An investigation of assessment policy and practices in terms of broad social and educational purposes

Based upon relevant literature, this study investigated the assessment policy and practices for the BSc (Hons) Computing Science programme at the University of Greenwich (UOG), contextualising these in terms of broad social and educational purposes. It discusses Assessment, and then proceeds to give a critical evaluation of the assessment policy and practices at the UOG. Although this is one case study, because any of the features of the programme are generic to other programmes and institutions, it is of wider value and has further implications. The study was concluded in the summer of 2002. It concludes that overall, the programme's assessment policy and practices are well considered in terms of broad social and educational purposes, although it identifies and outlines several possible improvements, as well as raising some major issues still to be addressed which go beyond assessment practices.

Implications for the scheduling of theory versus application in learning

This paper presents the findings of an experiment which looked at the effects of performing applied tasks (action learning) prior to the completion of the theoretical learning of these tasks (explanation-based learning), and vice-versa. The applied tasks took the form of laboratories for the Object-Oriented Analysis and Design (OOAD) course, theoretical learning was via lectures.

A case study in the teaching of HCI

This poster describes a "real world" example of the teaching of Human-Computer Interaction at the final level of a Computer Science degree. It highlights many of the problems of the ever expanding HCI domain and the consequential issues of what to teach and why. The poster describes the conception and development of a new HCI course, its historical background, the justification for decisions made, lessons learnt from its implementation, and questions arising from its implementation that are yet to be addressed. For example, should HCI be taught as a course in its own right or as a component of another course? At what level is the teaching of HCI appropriate, and how is teaching influenced by industry? It considers suitable learning pedagogies as well as the demands and the contribution of industry. The experiences presented will no doubt be familiar to many HCI educators. Whilst the poster raises more questions than it answers, the resolution of some questions will hopefully be achieved by the workshop.

Adolescent males experience of the counselling process

This study examines 11 adolescent males' self-reports of their experiences of 23 counselling sessions to identify what they found helpful and unhelpful during key moments in the therapeutic process. The findings suggest that the experiences of the adolescent males in this study are similar in many ways to the to the reported experiences of adults in counselling. In particular, the experience of emotional support and relief appears to be highly significant for adolescent males, who give significantly lesser importance to cognitive task factors.

Living through the death of a child: A qualitative study of bereaved parents’ experiences

Design: Cross-sectional qualitative study.

Data sources: Interviews with purposeful sample of 25 recently bereaved parents.

Methods: Semi-structured in-depth interviews.

Results: Four analytically distinct processes were identified in the responses of parents to the death of a child. These are referred to as ‘piloting’, ‘providing’, ‘protecting’ and ‘preserving’. Regardless of individual circumstances, these processes were integral to all parents’ coping, enabling an active ‘doing’ for their child and family throughout the trajectory of their child's illness and into bereavement.

Conclusions: Facilitating the capacity of parents to ‘do’ is central to coping with the stress and uncertainty of living through the death of a child. The provision of informational, instrumental and emotional support by health care professionals in the context of ‘doing’ is core to quality palliative care.

Keywords: Bereaved parents; Cancer; Dying child; End-of-life; Palliative care; Non-malignant

'Wee women no more': female partners of republican political prisoners in Belfast

Studies of the female partners of politically motivated prisoners have generally studied women via a caring paradigm. Less well observed are those women who privately transgressed and challenged masculine-centred renditions or political imprisonment. This lacuna in the research dedicated to such women has been constructed around stereotypical depictions of them as a barely visible support network. We argue that the relatively indiscernible appearance of women who challenged such typecasting is attached to a persistent process of gender blindness within which women remain peripheral to wider narratives of collectivity and ideological presentation. We chart how some women actively involved themselves in creating their own identity as active agents, especially when the effects of conflict entered the private sphere.

Counselling for sight loss: Using systematic case study research to build a client informed practice model

There is compelling evidence to suggest that acquired sight loss negatively impacts on emotional well-being. Despite increasing recognition of the need to provide emotional support for people with sight loss, we still do not fully understand what counselling interventions help and why they help. The aim of this study was to examine the process and outcome of counselling for a 70-year-old client who had experienced complete, irreversible, post-operative sight loss in order to gain a deeper understanding of client-defined helpful aspects of therapy. A Hermeneutic Single-Case Efficacy Design study was undertaken having received ethical approval from the University's Research Ethics Committee. The client received six sessions of counselling from a vision-impaired counsellor working within a pluralistic framework. Measures were completed by the client at every session, as well as at pre-and post-counselling. All sessions were recorded and transcribed. The client also participated in pre-and post-counselling interviews. Data formed a rich case record that was analysed by a quasi-judicial enquiry team. Results suggested that this was a successful outcome case. Client-defined helpful aspects of therapy were (1) feeling understood; (2) being able to express emotions around the loss of sight; (3) finding a new identity; (4) finding ways to cope with fear, loss, dependency, and other people's perceptions; (5) exploring the possibility of a positive future without sight; (6) making sense of things; and (7) finding ways to become more socially connected. Relevant therapeutic tasks are proposed, and four key aspects of therapy are identified, which may have implications for the development of a practice model.

A longitudinal study of coping strategies in men receiving radiotherapy and neo-adjuvant androgen deprivation for prostate cancer: a quantitative and qualitative study.

Aim: This paper reports a study on how men cope with the side-effects of radiotherapy and neo-adjuvant androgen deprivation for prostate cancer up to 1 year after treatment.

Background: With early detection and improved treatments, prostate cancer survivors are living longer with the disease and the side-effects of treatment. How they cope affects their long-term physical and mental health.

Design: A prospective, longitudinal, exploratory design using both qualitative and quantitative methods was used in this study.

Method: Between September 2006–September 2007 149 men who were about to undergo radical radiotherapy ± androgen deprivation for localized prostate cancer in Northern Ireland were recruited to the study. They completed the Brief Cope scale at four time-points.

Results: Acceptance, positive reframing, emotional support, planning and, just getting on with it, were the most common ways of coping. Fewer men used coping strategies less at 6 months and 1 year after radiotherapy in comparison to pre-treatment and 4–6 weeks after radiotherapy. Interviews with these men demonstrated that men adapted to a new norm, with the support of their wives/partners and did not readily seek professional help. A minority of men used alcohol, behavioural disengagement and self blame as ways of coping.

Conclusion: Men used a variety of ways of coping to help them deal with radiotherapy and neo-adjuvant androgen deprivation for up to 12 months after radiotherapy. Interventions need to be developed to take account of the specific needs of partners of men with prostate cancer and single men who have prostate cancer.

Psychological responses after a major fatal earthquake: The effect of preitraumatic dissociation and posttraumatic stress symptoms on anxiety and depression.

Following trauma, most people with initial symptoms of stress recover, but it is important to identify those at risk for continuing difficulties so resources are allocated appropriately. There has been limited investigation of predictors of posttraumatic stress disorder following natural disasters. This study assessed psychological difficulties experienced in 101 adult treatment seekers following exposure to a significant earthquake. Peritraumatic dissociation, posttraumatic stress symptoms, anxiety, depression, and emotional support were assessed. Path analysis was used to determine whether the experience of some psychological difficulties predicted the experience of other difficulties. As hypothesized, peritraumatic dissociation was found to predict posttraumatic stress symptoms and anxiety. Posttraumatic stress symptoms then predicted anxiety and depression. Depression and anxiety were highly correlated. Contrary to expectations, emotional support was not significantly related to other psychological variables. These findings justify the provision of psychological support following a natural disaster and suggest the benefit of assessing peritraumatic dissociation and posttraumatic stress symptoms soon after the event to identify people in need of monitoring and intervention.

Somatic pedagogies: Critiquing and resisting the affective discourse of the neoliberal state from an embodied anarchist perspective.

This paper takes as its context widespread feelings of anxiety within neoliberal society caused by a combination of material and discursive factors including precarious access to work and resources. It is argued that the state uses ‘discourses of affect’ to produce compliant subjects able to deal with (and unable to desire beyond) neoliberal precarity and anxiety. Critical education theorists have argued that discourses of ‘well-being’, emotional support and self-help have gained increasing purchase in mainstream education and in popular culture. These discourses are dangerous because they are individualized and depoliticized, and undermine collective political struggle. At the same time there has been a ‘turn to affect’ in critical academia, producing critical pedagogies that resist state affective discourse. I argue that these practices are essential for problematizing neoliberal discourse, yet existing literature tends to elide the role of the body in effective resistance, emphasising intellectual aspects of critique. The paper sketches an alternative, drawing on psychoanalytic and practiced pedagogies that aim to transgress the mind-body dualism and hierarchy, in particular Roberto Freire’s work on Somatherapy.

Conciliação família-trabalho em famílias monoparentais:uma abordagem comparativa de género

Tese de doutoramento, Ciências Sociais (Sociologia Geral), Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Ciências Sociais, 2013

Famílias de filhos com incapacidades: desafios e redes de suporte

A satisfação das necessidades de apoio dos pais com filhos com incapacidades, cujo nascimento implica alterações no equilíbrio da estrutura familiar, é essencial não só para o bem-estar dos pais, mas para o desenvolvimento dos filhos. Foi sob este argumento que surgiu o interesse pelo estudo das redes de suporte, como estratégia de coping, no apoio às necessidades das famílias. O objetivo deste estudo consistiu em avaliar as necessidades de apoio de 226 pais de crianças, jovens e adultos com incapacidade que participaram no 1º nível das Oficinas de Pais – Grupo de Apoio Emocional (GAE), designadamente: (1) os tipos de apoio identificados pelos pais como alvo de maior necessidade; (2) as redes de suporte; (3) a relação entre as necessidades de apoio e as características dos pais/família e filhos com incapacidades. Pretendíamos também avaliar em que medida a oficina produziu mudanças nas suas necessidades de apoio. Para tal, administrámos, antes e após o GAE, a Escala de Funções de Apoio e a Escala de Apoio Social, (Dunst, Trivette, & Deal, 1988). Os resultados mostraram que as necessidades parecem relacionar-se com: (i) apoios nos aspetos práticos do quotidiano; (ii) apoio emocional; (iii) apoio dos serviços e dos profissionais de saúde e de educação. É ao nível do apoio emocional que os pais revelam maiores necessidades de ajuda. Os pais de crianças mais novas reportam maior necessidade de ajuda, nos aspetos práticos do quotidiano e dos serviços/profissionais de saúde e de educação. Adicionalmente, o grau de necessidade aumentou no final da formação.

Deixem que eu me (re)encontre

O presente relatório reflete um projeto de investigação no âmbito do Mestrado em Educação e Intervenção Social, que assume como metodologia a Investigação Ação-Participativa, e que é desenvolvido e construído com um grupo de pessoas desempregadas. Assim, e contando com os participantes como co-construtores de todo o processo, foi necessário elaborar uma análise e caracterização da realidade da qual surgiram alguns problemas. É com base neles que o projeto começa a ser delineado, tendo por base a educação não-formal de adultos, e recorrendo a ações e atividades para se alcançarem os objetivos definidos e, desta forma, ser possível compreender qual o impacto que ele teve na vida dos participantes. Denominado por “Deixem que eu me (Re)Encontre”, este projeto de investigação pretendeu proporcionar momentos de desenvolvimento da autoestima, de redescoberta de capacidades e competências, e de criação de uma rede de suporte afetivo, estimulando nos participantes a apropriação de um poder de intervenção, gerador de mudança nas suas vidas, que há muito se tinha perdido.

No encontro comigo e com os outros

No presente Relatório apresenta-se o Projeto “No Encontro Comigo e Com os Outros”, desenvolvido com um grupo de mães de pessoas com deficiência intelectual. Este Projeto propõe uma resposta de apoio e de partilha num grupo de mães, visando o estabelecimento de relações em grupo, para que se reflita de forma autónoma nos problemas comuns. Desta forma, este Projeto, para além de propor encontros de apoio emocional, aponta para o envolvimento das mães nas atividades institucionais da Associação que os filhos frequentam. Os desafios colocados às famílias com filhos com deficiência fundamentaram o desenvolvimento de um Projeto em Educação e Intervenção Social, enquanto promotor de reflexão e de autonomia. Neste sentido, todo o Projeto posicionou-se, metodologicamente, na Investigação Ação-Participativa, onde, com as pessoas, se recolheu e analisou toda a informação que conduzia aos problemas e necessidades evidenciados. A finalidade deste projeto, e todos os objetivos propostos, foram, assim, ao encontro dos problemas e necessidades priorizados pelos intervenientes, propondo-se, a partir de um conjunto de ações, alcançar uma nova realidade. Desta forma, os resultados obtidos com o Projeto foram satisfatórios, por ter contribuído para o estabelecimento de laços entre as mães, por ter fomentando a partilha e a reflexão acerca dos problemas vivenciados e por ter envolvido as mesmas nos processos institucionais. Deficiência, Família, Grupo de Apoio, Partilha, Relação.