Despite the burgeoning social scientific research regarding children and young people, there has been a paucity of research regarding the everyday issues and experiences of 'disabled' teenagers. This thesis presents an understanding of the encounters and experiences of teenage wheelchair users in a range of public and private leisure spaces. The thesis contributes to expanding debates surrounding the significance of difference in developing understandings of the lives of particular 'groups' of (young) people. It challenges the notion of 'wheelchair user' as a universal grouping, exploring the difference and diversity of their leisure experiences in relation to the home, transport, indoor and outdoor public leisure spaces. The study utilises a multi-method approach, tailored wherever possible to the needs of individual participants. The methods used include survey-based interviews, a photography exercise and participant-led tours. Significant emphasis is placed on the contributions of the young people themselves, as experts in their lives. The thesis presents the diversity of experiences that teenage wheelchair users encounter in those spaces used for, and designated as, leisure. Discussions centre on their enjoyment(s), disappointment(s) and the insights that they can give to the development of the everyday spaces that they frequent. A number of theoretical contributions are put forward in relation to the teenagers' use of spaces in accessing leisure, and which have wider ramifications for debates relating to geography, childhood and 'disability'. Throughout, the notion of disadvantage in the lives of the teenagers is discussed, alongside the significance of the (socially-constructed) labels 'childhood', 'disability' and 'wheelchair user'. These 'layers of disadvantage' are explained as they manifest in and through the spaces that the teenagers frequent in relation to leisure. The notion of 'deceptive access' is drawn out to explore spaces which are seemingly adapted and accessible for the generic wheelchair user, however where access is not afforded in relation to the diverse needs of the young wheelchair user. Throughout, the theme of emotion in relation to leisure is developed, situating the experiences of this group of young people in their 'present time worlds' (Sanders and Munford, 2008, p. 331), and highlighting the importance of the everyday in understanding the leisure of young people. Ultimately the significance of leisure in the here and now, rather than merely for the future good is maintained.

The ability of reading is an important part of teaching literacy and language acquisition. Reading improves the thinking ability by giving new concepts and ideas and enhances vocabulary and language which is essential in verbal communication. Because of the importance of reading, children and adolescents are encouraged to read by their parents, teachers and sometimes by national reading campaigns as an educational policy. Turkey launched a nationwide reading campaign targeting high school students in 2004, and another one aimed at primary school students in 2005 which is called the 100 Basic Literary Works reading campaign. This study investigated the reading habits of Turkish high school students. It also explored how students are influenced by family, teacher and peer group. Moreover, the study investigated the association between the students reading habits and their gender, school type and region. In addition, the study examined current efforts to encourage students to read. The study was conducted in 8 provinces and 8 districts of Turkey in 2012. The data was gathered thorough questionnaires with 2425 students from 86 high schools of 5 different types and interviews with 31 students, 15 teachers and 4 local education managers. The study found that 82.0% of young people in general read at least once or twice a week outside school for at least 30 minutes and 40.6% read every day or almost every day for leisure. It was found that females were more frequent and enthusiastic readers than males. The students from science high schools and Southern East Anatolia Region read more frequently. It was indicated that the majority of the students reported that they were aware of the 100 Basic Literary Works reading campaign but, in fact, they knew of the campaign in upper-primary school. The qualitative findings indicated that there was little awareness of the campaign in high schools. Libraries are important places to assist inculcate children s and young people s love of reading and provide free access to reading materials and sources but Turkish young people were not frequent users of libraries. Both teachers and students had concerns about lack of reading materials and poor facilities and services in public and school libraries in Turkey.

Background: Xerostomia is the subjective feeling of dry mouth and the state is because of its multifactorial character often limited to treating the symptoms that occurs instead of the causal factors. Xerostomia is a state which may affect both the oral and general health and can therefore have a negative impact on the individuals quality of life. Xerostomia was earlier defined as a state that affected old or sick people but investigations have lately showed that xerostomia also is prevalent in young healthy subjects. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of xerostomia and potential risk factors in students at School of Health Sciences in Jönköping. Methods: Students from four education programs at School of Health Sciences was asked to participate and fill out a questionnaire including background variables, standard questions of dry mouth and Xerostomia Inventory. Result: Xerostomia was found in 20% of the subjects. These had higher scores on Xerostomia Inventory compared to the subjects without xerostomia. The difference was statistically significant (p≤0,05). Conclusion: Xerostomia is a state that is prevalent in young, healthy subjects and though the state is idiopathic further investigation about its prevalence and the causal factors are needed. / Bakgrund: Xerostomi innebär subjektiv muntorrhet och då tillståndet är av multifaktoriell karaktär begränsas behandling ofta till att lindra individens besvär och symtom. Xerostomi är ett tillstånd som påverkar både individens orala och generella hälsa negativt vilket även kan leda till en nedsatt livskvalitet. Xerostomi betraktades tidigare som ett tillstånd som drabbar äldre och sjuka men senare studier har funnit en förekomst även hos unga friska individer. Syfte: Syftet var att kartlägga prevalens samt möjliga orsaksfaktorer till xerostomi hos studenter på Hälsohögskolan i Jönköping. Metod: Individer som studerade fjärde terminen vid fyra av Hälsohögskolans totalt åtta utbildningsprogram tillfrågades om att besvara en enkät som omfattade bakgrundsvariabler, standardfrågor om muntorrhet samt Xerostomia Inventory. Resultat: Studien påvisade en förekomst av xerostomi hos 20 % av studenterna. Individer med xerostomi uppvisade högre poäng på Xerostomia Inventory än individer utan xerostomi Skillnaden var statistiskt signifikant (p≤0,05). Slutsats: Xerostomi är ett tillstånd som förekommer hos unga friska individer och då tillståndet är idiopatiskt är det angeläget att fortsätta utreda dess förekomst samt potentiella orsaksfaktorer.

The purpose of this paper is to show that you can use a movie for young adults, while teaching religion and questions about life. Studies show that students want to talk more about life issues and watching movies is a good way to meet this request. This is what this study will examine and it will be related to the course goals in studying religion in high school.  A hermeneutic analysis will be used for this study and helps looking for questions about life in the Swedish movie “Jag saknar dig” (eng. I miss you). The questions for the study is: How prominent is life questions in the movie I miss you? How prominent are cognitive movie theory? (It will be explained what this means forward). The last question is about how this is related to the course plan in religious education. The theory about how movies influence people says that we decide who we want to be or understand what we dream about, while we are watching movies. Cognitive movie theory says that we are experiencing different kinds of emotions as spectators. There are three kinds of emotions that show; direct-emotions, artifact-emotions and meta-emotions. Mediazation means that we are affected of media and re-chantment says that from movies we are getting material for creating our own life questions. Ola Sigurdsson(2005) previous research means that it is important to categorize religious movies and it will help this study to understand which movies who will be suitable for studying questions about life in religious education. The hermeneutic method can be experienced as subjective in order to make their own interpretations based on the material, but in this study, I have the support of theories and because of that it makes it reliable. The conclusion of this study shows that this movie for young adults can be used as a school supplies and that almost any scene in the movie affects your emotions and shows questions about life.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / The world over, South Africa included, companies are beginning to realise that while success is measured in terms of profits and shareholder return, people and in particular, talented people drive and deliver that success. With this realisation has begun the war for talent, whereby companies now compete with each other for the best people in the pool, knowing that these talented individuals will drive sustainable success both in business ventures and over competitors in the marketplace. With this swiftly becoming the status quo, the strategic role played by human resources (HR) becomes integral to organisational success as a major facet of company strategy now needs to focus on human capital and talent management strategies in order to attract and retain the best talent to deliver business success. With Generation Y professionals entering the workforce by the masses, companies and their HR departments swiftly need to identify effective ways to best engage with Generation Y employees. As Generation Y is the only growing generational population in the current workforces of employers, the need to develop strategies, procedures and policies to address their career needs, desires and wants is becoming increasingly crucial. Companies seeking to be sustainably successful in the long-term need to begin to identify what will need to be incorporated into their current practices to appeal to Generation Y in order to motivate, attract and retain Generation Y talented professionals. While Companies acknowledge that talent is a major driver of business success and sustainability, this acknowledgment does not automatically lead to the development of strategies focused on facilitating Generation Y as the main population in the workforce. Currently little research and literature exists regarding Generation Y career needs and wants. Compounding this is the fact that many companies design and implement HR strategies aimed to address the career needs and wants of older Generations, who are either already exiting or beginning to exit the workforce

This research is an exploratory study of the issues and problems encountered by Young People with multiple disabilities when they leave school and for whom formal post-school service provision is relevant within the Scottish setting. The research problem is tackled by a qualitative and an empirically grounded study with a central focus was on the way in which decisions about the nature and range of services are made and their potential for making a major impact on quality of life. From conception, the study was innovatory and it was necessary to combine methods of data collection and to analyse in ways that had previously not been used in the field. The design and methods are eclectic with an emphasis on in-depth case-studies. The research process began with the development of a functional classification used to define the sub-population. This was followed by an investigation of the structure and organisation of the Future Needs Assessment process which is central to the planning of formal post-school provision. together with Carer perspectives and opinions of the process. The next phase was to examine the nature and range of formal post-school service provision in relation to the issue of quality of life and in the meeting of developmental needs. Discussion then took place with the Young People and the Carers about their judgements of post-school provision and 'ideal' provision. The final phase developed recommendations on the practical application of, the research findings. The major research findings, derived from the fieldwork evidence. indicate that there is a radical change in emphasis in the transition from school to adult-based formal service provision which result in the limitation of services and of personal choice. There is a major disjunction in the quality of life experienced by the Young People. The Future Needs Assessment process fails to adequately plan for the transition to formal post-school provision which fails to meet individual personal and social development. The major recommendations, derived from the research, state that the Future Needs Assessment process must play a more effective role in identifying the post-school needs of the School-leavers to ensure that formal post-school provision and delivery planning is individually-centred and 'needs-led'. In addition, there should be greater choice of provision which follows the 'independent /enabling /empowering model and which will offer the School leaver the potential to experience a high quality of life.

published_or_final_version / Dentistry / Master / Master of Dental Surgery

The purpose of this study was to examine the claim that 70 to 90% of youth ministry participants abandon the church after high school graduation. Chapter 1 examines the current statistics related to the church retention of young adults. The research questions used to guide the study are introduced. In order to accomplish the goal of the study, Shields' Youth Ministry Retention Questionnaire (YMRQ) was used to compare the youth ministry commitment of Christian high school graduates with their current levels of church involvement. Chapter 2 reviews the critical literature to this study. The issues of the role of church and the calling for Christians to be together, understanding who is defined as a young adult, and Protestant schooling in America are explored. Chapter 3 describes the process by which the data for this study was gathered. Graduates from the four types of Christian high schools (covenantal independent, covenantal church-related, open-admission independent, and open-admission church-related) were invited to participate in the YMRQ survey. All of the respondents were graduates of ACSI member schools. Chapter 4 reports the analysis of the data from the completed surveys. The data was analyzed using Chi-Square tests and ANOVA tests to determine the statistical significance between the two variables. For all levels of youth ministry commitment, these young adults maintained a low to high level of involvement with a church after graduating high school. Bridging the language of statistics and the language of the practice of youth ministry, a clearer retention rate of Christian school graduates is 82.9%. This percentage represents those students in the moderate and high levels of church engagement as young adults. The final chapter presents the conclusions based on the findings of this study. Any variances in the data and the reasons for their existence are also explored. Based on the results of the research, applications are made for Christian schooling and local church youth ministry.

This thesis aims to investigate to what extent the centrality of religion influences the existential aspects of an individual’s meaning-system. To do this I used a meaning-system framework and a qualitative approach in which I gathered information through a questionnaire based on the Centrality of the Religious Meaning System Scale and by conducting 8 semi-structured interviews with young adults in Uppsala, Sweden. The analysis of these interviews was implemented through an abductive method. The theoretical perspective is based on the concept Global meaning and the General attribution theory. My conclusion is that those participating in the study describe their meanings differently depending on their religious meaning-system. The thesis also shows that the religious interpretations to a large degree were actualized by situational and dispositional factors. This suggest that the religious attributions were made to meet the participants need for meaning, control, and self-esteem. Finally, the thesis indicates that the centrality of one’s religion appears to inform the religious meaning-system, as well as, functions as a dispositional factor. Thus, this thesis suggests that the centrality of one’s religion can be an influential factor in how religious meaning is constructed regarding existential questions.

Decisions made during the transitional age of 18-30, may influence the health and well being of individuals for many years to come. Perhaps more than any earlier life stages, emerging adults have the potential to explore new opportunities, develop their own autonomy, and play a more conscious role in shaping their own development, while overcoming difficulties that may have contributed to their vulnerability in an earlier period of life or the present. To date, few studies have focused on the positive or health promoting, psychosocial factors that contribute to future orientation, particularly among emerging adults. Guided by the Theory of Possible Selves and Social Capital Theory, this quantitative study explored the contribution of perceived discrimination, hope, and social connectedness to future orientation, using a web-based survey. The present study found that perceived racial/ethnic discrimination and social connectedness were significantly and hope was marginally related to the future orientation of 151 emerging adults who were current or former members of the AmeriCorps program in the state of New Mexico. The findings remained significant after controlling for race/ethnicity. Social connectedness served as a resource factor in its association between perceived racial/ethnic discrimination and the outcome of future orientation. Social connectedness also served a protective function, thereby moderating the association between perceived racial/ethnic discrimination and future orientation. Findings suggest that further examination of the potential buffering effects that may offset the negative effects of a risk, such as perceived racial/ethnic discrimination, is warranted. Attention should be given to other potential moderating and/or mediating effects in the relationship between perceived racial/ethnic discrimination and future orientation in subsequent studies. Given the uniqueness of the sample in this study, future researchers should continue to examine populations participating in programs such as AmeriCorps. Results from the current study may have important implications for the value of programs that aim to build civic engagement, social connectedness, and leadership among its members and the communities that are served. / text