The symptoms of adolescent depression are often dismissed as quirks of the age—increased irritability or agitation, lack of concentration, frequent complaints, sleep disturbances, eating disturbances, decrease in grades or missed assignments. The impact of these symptoms reaches deeply into the both the academic and social lives of these adolescents. Exercise is beginning to emerge as a potential alternative to standard drug treatment for depression; however, very little research has been conducted with adolescents. The purpose of this case study is to describe the experiences (thoughts, feelings and actions) of four adolescent males with symptoms of depression from multiple perspectives, while they were participating in a daily aerobic exercise program. Throughout an eight-week program of daily three-on-three basketball scrimmages led by the researcher, four “at risk” boys aged 10-13 were invited to describe their experiences: their thoughts, feelings, attitudes and their beliefs about their social and academic life. Their parents and teachers also shared their perspectives through questionnaires, interviews and informal conversations. Researcher observations and field notes made by the researcher throughout the school day, in addition to the other data were used in a cross-case analysis to develop an understanding of exercise and its effects on the social, emotional, and academic lives of these boys. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2008-12-16 10:16:52.226

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Having a stroke at a younger age has been described as a complex experience that raises specific issues and related serice needs, mainly to do with child care, employment and social life. However, there has been little research into how younger people define what a stroke means for them personally and socially and how they live with it in the long term. This study aims to capture the experience of having had a stroke in people under fifty-five during the first year of their stroke. The purpose is to develop an understanding of the experience and to make this knowledge useful- for other people with this illness, for health care in general- and nursing in particular.

This thesis presents a follow-up study of young offenders released from secure custody at the Manitoba Youth Centre. It attempted to investigate three questions: What are young offenders' experiences within the community following their release from secure custody?, How do young offenders view their program experiences at the Manitoba Youth Centre? and What are the youn offenders' perceptions regarding the benefits of their program experences toward community adjustement? Twenty-eight youths who had been in secure custody for at least three months and discharged to an address in Winnipeg were interviewed. The study based on a qualitative research model describes the experiences, thoughts and perceptions of these young offenders. The results found that the young offenders' experiences within the community were less than ideal. Most of them lived in several different places, were in school or work for short periods of time and were reinvolved with the law. They viewed their program experiences at the Centre as favourable. Yet, the young offenders felt they did not benefit in the community from these program experiences. The conclusion is that the Manitoba Youth Centre needs to consider factors that have been demonstrated to help young offenders adjust in the community. The recommendations start with the development of theories and the incorporation of intervention strategies. Relapse Prevention is proposed as it takes into consideration many of the youths' comments and suggestions.

Whole body vibration (WBV) training is a relatively new training technique and is considered low intensity as it elicits non-voluntary muscle contractions generated by mechanical vibrations. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of a 6-week WBV training paradigm on the physical capacities and fatigability of overweight young female adults. We hypothesized that WBV would increase fat free mass as well as leg power and strength, decrease the fatigue index of the lower limbs during the Wingate test, increase fatigue resistance, improve neuromuscular efficiency and decrease fatigue perception in overweight young female adults. Participants (n=24) were overweight young female adults (body fat percentage 30-35) between the ages of 20 and 40 and were randomized into 2 groups; control group (CON; n=10) or whole body vibration group (VIB; n=14). This study consisted of six weeks of training and four testing sessions: 2 before (sessions 1 & 2) and 2 following (sessions 3 & 4) the training regimen. During testing sessions 1 and 3, the basal metabolic rate, body composition, leg power (Wingate), elasticity index (EI), squat and countermovement jumps and fatigue perception (questionnaires) were assessed for all subjects. Isokinetic tests to measure strength and muscle fatigue tests were performed during testing sessions 2 and 4. The training protocol lasted 6 weeks and exercises were performed 3 times a week. Sessions lasted 30 minutes and entailed 15 sets of 1-minute exercises followed by 1-minute rest intervals. One set consisted of 15 controlled and timed squats (15 flexion and extension per minute). The VIB group performed their exercises on the power Plate® pro 6. Vertical vibration amplitude settings were kept on low (2mm) throughout the entire 6 weeks and set at a frequency of 30Hz for weeks 1-3 and increased to 35Hz for weeks 4-6. The CON group performed the same exercises without vibration. iv The results revealed that a 6-week WBV training regimen had no effect on body composition or basal metabolic rate. WBV training did not affect EI as evidenced by similar squat jump and countermovement jump measures for both the CON and VIB groups. WBV training had no effect on leg power as measured using the Wingate ergocycle. The Wingate test did show a decrease in the fatigue index for both groups (p˂0.05). Unexpectedly, a decrease in strength was found in extension phase during the eccentric contractions (120°/s) and flexion phase during concentric contractions (120°/s and 180°/s). As there were no changes in fat free mass, it seems that the reduction in strength was due to central changes. The fatigue rate represented by regression slopes showed that the VIB group was more fatigue resistant post training compared to the CON group. Fatigue perception as measured using a multidimensional approach with questionnaires (FSS, MFI and SHARP) revealed no changes in fatigability for either group. To conclude, this study demonstrated that WBV training in overweight young female adults had minimal effects on the physical capacities and fatigability of our subjects. Higher intensity vibration parameters, a longer training regimen or individualized vibration parameters may have greater benefits for overweight subjects and should be considered in future studies.

Background Suicide among young people is a global public health problem, but information on determinants and understanding of suicidal expressions are lacking in low and middle income countries (LMIC). Though school-based interventions are common in many parts of the world, evidence for efficacy is less reported, particularly from post-conflict countries. Aim To explore suicidal expressions and their determinants with psychosocial and gender perspective in Cambodia and Nicaragua and to evaluate a school based intervention to promote mental health and prevent suicidal behavior among young people in Cambodia. Method School students between the age of 15-19 from Cambodia and Nicaragua responded to Attitude Towards Suicide (ATTS) and Youth Self-Report (YSR) questionnaires. In addition, Life Skill Dimension Scale Adolescent Form (LSDS-AF) was used in schools in Cambodia, one experimental and the other control, to measure the impact of intervention. Six focus group discussions (FGDs), both gender-specific and mixed groups, were held to understand young people’s perception of gender, culture, religion and media and their impact on suicide among them. Results Paper I. Revealed few gender differences in suicidal expressions, except girls reporting more attempts than boys. Girls exposed to suicide among friends and partners were likely to report own suicidal expressions and girls with internalizing syndrome were at risk for suicidal expressions.    Paper II. Cambodian teenagers reported more mental health problems but fewer suicidal expressions as compared to Nicaragua. The determinants varied between countries.   Paper III. Participants of FGDs mentioned “Plue Plun” male and “Kath Klei” female to describe gender difference in suicidal behavior among young people in Cambodia who found it a challenge to negotiate between traditional and modern values. Paper IV. Suicide ambiguity in Buddhism, stigmatizing culture and double edged media were seen as suicide-provoking by the young people in Cambodia, who recommended peer-focused, school based program. Paper V. School based Life Skills Intervention overall benefited girls. Boys with high risk behavior had shown improvement on many Life Skills dimensions, as well as in their mental health profile. Conclusion The gender and cultural differences in suicidal expressions and their determinants among teenagers emphasize the importance of culturally sensitive and gender-specific suicide prevention programs. The influence of religion and media ought to be considered while planning intervention programs. School-based program may be a window of opportunity to promote mental health and prevent suicide among young people in Cambodia.

The aim of this study is to investigate the reasons why young people in Mexico useabbreviations, how abbreviations are used and what kind of abbreviations they use amongtheir group of friends. The study is conducted among a small sample of persons between 18 to30 years old and from one sociocultural group.We studied a group of 20 informants. In this group we included young people working as acashiers, warehouse workers, employees in stores, etc. These informants answered a writtenquestionnaire and we also analyzed 40 of their Facebook messages.In summary, it was noticed that the abbreviations were used because it is a fast way to writebecause they save time. According to the informants “It is fun and is easy to use them whenwriting their messages”. We could see that a few informants use them because it is a new wayof writing as well as considering it to be entertaining to write their messages. When analyzingtheir messages, we saw that these informants do not seem to have rules when writing theirabbrevations, they shorten the words in all forms and place them in any part of theirmessages. They often adapt their way of writing to the pronunciation of the words, similar tothe spoken language. Some words had influences from the caliche jargot (a variety ofcolloquial language used among young people in Mexico). The informants in this study areusing all kinds of abbreviations such as abbreviated words, acronyms and shortenings

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This thesis describes an investigation into the type of car crime often referred to as 'joyriding'. Stealing a car for the fun of driving can be carried out quite excessively, and this has led to a number of anecdotal comments that joyriding may be 'addictive'. This has particularly been the case in Northern Ireland, where many joyriders have continued in the behaviour despite the threat or experience of serious paramilitary punishment. However, whilst several studies of car crime have alluded to the suggestion that some joyriders appear to be addicted to the behaviour, research conducted to specifically investigate this phenomenon has been scant. The present study therefore explores this notion further by exploring joyriding within the context of an addiction model. Following 10 pilot interviews with a total of 33 young offenders, the main study consisted of 76 semi-structured interviews conducted with 54 convicted joyriders (aged between 15-21 years), 12 professionals with care and control of joyriders, plus 11 non joyriding young offenders; the sample being drawn from both the Midlands and Northern Ireland. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and a qualitative thematic analysis was undertaken using QSR NUD *IST software. The career of the joyrider is presented in terms of how it maps on to the career pattern of (other) potentially addictive behaviours from initiation through to cessation of the behaviour. Discussion considers how the activity can be understood within the context of a deviant subculture, as well as an investigation of possible dependency to joyriding by some individuals as defined using DSM IV-type criteria. This analysis is followed by a consideration of how notions of `addiction', and 'addiction to joyriding', are perceived by the respondents, and how these notions compare with the 'diagnostic' criteria. Finally, the process of stopping joyriding is discussed within Prochaska and DiClemente's (1984) stages of change model, and related intervention strategies are suggested for the rehabilitation of joyriders at each of the hypothesised stages of change.