikel II belyser deltagarnas berättelser om att genomgå en närståendeadoption. I Artikel III fokuseras hur föräldrarna pratar om jämställdhet i sina föräldraroller. Artikel IV analyserar intervjuer med föräldrar som vänt sig till svensk sjukvård för fertilitetsbehandling. I Artikel V, är det barnen som står i fokus. Studien bygger på intervjuer med tolv barn som var mellan 5 och 8 år gamla och växte upp i familjer med två mammor. I artikeln analyseras barnens beskrivningar av pappor och spermadonatorer.

This study aims to investigate young boys’ construction of gender with particular focus on their expression of empathy, caring and vulnerability. Four focus groups and four in-depth interviews were carried out with a total of 12 senior high school students aged 16-18. Using thematic analysis, five themes were identified: boys care about and comfort each other; physical contact as an expression of friendship and caring; homophobia is the problem - not sexuality; crying and managing vulnerability; and gender fluidity. This analysis makes the complexity of gender construction visible: how boys, to greater or lesser extents, express both traditionally feminine- and masculine-coded expressions. All of the boys described situations where they felt empathy and expressed caring and vulnerability. Based on these results, a critique is developed: partly against a gender-binary understanding of gender construction, and partly against the categorisation of different (masculine) identities. To facilitate a better understanding of boys’ gender construction; in relation to feeling/expressing empathy, caring and vulnerability; a model was created to show the complexity of the relationship between traditionally feminine- and masculine-coded expressions in boys’ gender construction.

This Diploma thesis deals with some aspects of four chosen Czech daily newspapers referring about the outbreak and early development of events connected with one of the latest significant global crisis - the swine flu, which had broken out in 2009. The theoretical part of the thesis deals with some characteristics of crisis and basic concepts, which might be associated with their media coverage. In the practical part, it deals with the way, how the Czech dailies covered first two weeks of spreading of the disease. At the beginning, the thesis introduces a quantitative profile of the analyzed sample and shows both physical and verbal range of it. The second part is focused on the main topics, which were chosen by all daily newspapers to refer about the swine flu. Those, which did not make it to the main thematic line presented before, are also shortly mentioned in the chapter. In the third part, the thesis follows the main motives appearing in the images that accompanied the news with the chosen topic and also discovers how the disease was "objectified". Finally, language analysis discovering some specific subjective language characteristics referring to a potential personal opinion included by individual authors, or the way how the authors dealt with the coverage of the potential future development...

L’internationalisation des entreprises est un phénomène irréversible et la globalisation économique n’est qu’une des facettes d’un phénomène de mondialisation qui touche désormais l’ensemble des activités humaines. Cette globalisation de l’économie offre aux entreprises des opportunités d’implantation et d’acquisition de parts de marchés étrangers mais semble poser des défis importants à relever à toute entreprise désireuse de s’internationaliser. En effet, l’observation des performances des entreprises exportatrices de la filière fruits et légumes d’un pays comme le Burkina Faso montre une baisse continue de la compétitivité sur le marché international depuis plusieurs années. Face à ce constat, nous nous interrogeons sur les raisons profondes de cette situation : la perte de compétitivité peut-elle s’expliquer par l’organisation et le mode de fonctionnement de la filière face aux conditions actuelles d’accès au marché ? Pour répondre à cette question, notre démarche a consisté à mobiliser la théorie de l’économie industrielle et la théorie du marketing relationnel qui ont permis de formuler 12 propositions de recherche. Ces propositions ont été soumises à l’épreuve des faits sur la base des résultats des traitements et de l’analyse des données collectées auprès d’un échantillon de 23 acteurs. Deux méthodes d’analyse ont été mobilisées pour le traitement et l’analyse des données : l’analyse thématique et l’analyse automatique de contenu à l’aide du logiciel ALCESTE. Les résultats convergents de ces deux méthodes d’analyse ont permis de conclure que la perte de compétitivité s’explique d’une part l’organisation et le mode de fonctionnement de la filière face aux conditions actuelles d’accès au marché mais surtout de facteurs liés à son environnement externe, notamment les conditions de base du pays d’origine, d’autre part. La thèse formule des recommandations d’ordre managériales et ouvre des perspectives pour des recherches futures. / Firm’s internationalisation is an irreversible phenomena and the economic globalisation is a figure of world phenomena of all human activities concern. This globalisation gives an opportunity to firms which desire to acquire a market part in foreign markets. But this situation is also an important challenge for those firms which want to get a part in the international market. Indeed, we noticed that export firms of Burkina fruits and vegetables field had a bad performance since several years. Then, we need to understand the main raisons of this situation. So our question is: doses competitiveness loss can be explained by the field organisation and working according to the market conditions access? To answer to this question, industrial and relational marketing theories are mobilized. With these theories 12 research propositions are formulated and tested. A primary data are collected with a sample of 23 actors. These data was submitted to two different data analysis methodology: the thematic analysis and ALCESTE analysis. The convergent results of these two analysis methodology premised us to conclude that the field competitiveness loss is partly due to field organisation and working and to a large extent of the basic conditions of origin country. In conclusion we propose recommendations for firm’s competitive improvement and some directions for further research.

The aim of this licentiate thesis is to examine the means of self-presentation on the websites of 18 upper secondary schools in Sweden. This empirical material may be referred to as a kind of marketing since they render a highly idealized image of schools. To some extent they exaggerate what school is about, as a way for schools to promote themselves as well as to maintain their hold on the market. Self-presentations thus play an important role in the struggle to attract prospective students and keep these enrolled. The fact that self-presentations refer to schools and not companies in general—although several schools certainly strive to define themselves as such—indicates that self-presentations are not like any other marketing practice. They can also be read as a kind of imaginative documents. In this capacity, self-presentations do not only express what school is or may be interpreted as, but foremost how it envisions itself in the future. The material underlying the study consists of a selection of excerpts that were collected from the schools' webpages at different points of time during the years 2011/2012 and 2016/2017. This allowed me to study both continuities and change in the way schools are presented online. In this study, schools' self-presentations are analyzed thematically in combination with Jason Glynos and David Howarth's so called logics approach, which has been developed out of poststructuralist discourse theory and its ontological assumptions. A logic may be understood in this case as a rule or pattern governing the way a phenomenon like school is constituted. As a research strategy, logics have helped me explore, step by step, the conditions of possibility as well as impossibility of identity-formation processes. I mainly deal with four logics that comprise the overarching principles that structure what it means to be a school: business adaptation, academization, individualization and social responsibility. The empirical study thus consisted in setting out the social, political and fantasmatic aspects of these logics—which consequently served to thematically analyze the contemporary identity-formation on schools' websites. Social aspects have been a descriptive tool to study what characterizes school as presented in the empirical material, whereas political and fantasmatic aspects refer to analytical and critical perspectives. The aim has been to illuminate not only the way schools' identities are organized but also how and why this happens – in other words, what logics do to the identity-formation of schools. Importantly, the logics in question are interrelated and work together at the same time as they 'struggle' over the significance of being a school. As I argue, the identity-formation of upper secondary schools can hence be perceived as crisscrossed by competing and complementary logics that all make certain claims as to what a school is supposed to be (or not). The main task of a traditional Swedish school has been to foster democratic members of society. The findings of my study, however, question such a general understanding. In my empirical material a self-referential meaning of school rather emerges with the purpose to produce good employees; that is, a competent work-force willing to submit to the norms and values of the corporate sector. Subsequently, the boundaries between school and the surrounding world are also increasingly loosened, as business is brought into the classroom and made a premise of learning and development in accordance with the needs and interests of the labor market. However, this replacement of a traditional school is only partial. Since schools are equally dependent on the societal tradition to appear as legitimate and credible alternatives on the educational arena they cannot wholeheartedly commit themselves to a corporate identity. Hence, self-presentations often indicate a struggle to be different enough to stand out from the host of other schools, but also to be similar enough to be considered a 'proper' school. This licentiate thesis has in common with previous studies that statements about qualification and employability measures have indeed increased. A corresponding decline of statements about active citizenship and critical thinking could not be detected – but then again, educational-political aspects confirm that a traditional school may be understood as a background against which an alternative school is formed. This is a conclusion which is consistent with the findings of previous studies on school and education policy.