Art therapy research studies neglect the description of practice. A literature review revealed that art therapists narrowly rely on self-reported case studies to build theory, but that approach tends to result in a description of the therapist's intention rather than the actions they undertook. Comparable forms of psychological therapy have constructed descriptions of practice from observational research but this method has been relatively underused by art therapists. The present study used observation to build a description of practice of how art therapists interacted with service users and their artworks in a mentalization-based art therapy group for people diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Three fifteen minute video edited sequences of in vivo art therapy sessions were viewed by focus groups who described what they observed. Because the study assumed a social constructionist epistemology, focus groups were chosen to represent a range of service users, psychological therapists, art therapists and the treating art therapists' perspectives. A modified grounded theory approach was used to analyse transcripts from those focus groups which resulted in two core conceptual categories. The first proposed that when art therapists demonstrated their engaged attention, it supported a more reliable therapeutic interaction. The second, conversely, proposed that when the art therapists gave the appearance of passivity, it exacerbated dismissive interactions between group members and with artworks. This added new theoretical concepts to art therapy group literature. However, that theory was not tested in the present study.

I rapporten undersöks brukandet av engelska med NATO-standard inom den svenska militärens marina verksamheter. Anställda inom olika organisationer har intervjuats om hur det parallella brukandet av engelska med vanliga arbetsuppgifter påverkar deras förmåga att verka till önskad effekt. De intervjuade vittnar alla om en kännbar problematik gällande hur språket ska användas enligt gällande direktiv och att många problemen berör; hur språket påverkar verksamheten gällande stress, ger upphov till kommunikationsproblem, uppgifters tidsåtgång ökar och att tolkningssvårigheter uppstår, även om deras personliga arbetsuppgifter inte alltid påverkas direkt. Även möjligheter till att göra karriär påverkas negativt när språklig kompetens prioriteras och sätts mot yrkeskompetens, vilket riskerar att över tid ge en oerfarnare organisation när äldre medarbetare ej besitter samma språkliga kompetens. Olika förslag ges för hur man ska hantera engelska inom verksamheten i framtiden. / The report covers a study of the usage of English with NATO-standard within the Swedish Military’s Marine Force and Navy. Employees within different organizations have been interviewed regarding the parallell usage of the english language combined with their every-day working tasks and how the language is affecting their ability to keep on operating at a desirable level. All the interviewees have noticed a wide range of problems regarding how the language should be used according to their directives, that the problems are mainly concerning how the language is affecting their levels of stress when it creates communication problems, interpretation difficulties and makes ordinary tasks require more time to finish, even though their personal tasks might not always be affected directly. Carrier possibilities are also affected negatively, when language proficiency is prioritized over working experience and general competence, which over time could lead to a less experienced organization. A number of suggestions is given regarding how the language should be viewed upon in near the future.

The present research programme sought to further understanding of the neurophysiological mechanisms that underlie the effects of music on exercise. Five original experiments were conducted using a wide range of psychophysical, psychological, physiological, and psychophysiological techniques. The results of the first study indicated that music partially reallocates attention towards task-unrelated thoughts (i.e., external dissociation), suppresses the amplitude of low-frequency waves in the brain, and enhances task performance. The findings of the second study indicated that music can have a negative effect if delivered during the execution of highly-demanding cognitive-motor tasks. In such instances, the right parietal regions of the brain activate in response to the presence of auditory distractors and prevent task performance from being compromised. The third study shed new light on the neural control of working muscles and indicated that music has the potential to reduce the frequency of electrical outputs emitted to the musculature and reduce the communication between the central motor command and adjacent regions. The fourth study of this research programme was conducted in an ecologically valid environment, wherein participants walked at self-paced speeds in the presence of different auditory stimuli. The results of the fourth study indicated that music elicits more positive affective responses and up-regulates beta waves to a greater degree than no-music conditions. Finally, the fifth study of this thesis made use of functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore the brain regions that activate in response to exercise and music. The results of this final study revealed that the left inferior frontal gyrus is highly active when individuals execute part-body exercises with music. The present research programme provides a neurophysiological basis for the use of music in exercise settings. The findings presented herein support the use of music as a valuable tool to explore more complex psychophysiological phenomena such as attention, affect, and fatigue.

Section A explores the theoretical underpinnings of the four concepts included within the umbrella term ‘falls-related psychological concerns.’ These are fear of falling, falls-related self-efficacy (FSe), balance confidence and outcome expectancy. It goes on to examine the empirical literature on psychological factors associated with falls-related psychological concerns, and the limited literature exploring how the psychological factors mediate between falls-related psychological concerns and falls. A model of falls-risk is presented to consider these mediating roles. The clinical and research implications of the review findings are considered. Section B reports an empirical study, which explored cognitive coping responses employed by community-dwelling older people to manage their falls-related psychological concerns. It explored if these coping responses mediate the relationship between falls-related psychological concerns and falls. Correlation and regression analyses were employed to explore the relationships between these variables. Robust analysis was conducted using bootstrapping, and a bootstrapped mediation analysis, based on Baron and Kenny’s (1986) model was employed. The study concluded that FSe and falls were strongly associated, and ‘self-controlling’ coping was found to be a partial mediator of this relationship. Study limitations, theoretical and clinical implications, and suggestions for further research are provided.

There is a dearth of literature examining mothers’ experiences of mothering in the context of domestic violence (DV), and their perception both of the difficulties they face with regard to parenting their children, and how their own relational history influences their parenting. This research utilised Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to understand the experiences of seven women living in refuge, and their perceptions of how their relationships with their children had been impacted by the domestic violence. Four super ordinate themes emerged: the perceived influences of their own childhood experiences; transition; relationship to the individual child or children, and emotional regulation and trauma in the mother-child relationship. The findings have clinical implications for therapists and agencies working with mothers transitioning out of DV relationships, and highlight the importance of providing resources as well as respecting and reinforcing women’s personal agency. These findings add to the emergent literature on the attachment relationship within the DV context.

Investigating the experience of life after a suicide attempt, and understanding how people find meaning and go on living, is important for developing appropriate responses. This study explored the unique lived experience of life after surviving a suicide attempt. Seven adults were interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule. Interviews were transcribed and subjected to an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Four themes emerged, each with subthemes: relationship to suicide (the ongoing-ness of suicide, in-between-ness), relationship to healing (proceeding differently, freedom to heal, being regarded), relationship to self (encountering oneself, authentic being), and relationship to life (living with meaning, connectedness and belonging, curiosity and uncertainty). An overall theme of transformation emerged from the analysis. The opportunity for transformation can be experienced as ongoing crisis and can lead to deeper personal meaning if facilitated appropriately. Having meaning and purpose in life were experienced as essential to living. It is recommended clinical psychologists, and others, be prepared for the unpredictability of transformation and adapt existing practices where needed.

Syftet med denna pilotstudie var att undersöka hur mycket stress, barn med hörselnedsättningar upplever i sina matematikstudier jämfört med barn med normala hörtrösklar. I studien undersöktes även skillnader i hur barn med hörselnedsättningar upplever matematik som ämne jämfört med barn med normala hörtrösklar. Metodologiskt har studien genomförts som en enkätstudie, där deltagarna är barn i åldrarna 10 till 15 år, deltagarna har fått skatta hur väl de anser att påståenden stämmer överens med deras upplevelse på en skala mellan 0 och 100 (se appendix B och C). I studien undersöktes även skillnader i upplevelse av matematik mellan könen. Detta för att kunna relatera till tidigare forskning utförd av OECD (2016) med data från 2015 samt OECD (2019) där flickor presterar marginellt bättre matematiskt än pojkar i Sverige.   Resultatet av studien är att inga signifikanta skillnader mellan grupperna kunde påvisas.

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This thesis explores the interaction between sleep and burnout in the treatment of poor sleep. Sleep isvital for overall health and recovery from daily life demands, while stress is closely related to sleepdisruptions. Chronic insomnia can develop from sleep disturbances caused by stress. Burnout,characterized by emotional exhaustion, physical fatigue, and cognitive weariness, is a prevalentconsequence of chronic stress. Sleep quality is greatly influenced by various factors and has a significantimpact on overall well-being. This study investigates how sleep quality and burnout at baseline of ashort, student-led, group treatment, affect sleep quality as a treatment outcome. It hypothesizes thathigher stress and poorer sleep at baseline would predict unchanged or impaired sleep qualityimmediately after treatment, and that poor sleep and burnout would individually have a positiverelationship with sleep as a treatment outcome. The data for this study is obtained from a sleepintervention program conducted by students from the Master's Program in Clinical Psychology at UmeåUniversity in collaboration with Region Västerbotten. The participants completed questionnairesassessing their background information, stress levels, burnout, and sleep quality at baseline and aftertreatment. The findings showed no interaction effects between sleep and burnout but indicate thatpatients with poorer sleep at intake may not benefit from the treatment program whereas high burnoutdoes not affect the treatment outcome. The short, student-led, group treatment does not seem tobenefit people with severe sleep problems.

De psykiska besvären fortsätter kontinuerligt att öka i Sverige. Begreppen självmedkänsla, autenticitet och tydlighet i självkonceptet har visat på motståndskraft emot psykiska besvär såsom oro, ångest och stress i tidigare studier. Därav uppkom intresset att undersöka huruvida det kan föreligga samband mellan begreppen och dess delskalor. Studien syftar till att undersöka eventuella samband mellan självmedkänslans delskalor, tre viktiga aspekter av autenticitet samt självkonceptets tydlighet. I studien ingick totalt 108 individer, 66 kvinnor och 41 män. Resultatet visade på samband mellan fem av sex delskalor från självmedkänsla och de tre viktiga aspekterna av autenticitet. Självmedkänsla visade även på ett positivt samband mot självkonceptets tydlighet. Resultatet diskuteras ur synvinkeln att självmedkänsla kan tänkas utgöra en psykologisk grundtrygghet vilket underlättar för individen att leva ut sitt autentiska jag, och därmed också kan tänkas bidra till att frambringa mer tydlighet kring individens självkoncept. Slutligen ges förslag på studier för att vidare undersöka sambanden.