Psychology & Sociology
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://eresearch.qmu.ac.uk/handle/20.500.12289/7186
Browse
10 results
Search Results
Item A POST-NORMAL SCIENCE APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING THE REAL ISSUES, CHALLENGES AND CONTEXTS OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE (MSW) MANAGEMENT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES – A CASE STUDY OF ABA-URBAN IN ABIA STATE, NIGERIA.(Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2019) Nwankpa, Stanley OnyeonoziriEffective management of waste is a complex task requiring appropriate technical solutions, sufficient organisational capacity and the collaboration of a wide range of stakeholders. The more advanced, high-income economies and developed nations of the world have evolved their current systems in a series of steps. It is now widely recognised that it is counterproductive for developing countries to use strategies and policies developed for high-income economies. There are no quick fixes. Therefore, it is unrealistic for a developing country to expect to go from uncontrolled dumping of waste to a ‘modern’ state of the art waste management system in one great leap. Rather, the process should be locally sensitive, critical and creative and owned by the community of concern. By adopting this approach, many cities and small towns in other developing countries have recorded considerable progress while the same cannot be said of cities in Nigeria, where there appears to be a lack of understanding and appreciation of the enormity of the challenges posed by MSW. The main aim of this study therefore, is to understand the real issues, challenges and contexts of MSW management in developing countries, using the Nigerian city of Aba as a case study. The study adopted a purely qualitative methodology, and by utilising the approach of Post Normal Science (PNS) and Adaptive Methodology for Ecosystem Sustainability and Health AMESH), particular attention was given to the oral testimonies and lived experiences of the participants drawn from the wider peer community of stakeholders of MSW management in the city. The results provide the first historical review of MSW management in Aba and show that, over the period reviewed; the MSW management processes remained rudimentary, often involving the evacuation of refuse from one point to another. It also shows that currently, indiscriminate dumping, littering and illegal dumping of refuse is common in the city. Further analysis of the data revealed the inadequacies in the national sanitation policy and the current MSW management system implemented by ASEPA – the agency responsible for MSW management in the city. The level of planning and organisation of MSW management activities was found to be shambolic and there were shortages in manpower and availability of equipment needed to effectively collect and dispose waste. The common method of waste disposal was found to be open dumping in dumpsites that were unplanned and unsanitary. Despite these realities, the study found that contrary to the commonly held popular notion that residents of Aba prefer a dirty environment to a clean one, most participants in this study showed a good understanding of the implication of poor MSW management practices on public health, and expressed willingness to pay higher sanitation fees if it will guarantee a cleaner environment. To curb most of the conflicts that currently exist between ASEPA and other stakeholder groups and move towards sustainable MSW management as indicated in the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and millennium development goals (MDGs), the direction of travel of MSW management in the city must change form a modernisation approach of expending scarce public resources on imported sophisticated refuse collection and transportation vehicles, that are unsuitable and does not stand the test of time for various reasons; to adopting a local approach that encourages genuine participation of all relevant stakeholders in the policy decision making, design, implementation and evaluation of the MSW management system. Such approach will help improve the livelihood of informal waste workers who are currently maligned, intimidated and harassed by MSW management authorities.Item MIXED METHODS INVESTIGATION OF DISTRESS RELATED TO PSYCHOSIS EXPERIENCES(Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2019) Akoral, MelissaDistress associated with psychosis experiences has been related to the maintenance of psychosis experiences and people’s need for care. However, the mechanisms responsible for its maintenance remain unclear. Thus, this mixed methods project investigates experiential and psychological vulnerability factors contributing to distress related to psychosis in a clinical sample living in the community. This is done in order to determine whether specific vulnerability factors also act as maintenance factors for people in care. Therefore, these are assumed to be distinct. In the first study, a cross-sectional design (N= 60) was used to investigate the role of specific emotion regulation and metacognitive difficulties in the relationship between insecure attachment dimensions and distress related to psychosis experiences. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine which subscales predicted distress related to psychosis and significant predictors were taken forward to mediation models. Mediation analysis showed that only need for control mediated the relationship between insecure attachment and distress related to positive symptoms. Further, only limited access to emotion regulation strategies mediated the relationship between attachment anxiety and distress associated with both negative symptoms and to depressive symptoms in psychosis. These results expand on previous research by suggesting specific vulnerability factors that are related to distress associated with different symptoms. In the second study, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to analyse 10 in-depth qualitative interviews which explored people’s appraisals of their experiences of psychosis. Four inter-related themes emerged; (1)lacking control, (2)change – renegotiating a personal and social identity, (3)living in fear, and (4)multiple realities. The importance of ‘control’ is highlighted throughout all the themes, as negative appraisals about perceived control underpins experiences. This study demonstrates the importance of people’s appraisals to how they make meaning of and respond to psychosis experiences. Together, these studies emphasise that distress relates to psychosis experiences as a whole rather than specific symptoms. The two studies were integrated and interpreted using a joint display method. People’s perceived lack of control and unhelpful interpersonal relationships were found to contribute to the maintenance of distress related to psychosis experiences. Implications of these findings are discussed. Keywords: Psychosis, distress related to psychosis, emotion regulation, metacognition, attachment theory, mixed methodsItem Psychosocial adjustment, experiences and views of fathers of sons with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy(Queen Margaret University, 2010-09) Cunniff, Anna LouiseBackground Although Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is acknowledged to have an impact on families as a whole, few studies have investigated psychosocial aspects. Investigation of fathers in paediatric psychology literature is also neglected, and available DMD studies focus on maternal adjustment. This study addresses calls for both, research within the area of DMD and inclusion of fathers. Aims The overall aim was to investigate psychosocial adjustment, and experiences, of fathers of sons with DMD by studying associations between paternal adjustment and: • boys’ functioning (physical and psychological) • perceived paternal involvement in condition management • perception of support • fathers’ experiences of parenting a son with DMD Methods A mixed methods approach, incorporating questionnaires evaluating level of boys’ functional ability (Functional Disability Inventory) and psychiatric adjustment (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire); paternal involvement in condition management (Dads Active Disease Support Scale); paternal ratings of satisfaction, and paternal adjustment (General Health Questionnaire), was used. In-depth 2 interviews were also undertaken, and written accounts of experiences and views recorded. Results 50 fathers completed questionnaires and 48 provided written accounts, with a cohort of 15 participating in interviews. Paternal adjustment was comparable to that of mothers, as noted in previous studies, with 38% above cut off for risk of psychological problems. Predictors of paternal adjustment were boys’ psychosocial adjustment, perceived amount of involvement in condition management and perceived support from friends. Themes emerging from the qualitative strand were 1) loss and acceptance; 2) support versus isolation; 3) the fight for resources and 4) race against time. Conclusion Findings emphasise the need for bio-psychosocial interventions, acknowledging fathers’ needs, role, and involvement in their child’s condition. Alongside consideration of the family, the psychosocial impact for fathers should be acknowledged as being equally important to dealing with physical issues surrounding DMD. Professional awareness is needed of the emotional implications, and issues fathers face.Item Adult attachment, anger regulation and aggression: individual differences in the experience and expression of anger(Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2016) Brodie, ZaraAttachment theory has increasingly been applied to the understanding of individual differences in emotion regulation, however application of the attachment framework to anger is underspecified. The present thesis describes three studies reporting relationships between attachment insecurity and anger expression, taking into account attachment-related differences in anger regulation. Using multiple regression analyses, the results of Study 1a indicated that attachment anxiety was a significant independent predictor of trait anger, while attachment avoidance and self-esteem were not. Study 1b extended these findings by examining whether the use of specific anger regulation strategies mediated the relationship between attachment insecurity and dispositional aggression (physical aggression, verbal aggression and hostility). Attachment anxiety was indirectly related to physical aggression and hostility, through the use of maladaptive regulation techniques and a lack of anger control; while attachment avoidance had an indirect relationship with hostility through anger suppression. Study 2 utilised an anger induction procedure to investigate the relationship between attachment insecurity, self-reported and physiological responses, and subsequent aggressive behaviour. Neither attachment dimension was significantly associated with physiological reactivity to the anger induction, however attachment avoidance was negatively associated with changes in self-reported anger. Attachment avoidance was once again a significant predictor of anger suppression, while attachment anxiety significantly predicted variance in aggression. Overall, the findings indicate that attachment anxiety is a predictor of dispositional anger and aggression, whilst attachment avoidance predicts the use of suppression to regulate anger, reduced self-reported anger responsivity and increased hostility. Implications for both theory and practice are discussed with suggestions for attachment and emotion regulation-based anger management interventions.Item Women's experiences of domestic abuse and alcohol: same hell, different devils(Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2016) Young, JulieResearch into domestic abuse and alcohol use has been dominated by a focus on associations between male perpetrator's drinking and physical violence, neglecting issues of power and control. Minimal space has been given to enabling women's voices to be heard. This study explored the duality of domestic abuse and alcohol use, by not only focusing on alcohol use defined as problematic, but by examining its role in the everyday lives of abused women, and how their experiences were shaped by a gender differentiated society. It was therefore critical to study women's alcohol use as potentially normal, pleasurable, a constructive and autonomous response to their lives as they balanced multiple risks against each other. A Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) approach deployed the visual method of Photovoice with seven women survivors of domestic abuse in Scotland. Participant generated photographs were used to facilitate dialogue across multiple group sessions. Views of ten stakeholders, working in related fields, were also collected by semi-structured interviews. Combining Johnson's (2008) typology of domestic violence with Stark's (2007) framework of coercive control, created a feminist lens through which a nuanced understanding of the complexity of domestic abuse could be revealed. This enabled new insights in relation to not only how women understood, managed and negotiated the use of alcohol within this intimate context, but how gendered societal discourses intersected with those experiences. Telling a different story of domestic abuse and alcohol, one that moves away from the violence paradigm, revealed a new perspective that uncovered the complex and often contradictory discourses which women must negotiate in their roles as women, partners and mothers in the context of domestic abuse. These discourses were found to contribute to women's entrapment, owing to their invisibility and general acceptance as the 'wallpaper' that constitutes the backdrop to women's lives.Item The contribution of the central executive to visuo-spatial bootstrapping in younger adults, older adults and patients with mild cognitive impairment.(Queen MArgaret University, Edinburgh, 2016) Calia, ClaraBackground. Recent studies on verbal immediate serial recall (Darling & Havelka, 2010; Darling et al., 2012, 2014; Allen et al., 2015) show evidence of the integration of information from verbal and visuo-spatial short term memory with long-term memory representations. This so-called 'visuo-spatial bootstrapping‘ (VSB) pattern, in which verbal serial recall is improved when the information is arranged in a familiar spatially distributed pattern, such as a telephone keypad, is consistent with the existence within working memory of an episodic buffer. Objective. The general purpose was to investigate the structure of working memory, and in particular the relationship between verbal and visuo-spatial working memory. Specifically, this thesis aimed to determine the contribution of the central executive and the implications of the VSB paradigm in younger and older adults and patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Materials and Methods. The first study explored the role of the central executive. The VSB task with digit sequences, visually presented both in single and in a typical keypad display, was administered under conditions of verbal and central executive load. In the second study VSB was investigated in older and younger adults using three conditions: single digit display, typical and random keypad. In the third study, examining performance in VSB in a typical elderly sample compared with people with MCI. Each participant was assessed with a neuropsychological battery of tests and the VSB task composed by single digit and typical keypad display. Results and Conclusion. Central executive load demonstrated to have a negative effect on digit recall performance without affecting the bootstrapping effect. VSB does not need to recruit executive resources. No difference was observed in the bootstrapping pattern as a consequence of age and cognitive difficulties and the beneficial impact of additional visual information was comparable for MCI, older and younger participants.Item Living with limb loss: individuals' and prosthetists' perceptions of amputation, prosthesis use and rehabilita(Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2014-04) Uytman, Clare LouiseLoss of limb through amputation presents a significant, life changing, circumstance for individuals. The prosthetist as the gate keeper to the health-care system and the facilitator of rehabilitation is essential to positive adjustment post-amputation. As yet, however, commonalities and differences in the understandings of each of these parties of the experience of limb loss, prosthesis use and rehabilitation remain unexamined. This comparison provides the focus for this study. Fifteen individuals post amputation and 13 prosthetists were interviewed on their perceptions of limb loss and prosthesis use. Semi structured interviews were conducted, face to face, via telephone or via email. Data were audio-recorded and transcribed as necessary and thereafter analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) in order to gain an understanding of the subjective experiences of individuals with limb loss and of prosthetists of the post-amputation process. Analysis of the data led to identification of four key themes, namely Personal Identity, Social Identity, The Prosthesis and Communication. These themes were relevant for both groups. The meanings that they held for the two groups, however, differed in relation to key elements of the post-amputation experience. Both groups have a shared interest in the process of prosthetic limb fitting and rehabilitation and yet come from very differing perspectives. The fitting and use of a prosthetic device is not a simple, technical process but rather involves a combination of psychological, social and practical components all of which must be recognized in the rehabilitation process. The differing expectations and understandings held by both groups become especially evident in interactions between individuals with limb loss and prosthetists. Communications between members of these groups can provide a central point for addressing differences in their understandings of living with limb loss and might provide a focus for further developments in research and practice.Item Materialism as Morality in the ANWR Oil Drilling Debate: A Critical Investigation into the Reification of Science, the Marginalization of Values, and the Power of Discourse within Environmental Conflict(Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2014) Moyer, JessicaModern science is well established as the institution through which knowledge is legitimated, facts are produced, and credibility is assigned. Operating within the prevailing capitalist socio-political order, science is also controlled by the wealthy elite, whose resources are required for its production, evaluation, and implementation. Beyond disproportionately serving powerful interests, however, science enables the most privileged groups within society to embolden certain understandings of the world and marginalize others, to shape public perceptions, behaviors, and norms, and thus to reinforce the existing social systems and institutions that support their own dominance. Building on critical scholarship that addresses inequality by problematizing the structures and practices that reproduce power, this thesis examines the prominent and politically opposed positions of the oil industry and mainstream environmentalists in the U.S. policy debate over whether to permit petroleum development in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Specifically, through Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), I explore how these two 'mid-stream' scientific actors, which have effectively appropriated the wider 'for' and 'against' drilling campaigns respectively, each engage with the generation as well as dissemination of technical knowledge in order to substantiate their arguments and enhance the authority of their claims. The analysis presented here demonstrates that the hegemonic framing of the ANWR conflict, which I describe in terms of Materialism as Morality, reifies scientific expertise whilst burying values beneath assumptions of objectivity and neutrality. It also allows incongruent truth claims to eclipse the many legitimate but competing perspectives, priorities, investments, ideologies, risks, and ethical dilemmas that lie at the heart of the ANWR drilling debate. Moreover, this framing is implicit in the perpetuation of systemic social and environmental injustice. Ultimately, my research argues for a transformative politics that engages all stakeholders in the negotiation of competing interests, the discussion of social values, and the production of scientific knowledge; and above all, which recognizes the interconnectivity of all three.Item Challenges and opportunities: adjustment to life post transplant for adults with cystic fibrosis and the impact on their professional support needs.(Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2013) Cochrane, SamanthaLung transplant can improve both quality and quantity of life for a person with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) at end stage respiratory disease. However, life post transplant can be challenging both medically and psychologically due to the need to adjust to a significantly changed health status, as well as understand and manage the side effects and medical complications of transplant. This study questioned, whether from a service perspective, the support needs of adults with CF changes with transplant and how a specialist CF centre should accommodate this. In order to do this, a more detailed understanding of the experiences of a post transplant group was sought utilising qualitative methodology. Eleven participants or sixty-five percent of adults with CF post transplant who attend one of Scotland's largest specialist CF centres participated in semi-structured interviews. Framework analysis was chosen as the method of analysis due to its relevance in a health care setting. A framework was generated consisting of four broad areas of post transplant adjustment: Recovering; Adjusting and realising; Redefining and pursuing and; Managing the issues of post transplant life. Each area has activities and key factors which provide more information about post transplant adjustment life as well as factors that may account for individual differences. In general, and in the absence of medical complications, participants adjusted to transplant with the support of partners, families and local CF and transplant services. They did not indicate the need for dedicated post transplant services in their local CF centre, but found communications between service providers to be inefficient. When faced with medical complications especially rejection, participants reported needing more psychosocial support. Recommendations include an increased awareness of the processes of psychosocial adjustment post transplant for health professionals, psychological intervention at times of crisis and more efficient communication between transplant and local CF services.Item A study of a home exercise programme for community dwelling people with late stage stroke(Queen Margaret University, 2011) Baer, GillBACKGROUND Many people living with chronic stroke are not involved in any form of ongoing rehabilitation, despite having ongoing impairments and limitations in activity and participation. The approach to structuring practice of functional tasks, as part of ongoing rehabilitation, can incorporate diverse techniques. Current texts advocate that physiotherapists construct stroke rehabilitation programmes that incorporate Motor Learning principles, however the evidence to support this is limited. No evidence related to stroke exists as to whether functional tasks should be practised in their entirety (whole practice) or in component parts (part practice). The primary aim of the work reported in this thesis was to investigate the effects of a home exercise programme based on Motor Learning principles of part practice (PP) or whole practice (WP) of selected functional tasks for people at least six months after a stroke. METHODOLOGY A single blind, randomised controlled trial was undertaken, with participants allocated to either a part practice experimental group (PP), a whole practice experimental group (WP) or a control (Con) group. Both experimental groups followed a four week exercise intervention programme of functional tasks based on PP or WP. Outcome measures were undertaken at baseline, at the end of a four week intervention (wk 4), at short-term follow-up (wk 4.5) and at long-term follow-up (wk 16). Outcome measures utilised were the Barthel Index (BI), Motor Assessment Scale (MAS), Timed Up and Go over 2 metres (TUG2m), Step Test, Frenchay Arm Test (FAT), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Frenchay Activities Index (FAI)and the Stroke Impact Scale (SIS). Differences between the groups at each measurement point were examined using a Kruskal Wallis test. Differences within each group over time were analysed using a Friedman's Anova, followed up by a Wilcoxon's Signed Ranks test using a Bonferroni correction where a significant difference was found. RESULTS Sixty four people with late-stage stroke were recruited and provided informed consent. Data were available for analysis for 60 participants (median time since stroke 21 months). No statistically significant differences were found between the three groups at any point for any of the dependent outcome variables. A number of statistically significant within group changes were found in all groups. Most statistically significant changes were demonstrated by PP including on the BI from baseline to wk 4.5; on the MAS from baseline to weeks 4, 4.5 and 16; on the Step Test from baseline to weeks 4, 4.5 and 16 and on the FAT from baseline to week 4. On more global measures the PP group reported statistically significant improvements on the SIS in the domains of strength, mood and mobility from baseline to wk 4; and in the SIS participation domain from baseline to wk 16; as well as a statistically significant within group improvements on FAI from baseline to wk 4. CONCLUSIONS People with late-stage stroke demonstrated capacity for improvements in a number of measures of impairment, activity, participation and mood. The PP group demonstrated improvements, over time, in more of the outcome measures relating to physical ability than either WP or Con groups. Implications for clinical practice and further research are discussed.