Objectives: There is evidence that childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with increased risk of offending and violent crime. This study aimed to explore associations between TBI in a group of delinquent and vulnerable young people (VYP) at risk of offending, and facial emotion recognition (FER) abilities, inhibition control (Stop-IT) and self-reported reactive-proactive aggression (RPQ). Methods: There were two studies. The first study used a cross sectional between group design to compare 45 VYP (with and without TBI) and a control group of 59 students on FER task measuring emotion recognition accuracy of six basic emotions. The second study examined differences between TBI and non-TBI groups in the VYP sample (N=21) on a Stop-IT task, FER accuracy and self-reported reactive-proactive aggression. Results: A history of TBI was reported by 60% of the VYP group (48.9% with loss of consciousness [LoC]), whereas 30% of the control group reported a history of TBI (25.4% with LoC). The VYP group (with and without TBI) demonstrated a similar pattern of reduced overall FER accuracy that was significantly different to the control group. Compared to the control group, The VYP groups (with and without TBI) were less accurate on recognising anger, disgust, sadness and surprise, but not happy and fear. There were no significant differences between the TBI- and non-TBI groups. The second study did not find any significant differences between the TBI and non-TBI groups on overall FER accuracy, Stop-IT performance, and RPQ scores. There were also no significant associations between these measures. Conclusions: Future research requires larger samples that enable investigating the association between different severity of TBI, FER and inhibition control ability. Better and more youth-friendly measures are also needed.

This research aims to establish a new way of understanding the ‘problem’ of children and young people’s participation. The problem is that the reality of participation has not lived up to its theoretical promise of enabling children and young people to meaningfully shape their environment on their own terms. With a reflexive approach, the research reformulates the relationship between the theory and reality of children and young people’s participation through investigating two case studies of participation projects in museums and galleries in the UK. In the literature review the problem of participation is situated within the policy, organisational and personal contexts; at each level of context, it is argued that there are fundamental, intractable reasons why the promise of participation cannot be realised in practice. In the case studies participation in practice is investigated in an in-depth way from a range of perspectives, focusing on the framing, practice and experience of the projects through discourse analysis of project documentation, observation of the projects in practice, and interviews with the participants. In the case studies the theoretical contradictions of participation emerge in practice; while the organisations attempt to enable the participants to engage with the project on their own terms, the top-down organisation of the project mean that controls over the participants are unintentionally created. The participants engaged with and experienced the projects in different ways and types of participants were identified in terms of how the projects were navigated. It was found that all participants were able to draw a positive experience from the projects even though there were problematic aspects. In response to the intractable problems of participation, in conclusion it is suggested that ‘spaciousness’ may be a more useful concept, focusing on enabling young people to make sense of their ambivalent experience in organisations in their own way.

National prevalence surveys indicate that lifetime and recreational drug use among all social classes have increased steadily over the last decade in Ireland (Moran et al., 2001a, Mayock, 2002, National Advisory Committee on Drugs, 2008a). Drugs research has been traditionally based on the identification, weighting and interrelatedness of risk and protective factors within a "risk prevention paradigm". This paradigm has been criticised for its lack of inclusion of individual, group and wider structural aspects, and occurs within a greater awareness of greater social discourse and societal shifts. The research papers in this portfolio of work are thematically analysed and conceptualised within the theoretical framework of cognitive and structural social capital. The descriptive research and later, more conceptual papers investigating drug use among rural youth, Travellers and cocaine use, are thereby explored in terms of the potential ‘normalisation of rural youth drug use’ within contemporary risk discourse, the assimilatory threat of increasing drug use among the ‘Traveller community’., and the emergence of the ‘recreational cocaine user’ in Irish society. The social processes of individualisation, reciprocity and trust which constitute social capital are deemed to provide potent collective frameworks for the navigation of risk in day to day ‘localised’ settings. The ‘interrelated normative frameworks’ and ‘processes of risk neutralisation’ are underpinned within a wider social capital understanding of the meaning of drug activity in associational life based on ‘interpersonal and institutional trust’ and ‘mutual resource acquisition’. Contemporary drug policies must consider the contextual constraints of the ‘risk society’, which impact on inherent individual ‘power resources’, whereby individual agency and drug taking is better understood within situational agency of ‘localised’ social, gender, ethnic and cultural capital.

No description available.

This research presents the first empirical study of music provision in Scottish prisons and explores the potential benefits of music engagement for prisoners, with a focus on young offenders’ experience. The scope of the study begins with an investigation into music provision in prisons throughout Scotland by means of a small-scale survey. This survey showed that despite a lack of documentation, music is currently present in Scottish prisons and has been previously, albeit intermittently. Music provision included a range of activity: learning how to play musical instruments, singing, music theory, song-writing and composition. Subsequently, two music intervention studies were conducted with young offenders at HM Young Offenders Institution Polmont. The first study was a ten-week project with three participant groups: a music group, an art group and a control group. Pre- and post-interviews and measures were used to assess participants’ self-esteem, self-control, behaviour, literacy skills and engagement with education. Numerous difficulties were identified with conducting such research in a prison environment, including the recruitment process and using standard assessment measures. However, results from the small number of men involved showed!an increase in engagement with education for all three groups during the project and a steady continued increase in education engagement for the music group after the project ended. Additionally, the music and art groups showed a small increase in mean scores for self-esteem, positive emotions reported and self-control. The second study examined two music interventions with young offenders as part of the year-long Inspiring Change pilot project. This study used interviews and session review forms with education staff and arts practitioners to document the process of the organisations involved in the planning and implementation of the projects. Focus groups with young offenders were carried out to gather their opinions of the programmes. Participants expressed that they especially appreciated the high level of professionalism of the arts practitioners, working as a group, and being recognised as making an individual contribution towards a final project. In addition to the survey and intervention studies, a Knowledge Exchange workshop was designed for music tutors in Scottish prisons to meet, learn about research on music in prisons, and exchange ideas for best practice. A workbook and afternoon workshop format was investigated in terms of its effectiveness and was found to be beneficial for music tutors in learning more about the research and practice of teaching music in prisons. This thesis contributes to the developing research on the benefits of music provision for prisoners and provides a baseline of music provision in Scottish prisons for further study.

Previous research has shown an increased use of IT amongst young people. This has made it problematic for parents to set boundaries for their children's use of IT. The aim for this study was to create a deeper understanding of how parents relate to boundaries of IT, and how they monitor their children's use of it. This study was a qualitative study through semi-structured interviews to enable to capture the parents' experiences. The results showed that parents have boundaries but that there is a gap between the occurrence of boundaries and causes for boundaries. The study showed that parents monitor their children's use of IT but it is unclear whether the methods they use actually give them sufficient insight and knowledge regarding their children use of IT.

The work of the collective research in this thesis is to provide concise insights about the inputs that are responsible for the process by which young adults develop civic competence and how this translates into active participation among young adults in the political process over time. Research for this thesis explores how key concepts of socialization, task generalization, shifts in young adult voting trends between 1972-2008, the role of social research statistics, and political theory informs the role of socialization in the development of civic competence in young adult voters. This thesis also explores critical social contexts, direct and indirect influence of family units, how critical moments in the academic careers of young adults take effect in college and ultimately young adulthood, what shifts in voting trends further indicate, and lastly the role that social media plays in the modern landscape of young adults becoming politically active and in a larger effort to assess core features of the young adult involvement in the political process following the passage of the 26th Amendment based on scholarly research in the aforementioned areas and relevant national studies. By all cited statistics, with the exception of the 2008 presidential election, voting among young adults since 1972 has fallen precipitously. Contrary to traditional beliefs, which suggest that young adults are disengaged with the political process, key research findings indicate a shift in the means by which young adults engage in the political process. For example, at an increasing rate since 1972 young adults seek demonstrate their participation in the political process through hands on mechanisms such as volunteerism. Secondly, given the advent of Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and other social networks, young adults have largely transitioned the ways that they gather information about the political process from traditional means, such as newspapers, televised news broadcasts to social networks. Personal suggestions for increasing rates of young adult participation in the political process include a critical need for civic education curriculum in schooling systems that present contextual lessons on civic duty and how individual participation fits in the political process. Ultimately, the aim of this research is twofold: (1) to explain what are the key drivers of young adult participation in the political process, and (2) to shed light on the role young adults have in reshaping the political process for current and future generations.

Previous research has consistently demonstrated the “inter-generational transmission of divorce.” In comparison to the patterns seen in families with continuously married parents, young adults who experienced their parents’ divorce during childhood are more likely to consider leaving their own romantic partners, including spouses, when medium to low levels of satisfaction are felt. To contextualize under what circumstances and how young adults may be influenced by their perceptions of these family-of-origin dynamics, the present study explored young women’s narratives about their parents’ romantic relationships and another observable romantic relationship in their environment. These narratives included a general description of the romantic relationships, and queried perceptions of efforts invested by the parents in their relationship. Young women were also asked to clarify their expectations regarding how much effort is appropriate in romantic relationships. Twenty-two young women were interviewed and their narratives were analyzed using Charmaz (2006)’s grounded theory approach. Participants were active agents in the creation of meaning about their parents’ romantic relationship and their parents’ divorce. Their narratives were complex, sometimes paradoxical, and suggested participants understood some of the dynamics in their parents’ romantic relationships. The themes, which emerged from the perceptions of their parents’ romantic relationships, their parents’ mistakes and what they felt they have learned from witnessing their parents’ romantic relationships, provided several avenues of interest for future research and clinical practice. / Graduate / 0621 / 0620 / 0451

Bakgrund: Antalet kvinnor som diagnostiseras med bröstcancer uppgår till cirka 9000 per år. Av dessa är endast 4 % under 40 år. Flertalet tidigare studier fokuserar på kvinnor äldre än 40 år. Livet förändras på flera plan för kvinnorna i och med en bröstcancerdiagnos. Behovet av stöd upplevs som stort. Syfte: Studiens syfte är att beskriva unga kvinnors upplevelser av att leva med bröstcancer. Metod: Studien har utförts med en kvalitativ ansats med ett patientperspektiv. Analys av narrativer, i form av bloggar, har använts som analysmetod. Data består av sju bloggar publicerade på internet. Resultat: De huvudteman som framkom var; Ett liv i förändring, en kropp i förändring samt möten med sjukvården. Vidare har dessa uppdelats i underteman. Slutsats: Upplevelsen av att leva med bröstcancer är högst individuell. Dock kan vissa huvudområden urskiljas som är gemensamma för kvinnorna. Studien ger en inblick i vad unga kvinnor med bröstcancer upplever i det vardagliga livet. Genom fördjupad förståelse för individens upplevelse kan sjukvården utarbeta strategier för att möta och stödja de individuella behov som patienten ger uttryck för. / Background: 9000 women is diagnosed with breast cancer every year. Only 4 % are 40 years and younger. Previous research is focused on women older than 40 years. Lifechanges can be seen in many levels when women is diagnosed with breast cancer. The need for support is experienced as great. Purpose: The aim of this study is to describe young women’s experiences of living with breast cancer. Method: This study has a qualitative approach and a patient’s perspective. Analysis of narratives, in form of blogs, is used as analytic method. Data consists of seven blogs published online. Result: The main themes that emerged was; A life in change, a body in change and meetings with the health care. Further, these were divided into sub-topics. Conclusion: The experience of living with breast cancer is highly individual. However, some main areas can be identified as common to the women. The study provides insight into what young women with breast cancer experience in everyday life. Through in-depht understandning of the individual’s experience, healthcare can develop strategies to meet and support the individual needs expressed by the patient.

The young child’s experiences of living with cancer are crucial to providing evidence based care. The overall aim of this thesis was to explore and describe experiences of health and functioning in the everyday life of young children with cancer, over a three year period from diagnosis, to provide insights and suggestions to improve evidence based care. The first and second papers in the series of four for this thesis used a qualitative content analysis to describe the child’s experiences shortly after diagnosis and six and 12 months later. The third paper used mixed methods to identify a comprehensive set of ICF-CY codes describing everyday health and functioning in the life of the young child with cancer. The fourth paper used the identified comprehensive set of ICF-CY codes to follow changes in everyday health and functioning over the study’s entire three year period from diagnosis. Entry into the health-illness transition was characterised by trauma and isolation. Health and functioning in everyday life was utterly changed and physical difficulties were at their peak. The passage through transition was characterised by an active striving on the part of the child to make a normal everyday life of the cancer experience. Difficulties affecting health and functioning in everyday life decreased and changed during the trajectory, though feelings of loneliness prevailed. A new period of stability in the child’s post treatment life was seen from two years after diagnosis and onwards, with (re)-entry to preschool/school and other social activities. However, an increase in difficulties with personal interactions with others and access to, and support from healthcare professionals was seen. Variances were seen within individual children’s’ trajectories. In summary it can be stated that the everyday life of young children with cancer changes over time and health care services are not always in phase with these changes. Young children living with cancer want to be participatory in their care and to have access to their parents as protectors. They need access to and ongoing contact with peers and preschool. Although physical difficulties in living an everyday life with cancer reduce over time, new difficulties emerge as the child post cancer treatment re-enters society. A structured follow-up throughout the cancer trajectory and not just during active treatment is necessary. A child-centered philosophy of care would guide the child towards attainment of health and well-being. Both the child’s own perspective and a child’s perspective as described by adults caring for them should be seen on a continuum, rather than as opposites. This view could help ensure that young children become visible and are listened to as valuable contributors to care planning. Knowledge of health-illness transition can be useful in illustrating everyday health and functioning through long term illness trajectories.