Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

In the professional formation of pharmacists, participation in real-life professional practice occurs mostly in pre-registration training, in the year after completion of the four-year undergraduate MPharm course. As such, development of professional identity and practice are likely to happen predominantly in the pre-registration year. The study is conducted against a background of a sparsity of knowledge about professional formation in pharmacy, particularly in the pre-registration year. The aim of this study is to investigate the professional formation of pharmacy graduates in the pre-registration year. The research questions address what professional practice the graduate engages in during the pre-registration year, how they perceive their own identity and the reasons for this. Understanding professional formation requires a focus on the interplay between agency and structure. As such, Bourdieu's conceptual tools are deployed to explore individual agency and relationships between key players, in a process named becoming a pharmacist. This process is further conceptualised as achieving a feel for the game in which recognising and repositioning in regard to hysteresis is central to success. Via this conceptualisation, Bourdieu's thinking tools are used to describe and understand becoming a pharmacist, shaping the study through their use to inform data collection, analysis and interpretation. Four community pharmacy pre-registration trainees working in the north-west of England were recruited to take part. A case study methodology was chosen to retain the holistic characteristics of real-life events, with qualitative methods used to collect data. Portraiture was chosen as a method of presenting and describing the study's findings. Interview transcripts, observational data, self-selected records from trainee portfolios and researcher field notes were used to construct the portraits. Each portrait was subjected to a critical analysis to understand each trainee's unique experience using the lens of Bourdieu's conceptual thinking tools. A cross portrait analysis was then additionally carried out using key theories of identity and professional practice as well as Bourdieu's conceptual tools. Key findings included that identity and practice were strongly influenced by cultural capital and the existence of a dyadic relationship with the pharmacist tutor. Legal and corporate restrictions on practice constrained the development of professional expertise, which contributed to a period of acute stress experienced immediately upon qualification. The identification of practices of assertion and practices of deference as a way to describe trainee practice and identity was proposed and explored. Conclusions include that practices of assertion and deference can be useful in allowing researchers to unpack the bundles of influences on identity and practice. Through its findings, the study therefore makes a contribution to what is known about professional formation in pharmacy but also more broadly through the use of Bourdieu's conceptual tools to reveal complex relationships between structure and agency.

In recent years one of the most commonly discussed issues in professional sport, and in particular Association Football, has been the pay of professional athletes. However, much of this literature is largely based on assumptions, speculation or broad financial reports, with little, if any, focus on the potential impact on the athletes’ lives. Therefore, the aim of this research was to examine the role money plays in the relationships within the working lives of professional footballers. Using professional football as a case study, this project examined a number of key areas: the consumption of products by footballers as a demonstration of economic power and wealth in an environment where wages are a taboo subject, the complex nature of contract negotiations and the impact this can have on relationships within their working lives. In addition to these areas, the thesis examined how money is used as punishment for players to try to encourage them to conform to the expected codes of behaviour set by club managers and officials, and ways in which players attempt to break their highly routinised daily life. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 34 male professional footballers and analysed using concepts from the sociology of money. It is argued that image has become an important factor for many professional footballers. Displaying wealth through ‘conspicuous consumption’ was also important in an environment where wages are a secretive subject, as it is suggested that the ‘more you have, the better you are’ and therefore some players even felt that this would impact on the way in which they were valued by the club hierarchy (as well as their teammates within the club). Value was also important through contract negotiations, as the more a player was valued by a club, the greater balance of power they had within the negotiation process. It is argued the negotiation process has become more complex since the introduction of the Premier League, as more people are typically involved. It was also evident that money was a major factor for players when deciding on contracts or having to relocate, which led to feelings of loneliness for some players and their families. Players are heavily regulated and constrained within their lives, one-way players are constrained, by the club officials, is through financial punishment. Players discussed several methods of trying to break the routinisation that such constraints introduce. One of those was gambling. It is argued that some players, due to the technological advances, were able to gamble in a covert manner and keep their gambling losses private, which can impact on the performance, health and wellbeing of the players. Overall the results of this study highlight the increasing monetisation of social relationships within professional football and that such trends are significantly impacting on the relationships within the working lives of professional footballers.

No description available.

This study investigated the effects of cooperative game play and structured interview on the anxiety levels and attitudes of prospective teachers toward persons with visual impairments. The major strategy for attitude change was based on Deutsch's theory of cooperation in social interaction utilizing the framework of Johnson and Johnson's social judgment process in conjunction with Kurt Lewin's theory of "reduction of restraining forces.".;Forty-five undergraduate education majors were randomly assigned to a control group or two experimental treatment groups for the purpose of modifying their attitudes toward persons with visual impairments.;The experimental conditions involved two groups of 15 prospective teachers each. Each member of group one functioned as a partner of a visually impaired person in playing the electronic game "Simon." They formed a dyad which collaborated to beat "Simon." Members of group two interacted with a visually impaired person during interview sessions which were structured around ten familiar topical areas. The experimental treatment involved 20 minutes of social interaction during four interaction sessions within a period of two weeks. The control group experienced no contact with the visually impaired persons.;Pretest-Posttest data were collected using the Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons Scale (ATDP), Forms A and B; the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, (STAI); Forms X-1 and X-2; semantic differential scales; and a 10 point amount of contact scale.;Data analysis of STAI showed the experimental subjects experienced reduction of discomfortable feelings while interacting with the visually impaired. However, there was insignificant difference between the two groups. Analysis of the ATDP showed a positive shift in attitudes toward persons with physical disabilities. Similarly, there was insignificant difference between experimental group changes notwithstanding both groups exceeded the control group on posttest mean scores. The semantic differential scales indicated close agreement between perceptions of contact and attitudes for both the nondisabled and visually impaired persons.;Since the significant effects of cooperative game play and the structured interview as goal interdependent experiences for positive attitudinal shifts were inconclusive on the basis of the study's findings, further investigation is needed.

This research sought to answer the question: Does the relationship between supervisors' feedback styles and supervisees' levels of intrinsic motivation and the subscales of intrinsic motivation, found in other settings, exist in student teaching? The sample consisted of 252 student teachers from Old Dominion University and their cooperating teachers. This group included all of the spring, 1991, semester student teachers who chose to participate (30 chose not to) and represented a wide variety of cultural and economic backgrounds.;A correlational methodology was used, employing Pearson's r values for the relationships between cooperating teachers' feedback styles as measured on the Cooperating Teacher Questionnaire and total intrinsic motivation and each of four subscales (Interest-Enjoyment, Effort-Involvement, Pressure-Tension, and Competence) of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory. Significant changes were recorded in intrinsic motivation and each subscale of the inventory from pretest to posttest in the seven week student teaching placement; however, only Effort-Involvement was found to correlate at a significant level (p {dollar}<{dollar}.05) with feedback style. The study provided data on the entry motivation and changes in the motivation of student teachers, and piloted the Cooperating Teacher Questionnaire for measuring cooperating teachers' feedback styles.

Current traditional reflective practices in teacher preparation may be failing to address the needs of teacher candidates in terms of their identity formation as teachers. This qualitative study, utilizing a participant group of six graduate students in their student teaching internships at a small public liberal arts university, explored whether writing stories could enable student teachers to make better sense of their internship experiences and develop understanding of who they are as teachers. After an initial training session on "story," data were collected at three key points during the student teacher internship. This data consisted of participants' written stories, focus group discussions, and individual exit interviews. The data were then systematically coded using grounded theory methodology. The six themes resulting from this study indicate support for written stories as an alternative or parallel reflective tool to traditional journaling in teacher preparation.

Prevalent literature about school counselors' professional development (PD) needs to prepare diverse learners for college is in short supply. Simultaneously, school counselors oftentimes encounter role confusion due to misperceptions of their job responsibilities by educational leaders. This discrepancy has led to the completion of noncounseling assignments, thus prohibiting counselors in this study from appropriate training and adhering to college readiness mandates for all students. This study explored high school counselors' attitudes about their PD needs to prepare diverse students for college in an urban populated school district located in southern Texas. The conceptual framework that guided this study defines school counselors' motivation to improve college access for diverse students when counselors learn information that is practical to their job activities. A qualitative case study was used to answer the question of how counselors perceive their PD needs to prepare diverse learners for college. Data were collected from 8 high school counselors through semistructured interviews and documents of counselors' PD profiles that were analyzed and coded to develop themes. Results established that participants had not received PD about college readiness, and they had not taken the initiative to advocate this need for themselves. Notably, counselors in the study indicated that developing a professional learning community with local colleges would be an effective approach to their professional growth. Although this study immediately benefits counselors in the participating school district, this study also provides information that may expand college enrollment for diverse students. Findings from this study not only will help close the gap between diverse students and their counterparts, but findings from this study may also help enhance PD for school counselors in surrounding school districts.

L'avocat est devenu aujourd'hui un professionnel incontournable de notre société. Celui-ci doit engager sa responsabilité comme tout autre professionnel vis-à-vis de son client au titre de ses droits et devoirs. De nos jours, toute personne est dans le droit d'attendre une réparation lorsqu'un professionnel commet une faute dans l'exercice de ses fonctions. A titre d'exemple, les médias relatent souvent des cas dans lesquels la responsabilité des médecins est engagée par leurs patients. Qu'en est-il du client ayant subi un préjudice causé par son avocat ? Quels sont les mécanismes juridiques mis en œuvre pour engager la responsabilité de celui-ci ? Ce professionnel du droit dispose-t-il d'un système d'assurance particulier ? Autant de questions qui sont souvent méconnues à la fois des justiciables et des professionnels du droit. / Lawyers have become an essential profession in our modern society. Like any other profession, lawyers have a liability towards their clients in respect to their rights and obligations. Nowadays, everyone is entitled to expect compensation when professional people commit an error while performing their duties. As an example, the media often highlight cases in which doctors are held liable by their patients. What about the client who has suffered a loss caused by their lawyer ? What legal mechanisms are used to hold the lawyer responsible? Does this legal professional have access to specific insurance cover ? These and many other questions are frequently unrecognised both by those to be tried and professionals in the law.

Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have severe impairment in social skills, which affects all areas of development. Researchers have indicated peer-mediated intervention (PMI) may improve social skills of children with ASD. PMI involves training carefully selected nondisabled peers to teach academic or social skills to students with disabilities using strategies such as modeling, prompting, and reinforcement in an inclusive education setting. However, a review of the literature suggests that PMI in and of itself may be beneficial, but not sufficient, to enhance social interaction among students with ASD and their peers. The literature suggests that incorporating components that encourage student interaction in the PMI procedures may enhance its effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of peer training and peer training with contingency contracting on the frequency of social interactions between children with ASD and their nondisabled peers. I chose contingency contracting in the study because it involves the use of systematic prompting and reinforcement to increase student interaction. Three students with ASD and six typically developing peers enrolled in an inclusive elementary school in Saudi Arabia participated in the study. I conducted the study using a multiple-baseline design across participants. The results showed that peer training alone did not improve or maintain the social interactions between the participants. When the intervention included contingency contracting, the frequency of social interactions significantly increased.