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Goals. Inflammation has been found to be associated with psychological symptoms. Especially in regard to depression, there is broad evidence that depressed people have higher levels of inflammation. Higher inflammation has also been linked to poorer response to SSRI-medication. Anxiety has been found to have stronger association to experienced pain than depression and in earlier studies references to an independent association between anxiety and inflammation has emerged. The purpose of this study was to explore if a connection between anxiety and inflammation can be found and what factors are possibly contributing to that connection. Goal was to find factors that can help maintain and improve individual's quality of life and ability to work. Methods. Data used in this study belonged to the biomarker project (project 4), which was part of the second stage of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) longitudinal study. The mean age of participants was 57.32 (sd. 11.55) years. As a measure of inflammation serum levels of cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) were collected from the blood of participants. Anxiety was measured by Spielberger Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). The association between anxiety and inflammation was explored by a linear regression analysis. Sociodemographic factors and also a broad range of other factors related to inflammation and anxiety were controlled in the models. In addition the possible moderating role of inner self-control was studied by a hierarchical linear regression analysis. The sub factor cognition control of the self-control scale was used as a measure of inner self-control. Results and conclusions. When inflammation was predicted only by anxiety, anxiety was a statistically significant predictor and this association remained significant after sociodemographic factors were controlled. When broad range of other controlled variables was included in the model a connection between anxiety and inflammation could not be found. It seems that the association between anxiety and inflammation is mainly due to other factors. Especially the amount of chronic conditions attenuated the association. Inner self-control did not have a statistically significant effect to the connection between anxiety and inflammation. The best predictor for inflammation in this study was body mass index and also other health behavior related factors had a significant role. In regard to the wellbeing of an individual and individual's ability to work, weight control and healthy lifestyle choices are crucial.

The Finnish National Core Curriculum 2014 sets a demand that schools should create a culture that supports student participation. This is based on, among others, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which guarantees children the right to participate in issues related to their lives. The right to participate, however, does not by itself lead children to actually participate in a meaningful way. Participation skills can and should be learned. Therefore, as these also are significant concepts in the curriculum, we would assume to find them represented in the educational material also. Teaching and learning has been driven by the educational materials such as books and teacher's materials for decades. This study focuses on examining how much and in what ways these educational materials in Finnish and literature include the students' expression of their opinion. More specifically, in this study it is analyzed what kind development of participation skills the examined material is aimed at. The data consisted of the grade 3 and 4 Finnish and literature students' books and teacher's materials for from the two biggest publishers Sanoma Pro and Otava, based on the 2014 core curriculum. The analysis followed standard procedures of qualitative content analysis and contained some quantification of data. As the analytical concepts there were used, among others, the concepts of argumentation skills and agency. The results indicate the educational material examined were very conservative in using tasks and assignments that include the students own opinions. The tasks did contain some autonomy but were most often on a close-ended scope and included trivial topics with respect to the students' lives. As the scope of the topics was controlled, these kinds of tasks were not considered to be optimal in developing skills of participation. Also, the tasks did not guide the students in constructing an argument, even though it was required in many tasks. The results of this study should encourage schools into reflecting on how choosing the right materials could support students building of expressing their opinions, and thus, developing their participation skills. The authors of the materials, as well as the publishers, should also reflect on how to incorporate more tasks designed at building participation skills in various ways, as it is truly a crucial skill in the changing world.

Prenatal conditions alter fetal development in ways that may have long-term effects on the child's later physical and psychological development and health. According to the fetal programming hypothesis, the environment of the uterus may permanently affect the structure and operation of the organs of the fetus as well as its phenotype. One explanation for the disturbance in fetal development is the glucocorticoid hypothesis, which assumes that the increased glucocorticoid content in the mother's system during pregnancy has a negative effect on fetal development. According to research, early exposure to glucocorticoids may have a lasting effect on the offspring's neural development, and these effects may manifest in various ways in the child's development. The hypothesis states that one adverse factor to fetal development is the mother's prenatal depression, as depression is associated with increased amounts of glucocorticoid. Prenatal depression is a relatively common condition, but its effects on fetal development have not been widely studied and are not very thoroughly known. Research has indicated that prenatal depression has a connection to various developmental problems in the child, such as psychological disorders and impaired cognitive development. Prenatal depression has also been found to have a connection to a more negative (e.g. more timid) temperament in the child. The goal of this thesis is to study the connections between the mother's prenatal depression and the child's temperamental traits. The research material consists of 2 445 mothers, whose symptoms were charted a total of 14 times during the entire pregnancy and afterwards. In addition, the mothers assessed their child's temperament at the age of approximately six months. Based on the results obtained, a higher incidence of symptoms of depression strongly predicts a more negative affectivity in the child. In addition, symptoms of prenatal depression predict a lower orienting/regulation and a lower surgency/extraversion. The reasons for these links have not so far been explained, but a possible explanation is the damage in the early development of the central nervous system of the fetus caused by the mother's high prenatal glucocorticoid content. Especially damage in the hippocampus and amygdala could explain the child's elevated negative affectivity and, conversely, lower surgency/extraversion.

Aim. Intercultural relations have been studied in multiple fields in different ways, but intercultural encounters are often seen as self-evident and not requiring deeper investigation. Studying intercultural encounters can, however, help us understand better the relations and equality between groups. The aim of this study is to recognize how, in the context of homework clubs, genuine encounters form between people and how these encounters create belonging. Methods. I used ethnography as my research method and collected the data in two different homework clubs organized by Finnish Red Cross in the Greater Helsinki Area. I observed the two clubs twelve times and interviewed eleven of the homework club tutors during Spring 2016. My ethnographic analysis was triangulative, and it was influenced by narrative and thematic analysis methods. Conclusion. According to my study results, a desire to see the cultural other favorably is necessary in genuine encounters where the other is recognized and acknowledged as similar to oneself despite differences. The desire to see the other favorably appears in my data as the ability to receive the differences of others in such a way that they are considered a normal part of the interaction. Receiving differences seems to be the most significant feature in genuine encounters, according to my study results. Generating belonging, on the other hand, can be seen as inclusive and considerate conversations in my data. As an indirect result, I was able to deduct that homework clubs are natural spaces for intercultural interaction, which means mutual learning can happen and thus a third culture, which is not just your or my culture but our culture, is created together.

Aims. The aim of my research was to study those teachers who have not undergone any teacher education and their thinking about teacher's work. This phenomenon was chosen as the research subject because it has been studied very little compared to the research on regular teachers in Finnish schools. My research task was to study the thoughts on and experiences of working as a teacher and formal qualifications of teachers without teacher education. Moreover, the aim was to outline the teaching career of these teachers as well as their thoughts on and experiences of teacher education and professional development. Methods. The research was conducted through literature and through the narratives of six people who either are working or have been working as teachers without any teacher education. Three of these people worked as teachers without any teacher education at the time of the research whereas the other three had applied and been accepted into teacher education after having already worked as teachers. One of the latter had also already graduated with a certificate of education. This was a qualitative study and the data was gathered by doing theme interviews and analysed by using inductive qualitative analysis. Results and conclusions. Many similarities were found in the narratives of the interviewees and a more detailed examination of the themes revealed some outliers. The ways the interviewees had ended up working as teachers were very similar but their plans for the future differed. The thoughts on and experiences of working as a teacher were quite similar whereas formal qualifications elicited contradictory thoughts among the interviewees. Teacher education also divided their opinions. The interviewees who had undergone teacher education evaluated the effectiveness of the education in a similar manner. Nearly all the interviewees also criticised teacher education widely. The interviewees felt they had progressed in different areas during their career, even though most of them had not actively sought personal or professional development. Overall, the research elucidated a phenomenon that had been studied very little beforehand. It also revealed some important themes in education policy, which merit further study.

Aim. The goal of the study is to examine how pupils perceive the progression and the material challenges of technology education invention projects. These invention projects usually refer to multidisciplinary projects where pupils produce a concrete resolution to a problem they have chosen themselves by utilizing methods related to the field of technology education. These methods include co-operation, designing and programming which are also required in the curriculum. To illustrate the progression of the invention projects, different kinds of process models have been designed. A synthesis of these process models and Barlex's design-decision pentagon are used in the study to reflect on the material challenges of the pupils' invention projects and how the pupils responded to these challenges. Methods. The study was conducted by interviewing seven pupils who formed a total of three invention project groups. These pupils were a part of a robotics club, and they were aiming to compete in a robotics tournament hosted by the Innokas Network. These interview answers were analyzed using qualitative content analysis, and the pupils' descriptions were compared to the invention project process model and the Barlex's design-decision pentagon. Results. The pupils' descriptions of the invention projects featured different phases of the process model, although the differences between the phases were sometimes hard to discern. The pupils viewed the invention project process as very linear and described the process as forward-going even when they were backtracking in the process model. The material challenges the pupils encountered were related to both the programmable technology in the invention and the materials combined with the technology, such as cardboard and paper. Traditional crafts material wood was considered by one group, but textiles were not featured in any project. The motivations for the designing process were different between the groups, where one group was motivated by the aesthetic side of the invention and others by the function of the invention.

Tiivistelmä - Referat - Abstract Objectives. The goal of this thesis was to examine, what are the prerequisites for building be-longing from the point of view of children who need significant support in early childhood education, and what concrete actions are used to build this belonging. This was clarified by interviews with early childhood education professionals. The aim of this research is to produce new information and bring out the "silent knowledge" in the field of early childhood education through the joint speech of the discussants. The frame of reference in this research, is in early childhood education and with children who need significant support, and in building their belonging. The research opens up the concept of inclusion as a central principle guiding ear-ly childhood education. The concept of inclusion is essentially related to the concept of be-longing. With the help of current legislation and studies, the research opens up how to organize the support a child needs in early childhood education. In the theoretical framework, the child's participation, the politics of belonging and the means by which belonging can be built, are discussed. Methods. This thesis was inspired by a project called VAKA-TUVET, that aimed to increase awareness of significant support in early childhood education. The research material was collected with two focus group interviews and one individual interview from nine special teachers of early childhood education. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the interview material. With the help of the analysis, the data was loosely connected to the theoretical framework. Results and conclusions. From the results, it could be concluded that formation of belonging is a changing process, that must be consciously built and constantly evaluated through joint discussions. From the point of view of children in need of significant support, the inclusive culture of the work community was seen as a key. Taking individuality into account and re-moving obstacles is seen as an everyday matter in such a community. In discussions in teams, the importance of belonging to the child must be opened up, and information about the support required must be shared. In these discussions, a plan must be made on how to build belonging in everyday situations. Belonging was seen to be built in everyday life from individual solutions where the needs of all children are taken into account, keeping in mind the overall picture in terms of belonging. The sensitive and multidimensional role of professionals as builders of belonging of the children in need of significant support, and of the entire group, was felt to be essential. In concrete everyday situations, belonging was built with material actions, the pedagogical practices of the group, and the functional actions of professionals, which guided children to connect with others. In the linguistic actions of the professionals, speech that builds community was emphasized, as well as the creation of barrier-free opportunities for communication. The results are largely consistent with previous results, the importance of sensitive professionals who build belonging was highlighted and belonging should be built consciously in everyday life. It was felt that more information is needed about significant support, this information can increase understanding. Based on the data, the joy and absorption of work emerges, which can be experienced at work among children who need significant support. This requires properly sized resources and an operating culture that builds belonging. Diversity and the individual needs of children can be a wealth for the whole group.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a novel pedagogical intervention (PedaSens) to increase adult emotional availability and to support adult–child interaction in toddler day care groups. The research questions are: 1) How did the emotional availability appear in adult-child interaction of the group? 2) How did the emotional availability of the adult-child interaction change in relation to the control group before and after the measurement? 3) What are the effects of adult educational background and children group size to the emotional availability of the adults and children? Most research on children's attachment and interactions has focused solely on dyadic parent-child contexts. However, according to interaction and neurobiology research there is accumulating evidence about the importance of sensitive interactions in multiple relationships on child's biological brain plasticity and stress response regulation. Previous research has demonstrated that a child seems to benefit from a number of day care-group relationships that are fostered in co-operation with other children and adults. Positive relationships are formed when the adults stay in interaction and respond sensitively to the needs of the child as well as to the whole group. A total of 45 kindergarten professionals and 15 public day care centers from southern Finland participated in the study. The total number of toddler groups was 17, with children 1–4 years of age. The data was collected by videotaping and observing the interaction between the adults and the children as part of the normal daily activities in the group. The first EA assessment between the intervention and control groups was conducted before the intervention and the second one six months after the beginning of the intervention. During the study period participants had five supervision sessions with the trainer. Non-parametric statistical analysis revealed a significant effect between the first and the second measurement on the adult interaction non-intrusiveness in the research group. This effect was not visible in the control group assessments which suggests that emotional availability of the intervention group seems to have increased during the EA intervention. In other ways, effects of the intervention were not significant in repeated measurements between intervention and control group (One-way ANOVA). Teacher's emotional availability in the dimension of non-hostility was significantly higher compared to other professional groups in the first measurement. These differences seemed to level off during the intervention and after the six month's study period differences between the professional groups were not significant. The study revealed the benefits of the pedagogical interventions to the development of early childhood education quality. It also enables critical conversation concerning the measurements used in pedagogical interventions.

Goals. This master's thesis research was aiming at discovering from interaction between the employee and supervisor, the kind of information that will increase the use of protective equipment (PPE) and improve safety in the construction site. The study examined the meanings that the supervisors associate with PPE, as well as situations in which a manager should point out the employee to use protective equipment. Methods. This qualitative research belongs to socio-cultural communication research tradition. This speech communication study was carried out from the perspective of ethnography of communication. The study included five semi-structured interviews, 8 video recordings from construction sites, an online discussion, observation notes from 16 different construction work situations, as well as 10 journal articles, including photographs. The method of analysis was the cultural discourse analysis (CUDA). It was used to study how managers produce meanings related to the use of protective equipment in interaction. The concept of relational work was used to study the interaction between the supervisor and the employee from the supervisor's point of view. Results and conclusions. The study showed that employee's objections to the use of protective equipment carry a strong cultural message. The study also showed two different cultural ways of speech, "getting involved" and "taking notice". The main differences were with the meanings related to the use of protective equipment and the interaction with employees. "Getting involved": managers linked the PPE with a lot of different meanings, many of which were negative. For example, PPE prevented working or the use of PPE was considered unmanly. They perceived that reminding about the use of PPE was negatively marked, impolite and inappropriate. "Taking notice" managers related the PPE with professionalism and safety. They also perceived that reminding about the use of PPE was unmarked or positively marked, polite and appropriate. The results can be utilized in helping the interaction between the manager and the employee associated with the PPE.

The meaning of this research is to describe how growth mindset and fixed mindset are connected to unemployed adult learners' agency and how these mindsets occur in their narrations. The research problem and question layout in this research are based on Carol Dwecks theory of growth and fixed mindset and on Albert Banduras theory on self-efficacy. In these theories of growth and fixed mindset seem to affect learners actions in different life sectors. Earlier research findings have shown that growth mindset affect on the state of performance and develop in turn one's fixed mindset seem to lead to fail. Aim of this research was to find how either one mindset behind the action would occur in learners' narrations. Research was carried out qualitatively. The material was gathered using individual interview and was analyzed using content analysis. Ten interviewees that studied in a Liberal education institution where participated. Age distribution of the examinees varied between 33 and 58. Findings indicated that mindsets occurred when students described their agency. The following phenomenon's were found in analysis on growth mindset: self-developing, effort adoring and self-efficacy. Instead fear of failure, lack of self-efficacy and lack of effort were significant in narrations of fixed mindset. Self-efficacy and growth mindset occurred together. Mindsets were bound by the situation in different contexts and occurrences. Self-efficacy and growth mindset appeared often together.