An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the Lived Experiences of Children with Dyspraxia in UK Secondary Schools

Dyspraxia (also known as Developmental Co-ordination Disorder, DCD), a neurodevelopmental motor disorder, is characterised by difficulties with the acquisition and execution of coordinated movements which are markedly lower than expected (DSM-5, American Psychiatric Association, 2013). The prevalence rate is between 5% and 10% of the population (Wright & Sugden, 1996; Lingam et al, 2009 and Meachon, 2017) with 1 in 10 students in the UK being affected (Colley, 2006; HDCD, 2017). Previous literature in the area has largely been medically based (Esser, 2012) and lacks the voices of children and young people, however more recently this gap in knowledge has begun to be addressed (Lingam, Novak, Emond & Coad, 2014; Payne, Ward, Turner, Taylor, & Bark, 2013; Payne, 2015; Kane & Farrants, 2018; Kane-Hamer, 2018). Whilst there has been a vast array of literature looking at dyslexia, Autism and ADHD in education there remains a significant paucity of literature that focuses on dyspraxia in education and the literature that is available indicates a significant lack of knowledge and understanding (Stordy and Nicholl, 2000; Peters, Henderson & Dookun, 2004; Devonshire, 2017) and is not from the perspective of the child. Therefore this study adopts an interpretivist framework using a qualitative methodology to provide much needed research focusing on the lived experiences of children with dyspraxia in education in the UK. Eight young people aged between 11 and 18 were interviewed and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to explore their lived experiences of dyspraxia in education with 5 superordinate themes identified; “I struggle a bit with it, but not really” – Complexity and internal conflict; “I get twitchy when I’m nervous” – Recognition of incongruence & identification of Otherness; “I can’t be helped with my dyspraxia until people understand” – Need for empathy and understanding; “I wanted to be a superhero with the power of invisibility” Identity formation; “I can go at my own speed” – Right kind of help needed. The findings were then considered and interpreted through a humanistic psychology and Critical Disability Studies (CDS) lens. Concepts of cognitive dissonance; corporeal or embodied experience; psychoemotional disablism; internalised oppression; distributed competence were identified and finally the young people’s experiences were considered in relation to Abraham Maslow's (1943) hierarchy of needs and Carl Rogers (1951) core conditions of worth, suggesting that in education these young people’s experiences negatively affect their psychological development and development of self

Experiences of Autism Diagnosis: Parental Experiences and Interpretations of the Process of Having a Child Diagnosed with Autism

The experience of having a child diagnosed with ASD is known to be challenging for parents, and research on this has been increasing over the past decade. This study provides a thematic analysis of the lived experience of having a child diagnosed with ASD, based on interviews with seven parents (aged 35 to 52 years) of six children (aged 7 to 13) who had received a diagnosis of ASD within five years of starting primary school. Parents described the experience of having a child diagnosed with ASD as raising questions and issues in four interconnected areas of concern: “seeing the child”, “navigating the professional system”, “accommodating the needs of the child in balance with the needs of the whole family” and “helping the child find a way of being in the world”. For parents, receiving a diagnosis of ASD involved a challenge of “meaning” – a challenge of integrating the information about their child provided in the diagnosis with their sense of who their child is. Parents were particularly appreciative of professionals who assisted them with this task and who showed an appreciation of the unique qualities of their children. The experiences of these parents have implications for how professionals might communicate with parents and families, as well as how they can provide clear and definite information, address some core practical concerns of parents and families and at all times show an appreciation of the child

Hypergraphic LP Relaxations for Steiner Trees

We investigate hypergraphic LP relaxations for the Steiner tree problem, primarily the partition LP relaxation introduced by Koenemann et al. [Math. Programming, 2009]. Specifically, we are interested in proving upper bounds on the integrality gap of this LP, and studying its relation to other linear relaxations. Our results are the following. Structural results: We extend the technique of uncrossing, usually applied to families of sets, to families of partitions. As a consequence we show that any basic feasible solution to the partition LP formulation has sparse support. Although the number of variables could be exponential, the number of positive variables is at most the number of terminals. Relations with other relaxations: We show the equivalence of the partition LP relaxation with other known hypergraphic relaxations. We also show that these hypergraphic relaxations are equivalent to the well studied bidirected cut relaxation, if the instance is quasibipartite. Integrality gap upper bounds: We show an upper bound of sqrt(3) ~ 1.729 on the integrality gap of these hypergraph relaxations in general graphs. In the special case of uniformly quasibipartite instances, we show an improved upper bound of 73/60 ~ 1.216. By our equivalence theorem, the latter result implies an improved upper bound for the bidirected cut relaxation as well.Comment: Revised full version; a shorter version will appear at IPCO 2010

Polarized entangled Bose-Einstein condensation

We consider a mixture of two distinct species of atoms of pseudospin-1/2 with both intraspecies and Interspecies spin-exchange interactions, and find all the ground stats in a general case of the parameters in the effective Hamiltonian. In general, corresponding to the two species and two pseudo-spin states, there are four orbital wave functions into which the atoms condense. We find that in certain parameter regimes, the ground state is the so-called polarized entangled Bose-Einstein condensation, i.e. in addition to condensation of interspecies singlet pairs, there are unpaired atoms with spins polarized in the same direction. The interspecies entanglement and polarization significantly affect the generalized Gross-Pitaevskii equations governing the four orbital wave functions into which the atoms condense, as an interesting interplay between spin and orbital degrees of freedom.Comment: 14 pages, received by PRA on 27 October 201

A qualitative study looking at the experience of mothers with learning disabilities and their school aged children.

This study looked at the experiences of mothers with learning disabilities and their school aged children. The participants comprised a) 8 mothers with learning disabilities, with school aged children (5-18 years old), who had received services from a community team for people with learning disabilities, and b) 4 children from these families whose permission had been obtained to participate. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore the experiences of the mothers and children in relation to key aspects of family life and the psychological consequences of these experiences. Grounded theory was used to analyse the text generated from the interviews. Findings suggested the importance of identity, difficult relationship and attachment styles, psychological vulnerability and lack of control. This led to a formulation of how different aspects of die mother's and children's experiences interact to produce the overall experience for this group. The model tentatively suggests an interaction between external factors (poverty, support networks, life events) and factors within the individual (role identity, lack of control, attachment patterns and vulnerability) which results in psychological distress and need for support. The model is expanded and validated via recourse to existing theory, namely social identity theory (Tajfel, 1981) attachment (Bowlby, 1969) and object relations theory (Guntrip, 1971), a life events model (Brown and Harris, 1978) and a model of locus of control (Cohen, 1980). The findings are evaluated and ideas for future research are discussed. Clinical implications are also addressed

The Application of Combined Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry to Compounds of Biological Interest: Steroid Analysis by the Use of Glass Open Tubular Gas Chromatographic Columns

Steroidal compounds are virtually ubiquitous in nature and frequently occur in complex mixtures as constituents of closely similar structure. Packed column gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is an analytical technique of unique facility for the simultaneous separation and characterisation of complex mixtures of organic compounds. This thesis examines the additional facility provided by glass open tubular gas chromatographic columns of higher efficiency in the analysis by GC and GC-MS of complex mixtures of steroidal compounds derived from a number of natural sources. A method for the preparation of stable, efficient and reproducible glass open tubular gas chromatographic columns is described. The construction of chromatographic systems adapted to their somewhat more critical requirements is outlined. Particular attention is paid to the requirements for the interface of these columns to an LKB 9000 combined gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer. The performance of this system with emphasis on the nature of the advantage obtained over conventional packed columns is demonstrated by several model separations of mixtures of closely related standard steroidal compounds. Mixtures of sterols derived from yeast and marine sources frequently consist in mixtures of components differing in the degree and position of alkylation and unsaturation in the basic cholestanol structure. Correlation of gas chromatographic retention, on glass open tubular columns of OV-1 stationary phase, with sterol structure is described. Complementary data available in the literature are integrated into a scheme for the rationalisation of increments of Kovats retention index associated with particular alterations in sterol structure. This system and mass spectral correlations obtained by glass open tubular GC-MS is applied to the analysis of sterol mixtures derived from five species of marine invertebrate and two mutant strains of the yeast Candida albicans. Two other applications to sterol analysis are also described. A significant advantage is demonstrated over GC and GC-MS methods heretofore employed. Mixtures of hydroxy and ketosteroids may be derivatised as the alkyloxime-trimethylsilyl ether derivatives for GC and GC-MS analysis. The occurrence of syn- and anti-isomers in the alkyloximes of various ketosteroid structures is a complicating factor in their GC analysis, in particular at higher column efficiencies. Several alkyloximes of increasing hulk of the O-alkyl substituent were examined in this respect. The methyloxime is shown to provide the least complications for open tubular GC, though the "group separations" of hydroxy and ketosteroids provided by the higher alkyloximes may provide useful correlations. The utility of this approach is demonstrated in the analysis of mixtures of standard hydroxy and ketosteroids. Preliminary results obtained on a mixture of urinary steroid hormone metabolites of the human newborn by open tubular GC-MS of the isopentyloxime-trimethylsilyl ether derivatives are reported

A Mixed Methods Approach to Examine Racial Disparities in Adherence to Surveillance Mammography Among Breast Cancer Survivors

PURPOSE: Annual surveillance mammography is a critical part of routine cancer care for breast cancer (BC) survivors; reducing mortality by 39%. However, disparities exist with regard to adherence to surveillance mammograms among BC survivors; Black women are 44% less likely to adhere than their White counterparts. Despite the existence of this racial disparity for over a decade, little is known about factors that explain reasons for Black BC survivors’ non-adherence. This is because most studies have not evaluated the role of healthcare delivery or psychosocial factors. Guided by the Behavioral Model for Vulnerable Populations, the purpose of this mixed methods dissertation is to examine the influence of predisposing (race, residential area), enabling (health care access) and need factors (years from diagnosis) on adherence to surveillance mammography in Black and White BC survivors. Specific study aims are to: (a) Determine racial differences and influential factors in survivors breast cancer beliefs (b) Evaluate the contribution of health care access, socioeconomic status and perceived health on adherence to surveillance mammography (c) Explore surveillance mammography experiences of survivors engaged in social media. METHODS: Three cross-sectional studies were conducted of which two analyzed data from datasets and one collected primary qualitative and quantitative data. All studies evaluated theory driven determinants to better understand adherence to nationally recommended surveillance mammography guidelines. Adjusted multivariable logistic regression models were used to assess the independent and joint associations between independent study variables (e.g., race) on study outcome (e.g., adherence). Eight virtual focus groups were conducted with BC survivors through social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, reedit) to further explore barriers and facilitators of survivor’s surveillance experiences. A thematic analysis approach using grounded theory techniques analyzed online focus group to identify thematic findings. RESULTS: Overall, survivors reported high rates of adherence to surveillance mammography (72-70%). Influential factors on adherence involved an interaction with race, rather than just race alone: Black women living in non-metropolitan areas were more likely to be non-adherent compared to White women living in non-metropolitan residential areas. Similarly, Black women with lower levels of patient provider communication had lower adherence versus White women with lower communication levels. The presence of health care access, and health insurance were salient enabling factors on survivor’s adherence, across qualitative and secondary findings. Longer time from diagnosis and having underwent mastectomy surgery were the top need factors associated with non-adherence. Regarding breast cancer beliefs, satisfaction with financial aspects regarding health care and clinical factors such as BC stage were influential factors in survivors perceived severity and cancer recurrence beliefs. CONCLUSION: This was the first mixed method study to describe psychosocial and healthcare delivery factors in adherence to surveillance mammography guidelines among Black and White BC survivors. Study findings extends scientific knowledge in BC survivors health beliefs and predictors (e.g., provider-communication) of surveillance mammography, with special attention on Black women’s surveillance experiences. This study provides new insight in cancer care delivery by: (1) advancing breast cancer survivorship research, (2) informing future research direction and (3) clinical implications to refine current surveillance guidelines and to improve barriers to surveillance, with special attention to racial/ethnic populations