Villapaidoistako elämänlankaa? : Tutkimus neulonnasta harrastuksena

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli tarkastella neulonnan harrastamista: etsiä yhteyksiä perinteeseen, kartoittaa nykytilannetta ja hahmotella mahdollisia tulevaisuuden näkymiä. Tutkimuksen avulla haettiin vastausta neulontaharrastuksen viriämiseen liittyviin tekijöihin, harrastuksen ilmenemiseen ja neulonnan merkitykseen harrastajalle. Teoreettisen viitekehyksen mukaan neulontaa tarkasteltiin harrastuksena, käsityön osa-alueena jaopittuna taitona. Lisäksi neulonnan merkitystä harrastajalle lähestyttiin kartoittamalla merkitystentaustalla olevia arvoja ja asenteita. Tutkimuksen suoritustavaksi valittiin kyselylomakkeen avulla toteutettava kvantitatiivinen menetelmä, jota täydennettiin tulosten tulkinnassa käytetyllä kvalitatiivisella tutkimusotteella. Kyselylomakkeeseen sijoitettiin monivalintakysymysten ja väittämien lisäksi laajempi neulonnan merkitystä kartoittava avoin kysymys. Tavoitteena oli saada mahdollisimman laaja kuva neulonnan harrastamisesta Suomessa. Tutkimuksen yhteistyökumppaneiksi lupautuivat Helsingin villakehräämö ja Novita Neuleet -lehti, joiden avulla pystyttiin tavoittamaan neulonnan harrastajia ympäri Suomea. Tutkimus suoritettiin postikyselynä, joka lähetettiin Novita Neuleet -lehden tilaajille ja samansuuruiselle ryhmälle oletettuja neulonnan harrastajia. Otoksen koko oli 603 henkilöä, joista 325 palauttitäytetyn lomakkeen määräaikaan mennessä. Vastausten palautumisprosentti oli 54%. Aineiston analysoinnissa käytettiin SPSS-tilasto-ohjelmaa, jonka avulla aineistosta laadittiin frekvenssi- ja prosenttijakaumat sekä tarvittavat tunnusluvut. Ryhmien välisiä eroja testattiin ristiintaulukoinneilla ja tilastollisilla testeillä. Neulonnan arvostusta ja merkitystä kuvaavista väittämistä laadittiin faktorianalyysi mahdollisten neulojatyyppien muodostamista varten. Neulonnan merkitystä harrastajalle tulkittiin sisällön erittelyllä sekä olemustyyppianalyysiä soveltamalla. Tulosten perusteella neulontaharrastuksen viriämiseen liittyivät keskeisesti suvun ja perinteen merkitys, tarpeet ja koulukokemukset. Neulontaa harrastettiin paljon, sillä vastaajista 99% neuloi käsin vähintään yhden työn vuodessa. Eniten neulottiin villapaitoja (82%). Tilastollisesti Novita Neuleet -lehden tilaajat neuloivat vertailuryhmää enemmän. Neulonnan merkityksissä harrastajalle korostettiin hyödyllistä ajankäyttöä, rentoutumista, luovuutta ja itsensä ilmaisua. Neuleen valmiiksi saaminen tuotti mielihyvää, joka ilmeni antamisen ilona, haasteiden voittamisena ja onnistumisen kokemuksina. Harrastajien toimintaa kuvaamaan muodostettiin kaksi neulojatyyppiä: elämäntapa- ja tarveneulojat. Elämäntapaneulojilla on aina jokin neuletyö meneillään, kun taas tarveneulojat ryhtyvät neulomaan tarvitessaan esimerkiksi neulevaatteen tai käsilleen tekemistä. Villapaidoista voi saada elämänlankaa, sillä neulonnan todettiin tuovan harrastajan elämään sisältöä. Neulontaa pidettiin tulevaisuudessakin tarvittavana käsityötaitona, jonka haluttiin säilyvän tuleville sukupolville.

The Nature, Origins, and Consequences of Finnish Shame-Proneness: A Grounded Theory Study

Although shame is a universal human emotion and is one of the most difficult emotions to overcome, its origins and nature as well as its effects on psychosocial functioning are not well understood or defined. While psychological and spiritual counselors are aware of the effects and consequences of shame for an individual s internal well-being and social life, shame is often still considered a taboo topic and is not given adequate attention. This study aims to explain the developmental process and effects of shame and shame-proneness for individuals and provide tools for practitioners to work more effectively with their clients who struggle with shame. This study presents the empirical foundation for a grounded theory that describes and explains the nature, origins, and consequences of shame-proneness. The study focused on Finnish participants childhood, adolescence and adulthood experiences and why they developed shame-proneness, what it meant for them as children and adolescents and what it meant for them as adults. The data collection phase of this study began in 2000. The participants were recruited through advertisements in local and country-wide newspapers and magazines. Altogether 325 people responded to the advertisements by sending an essay concerning their shame and guilt experiences. For the present study, 135 essays were selected and from those who sent an essay 19 were selected for in-depth interviews. In addition to essays and interviews, participants personal notebooks and childhood hospital and medical reports as well as their scores on the Internalized Shame Scale were analyzed. The development of shame-proneness and significant experiences and events during childhood and adolescence (e.g., health, parenting and parents behavior, humiliation, bullying, neglect, maltreatment and abuse) are discussed and the connections of shame-proneness to psychological concepts such as self-esteem, attachment, perfectionism, narcissism, submissiveness, pleasing others, heightened interpersonal subjectivity, and codependence are explained. Relationships and effects of shame-proneness on guilt, spirituality, temperament, coping strategies, defenses, personality formation and psychological health are also explicated. In addition, shame expressions and the development of shame triggers as well as internalized and externalized shame are clarified. These connections and developments are represented by the core category lack of gaining love, validation and protection as the authentic self. The conclusions drawn from the study include a categorization of shame-prone Finnish people according to their childhood and adolescent experiences and the characteristics of their shame-proneness and personality. Implications for psychological and spiritual counseling are also discussed. Key words: shame, internalized shame, external shame, shame development, shame triggers, guilt, self-esteem, attachment, narcissism, perfectionism, submissiveness, codependence, childhood neglect, childhood abuse, childhood maltreatment, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, spiritual abuse, psychological well-being

One Word, One Body, One Voice : Studies in Apophatic Theology and Christocentric Anthropology in Gregory of Nyssa

The thesis consists of five international congress papers and a summary with an introduction. The overarching aim of the studies and the summary is to examine the inner coherency of the theological and anthropological thinking of Gregory of Nyssa (331-395). To the issue is applied an "apophatic approach" with a "Christological focus". It is suggested that the coherency is to be found from the Christological concept of unity between "true God" and "true man" in the one person of Jesus Christ. Gregory is among the first to make a full recognition of two natures of Christ, and to use this recognition systematically in his writings. The aim of the studies is pursued by the method of "identification", a combination of the modern critical "problematic method" and Gregory's own aphairetic method of "following" (akolouthia). The preoccupation with issues relating to the so-called Hellenization of Christianity in the patristic era was strong in the twentieth-century Gregory scholarship. The most discussed questions have been the Greek influence in his thought and his philosophical sources. In the five articles of the thesis it is examined how Gregory's thinking stands in its own right. The manifestly apophatic character of his theological thinking is made a part of the method of examining his thought according to the principles of his own method of following. The basic issue concerning the relation of theology and anthropology is discussed in the contexts of his central Trinitarian, anhtropological, Christological and eschatological sources. In the summary the Christocentric integration of Gregory's thinking is discussed also in relation to the issue of the alledged Hellenization. The main conclusion of the thesis concerns the concept of theology in Gregory. It is not indebted to the classical concept of theology as metaphysics or human speculation of God. Instead, it is founded to the traditional Judeo-Christian idea of God who speaks with his people face to face. In Gregory, theologia connotes the oikonomia of God's self-revelation. It may be regarded as the state of constant expression of love between the Creator and his created image. In theology, the human person becomes an image of the Word by which the Father expresses his love to "man" whom he loves as his own Son. Eventually the whole humankind, as one, gives the divine Word a physical - audible and sensible - Body. Humankind then becomes what theology is. The whole humanity expresses divine love by manifesting Christ in words and deeds, singing in one voice to the glory of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Methods in general model localization

The aim of this study was to evaluate and test methods which could improve local estimates of a general model fitted to a large area. In the first three studies, the intention was to divide the study area into sub-areas that were as homogeneous as possible according to the residuals of the general model, and in the fourth study, the localization was based on the local neighbourhood. According to spatial autocorrelation (SA), points closer together in space are more likely to be similar than those that are farther apart. Local indicators of SA (LISAs) test the similarity of data clusters. A LISA was calculated for every observation in the dataset, and together with the spatial position and residual of the global model, the data were segmented using two different methods: classification and regression trees (CART) and the multiresolution segmentation algorithm (MS) of the eCognition software. The general model was then re-fitted (localized) to the formed sub-areas. In kriging, the SA is modelled with a variogram, and the spatial correlation is a function of the distance (and direction) between the observation and the point of calculation. A general trend is corrected with the residual information of the neighbourhood, whose size is controlled by the number of the nearest neighbours. Nearness is measured as Euclidian distance. With all methods, the root mean square errors (RMSEs) were lower, but with the methods that segmented the study area, the deviance in single localized RMSEs was wide. Therefore, an element capable of controlling the division or localization should be included in the segmentation-localization process. Kriging, on the other hand, provided stable estimates when the number of neighbours was sufficient (over 30), thus offering the best potential for further studies. Even CART could be combined with kriging or non-parametric methods, such as most similar neighbours (MSN).