Bakgrunn: Forekomsten av overvekt og fedme er økende i de nordiske landene og iverden forøvrig. Utviklingen er bekymringsfull fordi den bringer med seg uhelse og alvorlig sykdom. Ulike virkemidler er tatt i bruk for å løse problemene forårsaket av overvekt og inaktivitet. Samtidig prøver man å påvirke til endret helseatferd. Det er behov for å utvide kunnskapen om hva som i denne sammenheng er effektive strategier. Hensikt: Studiens hensikt er med kvalitativ metodikk å studere hvordan personer som har lykkes med å endre livsstilsvaner, opplevde og håndterte endringsprosessen. Metode: 14 personer, derav åtte menn, i alderen 23 til 68 år er intervjuet individuelt. Modifisert versjon av Grounded Therory er brukt som metode i innsamling av data og i analyseprosessen. Resultat: Studien viser at deltakernes vellykkede livsstilsendring har forløpt gjennom en rekke sosiale prosesser som kan beskrives ut fra tre hovedkonsepter som her er samlet i følgende kategorier; Motiverer til endring, danner nye vaner og håndterer seg selv. Det som kjennetegner endringsprosessen i sin helhet er hvordan hovedpersonene har utviklet større grad av kontroll og håndterbarhet i egne liv. Konklusjon: Vellykket livsstilsendring er en psykologisk empowermentprosess med vekt på prosesser omkring selvregulering, motivering, psykisk uhelse og det å danne nye vane / The incidence of overweight and obesity is steadily increasing in the Nordic countries and the entire world. This trend is a cause for concern because obesity links directly to many several illnesses, some life-threatening. Various methods have been developed in an effort to manage problems associated with obesity and inactivity. These methods also try to initiate positive lifestyle changes. However, it is necessary to broaden the knowledge base regarding the effectiveness of these strategies. Aim: This study aimed to use qualitative methodology to assess people who have succeeded in making positive lifestyle changes, documenting their experiences and learning how they adapted during the change process. Methodology: A group of 14 people consisting of eight men and six women, all between the ages of 23 and 68 years, were individually interviewed using a modified version of Grounded Theory to collect and analyze the data. Results: The study shows that the participants' positive lifestyle changes have gone through a variety of social processes. These processes comprised three main categories: motivation to change, development of new habits, and self-management. A defining factor in the change process of each candidate was how well that individual developed a greater degree of self-control and management of their own lives. Conclusion: Successful lifestyle change is a psychological empowerment process that emphasizes self-regulation, motivation, mental disorders, and the development of new habits. / <p>ISBN 978-91-86739-44-7</p>

National cultural and institutional factors and the influence of the parent company affect the ways in which Multinational Corporation subsidiaries train and develop their staff. However, existing studies have not compared training and development using a comprehensive range of comparative factors. Thus the key determinants of the organization, planning and conduct of training and development are not identified or explained. This study develops a comprehensive series of factors that can be used to compare training and development in the British and French subsidiaries of a Swedish Multinational Corporation. The hypothetical implications of national culture, the national institutional context and the national origin of the parent company are identified. It is expected that national cultural and institutional factors will have a greater influence upon training and development than the actions of the parent company, and that cultural factors will be more influential than institutional factors. The hypotheses are tested in a study that involves interviewing company staff and training providers in Britain, France and Sweden. A range of company documents is also gathered. Analysis of the data reveals that the parent company has virtually no influence on the training and development actions of the subsidiaries, although there are signs that this ‘lack of management’ may be under review. Further analysis reveals that national culture is the key determinant of the ways in which training is conducted in the subsidiaries. However, cultural explanations for the ways in which the subsidiaries organize and plan training and development are rejected. The competitive market environment that the subsidiaries operate in, especially the ability (or not) to gain market share seems to be the key determinant of the organization and planning of training and development in the subsidiaries. It is concluded that this is a significant finding which should be explored in future studies

This thesis focuses on persuasion and how principles of persuasion embedded within mobile health applications are there to promote attitude and behavioral change. It includes a background in rhetoric; beginning with the Aristotelian method for persuasion, then stretching on to psychological rhetoric, and finally how the Aristotelian methods have worked its way into everyday society, especially in marketing and games. The thesis then benefits from the rhetoric background as it explores Dr. BJ Fogg’s model of behavior as well as his principles of persuasion. An analysis of the mobile health application “My Fitness Pal” is made. After which the principles are transferred into a mockup designed to fit another context, namely education. This to challenge the authors hypothesis, that the same principles of persuasion used to promote and persuade the user to do a physical activity, can also be used to persuade a user to study.

Alors que l'activité physique (AP) est fortement recommandée pour les personnes en surcharge pondérale, beaucoup d'entre elles n'en pratiquent pas ou ne désirent pas en pratiquer (Kearney et al., 1999). Parmi les théories de la motivation, l'approche transthéorique développée par Prochaska et DiClemente (1983) est une approche intégrative qui permet de rendre compte du changement de comportement, notamment à l'égard de l'AP (Farmanbar et al., 2012). Basée sur cette approche, la présente thèse visait à comprendre les mécanismes liés à l'adoption et à l'arrêt d'une AP. Une première étude dont l'objet était de valider un questionnaire de mesure des processus de changement de comportement a révélé une structure factorielle en cinq facteurs invariante d'un sexe à l'autre et prédictrice du niveau d'AP des sujets. Une seconde étude a montré qu'à la suite d'une intervention d'une semaine destinée à améliorer la gestion de la surcharge pondérale, certains processus identifiés par le questionnaire créé étaient impliqués dans le changement de comportement à l'égard de l'AP. Ainsi, un an après l'intervention, trois processus de changement étaient activés chez les participants ayant adopté ou maintenu leur AP: les processus de relations d'aide, de prise de conscience et d'auto-réévaluation/ gestion des renforcements / auto-libération. Une troisième étude visait à examiner les relations entre certaines variables motivationnelles (attentes d'auto-efficacité, satisfaction des besoins psychologiques, régulations motivationnelles), affectives (plaisir perçu), de comportement alimentaire (restriction cognitive) et physiologiques (gluco-dépendance à l'effort, point maximal d'oxydation des lipides) et l'arrêt d'un programme d'AP. Cet arrêt s'est avéré lié aux attentes d'auto-efficacité, à l'amotivation, à la régulation introjectée et à la gluco-dépendance à l'effort. Enfin, une quatrième étude avait pour objet d'examiner la dynamique de ces mêmes variables motivationnelles, affectives et comportementales au cours d'un programme de réentrainement de sept semaines destiné notamment à activer des processus de changement. Des élévations des niveaux d'attente d'auto-efficacité, de régulations identifiée et intrinsèque et de plaisir perçu dans l'AP ont été observées. Ce travail doctoral a donc permis de montrer qu'une approche transthéorique permet de mieux comprendre les comportements liés à l'AP. / While physical activity (PA) is recommended to persons with overweight, many of them do not or do not have the willingness to practice it (Kearney et al., 1999). Through the theories of motivation, the transtheoretical model developed by Prochaska and DiClemente (1983) is an integrative approach which allow to take into account for the change in behavior, particularly with regard to PA (Farmanbar et al., 2012). Based on this approach, the present thesis aimed to understand the mechanisms related to the adoption and cessation of PA. A first study whose purpose was to validate a questionnaire of processes of behavior change revealed a five-factor factorial structure, invariant among sex, and predictive of the PA behavior. A second study showed that, after a one-week intervention designed to improve the management of the overweight, some processes identified by the questionnaire were involved in behavior change regarding PA. Thus, one year after the intervention, three processes were activated among participants that having adopted or maintained their PA: processes of helping relationship, consciousness raising and self-reevaluation/ reinforcement management / self-liberation. A third study sought to examine the relationships between some motivational (self-efficacy, basic psychological need, motivational regulations), affective (perceived pleasure), of eating behavior (cognitive restraint) and physiological (glucodependence, maximal lipid oxidation) variables and the cessation of a program of PA. Then, a fourth study aimed to examine the dynamic of these same motivational, affective and behavioral variables during a training program of seven weeks which aim to active some processes of change. Increases in self-efficacy expectations, identified and intrinsic regulations, perceived pleasure were observed.

This study explored participants’ experience of being suspended out of school by conducting in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 19 previously suspended students in a charter public school setting in Boston, MA. The study followed a transcendental phenomenological method (Moustakas, 1994) unshaped by theoretical predictions to examine the interviews, with added attention to the precipitating factors and relationships students described around the experience. Descriptive demographic data regarding student race, gender, grade-level, and number of suspensions was used to help contextualize the student suspension experience. Four core themes were constructed from the analysis of participant interviews: (1) A perceived connectedness to adults makes a meaningful difference in student relational strength, (2) Equity matters, (3) There are contextual consequences, and (4) Signs of self-awareness, reflection, and growth (Changes over time) were prevalent. / 2017-06-22T00:00:00Z

Through its focus on the City of London as a particular work sector and setting, the thesis emphasizes the symbolic and material significance of place to understanding organizational life. The analysis, drawing primarily on Lefebvre’s theorisation of space as socially produced and on his work on rhythms, emphasizes how the socio-cultural and material aspects of the City are co-constitutive and both compel and constrain particular behaviours. These are explored with reference to fieldwork based upon photographic and interview data, as well as through embodied, immersive research methods. The thesis extends analyses of organizational space by asking how people both sense the wider space in which they work and how they make sense of it through their lived experience, and it enhances our understanding of the day to day experience of working life by extending the boundaries of what we usually think of as organizations. Asking what is particular about certain work places, both materially and culturally, and what this means for those who work within them, it begins with a review of the literature which discusses organizational space and place, the City of London as organizational setting, and the role that gender plays here. The methodological approach to the research is rooted in embodied, sensory methods based on experiencing the rhythms of place. The thematic findings are presented in two sections, and the discussion chapter moves from the empirical to a conceptual and theoretical analysis. In combination, the insights invite analysis of the conditions of membership – and the price of belonging– to the City of London. Arguing that places dominated by one particular industry sector can function as clubs, in that they have conditions of membership based upon being ‘fit for purpose’, what this means for those who are both ‘in’ and ‘out’ of place here is the main focus of the research.

The thesis examines the effects of online marketing practices on the identity construction of individual marketers, referred to as the Digital Organisational Storyteller (DOS), across five business-to-business (B2B) organisations. I focus on illuminating their marketing processes and self-understanding when undertaking online marketing work, a practice I describe as bringing the organisation into being online. My research questions examine what the online marketing work processes the DOS undertake tell us about identity at work. They also enquire as to how they construct and understand their online identity work negotiations through these marketing activities, while considering how the DOS makes sense and gives sense to an intended audience. To investigate identity construction, I review studies on identity and identity work from organisation studies, management and social sciences’ literature. I also review marketing work, branding and co-creation literature from marketing scholarship. As the means to understand their lived experience, I study the work the DOS does, as a process of sensemaking and sensegiving through storytelling. Taking an interpretive, qualitative approach, I engage with storytelling through the methodology by asking the DOS to tell stories during the interviews. The first contribution of the thesis includes the introduction of four different character ‘types’ that summarise the way the DOS approaches sensemaking and sensegiving processes. The second contribution extends an understanding of online marketing work in contemporary B2B organisations. Accordingly, it can be categorised as a range of preparatory offline and online activities that culminate in textual and pictorial representations of the organisation, in a process described as ‘bringing the online organisation into being.’ These contributions are useful in informing our understanding of the types of identity constructions and practices that are emerging from online marketing work processes.

Like other adults in the U.S., college students, have high rates of obesity and overweight, and they have a pattern of poor diet and physical inactivity. Emerging adulthood is a key developmental period for building life-long habits and behaviors, and health theory suggests that one’s social environment and amount of social support affects health behaviors, particularly among women. With the technological advances of Web 2.0, or social media, the opportunity for providing social support for health behaviors through the online social environment now exists; social media is a game changer for both research and practice related to understanding the social environment. The purpose of this descriptive qualitative study was to describe the ways in which social networking sites (SNS) provide college females with social support for their diet and/or physical activity goals. The social cognitive theory and previous research on the construct of social support, provided a conceptual framework for this study. With a purposive sample of 12 college females, data from three sources were collected over the course of four weeks. Journal responses and daily observations of each participant’s social networking site activity via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest were collected the first three weeks, and interviews were conducted the fourth week. Qualitative analysis was conducted at both the participant and group level, and results inform how the women engage with the topics of diet and physical activity during their daily SNS usage the ways in which their SNS experience provides them with support for diet and/or physical activity goals. Of the five functional measures of social support, participants most often indicated receiving emotional support, informational support and validation support from SNS usage. The findings of this study highlight current social media practices in college females, which can better inform the planning and implementation of health behavior programs that include an online, social component. Furthermore, the results serve to highlight examples of social support naturally occurring in the online environment, thereby adding to the body of literature about ways in which social support influence health outcomes.

xii, 69 p. : ill. (some col.) A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / New Urbanists promote development modeled upon neighborhoods that are highdensity and mixed-use with connected streets so that residents will drive less and have a strong sense of community. Little is known about whether New Urbanist environments provide the envisioned change in living experience for those who reside there. This study assesses changes in the living experience of residents of a suburban New Urbanist environment located in Eugene, Oregon, relative to their living experience in their previous residential environment. Findings reveal that respondents drive less for some but not all types of trips. There are no significant changes in sense of community. Changes in housing density and land-use mix are found associated with driving behavior change. Change in the enjoyment of the walking environment is found associated with changes in levels of resident interaction and feelings of sense of community. / Committee in Charge: Dr. Yizhao Yang, Chair; Dr. Robert Young; Robert Parker

abstract: For some time it has been recognized amongst researchers that individual and collective change should be the goal in educating for sustainability, unfortunately education has generally been ineffective in developing pro-environmental behaviors among students. Still, many scholars and practitioners are counting on education to lead us towards sustainability but suggest that in order to do so we must transition away from current information-intensive education methods. In order to develop and test novel sustainability education techniques, this research integrates pedagogical methods with psychological knowledge to target well-established sustainable behaviors. Through integrating education, behavior change, and sustainability research, I aim to answer: How can we motivate sustainable behavioral change through education programs? More specifically: How do diverse knowledge domains (declarative, procedural, effectiveness, and social) influence sustainable behaviors, both in general as well as before and after a sustainability education program? And: What are barriers hindering education approaches to changing behaviors? In answering these questions, this research involved three distinct stages: (1) Developing a theoretical framework for educating for sustainability and transformative change; (2) Implementing a food and waste focused sustainability educational program with K-12 students and teachers while intensively assessing participants' change over the course of one year; (3) Developing and implementing an extensive survey that examines the quantitative relationships between diverse domains of knowledge and behavior among a large sample of K-12 educators. The results from the education program demonstrated that significant changes in knowledge and behaviors were achieved but social knowledge in terms of food was more resistant to change as compared to that of waste. The survey results demonstrated that K-12 educators have high levels of declarative (factual or technical) knowledge regarding anthropocentric impacts on the environment; however, declarative knowledge does not predict their participation in sustainable behaviors. Rather, procedural and social knowledge significantly influence participation in sustainable food behaviors, where as procedural, effectiveness, and social knowledge impact participation in sustainable waste behaviors. Overall, the findings from this research imply that in order to effectively educate for sustainability, we must move away from nature-centric approaches that focus on declarative knowledge and embrace different domains of knowledge (procedural, effectiveness, and social) that emphasis the social implications of change. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Sustainability 2013