Denna uppsats är skriven på avancerad nivå inom socialt arbete. Dess syfte är att belysa turning points från kriminalitet och utgår från intervjuer med personer som tidigare haft en kriminell karriär. Intervjuerna har varit semistrukturerade och berört orsaken till turning points och motivationskällor till upprätthållandet av beslutet. Analysen har genomförts med hjälp av symbolisk interaktionism och teorier om stämpling, stigma och strain. Resultatet visar nätverkets betydelse för processen kring en turning point samt vikten av individens egna vilja till förändring. I resultatet går det även att utläsa hur personligt engagemang från omgivningen påverkar individen positivt vid en turning point. I diskussionen lyfter författaren resultatet och diskuterar även samhällets insatser utifrån uppsatsens resultat. Efter analys och diskussion framkommer författaren med slutsatsen att en turning point sker först när individen själv vill genomgå en förändring. När individen har tagit det beslutet fungerar nätverket både motiverande samt som en resurskälla. Med personligt engagemang från omgivningen så kan individen stå fast vid sitt beslut om en turning point och motiveras till ett liv utan kriminalitet.

The aim of this study has been to take part of six ex-alcohol addicts’ narratives about their lives with starting-point in which factors that has been significant and/or determining to be able to leave a life in abuse and what change this process has implied for their identity. To achieve the purpose with this study has three questions been formulated. These are what in the person’s life have been important in the process of a life free from alcohol, what were specific and decisive that effected the decision to stop using alcohol and what is the attitude to them self and their new role as an ex-alcohol addict.   Alcohol is a drug that is legal and accepted in the society and it´s hard to discover an addiction. Some people can handle to take their self out of the alcohol abuse on their own but for others different forms of professional help are necessary. This is a process that often takes long time and is influenced of both the individuals own efforts and different factors in the surroundings. To answer the aim and the questions the study is based on qualitative interviews. In our analysis to understand and interpret the material we have used earlier studies, social psychological theory whit an putting of symbolical interaction from roles and identity and how the individual define his or her situation. All the respondents in this study have received some kind of professional help and underwent treatment for their addiction. This has for everyone also been preceded by one or several of negative incidents that have been the trigger factor in the seeking relief. For five people treatment has been considerable and/or a crucial part to become free from the alcohol addiction. Also other insertion of support after the treatment has been important for all of them. Other factory that has been important in the process is positive refutation and support from other people in the surrounding.

<p>The aim of this study has been to take part of six ex-alcohol addicts’ narratives about their lives with starting-point in which factors that has been significant and/or determining to be able to leave a life in abuse and what change this process has implied for their identity. To achieve the purpose with this study has three questions been formulated. These are what in the person’s life have been important in the process of a life free from alcohol, what were specific and decisive that effected the decision to stop using alcohol and what is the attitude to them self and their new role as an ex-alcohol addict.</p><p> </p><p>Alcohol is a drug that is legal and accepted in the society and it´s hard to discover an addiction. Some people can handle to take their self out of the alcohol abuse on their own but for others different forms of professional help are necessary. This is a process that often takes long time and is influenced of both the individuals own efforts and different factors in the surroundings. To answer the aim and the questions the study is based on qualitative interviews. In our analysis to understand and interpret the material we have used earlier studies, social psychological theory whit an putting of symbolical interaction from roles and identity and how the individual define his or her situation. All the respondents in this study have received some kind of professional help and underwent treatment for their addiction. This has for everyone also been preceded by one or several of negative incidents that have been the trigger factor in the seeking relief. For five people treatment has been considerable and/or a crucial part to become free from the alcohol addiction. Also other insertion of support after the treatment has been important for all of them. Other factory that has been important in the process is positive refutation and support from other people in the surrounding.</p>

Syftet med den här studien är att genom en kvalitativ intervjustudie undersöka vilken typ av motivation samt, i den mån de existerar, vändpunkter som lett till att individer har tagit sig ur ett alkoholmissbruk. Studien har utförts genom sex intervjuer med privatpersoner som har levt med alkoholmissbruk och via behandling fått hjälp att ta sig ur sagda missbruk. Intervjuerna bokades med hjälp av socialtjänsten i en mellansvensk kommun där samtliga respondenter har utfört sin behandling. Vi har tolkat vår empiri genom stämplingsteori och defining moments. Resultatet presenterar teman som belyser likheter i respondenternas upplevelser. Resultatet påvisar att individer behöver få en insikt om sitt missbruk för att behandling ska kunna ha en positiv påverkan. Denna insikt införskaffas genom olika processer eller fysiska skador som påverkat respondenterna liv. Även motivation från individen själv och det privata nätverket påverkar möjligheterna att ta sig ur ett alkoholmissbruk. Respondenterna ansåg att behovet av behandling är nyckeln för att bli fri från alkoholmissbruk då de ansåg att de inte hade kunskap eller möjlighet för att göra det själva. Detta är något som stärks av tidigare forskning inom området. / The purpose of this study is that through a qualitative interview study investigating what kind of motivation and, to the extent they exist, turning points that led individuals to emerged from an alcohol addiction. The study was conducted through six interviews with individuals who have been living with alcohol abuse and through the treatment received help to get out of said abuse. The interviews was booked with the help of the social services in a Swedish municipality where all respondents have completed their treatment. We have interpreted our empiricism by labeling theory and defining moments. The result presents themes that highlight the similarities in the respondents' experiences. The result demonstrates that individuals need to get an insight into his addiction to treatment will have a positive impact. This insight is acquired through various processes or physical damage that affected respondents lives. The motivation of the individual and the private network allso affects the ability to get out of an alcohol abuse. Respondents felt that the need for treatment is the key to freedom from alcohol abuse when they felt that they did not have the knowledge or the ability to do it themselves. This is something that is supported by previous research in the area.

Optimal prediction model of cyclical downturns proposed by Neftci (1982) was widely used in application to predict turning points of different economies such as US, UK, Japan, and West Germany. I apply Neftci model to predict the occurrence of bear markets of Taiwan stock market by using exchange rate of NTD, monitoring indicator of economy, and turnover rate of TAIEX as predictors. The results show that turnover rate outperforms the other two predictors, which signaled bear markets almost concurrently on average and the variation of the signal time is the smallest, ranging from 4 months lead to 4 months lag. / Optimal prediction model of cyclical downturns proposed by Neftci (1982) was widely used in application to predict turning points of different economies such as US, UK, Japan, and West Germany. I apply Neftci model to predict the occurrence of bear markets of Taiwan stock market by using exchange rate of NTD, monitoring indicator of economy, and turnover rate of TAIEX as predictors. The results show that turnover rate outperforms the other two predictors, which signaled bear markets almost concurrently on average and the variation of the signal time is the smallest, ranging from 4 months lead to 4 months lag.

Title: ”… Then came the realization that I was just like them. That I have a gambling addiction…” This is a qualitative study of four former gamblers and their experience of getting out of the gambling addiction. The study is about how individuals have overcome a gambling addiction. The purpose of this study is to examine the social processes and factors that are of importance when overcoming a gambling addiction. In addition, the study focuses on how individuals experience the change from gambling addiction to a life free of that addiction. In this thesis, I conducted a qualitative study in the form of semi-structured interviews with four former gamblers. The theoretical approach concentrated on Ebaugh’s (1988) role exit theory and Giddens’ (2005) identity formation theory has been used to illustrate the interviewees' experiences of gambling addiction and their identity as addiction free. The study shows that the gambling addiction has brought economic, social and health-related impacts and some of these aspects still exist today. The exit out of a gambling addiction has been a process with different phases and events where the process for some has been incrementally with relapses during the journey. Based on my results, the changing process appears to consist of parallel turning points where different and more significant events give rise to role exit. The study shows the need of continuous social support in combination with gambling association support efforts and the gamblers’ own insight, motivation and freedom of action. It appears that the interviewed have accepted their role that they had left behind and they take careful consideration to the past and the future and try to make more conscious choices and build their new identity. This is done by actions and re- evaluations of themselves and their world. It is based on their lives, by their own choices. However, these choices seem to be limited by conditions that occur in the interaction with the environment, social norms and social situations.

Syftet har varit att genom nyanlända ungdomars berättelser undersöka vilka faktorer som kan ha påverkat deras studie- och yrkesval. För att undersöka detta har livsberättelser använts som metodansats. Halvstrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med sju nyanlända ungdomar i åldern 19-21 år, som har studerat i hemlandet, flyttat till Sverige och idag studerar på ett nationellt gymnasieprogram. Intervjumaterialet bearbetades och analyserades med hjälp av tematisk innehållsanalys. Resultatet visade att de nyanlända ungdomarna såg positivt på sin framtid och att de studie-och yrkesval som gjorts i hemlandet till viss del fanns kvar. Skolgångens utformning och svårigheter med det svenska språket har dock begränsat ungdomarnas möjligheter till att kunna visa sina kunskaper, något som skulle kunna leda till att aspirationerna förändras, kunskapsutvecklingen stannar upp och studietiden förlängs. / The purpose has been, through young migrants’ stories, to examining the factors that may have affected their study- and career choices. In order to study this, life stories have been used as method approach. Partly structured interviews were conducted with seven young migrants’ ages 19-21 years, who have studied in their home countries, moved to Sweden and today study in a national high school program. Interview material were processed and analyzed with the help of thematic content analysis. The results showed that the young migrants’ felt positive about their futures and that the study and career choices made in their home countries, to some extent, still exist. The schooling system and difficulty with the Swedish language have limited the youths’ possibilities to demonstrate their knowledge, which could lead to that their aspirations may change, their academic development may be impeded and their academic years prolonged.

<p>Nursing is one of the most important professions in the United States but it has historically endured high levels of shortage and turnover (Apker, Propp, & Ford, 2009; Fox & Abrahamson, 2009). A nurse’s organizational climate and culture have been shown to impact a number of job outcomes including intention to leave the organization (Aiken & Patrician, 2000), and therefore is of interest to both scholars and practitioners alike. One way to understand the context in which nurses work is through organizational identification because people make sense of their own identities in part through the organizations to which they belong (Kuhn & Nelson, 2002). However, because individuals have various identities which can reinforce but at times conflict with each other (Scott et al., 1999) and the strength of these identities can dictate outcomes such as performance (Trybou, Gemmel, Pauwels, Henninck, & Clays, 2013), it is necessary to explore how nurses connect to different identities and social collectives (e.g., team, organization, and occupation/profession) within their work. Further, these connections with the multiplicities of identifications may help explain the decisions that guide nurses’ career trajectories as well as how the perceived identity of a nurse guides individuals to choose a career in nursing. This project seeks to understand how nurses talk about their jobs and how communicating with other nurses influences their career trajectory and decision to stay in or leave their organization or the nursing profession altogether. </p><p>This project draws upon both social identity theory and self-categorization theory to help explain how nurses communicate and situate themselves among others in their workplaces. Social identity theory and self-categorization theory are suited for this study’s social constructionist approach and the topic of this research because they explain how the strength and multiplicities of identification within an organization are constructed and shaped by communication with others. Data collection methods for this study consist of in-depth interviews with nurses of specific licensures, posts collected online from a nurse discussion forum, and a questionnaire of nurse forum participants. This study applies a mixed methods approach consisting of qualitative and quantitative analyses. In doing so, this project contributes in several ways including extending our understanding of (1) the connections between the multiplicities of identification; (2) how nurses construct meaning in their jobs to guide career decisions; (3) the nature of nurses’ interactions in online spaces; (4) nurse career decisions; and (5) nurses’ perceptions of the nursing profession before entering the profession.</p>

Denna studie vill ge större inblick och förståelse för individen bakom den kriminella stämpeln, samt bringa insyn i dessa individers egna tankar om sina kriminella handlingar och kampen ut ur kriminaliteten. Avsaknaden av tron på att personliga livshändelser sker utifrån egna handlanden, där personen istället agerar passivt offer i sitt liv är något som återfinns hos interner. Motsatsen till detta är personer som tror på sitt eget handlande, det vill säga internal locus of control. Denna uppsats belyser kriminellas bakgrundshistoria till uppbrottet ur den kriminella livsstilen med fokus på locus of control, vändpunkter och framtidsperspektiv. Tio personer deltog, varav åtta män och två kvinnor i enskilda semistrukturerade intervjuer. Resultatet visade att majoriteten förklarade sin kriminalitet med yttre faktorer. De nådde vändpunkten när rädslan för att förlora sitt liv eller sina närstående blev för stor. Nio av tio ser nu långsiktigt på sin framtid till skillnad från förr.

The purpose of this study has been to describe the process that women go through before they choose to end their criminal careers in order to hightlight main factors that play an important role for women´s destistance. The study also intends to investigate what causes the woman to maintain the abandonment and not fall back into crime. In order to answer the study's purpose, semistructured interviews with nine former criminal woman have been carried out. The paper starts with some earlier research in the field of women´s criminality. After that we show our results and analyze them by applying Ebuaghs (1988) Role exit theory and with help from Hirschis (2002) theory about social bonds.  The results show that childrelated events and the time spent in treatment-centers has had a major impact on most of the women.  Age-related events have also been significant for women's decisions to end their criminality. A fundamental factor for maintaining the abandonment has been the women's conviction and belief in wanting to succeed. Other events that turned out to be significant were thematized to: the importance of social support, employment and a community outside of crime.