This study explored the stories of six elderly Latino immigrant women living in Winnipeg based on their talk about identity and home. Using narrative analyses, the research focused on their life stories before and after immigrating and made use of pictures to discuss their notion of home. These women provided rich narratives of how people and places shaped their identities during their formative and pre-immigration years. At the same time, the circumstances that compelled them to emigrate, the places to which they arrived and live now, the people they met in Winnipeg and elsewhere, and the new roles they embraced in Canada have all contributed to a renegotiation of these women’s identities. These women showed that home is family, but that family is often symbolized by objects, places, and pictures that represent the memories they have of, and share with, their family members.

This article investigates the experience of loneliness among a group of elderly ladies. Elderly persons are making up an increasing portion of the population. Research is therefore important, because loneliness is a threat to quality of life and indicates a bad prognosis during aging. Aging is associated with a decline in the different abilities and body functions. It is marked by changes and multidimensional losses that often imply the redefinition of roles. Little research is available that explores the subjective experiences of elderly women. It was decided to do a qualitative, phenomenological study on the experiences of loneliness among white Afrikaans-speaking women. A phenomenological research approach enables the researcher to discover participants' perceptions, experiences and unique understanding of what loneliness involves. The research was undertaken in the context of a service centre where functioning elderly ladies voluntarily participated in the research. Fifteen elderly ladies were involved in the research by means of purposeful sampling, and their experiences of loneliness were shared through visual clay projections (known as the Mmogo method™), a focus group discussion, individual interviews and journal entries. The Mmogo method™ attaches value to the symbolic, contextual foundation of meanings and provides valuable information about socially constructed aspects that are often difficult to verbalise. Various guidelines were followed to ensure the reliability of the findings, such as the triangulation of data sources, checking the findings with the participants, an extended period in the research field and the inclusion of rich descriptions to corroborate the findings. Two central themes emerged from the thematic data analysis process, namely causes of loneliness and strategies to deal with loneliness. The causes of loneliness which were identified, point towards multiple losses at a personal level, interpersonal losses, changed family relations and a world of living that keeps getting smaller. The strategies to deal with loneliness were indicated by elderly women as the actualising of religion, reminiscing on the past, an active involvement in life and denial. The most important contribution made by this research is the discovery that elderly white ladies experience an intimate loss of the "self" because their own identity was strongly associated with the specific roles and functions that were defined by the socio-cultural context in which they were socialised. These functions and roles emphasised the ultimate authority of the man, as opposed to women's dependence and subjection. In this process, women did not develop an independent identity that could continue once the prescribed traditional roles no longer applied. Another interesting finding is that elderly women find it comforting to reminisce on the past and they also find that the knowledge they gain from the experience can be applied in their lives again. This study could possibly have been extended to elderly women in other cultures, in order to obtain a richer description of the research phenomenon. Various practical suggestions were made to the service centre to support elderly women to process the multiple losses, to question socially acceptable roles and functions of women and to create own interests. / Thesis (M.A. (Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

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国立情報学研究科で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。

This simple quantitative descriptive case controlled research compared cases (subjects at risk for acute confusion) with controls (subjects without the attribute); comparison was made on the exposure to potential contributing factors suspected of causing acute confusion, for example, heavy smoking, or the number of alcoholic drinks consumed per day. Case-control studies were also retrospective, because they focused on conditions in the past that might have caused subjects to become cases, rather than controls. The basic purpose of this research design was essentially the same as that of experimental research: to determine the relationships among variables. This report demonstrates that, with relatively good adherence by the nursing team, proactive screening using a structured risk assessment protocol can be successfully implemented for medical patients. This assessment was associated with a statistically significant 50 per cent reduction in the incidence of acute confusion in the intervention group, compared with usual care retrospectively. Reduction in acute confusion was not associated with shortened length of stay, but length of stay was often predetermined by protocol or critical pathway. Correlation analysis demonstrated that risk screening appeared most effective in preventing or reducing acute confusion in patients without preadmission dementia or ADL impairment. In patients with significant preadmission impairment, the stress of hospitalisation may be sufficient to precipitate an episode, despite otherwise optimal management. Less-impaired patients may require additional insults to precipitate acute confusion, some of which are avertable by risk screening and subsequent early intervention. Determined risk indicators were consistent throughout the four year timeframe set for this research project. This demonstrated that although there were multiple patient types presenting to this clinical area, they were consistently the same over a longitudinal timeframe. It meant they were reproducible, which gave this research additional strength. Also, based on the descriptive statistics, this research has shown that in this clinical area where intervention was introduced the combination did have a positive impact on annual numbers of acute confusion. In summary, these findings suggest that without risk screening and the direction for appropriate management the likelihood of an episode can more than double. In the three subgroups expected to pose the greatest challenges for the risk assessment (i.e. those 70 years or older, those with suspected drug dependency, and those with symptomatic infection), risk assessment retained excellent sensitivity, (a) (d) specificity, and relevant correlation with reduction of episodes. This research has demonstrated throughout that high risk screening and associated intervention based on the risk indicator can decrease the annual number of actual episodes of acute confusion. Interventions to prevent or reduce an episode of acute confusion, as outlined by Wakefield (2002) and this research, definitely increases as a result of high risk screening. Beyond doubt, from both the literature reviewed and the findings of this research, is that risk screening does need to be adapted to the individual clinical setting and cannot be generic.

Diss. Linköping : Univ., 2004.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Victoria University (Melbourne, Vic.), 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Licentiatavhandling Stockholm : Kungliga tekniska högskolan, 2005.