The major objective has been to create tools for analyzing the reasoning regarding the school the different actors involved - pupils, teachers, school and politicians show. A subordinate aim was to explore relevance in this connection of eight studies carried out by the author 1979 – 1999 concerning three basic areas: the pedagogical processes at the school level, at the teacher education level and at the level of school change. I conclude that a recurring question is that of the relevance and the sense of meaningfulness experienced by those involved in different educational processes. In one of the eight empirical studies, termed the compulsory-school teacher study (1997), an approach to analyzing what teacher trainees find relevant in their work in schools is presented, involving two basic concepts, those of the event space and the relational space. In considering these concepts in terms of Alfred Schutz' theory of the lifeworld, I rename the relational space the space of contemporaries. A new study is also reported in this thesis – Teachers and schoolpoliticians in the pedagogical process of school change, the LoP-study. In considering the earlier eight studies in conjunction with the LoP-study, I find the studies to have dealt with personal processes and societal processes as well as pedagogical processes in how the parties involved reason in talking about the school. Three different aspects of the processes are distinguished: meta-aspects, connected with the aims a given process has; core aspects, connected with what one concretely does; and approach aspects, pertaining to how the persons involved relate to each other and to the process. In analyzing the LoP- interviews carried out with use of the tools developed – enabling different processes and aspects of these to be analyzed – I find marked individual differences in the patterns of different aspects of the processes involved. The width of the event space and of the space of contemporaries on the part both of the teachers and of the politicians were found to vary considerably. A conclusion drawn is that further development of the tools created would be worthwhile. It also seems possible to apply these tools to other areas, such as those of the scientific community with its research processes and of the political community with its steering processes.

Antalet äldre blir idag allt fler och behovet av vård flyttas upp i åldrarna. Det kräver att insatser inom äldrevård och omsorg håller hög kvalité och placerar människan i centrum för att skapa förutsättningar för äldre att leva ett värdigt, meningsfullt liv och känna välbefinnande. Frågan om mat, trygghet, identitet, social interaktion, anpassning och KASAM är faktorer som påverkar äldres tillvaro på äldreboende. Syftet med studien var att få djupare kunskap och förståelse i äldres livsvärld på äldreboende, hur man som boende upplever sin vardag och vilken betydelse äldreboendet som institution har för deras hälsa. Två livsberättelseintervjuer genomfördes under en timme var med två äldre, en man och en kvinna boende på ett äldreboende i Mellansverige. Resultatet tolkades och analyserades utifrån tidigare forskning, salutogent och patogent perspektiv på hälsa och teorier som KASAM, Maslows behovstrappa och immanent pedagogik. Resultatet visade att deltagarna är väldigt nöjda med sin vistelse på äldreboendet och hänvisar till aspekter som uppskattning av hjälp med mat, trygghet och tillit. Tidigare livserfarenheter och livsförhållanden lyfts fram i samband med uppskattningens betydelse. Dock framgår det även att tillvaron består av begränsningar som gör att personernas viktiga, betydelsefulla områden i livet inte fullt tillgodoses, vilket påverkar de äldres möjlighet att uppleva meningsfullhet i tillvaron. De äldres hälsotillstånd, tidsaspekt gällande personalens möjlighet att tillgodose behov, en fråga om mindre spontanitet och de äldres uppfattningar att inte kunna fodra hur mycket hjälp som helst är påverkande faktorer.

<p>This thesis researches the phenomenon ‘caring relationship’. The empirical studies in this thesis were carried out in China with the aim to describe the caring relationship in China through the lifeworld experiences of professional caregivers and patients. The result of this study will later on relate to a study of Swedish caring relationships.</p><p>For this phenomenological study 9 patients, 10 medical and healthcare workers and 4 nursing tutors were interviewed. They were from 5 different medical and care units from two hospitals, one private clinic and a nursing school in Southern China.</p><p>This study shows that caring relationship in China has many layers. Embedded in the basic interpersonal relationship is a ‘relationship of need’. The relationship carries a goal: to help the patient to restore a personal harmonic existence and regain the responsibility for their health. The relationship is temporary and normally ends when the goal is achieved.</p><p>The relationship is initiated by the patients need for help. The two main actors in the caring relationship are the patient and the caregiver with their roles as care seeker and care provider. This study shows that to become a patient is a process of diminishing the natural ordinary self which makes the person feel vulnerable. Caregivers take a leading role which carries responsibility. They feel an obligation to use all their knowledge and resources for the benefit of the patients. They teach them how to live and how to stay healthy.</p><p>A main function in the caring relationship is the transfer of knowledge. The caregivers feel the need to create a dialog to get access to the patients’ unique knowledge about themselves so that the caregiver’s general knowledge of health and care can be applied to the individual. Through the informal chats they share the patient’s experiences, emotions and history. It creates en opportunity for the interpersonal relationship to grow deeper and for the patient and the caregiver to meet as fellow human beings.</p><p>In the Chinese caring relationship the patient’s family is included. It is considered to be every contributor’s duty to be responsible for oneself and for others. Mutual understanding and respect in a caring relationship are important in getting the patient back into balance.</p>

The overall aim of this research project was to explore and describe the significance of assistive devices in daily life. The project involves two qualitative and two quantitative studies. Three of these studies were from the perspective of persons with stroke and one from the perspective of spouses of persons with stroke. A hermeneutic phenomenological lifeworld approach was used in the qualitative studies and data was obtained through conversational interviews with the two study groups, 22 persons with stroke and 12 spouses of persons with stroke, after the devices had been used for about a year. The results indicated that the lived experiences of assistive devices in respect of the different lifeworld existentials (lived body, lived space, lived time, lived human relation) are closely interconnected in both study groups. The lived body existential included aspects of habits, feelings and the incorporation, figuratively speaking, of the devices into their own bodies. Lived space concerned the gradual development of a new view of the environment and the devices’ role as a prerequisite for being able to live at home. The devices brought about a changed relation to lived time with respect to the temporal perspectives of past, present and future. To be able to take control of one’s own time was an important experience that the devices facilitated. Assistive devices were an integral part of the lived human relation between the couples in the study groups, as well as between the disabled persons/spouses and other people, including the health-care professionals. The devices contributed either to the maintenance or the change of social roles, but they sometimes also gave rise to the experience of being stigmatised. The results in the case of both study groups showed that the use of different devices is complex and often contradictory, especially when it comes to persons with stroke. Overall the persons’ experiences of the advantages of the devices overshadowed their experiences of the disadvantages. The quantitative studies included a pre- and post-assessment design. Thirty-two persons with disabilities after stroke were included. The impact of an outdoor powered wheelchair on activity and participation (IPPA, WHODAS II) and quality of life (PIADS, EQ-5D) was measured. Statistical analysis with mainly non-parametric tests was used to determine significant within-group and between-group changes after intervention. The conceptual framework ICF was used in one of the quantitative studies when classifying the participants’ stated problems. The results showed that the outdoor powered wheelchair is an essential device for persons with disabilities after stroke with regard to overcoming activity limitation and participation restrictions in everyday life. Furthermore it mostly has a positive impact on such users’ quality of life. However, it is also important to highlight the negative experiences of a few with regard to the use of powered wheelchairs. In sum, these results will enable prescribers to better understand the individual experiences of using assistive devices and the individuals’ and the families’ need for support in connection with the prescription of assistive devices, the particular example being powered wheelchairs.

Den här studien syftar till att lyfta fram, belysa, tolka och öka förståelsen om hur människan i det senmoderna samhället lever med en medvetenhet om sin ändlighet och vilken mening livet får för dem. Som teoretisk och begreppslig referensram ligger den existentiella traditionen. Empirin utgörs av fem självbiografier som tolkas och analyseras utifrån en hermeneutisk metodansats. Självbiografierna är skrivna av personer som diagnosticerats med en obotlig sjukdom och inträtt i evigheten. Resultatet av studien utmynnade i tre faser. Livet rasar samman handlar om de oerhörda olustkänslor som personerna upplever efter vetskapen om att de ska dö. Här behandlas också de svåra prövningar som kroppens svek, nedbrytning och förändring bidrar till. Sökandet efter ett sätt att leva handlar om hur man efter diagnosen försöker finna ett sätt att leva mot ändligheten. Personerna upplever en grundtrygghet av att få leva så normalt som möjligt, få vistas i sitt eget hem och i betydelsefulla omgivningar. Det mest värdefulla för deras välbefinnande är kärleken, stödet och samhörigheten med nära och kära. Med medvetenheten om sin ändlighet fann personerna livet och det viktigaste blev att leva. Att finna livet i dess slutskede belyser de existentiella tankar och upplevelser som uppstår i livets slutfas. I denna fas försöker personerna finna en väg och tillhörighet in i evigheten. / The aim of this study is to highlight, illuminate, interpret and increase understanding of how humans in the late modern society lives with an awareness of their finitude and what the meaning of life will be for them. As a theoretical and conceptual framework is the existential tradition. The empirical data consists of five autobiographies which will be interpreted and analyzed from a hermeneutic methodology. The autobiographies are written by people who have been diagnosed with an incurable disease and entered eternity. The result of the study led to three phases. Life falls apart is about all the incredible feelings of discomfort the persons experience after the knowledge of their forthcoming death. This phase also addresses the difficult trials that body´s betrayal, degradation and change are contributing to. The search for a way to live is about how one after diagnosis is trying to find a way to live against the finitude. The persons experience a fundamental security in living as normally as possible, reside in their own home and in significant surroundings. The most valuable for their wellbeing is the love, support and affinity with friends and loved ones. With the awareness of their finitude the persons found life and the most important thing was to live. Finding life in its final stage highlights the existential thoughts and experience that occurs in life´s final phase. In this phase the persons tries to find a way and belonging into eternity.

The present study explores the reception of historical feature films in history education. It is concerned with how pupils experience the films as well as the significance of the feature film for their understanding and interpretation of history. The study incorporates empirical data from classroom projects in two different Swedish upper secondary schools where film was used as an educational tool. Observations of classroom activities were made and interviews with twelve pupils and their history teachers were conducted. The study applies a phenomenological approach. The lifeworld of the pupils is in focus, specifically the aspect of the lifeworld they live and experience in history class when film is used as a means of understanding the past. The phenomenon studied is thus how the pupils experience the film, and through the film, history itself. Theoretical notions from film reception studies and history didactics are used as analytic tools. The study shows how emotional and cognitive processes converge in the pupils’ meaning making of the films. The embodiment of the films’ narrative is an important factor that contributes to both the understanding of the film as well as of history. The pupils experience the films emotionally, feeling both empathy and antipathy for the various characters, physically through sight and sound as well as embodied reactions, and cognitively through an understanding of the film’s narrative. Embodied experience is fundamental for history to become materialized. The audiovisual portrayal and materialization of the past becomes embodied in the pupils so that the experience of the film and of the historical lifeworld presented therein becomes part of their lifeworld. Generally, pupils consider the films to be trustworthy, though this perceived accuracy depends on how authentically the narrative is performed and the pupils’ previous store of historical knowledge.  A didactic dilemma to consider when using historical feature film in the classroom is the contradiction between the aesthetic experience of a feature film and its use as a tool for understanding the past. The captivating character of feature film evokes empathy and engagement with the films’ characters regardless of the degree of historical accuracy. This is a critical issue for teachers; there needs to be balance between respect for the pupils’ aesthetic experience of the film and the need to guide them to develop for example the skills of historical empathy, where distance is necessary for the pupils to be able to consider different perspectives.

This research aimed to investigate the desires of the users of the Greek public Library on Gender and Equality (LGE) about a future Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) containing Web2.0 functionalities. The concepts of participation, information pluralism and community building in relation with Web 2.0 tools in libraries’ catalogues were introduced under the theoretical approach provided by Social Critical Theory of Jürgen Habermas. Aqualitative research based on semi-structured interviews with users of the LGE wasconducted and the collected data that were analysed with the thematic analysis method,revealed positive users’ impressions regarding the introduction of Web 2.0 tools in theLGE’s OPAC. The research also disclosed users’ desires and suggestions regarding specific Web 2.0 features and their common motivation to participate and contribute to be the opportunity of communicating with like-minded people.

Cette thèse porte sur la question de la communauté dans la phénoménologie husserlienne et posthusserlienne, en se concentrant autour du concept de « monde de la vie » (Lebenswelt) – notamment dans La crise des sciences européennes. A la croisée des étapes majeures du parcours husserlien dont nous dégageons les implications, nous interrogeons le monde de la vie à travers l'analyse phénoménologique des processus d'incorporation et d'incarnation. Nous démontrons que Husserl a d'emblée surmonté les impasses de ses successeurs en refusant l'opposition exclusive entre les champs d'immanence et de transcendance pour au contraire penser leurs entrelacements. A partir de la reprise de la critique radicale de l'objectivisme naturaliste, l'enjeu est d'approfondir les formes d'intrication entre sphère égologique et horizon-de-nous. Dès lors, nous désignons la praxis intersubjective comme la base des dynamiques de formation communautaire, que nous comprenons en tant que formes de vie. / This thesis engages the question of community in husserlian and post-husserlian phenomenology, concentrating on the concept of the “lifeworld” (Lebenswelt), especially in The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology. At the crossroads between two major stages of Husserl’s development, of which we will reveal the implications, we question the lifeworld through the phenomenological analysis of the processes of incorporation and incarnation. We demonstrate that Husserl straightaway surmounted the impasses met by his successors, by refusing an exclusive opposition between the fields of immanence and transcendence in order to, on the contrary, propose their interlacing. Starting with resumption of the radical critique of naturalist objectivism, the stakes are to deepen the forms of intricacy between the ecological sphere and world-horizon. From there, we designate intersubjective praxis as the basis of the dynamics of community formation, which we understand in terms of forms of life.

The present study explores the reception of historical feature films in history education. It is concerned with how pupils experience the films as well as the significance of the feature film for their understanding and interpretation of history. The study incorporates empirical data from classroom projects in two different Swedish upper secondary schools where film was used as an educational tool. Observations of classroom activities were made and interviews with twelve pupils and their history teachers were conducted. The study applies a phenomenological approach. The lifeworld of the pupils is in focus, specifically the aspect of the lifeworld they live and experience in history class when film is used as a means of understanding the past. The phenomenon studied is thus how the pupils experience the film, and through the film, history itself. Theoretical notions from film reception studies and history didactics are used as analytic tools. The study shows how emotional and cognitive processes converge in the pupils’ meaning making of the films. The embodiment of the films’ narrative is an important factor that contributes to both the understanding of the film as well as of history. The pupils experience the films emotionally, feeling both empathy and antipathy for the various characters, physically through sight and sound as well as embodied reactions, and cognitively through an understanding of the film’s narrative. Embodied experience is fundamental for history to become materialized. The audiovisual portrayal and materialization of the past becomes embodied in the pupils so that the experience of the film and of the historical lifeworld presented therein becomes part of their lifeworld. Generally, pupils consider the films to be trustworthy, though this perceived accuracy depends on how authentically the narrative is performed and the pupils’ previous store of historical knowledge.  A didactic dilemma to consider when using historical feature film in the classroom is the contradiction between the aesthetic experience of a feature film and its use as a tool for understanding the past. The captivating character of feature film evokes empathy and engagement with the films’ characters regardless of the degree of historical accuracy. This is a critical issue for teachers; there needs to be balance between respect for the pupils’ aesthetic experience of the film and the need to guide them to develop for example the skills of historical empathy, where distance is necessary for the pupils to be able to consider different perspectives.

Denna studie har studerat och jämfört hur elever i språklig sårbarhet och undervisande lärare på gymnasiesärskolan och gymnasieskolan beskriver främjande faktorer för kunskapsutveckling i undervisningen. Studien använder en kvalitativ tolkande- och livsvärldsfenomenologisk ansats. För att besvara forskningsfrågorna har semistrukturerade intervjuer och observationer använts med två elever och två lärare från gymnasiesärskolan och två elever och två lärare från gymnasieskolan. Intervjuerna belyser informanternas beskrivningar av främjande faktorer för kunskapsutveckling i undervisningen. Resultaten visade att elevers och lärares erfarenheter av vad som utgör kunskapsutveckling i undervisningen både korrelerar och skiljer sig åt. Både elever och lärare värderade student-lärarrelationen som en viktig aspekt för elever att engagera sig och utvecklas mot kunskapsmålen. Lärare i gymnasiesärskolan värdesatte gruppens storlek för att kunna individanpassa undervisningen och stötta elever i språklig sårbarhet att utvecklas mot kunskapsmålen. I linje med en universell design för lärande, tenderade lärare på gymnasieskolan att organisera sin undervisning för att bli mer inkluderande. Resultatet visade också att lärarnas och elevernas berättelser på gymnasiesärskolan och gymnasieskolan visade olika perspektiv på inkludering i undervisningen. På gymnasiesärskolan blev det tydligt att en främjande faktor för kunskapsutveckling för elever i språklig sårbarhet var att eleverna differentierades, medan gymnasieskolans lärare och elever lyfte fram att undervisningen behövde differentieras för att stötta elever i språklig sårbarhet. / This study has examined and compared how students with language difficulties and their teachers in Swedish upper secondary special needs school and Swedish upper secondary school describe their learning development in the classroom. The study has used an interpretative- and lifeworld phenomenological approach.  To answer the research questions, semi structured interviews have been conducted with two students and two teachers from an upper secondary special needs school and two students and two teachers from an upper secondary school. The interviews have shed light on the informants’ experience of which factors promote learning development in the classroom.  The results show that students’ and teachers’ experiences of what constitutes learning development in the classroom both correlates and differ. Both students and teachers valued the student-teacher relationship as an important factor in students getting involved in instruction and reaching learning objectives. For the teachers in the special needs school group size played an important role in individualizing instruction. In line with universal design for learning, teachers in the upper secondary school tended to organize their instruction to be more inclusive. The results also presented two different perspectives on inclusive education to support learning development for students with language difficulties. In upper secondary needs school learning development is dependent on differentiation of the students, while learning development in upper secondary school depends on differentiation of instruction in the classroom.