Lithuanian national image in british press

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the British press shapes the image of Lithuania. To achieve the result certain questions were raised: how often is Lithuania mentioned in the selected newspapers; what are the major topics/coverage that mention Lithuania; what is the role of Lithuania in those topics; what attitude is being formed towards Lithuania in those topics; what means are used in the image formation. Two major British newspapers The Times and The Guardian were taken for the analysis of the articles. For the research all articles between the period of the 1st January to the 31st December 2008 were used. The methods of content analysis were mostly applied though the comparison of different newspapers was also selected. The paper is divided into two main parts. The first part is used to present the general views on the media, theoretical approach, main research on national image that is formed by the media. The second part reveals the means of how and the reasons why certain sources for the reaseach were selected: the selection of the media, newspapers, articles and periods; defining the variables and formation of the code (coding schemata); gathering of information; data analysis; concluding remarks. The conclusion that was arrived is as follows. Both newspapers presented Lithuania in slightly different ways. The Times had less articles about Lithuania and the country was presented in a quite narrow context (home news) as one of the East European countries, while The Guardian had more articles in which the country was pictured in a more broad context (international events) with more topics to cover (culture, economics) and being part of the western bloc. It was also concluded that Lithuania is mostly presented through the international politics and sport context, while the articles about the crime were quite minor and repetitive of same story. Finally, the tendence of uncertainty is felt. While politically, Lithuania is quite assertive, culturally, the country is still seeking for its identity, therefore, that is felt in most stories about cultural events and that might be one of the reasons why this uncertainty is felt in the press, i.e. the tendency of not having strong opinion or having a contradictory views is present

The significance of elderly people‘s attitude towards the aging and psychological resilience to their quality of life

Tikslas. Įvertinti senyvo amžiaus žmonių požiūrio į senatvę ir psichologinio atsparumo reikšmę jų gyvenimo kokybei. Tyrimo medžiaga ir metodai. Tyrimas vykdytas 2015 m. Vilniaus ir Kauno trečiojo amžiaus universitetuose, Kauno senjorų klubuose, senjorų bendruomenėse, senelių namuose ir ligoninėje, jame dalyvavo 263 65–94 metų (amžiaus vidurkis 72,1 ± 5,957) senjorai. Tiriamųjų gyvenimo kokybei vertinti naudotas Pasaulio sveikatos organizacijos gyvenimo kokybės sutrumpintas 26 klausimų klausimynas (PSO GK trumpas). Požiūriui į senatvę vertinti taikytas senatvės stereotipų klausimynas, psichologiniam atsparumui vertinti – psichologinio atsparumo skalė. Tyrimo rezultatai. Tyrimo rezultatai parodė, kad senyvo amžiaus žmonių gyvenimo kokybės vertinimas susijęs su jų požiūriu į senatvę ir psichologiniu atsparumu. Tiriamieji, pritariantys senatvės stereotipams, savo gyvenimo kokybės fizinės ir psichologinės sveikatos sritis vertino blogiau nei tie, kurie tokiems stereotipams nepritarė. Aukšto psichologinio atsparumo tiriamieji savo gyvenimo kokybės fizinės ir psichologinės sveikatos sritis vertino geriau nei žemo psichologinio atsparumo respondentai. Psichologinis atsparumas geriau nei požiūris į senatvę ir tokie demografiniai veiksniai, kaip lytis, amžius, šeiminė padėtis ir išsilavinimas, prognozavo senjorų gyvenimo kokybės vertinimą. Tai leidžia manyti, kad psichologinio atsparumo stiprinimas ir požiūrio į senatvę koregavimas gali sudaryti prielaidas senjorams palankiau vertinti savo psichologinę ir fizinę sveikatąThe aim of the study was to assess the significance of elderly people‘s attitude towards the aging and psychological resilience to their quality of life. Materials and Methods. The research was conducted in 2015 at Vilnius and Kaunas Third Age Universities, Kaunas clubs of elderly, elderly communities, in nursing homes and hospital. The subjects of the study were 263 men and women 65-94 years old (mean age 72.1 ± 5.96 years). Quality of life was assessed by the World Health Organization quality of life questionnaire, which comprises 26 items (The WHOQoL-BREF, 1997). Attitude towards the Aging was assessed by Questionnaire about Negative Stereotypes (CENVE, Blanca, Sanchez, Trianes, 2005). The psychological resilience was assessed by the Psychological Resilience Scale (Windle, Markland, Woods, 2008). Results. Elderly people‘s quality of life is related to their attitude towards aging and psychological resilience. Respondents, who agreed with negative aging stereotypes, evaluated their quality of life in physical and psychological health areas worse than the ones who disagreed with negative aging stereotypes. Respondents with high psychological resilience evaluated their quality of life in physical and psychological health areas better than the respondents with low psychological resilience. Psychological resilience forecasted evaluation of quality of life better in comparison of attitude towards aging and such demographic factors like gender, age, marital status and education. [...]Psichologijos katedraSocialinių mokslų fakultetasVilniaus priklausomybės ligų centrasVytauto Didžiojo universiteta