Blurred Lines Between Role and Reality: A Phenomenological Study of Acting

When an actor plays a character in a film, they try to connect with the emotions and behavioral patterns of the scripted character. There is an absence of literature regarding how a role influences an actor’s life before, during, and after film production. This study examined how acting roles might influence an actor during times on set shooting a movie or television series as well as their personal life after the filming is finished. Additionally the study considered the psychological impact of embodying a role, and whether or not an actor ever has the feeling that the performed character has independent agency over the actor. Blurred lines between a fictitious acting role, character embodiment, and an actor’s on and off-screen realities were explored during this investigation. Blurred lines were examined using a phenomenological paradigm, which encompassed interviews with six Screen Actors Guild (SAG) members about their own personal experiences living within a character. The outcome of this research suggested that actors are often emotionally and behaviorally influenced by roles affecting their daily lives and occasionally their romantic relationships. The participants also reported having experienced the effects of the illusion of a character’s independent agency while playing particular roles. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA, http://aura.antioch.edu/ and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu/

A Narrative Inquiry Exploring How College Communication Professors Engage Students With Public Speaking Apprehensions

The purpose of this qualitative study was to discover how communication professors at four-year private universities help students who exhibit public speaking apprehension (PSA) learn to cope with their anxiety. The research was framed in the narrative inquiry paradigm, interviewing eight college communication professors about their experiences working with public speaking students. Each of the eight professors worked at private universities in a large southwest metropolitan city. The researcher attempted to gather critical incidents that shed light on valuable learning experiences that could be useful to professors looking for ways to help reduce their students\u27 PSA. The researcher found three common themes embedded in the interviews: (a) meeting with students individually and establishing relationships with them; (b) building community and trust in the classroom; and (c) placing less emphasis on grades. Each of the common themes contributed in one way or another to the critical incident that shaped the professor\u27s teaching perspective. Although the purposeful sample was limited in size it revealed that Communication Orientation Motivation (COM) Therapy and systematic desensitization can both be useful treatment techniques for students willing to improve their public speaking ability. Findings revealed that professors were able to change an apprehensive student\u27s perspective by focusing on public speaking as a communicative effort rather than a performance. The study offers recommendations for professors engaged with students at all levels of education in addressing this issue

The Lived Experiences of Student Nurses During Simulation of Perinatal Loss

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the experiences and perceptions of undergraduate nursing students in providing care following a perinatal loss simulation. The theories that guided this study included Malcolm Knowles’ Theory of Andragogy and the National League for Nursing Jeffries Simulation. The selected theories provide structure for adult learners’ need to experience situational learning activities that are relevant to their job while building upon the foundation of students’ knowledge. Incorporation of Knowles’ and Jeffries’ theories guides the qualitative study of the simulation of a perinatal loss and the experiences of nursing students in providing care during difficult situations involving death. Perinatal loss is defined as any unintentional loss, from conception to the first 28 days of life, encompassing miscarriage, therapeutic abortion for fetal abnormalities, stillbirths, or neonatal death. The central study question is: What are the experiences of perinatal loss and the impact of the experience on undergraduate student nurses? The data were collected in the university simulation lab and consisted of a three-participant group simulation with a standardized patient who had experienced a perinatal loss. Participants were juniors and seniors enrolled in or had completed their maternal-child health rotation. Audio-recorded interviews were conducted to understand the experiences of the 13 selected participants. The interviews were analyzed through computer software to code, annotate, and identify the emerging themes. Findings revealed a lack of death education, especially perinatal loss. Participants expressed a need for increased training to improve communication skills, human interaction, and confidence. Further research is recommended across the healthcare continuum

Sports Training System for Situational Judgment Improvement by Reliving First Person Viewpoint

Part 4: EducationInternational audienceSituational judgment in a ballgame is said to be more difficult to obtain than skills such as basic passing and shooting. However, by displaying the images seen by a player from a first person viewpoint, it is possible to have a user perform the actual sports action performed by the player and experience the same feeling. We developed a situational judgment training system for this purpose. In this research, we particularly aim to improve the user’s situational judgment ability and focus on learning situations in ballgames in which the user does not know how to move to get the ball. The results of evaluation experiments conducted with six subjects indicate that the gameplay of users improved such that they were consciously able to move and get the ball better than they had before using the system

An exploratory study of the relationship between the physical environment of schools and pupil behaviour.

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:DX185711 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

The relationship between forgiveness, imagined interactions, empathy and relational satisfaction among long-distance romantic couples

Forgiveness is viewed as a major factor in maintaining healthy romantic relationships. But couples involved in long-distance relationships experience a different set of challenges than geographically-close couples when it comes to maintaining and enjoying satisfying and stable relationships. Many long-distance couples rely on increased empathy and intrapersonal communication – in the form of imagined interactions – to release tension, rehearse conversations, and review and analyze conflicts. While forgiveness has been studied extensively in a variety of interpersonal settings, it has not been explicitly studied in relation to the usage of imagined interactions or in maintaining long-distance relationships. Moreover, even though a correlation between empathy and forgiveness has long been established, the interplay between these two constructs and intrapersonal communication and relational satisfaction has not been explored. The overarching goal of this study is to bridge the theoretical and conceptual gaps between forgiveness theory, empathy, imagined interactions (Symbolic Interactionism/schema, script or cognitive theory), relational satisfaction and relational maintenance strategies (Dialectical Theory). This study sampled participants in either a long-distance or geographically close romantic relationship (n=181). Although proximity did not discriminate for forgiveness, imagined interactions (IIs), empathy, conflict management as a relational maintenance strategy or relational satisfaction, use of IIs did significantly predict forgiveness and relational satisfaction. Additionally, forgiveness and use of imagined interactions together significantly predicted relational satisfaction. Finally, IIs were shown to be positively correlated with empathy, a significant finding considering the lack of research into that area of the otherwise well developed field of IIs

The psychosocial impact of online problem gambling

Ever since the National Lottery was introduced in 1994, there has been an increased prevalence of gambling in the UK. Technological innovation in this time has led to new ways in which people can gamble worldwide (e.g., internet gambling, mobile phone gambling and interactive television gambling), and increased accessibility to opportunities to gamble worldwide. The fastest growing form of gambling is internet gambling, however, little is understood in relation to the characteristics of internet gamblers, the psychosocial impact of internet gambling (e.g. problem gambling) and implications for public social policy. The overall aims of this thesis were to establish (i) what makes internet gambling potentially addictive, (ii) how is internet gambling located, accessed, and utilised by players, and (iii) what the salient structural and situational characteristics of internet gambling are and how these impacted (psychologically and socially) on peoples‘ lives. These aims were addressed through three stages of linked research utilising a multi-method design including a literature-based scoping study, in-depth interviews (n=40), and a comprehensive online survey (n=975) in order to triangulate the data to examine the psychosocial impact and potential addictiveness of internet gambling

Self-balancing sanctuarying : a grounded theory of relaxation and autogenic training

The purpose of this study was to discover how relaxation in general works, and how components of Autogenic Training (AT) (Luthe and Schultz, 2001), a relaxation therapy, may be working together and separately in an anxiolytic process. A corollary purpose was to develop recommendations for clinical practice. Data consisted of personally and historically collected interviews (n=46) and diaries (n=34). Participants with less than moderate anxiety volunteered from the community at large; and, participants with moderate to severe anxiety were drawn from the Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine’s AT Department and British Autogenic Society therapist’s client lists. A classical Glaserian grounded theory analysis methodology was used to determine participants’ main concern (self-balancing) and the way they continually resolved this concern (sanctuarying). The theory of relaxation as a self-balancing sanctuarying process emerged from analysis of what 21 people from the community at large say they do to relax in everyday life. The activities they choose for sanctuarying are self-emergent, and their continuing use is contingent upon managing hindrances and integrating feedback to the process so that the benefits of doing the activity are maximized. Three switching strategies, distracting and blocking, managing and controlling, and letting go and allowing, are central. Benefits which are not consciously or analytically generated are: restoring, refreshing and re-energizing me; maintaining and building me; and growing and developing me. Maintaining and building me are characterized by integrating and strengthening the core self and connecting to the community; growing and developing me is characterized by expanding self-discovery. The theory of self-balancing sanctuarying was used on an emergent fit basis to analyse 25 interviews and 34 diaries gathered from people with symptoms of moderate to severe anxiety whilst learning to practice Autogenic Training. This analysis broadened and deepened the grounded theory. This thesis contributes to knowledge in many areas. It is the first classical grounded theory of relaxation and of Autogenic Training, theoretically situating and/or challenging extant descriptive and conceptual models of both relaxation and AT. It supports the clinically functional equivalence of certain forms of relaxation and supports Teasdale and Barnard’s (1995) Interacting Cognitive Subsystems Model. It supports and challenges certain aspects of core affect theory, of the cognitive appraisal theory of emotions, and of Fredrickson’s (2001, 2003) broaden and build theory of positive emotions. It adds a grounded perspective to the spiritual well-being debate, bringing new knowledge to it. It adds new data to the field of the phenomenology of hypnagogic images. It discusses the implication of Self-balancing Sanctuarying for training of AT therapists and for their clinical practice with anxious clients