Browsing by department "Institutionen för beteendevetenskaper"

The purpose of this study was to research patients with Type 1 diabetes and (of) their experiences and perceptions of supportive communication, as well as (and) social support received from the diabetes doctor and the diabetes nurse. The aim was to understand supportive communication at doctor or diabetes nurse's office, (as well as) what kind of social support for Type 1 diabetes was typically received from doctor or nurse, and (as well as) what kind of support would be desired. In the field of speech communication, interest has been a particular aspect of interaction. Supportive communication is described as verbal or nonverbal communication, which aims to provide assistance or support to another person. At it(')s best, supportive communication can have positive effects on both the physical and psychological well-being of a person. In this study the subjects of the review have been instrumental in regards to emotional support for self-esteem and informational support. In this research, the data was collected interviewing nine people with Type 1 diabetes, five of whom were men and four women. Based on the results of this study, a number of Type 1 diabetes patients have experienced supportive communication and social support from their diabetes doctor and nurse. There are many factors that influence of the possibility to get support. These factors are related to sender, message, recipient or context. This study shows that doctor offers most of the instrumental and informational support. From the nurse, in some situations, it is possible to get the emotional support. Support that patients have been receiving from their doctor or nurse has help related to blood sugar values and in terms of writing a referral to another specialist. Support has also been defined as listening and comforting, or encouragement with disease-related problems. One of the major factors related to social support and supportive communication is that the doctor and the nurse has to be aware of the patient's individuality and the fact that patients want and need different types of support. When interacting with a patient, it is important for the doctor and the nurse to use person-centered messages as much as possible. When person-centered messages are used, the support seems more real and focused. Supportive communication and social support needs from doctor and nurse also vary depending on (related to that) how much support is obtained from elsewhere. Peer group support is important for many Type 1 diabetics and it has at least partly replaced the need for support from diabetes doctor and a nurse. Despite this, many still consider that help from doctor and nurse could be useful.

The aim of this master's thesis was to find out what kind of promoting and hindering supervisory experiences doctors who have graduated from Aalto University School of Engineering had during their doctoral studies and what kind of differences were found between those experiences. Based on previous research literature it can be stated that the quality of supervision of doctoral studies has an effect on the experiences of doctoral students, their well-being and their graduation. My data consists of 10 theme interviews of doctors who have graduated from Aalto University School of Engineering in 2012-2014. I used qualitative content analysis to analyse my data. Based on my research results, the promoting factors of doctoral studies include high-quality and sufficient supervisory relationships and supervision of the research process. The most significant supervisory relationship was the one with the personal supervisor. Competence, pedagogical know-how, enthusiasm, prioritizing supervising and regularity of the supervisory meetings were valued when the personal supervisor is concerned. Supervision of the research process had promoted doctoral studies if supervision and feedback were received regularly; supervision was supportive and motivating; and it was focused on the content of the doctoral thesis, usage of research methods and the study processes of the doctoral student. Poor-quality and insufficient supervisory relationships and supervision of the research process were experienced as hindering factors of doctoral studies. Personal supervisor who lacked competence, interest and time on academic supervising was a significant hindering factor in doctoral studies. Research group activities did not promote student's own research if the research agenda of the group was remarkably different from the research topic of the student. The lack of peer group activities was also experienced as a hindering factor. Supervision of the research process was experienced hindering one's doctoral studies if the student did not receive enough support on the contents of the doctoral thesis, usage of research methods, planning his or her studies and research, academic writing and publishing or applying for finances. Based on the differences of the supervisory experiences I split the interviewees into four groups: 1) satisfied with supervision, 2) those who described contradictory supervisory experiences, 3) unsatisfied with supervision and, 4) those who extended their supervisory network. Based on my results it can be stated that there were remarkable differences between supervisory experiences of the interviewees. The quantity of supervision varied from daily supervisory discussions to years of lonely work and the quality of supervision varied from productive collaboration with supervisor and other researchers to indifferent and insufficient supervision. To improve the supervisory experiences of doctoral students it is recommended in this master's thesis that supervisory teams could be used, peer group activities could be organized, supervision could be increased especially in the planning stage of studies and research, more research method courses could be organized and postgraduates could be given support in applying for finances.

Objectives. The aim of the current study was to explore whether there is an association between phonological processing and neural auditory discrimination in 5–6-years-old children. Phonological processing is defined by the ability to recognize and modulate small units of words, like phonemes. Neural auditory discrimination is defined by brain's automatic and preconscious ability to discriminate changes in auditory stimuli. Both phonological processing and neural auditory discrimination are important factors in the language development and deficits in those factors are known to be related to many language impairments. Single studies have reported an association between phonological processing and neural auditory discrimination but this theme is not well studied. In addition to group differences, we also studied differences in the ability to discriminate different sound deviants. Methods. The sample consisted of 38 children, whose mean age was 5 years and 10 months. The study was executed by dividing children into two groups by Nepsy-II phonological processing scores and comparing these two groups with the amplitudes of the brain's mismatch negativities (MMN) and late discriminative negativities (LDN). The comparison was made with repeated measures analysis of variance. Brain's event-related potentials were recorded with multifeature-paradigm in which the stimuli were modulated by vowel, consonant, duration of the vowel, intensity and frequency. Results and conclusions. The results of this current study demonstrate that differences in the phonological processing can be seen in the neural auditory discrimination. Both MMN- and LDN-potentials were stronger in those children, whose ability to process phonemes was better. In MMN-potentials the group difference was only seen in frequency, vowel and consonant deviants, whereas in LDN-potentials group differences were seen across all deviant types. In this study the phonological processing seems to be associated particularly to stronger LDN-potentials, which can provide information about the cognitive processes related to LDN-potentials. No previous studies about the association between phonological processing and LDN-potentials are known to be done.

Aphasia is often a chronic impairment. Regaining the premorbid language function is rare. Anomia is the most common residual disorder once the aphasia has stabilized. Earlier studies indicate that transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS, repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) together with intensive speech therapy improves the outcome of the language rehabilitation. The aim of the current study was to find out what kinds of quantitative and qualitative changes occur in the participants' ability to name noun and verb pictures that were shown during the rTMS/sham-rTMS protocol. All of the participants received two weeks of either rTMS or sham-rTMS treatment and after a one-week break another two weeks of either rTMS or sham- rTMS treatment together with intensive group speech therapy (ILAT, Intensive Language Action Therapy). This is a multiple case study with six participants that have chronic expressive aphasia. The first two groups of a larger study were selected into this study. Group 1 (n=3) received 1Hz- rTMS therapy and group 2 (n=3) received sham-rTMS. rTMS was given to the right hemisphere on the pars triangularis area. Every participant named the same amount of action and object pictures during the rTMS/sham-rTMS treatment. Namings were analysed with a rating system derived for the current study. Each participant received intensive group speech therapy in the latter two-week part of the intervention. Language testing was conducted before, during and three months after the intervention. The naming abilities in all participants seemed to improve in both noun and verb series during the rTMS/sham-rTMS treatment and language tests. Results of the follow-up testing suggest that the positive results are long lasting. The results of this study are promising, even though the amount of participants is too small to draw further conclusions. This study brings positive evidence and reason for further research on the effectiveness of aphasia therapy.

Goals: This Master's thesis described emotion and mood regulation during university studies. It used models both from emotion regulation and learning related emotions literature. It is established in literature that different study goals are connected to different emotions. However, this theme has not been linked with questions of emotion regulation strategies: How the choice between them affects experienced learning related emotions, and how strategies and goals of emotion regulation are linked to study goals. This thesis addressed those questions. Research questions were: Which affects and strategies of affect regulation did Finnish university students from Faculty of Arts describe when talking about their university studies? Were there differing affect regulation profiles? Which affect regulation strategies were preferred in different profiles? What were affect regulation goals of different profiles? How did preferred regulation strategies and regulation goals interact with study goals? Methods: These questions were addressed by a qualitative inductive content analysis. The data consisted of eight semi-structured individual interview texts in which students of Faculty of Arts told about their paths as university students. These interviews were selected from a bigger interview database, using the results of a questionnaire on learning related emotions. Results and conclusions: The main results were the affect regulation profiles that were extracted from the data. Students of each profile had similar affect regulation goals and preferences and similar study goals. Following earlier studies, cognitive change was adaptive emotion regulation strategy and rumination was maladaptive emotion regulation strategy. However, many other emotion regulation strategies were used both in adaptive and maladaptive ways. The students whose affect regulation strategies did combine both a goal to feel good and a study goal of acquiring needed knowledge and skills, were the ones who experienced studying to be more pleasant and recovered more quickly from adverse events. When affect regulation goals and study goals are aligned, affects get regulated well and the studies proceed even in the face of adversities. When a student's affect regulation goals and study goals are incompatible, affect regulation is more difficult and the studies might not progress as smoothly. Therefore, affect regulation goals might be more important than regulation strategies in making regulation adaptive.

Goals. The purpose of this study is to look at the association between binge eating disorder and functional impairment. Binge eating disorder is the most prevalent eating disorder and a new addition to the DSM 5. Functional impairment is an important factor in determining the damage caused by mental health disorders. Is there functional impairment in binge eating disorder and how much was examined in this study. The effect of sociodemographic factors (age, sex, work status and marital status) on the risk of binge eating disorder and the effect of sociodemographic factors and age of onset on the functional impairment caused by binge eating disorder were subsequently examined. Methods. The data was derived from the Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Surveys, which is freely available and includes the prevalences and correlates of mental health disorders. The diagnosis of binge eating disorder was defined by the DSM-IV criteria based CIDI-interview. Functional impairment was measured by modified WHODAS-II-questionnaire and SDS-questionnaire meant specifically for the measurement of eating disorders. The association of sociodemographic factors and binge eating disorder was examined using the logistic regression. The association of sociodemographic factors and age of onset and the functional impairment caused by binge eating disorder was examined using the ordinal regression. Results and conclusions. There was functional impairment in binge eating disorder compared to general population but this functional impairment was mild. The disorder was more common in women, it affected people in every age category but not the older age cohorts and it was not linked to marital status. However it was associated to unemployment. The functional impairment caused by binge eating disorder was only explained by unemployment in the area of work and education. Otherwise, age, sex, age of onset and marital status was not associated to the functional impairment caused by binge eating disorder. The functional impairment present in binge eating disorder seems to be caused by other factors than sociodemographic factors or age of onset. The potential candidates might be other coexisting psychopathology.

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.

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.