[pt] A desistência do filho ou devolução após a concretização da adoção não é reconhecida juridicamente, uma vez que a adoção possui caráter irrevogável. Assim, a devolução se configuraria como abandono, uma vez que o filho por adoção tem os mesmos direitos que o filho biológico. Todavia, durante o estágio de convivência e/ou guarda provisória, a devolução costuma acontecer por motivos diversos. Esta tese teve como objetivo investigar a vivência do processo de devolução de crianças/adolescentes na perspectiva dos pais adotantes. Realizou-se uma pesquisa qualitativa, na qual foram feitas entrevistas semiestruturadas com onze sujeitos independentes, nove mulheres e dois homens, moradores de diferentes estados do Brasil, que passaram por adoções malsucedidas. Verificou-se que o processo que leva à desistência do filho se dá, geralmente, pela intensificação dos conflitos durante o convívio mais direto. Os adotantes buscaram encontrar os motivos para o fracasso na adoção por meio da responsabilização dos profissionais à frente do caso e/ou da criança/adolescente. A temporalidade para a gestação simbólica do filho pareceu sofrer interferências tanto psíquicas quanto burocráticas. As falhas no reconhecimento da alteridade do filho apareceram como pano de fundo importante nas desistências do processo de adoção. O sofrimento dos adotantes se mostrou como aspecto que necessita de maior atenção, sobretudo nos momentos iniciais do estabelecimento do vínculo. Concluímos que o sentimento de incapacidade diante do projeto parental necessita de acolhimento e escuta por parte das equipes técnicas para que intervenções junto ao vínculo parento-filial possam ser feitas. / [en] The child s abandonment or odoption disruption is not legally recognized, since the adoption is irrevocable. Thus, the adoption disruption would be configured as abandonment, since the child by adoption has the same rights as the biological child. However, during the coexistence and / or provisional custody stage, the return usually happens for different reasons. This thesis aimed to investigate the experience of the adoption disruption of children / adolescents from the perspective of the adopting parents. A qualitative research was carried out, in which semi-structured interviews were conducted with eleven independent subjects, nine women and two men, living in different states of Brazil, who underwent unsuccessful adoptions. It was found that the process that leads to the abandonment of the child is usually due to the intensification of conflicts during the most direct interaction. The adopters sought to find the reasons for the failure in the adoption by holding the professionals in charge of the case and / or the child / adolescent accountable. The temporality for the child s symbolic pregnancy seemed to suffer both psychic and bureaucratic interference. Failures in recognizing the child s otherness appeared as an important background in the withdrawal from the adoption process. The adopters suffering proved to be an aspect that needs more attention, especially in the initial moments of establishing the bond. We conclude that the feeling of incapacity in the face of the parental project needs to be welcomed and listened to by the technical teams so that interventions with the parent-child bond can be made.

The object-oriented paradigm is widely advocated and has been used in South African universities since the late 1990s. Object-oriented computer programming is based on the object-oriented paradigm where objects are the building blocks that combine data and methods in the same entity. Students' performance in object-oriented programming (OOP) is a matter of concern. In many cases they lack the ability to apply various supportive techniques in the process of programming. Efficient knowledge, skills and strategies are required during problem solving to enhance the programming process. It is often assumed that students implicitly and independently master these high-level knowledge, skills and strategies, and that teaching should focus on programming content and coding structures only. However, to be successful in the complex domain of OOP, explicit learning of both programming and supportive cognitive techniques is required. The objective of this study was to identify cognitive, metacognitive and problem-solving knowledge, skills and strategies used by successful and unsuccessful programmers in OOP. These activities were identified and evaluated in an empirical research study. A mixed research design was used, where both qualitative and quantitative methods were applied to analyse participants' data. As a qualitative research practice, grounded theory was applied to guide the systematic collection of data and to generate theory. The findings suggest that successful programmers applied significantly more cognitive-, metacognitive- and problem-solving knowledge, skills and strategies, also using a greater variety, than the unsuccessful programmers. Since programming is complex, we propose a learning repertoire based on the approaches of successful programmers, to serve as an integrated framework to support novices in learning OOP. Various techniques should be used during problem solving and programming to meaningfully construct, explicitly reflect on, and critically select appropriate knowledge, skills and strategies so as to better understand, design, code and test programs. Some examples of teaching practices are also outlined as application of the findings of the study. / Mathematical Sciences / PhD. (Nathematics, Science and Tecnical Education)

我國政府採購法第85條第3項規定，針對招標申訴審議判斷指明機關違反法令時，廠商得請求償付其準備投標、異議，申訴之必要費用，該請求權係根據「政府採購協定」所定。但由於政府採購法及相關法規均未規定該條項所定之請求權之法律定性為何，以及何謂必要費用等，而本法主管機關亦不做解釋，加上備標費用證明不易，使法院見解只能趨於保守，並產生許多爭議。 目前國內探討本條項規定之文獻數量極少，相關判決亦不多，因此筆者認為，除了從我國學說及實務見解出發之外，本條項既根據政府採購協定而訂定，則其他協定締約國法院對相似案例之見解，應亦可供我國法院參考。因此本文選擇同為政府採購協定締約國，且政府採購金額於世界名列前茅的美國、歐盟，以及英國作為選擇比較研究之對象，並採取實務判決見解分析、文獻研究，以及比較研究之研究方法。 第一章為序論，說明本研究之動機、目的、範圍以及方法。第二、三、四、五章則分別討論我國、美國、歐盟，以及英國之公共採購相關法規，並分析各國司法實務審理參與政府採購之廠商主張採購機關違反採購法規致其未得標，而請求投標、備標及申訴異議等費用，甚至請求其他賠償時，所可能肯認之請求權基礎、應否賠償之判斷標準、應得賠償之範圍，以及得賠償金額之審酌標準，並於各章提出各國較具代表性之具體案例，以了解各判斷標準之實際操作。第六章則參酌各國實務見解及判決，與我國採購法相關法條及實務見解加以分析比較，以提出筆者認為值得參考的審查標準，並提出修法建議，以為本文結論。 筆者於研究後認為，在程序部份，應放寬政府採購法第75條可提起異議申訴之當事人適格認定，並將同法第85條第1項明定為：「審議判斷或法院確定判決指明原採購行為違反法令者，招標機關應另為適法之處置。」而使第3項所稱之「第一項情形」包含司法判決確定時。關於實體部份，筆者認為政府採購法第85條第3項所規定之請求權似乎可定義為行政法上債務關係之締約過失賠償請求權，而建議將此條項修改為：「第一項情形，廠商得向招標機關請求賠償其準備投標、異議及申訴所支出之合理費用。」以釐清此請求權應屬廣義之國家對人民之賠償，並將賠償範圍由「必要」改為「合理」，以免實務見解過度限縮。此外，筆者並認為，此請求權為違反已經存在之債務關係義務而生之責任，與國家賠償法之賠償係不法行為所生之侵權賠償責任性質應屬不同而可能併存。因此，廠商若因機關違法而受有其他損害，並符合國家賠償法所定之要件，似乎亦可循國家賠償法請求賠償。 / In accordance with Article 85.3 of the Government Procurement Act of Taiwan, an unsuccessful tenderer of public procurement is entitled to recover the “necessary” costs he has incurred in his bid/proposal preparation and protest/complaint process if he has challenged the procuring agency’s relevant decision in time and the decision has been declared to be in breach of statutes and regulations by the review authority, the Public Construction Commission. This article is legislated according to the principle laid down by the Government Procurement Agreement that stipulates challenge procedures reviewing procuring agency’s decision shall provide compensation for the loss or damage suffered by the complaining tenderer. However, there have been a lot of disputes concerning the legal status of the basis of action stipulated in this article and the exact extent of the compensable costs since they have never been defined clearly by any statute or explained by the authority. Along with the difficulties in proving the relevancy and “necessity” of the expenses and costs, these disputes have driven the Administrative Court to take a very restrictive view in deciding the recoverable costs which in many cases may not be appropriate remedies for the complaining tenderers. With very limited literature focusing on the disputes arising from this article and a very small number of judgments of such cases in Taiwan, I attempt to explore the opinions expressed not only by Taiwan’s court and scholars but also by the courts of the other countries that are also parties to the GPA and have similar articles in their statutory law in order to offer a comparative perspective that will help resolving the differences concerning the interpretation of this article. Besides Taiwan, I have chosen to examine the judicial review of such cases in the USA, the UK and the EU since their public procurement budgets are on the top list of the world and they are all members of the GPA. The first chapter states the purpose, the extent and the method of this study. The second, third, fourth and fifth chapters respectively discuss the main public procurement regulations and analyze the judicial review standards concerning the basis of actions, the possible remedies and the extent of damages allowed in Taiwan, the USA, the EU and the UK (including the judicial system of England, Wales and the North Ireland and the judicial system of Scotland). In the final chapter, I try to offer a comparative view and to suggest possible changes to the relevant statues and review standards in Taiwan. After completing the research, I suggest that a prospected bidder should also be recognized as an interested party that has standing in making claims against procuring authority for damages in order to ensure judicial review of important procuring decisions. Besides, Article 85.1 of the Government Procurement Act of Taiwan should be revised as “where a review decision or an unappealable court judgment specifies that the procuring entity is in breach of Acts and Regulations, the procuring entity shall proceed with a lawful alternative,” so that the protesting bidder will have the right for damages endowed by Article 85.3 of the same act if the procuring decision in question has been declared in breach of law only by the court but not by the Public Construction Commission. The right for compensation of tender preparation and protest costs stipulated by article 85.3 of the Government Procurement Act should be defined as a right arising from the procuring authority’s liability based on culpa in contrahendo in administrative law. Therefore, this article should be revised as “where the circumstance set forth in paragraph 1 occurs, the supplier may request the procuring entity to reimburse the reasonable expenses incurred by the supplier for the preparation of tender and the filing of protest and complaint.” Besides, just as the liability based on culpa in contrahendo is different from the liability arising from tort and the former does not substitute for the later, an unsuccessful tenderer’s claim for compensation based on Article 85.3 of the Government Procurement Act should not exclude his right in making other claims for other loss or damage according to the State Compensation Law.

Vårt examensarbete har genomförts på företaget Electrolux Laundry Systems (ELS) logistikavdelning, Logistics Center Ljungby (LCL).  Under det senaste året har företaget haft motgångar vid ett IT/IS-projekt inom sin logistikavdelning (LCL). Uppsatsen har således syftat till att beskriva och analysera varför IT/IS-projektet har avstannat, och ej nått implementering. För att uppnå syftet har vi utgått från en, i stort sett, kvalitativ ansats där primärdata har insamlats genom metoder såsom intervjuer och deltagande observationer medan sekundärdata inhämtats i form av dokumentundersökningar och offentliga dokument.   Resultatet av studien har utgjorts av deltagande observationer på fallföretagets logistikavdelning, LCL, samt intervjuer med olika verksamhetsnivåer. Detta har påvisat bristande kommunikation och direktiv samt fallföretagets brister i förstudiens utförande vad gäller förankring av projektet, planering av tid, resurser och kostnader samt formulering av krav. Slutsatser vi kunnat dra av detta är att en fungerande kommunikation mellan olika verksamhetsnivåer samt en noggrant utförd förstudie är essentiella element för att ge ett projekt rätt förutsättningar. / Our thesis has been performed in the company of Electrolux Laundry Systems (ELS) logistics department, Logistics Center Ljungby (LCL). Over the past year, the company has met setbacks during an IT/IS-project in the logistics department (LCL). The essay is thus aimed to describe and analyze why the IT/IS-project have stagnated. To achieve the purpose of the study we have applied a mainly qualitative approach in which the primary data is collected through methods such as interviews and participant observations while the secondary data is obtained by means of litterature and public documents.   The study’s result consisted of participant observation at LCL, and interviews with co-workers at various levels in the organization. These have shown a lack of communication between employees at different levels in the company. Moreover, the result proved the company's shortcomings in designing the pilot study, e.g. deeply root the project, planning time, resources, costs and specify requirements. Our conclusions from this study are that effective communication between different levels of employees, and an accurately performed pilot study, are essential elements to give a project the right conditions.

不同於其他情意因素的成熟發展(Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986; Dörnyei, 1998; Gardner, 2001; Gardner & MacIntyre, 1993)，無聊此情意因素在語言學習的領域中一直以來皆為被忽略的對象。過去研究顯示，無聊已確實存在於課室情境中(Bown & White, 2010; Goetz, Pekrun, Hall, & Hagg, 2006)；其重要性也已開始漸漸受到重視(Dörnyei, 2001)。然而，針對無聊與語言學習作為研究對象的相關文獻卻依然十分匱乏。有鑑於此，本研究大膽地做了嘗試，採用社會建構主義為理論基礎，透過觀察一群國中英語學習者在課室內的學習經驗，試圖找出無聊在第二語言習得領域中的定義以及建構出課室無聊情緒的互動形式。採用質化個案研究為執行方法，此一研究一共邀請了四位國中生；包含兩位成功學習者及兩位不成功學習者，並透過訪談與課室觀察來收集資料，最後根據Glaser and Strauss (1967)的對比分析法彙整原始資料並得出研究結果。 關於第一個研究方向，結果顯示四位學生共同將第二語言習得之無聊情緒定義為一種「對於學習英文感到無意義的情緒」。另一方面，此兩種分類的學習者也各自給了無聊不同的定義；對於成功的學習者來說，無聊為「一種必須忍受以求獲得獎勵的情緒」，而不成功的學習者對無聊的定義則為「一種因為學習障礙而無法克服的情緒」。此外，針對第二個研究問題，此研究的結果顯示成功與不成功學習者所經歷的相似無聊情緒是受到課堂內互動交流以及教學方法對學生來說是否有意義所影響。另一方面，無聊的情形分別發生於成功與不成功學習者身上的影響因素則受到學生對於接收 訊息的困難度評價以及對自我英語程度的認知所影響。 為了幫助學生避免無聊所造成的學習不良，根據所得出的研究結果本研究提出了下列建議以供語言教學教師參考：1. 提高課程設計的多樣性；2. 運用生活化的教學方式；3. 促進正面的課堂互動；4. 注意活動困難度的設計；5. 幫助學生提高學習動機。 / Unlike other affective emotions which have been developed maturely (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986; Dörnyei, 1998; Gardner, 2001; Gardner & MacIntyre, 1993), learning boredom has long been ignored in the area of language learning and teaching. Previous literature has pointed out the existence (Bown & White, 2010; Goetz, Pekrun, Hall, & Hagg, 2006) and its significance in the field of L2 learning and teaching (Dörnyei, 2001); however, limited research has concerned with this issue. Therefore, taking a bold step, this study aimed to find out the proper definitions for L2 learning boredom and figure out the interactive patterns co-constructed students’ L2 boredom in the classroom setting with the social constructional perspective of emotion. Employing a qualitative case study as the research approach, the researcher invited four junior high school students who were in half classified into the successful and unsuccessful learners as the participants for the present study. Data for analysis were collected from multiple sources, including three types of interviews: (a) semi-structured interview, (b) stimulated-recall interviews, and (c) focus-group interviews, and classroom observation. Through analyzing the data by adopting Glaser and Strauss’ (1967) constant comparative method. Regarding the first research direction, the results showed that the students defined L2 boredom similarly as the feeling of meaninglessness in learning English while differently as an emotion must be borne to expect the rewards (by the successful students) and an emotion cannot be overcome due to learning obstacles (by the unsuccessful students). In terms of the second interest of this study, it was also found that the similar pattern resulting in classroom L2 boredom was influenced by the interactive flow in the L2 class and the extent to which meaningful approaches were applied. On the other hand, L2 boredom happened differently to the two categories of students could be attributed to the interplay between the difficulty degrees of given information and the students’ self-perception of L2 capability. Based on the findings, this study yielded some implications for language teachers concerning the affective domain of the students. Suggestions including increasing the variety of class designs, using authentic teaching approaches, promoting positive class interactions, controlling the challenge degree of the materials and activities skillfully, and helping students increase L2 motivation were claimed helpful to decrease the negative impact L2 boredom could make on the students’ L2 learning.

Titel: Risk Managements påverkan för utfallet av ERP-projekt Författare: Ann-Magritt Lindemark Engøy och Hanna Maunus Handledare: Pär Vilhelmson Examinator: Sarah Philipson Kurs: Examensarbete företagsekonomi C, 15.0 hp Nyckelord: ERP-projekt, Projekt Management, Risk Management, risker i ERP-projekt, lyckade projekt, misslyckade projekt, The Iron Triangle. Syfte: Att undersöka vilka risker som är mest förekommande vid implementeringen av ERP-system och hur risk management kan reducera dessa. Metod: Kvalitativ metod, hermeneutik, fallstudier, semistrukturerade intervjuer, välgrundad teori. Resultat: Organisationens och projektets ledning hade större kunskaper om vilka risker som ville uppstå och olika risk management strategier än andra anställda och slutanvändarna av systemet.  Standardisering, samordning och automatisering av organisationens kärnprocesser var huvudsyften för att implementera ERP-system i organisationen. God planering av projektet är avgörande för ett lyckat resultat. Det är viktigt med bra kommunikation och tätt samarbete mellan de olika avdelningarna i projektet, och även med externa konsulter som till exempel leverantören av ERP-systemet. Riskanalys var en viktig del av projektens risk management strategi. En skicklig och flexibel projektledning hade stor betydelse för att risk management strategin fungerade. Resursproblem visade sig vara den största risken i de undersökta projekten. Change management visade sig vara en välanvänd metod för att minska organisationens motstånd mot ERP-projekt. Kostnadsbudgeten var inte det viktigaste målet att uppnå och The Iron Triangle visade sig inte vara så avgörande för om projektet ansågs lyckad eller misslyckad. Organisationerna använda sig mycket av upplärning av användarna för att åtgärda de risker som kan uppstå i samband med personalen. Risk management fungerade för projektledningen som ett verktyg för att åtgärda och även kontrollera projektrisker. Slutsatser: De vanligaste riskerna som upptäcktes i undersökningen var olika slags problem med personalen, tekniska problem, samarbetet med leverantören och kommunikationen mellan olika intressenter, att hålla projektets tidsschema och budget, samt tailoring av systemet och att se till att det fungerar i enlighet med syftet. Särskilt personalriskerna var många och utgjorde stora utmaningar för ERP-projekten. Studien visade även att risk management kan påverka utfallet av ERP-projekt positivt och hjälpa ERP-projekt att uppnå sina mål. / Title: Risk Managements influence on the outcome of ERP projects Authors: Ann-Magritt Lindemark Engøy & Hanna Maunus Tutor: Pär Vilhelmson Examiner: Sarah Philipson Course: Bachelor Thesis in Business Administration C, 15.0 hp Keywords: ERP projects, Project Management, Risk Management, risks in ERP projects, successful projects, unsuccessful projects, The Iron Triangle. Purpose: To investigate what risks are most dominant with the implementation of ERP systems and how risk management can reduce these risks. Method: Qualitative method, hermeneutic, case studies, semi-structured interviews, well-grounded theory. Findings: The management had better knowledge about the risks that would arise and different risk management strategies in ERP projects than other employees and end users of the ERP systems. Standardisation, coordination and automation of the organisations core processes were the main purposes for implementing ERP systems in the organisations. Excellent planning of the project is critical for a successful project outcome. It is important to have good communication and close cooperation between the various departments in the projects, as well as with external consultants such as the supplier of the ERP system. Risk analysis was the most important and the most used method of the risk management strategies among our cases. Skilled and flexible project management had a positive impact on the risk management strategy ability to succeed. Resource issues turned out to be the biggest risk in the investigated projects. Change management proved to be a well-used method to reduce the employees resistance against the ERP project. To meet the standards from the cost´ budget was not seen as the most important objective to achieve. It also turned out The Iron Triangle was not a critical factor to determine whether the project in question was seen as a success or a failure. The organisations used training of the end-users to address the risks that may arise in connection with the employees. Risk management worked for the management as a tool to resolve and control the project risks. Conclusions: The most common risks that where discovered in this study was personnel risks, technical issues, the relationship with the supplier and communication between various stakeholders, not to exceed the project budget and schedule, as well as tailoring the system and make sure that it is working as intended. Particularly risks related to the employees constituted major challenges for the ERP projects. Our study showed furthermore that risk management clearly affects the outcome of ERP projects positively and helps ERP projects to achieve their goals.

The object-oriented paradigm is widely advocated and has been used in South African universities since the late 1990s. Object-oriented computer programming is based on the object-oriented paradigm where objects are the building blocks that combine data and methods in the same entity. Students' performance in object-oriented programming (OOP) is a matter of concern. In many cases they lack the ability to apply various supportive techniques in the process of programming. Efficient knowledge, skills and strategies are required during problem solving to enhance the programming process. It is often assumed that students implicitly and independently master these high-level knowledge, skills and strategies, and that teaching should focus on programming content and coding structures only. However, to be successful in the complex domain of OOP, explicit learning of both programming and supportive cognitive techniques is required. The objective of this study was to identify cognitive, metacognitive and problem-solving knowledge, skills and strategies used by successful and unsuccessful programmers in OOP. These activities were identified and evaluated in an empirical research study. A mixed research design was used, where both qualitative and quantitative methods were applied to analyse participants' data. As a qualitative research practice, grounded theory was applied to guide the systematic collection of data and to generate theory. The findings suggest that successful programmers applied significantly more cognitive-, metacognitive- and problem-solving knowledge, skills and strategies, also using a greater variety, than the unsuccessful programmers. Since programming is complex, we propose a learning repertoire based on the approaches of successful programmers, to serve as an integrated framework to support novices in learning OOP. Various techniques should be used during problem solving and programming to meaningfully construct, explicitly reflect on, and critically select appropriate knowledge, skills and strategies so as to better understand, design, code and test programs. Some examples of teaching practices are also outlined as application of the findings of the study. / Mathematical Sciences / PhD. (Nathematics, Science and Tecnical Education)

This thesis contends that the pastoral role is significant to the effective functioning and well-being of the church. Therefore, the initial selection of a pastor is a vital component and contributes to those desirable outcomes. The question being considered within this thesis is: What are the factors within a church hiring process which may play a role in successful or unsuccessful pastoral ministry? As there are many variables even within this process, the scope of this thesis is limited to the identification and selection of pastoral leadership from the perspective of the pastoral participants. This perspective is drawn from one denominational association in Ontario —the Fellowship of Evangelical Baptists (FEB hereafter) within the Central region of Canada. In examining this question, an empirical, mixed-methodology is used. The triangulation of a literature review, surveys, personal interviews and a biblical, theological treatment allowed for the most comprehensive perspective and treatment of the research question (Leedy, 2010, p. 99). There is a significant amount of inductive reasoning included, based upon personal interactions within cultural contexts and experiences. This is due to the inadequacy or lack of current theories and available literature relative to the question being studied. This motivates me towards the inclusion of a grounded theory methodology as a component of this study (Leedy, 2010, p. 142). Hiring the right pastor is a challenge at the best of times. As the church struggles to respond to a rapidly changing and diverse culture it presents greater challenges. Rates of pastoral turnover are high and the general duration of pastoral ministry is low. This, in turn, impacts ministry effectiveness. This study of hiring practices and pastoral experiences begins to identify elements as to why some pastors are successful and others are not. It allows for the reflection and consideration of whether the church is, what I have termed, “Equipping the Called, or Calling the Equipped”. There is cause for hope, as there always is within God’s church. This thesis identifies concerns, as well as some positive practices and experiences that can be helpful to inform practice and potential change. As Osmer acknowledges, “observing good practice in other congregations is a powerful source of normative guidance” (Osmer, 2008, p. 152). / Practical Theology / M. Th. (Practical Theology)

The study aims to evaluate the Entrepreneurial Seed Fund Programme (ESFP) of the Cape Winelands District Municipality (CWDM). This Programme aims to provide seed funding to emerging and established businesses in order to start and/or grow their businesses. The Programme provides funding through a grant-in-kind by procuring the goods and equipment that the business needs. The businesses qualifying for the funding are not solely focusing on profit-making; they are addressing social issues through business activities in their communities. The population of the study includes five successful and unsuccessful beneficiaries and a questionnaire was designed in order to determine the contributing factors to the success or failure of the business and if the objectives of the Programme was realised. In conclusion, the ESFP can be regarded as a sustainable programme which contributed to job creation and social upliftment. The ESFP should be strengthened with a small business incubation programme in order to enhance its sustainability. / Public Administration & Management / M. Tech. (Public Management)

This thesis explores how the general public understands and responds to dementia. In the context of this study the word ‘understanding' is used to convey the complex co-construction of knowledge and establishing of beliefs that constitutes public understandings of dementia. The study also examines the responses of members of the public to dementia, in the context of their understanding. Data were collected over a 12 month period and included a module in the Northern Ireland Life and Times (NILT) survey, five focus groups and nine interviews with participants from the focus groups. The survey module included thirty measures examining levels of knowledge and attitudes towards dementia. 1200 participants were targeted and the survey was administered by the Northern Ireland Research & Statistics Agency with a response rate of 58%. The focus groups and interviews provided the mechanism to gather a more nuanced picture, exploring the beliefs behind the attitudes and the self-reported responses of participants to people with dementia. Findings indicate that the general public has a reasonable knowledge of the symptoms and pathway of dementia in line with a bio medical model. However the findings also indicate that the general public holds a mix of theoretical and empirical knowledge and that this is often contradictory. A complex mix of scientific or medical information, experience, anecdote and assumptions contribute to the discourse. This information is stored and conveyed in the form of stories and a consequence of this interplay is that individual experiences told in the form of stories are generalised to become building blocks in the construction of what the general public understands dementia to be. The current construction of dementia among the general public is found to be both nihilistic and ageist with clear evidence that dementia is stigmatised. I will argue that that the relationship between dementia and ageing in the minds of the general public is a symbiotic one. Dementia has become a cultural metaphor for unsuccessful ageing marking entry to the fourth age. The stigmatising response of the general public is the result of a complex interplay of multiple factors. I have expanded on previous ideas of multiple jeopardy and intersectionality, suggesting that the stigma associated with dementia is unique and driven as much by emotional responses as by the social location of the person with dementia. I have borrowed Brooker’s (2003) term “Dementia-ism’ to describe this stigma. This thesis argues for a more complex and sophisticated approach to changing public attitudes and reducing stigma. Dementia-ism must be addressed with the same strength of purpose currently applied to sexism, racism and ageism.