This thesis examines the lived experience of economic migration of young and degree level educated migrants from Poland to Britain. The main aim is to explore how the participants of economic migration within the borders of the European Union experience migrating. The special feature of this migration is the fact that they leave a postcommunist country and come to a country with a well established capitalist economy and long-standing democracy. The particular questions are: how these migrants construct their experience of migrating, are they faced with any problems while doing it, and if so - how do they resolve them? The data comes from twenty-two semi-structured interviews with migrants educated to degree level who were residents and worked in one of the regions of England at a professional level or below their qualifications (manual or simple clerical work). The research utilises the critical discourse analysis perspective; the data is approached with analysis focused on linguistic choices (lexical and grammatical) evident in the respondents’ statements. This kind of analysis enables observation and in-depth interpretation of the way experiences of migrating are constructed. The migrants’ narratives were full of discursive struggle while constructing their experience of migrating. Firstly, the interviewees made an effort to present their migration as rational. Secondly, they were trying to rationalise their financial needs to refute accusations of greed for money. Thirdly, the underemployed migrants justified their employment choices by distancing themselves from work below that which they were qualified for. Fourthly, the interviewees were making an attempt to withdraw from a multicultural community by constructing the negative Other. Exploring lived experience of living and working abroad reveals competitive discourses and ways of coping with ambivalence. Understanding these discursive practices requires knowledge of their beliefs and values that underpin the discourses available in the Polish postcommunist society. Overall, the narratives overflowed with dilemmas that showed this migration as more complicated on an individual level than the official discourse of free movement of people in the EU suggests. This thesis captures the migrants’ lived experience within one year after the EU enlargement; it reflects on the narratives being shaped when migrants were given the opportunity to introduce the new discourses on migration or re-think the old ones as a result of new macro-processes in the European Union. This research complements other studies exploring migrants’ voices in search of insight into what their experiences were and how they made sense out of them. However, with the methodology used, it focuses more on uncovering the struggle over arguments available to build their stories. It offers explanation to their discursive practices by analysing them against the discourses as being products of postcommunism. The study’s results may shed more light on recent processes within this group of migrants and also inform institutional policy and practice about problems affecting members of this group, reported in this thesis.

A shortage of academic literature exists on North American backyard chicken (BYC) keeping. This is particularly apparent when we ask why people keep backyard chickens in North American cities. This thesis examines individuals’ motivations and lived experiences with raising non-permitted BYC within the City of Winnipeg, using a phenomenological approach and Hanisch’s (2006) the Personal is Political theoretical perspective. Participants were motivated to keep BYC for food production, learning opportunities, leisure and companionship. Motivations were personal and often partly political. Sources of satisfaction derived from keeping BYC included food products, by-products and production, increased sense of connection, enjoyment, leisure, entertainment and companionship, learning opportunities, and doing what felt right. Fear of being found out, isolation and negative stereotypes were challenges experienced. Should the existing bylaw change, permitting BYC on residential Winnipeg properties, participants recommended imposing BYC-specific regulations and public education as a way of addressing concerns and mitigating potential issues. / October 2015

Teachers' use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the classroom has largely been studied to date with a focus on what is lacking. An important aspect that seems to have been understudied is how teachers' own histories and experiences of ICT connects to their teaching practices - in essence, focussing on what is 'present' and not what is 'missing'. This study examines five teachers working in the same school, but working very differently with ICT in their classrooms. The narratives of their lived experiences highlight the acquisition of their beliefs, attitudes and their in situ behaviours about the role of ICT in the classroom. A critical look at the factors responsible for shaping such behaviours suggests the value of understanding individuals' experiences when planning for technology-utilization, rather than prescribing a "teacher-proof" (Connelly & Clandinin, 1988) approach to technology uptake.

Depuis plusieurs années, la définition des soins palliatifs a été élargie pour inclure toutes les maladies ayant un pronostic réservé. Le Québec s’est doté d’une politique de soins palliatifs dont l’un des principes directeurs est de maintenir les patients dans leur milieu de vie naturel. Alors que présentement environ 10 % de la population nécessitant des soins palliatifs en reçoit, on peut s’attendre à une augmentation des demandes de soins palliatifs à domicile dans les CSSS du Québec. La présente étude a pour but de décrire et comprendre l’expérience de dispenser des soins palliatifs à domicile pour des infirmières travaillant dans un contexte non spécialisé. Une étude qualitative ayant comme perspective disciplinaire la théorie de l’humain-en-devenir de Parse a été réalisée. Des entrevues ont été effectuées auprès de huit infirmières travaillant au maintien à domicile d’un CSSS de la région de Montréal qui font des soins palliatifs dans un contexte non spécialisé. L’analyse des données a été effectuée selon la méthode d’analyse phénoménologique de Giorgi (1997). Les résultats s’articulent autour de trois thèmes qui décrivent l’expérience de dispenser des soins palliatifs à domicile pour des infirmières qui travaillent dans un contexte non spécialisé. Elles accompagnent les patients et leur famille, en s’engageant à donner des soins humains, et développant une relation d’accompagnement avec le patient et ses proches. Elles doivent composer avec les réactions du patient et de sa famille et doivent parfois informer le patient de la progression de son état de santé. De plus, elles se préoccupent de donner des soins de qualité en composant avec la complexité des soins palliatifs à domicile tout en s’assurant de soulager les symptômes des patients et de tenter de développer leur expertise. Finalement, le fait d’être confrontée à la mort permet de cheminer. Ainsi, les infirmières vivent des émotions, reçoivent du soutien, sont touchées personnellement par la mort, éprouvent de la satisfaction envers les soins qu’elles donnent et apprennent personnellement de leur expérience. L’essence du phénomène à l’étude est que lorsque les infirmières font un véritable accompagnement du patient et de sa famille en s’efforçant de donner des soins de qualité, cela crée des conditions permettant qu’un cheminement personnel et professionnel sur la vie et la mort soit effectué par les infirmières. / In the past few years, the definition of palliative care was extended to include all diseases with a poor prognosis. The province of Quebec modified the health care system to focus more on ambulatory care and created a palliative care policy with one of its principal directives being to maintain patients in their own milieu. As only 10% of patients requiring palliative care presently receive it, we can expect an increase in demands for palliative home care in the CSSS’s of Quebec. The goal of the present study is to describe and understand the lived experiences of the nurses of a CSSS of the Montreal sector who deliver palliative home care in a nonspecialized context. A qualitative phenomenological research was developed with the Human Becoming Theory of R.R. Parse as a theoretical framework. Eight semi-directed interviews were done with nurses working in home care of a CSSS of the Montreal region. These nurses do palliative care in a non-specialized context. Giorgi’s (1997) phenomenological method was used for data analysis. Three themes describing the experiences of home care nurses providing palliative care in a non specialized context emerged from the analysis. Nurses accompany patients and their families, by committing themselves to providing humane care and by developing an accompaniment relationship with the patient and his/her loved ones. Nurses must cope with the patient’s and family’s reactions and often need to inform the patient of the progression of his/her disease. Secondly, nurses are dedicated to provide quality care by dealing with the complexity of providing palliative care at home, while doing symptoms management and attempting to develop their expertise. Finally, the theme which has the most interesting results is that being confronted by death allows nurses to grow. Nurses personally go through emotions, received support, are personally touched by death, experience satisfaction by the care they give and personally learn by their experience. The essence of the phenomenon is that when nurses providing palliative home care in a non specialized context accompany truly patients and their family, while giving quality care, it creates conditions for the nurses to grow personally and professionally on their views of life and death.

À ce jour, peu d’études ont été conduites pour mieux comprendre le phénomène de la demande d’aide auprès d’hommes dans le contexte du cancer. Les études consultées suscitaient de nombreuses questions et hypothèses sur la signification que pouvaient accorder ces hommes à la demande d’aide. C’est pourquoi l’étudiante chercheuse a réalisé cette étude phénoménologique auprès d’hommes atteints d’un cancer de la sphère otorhinolaryngologique, afin de mieux comprendre ce phénomène. Huit hommes ont accepté de participer à l’étude. Suite aux entrevues semi-structurées, l’analyse des données, assistée par la méthode proposée par Giorgi (1997), a fait ressortir les thèmes centraux suivants : 1) Se sentir capables de faire face seuls aux diverses adversités; 2) Bénéficier du soutien des proches et de l’équipe de soins; et 3) Utiliser des stratégies cognitives. Les résultats ont révélé que la signification accordée à la demande d’aide est intimement liée à la construction sociale du genre, c’est-à-dire aux normes d’identité masculine acquises culturellement. Les valeurs accordées à l’autonomie, à l’estime de soi et à « l’égo masculin » expliqueraient en partie pourquoi les hommes interviewés demandent peu d’aide. Par ailleurs, la présence constante de la conjointe et le soutien de l’équipe professionnelle de santé semblent avoir grandement modulé les comportements de demande d’aide des participants en anticipant leurs besoins avant même qu’ils puissent les exprimer; ce qui invite à une réflexion sur l’empowerment, stratégie d’intervention fondée sur la responsabilisation individuelle. Des recommandations pour la pratique et la recherche infirmières sont formulées afin d’optimiser le soin et le développement du savoir infirmier dans ce domaine d’intérêt. / To date, few studies have been conducted to better understand the phenomenon of help seeking of men in the context of cancer. The reviewed studies elicited many questions and hypotheses about men’s understanding of help seeking in the context of cancer. Therefore, the research student has conducted a phenomenological study to describe this phenomenon in men with otorhinolaryngological cancer. Eight men have agreed to participate in the study. Following semi-structured interviews, the data analysis, assisted by the method proposed by Giorgi (1997), highlighted the following key themes: 1) Feeling able to cope alone with the various adversities, 2) Having the support of the family and the care team, and 3) Using cognitive strategies. The results showed that the lived experience of help seeking is closely linked to the social construction of gender, that is to say to the culturally acquired male norms. Values of autonomy, self-esteem and “male ego” explain in part why most of the participants did not ask for help. Moreover, the constant presence of the spouse and the support of the professional health care team appear to have greatly modulated participants’ help seeking behaviors by anticipating their needs, before they could even express them; this issue invites us to a reflection on the phenomenon of empowerment, intervention strategy based on the individual responsabilisation. Recommendations for practice and nursing research are formulated to optimize nursing care and to insure the pursuit of the development of nursing knowledge in this area of interest.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Teachers' use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the classroom has largely been studied to date with a focus on what is lacking. An important aspect that seems to have been understudied is how teachers' own histories and experiences of ICT connects to their teaching practices - in essence, focussing on what is 'present' and not what is 'missing'. This study examines five teachers working in the same school, but working very differently with ICT in their classrooms. The narratives of their lived experiences highlight the acquisition of their beliefs, attitudes and their in situ behaviours about the role of ICT in the classroom. A critical look at the factors responsible for shaping such behaviours suggests the value of understanding individuals' experiences when planning for technology-utilization, rather than prescribing a "teacher-proof" (Connelly & Clandinin, 1988) approach to technology uptake.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the lived experiences of young people living with mental healthcare users (MHCUs) in order to gain insight into their needs and how their daily coping can be maximised. A qualitative, descriptive phenomenology study was undertaken, with face-to-face, audiorecorded individual in-depth interviews conducted with 10 participants aged between 19 and 23 years, at their homes. Participants were recruited from one of the local health clinics in Dikgale area, Limpopo province, where the MHCUs collect medication and attend follow-up medical reviews. Non-probability purposive sampling technique was used to select the sample size. The following were the objectives of the study:  To explore and describe the lived experiences of young people living with MHCUs.  To determine the coping strategies of young people living with MHCUs. Five themes and 12 sub-themes emerged from the study. The findings of the study revealed that young people were faced with psychological effects, caring demands and responsibilities, effects on their schooling performance, and lack of coping and support. The study results informed recommendations to the psychiatric nursing services on the needs and support to be provided to these young people in order to ensure maximum coping in their life situation. / Health Studies / M.A. (Nursing Science)

This thesis explores the everyday experiences with unemployment and job searching practices in a so-called work club in Northern England. A work club is a place, often a community initiative, where jobseekers who are finding it difficult to look for work independently can go to for support and assistance. These initiatives are encouraged to be set up by volunteers by the UK Department for Work and Pensions and its Jobcentre Plus and are aimed at reducing unemployment levels by helping people apply for jobs. Specifically, the thesis focuses on contemporary job searching practices and asks what Banterby SC work club, the fictional name of the field work location, can tell us about how neoliberal ideologies influence both these job searching practices as well as the way we think about the relationship between employment and citizenship. Work clubs have only received scant academic attention, and this study shows how more in-depth explorations can provide us with some valuable insights. Specifically, because doing so helps us to look beyond policy formulations, framings and imperatives to the implications of neoliberal ideologies in peoples everyday lives. The study uses an iterative inductive ethnographic approach, focusing on one single site field work location, encompassing two hundred hours of field work, during which at least 96 jobseekers have visited the premises of the work club. The study s approach to doing ethnographic fieldwork was based on viewing participant observation as hanging out ; that is, more than merely being somewhere, but rather as engaging and being active in an informal fashion, something that the flexible and unstructured nature of the field work location suited very well. Through this ethnographic, in-depth exploration, then, I do not only explore the observations and findings as offered by some of the previous scholars exploring work clubs, but also seek to connect the findings to Bourdieu s theories of symbolic power/violence as a theoretical framework, which allows us to explore the wider implications of neoliberal governmentalities imposed on jobseekers that influence their everyday practices. This study extends not only our knowledge of the lived experiences of unemployment, but also provides a contemporary insight into work clubs, and how Banterby SC work club has proven to be a valuable site of knowledge about everyday experiences with neoliberal governmentalities toward unemployment and job searching practices. It also extends the application of a symbolic power/violence lens by bringing it together with Foucault s neoliberal governmentalities. Specifically, the study argues that neoliberal governmentalities influencing job searching and unemployment practices are a form of symbolic violence. This approach helps us to problematise job searching practices at work clubs in order to argue for increased critical attention on these sites. Furthermore, the study uncovers the extent to which a welfare system gearing towards a digital by default administration disadvantages many jobseekers who are finding it difficult to work with computers and navigate the internet. The study also addresses and explores to what extent compliance with symbolic power/violence is also shared by staff and volunteers of third sector organisations whose main goal it is to alleviate the burden of unemployment by assisting jobseekers to fulfil their job searching obligations as asked of them by the Department for Work and Pensions and the Jobcentre Plus. Finally, the study calls for more beneficiary-centred voluntary sector research, and proposes a new methodological model for exploring voluntary action and organizations, arguing for a more integrated analysis of the experiences of various actors.

Western psychology has in its current position and definition laid claim to the “psychology” landscape, despite being the construction of one epistemology. This imposition allows western psychology to dominate and control the “psychology” landscape, to the detriment of other equally valid and “scientific” “psychologies”. We argue for redefinition of western psychology in terms of lived experience or soul, so that it can co-exist with other “psychologies”. This should co-facilitate the process of repositioning western psychology into a dialogically equal relationship with indigenous african psychology. Redefinition of western psychology is dependant on psychologist’s appreciation of the relativity of epistemological frameworks and ability to challenge their own subjectivities. This in turn requires epistemological curiosity. This study adopts a conceptual, autoethnographic approach and methodology. Our aim is not to provide answers, but rather create a context for dialogue. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)