This study examined the conditions and experience of students who were placed on academic probation in view of key elements of Dewey’s (1958, 1938/1997, 1934/2005) theory of experience. Core data emerged from 16 in-depth interviews with five students who received assistance from an academic support program while on probation. An additional interview was conducted with the academic companion and another with the program developer. A document analysis and a researcher journal supplemented the data. The interviews were analyzed according to a three-dimensional narrative inquiry space (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000; Dewey, 1958, 1938/1997) to produce profiles and thematic connections (Seidman, 2006). Findings are presented in five texts. The first and second manuscripts depict the stories of two students using the profile genre. These texts disclose rich stories where the meaning of experience is lived. A third manuscript examines students’ experience from the student and professional perspectives. Major themes uncovered, include (a) resistance to seek help; (b) deep personal costs; and (c) a desire to succeed and complete their undergraduate studies. A fourth manuscript explores companioning as experienced by students and supported by resource personnel. It reveals that (a) the companioning role was defined by a specific form of guidance and attendance to self-confidence and (b) the program helped students clarify their needs, promoted their adaptation to the university context, and offered support through a positive relationship. A fifth manuscript examined the characteristics of a fruitful helping relationship. Findings suggest that (a) a rapport characterized by presence and trust and (b) an approach promoting responsibility, awareness, and holism were key. These findings offer a weighty contribution to the literature on post-secondary education by revealing rich and unique experiences. By tapping in the complexity of the participants’ experience, findings help shift away from the current focus on obstacles and deficiencies often attributed to probationary students. Résumé Cette étude a examiné l’expérience d’étudiants ayant été placés en probation académique à la lumière d’éléments-clés de la théorie de l’expérience de Dewey (1958, 1938/1997, 1934/2005). La principale source de données provenait de 16 entrevues en profondeur auprès de cinq étudiants ayant participé à un programme d’accompagnement universitaire alors qu’ils étaient en probation académique. Une entrevue a aussi été menée avec l’accompagnatrice et une autre avec la conceptrice du programme. Une analyse documentaire et un journal de bord de la chercheure complètent les données. Les entrevues ont été analysées selon une analyse narrative tridimensionnelle (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000; Dewey, 1958, 1938/1997) de façon à produire des profils et des liens thématiques (Seidman, 2006). Les résultats sont présentés dans cinq textes. Les premier et deuxième textes dépeignent l’histoire de deux étudiants sous forme de profils. Ces textes découvrent de riches et profondes histoires véhiculant la probation comme expérience de vie et la signification attribuée à celle-ci. Le troisième texte présente l’examen collectif de l’expérience des cinq étudiants ayant participé au programme d’accompagnement. Cette analyse est enrichie des perspectives de l’accompagnatrice et de la conceptrice du programme. Trois thèmes se dégagent de l’expérience de ces étudiants en probation académique soit (a) une résistance à faire usage des services de soutien; (b) des coûts personnels considérables; et (c) un désir de réussir et de compléter leur programme d’études. Un quatrième texte explore l’expérience d’accompagnement tel que perçu par les étudiants et les professionnels. L’analyse révèle que (a) l’accompagnatrice agissait à titre de guide et était attentive à la dimension de la confiance en soi et (b) le programme a aidé les étudiants à identifier leurs besoins, a soutenu leur adaptation au contexte universitaire, et a offert un soutien personnalisé par l’entremise d’une relation d’aide positive. Le cinquième texte se concentre sur les particularités d’une relation d’aide efficace en contexte de probation académique. Les résultats relèvent que cette expérience est qualifiée par (a) un rapport de présence empathique et empreinte de confiance réciproque et (b) une approche globale favorisant la responsabilité et la conscientisation. En dévoilant la richesse et l’unicité de l’expérience, ces résultats offrent une contribution intéressante. Illustrant la complexité des expériences de probation ils contribuent à s’éloigner d’une vision centrée sur les obstacles et les déficits des étudiants en probation académique.

This thesis explores the professional knowledge of three choral music educators from St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. My primary research purpose was to explain what constitutes the professional knowledge of each of the research participants as revealed through their life stories; to illustrate how such professional knowledge has been shaped by experiences throughout each of the participants’ lives; and to understand how the participants’ experiences of developing as educators within the specific social, cultural, and political contexts of Newfoundland and Labrador have shaped their professional knowledge. Through this inquiry, three choral music educators engaged in a process of teacher development, as they discovered for themselves, through a narrative process of self-exploration, the meaning that could be made of the relationships between their life experiences and their knowledge of music teaching and learning. Data-gathering included a series of four in-depth interviews, which consisted of open-ended questions that engaged the participants in reconstructing their life experiences and articulating their professional knowledge within the context of developing as choral music educators. Choral rehearsal observations provided another source of data. These observations enhanced my understanding of the participants’ teaching practice, and assisted in my understanding of the relationships between the personal and the professional that they expressed in initial interviews. Analysis of the data is represented through narratives of the participants’ life stories and a thematic discussion of their professional knowledge as revealed through those stories. Each participant’s narrative and professional knowledge are presented in individual chapters, followed by a chapter that explores the resonances (Conle, 1996) amongst the participants’ narratives and my own personal-professional narrative. I propose that we begin to reconceptualize professional development in order to acknowledge the complexity and personal nature of professional knowledge, and I assert that the exploration of life stories is a meaningful form of professional development for music educators.

Det övergripande syftet med föreliggande uppsats har varit att bidra till en djupare förståelse om självhjälp på Internet genom att belysa individens medvetande och interaktion med andra. Studiens forskningsobjekt har utgjorts av sju individers livsberättelser som återfinns på ett diskussionsforum på Internet och har genomförts enligt en narrativ forskningsmetod och hermeneutiskt ansats. Studien är av kvalitativ art och individens handlande och självupplevda verklighet har stått i fokus. Teorin som applicerats i studien är det pragmatiska mikroperspektivet, symbolisk interaktionism, med följande teoretiska utgångspunkter: symboler, bortträngning, identitetsberövande och ömsesidigt stöd. Analysen är tematiserad enligt studiens tre frågeställningar. I det första temat framgår att bortträngning och identitetsberövande utgjorde två centrala teman i livsberättelserna. Det andra temat behandlade betydelsen av grupptillhörighet, där det tydligt framkommer att diskussionsforumet betyder mycket för stärkandet av informanternas personliga identitet. Det tredje temat visade att förändringar i levnadssätt och levnadsvanor har visat sig i både psykiska och fysiska avseenden. Slutligen diskuteras huruvida en kombination av professionell hjälp som exempelvis terapi och diskussionsgruppen som komplement vore ett bra förfarringssätt att nå den känslomässiga separation, som ännu inte uppnåtts efter den rumsliga separationen som många informanter gjort från sina föräldrar. / The overall aim of this essay has been to contribute to a deeper understanding of self-help on the Internet by illuminating the individual's awareness and interaction with others. The study's subject of research has been seven individual life stories found on a newsgroup on the Internet and was implemented with a narrative research method and a hermeneutic approach. The study is qualitative in its nature and the individual's behavior and self-perceived reality has been the main focus. The theory that has been applied in the study is the pragmatic micro perspective symbolic interactionism with the following theoretical starting points: symbols, displacement, deprived of identity and mutual aid. The thematic structure of the analysis has been based on the study’s three research questions of which the first theme highlighted displacement and deprived of identity as the two main themes in the life stories. The second theme dealt with the importance of group membership, which clearly showed that the newsgroup means a great deal for strengthening their personal identity. The third theme revealed that the changes in lifestyle and habits have been both psychological and physical. Whether or not the spatial separation many informants made ​​from their parents can measure up to an emotional separation that they have not yet reached were discussed and lastly an implication that a combination of professional help such as therapy and newsgroup as a supplement may be a good method to reach the emotional separation.

Bakgrund: Att vi blir allt äldre innebär också att allt fler insjuknar i en demenssjukdom. Då det i dagsläget inte finns något botemedel för sjukdomen blir det främsta omvårdnadsmålet att minska lidande och öka livskvaliteten och välbefinnandet för dessa personer. Då många med demenssjukdom bor på vårdboenden blir det vårdpersonalens främsta uppgift att skapa en bra vårdmiljö vilket innefattar en god vårdrelation. Vårdrelationen är central i all god omvårdnad och det är viktigt att ha en förståelse för att den vård som ges till personer med demenssjukdom antingen kan hjälpa eller stjälpa individen. Syfte: Att belysa vårdrelationens betydelse för livskvaliteten hos personer med demenssjukdom som bor på vårdboenden. Metod: Denna studie är en litteraturstudie där tolv artiklar analyseras. En kvalitativ innehållsanalys har använts där meningsbärande enheter i artiklarna har kondenserats, kodats och slutligen bildat kategorier. Resultat: Tre kategorier framkommer av resultatet som visar vårdrelationens betydelse för livskvalitet hos personer med demenssjukdom. Dessa är: betydelsen av delaktighet som handlar om vikten av att personerna får delta i meningsfulla samtal och aktiviteter, betydelsen av personens livsberättelse som behandlar vikten av att inkludera personernas historia och bakgrund i omvårdnaden, samt vårdpersonalens bemötande som handlar om personalens sätt att uppträda och behandla personerna. Diskussion: Vårdrelationen har en inverkan på personens livskvalitet. Bland annat påverkas den av vårdpersonalens bemötande, huruvida personens livsberättelse används i omvårdnaden och personens möjlighet till delaktighet. Med ett livsvärldsperspektiv kan vårdpersonalen få en ökad förståelse för hur personen med demenssjukdom upplever och förstår sin värld. Livsberättelsen ger vårdpersonalen kunskap om vad som är eller har varit betydelsefullt för den enskilde personen. Det är nödvändigt då livskvalitet är en subjektiv upplevelse som skiljer sig från person till person.

This study examines negative issues that cannabis users have experienced associated with cannabis use. The author made qualitative interviewsto unveil four cannabis users’ life stories. These stories were analyzed through the discourse psychologicalperspective interpretive repertoirein order to explore and identify analogies among the users. The author found that the respondents, despite their seemingly diverse backgrounds and personalities, carry a collective repertoire of similar experience and reasoning around cannabis and society which can be defined as a cannabis discourse; a discourse grounded in facts as well as speculations, arguments which separately may seem reasonable but altogether often appear contradictory, and real-life anecdotes that sometimes reflect paradoxical conclusions. It's suggested that the respondents, through their repertoire, construct and maintain this discourse while social stigma and legal retaliation strengthens it. These findings may be useful for social workers in order to understand cannabis users’ situation, societal vulnerability and sometimes controversial values, including the origins of such.

The shadow of stigma theory typically surrounds the research investigation of the lives of individuals with mild intellectual disabilities. McAdams’ life story theory and methodology provide a human development framework as an alternative to the prevailing framework in the field of disability. This study moves out of the shadow of otherness and examines the personal identity making process of twelve individuals with mild intellectual disabilities in the light of human development theory. Findings dispel the assumption that individuals with mild intellectual disabilities construct their lives solely through their disability. Rather, the identity making process includes the influences of socio-cultural events, religion, mentoring, advocacy, and the lived experience of disability. In this study, twelve adults with mild intellectual disabilities completed adapted life story interviews and four quantitative measures to explore the themes and patterns of agency, communion, redemption, contamination and generativity. Additional qualitative analysis expanded the range of discovery for influences in the identity making process. Following analysis of the quantitative scores, interviewees were placed in either the Higher Generativity Group or Lower Generativity Group. Analysis occurred at three levels: within case, within group and between group. Differences between the groups emerged, such as, involvement in human rights advocacy, presence of mentors and spiritual guides, and religious beliefs. Human rights advocacy provided a rich source of generativity and meaningful connection to others, politically, socially and emotionally. Turning point narratives often contained religious and redemptive content themes. While interviewees did not narrate the majority of scenes with disability centric content, one-half of the interviewees narrated disability content in their high point scenes, suggesting the positive internalization of their disability into their personal identity. The major findings confirm the importance of studying the life stories of this population from the perspective of human development theory. This study presents conclusions that impact research methodology for this population, as well as, social work research, policy development, practice and education.

This study examined the conditions and experience of students who were placed on academic probation in view of key elements of Dewey’s (1958, 1938/1997, 1934/2005) theory of experience. Core data emerged from 16 in-depth interviews with five students who received assistance from an academic support program while on probation. An additional interview was conducted with the academic companion and another with the program developer. A document analysis and a researcher journal supplemented the data. The interviews were analyzed according to a three-dimensional narrative inquiry space (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000; Dewey, 1958, 1938/1997) to produce profiles and thematic connections (Seidman, 2006). Findings are presented in five texts. The first and second manuscripts depict the stories of two students using the profile genre. These texts disclose rich stories where the meaning of experience is lived. A third manuscript examines students’ experience from the student and professional perspectives. Major themes uncovered, include (a) resistance to seek help; (b) deep personal costs; and (c) a desire to succeed and complete their undergraduate studies. A fourth manuscript explores companioning as experienced by students and supported by resource personnel. It reveals that (a) the companioning role was defined by a specific form of guidance and attendance to self-confidence and (b) the program helped students clarify their needs, promoted their adaptation to the university context, and offered support through a positive relationship. A fifth manuscript examined the characteristics of a fruitful helping relationship. Findings suggest that (a) a rapport characterized by presence and trust and (b) an approach promoting responsibility, awareness, and holism were key. These findings offer a weighty contribution to the literature on post-secondary education by revealing rich and unique experiences. By tapping in the complexity of the participants’ experience, findings help shift away from the current focus on obstacles and deficiencies often attributed to probationary students. Résumé Cette étude a examiné l’expérience d’étudiants ayant été placés en probation académique à la lumière d’éléments-clés de la théorie de l’expérience de Dewey (1958, 1938/1997, 1934/2005). La principale source de données provenait de 16 entrevues en profondeur auprès de cinq étudiants ayant participé à un programme d’accompagnement universitaire alors qu’ils étaient en probation académique. Une entrevue a aussi été menée avec l’accompagnatrice et une autre avec la conceptrice du programme. Une analyse documentaire et un journal de bord de la chercheure complètent les données. Les entrevues ont été analysées selon une analyse narrative tridimensionnelle (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000; Dewey, 1958, 1938/1997) de façon à produire des profils et des liens thématiques (Seidman, 2006). Les résultats sont présentés dans cinq textes. Les premier et deuxième textes dépeignent l’histoire de deux étudiants sous forme de profils. Ces textes découvrent de riches et profondes histoires véhiculant la probation comme expérience de vie et la signification attribuée à celle-ci. Le troisième texte présente l’examen collectif de l’expérience des cinq étudiants ayant participé au programme d’accompagnement. Cette analyse est enrichie des perspectives de l’accompagnatrice et de la conceptrice du programme. Trois thèmes se dégagent de l’expérience de ces étudiants en probation académique soit (a) une résistance à faire usage des services de soutien; (b) des coûts personnels considérables; et (c) un désir de réussir et de compléter leur programme d’études. Un quatrième texte explore l’expérience d’accompagnement tel que perçu par les étudiants et les professionnels. L’analyse révèle que (a) l’accompagnatrice agissait à titre de guide et était attentive à la dimension de la confiance en soi et (b) le programme a aidé les étudiants à identifier leurs besoins, a soutenu leur adaptation au contexte universitaire, et a offert un soutien personnalisé par l’entremise d’une relation d’aide positive. Le cinquième texte se concentre sur les particularités d’une relation d’aide efficace en contexte de probation académique. Les résultats relèvent que cette expérience est qualifiée par (a) un rapport de présence empathique et empreinte de confiance réciproque et (b) une approche globale favorisant la responsabilité et la conscientisation. En dévoilant la richesse et l’unicité de l’expérience, ces résultats offrent une contribution intéressante. Illustrant la complexité des expériences de probation ils contribuent à s’éloigner d’une vision centrée sur les obstacles et les déficits des étudiants en probation académique.

This thesis explores the professional knowledge of three choral music educators from St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. My primary research purpose was to explain what constitutes the professional knowledge of each of the research participants as revealed through their life stories; to illustrate how such professional knowledge has been shaped by experiences throughout each of the participants’ lives; and to understand how the participants’ experiences of developing as educators within the specific social, cultural, and political contexts of Newfoundland and Labrador have shaped their professional knowledge. Through this inquiry, three choral music educators engaged in a process of teacher development, as they discovered for themselves, through a narrative process of self-exploration, the meaning that could be made of the relationships between their life experiences and their knowledge of music teaching and learning. Data-gathering included a series of four in-depth interviews, which consisted of open-ended questions that engaged the participants in reconstructing their life experiences and articulating their professional knowledge within the context of developing as choral music educators. Choral rehearsal observations provided another source of data. These observations enhanced my understanding of the participants’ teaching practice, and assisted in my understanding of the relationships between the personal and the professional that they expressed in initial interviews. Analysis of the data is represented through narratives of the participants’ life stories and a thematic discussion of their professional knowledge as revealed through those stories. Each participant’s narrative and professional knowledge are presented in individual chapters, followed by a chapter that explores the resonances (Conle, 1996) amongst the participants’ narratives and my own personal-professional narrative. I propose that we begin to reconceptualize professional development in order to acknowledge the complexity and personal nature of professional knowledge, and I assert that the exploration of life stories is a meaningful form of professional development for music educators.

This is a narrative study in which five entrepreneurs in the experience-based tourist industry have told their life-stories in connection with their establishing and running their own enterprises.   Over the last decades the number of adventure-based companies has markedly increased in tourist industry, but the knowledge gained through the research on the persons who establish these companies is scant.  Through focusing on the constructions of  identity of the entrepreneurs, this study gives nuanced pictures of the chain of events that had lead an individual to establish one`s own company.  In addition, these pictures offer deeper understanding of how these individuals perceive themselves as the founder and manager of an experience-based company. Over the last decades research in entrepreneurship has criticized the imbalanced focus on the entrepreneurs' personal characteristics and it's use as an explanation of their entrepreneurial activities. In the same critical vein I question whether motivational studies are able to explain why certain individuals choose to establish their own business. Indeed, these five stories show that an entrepreneur is not something one is but something one becomes. Although the concept of an experiential economy appeared at the end of the 1990s, the production of experiences has a long tradition in the tourist industry. Norwegian tourism has faced an uphill struggle for several decades, which worries both the authorities and the industry itself.  In recent decades the focus has been directed more and more on the dimension of experience. One hopes that the creation of new and attractive adventures will help to reverse the negative trend in the industry.  Effecting this reversal places a heavy responsibility on the entrepreneurs since they are to be the driving force in this process. Tourist adventures have been one of several core themes within the field of research in tourism for decades, but this focus has mainly been on the perspective of the consumer. In contrast, this study concentrates on the producers, a group about whom we know much less. The five entrepreneurs who tell their story in this study give detailed descriptions of their life until the establishment of their businesses, and we see that each of them describes a number of causal chains that are interwoven and together create a meaningful picture of their choice. Through focusing on their reflexive identity-constructions and viewing these in light of the concrete situations they were in, before they established their enterprises, we gain a deeper understanding of this choice. Through the process of categorizing these reflexive identity-constructions, three  distinct ontological positions emerge, that is, different ways in understanding reality. The study shows that there is a connection between these ontological positions and the ways that the entrepreneurs run their businesses, as well as their understanding of how they create and produce adventures for their guests.

Disability advocates in the twenty-first century have frowned upon the practice of institutionalization in disability services, yet many people with intellectual disability continue to be institutionalized in other settings such as correctional facilities. The prison system is a difficult environment for people with intellectual disability to negotiate, and they may find themselves victimized, segregated and isolated with very few resources to survive the experience. Incarceration may present a temporary solution to preventing anti-social behaviour in society. However, for offenders with intellectual disability, it often fails to address their criminal behaviour or the social context from which the behaviour emanates. Policy and practice in the disability service sector needs to develop further awareness of the needs of people with intellectual disability who come into contact with the criminal justice system as offenders. Similarly, correctional systems need to expand their knowledge base on the habilitative and rehabilitative needs of prisoners with intellectual disability in order to better address the issues that may arise from their incarceration. This exploratory qualitative study gathers the life stories of ten ex-prisoners from Queensland correctional facilities who have been labelled as having an intellectual disability by the service systems they have accessed. It utilizes an interpretive, social constructionist framework to understand people’s experiences. Life stories were gathered from in-depth interviews with participants over a prolonged period of time and supplemented by contextual information provided by six practitioners from disability, mental health and ex-prisoner services. The stories of three participants with intellectual disability were analysed through the holistic lens of a narrative approach and all ten stories were analysed thematically, providing an aggregate picture of all participants’ experiences. The findings of this thesis indicate that participants in this study had personal needs to belong, to feel competent and for others to see their criminal activity as an unfortunate but very human response to difficult circumstances. These needs were not always met within the prison environment and many participants struggled to feel safe in such a context. There were many pre-prison characteristics of participants that influenced their adaptation to prison, and they were also subjected to a series of degradations such as enforced isolation, frequent strip-searching, verbal and physical assault. However, these factors were not always constructed as negative or significant experiences by participants, and were often counterbalanced by perceived benefits to prison life such as friendship, food and reprieve from community living. These constructions of their experience highlight the vulnerability of this group within the prison environment and the failure of 2 the system and broader society to address core issues for people when they returned to the community. Significant disparities were also found between the philosophies of disability service support and the correctional enterprise. This study has indicated the urgent need for cross-agency collaboration in addressing the needs of people with intellectual disability. The thesis makes a contribution to both doing research with people with intellectual disability and to understanding their experiences of incarceration. The voices of people with intellectual disability have long been overlooked in research because it was assumed they could not express their views or because researchers did not have appropriate research approaches. It is only recently that some writers have captured the viewpoints of people with intellectual disability in academic discourse, but there has been little work done with prisoners and ex-prisoners with intellectual disability. Researching the experience of imprisonment with people with intellectual disabilities also presented unique ethical and methodological challenges. This thesis covers ethical issues such as informed consent, incriminating disclosure, self-determination and veracity and bias in life story research. It also develops knowledge in this area regarding recruitment, communication practices, and dissemination of findings. Overall, the study provides a nuanced account of life inside prison for people with intellectual disability. It makes a valuable contribution to the field of inclusive research with people with impaired capacity and to criminological research in this area.