The purpose of this study was to increase the knowledge and understanding of what impact support-groups, such as represented by Qvinnoqulan, can have on women with drug-addiction. The questions at issue for the essay was: How does a selection of women who participate in Qvinnoqulan describe their thoughts, experiences and reflections of the group? What sense has Qvinnoqulan made for the women on a personal level and for contributing to live a life without drugs? To answer the questions a qualitative method was used and five interviews were made with women who participated in the activities of Qvinnoqulan. To analyze the data a social constructionist perspective and an empowerment perspective was used. The result of the study showed that the women were in the process of rebuilding a new life without drugs and reconstructing a new identity.

To increase the understanding of how individuals total life situation affects their stress level and health has lately more frequently been discussed in different contexts. Furthermore, it is important to have knowledge of power structures that exist under given circumstances in a society to get an increased understanding of how to structure the health promoting work to get the highest possible benefits. People?s work life is essential to their health, since we spend a lot of time at work. The aim of this study was to find out which factors that relate to nursing staff?s health and stress level from a general perspective.

 The purpose of this essay is to study the republican and socialist Northern Ireland political party Sinn Féin and to examine its legitimacy in the eyes of the citizens of Northern Ireland. Is it possible to have a political agenda that includes violence and still maintain legitimacy? The Irish Republican Army?s (IRA) military struggle was for a long time a part of the party?s political agenda. This strategy has been described as to have a ballot paper in one hand and an Armalite in the other, and successfully made Sinn Féin one of the province?s largest political parties.

The aim is to examine how students with attention difficulties may demonstrate their mathematical understanding through visual representations. A curiosity about how students think about mathematics, national tests and Concepts cartoons has also permeated the study. With help of observations combined with interviews and actively work for a week, the study shows an idea of how visual representations can help students with concentration difficulties to stay focused on their tasks. I chose a selection of pupils to do some mathematical tasks from the national tests which they had not been able to solve before. Now in the form of Concepts cartoons, which I designed, they managed to solve the same mathematics data. In my study treatment and interaction reveals as key pillars for a successful educational work with the students with concentration difficulties. Thus, all pupils who previously have been unable to solve these assignments on the National test were now able to show their mathematical understanding supported by visual representations..

In this thesis I discuss how the western conception of reason is an aspect of power. I consider the western comprehension of rationality to be a masculine and ethnocentric understanding, though by itself acclaimed to be universal. My purpose with this thesis is to analyze how this western and masculine conceptualisation of reason follows a gramscian structure of power, which makes it reproduce itself in the postcolonial project of science.The theory of hegemony and ideology of Antonio Gramsci is central for analyzing the reproduction of the western subject of knowledge. The theoretical approach is also based on the understanding of the Other as essential for defining the identity of the self. My two main objects of study is one text of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, which discuss the problems of representation, and one of Chandra Talpade Mohanty, in which she examines the tendency to neocolonization in certain western postcolonial feminist research.

This case study attempts to examine how students of Religionswissenschaft at Södertörns University reflect about their philosophy of life and if their studies have some impact on their tendency to reflect. Also what aspects the students tend to reflect over will be investigated. In this study the term ?philosophy of life? includes humans thought and conceptions of the world and their outlook on mankind. To answer these question an interview study with 6 students took place, and the transcriptions produced 5 categories; ?The philosophy of life, to believe or not believe?, ?Development of concepts?, ?Outlook on mankind?, ?The founding of meaning? and ?Understanding and progress?.

In all times school has defined and categorized pupils from a hypothetical normality. The National Agency for Education is today critical to how the municipalities provide for the necessity of special support for pupils with difficulties in school.Pupil`s assistants has been a growing profession in school during the last decade and their importance for the pupils is relatively unexplored. The aim of this study is to find out how the pupils think about having pupil`s assistant during the obligatory school on the basis of the ideas of power, knowledge, involvment and understanding. The study is based on qualitative interviews, consisting of half-structured questions, with eight pupils that have or have had pupil`s assistant during their time in senior compulsory school. The result notifies that the pupils feel powerless in school, they have no opportunity to affect and they do not think they are someone that could make any change.

The stakeholders for requirements elicitation need to be identified at an early stage and their knowledge is the basis for what is to become a requirements specification. Just because a stakeholder holds a lot of expertise and knowledge it does not mean that the stakeholder can communicate the knowledge in a clear way. Validation of knowledge means that knowledge is valued and recognized in a structured way. People and organizations can evolve by exchanging knowledge, experience and skills.  The purpose of this study is to increase the understanding of knowledge management between requirement elicitation and external stakeholders.

With increasing wine consumption and a growing assortment at available to Swedish consumers, there is an interest in understanding the decision making process of Swedish wine consumers. In this thesis the expert phenomenon is studied with respect to wine through wine critic reliability: grading objectivity, understanding the process of wine criticism and possible critic influence on consumer behavior. Two studies were performed; a qualitative in-depth session of interviews with industry connoisseurs and a quantitative analysis of 589 online wine reviews. Our results indicate that wine reviews are highly subjective and defy prediction through analysis of external variables. Critics are likely to judge differently based on what information they have at hand, suggesting that expectations affect grading.

What is customer satisfaction and when does it occur? Microsoft?s customers and partners state that product quality is the strongest driver for customer satisfaction. To be able to increase customer satisfaction Microsoft must know how their partners and customers define product quality. This study investigates product quality in general terms but also in the context of the product Microsoft Dynamics CRM in addition to experience from some of Microsoft?s customers and partners.

The aim of this work is to gain understanding of how predictions and images of future are created and maintained and how they are changed in society. An interdisciplinary approach to cultural and social aspects is used to examine how collective images about future are created. The distinction between collective images and private images is problematised. The subject matter is extracted from a previous explorative examination about Do It Yourself and OpenSource culture which are concepts of collective learning. That work is described in the foreword.The question ?How is a collective image about the future created?? is central for this paper.The interdisciplinary approach is a cross reference synthesis of philosophies, educational studies, film studies, strategicstudies and future studies.

The aim of this master?s thesis is to obtain greater understanding of how children relate to the film medium and their experiences. This is obtained by listening to the children and observing their verbal and nonverbal communication in two focus group interviews. Children?s access to and selection of film are due to adult?s restrictions.

We want in this paper, by using participant observation and qualitative interviews, comecloser to an understanding of what meaning a language café might have for the peoplewho go there. Many of the visitors are people who recently moved to Sweden and are inthe middle of a process of learning Swedish. We want to get a further insight into howthey feel about their situation and what the social encounters on the language café mightmean to them. The purpose is to examine how this can have significance for the identitydevelopment of the visitors.The result shows that the language café is an important place for the visitors because itis the only place they can go to in order to practice speaking Swedish, which isimportant for them to find their place in Sweden. The language café also fulfils animportant function of a place where the visitors can receive an understanding of theSwedish society and reflect about it, but also a place for self-reflection to see theopportunities in the situations they find themselves in.

The aim in the study is to search for a deeper understanding of how parents experience a neurological diagnose of the child and how this affects the parenthood. Parenthood was seen in a systemtheoretical perspective as a social construction. The narrative method was used in two lifestory parentinterviews. The analysis was made from parenthood. The result formed stories about parenthood with children having neuropsyciatric functional disability who even came to be a woman?s struggle.

By studying recent literature and following current research we know that language awareness and a rich language is important to all children when learning reading and writing and that decoding and understanding of the words are the fundamental processes in reading. How do pupils with visual impairment learn how to read and write? What strategies do they use in their contacts with reading and writing? What are the advantages do pupils with visual impairment have when learning to read and write? These questions have been the starting points in a study we have done by following two pupils with visual impairment. By meeting and discussing with the children, their parents, teachers, and lowvisiontherapists we have got a deeper knowledge in how these children meet the language in reading and writing. We have also come to an understanding regarding people surrounding the children have to make reading and writing comprehensive, enjoying, and meaningful.The problem for a child with visual impairment is the decoding, to catch letters and pictures of words good enough with the sight.