Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T14:55:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Vinicius Nascimento Francisco.pdf: 1026261 bytes, checksum: 20b5cb10d78c34bc1ff4bedf5bb989c1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-09-11 / This study aims to analyze a particular course of action understood as a disease by the medical science and an offense to the structuring of processes ordered face-to-face interaction in everyday life. Alcoholism was selected for the theoretical and empirical object as the social experiences of members of self-help groups that acquired a social significance in recent decades: the "Alcoholics Anonymous" AA. The AA is a physical space that apprehends alcoholism as a matter related to the daily lives of men and women stigmatized as drunk. The AA members strive gradually in overlay alcoholism with a language related to the reorganization of their everyday lives. . In the first instance, we address the intrinsic relationship between the systemic world of science, its way to make sense to alcoholism (rational construction of the disease conception) and their acceptance of disability on other approaches to the problem of excessive alcohol consumption in social life. In a second step, we show the historical and political development of the United States and favorable social conditions for the emergence of a movement that understands alcoholism from the public discussion on the way to the common good of society. On a third occasion, we study the social experiences of AA members and the construction of belief in alcoholism within the group as a spring abnormality of disruption of the privacy of its visitors. We understand therefore that alcoholism for AA membership is a fact that hindered his performances in everyday social relations - and will continue blocking if nothing is done to understand the abnormality of those who constantly drink in everyday life. The work was based on qualitative methodologies such as case study, having been selected for the AA your research, semi-structured interviews with the group members, systematic observation of AA meetings and document analysis used by its frequenters / O presente trabalho analisa uma determinada maneira de agir, entendida como doença pela ciência médica, e uma ofensa à estruturação dos processos ordenados de interação face a face na vida cotidiana. Selecionou-se o alcoolismo para o estudo teórico e como objeto empírico as experiências sociais dos membros dos grupos de autoajuda que adquiriu uma importância social nas últimas décadas: os Alcoólicos Anônimos A.A. O A.A é um espaço físico que apreende o alcoolismo como uma questão relacionada ao cotidiano de homens e mulheres estigmatizados como bêbados. Os membros do A.A esforçam-se, gradativamente, em revestirem o alcoolismo com uma linguagem relacionada à reorganização de suas vidas cotidianas. Num primeiro instante, abordamos as intrínsecas relações entre o mundo sistêmico da ciência, sua forma em atribuir sentido ao alcoolismo (construção racional da concepção de doença) e sua incapacidade de aceitação diante de outras abordagens sobre o problema do consumo excessivo de álcool na vida social. Num segundo momento, mostramos o desenvolvimento histórico e político dos Estados Unidos e as condições sociais propícias para o surgimento de um movimento que compreende o alcoolismo, a partir da discussão pública em torno do caminho rumo ao bem comum da sociedade. Numa terceira ocasião, estudamos as experiências sociais dos membros do A.A e a construção da crença no alcoolismo dentro do grupo como uma anormalidade nascente da desestruturação da vida privada de seus frequentadores. Entendemos, pois, que o alcoolismo, para os membros do A.A, é um fato que obstruiu suas atuações nas relações sociais cotidianas e que continuará obstruindo, caso nada seja feito para se entender a anormalidade daqueles que bebem constantemente na vida cotidiana. O trabalho se apoiou em metodologias qualitativas como o Estudo de Caso, tendo sido selecionado o A.A para sua pesquisa, entrevistas semiestruturadas com os membros do grupo, observação sistemática das reuniões do A.A. e análise de documentos utilizados por seus frequentadores

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T14:31:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Beatriz de Oliveira Abuchaim.pdf: 20766521 bytes, checksum: c6d4cd300bdb59c4fc9f0f12aa213966 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-12-13 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Considering the huge increase in Early Childhood Education (ECE) coverage in Brazil in the last few decades, it has become very important for Brazilian researchers to study the quality of this education. That is, to describe which are the social and learning opportunities available for children in ECE institutions. Many studies have shown that educational practices quality is strongly related to a well-structured curriculum and good pedagogical planning, which responds to curriculum prescriptions and also to children s interests. Having said that, this research aimed to study how the curriculum is transposed into a pedagogical planning and then into everyday life in a pre-school. Two ECE institutions were investigated in São Paulo, using the case study methodology. Data were collected by means of interviews with teachers, supervisors and directors. Observations were made to describe the everyday life of preschool groups. The following documents were analyzed: municipal curriculum, ECE institution curriculum and pedagogical planning of the classrooms observed. The results indicate that teachers play a crucial role to implement the curriculum in everyday life. In their work, they usually try to compose a practice based on children´s interests, conceptions of the curriculum and their own conceptions about Education. In this process, the activity of planning is considered important in order to provide moments for teachers to think over their practices, once they have time to: write about the past and project the future; debate with the team about daily events and do research to support their work / Dada a grande expansão de matrículas na educação infantil no país, torna-se necessário estudar como essa educação está sendo construída, ou seja, que oportunidades de desenvolvimento, sociabilidade e aprendizagem realmente vêm sendo oferecidas às crianças. Inúmeros estudos têm mostrado que a qualidade das práticas educacionais está intrinsecamente relacionada a um currículo bem construído e a um planejamento consistente das atividades, que atenda tanto as prescrições curriculares quanto os interesses das crianças. Por tudo isso, esta pesquisa objetivou investigar como se dá a transposição do prescrito no currículo para o planejamento e deste para o cotidiano de instituições de Educação Infantil, mais especificamente de pré-escolas. Para tanto, foram realizados estudos de caso em duas instituições públicas de educação infantil do município de São Paulo. Os dados foram coletados por meio de entrevistas com a supervisora da Diretoria Regional de Educação, professores, diretores e coordenadores pedagógicos. Foram realizadas observações do cotidiano de grupos de pré-escola e foram analisados os seguintes documentos: orientações curriculares municipais, projetos pedagógicos das unidades e planos dos professores. Os resultados indicam que a mediação do professor é fundamental para transpor o que está no currículo para o cotidiano, procurando integrar os interesses das crianças, concepções do projeto pedagógico da instituição e suas próprias intenções educativas. Nesse processo, o planejamento tem um papel importante no sentido de propiciar momentos de reflexão ao professor sobre sua prática, envolvendo a escrita sobre o que aconteceu e o registro do que está por vir, o debate com a equipe sobre o cotidiano e a pesquisa para subsidiar o seu trabalho

Esta tese tem por fulcro o estudo dos imigrantes franceses que viveram na cidade de São Paulo na segunda metade do século XIX. Apesar de quantitativamente minoritários, se comparados a outras correntes migratórias, como a dos italianos, foram qualitativamente relevantes em um momento no qual a propagação da influência francesa era ali premente. Nos almanaques e jornais abundavam nomes de franceses com suas casas de negócio. Tratou-se de uma imigração espontânea e de cunho individual, voltada, sobretudo, a ocupações urbanas. A despeito dos mais conhecidos através da historiografia serem engenheiros, pintores, médicos, enfim, detentores de saberes especializados ou técnicos, a maior parte daqueles que emigraram eram pessoas comuns que improvisavam seus papéis para a sobrevivência diária. Mesmo sem o savoir-faire, era estratégia do imigrante articular-se ao universo cultural francês, tornando-se modista, cozinheiro, cabeleireiro, ourives, alfaiate, ou proprietário dos ramos de hotéis e restaurantes - leque de inserções que a cidade, por conta dos lucros cafeeiros, passava a demandar. Também fez parte desse contexto, desvendar as relações comerciais e consulares entre Brasil e França, na medida em que se formava uma teia de expansão comercial francesa em concorrência aos produtos ingleses e alemães, na qual o cônsul era intermediador: verdadeiro elo dos interesses da França na região. / The core of this thesis was to study the French immigrants living in the city of São Paulo during the second half of the nineteenth century. Notwithstanding their quantitative minority compared with other migratory currents such as that of Italian people, they were qualitatively relevant in a certain moment during which there was a pressing propagation of French influence. Almanacs and newspapers displayed plenty of French people\'s names and commercial business. This reflected an spontaneous immigration wave and its individual trait, which, above all, turned to urban occupations. Although many of the names most known to history have been engineers, painters, medical doctors, all with specialized or technical knowledge, most of the emmigrated were ordinary people who had to improvise the parts they played to attain their daily survival. Even when they did not have the savoir-faire, the strategy of an immigrant was to merge into the French cultural universe, thus becoming a dressmaker, a cook, a hairdresser, a jeweler, a tailor or the owner of a hotel or restaurant - an array of duties that the town was demanding, thanks to the profits brought by the coffee agribusiness. Also within this context we attempted to unveil the commercial and consular relationships between Brazil and France, since an expanding commercial French network was being built to compete with English and German products, in which the French consul acted as mediator and the true link of the French interests inside this area.

O trabalho propõe uma leitura dos aspectos urbanos do bairro da Mooca, analisando a necessidade das intervenções que contribuem para o surgimento de novos contextos, através do resgate da memória coletiva e de sua representatividade na identidade paulistana. O reconhecimento do bairro e o suporte das atuações do Poder Público nos habilitam entender e discutir a viabilidade dos processos de intervenção urbana na região, processos esses aliados a um questionamento sobre formas já superadas de modelos sugeridos que não permitem (ou não se comprometem com) uma investigação mais singular da realidade de cada bairro, já que se qualificam como regras que podem ser aplicadas a qualquer cidade. Constatamos que a freqüente transformação urbana equivale a processos cíclicos de permanência e destruição, criando elementos significativos da vida cotidiana, apoios, portanto, dessas requalificações. Portanto, a implantação de projetos de reabilitação, revitalização e de recuperação urbana, enquanto processo requalificatórios, consiste em afastar as comunidades das segregações sócio-espaciais e das degradações urbanas, colaborando na criação de novos questionamentos e discussões no acompanhamento e na avaliação do processo evolutivo urbano. / This work purposes a reading over Moocas urban aspects, analyzing the needs for interventions that contribute for the appearing of new contexts, through bringing the collective memory back and its representation in São Paulos identity. The town recognition and the afford given by the actions from the government give us instruments to understand and discuss the viability of the urban intervention processes in the region. These processes are joined to question overcame models, which have been suggested, but do not permit or with no relation to a more singular investigation on each towns reality, because these past methods present themselves as rules able to be applied to any city. We notice that the continuous urban transformation is similar to cyclical processes of permanence and destruction, creating significant elements for the everyday life, which are basis for urban renovations. So, making urban rehabilitation, revitalization and recovering, as re-qualifying processes, consists in moving communities away from social-spatial segregation and urban degradation, collaborating for the creation of new questions and discussions in the retinue and evaluation of the evolutional urban process.

Depuis le début des années 2010, le terme de « quotidien » remplace celui de « banlieue » dans certains discours politiques pour désigner les gares ferroviaires de proximité en Île-de-France. Contrairement aux « quartiers sensibles » ou aux « agglomérations », cette expression des « gares du quotidien » se présente a priori bien plus comme un nouvel élément de langage dans l’air du temps que comme une catégorie politique ou administrative installée. Néanmoins, celle-ci apparaît dans le débat public à un moment particulier, en creux du projet de Grand Paris Express, comme précipitée par un certain nombre d’acteurs aux stratégies et idéaux a priori convergents, et s’accompagne d’une vague de travaux assez inédite dans les gares de ces réseaux. De plus, le « quotidien » ne saurait renvoyer aux mêmes images ni aux mêmes valeurs que la « banlieue ». En cela, cette substitution ne saurait être fortuite. À partir d'une analyse des représentations véhiculées par différentes formes de récits d’acteurs d’une part, et d’une exploration des gares et des projets dont elles font l’objet dans le territoire de la Seine Aval d’autre part, cette thèse entend dévoiler les ruptures qui autorisent l’émergence des « gares du quotidien » comme nouvelle catégorie du Grand Paris, les significations qui la traversent, et les transformations auxquelles elle engage. Son ambition est ainsi de discuter plus largement les fonctions imaginaires de la catégorisation dans la fabrique des espaces urbains. Ce faisant, ce travail propose une relecture de l’histoire contemporaine de l’aménagement francilien à travers la lentille du « quotidien », et révèle sous cet angle certains basculements dans le rapport des acteurs du transport et de l’urbanisme à la « banlieue » et à ses habitants, mais aussi dans les segmentations professionnelles et les rapports de force en présence / The beginning of the years 2010s saw a terminological shift within political discourses: railway stations in the Île-de-France region, previously designated as ‘suburban stations’, increasingly became known as ‘everyday life stations’. Unlike other trending expressions such as ‘sensitive neighbourhoods’ or ‘agglomerations’, this expression does not relate to a well-identified political or administrative category. Nonetheless, it appears in public debate at a peculiar moment, in the context of the Greater Paris (Grand Paris) project, as if it were precipitated by a wide array of actors sharing conveying ideals and strategies. It is also accompanied by important work in the stations of these networks. As a result, this substitution cannot be incidental, and the term ‘everyday life’ indeed refers to imaginaries that differ substantially from the previously used adjective – ‘suburban’. By analysing the representations conveyed by different forms of stakeholders’ narratives, and by exploring stations and the urban projects they are part of in the Seine Aval territory, this dissertation seeks to unravel the fractures and discontinuities that allow for the emergence of ‘everyday life stations’ as a new category of the Greater Paris, its interweaving meanings, and the way in which it renews the materiality of spaces. Its ambition is thus to discuss more broadly the imaginary functions of categorisation in urban fabric. In doing so, the work offers a new reading grid for the contemporary history of planning in the Île-de-France region. By looking through the lens of ‘everyday life’, it uncovers a number of shifts in the relationships between actors in the transportation and urban planning sectors, with suburban areas and their inhabitants. This approach is also insightful for the assessment of professional segmentations and power relations at work

Este estudo se inscreve na tradição que vem sendo construída no Brasil pela Psicologia social do Trabalho. Seu objetivo é compreender o cotidiano e as vivências dos trabalhadores no Hospital Universitário Professor Alberto Antunes (HUPAA) no qual se verifica uma babel de vínculos de trabalho, uma vez que os trabalhadores estão submetidos a diferentes modalidades de vínculo, assim identificadas: servidores, funcionários, terceirizados e empregados. Cada um desses vínculos encerra direitos e obrigações previstas desde a contratação e outras que surgem no cotidiano de trabalho, conformando um contexto de relações desiguais, a partir das quais várias situações problemáticas emergem e se configuram como novas exigências do trabalho. A inserção do pesquisador na condição de trabalhador, na Divisão de Gestão de Pessoas do HUPAA, foi o ponto de partida para o levantamento das primeiras questões, que, posteriormente, assumiram a forma de um problema de pesquisa. Considerando as condições do contexto em que este se deu, adotaram-se como referenciais teórico-metodológicos os estudos do cotidiano, utilizando-se uma abordagem etnográfica, a partir da qual, observação participante, entrevistas e análise de documentos foram os principais procedimentos utilizados para a produção/catalogação de informações. O desenvolvimento de estudos voltados para a compreensão do trabalho no serviço público e a possibilidade de contribuir com a descrição densa das vivências dos trabalhadores, ressaltando as demandas que enfrentam no cotidiano, são as principais justificativas para a realização da pesquisa. Os resultados apontam as seguintes compreensões: a transição pela qual o HUPAA passou, deixando de ser um órgão de apoio acadêmico administrado pela Universidade Federal de Alagoas (UFAL) e passando à condição de filial da Empresa Brasileira de Serviços Hospitalares (EBSERH), correspondeu ao o ápice da babel dos vínculos, pois, além de inserir mais um contingente de trabalhadores com vínculo diferente dos que já existiam, introduziu novos modos de gerenciar o trabalho, desencadeando um processo de empresarialização no interior de um serviço, cuja natureza é pública. No cotidiano de trabalho do HUPAA, apresentam-se situações de preconceito, discriminação e hostilidade. A babel dos vínculos submete os trabalhadores a uma fragmentação crescente, na qual os trabalhadores de vínculos distintos competem entre si e até os de mesmo vínculo também passam a adotar essa postura, posto que estimulados pela competitividade institucionalizada pela empresa, o que fragiliza o reconhecimento enquanto classe e a organização coletiva e, consequentemente, dificulta o enfrentamento às imposições da gerência mercadologicamente orientada que tem sido o modelo de gestão adotado no hospital. Com a EBSERH, evidencia-se também a substituição paulatina dos servidores públicos, com seu regime de regulação contratual específico, pelos os empregados públicos, cujos contratos são regulados pelo mesmo regime que os trabalhadores do setor privado no Brasil. A instabilidade do emprego promove a vulnerabilidade política de todos, pois os trabalhadores ficam submetidos às compreensões adotadas e as decisões tomadas pelos grupos políticos que detêm o poder em cada momento histórico. Mesmo os trabalhadores cujo vínculo lhes garante maior estabilidade do emprego, mostram-se fragilizados frente às transformações que assistem no cotidiano de trabalho. A competitividade e a instabilidade aliadas à adoção de novas práticas gerenciais produzem novas exigências a serem enfrentadas pelos trabalhadores no cotidiano. O sofrimento no trabalho passa ser compreendido como um atributo do trabalho no HUPAA filial da EBSERH, restando aos trabalhadores resistir ou se adaptar a ele. Defende-se que o trabalhador do serviço público deve estar protegido das alternâncias de governo, características do Estado democrático, pois só assim terá condições de manter a continuidade das ações e a qualidade dos serviços, uma vez que poderá desenvolver suas atividades tendo como referência os princípios éticos e técnicos da atuação profissional. É com essa condição que terá a possibilidade de organização coletiva fortalecida e assim favorecer a defesa de seus direitos trabalhistas e também a defesa dos serviços públicos enquanto bem comum, necessários a sobrevivência de todos. Defende-se ainda que o sofrimento que se tem instaurado tem sua gênese política e é nessa arena que deve ser enfrentado. Nessa direção, a compreensão de que as dificuldades de funcionamento enfrentadas pelo HUPAA não se restringem a problemas de gestão e sim a uma problemática política mais ampla que diz respeito à própria concepção de serviço público e do papel do Estado na promoção destes, também constitui um resultado alcançado. Ademais, para além dos objetivos perseguidos, o de inscrever (registrar / documentar) as vivências cotidianas dos trabalhadores, emergiu como uma necessidade por eles apontada durante o processo de pesquisa / This study relies on the Social Psychology of Work that has been developed in Brazil. It aims at understanding the daily life of workers at the University Hospital Professor Alberto Antunes (HUPAA) in which the different employment contracts - identified here as public servants, public employees, private employees and outsourced workers -, lead to different contract terms. Each employment contract has its rights and duties established since hiring, and others conditions that arise informally in the daily work, conforming a context of unequal relations, from which several problematic situations emerge and are configured as new demands of work. The starting point of this investigation was the employment contract the author himself previously had as a private employee in the Human Resources sector of the University Hospital Professor Alberto Antunes. As a result of his own experience as a worker, and considering the complexity of the context, the author chose the studies of everyday life as the main theoretical framework. With regards to methodology, an ethnographic approach was conducted in which interviews and document analysis were also used in order to access other sources of information. In that sense, this research represents an important contribution to the understanding of work in public services with a thick description of the workers experiences, highlighting the demands they face in their daily routine. The emerging results indicate that workers are experiencing prejudice, discrimination, hostility and suffering within their everyday life at work. Since the Hospital Professor Alberto Antunes is no longer managed by the Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL) and has became part of the Brazilian Company of Hospital Services (EBSERH), it has been restructured as a corporation especially when it comes to organizing work. That is, the shift in the manage of workers and work conditions brought a different kind of privatization to the public service. This is what we have called the babel of the bonds that subjects the workers to an increasing fragmentation, in which the workers of different employment contracts compete with each other (even the ones with the same type of contract adopt this competition attitude), and are stimulated by the company to act as competitors. This competitiveness weakens the workers organizing and, consequently, makes it difficult to face the demands of the market-oriented management that has been adopted at the hospital. With EBSERH, there is also evidence of the gradual replacement of public servants, with their specific contractual regulation regime, by public employees, whose contracts are regulated by the same regime as the private sector workers in Brazil. The instability of employment promotes the political vulnerability of all, since the workers are subjected to the decisions taken by the political groups that hold the power in each historical moment. Even the workers whose employment contracts guarantees stability, show fragility in the face of the changes they see in their daily work. Competitiveness and instability coupled with the adoption of new managerial practices produce new demands to be faced by everyday workers. Suffering at work is understood here as an attribute of work in the HUPAA, branch of EBSERH, in which individuals face the decision to resist or to engage. We argue that the public service workers must be protected from alternations of government, characteristics of the democratic State, since only then they will be able to maintain the continuity of actions and the quality of services, since they can carry out their activities with reference to the ethical and technical aspects of their professional practice. This protection of public servants strengthened workers organizing and thus defending their labor rights and also the of public services as a common good, essential to the survival of all. We also argue that the suffering that has been established has a political genesis and it is in this arena that it must be faced. In this sense, we understand that the operational difficulties faced by HUPAA are not restricted to management problems, but rather to a broader political problem related to the very conception of what public service is and the role of the State in promoting these services. In addition to these results, we highlight the importance of documenting the daily experiences of the workers, something that emerged as a necessity that the participants themselves pointed out during the research process

ABSTRACT Thus far, literature is scant in assessing the ability of children with conductive hearing impairment to understand everyday speech. This assessment is important in determining the functional ability of children with conductive hearing impairment. In order to identify the hearing ability of children with conductive hearing impairment, many assessments to date have used speech stimuli, such as syllables, words and sentences, to measure how well children perform. In general, these tests are useful in measuring speech recognition ability, but are not adequate in measuring the functional ability of children to understand the conversations they encounter in their daily lives. In addition, many of these tests are not designed to be interesting or engage the children whom they are assessing. The University of Queensland Understanding of Everyday Speech (UQUEST) Test was developed to address the above issues by providing a stimulating speech perception assessment for children aged 5 to 10 years. This overall objectives of this thesis were to: (1) determine the applicability of a computer-based, self-driven assessment of speech comprehension, the UQUEST, (2) establish normative UQUEST data for school children, (3) compare the UQUEST results in children with and without histories of otitis media in understanding everyday speech, and (4) measure speech understanding in noise by children with minimal conductive hearing impairment. A total of 1094 children were assessed using the UQUEST. All children were native speakers of English and attended schools in the Brisbane Metropolitan and Sunshine Coast regions within the state of Queensland, Australia. All children were firstly assessed using otoscopic examination, pure tone audiometry testing and tympanometry. Children with sensorineural hearing impairment were excluded from the study. Following the initial audiological assessments, the UQUEST was administered to all participants. Three experiments were performed on three cohorts of children selected from the pool of 1094 children. Experiment 1 aimed to assess whether the UQUEST is a feasible speech perception assessment tool for school children and to establish normative data in a sample of normally hearing children. ix In this experiment, participants were a total of 99 children (55 boys / 44 girls), attending Grade 3 and grade 4 (41/58, mean age = 8.3 yr, range = 7 – 10 yr, SD = 0.7). The results showed that the UQUEST is a feasible test of speech understanding in children aged 7 to 10 years. In general, the UQUEST scores decreased as the signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) decreased from 10 to 0 dB. Normative data based on the scores of six passages of equal difficulty were established for the 0 dB and 5 dB SNR conditions. In addition, the children appeared to be captivated with the UQUEST task and the attention of all the children was sustained throughout the duration of the test. Experiment 2 determined whether children with histories of otitis media (experimental group) performed worse on the UQUEST in comparison to those children without histories of otitis media (OM). A total of 484 children (246 boys / 238 girls), attending Grade 3 (272, mean age = 8.25 yr, SD = 0.43) and Grade 4 (212, mean age = 9.28 yr, SD = 0.41), were assessed. Children were grouped according to the number of episodes of otitis media as per parental report (control: < 4 episodes; mild history group: 4-9 episodes; and moderate history group: > 9 episodes OM). All children had normal hearing as determined by otoscopy, pure tone audiometry screening and tympanometry results. Results showed no significant difference in UQUEST scores between the control group in comparison to the experimental groups. However, children with a history of OM demonstrated varying speech comprehension abilities. Some children had severe difficulty with the speech comprehension task, suggesting that in cases with extensively reported episodes of OM, performance on the UQUEST was compromised. Experiment 3 determined the prevalence of conductive hearing loss in the Australian primary school population and investigated the ability of school children with minimal conductive hearing loss to understand everyday speech under noisy conditions. Based on a sample of 1071 children (mean age = 7.7 yr; range = 5.3 - 11.7 yr), 10.2% of children were found to have conductive hearing loss in one or both ears. To evaluate the binaural speech comprehension ability of children, a sample of 542 children were divided into four groups according to their audiological assessment results: Group 1: 63 children (34 boys, 29 girls, mean age = 7.7 yr, SD = 1.5) who failed the pure tone audiometry and tympanometry tests in both ears; Group 2: 38 children (17 x boys, 21 girls, mean age = 7.5 yr, SD = 1.2) who passed pure tone audiometry and tympanometry in one ear but failed both tests in the other ear; Group 3 (control group): 357 children (187 boys, 170 girls, mean age = 7.8 yr, SD = 1.3) who passed pure tone audiometry and tympanometry in both ears; Group 4: 84 children (41 boys, 43 girls, mean age = 7.2 yr, SD = 1.3) who passed pure tone audiometry in both ears, but failed tympanometry in one or both ears. The results showed that Group 1 had the lowest mean scores of 60.8% - 69.3% obtained under noise conditions. Their scores were significantly lower than the corresponding scores of 69.3% - 75.3% obtained by children in Group 4; 70.5% - 76.5% obtained by children with unilateral conductive hearing loss (Group 2); and 72.0% - 80.3% obtained by their normally hearing peers (Group 3). This study confirmed that young children, who are known to have poorer speech understanding in noise than adults, show further disadvantage when a bilateral conductive hearing loss is present In summary, the UQUEST has been found to be a useful tool to measure children‟s understanding of everyday speech. This test could be successfully used as a measure of speech comprehension in background noise in children. The UQUEST met expectations of being an interesting and engaging test for children aged 5-10 years. In addition, the UQUEST scores showed that children performed worse when challenged by the more difficult noise conditions incorporated in the test design. The findings from this thesis demonstrated that, at the group level, children with histories of OM did not perform any differently from those without significant histories of OM. However, at the individual level, children with significant OM histories had degraded functional performance with low UQUEST scores. Lastly, this thesis provided much needed speech comprehension data obtained from children with minimal conductive hearing impairment and provided evidence that young children were more affected by the co-occurrence of environmental noise and bilateral conductive hearing loss than their normally hearing peers in understanding everyday speech.

<p>Syftet med vår studie är att undersöka kvinnors upplevelser av att få en AD/HD diagnos i vuxen ålder och vilka sociala konsekvenser det ger. Då många studier inriktar sig på AD/HD ur ett neuropsykiatriskt perspektiv, anser vi det intressant att i stället ha ett socialt fokus. Den teori vi huvudsakligen använder oss av är social konstruktionism då vi tycker den är relevant i detta sammanhang. Vi undersöker i studien om, och i så fall hur kvinnorna upplever att diagnosen har förändrat deras vardag, bemötandet från myndigheter och arbetskamrater, självkänsla/självuppfattning och relationen till vänner och nära anhöriga. För att göra detta möjligt formulerade vi fyra frågeställningar som passade studiens syfte. I studien använde vi oss av kvalitativa forskningsintervjuer med fyra kvinnor, detta för att få fram deras upplevelser på bästa sätt. Det resultat vi funnit visar att diagnosen haft stor betydelse för kvinnorna i den meningen att den gjort dem mer medvetna om sina brister och som en frigörande förklaring på sin känsla av att vara annorlunda. För att kunna analysera texten använde vi oss av de teman som formades utifrån frågeställningarna för att kunna hitta mönster i kvinnornas berättelser. Därefter tolkade vi materialet med hjälp av tidigare forskning och relevanta teorier. Den slutsats vi kommit fram till är att diagnosen stärker kvinnornas självkänsla/självuppfattning vilket gör att de kan hantera sina liv och sin vardag på ett bättre sätt, men också att diagnosen i sig inte förändrar de faktiska bristerna i någon större utsträckning.</p> / <p>The aim of our studie is to examine womens experiences of recieving a diagnosis of AD/HD as an adult and what social consequences this brings. As many studies focus on AD/HD from a neuropsychiatric perspective, we regard it interesting to look at it from a social perspective rather then psychiatric. The theory we mainly used is social constructionism as we think it relevant in this coherece. In the study we examine if and in that case how these women feel that the diagnosis has changed there everyday life, treatment by authority and colleagues, self-esteem/self-perception and relation to friends and close relatives. To make this possible we worded four questions at issue that was suitable for the purpose of the study. In the study we used qualitative research interviews whit four women, this as to bring forward there experiences in the best possible way. The result we found show that diagnosis has had great importance for the women as it has made them more aware of there scarcity and as a liberating explanation of there feeling of being different. To be able to analyze the text we used the theme as shaped from the questions to be able to find a pattern in the womens story. We then interpreted the material with the help of prior and relevant theories. Our conclusion is that the diagnosis strengthens the womens self-esteem/self-perception which means that they can handle there everyday life in a better way, but also that the diagnosis in it self does not change the real lack in extent any greater.</p>

<p>The background to this thesis lies in the great changes that have occurred in the disability field during the last threes decades. The purpose of this thesis is to describe, analyze and try to understand how these changes impact on life conditions for adult persons with mild intellectual disabilities. The main focus in this study is to listen to the experiences of people with intellectual disabilities themselves. The questions addressed in the study are; how do people with intellectual disabilities experience participation, citizen-ship, social exclusion and social inclusion in society? Where are their daily arenas and what characterizes those arenas in terms of citizenship, exclusion and inclusion? What type of experiences do they have from encountering people in the community, from encountering the organisations and staff that provide support and service and from the consequences of disability policies in practise? How do staff close to them work to reach the goals of participation? What role can professionals play in supporting participation? Which possibilities and barriers do the staff experience?</p><p>Empirical data for the study has been gathered by qualitative methods, mainly participant observations and interviews but also from document analysis of local authority documents, official guidelines, laws and national and international disability policy documents.</p><p>The theoretical framework is based on theories about citizenship and participation. Social exclusion and social inclusion are the sensitizing concepts in this study. For the interpretation and analysis theories about citizenship, participation and categorization were used.</p><p>In the light of the empirical findings the results of the study show that three main themes were promi-nent. The first theme concerned the daily arenas, were there were both excluded arenas and included are-nas with various forms of interaction with the society. The arenas for support and service in housing and daily activities are described as excluded arenas with mainly internal social interaction. On the other hand the new arenas such as daily activity centres, located in the community, such as cafés, shops run by peo-ple with intellectual disabilities together with staff had frequent interaction with other people in the soci-ety. The second theme concerned the content in the encounters between respondents with intellectual disabilities and different actors in the community. The informants had both positive and negative experi-ences of these encounters. The encounter with the disability policy was, according to this dissertation, that the user informants hade many experiences of lacking social citizenship but also that they experienced structural inclusion when politicians listen to them and answered their questions. The third theme con-cerned how the staff works to reach the goals of participation where both possibilities and barriers exist on structural and individual levels. This study illustrates the user informants’ many experiences of citi-zenship and social exclusion but also examples of social inclusion.</p><p>In the concluding chapter the results are discussed and analyzed in relation to the theoretical frame-work, where the concept of categorisation was very important. Finally, the description of the process clearly illustrates the difficulties for disability service organisations to develop support and services that are adapted to the actual disability policy. The results shed light on the gap between theory and practise.</p><p>Some of the most positive changes towards inclusion in society for people with intellectual disabilities come from services run by users and staff close to them. Final conclusions and reflections of the results in the study are that support and service also can be discussed in terms of universalism in order to reduce the process of categorisation.</p>

<p>The main purpose of the present study was to obtain an in-depth understanding of what the final phase of life was like for a group of gravely ill and dying cancer patients, with focus on autonomy, dependency and quality of life. The specific aims were to: 1) describe the patients' autonomy and how the attitudes of relatives and staff promoted/hindered patient participation in decision-making, 2) describe how the patients assessed their quality of life in two care cultures, 3) describe how members of the care team prognosticated the patients' remaining survival time, and 4) investigate continuity of care site in two different care cultures during the patients' final month of life. The theoretical framework consisted of Weisman's concept of an appropriate death, and an ethical perspective based on a dialogical ethic and truthfulness.</p><p>The study comprised 56 consecutively selected adult cancer patients. Data was collected via retrospective interviews with relatives, quality of life assessments by the patients, prognoses/motivations from members in the care team, and register data on the utilisation of forms of care. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. </p><p>Four categories respecting autonomy were found; the dying patients exercised their autonomy as self-determiners, co-determiners, delegators and nonparticipators. The co-determiners and delegators practised "shared autonomy" in interaction with relatives and staff, and a dialogue characterised by truthfulness was typical of the interplay. In the assessment of quality of life, half of the patients assessed themselves as satisfied/somewhat satisfied with their situation. The "cognitive-" and "emotional functioning" differed least from that of a normal population, while "physical-", "role functioning" and "global health status/quality of life" differed most. The prognosticated and the actual remaining survival time were in agreement for 19/51 patients (± 0.5 months). Some resistance to prognosticating emerged. The members of the care team used different forms of knowledge to motivate their prognostication. Continuity in terms of care site was fairly high for the majority of dying patients. To a great extent, organisational and structural factors determined the choice of care form. </p>