<p>Det huvudsakliga syftet med studien var att genom en narrativ ansats försöka förstå hur människor med långvarig smärta förändrar sin livskvalitet genom en riktad intervention. Tre manliga deltagare har berättat om hur livet med smärtan sett ut före, under och efter smärtrehabiliteringsprogrammet. Berättelserna handlade om meningsskapande vid ohälsa, att lära sig leva med smärta och livskvalitet. Genom en narrativ analys kom jag fram till att alla tre erhållit en förändrad livskvalitet genom bland annat positivt tänkande, gemenskap och copingstrategier. De har lärt sig hantera smärtan, förbättrat sin fysiska förmåga och har idag mer fokus på sin hälsa.</p> / <p>The main purpose with this study was to try to understand how people with prolonged pain change their quality of life through an intended intervention with a narrative approach. Three male participants have narrated about how their life´s looked like before, during and after the pain rehabilitation program. The narratives are about meaning making during ill health, learning to live with pain and quality of life. Through a narrative analysis I found that all three received a changed quality of life through among other things positive thinking, fellowship and coping strategies. They have learned to handle their pain, improved their physical ability and today they got more focus on their health.</p>

<p>Då en människa får avslag på sin ansökan om uppehållstillstånd kan denne av olika skäl tvingas till att leva gömd. En vanlig orsak till detta är skräcken för vad som skulle kunna hända vid ett återvändande till hemlandet. Därmed väljer den avvisade en livssituation utan tillgång till olika samhälleliga rättigheter framför att vända tillbaka. Frånvaron av stödinsatser innebär ofta materiella, fysiska och psykiska konsekvenser. Hur individen hanterar dessa beror till viss del på orsaken till flykten, men också på det stöd andra människor kan ge. För att få en djupare förståelse för den gömdes situation, utformades syftet att undersöka vilka faktorer som påverkar hur en flykting som lever gömd kan hantera samt skapa mening och innehåll i sin livssituation. Detta ledde till följande frågeställningar: 1) Vilka faktorer beskrivs som inflytelserika för flyktingens förmåga att hantera sin livssituation som gömd? 2) På vilket sätt inverkar dessa faktorer på flyktingens möjlighet att hantera sin vardag? 3) Hur beskrivs flyktingens stöd från det sociala nätverket och på vilket sätt bidrar detta stöd till att skapa en meningsfull tillvaro? 4) Finns det gemensamma mönster eller skildringar i respondenternas berättelser som kan vara betydelsefulla för skapandet av mening? I denna studie har en kvalitativ metod använts, innefattande semistrukturerade intervjuer med tre flyktingar som levt gömda. Intervjufrågor formulerades utifrån tolkningsramens teoretiska perspektiv om meningsskapande med grund i logoterapi, KASAM och socialt stöd. Dessa perspektiv kopplades samman varpå socialt stöd blev en viktig komponent inom logoterapin och KASAM. I resultatet framgår att praktiska omständigheter, socialt nätverk samt livsåskådning är av vikt för att en gömd flykting ska kunna skapa mening och innehåll i sitt liv. Avgörande visade sig det sociala stödet vara, främst i form av nära mellanmänskliga relationer. Detta då dessa kontakter kan erbjuda socialt, emotionellt och självstärkande stöd. För att kunna skapa mening krävs också utrymme för existentiella frågor, egna känslor samt en huvudsaklig sysselsättning. Dessa måste tillskrivas ett värde för att KASAM ska kunna uppnås.</p> / <p>When denied the right to a permanent residence permit, a refugee can, for various reasons, be forced to lead a life in hiding. A common reason for this is the fear of what awaits in the country of origin. As a result, the “denied” chooses to proceed into a life without access to any societal rights rather than return home. The lack of organized support in such a situation contributes to difficult material, physical as well as psychological consequences. The manner each individual has of handling these are highly dependent upon their reasons for fleeing, as well as the support they receive. To achieve a broader understanding of a life in hiding, the factors that influence the manner the affected refugee can handle, as well as create meaning and content in his/her situation, have been investigated. Subsequently, the following questions were asked: 1) which factors are described as significant in regards to the refugee’s ability to handle a life in hiding? 2) In which ways do these factors affect the refugee’s ability to handle his/her everyday life? 3) How is the support of the social network described, and in which ways can this support help create a meaningful existence? 4) Are there any patterns to be found in the narratives of the informants that can contribute to a meaningful existence? In this study, a qualitative method was used comprising semi-structured interviews with three refugees having lead lives in hiding. Interview questions were developed using the study’s theoretical framework, consisting of logotherapy, KASAM and social support. As these perspectives were combined, social support proved to be an important component in both logotherapy and KASAM. The study concluded that practical circumstances, a social network as well as the “outlook on life” were essential to enable the creation of meaning in the hidden individual’s life. Close relationships were demonstrated as the most vital aspect, as they offer emotional, social as well as self-strengthening support. In addition to this, personal feelings, existential questioning and a primary occupation are needed to create meaning. These must be valued as important to achieve KASAM.</p>

<p>In what ways and under what circumstances can a movie be a resource for individuals and their thoughts about existential matters? This central research question has been investigated using a both quantitative and qualitative approach. First, a questionnaire was distributed amongst 179 Swedish students to provide a preliminary overview of film habits. The questionnaire was also used as a tool for selecting respondents to individual interviews. Second, thirteen interviews were conducted, with viewers choosing their favourite movie of all time. In the study socio-cognitive theory and a schema-based theoretical tool is adopted to analyze how different viewers make use of movies as cultural products in an interplay between culture and cognition in three contexts; a socio-historic process, a socio-cultural interaction with the world and inner psychological processes. Summarizing the interviews some existential matters dominated. Matters of immanent orientation were in the foreground. Transcendental questions received much less attention. Summarizing the schema-based theoretical question, assessing which cognitive schema structures the narratives were processed through, the study found an emphasis on a combination of two main cognitive structures, person schema and self schema. Detailed person schematic cognitive processes about fictitious characters on the screen and their role model behaviour were combined by the respondents with dynamic cross-references to detailed self schematic introspections about their own characteristics, related to existential matters at some very specific moments in their lives. The viewers in the study seem to be inspired by movies as a mediated cultural resource, promoting the development of a personal moral framework with references to values deeply fostered by a humanistic tradition. It is argued that these findings support theories discussing individualised meaning making, developing ‘self-expression values’ and ‘altruistic individualism’ in contemporary western society.</p>

Då en människa får avslag på sin ansökan om uppehållstillstånd kan denne av olika skäl tvingas till att leva gömd. En vanlig orsak till detta är skräcken för vad som skulle kunna hända vid ett återvändande till hemlandet. Därmed väljer den avvisade en livssituation utan tillgång till olika samhälleliga rättigheter framför att vända tillbaka. Frånvaron av stödinsatser innebär ofta materiella, fysiska och psykiska konsekvenser. Hur individen hanterar dessa beror till viss del på orsaken till flykten, men också på det stöd andra människor kan ge. För att få en djupare förståelse för den gömdes situation, utformades syftet att undersöka vilka faktorer som påverkar hur en flykting som lever gömd kan hantera samt skapa mening och innehåll i sin livssituation. Detta ledde till följande frågeställningar: 1) Vilka faktorer beskrivs som inflytelserika för flyktingens förmåga att hantera sin livssituation som gömd? 2) På vilket sätt inverkar dessa faktorer på flyktingens möjlighet att hantera sin vardag? 3) Hur beskrivs flyktingens stöd från det sociala nätverket och på vilket sätt bidrar detta stöd till att skapa en meningsfull tillvaro? 4) Finns det gemensamma mönster eller skildringar i respondenternas berättelser som kan vara betydelsefulla för skapandet av mening? I denna studie har en kvalitativ metod använts, innefattande semistrukturerade intervjuer med tre flyktingar som levt gömda. Intervjufrågor formulerades utifrån tolkningsramens teoretiska perspektiv om meningsskapande med grund i logoterapi, KASAM och socialt stöd. Dessa perspektiv kopplades samman varpå socialt stöd blev en viktig komponent inom logoterapin och KASAM. I resultatet framgår att praktiska omständigheter, socialt nätverk samt livsåskådning är av vikt för att en gömd flykting ska kunna skapa mening och innehåll i sitt liv. Avgörande visade sig det sociala stödet vara, främst i form av nära mellanmänskliga relationer. Detta då dessa kontakter kan erbjuda socialt, emotionellt och självstärkande stöd. För att kunna skapa mening krävs också utrymme för existentiella frågor, egna känslor samt en huvudsaklig sysselsättning. Dessa måste tillskrivas ett värde för att KASAM ska kunna uppnås. / When denied the right to a permanent residence permit, a refugee can, for various reasons, be forced to lead a life in hiding. A common reason for this is the fear of what awaits in the country of origin. As a result, the “denied” chooses to proceed into a life without access to any societal rights rather than return home. The lack of organized support in such a situation contributes to difficult material, physical as well as psychological consequences. The manner each individual has of handling these are highly dependent upon their reasons for fleeing, as well as the support they receive. To achieve a broader understanding of a life in hiding, the factors that influence the manner the affected refugee can handle, as well as create meaning and content in his/her situation, have been investigated. Subsequently, the following questions were asked: 1) which factors are described as significant in regards to the refugee’s ability to handle a life in hiding? 2) In which ways do these factors affect the refugee’s ability to handle his/her everyday life? 3) How is the support of the social network described, and in which ways can this support help create a meaningful existence? 4) Are there any patterns to be found in the narratives of the informants that can contribute to a meaningful existence? In this study, a qualitative method was used comprising semi-structured interviews with three refugees having lead lives in hiding. Interview questions were developed using the study’s theoretical framework, consisting of logotherapy, KASAM and social support. As these perspectives were combined, social support proved to be an important component in both logotherapy and KASAM. The study concluded that practical circumstances, a social network as well as the “outlook on life” were essential to enable the creation of meaning in the hidden individual’s life. Close relationships were demonstrated as the most vital aspect, as they offer emotional, social as well as self-strengthening support. In addition to this, personal feelings, existential questioning and a primary occupation are needed to create meaning. These must be valued as important to achieve KASAM.

The overall aim of this dissertation is to investigate how students engage with visual representations as a signifying practice in an educational context. This question is scrutinized through two young girls’ three video films and interviews with the producers. The study is guided by an interest in what these young students communicate with their films, how this is done and how they relate to the cultural and social world in their representation. The title, Ambiguous Images, alludes to the signifying work with film, images and words done by the two girls. The films raise topics such as sexuality, equality and gender which set their mark on the situation of young females, both in school and in their leisure time. The result shows that moving images fulfil the function of negotiating the significations as well as making it possible for the girls to create their own alternative representations. Each film contributes an alternative discourse, in contrast to dominant texts that apply to the constitution of the cultural and social context they address. The study demonstrates that learning is a process of selection, adaptation and transformation motivated by the interests of the pupils and the context of learning. Other important issues are also raised concerning the students’ possibilities to participate in and influence the school subject in question. This involves both the opportunity of engagement with a multiplicity of modes and the possibility to adopt their own voice and view of the world. Both the methodological and the theoretical approach in the dissertation have multimodal and social-semiotic perspectives, which are combined with a design approach. These combinations are united in a presentation of representation and communication as a social process of sign-making.

This dissertion is focused on the concept of caring and its historical development. The aim is to examine the meaning making processes involved in shaping the caring practice in the twentieth century by pointing out and analysing conceptions of caring in texts. The study is based on analyses of union publications, textbooks and texts produced by Swedish governmental committees. Theoretically and methodologically this study is inspired by Norman Fairclough, his critical discourse analysis and his views on meaning, language, change and power relations. The analysis shows that two separate constructions of meaning have dominated the twentieth century. During the first half of the twentieth century, medical science was the chief influence on caring, the idea being that caring should be supplementary to medical practice. Both nurses and nurse's assistants have contributed to this concept of meaning. In the sixties, however, something happened. Old and predominant views on caring are being rejected and questioned by the nurses. The dominant medical discourse is being problemized. Ideas from discourses formally marginalized are being employed by nurses and the governmental committees. The importance of satisfying needs, not just medical ones, and a holistic view on caring are now being stressed. The patient, not the doctor, is thereby focused in the caring practice. The meaning of caring changes from a doing with the body inte a special attitude to the patient. "Omvårdnad" (nursing) is more and more the term around which meaning is evolving.

Det huvudsakliga syftet med studien var att genom en narrativ ansats försöka förstå hur människor med långvarig smärta förändrar sin livskvalitet genom en riktad intervention. Tre manliga deltagare har berättat om hur livet med smärtan sett ut före, under och efter smärtrehabiliteringsprogrammet. Berättelserna handlade om meningsskapande vid ohälsa, att lära sig leva med smärta och livskvalitet. Genom en narrativ analys kom jag fram till att alla tre erhållit en förändrad livskvalitet genom bland annat positivt tänkande, gemenskap och copingstrategier. De har lärt sig hantera smärtan, förbättrat sin fysiska förmåga och har idag mer fokus på sin hälsa. / The main purpose with this study was to try to understand how people with prolonged pain change their quality of life through an intended intervention with a narrative approach. Three male participants have narrated about how their life´s looked like before, during and after the pain rehabilitation program. The narratives are about meaning making during ill health, learning to live with pain and quality of life. Through a narrative analysis I found that all three received a changed quality of life through among other things positive thinking, fellowship and coping strategies. They have learned to handle their pain, improved their physical ability and today they got more focus on their health.

This essay focuses on two cases studies that include two game designers’ views of meaning-making construction in games and an analysis of their corresponding games. This isplaced in relation to the late modern Sweden context. The study examines how the designersconceive purposeful play by employing a multi-disciplinary approach consistingof Pruyser’s three-world model, Bell’s ritualization framework, and, Howard’s quest theory.Such a study is relevant due to the new ways meaning-making is actively producedwithin games and contributes to the understanding of meaning-making in late modernSweden. The two designers work at DICE and Starbreeze Studios and were interviewedusing a semi-structured methodology. The data is analyzed with a qualitative narrativetechnique applying an inductive theoretical lens to analyze the data thematically. Bothrespondents illustrate patterns of meaning-making in their construction of games wherefunctionality is central and vital to produce purposeful play. The construction of illusionisticgame worlds encloses on feelings of authenticity to the world’s structure. Realistic,autistic, and, object symbolism operate to mold the world structure and are connected tothe designers’ genre. The designer from DICE promotes realistic worlds and the designerfrom Starbreeze Studios autistic representations. Ritualized practice within the worldfocuses on combat differentiation techniques to legitimize violent practice. The designers’realistic world construction makes combat plausible within its border and autistic worldsare empowered by back-stories. Opposition is seen as essential in both cases. The correspondinggame shows similar tendencies except that many of the quest themes are intactalthough the designers themselves consider the games to use less of the mythologicalformulae. Characters, themes, and, allegorical imagery was used to amplify the sense ofdialectic oppositions and logical opposition where the enemy is always darker. However,the hero and heroes are considerably grimmer compared to the stereotypical hero. Meaningis maintained through non-allegorical quests where the player and hero are motivatedby functionality linked to opposition or emotional elements. An anti-heroic concept isemployed to construct a practical and credible hero-character that has ambivalent attributesand convincing behavior. An alteration to dark-light symbolism can also be seen inone of the cases. In relation to other studies, this essay has broaden the spectrum of thepsychology of religion in terms of fields for meaning strategies; confirming ritualizedstrategies in video games; displayed altered ways of using mythological symbols in theSwedish context; presented cultural differences in hero structures that might be based onthe Swedish context.

The aim of this study was to examine self-harming women’s own experiences. To try and raise understanding and awareness about how they themselves create their identity and meaning round the self-harming behaviour. Our three questions were; how do the young women conceive society’s reactions on their self-harming behaviour? Do the young women express an imposed or self-elected alienation? If so, in what way? In what way do the young self-harming women construe their own identity in relation to the self-harming behaviour? We have used a narrative approach when we have examined the blogs as life stories in the sense that all our lives and everything in them is a story by definition. We have examined the parts of the blogs we selected as whole units to begin with, we separated the different parts from each other first when we were familiar with the material. The analysis then had an interpersonal aim to find out the function and relation in what was written. That does not exclude the use of both form analysis or the analysis of content with we also have used side by side throughout our analysis.    Our results show that this subject matter has several layers and so is a complex area that would benefit from more research with the young women´s perspective at hand. The young women describe several interesting interpretations on how their society comprehends them. They often feel judged and have to struggle with deciding if and when to show who they really are, both in regards to their bodies and inner self’s. This stigmatisation is apparent throughout all of our material. The young women also express that they feel forced into roles that they on the one hand have chosen but on the other hand don’t want to stay in. The women also express a desire to belong in the normal society like an equal. In addition the women express that they construct their identity both within themselves to make sense of their chaotic emotions, but they also experience that their society is a big part in their identity making process. Society’s expectations on them force them to take one of a few available routes in their identity making. In our results a few of these are visible the two most apparent is a dichotomy between victim and antagonist, these two positions don’t appear separately but is often visible in the same segments of the texts.

Science centres have been identified as an important resource in encouraging teenagers to choose higher education in science and technology. This is of interest to society, since there seems to be a problem in getting sufficient numbers to do so. And accomplishing this is sometimes described as a fatal question for a nation’s future prosperity and development. Still, there is an international trend where teenagers fail to visit science centres.   Through research, little is known about what is interesting or useful to the public, as well as how to reach those who are ‘unengaged’. Considering teenagers as exponents for what distinguishes today’s society makes their apparent unwillingness to participate in science centres interesting to study with regards to what culture, history and ideology these centres were initially produced. Hence, from this point of view, what is missing in science centres that would make them interesting for the young people of today?   Many studies of learning in science centres have come to focus on visitors who visit voluntarily and how well the embedded messages in the exhibits have been acknowledged by these visitors. This study focuses instead on teenagers who are reluctant to participate in science centres, with their perspective of science centres as the point of departure, specifically what kind of social activities are formed in their encounters with science centre exhibits. This encounter is regarded as an encounter between the two different practices of the science centre and the teenagers. The applied theoretical perspective is mainly assembled from socio-cultural theories of learning.   This research is a microanalytic study of five teenagers who were equipped with video cameras and asked to film a visit to the local science centre, Teknikens Hus. The films were later discussed in a focus-group interview consisting of the teenagers and the researcher. Visual ethnography provided the theoretical framework for this research design.   The results showed that the teenagers want to use exhibits to have the authority of interpretations and the possibilities to contribute to the meaning of the activity. At the same time, they want to use the exhibits in a way that the activities become places for developing social identity. To negotiate the meaning of the exhibits there is a need for an openness that may be constrained by too inflexible and limiting exhibit designs. This pattern is described as two different forms of participation in the exhibits; ignoring or extending the intended meaning of the exhibits. Meaningfulness also demands a closeness created by connections between the exhibit and the user’s personal experiences. This pattern is described as two different ways in which the teenagers identified the exhibits; exhibits which they dissociated from or to which they had an ongoing relationship. Providing a space for negotiation seems crucial to inviting teenagers into opportunities of meaningful experiences, even more significant than any specific physical feature in the exhibit.   The teenagers’ agenda, in which forming practices where they can express themselves and contribute to the meaning seem to be very important, appears not to be greatly enabled by science centre exhibits. In this situation they learn to not participate. Science and technology represented in this matter show a ‘ready-made’ world that they cannot change. The missing link in learning in science centres is here described as the part of the meaning making process where the teenagers get to re-negotiate the meaning of the activities in the centre and use the exhibits as tools to accomplish this.