Immigrant-background young adults giving accounts of themselves: agentic and dialogic reframing of parental cultural heritage

Increasing research attention has been dedicated to the transfer of cultural resources and practices in immigrant families and the different impacts parental cultural heritage can have on children and young adults who navigate their identities and expectations originating from different cultural influences. This research, however, tends to focus on either specific communities or specific aspects of culture, failing to paint a broader picture of how cultural heritage and identities are constituted, experienced, and narrated by young immigrant-background individuals as they enter adulthood. This thesis draws on a qualitative design that involved reflective journaling, interviewing, and collaborative data analysis conducted with 15 participants from a range of ethnic and economic backgrounds—all 18-29 years old and born in the UK to immigrant parents. On the theoretical level, this research problematises and destabilises the link between cultural heritage, collective identity, and self-identification. Drawing on Judith Butler’s Giving an Account of Oneself, the thesis conceptualises parental cultural heritage as a responsibility and considers the role of agency in negotiating the relationship between the self and culture. It then further explores—aided by Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of dialogism—immigrant-background individuals’ agentic approaches to reframing cultural heritage and cultural identity through dialogic relations and intersubjectivity. Finally, in critical engagement with Homi Bhabha’s notions of hybridity and agency, immigrant-background individuals’ experiences are contextualised within the workings of society to argue that the agentic and dialogic reframing of cultural heritage has its limits and that experiencing, and giving an account of, cultural hybridity will continue to be difficult unless the prevailing discourse shifts. Beyond its theoretical contribution, this thesis emphasises how discussing the sense of responsibility, agency, and cultural heritage with those experiencing hybrid and migrant-background realities requires innovative methodological approaches to elicit the often unarticulated and tacit narratives and understandings. To address this challenge, the thesis introduces the ‘narrative grounded theory’ approach which marries grounded theory and narrative inquiry to produce methodological tools that encourage participants’ reflectiveness, analytical engagement, and revisiting of their stories on multiple occasions

Motivations to deposit:two approaches to Open Educational Resources (OER) within Languages and Social Sciences (LSS) at Aston University

In Spring 2009, the School of Languages and Social Sciences (LSS) at Aston University responded to a JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) and Higher Education Academy (HEA) call for partners in Open Educational Resources (OER) projects. This led to participation in not one, but two different OER projects from within one small School of the University. This paper will share, from this unusual position, the experience of our English tutors, who participated in the HumBox Project, led by Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies (LLAS) and will compare the approach taken with the Sociology partnership in the C-SAP OER Project , led by the Centre for Sociology, Anthropology and Politics (C-SAP). These two HEA Subject Centre-led projects have taken different approaches to the challenges of encouraging tutors to deposit teaching resources, as on ongoing process, for others to openly access, download and re-purpose. As the projects draw to a close, findings will be discussed, in relation to the JISC OER call, with an emphasis on examining the language and discourses from the two collaborations to see where there are shared issues and outcomes, or different subject specific concerns to consider

Designing OER with diversity in mind

Open Education Week 2013 Webinar: March 11, 4:00 pm GMT Th

Effects of trans-endocardial delivery of bone marrow-derived CD133+ cells on angina and quality of life in patients with refractory angina: A sub-analysis of the REGENT-VSEL trial

Background: The REGENT-VSEL trial demonstrated a neutral effect of transendocardial injection of autologous bone marrow (BM)-derived CD133+ in regard to myocardial ischemia. The current sub-analysis of the REGENT VSEL trial aims to assess the effect stem cell therapy has on quality of life (QoL) in patients with refractory angina.Methods: Thirty-one patients (63.0 ± 6.4 years, 70% male) with recurrent CCS II–IV angina, despite optimal medical therapy, enrolled in the REGENT-VSEL single center, randomized, double-blinded, and placebo-controlled trial. Of the 31 patients, 16 individuals were randomly assigned to the active stem cell group and 15 individuals were randomly assigned to the placebo group on a 1:1 basis. The inducibility of ischemia, (≥ one myocardial segment) was confirmed for each patient using Tc-99m SPECT. QoL was measured using the Seattle Angina Questionnaire. Each patient completed the questionnaire prior to treatment and at the time of their outpatient follow-up visits at 1, 4, 6, and 12 months after cell/placebo treatment.Results: The main finding of the REGENT-VSEL trial sub-analysis was that transendocardial injection of autologous BM-derived CD133+ stem cells in patients with chronic refractory angina did not show significant improvement in QoL in comparison to the control group. Moreover, there was no significant difference between cell therapy and placebo in a number of patients showing improvement of at least 1 Canadian Cardiovascular Society class during the follow-up period.Conclusions: Intra-myocardial delivery of autologous CD133+ stem cells is safe and feasible but does not show a significant improvement in the QoL or angina pectoris symptoms in patients with chronic myocardial ischemia

Subjective well-being among psychotherapists during the coronavirus disease pandemic : A cross-cultural survey from 12 european countries

Objective: The aim of this study is to examine the amount of the total variance of the subjective well-being (SWB) of psychotherapists from 12 European countries explained by between-country vs. between-person differences regarding its cognitive (life satisfaction) and affective components (positive affect [PA] and negative affect [NA]). Second, we explored a link between the SWB and their personal (self-efficacy) and social resources (social support) after controlling for sociodemographics, work characteristics, and COVID-19-related distress.Methods: In total, 2915 psychotherapists from 12 countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Finland, Great Britain, Serbia, Spain, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, and Switzerland) participated in this study. The participants completed the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), the International Positive and Negative Affect Schedule Short Form (I-PANAS-SF), the General Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support.Results: Cognitive well-being (CWB; satisfaction with life) was a more country-dependent component of SWB than affective well-being (AWB). Consequently, at the individual level, significant correlates were found only for AWB but not for CWB. Higher AWB was linked to being female, older age, higher weekly workload, and lower COVID-19-related distress. Self-efficacy and social support explained AWB only, including their main effects and the moderating effect of self-efficacy.Conclusions: The results highlight more individual characteristics of AWB compared to CWB, with a more critical role of low self-efficacy for the link between social support and PA rather than NA. This finding suggests the need for greater self-care among psychotherapists regarding their AWB and the more complex conditions underlying their CWB.Peer reviewe

Burnout among psychotherapists : a cross-cultural value survey among 12 European countries during the coronavirus disease pandemic

The aim of this study was to examine cross-cultural differences, as operationalized by Schwartz's refined theory of basic values, in burnout levels among psychotherapists from 12 European countries during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. We focused on the multilevel approach to investigate if individual- and country-aggregated level values could explain differences in burnout intensity after controlling for sociodemographic, work-related characteristics and COVID-19-related distress among participants. 2915 psychotherapists from 12 countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Finland, Great Britain, Serbia, Spain, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, and Switzerland) participated in this study. The participants completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Service Survey, the revised version of the Portrait Values Questionnaire, and a survey questionnaire on sociodemographic, work-related factors and the COVID-19 related distress. In general, the lowest mean level of burnout was noted for Romania, whereas the highest mean burnout intensity was reported for Cyprus. Multilevel analysis revealed that burnout at the individual level was negatively related to self-transcendence and openness-to-change but positively related to self-enhancement and conservation values. However, no significant effects on any values were observed at the country level. Male sex, younger age, being single, and reporting higher COVID-19-related distress were significant burnout correlates. Burnout among psychotherapists may be a transcultural phenomenon, where individual differences among psychotherapists are likely to be more important than differences between the countries of their practice. This finding enriches the discussion on training in psychotherapy in an international context and draws attention to the neglected issue of mental health among psychotherapists in the context of their professional functioning.Peer reviewe

European sourcebook of crime and criminal justice statistics – 2021

This is the sixth edition of a data collection initiative that started in 1993 under the umbrella of the Council of Europe and has been continued since 2000 by an international group of experts that created the European Sourcebook of Criminal Justice e.V.1 and is also a Working Group of the European Society of Criminology. These experts act as regional coordinators of a network of national correspondents whose contribution has been decisive in collecting and validating data on a variety of subjects from 42 countries.2 This edition of the Sourcebook is composed of six chapters. The first five cover the current main types of national crime and criminal justice statistics – police, prosecution, conviction, prison, and probation statistics – for the years 2011 to 2016, providing detailed analysis for 2015. The sixth chapter covers national victimization surveys, providing rates for the main indicators every five years from 1990 to 2015. As with every new edition of the Sourcebook, the group has tried to improve data quality as well as comparability and, where appropriate, increase the scope of data collection. For example, offence definitions were updated to reflect the lessons learned from previous editions.peer-reviewe

Obstacles to creating and finding Open Educational Resources: the case of research methods in the social sciences

Social Research Methods are approaches to undertaking research shared not only by the social sciences, but by many other disciplines. There is therefore enormous scope for the creation and re-use of open educational resources (OERs) in this field. However, our work with social scientists on a number of recent projects in the context of JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee)/ HEA (Higher Education Academy) supported UK OER programme suggests that there are some barriers to both OER creation and use. Although there are now a number of national and institutional projects creating learning resources in research methods and making them openly available for teachers and students to use, many still use licences that restrict re-use and, in particular, modification; we refer to these materials as ‘grey OERs’. We also found that, in contrast to the well-developed practice of citation in research work, academics and teachers had a narrow notion of licensing and copyright of teaching materials, consistent with a limited experience of sharing teaching materials. The tacit understanding of academics about learning resources also meant that they saw potential users as mainly other academics who were subject experts like themselves. That meant that they gave little weight to the role of broad description and metadata in making resources findable. At the same time, when academics looked for resources, the quality and relevance of those resources and the ability to judge that quickly were paramount. We discuss two approaches that attempt to tackle these issues. First, the development of a mapping tool that supports those creating OERs to identify a range of classificatory and metadata in a way that gives those looking for resources a much wider range of ways of finding them. Second, the development of a website, based on Web 2.0 technology that exploits the contributions of academics using and reviewing research methods OERs. We suggest that the activities on a blog-based website creates a cultural context which constitutes an element of a community of practice of social science academics. Users can find resources by quality, pedagogy, and other metadata as well as content and through vicarious learning about the use and reviewing of resources by other academics, they may develop better practices in their own re-use and attribution of OERs

Queer enough? contested terrains of identity deployment in the context of gay and lesbian public activism in Poland

Gay and lesbian prides and marches are of crucial relevance to the way in which non-heterosexual lives are imagined internationally despite regional and national differences. Quite often, these events are connected not only with increased activist mobilisation, but also with great controversy, which is the case of Poland, where gay and lesbian marches have been attacked by right-wing protesters and cancelled by right-wing city authorities on a number of occasions. Overall, the scholars analysing these events have largely focused on the macro-context of the marches, paying less attention to the movement actors behind these events. The contribution of this thesis lies not only in filling a gap when it comes to research on sexual minorities in Eastern Europe/Poland, but also in its focus on micro-level movement processes and engagement with theories of collective identity and citizenship. Furthermore, this thesis challenges the inscription of Eastern European/Polish movements into the narrative of victimhood and delayed development when compared to LGBT movements in the Global North. This thesis is grounded in qualitative research including participant observation of public activist events as well as forty semi-structured interviews with the key organisers of gay and lesbian marches in Warsaw, Poznan and Krakow between 2001 and 2007, and five of these interviews were further accompanied by photo-elicitation (self-directed photography) methods. Starting from the processes whereby from 2001 onwards, marches, pride parades and demonstrations became the most visible and contested activity of the Polish lesbian and gay movement, this thesis examines how the activists redefined the meanings of citizenship in the post-transformation context, by incorporating the theme of sexual minorities' rights. Using Bernstein's (1997, 2002, 2005, 2008) concept of identity deployment, I show how and when movement actors use identity tactically, depending on their goals. Specifically, in the context of movement-media interactions, I examine the ways in which the activists use marches to challenge the negative representations of sexual minorities in Poland. I also broaden Bernstein's framework to include the discussion of emotion work as relevant to public LGBT activism in Poland. Later, I discuss how the emotions of protests allowed the activists to inscribe their efforts into the "revolutionary" narrative of the Polish Solidarity movement and by extension, the frame of citizenship. Finally, this thesis engages with the dilemmas of identity deployment strategies, and seeks to problematise the dichotomy between identity-based gay and lesbian assimilationist strategies and the anti-identity queer politics.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo