Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Technology in Nursing, Durban University of Technology, 2014. / Background The Council for Higher Education and the South African Nursing Council accredit institutions with learning and assessment practices which aim to develop and prepare graduates to be critical thinkers. The undergraduate nursing programme at the Durban University of Technology introduced the writing of reflective journals by their students in 2011. Students submitted journals of poor quality which lacked reflection. Aim of the study The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of guided reflective journals by assessing the levels of reflection of the undergraduate nursing students during clinical learning and practice. Methodology An exploratory sequential mixed methods design, using quantitative and qualitative paradigm, was used for this study. A purposive sample of 40 participants was used to collect data. A perceptions questionnaire was administered to the 40 participants to determine their perceptions on how they experienced writing of the reflective journals. Content analysis was used to analyse the written content of the reflective journals. Descriptive statistics such a Chi-square goodness of fit and Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test were used determine levels of reflections and the differences in the first and second journals. Lincoln and Guba’s 1985 criteria for trustworthiness were applied to the study. Results Analysis of the journals revealed lower levels of reflection in the first reflective journal compared to improved levels in the second journal. Furthermore, the participants generally expressed writing of reflective journals as a valuable tool in professional, personal development as well as clinical learning. Levels of reflection and development of reflective practice will be greatly enhanced if all involved in nurse education will actively participate in encouraging writing of reflective journals by student nurses.

South Asian people are less likely to have their mental health needs recognised and experience inequality in access to services, compared to the White British population in the UK. Attempts through government policy to improve equality in mental health care and outcomes have had limited success. The aim of this study was to explore access to and experiences of services among people of South Asian origin living in the UK who were experiencing distress. An anonymous survey was distributed in GP surgeries and online, collecting a community sample of 103 adults who self-identified as South Asian. The survey contained questionnaires measuring distress, quality of life, acculturation and access to and experience of services for mental health. Between 33% and 50% of the sample was above the threshold for distress, depending on the measure used, while 40% reported a low quality of life. Those who were unemployed had greater levels of distress. Half of the sample had sought help for emotional problems in the past, with the majority seeking help in the NHS. Greater acculturation was associated with reduced distress and a higher quality of life. Seeking help from services was predicted by experiencing distress, being female and having a physical health problem. Clinical implications for mental health service delivery as well as the need for further research relating to the recognition of mental health problems in primary care are discussed.

This research examines experiences of Latvian students pursuing undergraduate degrees at universities in England. Working with this population positions this research in the subject area of International Student Mobility (ISM). As a relatively new subject ISM is still developing suitable concepts, methodological practices and scientific terminology. This presents a challenge but also calls for more in-depth work in the area. As an exploratory study this research answers this call and proposes new directions in the development of ISM as a research field. ISM is particularly interesting in the context of contemporary Europe where student mobility is considered as a vehicle of human capital across national borders. As such student mobility contributes to further internationalization of the European labour force and facilitates development of the knowledge-based economy. Finding out what students gain from university education abroad remains a topic of scientific debate. This research focuses on the practical but complicated part of Higher Education: competence development. The review of the literature reveals that the topic of competence development in Higher Education has been in and out of researchers’ favour, but it has not been examined in the international context. This consideration is timely as more and more students seek education abroad and competences developed at foreign universities are transferred across borders. This research is based on in-depth interviews with Latvian students in England, their family members and friends both in Latvia and in England. Interviewing family and friends enriched the self-reporting accounts of the students, thus capturing a more holistic representation of the students’ experiences. In addition, accounts of the students’ network representatives from England and from Latvia positioned this research in the international social networks of the students. This research finds that international social networks are the natural and necessary environments in which mobility of students takes place and argues that it needs to be studied with consideration to these under-researched environments. This study also proposes a longitudinal focus. The main participants of this research, the students, were interviewed three times over three years, which goes beyond most research studies on student mobility. The analysis of the interview responses relies on multiple iterations between the literature and the data. The findings demonstrate that degree-seeking students develop competences that can be grouped in three main areas: gaining access to university education in England, socio-cultural acculturation and academic acculturation. In each of these areas students develop specific skills and abilities that support the three areas of competences. The development of the skills, abilities and competences is explained through a model created by Noel Burch for Gordon Training International (GTI). The model outlines four stages of development that progress from the level of unconscious incompetence, to conscious incompetence, to conscious competence and to unconscious competence.

Bakgrund: Idrotten är en viktig del av de flesta barn- och ungdomars liv, för att idrotten ska bli rolig och uppfostrande krävs det att det finns kompetenta ledare som kan ställa upp. Syfte: Den här studien syftar till att undersöka utbildnings- och upplevd kompetensnivå hos tränare för ungdomar 13-16 år.  Metod: Studien genomfördes med hjälp av en kvantitativ metod och enkäter skickades ut till 226 tränare inom fotboll, innebandy och ishockey, varav 116 av dem svarade. Resultat: Resultatet visade att 33% av tränarna hade universitetsutbildning, 47% hade mer än 3 utbildningar inom SISU eller inom förbundet. Det är främst idrottsspecifika områden inom idrottspsykologi, idrottsskador & rehab, ledarskap & tränarskap, träningslära samt kost- och näringslära som tränarna själva vill lära sig mer om. Den upplevda kompetensnivån var högst inom den professionella kompetensen som handlar om idrottsspecifik kunskap. Det verkar finnas en tendens till ett negativt samband mellan intrapersonell kompetens och antal utbildningar inom SISU och förbund. Diskussion: Medelvärdet för upplevd kompetens låg under ´´Medel´´på alla områden, dock var professionell kompetens högst och intrapersonell kompetens lägst. Vilket kan bero på att den professionella kompetensen ofta anses som mest nödvändig att ha som tränare.

Sverige tar i dagsläget emot en stor andel flyktingar och flertalet av dessa flyktigar lider av psykisk ohälsa. Stress, ångesttillstånd, depression och posttraumatiskt stressyndrom (PTSD) är några diagnoser som förekommer bland flyktingar. För att hjälpa dessa patienter krävs både kulturell och språklig kompetens inom vården. Syftet med denna litteraturöversikt är att beskriva sjuksköterskors erfarenheter av att bemöta flyktingar med psykisk ohälsa. Nio kvalitativa studier och en mixed method studie har används för att presentera resultatet. Studierna är gjorda i Västeuropa och Australien och de utgår från ett sjuksköterskeperspektiv. Axelssons tillvägagångssätt för litteraturstudie valdes som metod för detta arbete. Resultatet beskrivs i två huvudrubriker, Svårigheter för sjuksköterskan i mötet med flyktingar och Det vårdande mötet i psykisk kontext. De svårigheter som identifierats beskrivs i fyra underkategorier: Att kommunicera med flyktingar, Att använda tolk, Att förstå patientens kulturella bakgrund och Att prata om traumatiska händelser. Det vårdande mötet i psykisk kontext beskrivs i två underkategorier: Behovet av kulturell kompetens och Att bedöma symptom. Resultatet visar att sjuksköterskor är i behov av ökad kunskap om kulturella skillnader för att vårda flyktingar med psykisk ohälsa. Symtombilden i psykisk ohälsa varierar beroende kulturellt ursprung och ämnet anses vara tabubelagt i vissa länder. Tolkar anses vara en stor tillgång till att bygga upp en vårdande relation mellan sjuksköterskan och en flyktingpatient, men kan även ses som ett hinder.

The changing demographic UK population in terms of cultural, racial and ethnic mix demands mental health nurses to be educated in ways that will enable them to provide care that is both efficient and culturally appropriate to the diverse population they will serve. However, reported studies indicate that professional nurses, particularly mental health nurses, are not ready to meet the challenges posed by an increasingly culturally diverse society. These have raised questions about the undergraduate nursing education's readiness to develop a mental health work force that is capable of delivering effective mental health services to a multicultural population. The aim of the study was to explore and gain an understanding of cultural competence education from the perspectives of the key participants involved in the undergraduate mental health nursing education within the UK context, and to use the findings to develop a conceptual framework of developing cultural competence. Qualitative grounded theory approach was the method of inquiry used to collect and analyse interview data from the experiences and views of senior lecturers, third year mental health student nurses, clinical sign-off mentors and student mentors within the universities that offer pre-registration mental health nurse training in the West Midlands Region. Analysis of the research findings resulted in an emergent conceptual framework that explains how cultural competence is developed in the undergraduate mental health nursing curriculum in terms of content, processes, strategies, actions and approaches that are considered effective. The findings of this study revealed a degree of consistency between the views of the current study participants and what the literature describes as frameworks for developing cultural competence. The main theoretical constructs emerging from the study fit into a cultural competence frameworks encompassing awareness, knowledge and skills. Whilst some of the themes and theoretical constructs emerging from the results of the interview data were generally consistent with those indicated in the cultural competence literature, there were some other themes that emerged from the study participants on what was required within the curriculum in order to educate student nurses in ways that will enable them to work effectively and culturally appropriately with clients from diverse cultural backgrounds. The additional bridging theoretical construct included ‘conscious of the dynamics and discourse of intercultural education’ which was a result of the differing ideological views about current curricula and how issues of cultural competence could best be addressed within the curricula. The strategies of ‘engagement of local experts to assist in teaching cultural competence specific areas’ and ‘creating educational activities that challenge stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination and religious intolerance’ also expands the current literature by providing evidence to support some of the conceptualisations regarding some of the educational intervention strategies to cultural competence. This study is significant as it represents the first attempt to develop a conceptual framework of developing cultural competence within the UK context based on the perspectives of those directly experiencing the undergraduate mental health nursing education, using qualitative grounded theory approaches. Exploring and developing the conceptual framework from the perspectives of the neglected silent voices of the key participants who are directly involved in the undergraduate nurse training within the UK context, contributes to the existing research in this area and provides a view not currently presented in the nursing literature.

The purpose of this study is to create an understanding of the phenomenon of reflection. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the concept, we chose to interview four preschool teachers. The preschool teachers met with colleagues in their pre-school area regularly during the autumn and spring terms 2014-2015, to develop their skills through reflection. We wanted to examine whether these meetings influenced their understanding of the concept of reflection, as well as their ability to reflect. We tried to get a hold of these two elements through the questions in our interview. Our three most interesting findings in this study are. The preschool teachers in our study makes a fundamental theoretical difference between how you look at and define the reflection with children and how they look at peer learning. A distinction is difficult to justify theoretically. Our second interesting finding was the importance and the difficult task to keep the reflections away from mainly be about giving each other "tips and advice". Our last finding is the need of good leadership skills of the one who have the task to lead the reflection.

In recent years FLE researchers and instructors have become increasingly interested in devising theoretical frameworks and pedagogical materials that prepare learners for the realities of today’s globalized world. Current FLE research suggests that equipping learners with intercultural communicative competence (ICC) is the best approach to achieve this goal. As a result of this, administrators and instructors of foreign language programs are reassessing their curricula to ensure that the cultural content is effective and sufficient for enabling learners to successfully function in a culturally diverse world. This thesis aims to reassess the cultural component of the beginner Arabic curriculum at the University of Texas at Austin by serving two objectives. The first objective is to present the results of a survey that examines the impact of the cultural content in the current beginner Arabic course at the University of Texas at Austin on learners’ ICC development. The second objective is to incorporate these results in a pedagogical framework to further enhance the development of ICC in the beginner Arabic classroom setting. The results were gathered from two student surveys, conducted at the beginning and end of the academic year, and from follow-up interviews administered half way through the study’s duration. The findings indicate that the majority of Arabic learners at the beginner level are predisposed with good general knowledge and positive perceptions with regard to the Arab world, suggesting that they are primed to develop ICC before commencing their study of Arabic. In addition to this, the findings show that the current Arabic curriculum did help to further develop ICC in learners to a certain extent. However, there are some areas for improvement, mainly regarding the organization and selection of topics. These observations were taken into consideration in designing the pedagogical framework that presents learning outcomes specific to the beginner Arabic curriculum. The intention is that such a framework will align curricular goals that will in turn result in learners becoming informed global citizens of the world. / text

<p>The present dissertation takes the multi-faceted phenomenon of deception as its point of departure. The aim is to make a case for deception as a social phenomenon, and to frame theoretically and define the skills and abilities that make deception possible.</p><p>A theoretical model based on a number of ideal types is constructed. The purpose of the model is to differentiate particular aspects of deception, and the model is illustrated with examples of actions of more or less well-known impostors. The examples were collected from a variety of sources, such as autobiographies and television programs.</p><p>As a first step, the legal definition of deception, i.e. fraud, and statistics on crimes of deception in Sweden are presented. Different theoretical approaches are also discussed; deception as a personality trait, and deception as communication and interaction.</p><p>In order to illuminate the social dimensions, it is emphasized that deception constitutes a particular type of relationship between deceiver and deceivee. This particular form of interaction exploits elementary forms, and it is also asymmetrical in terms of the intentions of the parties involved.</p><p>The concept of social competence is used to describe the skills and abilities required for successful acts of deception. It is argued that the social competence of deceivers consists of three types: strategic, normative, and dramaturgic competencies. The strategic competency involves being goal-rational and strategic, for example, the ability to predict the actions of the potential addressee. In the normative competency, norms and reference to norms are used strategically. The dramaturgic competency represents an operationalization and enactment of the two other competencies, and resembles the preparation and performance of an actor.</p><p>The different contexts in which deception can occur are also discussed. A preliminary typology is presented, with the aim of demonstrating the difficulties in drawing clear lines between various types of deception. The extended approach to deception also means that it can be viewed as a part of everyday social interaction.</p><p>Finally, some thoughts on deception in the light of societal changes are presented. It is argued that the increasing demands on people to promote themselves in various ways in today’s society can be perceived as an invitation to deception and fabrication. These demands can generate feelings of inferiority and a fear of eventually being unmasked as an impostor, or a phony.</p>

Juveniles' right to be competent to stand trial has been increasingly recognized since In re Gault (1967) granted juveniles essential due process rights. One formulation of competence proposes two facets: competence to assist counsel (e.g., understanding the roles of legal actors, the adversarial system,) and decisional competence (Bonnie, 1992). The first goal of this project was to investigate the psychometric properties and relevant correlates of one instrument to assess competence to assist counsel, the Competence Assessment for Standing Trial for Defendants with Mental Retardation (CAST-MR; this study used only the first two scales). Results indicated acceptable internal consistency, although concerns were raised regarding the appropriateness of some items. Scores were related to age and intelligence, as in prior research. No relationship was found with most mental health scale scores, prior legal system involvement, contact with defense counsel, or learning problems. The second goal of the study centered on decisional competence and the role of immaturity; specifically whether age is associated with immature judgment (assessed using the Judgment in Legal Contexts instrument) and if immature judgment predicts decisions made about one's own case. The current study found few significant relationships between age or intelligence and variables coded from the JILC (including authority compliance, risk recognition, risk appraisal, future recognition, resistance to peer influence). Additionally, age and the perceived strength of evidence were not predictive of individuals' decisions to confess, to fully disclose to defense counsel, or to accept a plea bargain. Juveniles who had confessed scored higher on future recognition, those who fully disclosed to their attorney scored lower on authority compliance, and those who would accept a plea bargain scored higher on risk recognition and appraisal. While the results were modest, they suggest that immature performance on a judgment measure may predict individuals' legal decision-making. If a juvenile fails to appreciate the potential consequences of legal decisions, his or her decisional competence may be questioned. Generally, immaturity may need to be recognized as a basis for findings of incompetence if performance on relevant skills is shown to improve with age and immature performance is shown to interfere with competency.