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Evidence suggests that people with mental illness experience discrimination by being stigmatised both by the general public and by healthcare professionals. The experience of stigma may result in a delay in seeking professional help, loss of self-esteem and is a serious inhibitor to recovery and social inclusion. Stigma and discrimination are pervasive and despite a number of UK based campaigns, there appears to be no reduction in prevalence. This research compared public attitudes towards mental illness and the mentally ill with mental health service users' perceptions of stigma, identified perceptions of stigma by mental health service users, quantified and qualified these perceptions alongside reported accounts of being stigmatised and made recommendation for strategies to reduce the stigma experienced by people with mental illness. A cross-sectional survey was undertaken and involved the use of a 35-item attitude scale, employed with 132 members of the public and 132 self-selecting service users. Semi-structured interviews and Personal Construct Psychology Repertory Grid techniques were employed with subsets of the sample. Qualitative data was subjected to Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Quantitative data was analysed using inferential statistical tests and Principal Component Analysis. The perception of stigma amongst service users was relatively high and appeared to be pervasive. Male service users reported higher perceptions of stigma than females. The combination of being stigmatised by mental health professionals and the general public appeared to result in self stigma and social exclusion. Recommendations include addressing the causes and mechanism of stigmatisation, the inclusion of service users' perspectives in research and raising awareness, amongst mental health professionals, on how their practice may impact on service users. Further research should address why there is a higher perception of stigma amongst male service users.

This thesis examines the ways in which development actors respond to and interpret a Rights-Based Approach (RBA) to development. It draws on a case study undertaken over a period of more than two years in Pakistan. The central research vehicle is a capacity-building process on RBA involving around 300 development professionals. The thesis examines the different responses to and understandings of RBA emerging in the case study, whether there are indications of changes in thinking and practice, and how the analysis fits with existing ideas about rights and development. Analysis draws on an ethnographic perspective and on participant observation, questionnaires, interviews and a range of tools, within the RBA process and from the wider social development field. It is argued that organisations increasingly aim to operationalise RBA through more inclusive, participatory development which enables the claiming of rights and promotes accountability for their fulfilment. One strand of RBA emphasises implementation of a universalising legal framework; another turns to more consciously political processes of struggle for, and institutional responses to, people's claims. The strands reflect a tension that runs through both the fieldwork and examined literature, between formal, centralist, and pluralist, actor-oriented approaches. Adopting one or the other of the two approaches has profound implications for what is 'seen' in development. The thesis shows that, depending on the approach taken, relations in the private sphere are either shut out or exposed, and the operation of power either hidden or revealed. Actors' responses to RBA are absorbed into, and used within, underlying debates on social relations and social and political change. In a Muslim context, responses lead people to confront sacrosanct certainties about human organisation and relations with authority. This is seen most vividly through gender relations, which are used both as a central expression, and a protector, of a particular construction of power. A formal, centralist treatment of RBA tends to reinforce existing relations through which rights are 'given' and 'received'. The thesis case study shows that, conversely, a pluralist, actor-oriented approach is more process-centred and places more emphasis on rights being 'made'. This, in itself, signals a change in actors' roles. It is argued that the energy of RBA lies in transformations in actors and in development relationships, rather than in achievement of bounded development outputs. Significant impacts, amongst a minority of responses to RBA, grow out of actors seizing more active, politicised roles in development, despite depoliticised donor approaches.

There has been an increasing amount of investment in Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) interventions in developing countries under the premise of accelerating the process of social, economic and political development. These interventions are usually driven by the symbolic power of ICTs which signify progress and upon which the governments of developing countries try to draw to modernise the functioning of the state and to further enhance public service delivery to citizens. However, in this thesis it is argued that the actions and events that lead to the design and implementation of ICT4D tend to be politically motivated because ICT4D are simply interventions used by powerful actors and institutions to achieve their goals. These powerful actors include international donor agencies, politicians, top bureaucrats and private entities. In addition, it is argued that, due to these politically motivated agendas, ICT4D projects tend to be implemented in a top-down fashion and within an economic development perspective that appears to isolate the concerns of the country itself and the wellbeing of its citizens. In an attempt to try and redress social exclusion and imbalance, the capability approach drawn from the work of Amartya Sen (1999) stresses the enhancement of human capabilities and the moral aspects of development. Theoretically, the study is based on the key concepts of Sen’s Capability Approach. However, Lukes’s (1974) concepts of power are also drawn upon to address the limitation of the capability approach in addressing the concept of power. The research questions guiding this thesis are as follows: (1) How do the underlying motivations of different actors drive the design and implementation of ICT4D initiatives in developing countries? (2) How can researchers usefully conceptualise the relationship between ICT and development given the complexities in which ICT4D initiatives are undertaken? What conceptual framework could help theorise the complex relationship between ICT and development? Epistemologically, the study was conducted by following an interpretive research approach. The research was carried out in two states of Nigeria, Abuja and Plateau, and took place during the period of 2010-2011. The case-study centres on the initiation and implementation of the Computerised Electricity Management System (CEMS). Empirically, data collection techniques include 65 individual interviews, field observations and document analysis. The following are key findings of this thesis: ICT4D interventions are a complex process shaped at two levels. At the international level, they are shaped by donor agendas such as privatisation, and at the national or local level they are shaped by political and private interests. These agendas and interest are driven by powerful actors such as international donor agencies that often impose such interventions as a condition of aid, politicians who often use such interventions as campaign tools, and other top public and private actors who often use such interventions for personal gain. Hence, the beneficiaries of these projects usually have no say in the design of ICT4D projects but are rather forced to accept these interventions. Corruption is a major obstacle that hinders the expected ICT4D contributions in terms of individual opportunities and freedoms of living better lives inscribed in ICT4D interventions. Corruption exists as a “network” involving different actors present at three levels of ICT4D projects, namely the design, implementation and usage stages. Viewed from this perspective, the findings of this study show that international donor agencies, politicians, public bureaucrats and private entities are equally responsible for promoting corrupt practices in the context of ICT4D interventions. Theoretically, this thesis progresses the operationalisation of the capability approach (CA) by encapsulating the central aspect of the approach and Lukes’s (1974) concept of power. This is an innovative way of operationalising the capability approach by addressing its limitations in explaining the notion of power; the study thereby contributes to the field of IS using the capability approach and expanding the scope of theoretical analysis of contemporary ICT4D studies. Practically, to make the relationship between ICT and development more effective in meeting broader development goals, it is necessary for government policies to move beyond the mere provision of technology to also concentrate on the cultural, institutional, social and political aspects in ensuring the effective use of ICT resources, which should serve to improve people’s opportunity to participate more in social, political and economic activities.

OBJECTIVES: The anti-vaccination movement is prevalent in today's media with claims which continue to create feelings of fear and trepidation in the minds of many parents. The C.A.S.E. Approach (Corroboration, About Me, Science, Explain/Advise) is a method ofcommunication to be used in formulating meaningful, rapid responses to parents hesitant to vaccinating their children. This DNP project assessed the effects of a C.A.S.E. Approach learning module on family nurse practitioner (FNP) students' perceived levels of knowledge and self-efficacy regarding vaccination discussion with vaccine hesitant parents (VHPs). METHODS: This DNP project used a pretest-posttest design to measure the effects of the C.A.S.E. Approach training intervention on both knowledge and self-efficacy levels of FNP students. Fourteen students participated in this study. Each took the 20-question pretest C.A.S.E. Approach Questionnaire, then participated in the C.A.S.E. Approach learning module,and finished by repeating the questionnaire as a posttest following the intervention. The questionnaire was designed using four-item Likert questions scored 1 (strongly disagree) to 4(strongly agree), wherein higher scores reflected better understanding and self-efficacy in the C.A.S.E. Approach. Students were recruited via an online classroom format within a nursing course offered at the University of Arizona: Nursing 612, Introduction to Pediatrics. All testing and module information was accessed online and questionnaire responses were stored at Qualtrics.com, also online. RESULTS: Students' posttest scores following the intervention of the C.A.S.E. Approach learning module were significantly higher than pretest scores. Perceived knowledge (p< 0.001)of the C.A.S.E. Approach increased more significantly than did perceived self-efficacy (p =0.001) of the C.A.S.E. Approach following the module. Mean test scores increased on average 14.29 points in perceived knowledge of the C.A.S.E. Approach following the module, and 7.93 points for perceived self-efficacy following the module. CONCLUSION: Key findings included an observed increase in participating students' perceived knowledge regarding the C.A.S.E. Approach as well as an observed increase inparticipating students' perceived self-efficacy in using the C.A.S.E. Approach. There was strong statistical evidence (p≤0.05) to suggest the learning module increased student knowledge andself-efficacy regarding vaccine discussion.

It was the purpose of the present study to compare the effect of intraperitoneal injections of the following drugs on a conditioned approach-avoidance response in mice. These drugs were epinephrine and nor-epinephrine.

The concept of accessibility (hereafter “accessibility”) encapsulates the relationships between the availability of opportunities; an individual's ability to access, engage with and ‘benefit' from such opportunities, and; the problem of social exclusion. However, while “improving accessibility” has been a policy objective in the United Kingdom since 1997, an emphasis on economic and environmental considerations at the expense of social considerations has become a cause for concern. This thesis helps address that concern by exploring why and how accessibility should and could be made more directly relevant to people's everyday lives; and by proposing a form of and an approach to the implementation of accessibility that supports the provision of social interventions, irrespective of the origin and scale of the same. Consequently, this thesis critically reviews extant ideas of accessibility and redefines the concept using Amartya Sen's Capabilities Approach. It then explores the operationalization of that redefined concept through an action research case study in North-East Scotland. Finally, it examines the potential role of digital information and communication technology (ICT) in managing the accessibility related data needed to support decision taking in providing social interventions. The key findings are: (1) the capabilities approach enables the redefinition of accessibility as a holistic, more socially representative and agent centric concept; (2) that definition could be usefully related to the concept of social exclusion through the notion of risk; (3) this emerging theory and practise of accessibility requires further development to achieve broader acceptance; (4) that notwithstanding the philosophical arguments underpinning action research, the participation of ‘local' people in research can build stronger, more informed and productive (research) relationships, and; (5) the use of digital ICT is central to realising the full potential of accessibility.

Current theoretical insights into firm internationalisation have mainly been established from research on firms originating from developed countries, with a strong focus on the manufacturing sector. Studies have recently begun to examine the internationalisation of emerging market firms, the international growth of SMEs, and service firm internationalisation, and a range of theories have been employed to gain understanding in these areas. This study examines internationalising small service frims from an emerging market, whose location-intensity makes them a rare type of firm for whom internationalisation might appear to be a counter-intuitive strategy. This study seeks to understand the internationalisation motives, enablers, and paths of location-intensive food service SMEs from the emerging Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It asks why, what and how to location-intensive food service SMEs from emerging markets internationalise? The aims is to provide a deeper understanding of firm internationalisation by examining a group for whom the purpose and methods of internationalisation appears to be obscure. To do this, the thesis introduces a more comprehensive account of firm internationalisation by identifying the three interrelated aspects of internationalisation, which are presented as motives, enablers and paths. This is followed by a review of the mainstream internationalisation theories and perspectives, before revealing important findings that have emerged from previous internationalisation research separately on the emerging markets, SMEs and services and these are drawn together into an overall research framework. The research method balances deductive and inductive approaches. It recognises existing research an theoretical frameworks, but allows for new themes to emerge inductively from the data. A multiple case study was adopted, with qualitative data collected through interviews with owners and top managers of purposefully selected case firms. Industry experts were also interviewed and relevant documents were reviewed to achieve triangulation and minimise bias. Data was explored and thematically analysed by coding into the pre-existing categories suggested by the conceptual framework, and this allowed new findings and themes to emerge. This exploratory study revealed a number of concepts that shaped a coherent approach to the interrelated aspects of internationalisation. Perspectives found in emerging market MNE literature are extended and offer useful insights for location-intensive service SMEs from emerging markets but other important themes emerged from the findings itself. the study suggests that asset augmenting motives, strategic and entrepreneurial enablers and outward and inward linked paths are important when explaining the internationalisation of these firms. These firms have strategic motives of increasing their organisational legitimacy in their home market primarily due to the entrance of well-established MNEs and consumer perceptions. The strategic entrepreneurship paradigm captures many of the internationalisation enablers of the case study firms, specifically the entrepreneurs' role in simultaneous opportunity seeking (either recognition or creation), and advantage seeking behaviour through research building. The paths pursued by the firms are found to be both outwardly and inwardly linked, in a way closely associated with Luo and Tung's (2007) springboard perspective. Finally, the case firms' internationalisation paths reflect a deviation from the born-again global viewpoint first presented by Bell et al (2001). This study advocates that emerging market service firms need to implement and coordinate a number of strategies simultaneously to upgrade their resources, due to the entrance of established foreign MNEs. This implies that foreign MNEs should recognise their own resource combinations that represent real value to local firms, and therefore re-examine whether further standardisation over adaption is better suited when entering certain host markets. This thesis highlights the importance of impression management to complement legitimacy in consumer-centred industries, and this is suggested as a rich avenue for future enquiry. Future research might also test the theoretical contributions made her, especially concerning the new motives, enablers and paths identified in this study.

The study explored maternal and paternal attachment, taking a multidimensional approach, in relation to adolescent self-harm. Based on adolescents’ perception of their mothers and fathers availability, anger, and empathy, we examined what contribution of attachment was most predictive of self-harm separately and simultaneously. The sample included 564 Canadian high school students in grade 8 to 12. The quantitative survey was conducted on computers, and was from a three year longitudinal study, using the second and third annual assessments. Cross-sectionally, the results suggested low parental availability, anger toward mothers, and low empathy toward fathers to be related to self-harm. Longitudinal analysis did not support the hypotheses. In sum, attachment to mothers and fathers both contributed to the understanding of adolescent self-harm.

Le travail de recherche qui suit vise à l’obtention d’une méthodologie opératoire propre à faire évoluer la culture organisationnelle d’une firme dans le domaine de l’activité inventive, en particulier en opérant un transfert culturel à partir du monde académique. Il s’agit de construire un procédé de recueil et d’explicitation des connaissances inventives ayant abouti à une conception nouvelle, puis à exploiter en interne les résultats de ce premier procédé en appliquant ceux-ci à un second procédé ayant la dimension d’un apprentissage organisationnel. Le dispositif expérimental présenté a visé à réaliser la validation des hypothèses formulées. L’étude de cas dans notre organisation a permis de concrétiser, sur la base du bilan de l’évolution temporelle du patrimoine intellectuel inventif, l’approche de la créativité stimulée par les connaissances dans un cadre limité à trois domaines de connaissance et où l’on vise une innovation incrémentale. Ce mécanisme met en jeu individuellement et collégialement un ensemble d’acteurs impliqués dans l’inventaire préalable du patrimoine intellectuel inventif et dans son évolution stratégique au sens de l’organisation. En outre, ce travail introduit une vision peu commune de l’activité de R & T d’une organisation industrielle, vision où l’approche par la connaissance non contextuelle se substitue aux approches contextuelles usuelles par produits et services. Cette méthodologie opératoire s’appuie sur une approche conceptuelle de la créativité appliquée à la création de connaissances inventives. Cette création de connaissances est interprétée comme une mutation épistémologique déclenchée par la nature profondément paradoxale de la créativité. Le (futur) créateur doit porter en lui l’essence d’une oeuvre constituant la future création, la créativité lui permettant d’identifier cette essence par abstraction et l’inventivité lui permettant de donner performativement une Forme à cette abstraction. La mise au jour de liens puissamment opératoires entre des domaines peu mis en regard jusqu’alors, ceux de la Créativité/Inventivité, du Patrimoine Intellectuel et de l’Ingénierie des Connaissances fournit de solides fondations à l’approche conceptuelle de la création de connaissances inventives, ainsi qu’à de nombreuses perspectives de recherches supplémentaires. / The following research work aims at getting an operational methodology able to make firm’s organizational culture progress in the inventive activity field, especially through a cultural transfer from academic world. The point is first building a process gathering and making explicit inventive knowledge which succeeded in a new design. Then, results coming out of this first process are applied to a second process featuring organizational learning. We described an experimental plan dedicated to the validation of the research hypotheses that we formulated. The case study based on our own organization was the opportunity to get a first operational validation of Knowledge-based innovation method applied to a 3-knowledge domain configuration for incremental innovation. Creativity stimulation was operated through the time-evolution synthesis of intangible inventive intellectual corpus. This mechanism both individually and collectively involves numerous actors already solicited for the preliminary inventory of inventive intellectual corpus and for its strategic evolution according to the firm.Moreover, this work brings an usual view on industrial R & T activity, where non contextual knowledge approach is substituted to conventional contextual approach bases on products. This operational methodology is based on a conceptual approach of creativity applied to the generation of inventive knowledge, which is seen as an epistemological mutation triggered by the most paradoxical nature of creativity. The (future) creator must house in himself the essence of intellectual work which will be the future creation: creativity allows him to identify this essence by abstraction and inventivity allows him to performatively give a Form to this abstraction. By revealing strongly operative links between poorly linked domains(Creativity/Inventivity, Intellectual Corpus, Knowledge Management), solid foundations are brought to the conceptual approach of inventive knowledge generation and to numerous perspectives of extra research.