Bakgrund: Relationsmarknadsföring har under de senaste 20 åren blivit ett populärt begrepp inom marknadsföring. Facebooks betydelse diskuteras även flitigt bland marknadsförare som ett verktyg för relationsmarknadsföring. En ökning har skett i antalet sidor och grupper på Facebook kopplade till företag. För att företag ska lyckas med att skapa attraktiva grupper och sidor på Facebook måste de förstå facebookanvändarnas preferenser. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att utifrån ett användarperspektiv beskriva och undersöka vilka fördelar facebookanvändare upplever som viktiga med att vara medlem i grupper och sidor på Facebook. Dels kommer dessa fördelar att beskrivas och undersökas ur ett relationsperspektiv och dels som olika fördelar med att tillhöra ett nätverk. Studien syftar även till att identifiera vilka övriga fördelar medlemmar i en grupp eller sida på Facebook kan uppleva med sitt medlemskap. Vi kommer därmed att förklara, ge förslag på och konstruera en modell för vilka huvudsakliga fördelar medlemmarna finner är viktiga med olika grupper och sidor på Facebook. Genomförande: Vi har genomfört tre fokusgrupper med facebookanvändare, samt en intervju med chefen för sociala medier på Junkyard, som är en onlinebutik som har varit mycket framgångsrika på Facebook. Resultat: Vi har i vår studie kommit fram till att det finns ett antal viktiga fördelar med att vara medlem i grupper och sidor på Facebook ur ett användarperspektiv. En gruppering av de funna fördelarna har gjorts i definitiva fördelar och potentiella fördelar och konstruerats i en modell. De definitiva fördelarna förekommer i de flesta grupper eller sidor och består av specialbehandling, underhållning samt sense of community. De potentiella fördelarna är inte lika vanligt förekommande men ger potentiellt starka fördelar för facebookanvändare när de hanteras på rätt sätt. De består av förtroendefördelar samt lärande i nätverk. Fördelarna som resulterat utifrån studien kan ge företag en fingervisning om hur de bör utforma grupper eller sidor på Facebook, för att tillfredsställa användarnas behov. / Background: Relationship marketing has in the past 20 years become a popular concept in marketing. Facebook's role is also discussed widely among marketers as a tool for relationship marketing. An increase has occurred in the number of pages and groups on Facebook. For companies to succees in creating attractive groups and pages on Facebook, they must understand the Facebook users' preferences. Objective: The purpose of this study is that from a user perspective describe and investigate the benefits of Facebook groups and pages from a user´s perspective. Firstly, these benefits will be described and examined from a relational perspective, and as different benefits in belonging to a network. The study also aims to identify what other benefits members of a group or page on Facebook can experience with their membership. We will therefore suggest and construct a model of the main benefits that members of Facebook finds important. Method: This study was conducted with data collected through qualitative methods. We conducted three focus groups with users of Facebook, and an interview with the head of social media at Junkyard, which is an online store that has been very successful on Facebook. Results: The study shows that there are a number of important benefits of being a member of groups and pages on Facebook from a user´s perspective. A grouping of the benefits have been found in definite benefits and potential benefits and are explained in a model. The definite benefits exist in most groups and pages and is: special treatment, entertainment and sense of community. The potential benefits are not as common, but potentially provide strong benefits for Facebook users when they are handled properly. They consist of the benefits confidence benefits, and community of practice. The benefits that resulted from the study can give companies an idea of how they should design groups or pages on Facebook, to satisfy users' needs.

This study examines how community was created in a community college FYE 105 Achieving Academic Success course and the impact of classroom community on students’ perceptions of transition and persistence. Community colleges increasingly are focusing on student success as measured by persistence and goal completion such as transfer or attainment of credentials. The classroom learning environment is critical to student success but is a neglected area in retention research. Therefore, it is important to expand the research on initiatives that support students in their quest for success and educational goal completion. This research focused on one course section of FYE 105 taught at a community college; the students and the professor of the class are the participants for the study. New insight and understanding into classroom sense of community was gained through classroom participant-observations throughout the duration of a semester (16 weeks), faculty and student interviews, and review of materials related to the course. The data generated from the study were analyzed using thematic analysis. In order to explore how community is constructed and the role it plays for students, McMillan and Chavis’s sense of community theory and the academic communities component of Braxton, Hirschy, and McClendon’s conceptual model of student departure in commuter colleges and universities were used as the theoretical and conceptual frameworks for the study. Study results reveal that the professor concentrated efforts during the first class sessions on communicating the classroom rules, engaging in active learning, establishing emotional safety and belonging, and facilitating student interdependence, which were critical elements in establishing a sense of community in the classroom. Additionally, the findings show that students perceive the professor, classmates, classroom environment, active learning, and course content as components that contribute to a sense of community that impact their transition. Students were less clear of the role that sense of community played in their college persistence. Findings suggest that faculty would benefit from professional development to enhance their pedagogical skills. Suggestions for future research include a focus on students’ external and campus support systems,electronic technology, classroom diversity, and longitudinal and departure data collection.

The world has been transformed through the internet into a "global village",and social media platforms have possibly transformed the world into a larger neighborhood covering many regions of the world. Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter came into people’s lives through the Internet, growing daily at a large rate, and it has been proven that they are very popular. This study examines links between different phenomena through social media platforms (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.). It is discusses cohesiveness, desire to belong, sense of community, beliefs and opinions about different forms of these phenomena in popular virtual platforms in correlation with trust in social media, criticism of information that is spread by these virtual platforms, and if people are influenced in consumer decision making. A questionnaire has been distributed to a convenient sample of 159 international and Swedish students in Sweden in October-November 2012 in both English and Swedish versions. According to the peoples’ answers, tendencies were observed such as to not trust the platforms, and also the information received, beliefs such that social media are "controlled", negative critique, but also an expression for a need for ‘membership’.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-10T10:55:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 IRACEMA GONZAGA MOURA DE CARVALHO.pdf: 1458540 bytes, checksum: 441b607115d00d17b2f0ae34b8961297 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-05-29 / Understanding the factors that influence health has widened its concept, and has contributed to a vision of complexity involving physical, economic, social, cultural, individual and collective aspects, that are interrelated and distributed in time and space, as socio-historically built phenomena. This study examined the relationship between environment and health from the perception of the residents of Village Mutirão in the Northwestern region of Goiânia. The method was correlational. Participants were chosen randomly among the inhabitants of the region that lived in the region for over ten years. The sample comprised 140 women and 30 men who answered a questionnaire with open and closed questions. The data showed that most of the participants were sedentary, with health problems (hypertension and diabetes) and unsatisfied with public health services and transportation. Statistical analysis of data collected indicates a median index of well being of residents since they move to the neighborhood and a median sense of community. Taken together, these results show that the determinants of health such as housing, security, transport, social support and leisure activities, was identified as elements which are correlated with the welfare and quality of life, and that interfere with the health of a community. / A compreensão dos fatores que influenciam a saúde tem permitido a ampliação do seu conceito, além de contribuir para uma visão da complexidade envolvendo aspectos físicos, econômicos, sociais, culturais, individuais e coletivos, que se interrelacionam e se distribuem no tempo e no espaço, como fenômenos constituídos sócio-historicamente. O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar a relação entre ambiente e saúde a partir da percepção dos moradores da Vila Mutirão na Região Noroeste de Goiânia. O método utilizado foi correlacional. Os participantes foram escolhidos aleatoriamente entre os moradores da região que habitavam a região há mais de dez anos. A amostra foi composta por 140 mulheres e 30 homens que responderam em suas respectivas residências um questionário formado por questões abertas e fechadas. Os dados demonstraram que, em sua maioria, os participantes eram sedentários, com problemas de saúde (hipertensão e diabetes) e insatisfação com os serviços de saúde e transporte. As análises estatísticas dos dados coletados apontam para índice mediano de bem estar dos moradores a partir de sua mudança para o bairro, bem como mediano sentimento de comunidade. Tomados em conjunto, os resultados encontrados permitem concluir que os determinantes de saúde, como moradia, segurança, transporte, apoio social e lazer, foram identificados como elementos que se relacionam com o bem estar e a qualidade de vida, e que interferem na saúde de uma comunidade.

A certain community within the southern region of Texas has consistently been linked to escalating poverty, high crime rates, low educational achievement, and poor physical and mental health. For the purpose of this research, this community will be referred to as Community X. Although some researchers have found that sense of community and supportive social networks are associated with healthy mental and physical functioning, others have suggested that in a debilitated community social networks can facilitate psychological distress and a strong sense of community is difficult to develop. Guided by Bronfenbrenner's ecological model, the purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the combination of 3 Social Network Index (SNI) scores and 4 Sense of Community Index 2 (SCI-2) scores that affect Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) scores. For the 106 Community X resident participants, as the SNI number of embedded networks increased, K10 scores tended to increase, indicating higher levels of psychological distress (consistent with the negative effect research). In a cluster analysis, two clusters emerged in which one cluster (n = 67) had positive z-score means on all SNI indices and all SCI-2 subscales, while the other cluster (n = 39) had all negative z-score means. The cluster with all positive scores had lower K10 psychological distress scores (consistent with the positive effect research), but the difference was not statistically significant. The mixed results indicated that comparative research is needed to control for communities of varying ecological distress to better relate psychological distress to sense of community and the valence of social networks to facilitate positive social change health policies and interventions that are ecological-distress sensitive.

Since 2000, the southern Israeli town of Sderot and a neighboring rural region, Otef Aza, have been frequently exposed to nearly identical terror attacks by Hamas. While only a small minority of Otef Aza residents have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), more than a third of Sderot residents have been diagnosed with PTSD. Factors such as social cohesion and ideology may be the unique factors that protect Otef Aza kibbutzim residents from PTSD; however, a gap in the literature exists as to how these same factors might affect PTSD symptomology in Sderot residents. Orthodox religiosity has also been associated with reduced PTSD symptoms in Sderot; however, previous research on religiosity has analyzed demographic characteristics and did not use a measure assessing dimensions of religiosity. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the impact of sense of community, ideology, and religiosity on PTSD symptoms among Sderot residents. The theoretical foundation of this study was the diathesis-stress model of PTSD. A survey was completed by a convenience sample of Sderot residents (n = 118). Standard multiple linear regression revealed that ideology, intrinsic religiosity, nonorganizational religious activity, and the fulfillment of needs dimension of sense of community were significant predictors of PTSD symptomatology. Study findings suggested protective factors which could help a large portion of the population. These findings have implications for positive social change for the residents of Sderot by enhancing their opportunities for increased positive interactions, well-being, and meaning and value in their lives.

This research examined notions of belonging and sense of community through a set of layered lenses that integrated a social model of aging with phenomenology to gain a better understanding of the lived experiences of individuals residing in a long-term care (LTC) home. Conducted in a for-profit LTC home in Ontario, this study analyzed messaging in marketing materials supplied to potential residents and their families in anticipation of a move to a LTC home and in the staff policies and procedures manuals using document and narrative analysis. Themes emerging from this phase were then compared with the first-hand experiences of living in a LTC home as told by residents through the use of a focus group (n=6) and individual interviews (n=6) and experiences of working in a LTC home as described by interviews with staff (n=6). Analysis of marketing documents revealed the theme of let us be your caring community. As messaged in these documents, the LTC home supported residents by caring, embodying the ideals of home through natural living spaces, and supporting meaningful personal connections. This contrasted with messages found in the staff policy manuals. Divided discourses highlighted the tangible complexities of implementing a person-centered philosophy within a business model by describing the industry of care, prescribed customer service, fabricating normalcy and, to a much lesser extent, promoting the practice of person-centered care. Residents’ phenomenological stories illustrated variable un/belonging within a LTC home. Personal experiences of the institutional erosion of belonging, congregate nature of living in a LTC home, changing nature of personal relationships and the prescriptive living environment routinized day-to-day experiences and provided a stark contrast between belonging in community and un/belonging in a LTC home. Weaving belonging into daily tasks described how staff members laboured daily at working to personalize LTC home living, and how they were helpless to prevent losses in community and belonging. After completing the research and analysis of the promotional materials, policy and procedures manuals, and resident and staff transcripts I conducted a broader level analysis of all four sets of themes in order to get a sense of the whole. I concluded there were five tensions of: constructing home from the outside; person-centered care within a biomedical, business model; promoting individuality in a congregate structure; synthetic connections at the expense of long-standing relationships; and fostering living in a death-indifferent culture which justified society’s need to divide and regulate. Incorporating a range of data including promotional materials, policy and procedures manuals, and the voices of both residents and staff, these tensions are not only implicit in the culture of Manor House but within the overarching structure of LTC homes in general and have deep implications on the standing and status bestowed upon older adults in Canadian culture. My intention was to bring to light the contextualized lived experiences of individuals living at Manor House and highlight the structural and social barriers that continue to produce discrimination by “problematizing” aging and subsequently fostering notions of presumably acceptable dividing practices (Foucault, 1982) within society. By examining meanings and experiences of community in a LTC home, and also recognizing the systemic, structural and cultural factors that may shape those experiences, I sought to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the lifeworlds of individuals living within a LTC home.

This study explored the experiences of young adult members of a Ukrainian Catholic community in Western Canada using the concept of sense of community as a conceptual framework. Psychological sense of community refers to a feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and to the group, and a shared faith that members needs will be met through their commitment to be together (p. 9, McMillan & Chavis, 1986). Sense of community has been studied primarily at the level of the individual, rather than the group or community. This research used focus groups to move beyond the level of the individual to examine the sense of community shared by Ukrainian Catholic young adults. A total of 22 young adults participated in six focus groups. Qualitative analysis of focus group transcripts using Ethnograph 5.07 (Robbins & Seidel, 1998) revealed that belonging, familiarity with community members, and trust that the community would support them, were three core aspects of the sense of community shared by these young adults. Three supportive aspects that increased sense of community also emerged from this study: participation in church services and community events, similarity in members beliefs, values, interests and goals, and a strong sense of ones ethnic and religious heritage and traditions. These findings argue for the inclusion of participation as a dimension of sense of community rather than a correlate. Challenges to all of these aspects tended to decrease young adults sense of community. Lack of shared beliefs, feelings of intimidation in a new parish and hypocrisy in the actions of other community members were especially damaging to young adults sense of community. Based on this information, four areas of need were identified for the Ukrainian Catholic young adult population and suggestions were made to help strengthen their sense of community. The use of focus groups allowed for the emergence of a description of sense of community that was reflective of the ethnic, religious and developmental characteristics of the population under study. Future research should employ methodologies that are sensitive to the context-dependent nature of this construct.

This study explored the experiences of young adult members of a Ukrainian Catholic community in Western Canada using the concept of sense of community as a conceptual framework. Psychological sense of community refers to a feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and to the group, and a shared faith that members needs will be met through their commitment to be together (p. 9, McMillan & Chavis, 1986). Sense of community has been studied primarily at the level of the individual, rather than the group or community. This research used focus groups to move beyond the level of the individual to examine the sense of community shared by Ukrainian Catholic young adults. A total of 22 young adults participated in six focus groups. Qualitative analysis of focus group transcripts using Ethnograph 5.07 (Robbins & Seidel, 1998) revealed that belonging, familiarity with community members, and trust that the community would support them, were three core aspects of the sense of community shared by these young adults. Three supportive aspects that increased sense of community also emerged from this study: participation in church services and community events, similarity in members beliefs, values, interests and goals, and a strong sense of ones ethnic and religious heritage and traditions. These findings argue for the inclusion of participation as a dimension of sense of community rather than a correlate. Challenges to all of these aspects tended to decrease young adults sense of community. Lack of shared beliefs, feelings of intimidation in a new parish and hypocrisy in the actions of other community members were especially damaging to young adults sense of community. Based on this information, four areas of need were identified for the Ukrainian Catholic young adult population and suggestions were made to help strengthen their sense of community. The use of focus groups allowed for the emergence of a description of sense of community that was reflective of the ethnic, religious and developmental characteristics of the population under study. Future research should employ methodologies that are sensitive to the context-dependent nature of this construct.

This study examined sense of community (SOC) and participant engagement in the first 12 months of a longitudinal, group-based intervention program for parents, Legacy for ChildrenTM. Previous research in self-help/mutual support groups and alternative living environments for recovering addicts suggested SOC may positively influence engagement in programs and may be an active ingredient to the success of such programs. Literature on SOC has been limited by cross-sectional investigations and lacked a developmental perspective of changes in SOC over time. This study examined the following questions: 1) Does SOC with the parenting program differ between intervention and control participants at 6 months and 12 months following entry into Legacy? 2) How do baseline levels of social support, stress, and self-efficacy relate to sense of community with the parenting program? 3) Do intervention participants’ baseline demographic and psychological characteristics relate to attendance and engagement in the first 20 weeks of parent groups? 4) Does participant engagement predict SOC with the parenting program over time? Does early SOC predict later engagement? Study hypotheses were examined using repeated measures ANOVA, hierarchical linear regression, and structural equation modeling. The sample included 289 mothers recruited at the Miami Legacy for Children intervention site; eligible mothers were adults, received Medicaid, were English speaking, and had a newborn child. Mothers were randomly assigned to the intervention or control group. Results of the structural model using only intervention participants suggest that attendance and engagement in parent groups contributed significantly and positively to sense of community with the program over time. The intervention group had a slightly higher SOC with the program than the control group. However, levels of SOC with the program declined from 6 to 12 months among intervention participants while stability or slight increases in SOC characterized the control participants’ SOC during this time. Regardless of experimental condition, changes in SOC within the first year of the program were small in magnitude and suggest that changes in SOC between groups may take more time to evaluate fully. Implications of these findings to the development of SOC in intervention settings are discussed.