No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (M.M.)--University of Michigan, 1957.

Thesis (M.M.)--University of Michigan, 1957.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1982. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH / Bibliography: leaves 94-95. / by Pamela Wessling. / M.C.P.

Physical activity is associated with greater independence in old age. While most research has focused on the frequency, intensity and time spent in activity, inconsistent findings have emerged, possibly due to differences across different types of physical activity. Physical activities differ in terms of their non-metabolic, mental, physical and social demands, however, to date, the effects of these demands on functional independence are unexplored. The present thesis aimed to investigate the effect of different types of physical activity on functional independence in old age. A systematic review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) found a significant, beneficial effect of physical activity on functional performance, with the largest effects found for moderate physical activity levels, and activity types with high levels of mental (e.g. memory, attention), physical (e.g. coordination, balance) and social (e.g. social interaction) demands. These findings generated the hypothesis that physical activities high in mental, physical and social demands are associated with greater functional independence. Thus, a novel typology of physical activities was generated by systematically coding the mental (i.e. attention/concentration, memory, decision-making and strategy), physical (i.e. flexibility, balance, coordination, speeded reactions) and social (i.e. social interaction) demands of 59 physical activities. The typology was then used to recode data from the Understanding Society survey. Findings revealed that as the non-metabolic, physical activity demands increased, functional independence improved. Associations remained significant after controlling for demographics. Key findings included differences across gender, in that the mental and physical demands of activity predicted muscular strength in males, whereas social demands predicted muscular strength in females. In conclusion, physical activities with higher mental, physical and social demands (e.g. dancing) are associated with greater functional independence in old age, compared with simpler types (e.g. walking). Future research is required to test whether these novel findings are replicated elsewhere, ideally using longitudinal or RCT designs.

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Social support is classically conceptualized as “what you can do” or “what you can offer” to support someone in times of stress. But for some individuals, could less be more when it comes to social support? Empirical research has shown that support receipt can have differential effects. A preference for self-reliance in stressful situations might be one explanation as to why social support is not always beneficial for some individuals. The current work introduces the phenomenon that some people prefer to be self-reliant in times of stress, i.e., they want to independently deal with the stressor instead of receiving direct supportive acts from a partner or someone else. Across seven studies, within three unique populations, and through low and high stress periods, we aimed to understand individual differences in a preference for self-reliance within close relationships. We discovered that a preference for self-reliance is a common phenomenon from adolescence through adulthood. This preference matters at a daily level across different outcomes and relationships, and is an integral part of daily human interaction affecting support transactions across different support providers. People with certain personality traits may be more likely to prefer self-reliance. The interaction between a preference for self-reliance and social support provision has important implications during critical time periods such as the college application process. Times of acute stress are particularly revealing of links between a preference for self-reliance and support transactions. Wanting to be self-reliant in stressful situations may be a more common desire than previously thought in the literature on close relationships. Individual differences such as the preference for self-reliance may explain the mixed effects of social support. The addition of preference for self-reliance as an individual difference impacting support transactions expands the field’s current understanding of social support and support provision. We now know that there is a desired form of support beyond the classic conceptualization of social support and, for some, less is in fact more.

Modernising discourses of intellectual disability have brought innovative social technologies that promote participation and freedom for people so labelled. This thesis argues there is a key experiential contradiction between these discourses as operationalised in neo-liberalism and the ways that people with intellectual disability embrace self-advocacy and become political actors in their own right. Through its inherently moral claims, self-advocacy supports the experiential voice of the 'other' and reveals itself as a sustaining and enduring pillar in the struggle against human injustice and inequity. These other discourses, in contrast, intensify individualisation, ignore power relations and depoliticise self-advocacy as a politics of resistance. The first part of the thesis critically examines the emergence of intellectual disability as a dimension of human difference and examines how forms of knowledge shape social and policy responses to such people. The second part presents a collaborative action research methodology and a reflective study which challenges the bio-medical, positivist and psycho-reductionist styles of research that have objectified people with intellectual disability. Using this methodology, the voices and experiences of two groups of self-advocates, one in England and the other in Australia are interpreted. Contemporary professional and other governmental interventions demand individual competencies in the pursuit of self-determination. These discourses of empowerment and citizenship are in constant tension with historically conditioned structures which shape the material and social lives of people with intellectual disability. The thesis finds similarities in the ways that self-advocates and their allies interpret these political realities and work within, across and beyond their contradictory trajectories of constraint and freedom. The study suggests that self-advocacy is a complex and sophisticated practice aimed at recognition of the unique lived experience of intellectual disability and the legitimacy of claims to self-representation. It also operates at a deeper level as an emotional process of transformation. Its powerful recuperative character sustains liberated identities for people with intellectual disability, many of whom have experienced lives of abuse, neglect and mis-recognition. Such practices have the potential to contribute to transforming both the centres of policy-making and power and subaltern selves.

Thesis (M. P. A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.