This qualitative study aimed to explore the constructions of childhood depression as portrayed in South African women's interest magazines. Departing from a postmodern paradigm and utilising a social constructionist framework, these magazines were regarded as part of larger mass media discourses on childhood depression. The magazines contribute to the construction of 'truths' about childhood depression in its audience. To explore the research question, three of the highest circulating magazines in South Africa containing texts related to childhood depression were identified. The magazines were aimed not only at women, but at both English- and Afrikaans-speaking women, and at African, Caucasian, and possibly Coloured women. The hardcopies of these magazines were sourced from the publisher for a period of approximately two years each. A total of 20 articles that spoke to childhood depression were identified in these magazines. Two forms of analysis were used in a mutually enriching and recursive manner. The contextual analysis allowed an enriched insight into the context of the articles. The thematic analysis gave way to themes and subthemes to emerge. It was found that although perceptions in these articles were most often in line with professional psychological knowledge, at times it failed to speak to uniquely South African concerns regarding childhood depression, and often reified problematic discourses. It was concluded that mass media may be a powerful tool to employ by government organisations, health professionals, and social scientists, to address problematic mental health discourses in South Africa. / Mini Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Psychology / MA / Unrestricted

Doctor Educationis / The overarching purpose of this research study was to ascertain the deliberations preservice mathematics teachers engage with when they construct alternative mathematical models for social phenomena. The study is situated within the mathematical competencies and, in particular, on the evaluation competency with the possibility of developing alternative models flowing from the evaluation. Twenty fourth-year pre-service mathematics teachers participated in the completion of three different mathematical modelling tasks on which the analysis was based. The data collected was analysed qualitatively. The researcher exploited a thematic analysis design to investigate how pre-service mathematics teachers build alternative models.

Background: First responders (firefighters, paramedics, and police officers) are often exposed to potentially psychologically traumatic events. When combined with insufficient social support and reduced help-seeking behaviours, such exposures may increase the risk of mental health challenges, particularly among paramedics who report the highest rates of mental disorders. Objective: The current study used the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) and the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) to identify critical barriers and facilitators to help-seeking and accessing mental health care, and the feasibility and sustainability of a first responder clinic. Methods: Semi-structured qualitative interviews included 11 paramedics (frontline, mid-and-senior management, and union), recruited using purposive and snowball sampling. Interviews were analyzed using content and thematic analyses. The TDF and CFIR guided study design, interview content, data collection, and analysis. Results: Barriers included the complexities of stigma, confidentiality, cultural competency, and trust. Conclusions: The findings will be instrumental in developing evidence-based approaches to mental health care for paramedics.

This study aimed to explore the experiences of middle managers in the implementation of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) at a public organisation in Botswana. The BSC is regarded as the most widely used tool in measuring organisational performance globally. The public organisation in Botswana has followed global best practice and implemented the BSC to measure organisational performance; however, the organisation is repeatedly unable to meet its set objectives. To gain an improved understanding of managers’ experiences of using the BSC, face-to-face, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight middle managers at the public organization. Interview data were thematically analysed yielding five key themes: inconsistencies in training, the culture of the organisation, lack of communication, use of information technology and the disparity between individual and organisational performance. Based on the study findings, recommendations are offered to conduct needs analyses prior to introducing new systems, to assess the viability of such a system, and automating the balanced scorecard to reduce fatigue.

This qualitative case study examined how integrating technology, specifically digital storytelling, influenced secondary student perceptions of literacy learning and student engagement in an English language arts and reading classroom in a rural district. Understanding student perceptions of literacy learning can offer insight into which technological tools can support literacy development and classroom engagement. Through the implementation of case study design and thematic analysis, overarching themes highlight participant experiences and equip education professionals to make more informed choices regarding technology integration decisions.

This project addresses the promotion of role-related self-compassion (SC) in psychotherapists as part of their professional development and maintenance. There is evidence that therapists who are more self-compassionate are better-protected from emotional burnout (Beaumont et al., 2016), suggesting that self-compassion become part of therapist education(Nelson et al., 2018), but there is a lack of research regarding how this role-related selfcompassion is addressed by supervisors. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 6 clinical supervisors in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. Thematic analysis (TA) derived 5 main themes, including Participants’ Definitions of SC, Supervisee struggles leading participants to address SC in supervision Participants’ approaches to addressing SC with supervisees, Institutional structures addressing self-care, self-compassion, and Challenges associated with addressing SC in supervision. Results suggest that participants viewed self-compassion as an important component of therapist self-care, and employed a number of direct and indirect methods to address and encourage it with supervisees. Implications for practice and training are included.

A suburban district in the southwestern region of the United States created a choice-based program in which students have the opportunity to address their social, emotional, and academic needs through a mid-day period where they have the ability to attend tutorials or engage in a variety of club and social activities. Each day, students choose the activity that best serves their needs, be those academic, social, or emotional. In order to determine students' attitudes, opinions, and uses of the program in an effort to improve its effectiveness for student success, this qualitative study was planned to respond to the research questions: (1) how do students spend the emPower period? and (2) what are students' thoughts, attitudes, and opinions with regards to emPower? The research began by examining student responses to a previous principal survey asking their opinions on the program. Following the analysis of the survey, focus group sessions of five students from each high school grade were held to discuss student perceptions, choices, and uses of the program. The discussions were audiotaped and transcribed. Thematic data analysis resulted in themes of stress, social life, environment, regulations, choice and tutorials. Findings included a continuum of maturity evident with students' choices as they progressed in grade level; enhanced student decision making and self-reflection; cultivating positive student-teacher relationships. Student suggestions for the program involved extending the time length of the period, teaching younger students to use the program effectively, and updating the way the advisory class is taught to be more beneficial to students.

No description available.

In Ontario, supporting "a system of care that provides women and their families with equitable choice in birth environment and provider," (PCMCH & MOHLTC, 2017, p.33) has been identified as one of the central objectives of the Provincial Council for Maternal and Child Health's Low Risk Maternal Newborn Strategy. In theory, pregnant people in Ontario can choose to seek maternity care from a midwife, a family physician, or an obstetrician; however, in practice, pregnant people's choice of provider remains constrained. Extant literature suggests that in order to afford pregnant people the opportunity to exercise autonomous choice of provider, health systems must ensure that an acceptable range of provider options is available and accessible within the local organization of maternity care, that pregnant people are made aware of and knowledgeable about the available provider options, and that pregnant people have the ability and resources to navigate access to their provider of choice (Mackenzie, 2014; Sutherns, 2004). As a result, I designed this thesis to fill a gap in the evidence base to determine whether or not provincial policies had translated into the levels of access, awareness, and resourcing required to afford pregnant people the opportunity, ability and propensity to exercise autonomous choice of provider within the local maternity care system in Ontario's Champlain Region. I sought to elicit the structural conditions that would be necessary to equitably support pregnant people's access to and choice of a maternity care provider. In the pursuit of these objectives, I adopted an integrated knowledge translation approach (Bowen & Graham, 2013), using an explanatory sequential mixed methods design (Creswell, 2014), which encompassed two complementary stages: (1) quantitative geospatial mapping to assess pregnant people's access to the full range of maternity care providers across the Champlain Region; and (2) qualitative focus groups and individual interviews with parents, providers, and policy-makers to explore the individual, organizational, and system-level factors that are enabling or restricting access and autonomy. Using a systems approach to the investigation of this locally-identified issue, I demonstrate in this thesis that pregnant people within the Champlain Region have inequitable opportunities to exercise autonomous choice of maternity care provider due to (1) system and organizational-level factors that are creating imbalances in the supply, distribution and mix of maternity care provider options, and (2) pregnant people's differential access to the enabling information and resources required to exercise autonomous choice of provider and to navigate access to their services.

When measuring people’s trust, research show a negative trend where people’s trust over time is declining globally, where digitalization is accelerating the process. Trust is a key component in a democratic society and social studies has the task of communicating democratic values and integrate the students in the democratic process. The aim of the present study was therefore to examine how different aspects of the concept “Trust” are highlighted and portrayed within different fields of knowledge in textbooks for social studies in upper secondary school. Three aspects of trust was analyzed; social capital and trust in one’s surroundings; trust in the political system and its institutions; how the economic system influence people’s trust. The concept of trust was examined through a thematic analysis, with discourse analytical elements that calculated frequencies of latent and semantic value words. The analysis indicate that both textbooks contain a frequent space for discourses of trust, where social trust is highlighted. Furthermore the results showed a big difference between latent reasoning about trust and direct semantic reasoning about trust. When examining study questions and tasks similar results were found, where Arena 123 had the most latent codes in the answer options, while Perspektiv på samhället had the most direct trust frequencies.