MASTER OF SCIENCE (2017), McMaster University, Hamilton ON (Department of Global Health) TITLE: A comprehensive approach to health literacy: validating the all aspects of health literacy scale (AAHLS) in a representative sample of Arabic-speaking adult Syrian refugees AUTHOR: Raafia Siddiqui, BSc Hons. (York University, 2014) SUPERVISOR: Dr. K. Bruce Newbold NUMBER OF PAGES: vii, 92 / The purpose of this study is to quantify current health literacy levels amongst a segment of the Syrian refugee population in Canada by translating and validating an existing comprehensive health literacy assessment tool, the All Aspects of Health Literacy Scale (AAHLS) into Arabic. This study (1) determined functional, communicative and critical health literacy levels amongst Syrian refugees. Functional and critical health literacy was comparatively low but respondents seemed able to effectively communicate with their providers and access supports to read and fill in health documents. Significant correlates of low health literacy were presence of long-term health conditions and place of origin (country versus refugee camp). This study also validated the AAHLS in Arabic-speaking Syrian refugees, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.67 for the overall scale and 0.63 for health literacy items. The overall scale had high content validity. The feasibility of this instrument as a self-administered screening tool in clinical or community settings was demonstrated with a high response rate of 0.86. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / Health literacy looks at an individual's ability to read, understand and interpret health information and ultimately use it to exert greater control over their health. The purpose of this study is to understand the factors that influence health literacy levels amongst a segment of the Syrian refugee population in Canada by translating and validating an existing comprehensive health literacy assessment tool, the All Aspects of Health Literacy Scale (AAHLS) into Arabic. This study (1) determined functional (reading and filling in health documents), communicative (speaking to health providers) and critical health (assessing the relevance and appropriateness of health information) literacy levels amongst Syrian refugees. Functional and critical health literacy was comparatively low but respondents seemed able to effectively communicate with their providers and access supports to read and fill in health documents. Low health literacy was associated with having a long-term health conditions and staying in a refugee camp. This study found the translated AAHLS to be reliable, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.67 for the overall scale and 0.63 for health literacy items. The overall scale had high content validity. The feasibility of this instrument as a self-administered screening tool in clinical or community settings was demonstrated with a high response rate of 0.86.

In times of war, help and support is provided by NGO:s, and this essay investigates the NGO:s strategies for seeking support in times of war and crisis. Previous research has shown that refugees are portrayed differently in the media depending on their background. It is necessary for NGO:s to write about the affected people, in order to inform about their work carried out on-site to spread knowledge, create credibility and receive support through funding. A complex marketing which alludes to the people in need. Therefore, this analysis looks at how NGOs present themselves and the war situations with the intention of convincing their audience to donate money. With a qualitative rhetorical analysis combined with semiotic tools, the paper analyzes two pages, one about the Syrian war and one about the Ukrainian war found on two of Sweden’s biggest NGO:s, the Red Cross and Doctor Without Borders websites. The analysis shows how refugees from the Ukrainian war were presented as individual beings and personalized, compared to the Syrian war in which refugees were presented in groups with no personal traits. Doctor Without Borders also focused more on their medical action rather than on the actual war.

This thesis tries to discuss the consignation prayer (formula) of the West Syrian PRES as seen in the Nomocanon chapter 4.8 in relation to manuscripts before and after the time period of the Nomocanon. Liturgical and theological significances of the consignation prayer is also explored through this thesis. An inductive historical-critical method is applied for this study, with the help of the underlying theory that the Nomocanon of BarHebraeus has contributed to a liturgical centralisation within the West-Syrian tradition in relation to the consignation prayer of the PRES. The oldest manuscripts used in this study are dated to the 10th century and the recent ones to the 20th century, thus analysing and studying the liturgical development of the West-Syrian PRES’s consignation prayer.

This thesis investigates the role Turkey’s pursuit of regional power status plays in its narrative of Syrian mass migration from 2011 to 2014. By thematically analyzing 23 speeches given by Ahmet Davutoglu, the Foreign Minister at the time, this paper explores different themes that emerge both in Turkey’s approaches to Syrian migration and in their pursuit of regional power status. This study also aims to bridge the gap between migration studies and International Relations theories by using the theoretical concept of constructivism to help explain the approach Turkey has for its foreign policy. The main themes that emerge from Davutoglu’s speeches demonstrate the multilayered nature of both the Syrian migration crisis that altered the whole region and Turkey’s perceived rise to power.

The main objective of this research paper is to analyze the international effects the Syrian Conflict has had to the global community. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has declared this conflict to be the worst humanitarian crisis of our time. Millions of Syrians have fled their home country to avoid unjust persecution and are looking to not only neighboring countries, but the European Union for assistance in resettlement. Since the outbreak of the conflict in Syria in 2011, more than 220,000 people have been massacred, leaving fifty percent of the population in unrest due to home displacement. According to Amnesty International, apart from the twelve million Syrians who are in dire need of humanitarian assistance inside the country, there are about four million refugees fleeing to countries such as Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and Iraq. These five countries are unable to maintain the capacity of refugees that are desperate to pour in from Syria. Further gulf countries such as Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia have refused to offer any resettlement venues for these migrants. Therefore, a plethora of European Union countries have received many asylum applications over the course of four years. Germany and Sweden have pledged resettlement locations for these refugees however relying on these two countries is not enough. This paper provides a historical background of the civil war in Syria, along with what the United Nations has done thus far to end the conflict. It will also analyze similar refugee situations in other countries in the region and compare it that in Syria. Finally, it will provide possible solutions of how the Refugee Agency, Human Rights Council, and Security Council can operate as a whole to distinguish this horrifying hostility in the region.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo estudar o discurso político americano do período inicial da guerra na Síria, visto pela perspectiva do jornal The New York Times. A partir de uma abordagem discursiva baseada principalmente em Foucault (1971), procuramos compreender de que forma a narração da guerra no jornal é constituída por valores culturais americanos que se transformam em uma episteme de compreensão do mundo, dos homens e da realidade. Propomos um olhar para o corpus de análise que permita observar, primeiramente, como o sujeito que tem o direito à fala vai se constituindo e construindo seus objetos: a guerra e o inimigo. Em um segundo momento, baseado nas teorias sobre Império desenvolvidas por Hardt e Negri (2001) e nos estudos de Said (1993, 1999) sobre Orientalismo, observamos como o discurso sobre a guerra da Síria se constitui com base em um projeto ideológico expansionista americano, que se desenvolveu desde a constituição e consolidação da nação e que se encontra para além das fronteiras geográficas. Por fim, concentramos nossa análise no papel da mídia como produtora de um material simbólico, que, ao dar inteligibilidade à guerra, entra em consonância com o espírito americano, fortalecendo-o. Ao transitar entre dois mundos culturais diferentes, o americano e o sírio, a mídia estabelece dois lugares: o do eu e o do outro. Conflitos emergem desse contraste, ora em uma relação de subjugação do outro, colocando-o em posição de inferioridade, ora em uma espécie de ameaça à imagem americana. Concluímos que, ao observar a guerra por uma perspectiva americana, o jornal The New York Times, por refletir um projeto hegemônico em plena expansão, transforma-se, em certa medida, em um agente dessa ação. Acreditamos que reconhecer as estruturas discursivas constituintes desse discurso é posicionar-se criticamente com relação ao que é produzido pela mídia. / This thesis aims at studying the American discourse in the beginning of the Syrian war as seen by the perspective of The New York Times coverage. In a discursive approach, based mainly on Foucaults theories (1971), we focus on analyzing how the newspapers narrative of the war, which comprises American cultural values, builds itself as a kind of episteme that shapes the understanding of the world, men, and reality. We first propose a way of looking into our analytical corpus that allows for an observation of how the subject that is given the right to speak constitutes himself and his objects, namely the war and the enemy. Secondly, in accordance with theories developed by Hardt and Negri (2001) as well as Said (1993,1999), we intend to observe how the discourse about the Syrian war is constructed based on an ideological and expansionist American project, which has been shaped since the onset of colonization and it is far beyond the nations geographical borders. Lastly, we concentrate the analysis on the media as a producer of symbolic material which, in an attempt to give intelligibility to the war, tunes in with ideals that strengthen the American spirit. As the newspaper goes back and forth into the two different cultural worlds of America and Syria, the media establishes two distinct locations: one of the I and one of the other. Conflicts, as a consequence, emerge from this contrast, sometimes in a relation of subjugation of the other by depicting it as inferior, other times as a threat to the American image. We conclude that, by observing the war through an American perspective, the New York Times not only reflects a hegemonic project in full expansion but also functions to a certain extent as an agent of this process. We believe that to recognize the discursive structures present in this discourse is to engage critically in the observation and interpretation of what is produced by the media.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo estudar o discurso político americano do período inicial da guerra na Síria, visto pela perspectiva do jornal The New York Times. A partir de uma abordagem discursiva baseada principalmente em Foucault (1971), procuramos compreender de que forma a narração da guerra no jornal é constituída por valores culturais americanos que se transformam em uma episteme de compreensão do mundo, dos homens e da realidade. Propomos um olhar para o corpus de análise que permita observar, primeiramente, como o sujeito que tem o direito à fala vai se constituindo e construindo seus objetos: a guerra e o inimigo. Em um segundo momento, baseado nas teorias sobre Império desenvolvidas por Hardt e Negri (2001) e nos estudos de Said (1993, 1999) sobre Orientalismo, observamos como o discurso sobre a guerra da Síria se constitui com base em um projeto ideológico expansionista americano, que se desenvolveu desde a constituição e consolidação da nação e que se encontra para além das fronteiras geográficas. Por fim, concentramos nossa análise no papel da mídia como produtora de um material simbólico, que, ao dar inteligibilidade à guerra, entra em consonância com o espírito americano, fortalecendo-o. Ao transitar entre dois mundos culturais diferentes, o americano e o sírio, a mídia estabelece dois lugares: o do eu e o do outro. Conflitos emergem desse contraste, ora em uma relação de subjugação do outro, colocando-o em posição de inferioridade, ora em uma espécie de ameaça à imagem americana. Concluímos que, ao observar a guerra por uma perspectiva americana, o jornal The New York Times, por refletir um projeto hegemônico em plena expansão, transforma-se, em certa medida, em um agente dessa ação. Acreditamos que reconhecer as estruturas discursivas constituintes desse discurso é posicionar-se criticamente com relação ao que é produzido pela mídia. / This thesis aims at studying the American discourse in the beginning of the Syrian war as seen by the perspective of The New York Times coverage. In a discursive approach, based mainly on Foucaults theories (1971), we focus on analyzing how the newspapers narrative of the war, which comprises American cultural values, builds itself as a kind of episteme that shapes the understanding of the world, men, and reality. We first propose a way of looking into our analytical corpus that allows for an observation of how the subject that is given the right to speak constitutes himself and his objects, namely the war and the enemy. Secondly, in accordance with theories developed by Hardt and Negri (2001) as well as Said (1993,1999), we intend to observe how the discourse about the Syrian war is constructed based on an ideological and expansionist American project, which has been shaped since the onset of colonization and it is far beyond the nations geographical borders. Lastly, we concentrate the analysis on the media as a producer of symbolic material which, in an attempt to give intelligibility to the war, tunes in with ideals that strengthen the American spirit. As the newspaper goes back and forth into the two different cultural worlds of America and Syria, the media establishes two distinct locations: one of the I and one of the other. Conflicts, as a consequence, emerge from this contrast, sometimes in a relation of subjugation of the other by depicting it as inferior, other times as a threat to the American image. We conclude that, by observing the war through an American perspective, the New York Times not only reflects a hegemonic project in full expansion but also functions to a certain extent as an agent of this process. We believe that to recognize the discursive structures present in this discourse is to engage critically in the observation and interpretation of what is produced by the media.

This qualitative and explanatory study focuses on the concept of ‘media witnessing’, which concerns witnessing media texts performed in, by, and through the media. The aim is to determine how people from different backgrounds engage with news photographs of Syrian children which went viral in 2015 and 2016. Furthermore, this study uses the analytical framework of media witnessing created by Maria Kyriakidou (2015). The framework was made to analyse four different reactions to distant, mediated suffering: affective, ecstatic, politicised and detached. This framework is tested and adapted for this study to identify the engagement experience of individuals with new viral photographs. These photographs were taken by professional photojournalists. The data was collected via semi-structured, two-person interviews known as dyadic interviews. Participants were recruited by way of purposive and snowball sampling. In the end, four dyadic interviews were conducted which involved eight individuals in total. During each interview, two participants looked together at four viral news photographs and discussed their thoughts and feelings based on an interview guide. All dyadic interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. The study material—four transcripts—was finally analysed using a thematic analysis method. Themes were based on modes of media witnessing. The analysis reveals a fifth mode of response—first-hand witnessing—which is linked to an individual’s own experience and past. Finally, this study claims that an adapted framework constitutes a suitable way to analyse people’s engagement but that there is a need for further study of media witnessing.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-01-10T11:29:51Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Vera Terezinha Maluly Pacheco.pdf: 3158750 bytes, checksum: ab507a68f9120308be5baa3d898077fc (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-01-10T11:29:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Vera Terezinha Maluly Pacheco.pdf: 3158750 bytes, checksum: ab507a68f9120308be5baa3d898077fc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-12-12 / This work was developed focusing on the resilience process in the context of the Syrian-Lebanese immigration in the environment of Sao Paulo city. Immigration is a social and cultural phenomenon variable in time and space. The interference of immigration in the geographical area of destination and the interrelationships from this fact were studied. The dissertation was based on the systematic review of literature on resilience and Syrian-Lebanese immigration. In addition, two families of Syrian-Lebanese immigrants (first and second generation), residents of Sao Paulo city, have participated to the study, by means of interviews carried out with them. It was used the History of Life methodology. With the help of the memory of interviewers, this procedure allows to build up versions of the past and of their stories. These narratives have greatly contributed to the research process, which has been enriched with the presentation of photos and documents during interviews. The reports of these immigrants regarding their experience in another country have demonstrated that the adaptation process took place in a positive enriching way, but at the same time with difficulties. These reports also pointed out that the family support network and cultural structure in which they live in helped them to make the process of inclusion. The process of resilience developed by these immigrants enabled the transformation of people, awakening up their potential and enabling them to resume the meaning of life. The research involved the rescue of life stories through open interviews and photographs / Esta dissertação foi desenvolvida contemplando o processo de resiliência no contexto da imigração sírio-libanesa no ambiente da cidade de São Paulo. A imigração é um fenômeno social e cultural variável no tempo e espaço. Na presente dissertação foram estudadas suas interferências no espaço geográfico do local de destino, bem como, nas inter-relações provenientes desse fato. A dissertação teve como base a revisão sistemática de literatura em resiliência e imigração sírio-libanesa. Contou com a participação de duas famílias de imigrantes sírio-libanesas moradoras na cidade de São Paulo, tendo sido entrevistadas a primeira e segunda geração. Utilizou-se como metodologia a História de Vida. Este procedimento objetiva, com o auxílio da memória dos informantes, construir versões sobre o passado que as narrativas permitem elaborar. Essas narrativas contribuíram muito para o processo de pesquisa, que foi enriquecida com a apresentação de fotos e documentos durante as entrevistas. Os relatos desses imigrantes referentes a sua vivência em um outro país vêm demonstrar que o processo de adaptação ocorreu de modo positivo, enriquecedor, ao mesmo tempo com dificuldades. Esses relatos também ressaltam que as estruturas da rede de apoio familiar e da cultura na qual foram inseridos auxiliaram suas vidas na confecção do tecido de inclusão. O processo de resiliência desenvolvido por esses imigrantes possibilitou a transformação dessas pessoas, despertando suas potencialidades e permitindo retomar o sentido da vida. A pesquisa realizada envolveu o resgate de histórias de vida, através de entrevistas abertas e fotografias

It is generally acknowledged among scholars in the field of Late Antiquity that relations between the Roman and Iranian Empires reached its climax in the early fifth century. Countless sources report a variety of co-operative events depicting positive dealings between the Iranian shah Yazdgird and the Roman emperors Arcadius and Theodosius II. On the other hand, there exist just as many accounts that Yazdgird persecuted the Christians of his realm towards the end of his life. We are thus left with opposing narratives about the Iranian monarch, and no clarification about what truly transpired. This thesis seeks to clarify the ambiguities surrounding Yazdgird‟s reign. In order to achieve this goal, the events and circumstances that led to the apogee of Roman-Iranian relations is first retraced. An examination of potential sources of tension follows this, with the thesis culminating in the final chapter directly engaging the question of whether Yazdgird persecuted the Christians of his realm or not. The focus of this study is not solely to answer the question outlined above, but also to analyze and revise the entire topic utilizing a more holistic approach. Recent scholarship on East Syrian Christianity and the Sasanian Empire aided in providing alternative perspectives to the traditionally unilateral Roman views of the outlined issues. These different viewpoints in turn helped shape new interpretations and conclusions concerning the apogee and decline of RomanoIranian relations in the early fifth century.