For those who were raised in a religious household, leaving one's religion of origin (religious disaffiliation) can be a significant life event that impacts a person for years to come. Similarly, coming out and living authentically as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or another sexual or gender minority (LGBTQ+) is another event that, although ongoing, shapes the course of one's life significantly. In this grounded theory study, the researcher examines LGBTQ+ women's experiences of religious disaffiliation to create an understanding of what the disaffiliation process is like for LGBTQ+ women, and what happens to family relationships during and after disaffiliation. Several themes emerged, including similarities in why they disaffiliated, how they disaffiliated, and what happened to significant relationships during and after disaffiliation. / Doctor of Philosophy / For those who were raised in a religious household, leaving the religion one was raised in (religion of origin), also called religious disaffiliation, can be a significant life event that impacts a person for years to come. Similarly, coming out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or another sexual minority (LGBTQ+) is another event that can shape the course of one's life significantly, especially since those who are LGBTQ+ often continue to have to come out to new people in their lives. In this study, the researcher examines what it is like for LGBTQ+ women to disaffiliate from the Christian denominations in which they were raised, as well as what happens to family relationships during and after disaffiliation. There are several common themes shared among disaffiliates, including similarities in why they disaffiliated, how they disaffiliated, and what happened to significant relationships during and after disaffiliation.

Since the cognitive revolution during the last century the mind has been conceived of as being computer-like. Like a computer, the brain was assumed to be a physical structure (hardware) upon which a computational mind (software) was built. The mind was seen as a collection of independent programs which each have their own specific tasks, or modules. These modules took sensory input "data" and transduced it into language-like representations which were used in mental computations. Recently, a new conception of the mind has developed, grounded cognition. According to this model, sensory stimulus is saved in the original format in which it was received and recalled using association mechanisms. Rather than representations being language-like they are instead multimodal. The manipulation of these multimodal representations requires processing distributed throughout the brain. A new holistic model for mental architecture has developed in which the concerted activity of the brain's modal systems produces functional systems which are intimately codependent with one another. The purpose of this thesis is to explore both the modular and multimodal theories of mental architecture. Each will be described in detail along with their supporting paradigms, cognitivism and grounded cognition. After my expositions I will offer support for my own position regarding these two theories before suggesting avenues for future research.

Medicines optimisation requires healthcare professionals to work collaboratively to meet the medication needs of patients. A grounded theory was produced which explains how doctors, nurses and pharmacists work to optimise the use of medicines in acute hospital settings in Northern Ireland. Seventeen semi-structured, one-to-one interviews were conducted with doctors, nurses and pharmacists. Concurrent data collection and analysis was carried out using coding, particular to grounded theory, adopting a constant comparative approach, writing memos and using theoretical sampling as described by Strauss and Corbin (1998). The core category was managing risk. Participants had an implicit understanding of the need to continually manage risk when working with the complex and the routine. They used personal and systemic checks and balances which could be viewed either as duplication of effort or indicative of a culture of safety. Multi-professional interdependencies and support for new, professional, non-medical roles were highlighted. Working together was a further strategy to ensuring each patient gets the right medicine. Establishing an agreed framework for working with medicines at ward level could support the safer use of medicines. It is anticipated that this theory will contribute to the design of systems involved in medicines use in acute hospitals in Northern Ireland. / Part-funded by: Northern Ireland Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Learning and Development (NICPLD), Western Health and Social Care Trust

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