BACKGROUND: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use has steadily increased globally over the past two decades and is increasingly playing a role in the healthcare system in the United States. CAM practice-based effectiveness research requires an understanding of the settings in which CAM practitioners provide services. This paper describes and quantifies practice environment characteristics for a cross-sectional sample of doctors of chiropractic (DCs), licensed acupuncturists (LAcs), and licensed massage therapists (LMTs) in the United States. METHODS: Using a cross-sectional telephone survey of DCs (n = 32), LAcs (n = 70), and LMTs (n = 184) in the Tucson, AZ metropolitan area, we collected data about each location where practitioners work, as well as measures on practitioner and practice characteristics including: patient volume, number of locations where practitioners worked, CAM practitioner types working at each location, and business models of practice. RESULTS: The majority of practitioners reported having one practice location (93.8% of DCs, 80% of LAcs and 59.8% of LMTs) where they treat patients. Patient volume/week was related to practitioner type; DCs saw 83.13 (SD = 49.29) patients/week, LAcs saw 22.29 (SD = 16.88) patients/week, and LMTs saw 14.21 (SD =10.25) patients per week. Practitioners completed surveys for N = 388 practice locations. Many CAM practices were found to be multidisciplinary and/or have more than one practitioner: 9/35 (25.7%) chiropractic practices, 24/87 (27.6%) acupuncture practices, and 141/266 (53.0%) massage practices. Practice business models across CAM practitioner types were heterogeneous, e.g. sole proprietor, employee, partner, and independent contractor. CONCLUSIONS: CAM practices vary across and within disciplines in ways that can significantly impact design and implementation of practice-based research. CAM research and intervention programs need to be mindful of the heterogeneity of CAM practices in order to create appropriate interventions, study designs, and implementation plans.

“What is more real than the thoughts in your mind?”, “Re/structure your memories, re/construct your reality, re/define yourself”. The foundation of my research is about practising theory instead of theorising practice. My project begins with theory, which then leads to the science fiction film Mnemophrenia that constitutes the practical aspect of it. I attempt to demonstrate how theory and practice can be joined to create a fruitful union, each one feeding the other. In my research, I am inspired by Marshall McLuhan’s idea and use the medium as the message in order to depict and explore how cinema can affect human memory and more specifically create artificial memories and thus contribute to the dissolution of any boundaries between reality and fiction. The key research question that Mnemophrenia explores is: what would happen if in a future postmodern society the Bazinian myth of ‘total’ cinema becomes a reality? If ‘total cinema’ is pure realism and cinema can lead to artificial memories, then artificial memories and pure realism become one and films become artificial memories. Mnemophrenia depicts a different kind of human being or species, a schizophrenic ‘cyborg’ changed from within due to the advancement of virtual reality films which signals the end of cinema as we know it today. Mnemophrenia is about the future of cinema and maintains a horizon of hope that could lead to utopia; it does not discard technology as something evil as many previous science fiction films have done. I am interested in depicting through the film and examining in my thesis the possibility of a society where the dissolution of borders between fiction and reality does not lead to horrific consequences for humanity but instead promotes a potential for a new kind of identity that is an amalgam of real and artificial memories.

The thesis explores how painting is affected by its sonic environment. The research stems from an artistic response to noise in the environment and how this can be explored through artistic practice. The boundaries of art have and continue to be challenged as visual art has embraced an increasing range of approaches. This research explores the visual experience of viewing a painting alongside the all-encompassing time based nature of a sonic experience and readdresses the way painting operates within its own sound environment. It asks how these different elements can affect the reading of one another and in particular focuses on installations in extreme acoustic spaces, such as anechoic and reverberation chambers. It investigates how introducing sound to the painting arena can affect the reading and also transform the parameters of the painting. The research is practice-based and takes the form of a series of exhibitions, latterly in the form of site-specific installations, which have been evaluated, interpreted and responded to. This has led to a fundamental investigation, both practical and theoretical, into the way that sound and vision work together and how they relate within the context of art. Through the research the format of the painting developed in tandem with the temporal and audio considerations, resulting in all-encompassing installations bringing together panoramic paintings and 3D soundscapes.

This dissertation focuses on design sessions in which users and stakeholders participate. It demonstrates how material from field studies can be used in exploratory design sessions. The emphasis is on the staging and realization of experiments with ‘possible futures’. Using a design perspective I have worked with how field studies can contribute to design processes in which many parties collaborate. With a starting point in collaborative ‘sketching’ and creation of scenarios I have striven to create a meaningful way for design teams to adopt a practice perspective. The dissertation shows that there need not be any opposition between exploring ‘what is’ and envisioning ‘what can be’. The increase of computer technology in everyday life and the development making information technology become an integrated part of more and more everyday products has given rise to a need to find new ways of working in the process of designing. If it was ever possible to work in an isolated way on either digital or physical technology, this is no longer the case since development requires collaboration over these borders. In the same way, IT plays an increasing significant role in people’s everyday lives. User focus and user involvement have become commonplace. This calls for new ways of organizing the design process. The present dissertation meets this problem. I have participated in four projects in which exploring users everyday practices has become a meaningful design activity and a foundation for collaboration. The purpose of this dissertation is to shed light on the possibilities and the advantages offered by working design oriented with material from field studies. Furthermore, it strives to show how design sessions can be organized and carried out on a practical level and exemplifies with concrete projects. Special emphasis is given to the creation of and the inquiry into design material and the development and use of design games. / <p>In collaboration with School of Arts and Communication, Malmö University, Sweden.</p>

Generally speaking depictive theories attempt to explain the experience of looking at paintings and drawings, in particular they describe the process by which a viewer makes sense of a surface that has been intentionally marked in such a way as to describe some thing in the world. Depictive theories have generally been developed with reference to figurative work where the viewer is able to recognize the depicted object(s). The aim of this thesis is to determine the extent to which they apply to non-figurative work, what is commonly referred to as abstract art, and to identify what factors can influence the understanding and interpretation of such work. The method used is a combination of theory and practice. An analysis of theories of depiction and of contemporary scholarship on the subject is undertaken. Using the results of this work and by reference to the key concepts of these theories an analysis of specific artworks is carried out in a series of case studies. The purpose of the case studies is to identify, in the first instance, how certain theories of depiction can be seen to apply. In other words how they explain the experience of looking at a figurative artwork. The case study approach is an essential element of the methodology of the project. It is used, initially, to interrogate a work by Titian that is, arguably, readily explained by ‘traditional’ depictive theories. The procedure evolved for this analysis is then applied to the less figurative works of Auerbach and Twombly and from this process a non-iconographic approach to depiction is developed which is tested by application to my own work and to that of two contemporary artists. The thesis concludes that a comprehensive theory of depiction must allow for such factors as material and facture and that, as a result of this research, the meaning of the term ‘depiction’ can, under certain conditions, be extended to include for non-figurative work. It suggests that some theories may usefully be modified to accommodate the findings of this research. Dominic Lopes argues that ‘a complete account of pictures should explain abstract pictures as well as figurative ones.’ This thesis is seen as making a contribution to the development of any such account.

People-centred design is a design approach that takes the intended end users into consideration throughout the development process, resulting in more appropriate design output in terms of meeting peoples needs and wants. There is recognised value in the use of user-based information, and in establishing empathy with those being designed for, yet there is a distinct lack of literature addressing both aspects and the potential for associated support mechanisms for designers. The combination of information and empathy is the focus of this research. This thesis presents studies carried out to investigate the potential for ‘supporting people-centred design through information and empathy’, focusing upon the early stages of design development. The main aims of this research were to understand designers’ processes and where users fit into these, and to suggest means of support that could promote user focus whilst remaining a practical and appropriate complement to established methods. The under-explored nature of this area required empirical research engaging in practical ways with designers, which was achieved through in-depth probe studies and follow-up interviews with 10 designers; active participation in two four-month real-life design projects; the examination and co-creation of resource tool concepts during two workshops, each with 20 design participants; and ‘MHIRROR’ (Means of Human Information Retrieval, Representation, Organisation and Reflection), a mixed media human information resource was developed and trialed with six experienced inclusive design practitioners. These qualitative explorations with designers and within real-life projects facilitated understanding of the potential for human information resources to support the design process. The thesis has made original contribution to knowledge in terms of the formation of a framework for the manipulation and integration of human information into the design process; the iterative design and embodiment of a working prototype resource MHIRROR, and it has provided insights into the value of information and empathy resource combinations and their potential to promote people-centred design.

By situating ecology as an ontological position, this dissertation adapts Jan Zwicky’s notion of resonance to probe imagining as a complex collaborative process involving diverse emergent variables. As a practicing artist, writer, teacher and researcher, I combine theoretical research and (visual arts) practice-based research to posit a sense of imagining that is unsituatable. The structure of this dissertation is grounded in the form of the essay (as a “try” or an “attempt”) which adapts explanatory text, metaphorical text and visual elements as a way to expand qualitative practices that have engaged critically with the politics of accepted forms and structures of academic writing. The project is intended for an off-line format, as a series of six distinct yet interdependent hand-made books that focus on: (1) An Emergent Methodology; (2) Ontology, Form and a Reconstitution of the Individual; (3) Zwicky, Thisness, Ecology & Ontological Ethics; (4) Zwicky, Imagination and the Image; (5) An Envisioning of Imagining as a Resonant Ecological Process and lastly, (6) Moments of Engaging Eco-Imagining in the Post-Secondary Classroom. The research-writing expands a body of work, through visual-textual, theoretical-metaphorical form, to enact imagining as a resonant ecological process that unfolds through the emergence of a complex co-mingling of a deluge of variables. / Graduate

This practice-based research discusses critical responses to the structural pressures of 'independent' curating under neoliberalism. The study argues for politicising project-making in accordance with such values as equality, collective autonomy and interdependency. The argument contributes to current debates about the practical plausibility of politicising project-related modes of production in the expanded field of art. The thesis acknowledges that 'independent' curators are culturally and economically dependent on the same apparatus that they want to contest. My work approaches this basic contradiction as a practical and conceptual challenge that prompts a series of questions as to how to practice within the apparatus, whilst at the same time resisting the social pressures of the very same system. The methodology merges sociological analysis of the social conditions of 'independent' curating with the tacit knowledge of the forms of curatorial resistance elicited by the pressures discussed. Thus, I set aside the aesthetical contents of curatorial projects and focus on their social forms. Utilising Walter Benjamin s concepts from The Author as Producer (1934), I argue that to politicise project-making, an 'independent' curator is required to intervene in the social apparatuses of curatorial production. The thesis reveals a number of social pressures, which manifest themselves in 'independent' curatorial practice and analyses tactics that 'independent' curators develop in response to those pressures. I interpret the examples of curatorial practice, submitted to evidence my argument, both as symptoms of those social pressures and as sites of politicised, curatorial intervention. To analyse politicised curating, I introduce two central terms 'the apparatus of project-making' and 'radical opportunism'. These terms facilitate the analysis of the intrinsic contradictions and ethical complexities of politicised curating. I apply this conceptual framework to the different aspects of project-making, analysing temporal structures, modes of governance and competitive features of the apparatus, alongside politicised, curatorial responses to the pressures discussed. In order to discuss curatorial tactics that respond to the social pressures of project-making, I introduce new terms, such as 'free/slowness', 'neither a project nor an institution' and 'interdependent curating', discussed in the consecutive Chapters.

This thesis explored the concept of sport injury-related growth (SIRG). Specifically, the mechanisms through which growth occurs and how it may be promoted for injured athletes. Study 1 used a grounded theory methodology to develop a context-specific theory. Aligning with a Straussian approach, data was collected using semi-structured interviews and analysed using open, axial, and selected coding. Findings revealed that the mechanisms of (a) meta-cognition, (b) positive reappraisal, (c) positive emotions, and (d) facilitative responses are what enable SIRG. These mechanisms are influenced by a combination of internal (e.g., personality) and external (e.g., received social support) factors. These factors enable injured athletes to alter their perception of their injury into an opportunity for growth, and it is by drawing upon and mobilizing a variety of these resources that athletes are able to experience SIRG. Dimensions of growth were psychosocial, physiological, and behavioral. Although this study produced a theory that explains the SIRG process, it does not propose specific techniques or therapies that encourage the development of growth. To address this issue, Study 2 aimed to investigate and identify evidence-based interventions that promote growth after experiencing adversity. To achieve this aim, a systematic review was conducted on literature pertaining to the promotion of growth for populations who have undergone a stressful experience (e.g., medical illness). In total, 34 studies were located and obtained that met the preplanned inclusion criteria. Within these 37 studies, three types of interventions were identified: emotional processing, cognitive processing, and combined techniques. The authors of the studies who successfully demonstrated the promotion of growth either identified or suggested that growth occurs through the mechanisms of cognitive restructuring and/or reappraisal. Other important considerations that were identified through this review were the duration and timing of the intervention in relation to the adverse event, and the importance of the intervention meeting the needs of the participants. Although this study offers valuable insight into how growth may be more successfully nurtured, the studies included within this review did not specifically focus on promoting growth for injured athletes. Consequently, Study 3 sought to complement this study by examining the practice-based experiential knowledge of sport psychologists who have worked with injured athletes in an applied manner. In total, 10 sport psychologists were purposively sampled and interviewed. Data was collected using a semi-structured interview guide and analysed using content analysis. Findings revealed a fluid development framework that consisted of 5 phases: (a) reactionary phase, (b) preparation phase, (c) reflection phase, (d) application phase, and (e) monitoring phase. Within each phase a set of corresponding strategies, skills, and tools were identified that the sport psychologists would utilize to match the needs of the athletes. The sport psychologists also identified a number of personal and environmental factors that either promoted or hindered the development of SIRG. Altogether, this thesis supports and extends research regarding growth and sport injury, as well as offering applied practitioners useful information for promoting SIRG.

This research illustrates the performer-researcher's artistic process of reaching an understanding of music through performance, and explores how an effort to understand music at the instrument and in the context of music-making could influence our critical evaluation of the music. ​Engaged in the process of learning music, I seek to document my artistic practices as a reflective practitioner: to open up the performer-researcher's workspace, communicate the performativity of the music, and reveal my embodied doing-thinking as a performer. By involving in the performer-researcher's physical and intellectual trajectory, the focus of musicological research could be shifted from the study of music as writing to a practice-based study that communicates and values music as performance. ​This shift provides a chance to rethink musical works at the piano and place the music in a context in which music can be understood, communicated, and valued through performance. This has the potential to shed light on the performative value of music, and may challenge the existing critique of musical works by emphasising the centrality of musical performance in the realm of music research, perhaps revealing what has been neglected by the text and outcome-focused approaches to music. I believe this could lead us to assess musical works in a different value system by considering the music in and as performance.