Research was conducted using hermeneutic-phenomenology and semi-structure interviews to explore and understand the lived experience of women veterans of the Canadian Forces. Women recently entered Canadian military combat positions, taking on a profession historically exclusively occupied by men. Due to the lack of research on women veterans of the Canadian Forces, knowledge was drawn from research about women in nontraditional work, American paramilitary and military occupations, as well as an historical review of women’s involvement in the Canadian Forces, to provide context to the research themes. Participants comprised of 6 women veterans who described 11 essential and 4 significant themes. Unique contributions to literature include essential themes such as, Slut or a lesbian, take your pick, Proving I’m good enough, Trying to be treated better, Got some support, Visible and singled out, Perpetual outsider, Given gender based tasks or opportunities, and Women demeaned. Suggestions for future studies and implications for counselling practice are discussed.

Text in Afrikaans / The researcher has identified the research problem for the study as the underlying dynamics of physical violence amongst adolescent girls in the school system. The purpose of this study was to investigate these dynamics. The researcher viewed the girls from a holistic perspective and tried to explore and describe the girls' behavior by bringing their environment into consideration. A qualitative study was used to determine the dynamics of physical violence among adolescent girls in the school system. Data was collected by means of semi-structured interviews. From this data it is evident that the dynamics of physical violence among girls is a multi-dimensional and complex phenomenon and cannot be attributed to a single factor. Because of this the researcher tried to make recommendations that touched each level of the girls' functioning. In such a way the researcher tried to address the problem holistically. / Social Work / M.Diac. (Spelterapie)

This dissertation presents the findings of a qualitative study on understanding the motivating factors underlying repeat attendance in market research studies and the ways in which repeat attendance participants are recruited to take part in such studies. The study was approached from an interpretivist paradigm, employing the self-determination theory and the theory of self-concept maintenance. Purposive sampling was applied. The data was collected by conducting eight semi-structured interviews with participants who had taken part in numerous market research studies. Through thematic analysis, sub themes were identified from the data, combined into second-level themes and grouped into the following three overarching themes: (1) participation motivation; (2) honesty/dishonesty; and (3) recruitment procedures. It was found that participants were not only motivated by extrinsic motivators such as incentives, but that intrinsic motivators were also present. Furthermore, a level of dishonesty was also evident, not only among the participants, but among the recruiters as well. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology with specialisation in Research Consultation)

Text in Afrikaans / This study is aimed at the development of strategies for therapists to be used with adolescents and late adolescents (15 to 20 years of age) who have lost a loved one. This will be done by focussing on the redefining of identity as a way of becoming. The starting point of the study is to be found in the problem formulation that the process of becoming of adolescents who have suffered the loss of a loved one, may be blocked because they do not have the necessary skills to overcome the loss. The second problem is that therapists do not have the necessary skills to empower these adolescents so that the redefining of identity can be achieved. / Social work / D. Diac. (Spelterapie)

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.

The goals of this thesis are: to find out what role do information and communication technologies (ICT) play in learning and students' preparation for school and in what conditions and means are students using ICT for school preparation in non-school settings; and to show the current state of digital technology usage by students for school purposes, but also to hint at the potential challenges in the implementation and usage of information and communication technologies. The theoretical part consists of three aspects; it introduces the terms preparation for school and learning using information and communication technologies; analyzes the current relation of curricular documents to using ICT in schools, and summarizes results from thematically-related research. The research part of this thesis presents the results of the quantitative and qualitative research inquiry into selected high-school students and their teachers/educators. The goal of this inquiry was to determine what methods and in what conditions are students using ICT in their school preparation.

This thesis investigated the experience of taking part in a psychosocial assessment following an episode of self-harm from the service user perspective. Psychosocial assessments are a key aspect of self-harm management in secondary care, designed to identify needs and risk and determine further care. This study utilised interpretative phenomenological analysis to privilege the voices of service users and produce in-depth, contextualised understandings of the experience of assessment and its impact on future help-seeking and engagement with services. Data collection consisted of semi-structured interviews with thirteen participants soon after their hospital attendance; follow-up semi-structured interviews were also completed with seven participants three months later, to explore patient-derived outcomes from assessment and hospital attendance. The lived experiences of participants were characterised by two main features: experiences of life as a struggle and of the self as “less than”. As a result of these struggles and experiences of powerlessness and devaluation, participants mostly saw self-harm and suicide as a natural progression in their narratives. Expressions of suicidal intent reflected a struggle between a desperate desire for change and hopelessness in the face of current circumstances. The key message gained from participants’ accounts of assessment was that the interaction with staff had the power to reinforce or challenge hopelessness and negative self-evaluations. In addition, the way an assessment was conducted had influence beyond the hospital: as an experience which created or reinforced expectations for future instances of help-seeking; as a deterrent or an encouragement to seek help; and as the first step along the path to change. Unfortunately, participants’ experiences of aftercare were dominated by a sense of stagnation due to the failure of services to follow through with promises of aftercare, which affected their attitudes towards future help-seeking and towards themselves. This thesis is the first study to utilise an in-depth idiographic methodology to explore and contextualise the service user experience of psychosocial assessment following self-harm within the wider circumstances of their lives. It demonstrates how patient-staff interactions within the hospital and after discharge can affect future help-seeking through reinforcing or challenging the hopelessness and self-negativity of patients.

The majority of children with ASC are educated within a mainstream secondary setting. The challenges within the new environment may lead to some children experiencing a breakdown in provision resulting in temporary or permanent exclusions. A gap in the literature highlights a need for research which seeks to understand the views and experiences of year 7 children with ASCs about theirtransition to mainstream secondary school. The research involved four year 7 children with ASC, from across three settings, who had recently transitioned from a mainstream primary school to a mainstream secondary school (without resource based provision). The views of their parents and teachers were also sought. A multiple-embedded case study design was employed involving four cases from across three school settings. This involved utilising a transition Q-sort and a semi-structured interview with four children and semi-structured interviews with six parents and three teachers. The data was analysed using content analysis and thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The findings highlight a need for individualised transition planning for the child with ASC; consideration of co-occurring difficulties and the importance of including the views of the child and parents in transition planning. The findings are discussed in relation to psychological theories and existing literature. The implications for future research, local authority policy, school staff, parents and educational psychologists are considered.

Many studies have focused on whether or not different kinds of strategies used towards radical right parties give them more or less electoral support and power. This study, however, sets out to center the MP’s subjective views on how the strategies and different approaches are being used and experienced in parliamentary committees in the Swedish Riksdag. The purpose of the study is to gain new and more detailed information of the motivations used for the strategies from the MPs subjective views of the Swedish Democrats (SD). The different types of strategies studied are excluding strategies such as ignore, cordon sanitaire, demonise and defuse. The including strategies which are examined are adapt and collaborate. Vote technical disidentification is a theoretical contribution to strategies being used from this study and shows how MPs blame other parties for voting more on SD than their own. Semi- structured interviews with MPs from five parties, including SD, in three different parliamentary committees with a total number of 15 participants, which are used as the material. The result of the study suggests that there are some differences in the approaches of the different MPs, and the difference lies mostly in between and within parties and not so much among the different committees. The MPs have some differences in their subjective conception of the SD where some have a tough approach against them while others have a softer understanding to them socially but none except for one MP want formal collaboration with them. In broad terms, the political right has some tendencies to use inclusion strategies and the political left uses the exclusion strategies more broadly and not the inclusion at all, according to the result. Informal approaches to take distance from SD, used more by the political left. The perception of the strategies and approaches being used differs a lot from between the MPs from SD and the rest of the MPs in the study. A more hard, unfair and undemocratic is the perceptions of the MPs from SD of the strategy and approaches while the others do not see them as commonly used.

The purpose of this study was to gain an awareness of the behavioural characteristics, physical mannerisms and relational techniques exhibited by young adolescent girls in South Africa who may be susceptible to, or have been traumatised by being bullied. A literature study and an empirical investigation were conducted to establish whether victims of bullying have distinct personality traits, as well as to determine if specific parenting styles affect the vulnerability of their adolescent daughters. The effectiveness of bullying prevention strategies in adolescent relationships was also explored. A questionnaire was developed to ascertain how adolescents perceive victims of bullying. Eight semi-structured interviews using photographs and a cartoon as projective techniques were conducted with victims to gather data and to enrich the findings. This study has demonstrated that international research about victimisation is pertinent to South African children. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Guidance and Counselling)