Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Social learning support networks'
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Lippold, Tessa. "The significance of social support and close relationships for people with learning disabilities." Thesis, n.p, 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/.
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Harris, Lisa, and Lisa Harris@rmit edu au. "Electronic Classroom, Electronic Community: Virtual Social Networks and Student Learning." RMIT University. Global Studies, Social Science and Planning, 2008. http://adt.lib.rmit.edu.au/adt/public/adt-VIT20080717.144715.
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The capacity for online learning environments to provide quality learning experiences for students has been the focus of much speculation and debate in the higher education sector from the late 1990s to the present day. In this area, 'quality' has become synonymous with engaging students in a learning community. This study reports on a qualitative research project designed to explore the significance of community for students when they study in online learning environments. This project used three case studies to explore tertiary students' thoughts and expectations about community in the online environment. The research was constructed iteratively. Data from the initial case suggested the need to explore the relationship between the constructed online learning environment and the development of learning communities or what I have termed Social Learning Support Networks (SLSN). To explore this issue further, the project was expanded and subsequent cases were chosen that included fundamentally different types of online learning environments. The project had two significant results. Firstly, students not only confirmed popular educational theories on the value of learning communities, but also described how this form of social connection might practically benefit their learning. Secondly, the project found that certain forms of synchronous online environments provided enhanced opportunities for students to form social connections that supported their learning. This project provides new evidence of the benefit of community for students studying online and argues that future online learning environments should be shaped by five key principles designed to foster a sense of social connection between students.
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Wilkie, Tara V. "A qualitative investigation into adolescents with learning disabilities : their perceptions and uses of social support." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1999. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape8/PQDD_0021/NQ55392.pdf.
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Khan, Pour Hamed. "Computational Approaches for Analyzing Social Support in Online Health Communities." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2018. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1157594/.
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Online health communities (OHCs) have become a medium for patients to share their personal experiences and interact with peers on topics related to a disease, medication, side effects, and therapeutic processes. Many studies show that using OHCs regularly decreases mortality and improves patients mental health. As a result of their benefits, OHCs are a popular place for patients to refer to, especially patients with a severe disease, and to receive emotional and informational support. The main reasons for developing OHCs are to present valid and high-quality information and to understand the mechanism of social support in changing patients' mental health. Given the purpose of OHC moderators for developing OHCs applications and the purpose of patients for using OHCs, there is no facility, feature, or sub-application in OHCs to satisfy patient and moderator goals. OHCs are only equipped with a primary search engine that is a keyword-based search tool. In other words, if a patient wants to obtain information about a side-effect, he/she needs to browse many threads in the hope that he/she can find several related comments. In the same way, OHC moderators cannot browse all information which is exchanged among patients to validate their accuracy. Thus, it is critical for OHCs to be equipped with computational tools which are supported by several sophisticated computational models that provide moderators and patients with the collection of messages that they need for making decisions or predictions. We present multiple computational models to alleviate the problem of OHCs in providing specific types of messages in response to the specific moderator and patient needs. Specifically, we focused on proposing computational models for the following tasks: identifying emotional support, which presents OHCs moderators, psychologists, and sociologists with insightful views on the emotional states of individuals and groups, and identifying informational support, which provides patients with an efficient and effective tool for accessing the best-fit messages from a huge amount of patient posts to satisfy their information needs, as well as provides OHC moderators, health-practitioners, nurses, and doctors with an insightful view about the current discussion under the topics of side-effects and therapeutic processes, giving them an opportunity to monitor and validate the exchange of information in OHCs. We proposed hybrid models that combine high-level, abstract features extracted from convolutional neural networks with lexicon-based features and features extracted from long short-term memory networks to capture the semantics of the data. We show that our models, with and without lexicon-based features, outperform strong baselines.
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Perkins, Marianne. "Refugee Resettlement in Germany: An Analysis of Policy Learning and Support Networks." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2021. https://dc.etsu.edu/honors/617.
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The resettlement of refugees and asylum seekers in Germany since reunification in 1990 has been challenged by two peaks in asylum seeker applications in 1992 and again in 2016. From the 1992 peak, which was fueled by asylum seekers fleeing the former Yugoslavia, extensive research has already been conducted over the past thirty years. These studies have demonstrated the actual outcomes of these primarily Yugoslavian asylum seekers and refugees with these findings indicating legal and economic uncertainty having a detrimental effect even years after resettlement. Using Germany as a case study, this analysis aims to survey the available information in the more recent example of asylum seekers arriving in Germany from 2014 onwards primarily from the Syrian Arab Republic, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Ultimately, successful resettlement equates to successful integration measures. The issues of policy legacy and learning as well as elements of the available support network for asylum seekers in housing, Integrationskurse (integration courses), and advice centers are examined to understand how each relates to successful integration and security for asylum seekers. The findings indicate that Germany has achieved successful resettlement and integration of asylum seekers through policy learning from the early 1990s onwards and a strong support network available for those seeking asylum, yet the exclusion of certain groups from integration measures unfairly leaves some behind. A continuous evaluation of these integration measures is necessary to ensure the successful resettlement of refugees and asylum seekers in Germany in anticipated future peaks in asylum seeker applications.
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Moss, Victoria. "Staff as friends? : an exploration of relationships between adults with a learning disability and the staff who support them in the community." Thesis, University of East Anglia, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.300065.
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Bahceci, Oktay, and Oscar Alsing. "Stock Market Prediction using Social Media Analysis." Thesis, KTH, Skolan för datavetenskap och kommunikation (CSC), 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-166448.
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Stock Forecasting is commonly used in different forms everyday in order to predict stock prices. Sentiment Analysis (SA), Machine Learning (ML) and Data Mining (DM) are techniques that have recently become popular in analyzing public emotion in order to predict future stock prices. The algorithms need data in big sets to detect patterns, and the data has been collected through a live stream for the tweet data, together with web scraping for the stock data. This study examined how three organization's stocks correlate with the public opinion of them on the social networking platform, Twitter. Implementing various machine learning and classification models such as the Artificial Neural Network we successfully implemented a company-specific model capable of predicting stock price movement with 80% accuracy.
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Setari, Ryan R. "SUPPORT NETWORKS OF “EDUCATIONAL PIONEERS”: A METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH FOR EXAMINING THE IMPACT OF A RESIDENTIAL LEARNING COMMUNITY ON FIRST-GENERATION STUDENTS." UKnowledge, 2017. http://uknowledge.uky.edu/epe_etds/49.
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The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the use of social network analysis to examine the peer involvement and supportive relationships of students living within an exclusively first-generation RLC. Using network surveys targeted toward a first-generation population, the networks of first-year residents were visualized and measured. The supportive peer relationships that provided students with encouragement, validation, and academic assistance were identified, as well as the networks for friendship and study partnership. The networks identified for this study were examined to find if change occurred between the start and the end of the semester. Multiple regression QAPs were performed to explore if the RLC’s social programming displayed an association with the network ties students formed at the end of their first semester. The results of these analyses are presented, in addition to recommendations for future research studies and evaluations. This study indicates that first-generation RLCs can gain a great deal of information about their students’ social involvement using social network analysis techniques, as well as investigate if students are acquiring support from peers as intended.
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Bennett, Jeffrey V. "Community-based learning and social support in the Midwestern District high school internship program relative influences on seniors' occupational and citizenship engagement orientations /." Columbus, Ohio : Ohio State University, 2006. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=osu1164659045.
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Chetty, Preven. "Engaging within zones of proximal development on Facebook : the case of using Facebook to support learning and mentoring on a NQF Level 5 environmental education, training and development practices learnership." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017335.
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This study focuses on two roll-outs of a, year-long National Qualification Framework (NQF) level 5, environmental education learnership in South Africa and attempts at enhancing collaborative learning at workplaces using a familiar social networking site called Facebook. This study uses the Facebook group sites created for the workplace course component of the course as one of the means of data collection. Additional interviews and focus groups with learners and administrators on both Environmental Education Training and Development Practices (EETDP) courses also informed the study. The study is located within the context of the rise of the information age, its effects on socio-ecological landscape at large and ways of using social networking sites in order to facilitate scaffolding and meaning making within zones of proximal development for environmental education learnerships. It also looks at the model of apprenticeship and workplace based learning as it is broadly located at the nexus of the SAQA-led academic inquiry into workplace based learning and professional development. It was found that the use of Facebook on the EETDP learnership allowed for collaborative learning to take place between peer to peer interactions as well as between tutors and learners. It was also noted that scaffolding processes requires both technical assistance and strong instructional input from course tutors. One of the most important findings in terms of collaborative learning and engaging within the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) was that learners were able to communicate more effectively and freely with both fellow learners and tutors on course after participating on the Facebook group sites. The study offers recommendations on how a social networking platform like Facebook can be utilised effectively for environmental education. The study recommends that scaffolding of workplace based tasks and concepts needs to be better integrated with the course and in both online and offline interactions between learners. It also illustrates how social networking sites can become powerful tools for creating meaning making when combined with course work.
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Kothawade, Rohan Dilip. "Wine quality prediction model using machine learning techniques." Thesis, Högskolan i Skövde, Institutionen för informationsteknologi, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:his:diva-20009.
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The quality of a wine is important for the consumers as well as the wine industry. The traditional (expert) way of measuring wine quality is time-consuming. Nowadays, machine learning models are important tools to replace human tasks. In this case, there are several features to predict the wine quality but the entire features will not be relevant for better prediction. So, our thesis work is focusing on what wine features are important to get the promising result. For the purposeof classification model and evaluation of the relevant features, we used three algorithms namely support vector machine (SVM), naïve Bayes (NB), and artificial neural network (ANN). In this study, we used two wine quality datasets red wine and white wine. To evaluate the feature importance we used the Pearson coefficient correlation and performance measurement matrices such as accuracy, recall, precision, and f1 score for comparison of the machine learning algorithm. A grid search algorithm was applied to improve the model accuracy. Finally, we achieved the artificial neural network (ANN) algorithm has better prediction results than the Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithm and the Naïve Bayes (NB) algorithm for both red wine and white wine datasets.
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Sastry, Nishanth Ramakrishna. "Social network support for data delivery infrastructures." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2011. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/240631.
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Network infrastructures often need to stage content so that it is accessible to consumers. The standard solution, deploying the content on a centralised server, can be inadequate in several situations. Our thesis is that information encoded in social networks can be used to tailor content staging decisions to the user base and thereby build better data delivery infrastructures. This claim is supported by two case studies, which apply social information in challenging situations where traditional content staging is infeasible. Our approach works by examining empirical traces to identify relevant social properties, and then exploits them. The first study looks at cost-effectively serving the ``Long Tail'' of rich-media user-generated content, which need to be staged close to viewers to control latency and jitter. Our traces show that a preference for the unpopular tail items often spreads virally and is localised to some part of the social network. Exploiting this, we propose Buzztraq, which decreases replication costs by selectively copying items to locations favoured by viral spread. We also design SpinThrift, which separates popular and unpopular content based on the relative proportion of viral accesses, and opportunistically spins down disks containing unpopular content, thereby saving energy. The second study examines whether human face-to-face contacts can efficiently create paths over time between arbitrary users. Here, content is staged by spreading it through intermediate users until the destination is reached. Flooding every node minimises delivery times but is not scalable. We show that the human contact network is resilient to individual path failures, and for unicast paths, can efficiently approximate flooding in delivery time distribution simply by randomly sampling a handful of paths found by it. Multicast by contained flooding within a community is also efficient. However, connectivity relies on rare contacts and frequent contacts are often not useful for data delivery. Also, periods of similar duration could achieve different levels of connectivity; we devise a test to identify good periods. We finish by discussing how these properties influence routing algorithms.
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Allison, Colin. "Systems support for distributed learning environments." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/14519.
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This thesis contends that the growing phenomena of multi-user networked "learning environments" should be treated as distributed interactive systems and that their developers should be aware of the systems and networks issues involved in their construction and maintenance. Such environments are henceforth referred to as distributed learning environments, or DLEs. Three major themes are identified as part of systems support: i) shared resource coherence in DLEs; ii) Quality of Service for the end- users of DLEs; and iii) the need for an integrating framework to develop, deploy and manage DLEs. The thesis reports on several distinct implementations and investigations that are each linked by one or more of those themes. Initially, responsiveness and coherence emerged as potentially conflicting requirements, and although a system was built that successfully resolved this conflict it proved difficult to move from the "clean room" conditions of a research project into a real world learning context. Accordingly, subsequent systems adopted a web-based approach to aid deployment in realistic settings. Indeed, production versions of these systems have been used extensively in credit-bearing modules in several Scottish Universities. Interactive responsiveness then emerged as a major Quality of Service issue in its own right, and motivated a series of investigations into the sources of delay, as experienced by end users of web-oriented distributed learning environments. Investigations into this issue provided insight into the nature of web-oriented interactive distributed learning and highlighted the need to be QoS-aware. As the volume and the range of usage of distributed learning applications increased the need for an integrating framework emerged. This required identifying and supporting a wide variety of educational resource types and also the key roles occupied by users of the system, such as tutors, students, supervisors, service providers, administrators, examiners. The thesis reports on the approaches taken and lessons learned from researching, designing and implementing systems which support distributed learning. As such, it constitutes a documented body of work that can inform the future design and deployment of distributed learning environments.
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Chen, Bai-Yin. "Social support in Taiwanese college students." Virtual Press, 2004. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/1285084.
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阮曾緩琪 and Woon-ki Angelina Yuen-Tsang. "Towards a Chinese conception of social support: a study on the social support networks of Chinese workingmothers in Beijing." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1995. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31234550.
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Yuen-Tsang, Woon-ki Angelina. "Towards a Chinese conception of social support : a study on the social support networks of Chinese working mothers in Beijing /." [Hong Kong] : University of Hong Kong, 1995. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B14764052.
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Bordianu, Gheorghita. "Learning influence probabilities in social networks." Thesis, McGill University, 2013. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=114597.
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Social network analysis is an important cross-disciplinary area of research, with applications in fields such as biology, epidemiology, marketing and even politics. Influence maximization is the problem of finding the set of seed nodes in an information diffusion process that guarantees maximum spread of influence in a social network, given its structure. Most approaches to this problem make two assumptions. First, the global structure of the network is known. Second, influence probabilities between any two nodes are known beforehand, which is rarely the case in practical settings. In this thesis we propose a different approach to the problem of learning those influence probabilities from past data, using only the local structure of the social network. The method is grounded in unsupervised machine learning techniques and is based on a form of hierarchical clustering, allowing us to distinguish between influential and the influenceable nodes. Finally, we provide empirical results using real data extracted from Facebook.L'analyse des réseaux sociaux est un domaine d'études interdisciplinaires qui comprend des applications en biologie, épidémiologie, marketing et même politique. La maximisation de l'influence représente un problème où l'on doit trouver l'ensemble des noeuds de semence dans un processus de diffusion de l'information qui en même temps garantit le maximum de propagation de son influence dans un réseau social avec une structure connue. La plupart des approches à ce genre de problème font appel à deux hypothèses. Premièrement, la structure générale du réseau social est connue. Deuxièmement, les probabilités des influences entre deux noeuds sont connues à l'avance, fait qui n'est d'ailleurs pas valide dans des circonstances pratiques. Dans cette thèse, on propose un procédé différent visant la problème de l'apprentissage de ces probabilités d'influence à partir des données passées, en utilisant seulement la structure locale du réseau social. Le procédé se base sur l'apprentissage automatique sans surveillance et il est relié à une forme de regroupement hiérarchique, ce qui nous permet de faire la distinction entre les noeuds influenceurs et les noeuds influencés. Finalement, on fournit des résultats empiriques en utilisant des données réelles extraites du réseau social Facebook.
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Rogers, Brian W. Palfrey Thomas R. "Learning and status in social networks /." Diss., Pasadena, Calif. : Caltech, 2006. http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechETD:etd-05262006-004112.
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Sharad, Kumar. "Learning to de-anonymize social networks." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2016. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/262750.
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Releasing anonymized social network data for analysis has been a popular idea among data providers. Despite evidence to the contrary the belief that anonymization will solve the privacy problem in practice refuses to die. This dissertation contributes to the field of social graph de-anonymization by demonstrating that even automated models can be quite successful in breaching the privacy of such datasets. We propose novel machine-learning based techniques to learn the identities of nodes in social graphs, thereby automating manual, heuristic-based attacks. Our work extends the vast literature of social graph de-anonymization attacks by systematizing them. We present a random-forests based classifier which uses structural node features based on neighborhood degree distribution to predict their similarity. Using these simple and efficient features we design versatile and expressive learning models which can learn the de-anonymization task just from a few examples. Our evaluation establishes their efficacy in transforming de-anonymization to a learning problem. The learning is transferable in that the model can be trained to attack one graph when trained on another. Moving on, we demonstrate the versatility and greater applicability of the proposed model by using it to solve the long-standing problem of benchmarking social graph anonymization schemes. Our framework bridges a fundamental research gap by making cheap, quick and automated analysis of anonymization schemes possible, without even requiring their full description. The benchmark is based on comparison of structural information leakage vs. utility preservation. We study the trade-off of anonymity vs. utility for six popular anonymization schemes including those promising k-anonymity. Our analysis shows that none of the schemes are fit for the purpose. Finally, we present an end-to-end social graph de-anonymization attack which uses the proposed machine learning techniques to recover node mappings across intersecting graphs. Our attack enhances the state of art in graph de-anonymization by demonstrating better performance than all the other attacks including those that use seed knowledge. The attack is seedless and heuristic free, which demonstrates the superiority of machine learning techniques as compared to hand-selected parametric attacks.
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Chan, Man-pui Sally, and 陳文佩. "Toward a relativistic approach to social support." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10722/198817.
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People depend heavily on various forms of assistance, guidance, and care for survival, which leads many to view social support as definitively beneficial. However, recent studies have provided the counterargument that social support is not necessarily a panacea for coping with stress. A considerable number of studies have been conducted on social support, yet the majority of the theoretical models developed to understand its influence have focused on its benefits, with few exploring the negative support effects from the relational aspect. No studies have attempted to explain support effects from the perspective of individual differences. More importantly, the underlying social support mechanism and the roles played by the different modes of social support remain unknown. Building on the available theoretical insights, a relativistic approach is adopted here to study social support.
A hybrid self-focus model of social support is proposed to understand the relationships between personality resources (specifically self-esteem) and levels of affect (positive and negative), the underlying mechanism of self-focus processes (public self-consciousness and social comparison), and the moderating role of the mode of social support (offline and online). The two studies incorporated correlational and quasi-experimental methodologies conducted to examine the proposed model among participants from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.
Study 1 was correlational and applied a naturalistic categorization method to the mode of social support. This study showed that the focus of social comparison varied based on the levels of self-esteem and engagement in the offline and mixed modes of social support, but the findings were inconclusive regarding social comparison as the underlying mechanism. In addition, the analyses of public self-consciousness revealed puzzling results. Hence, the findings only provided partial support for the hybrid self-focus model of social support.
To clarify the counterintuitive findings revealed in Study 1, Study 2 adopted a quasi-experimental design to examine the mediating effects of self-focus processes on the relationship between self-esteem and levels of affect in two distinct modes of social support. One hundred and seventy-seven participants were included in the moderated mediation analyses, and the findings were largely consistent with the proposed model of public self-consciousness as the facilitating mechanism. People’s awareness of the self-referent aspects that were matters for public display explained the positive link between self-esteem and distress. Such a positive indirect effect of self-esteem mediated through public self-consciousness was particularly strong in offline social support.
In summary, the present project demonstrates that support effects are influenced by self-esteem, public self-consciousness, and the mode of social support. These findings provide unique insights that have not been examined by previous studies on social support. This project is the first attempt to address knowledge gaps by adopting a relativistic approach to social support. The subsequent discussion, implications, and future directions focus on a relativistic approach and the hybrid self-focus model of social support.published_or_final_version
Psychology
Doctoral
Doctor of Philosophy
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Goans, Christian R. R. "Racial/Ethnic Differences in Social Support." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2015. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799548/.
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Despite a substantially greater risk factor profile, Hispanics in the United States (US) consistently demonstrate better health outcomes compared to their non-Hispanic White counterparts, an epidemiologic phenomenon termed the Hispanic Mortality Paradox. Emerging hypotheses suggest cultural values regarding relational interconnectedness and social support may help to explain these surprising health outcomes. The present study sought to inform these hypotheses via two aims: the first was to examine racial/ethnic differences in perceived social support, and the second was to examine the relationship between acculturation and perceived social support among Hispanic college students. Non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, and Hispanic college students (N = 330) completed an online survey for course credit. Contrary to expectations, no racial/ethnic differences in perceived social support were observed, nor was an association between acculturation and perceived social support evident among the sampled Hispanic students. The limited sample size, homogeneity in social support levels across groups, and the restricted range of age and acculturation may have obscured relationships that may exist outside the college environment. Future work should consider a more heterogeneous sampling strategy to better assess these associations.
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Mak, Pui-ling Mariann, and 麥佩玲. "Social support networks and life satisfaction of the elderly." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1988. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31248202.
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Nel, Annele. "The social support networks of single mothers in Guguletu." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/50189.
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Thesis (M Social Work)--Stellenbosch University, 2004.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research investigates the social support networks of single mothers. The basic premise underlying this research is the importance of social workers' understanding of the social support networks of single mothers. It is necessary for social workers to identify the social support systems that exist in a social support network, and to select those systems which would be relevant to the needs of the single mother. The aim of this study is to present guidelines for social workers to empower single mothers to utilise social support networks to fulfil their roles as parents. The research report includes identifying personal information, issues faced by singleparent families, the nature of single-parenthood, emotional and functional changes experienced since becoming a single mother and the social support networks of single mothers. Knowledge of these indicators will increase the awareness of social workers of the needs of single mothers. The research report includes identifying personal information, issues faced by singleparent families, the nature of single-parenthood, emotional and functional changes experienced since becoming a single mother and the social support networks of single mothers. Knowledge of these indicators will increase the awareness of social workers of the needs of single mothers.The research report includes identifying personal information, issues faced by singleparent families, the nature of single-parenthood, emotional and functional changes experienced since becoming a single mother and the social support networks of single mothers. Knowledge of these indicators will increase the awareness of social workers of the needs of single mothers. The research report includes identifying personal information, issues faced by singleparent families, the nature of single-parenthood, emotional and functional changes experienced since becoming a single mother and the social support networks of single mothers. Knowledge of these indicators will increase the awareness of social workers of the needs of single mothers. The empirical research involved the use of both qualitative and quantitative methods in order to explore the theoretical part of the research. This section was divided into two phases. The first phase was devoted to acquiring a sufficient understanding of the nature of what single-parenthood with an emphasis on single mothers, and also to get a better understanding of the single mothers' existing social support network. The second phase included conducting interviews with the single mothers (N=10) with the help of a questionnaire. The findings and responses of the respondents were analyzed and compared with the findings from previous studies undertaken by various authors. The findings of this research can be used as guidelines for social workers who need to assist a single mother with a need or problem, and more specifically can help the single mother to utilize her social support network.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie navorsing ondersoek die maatskaplike ondersteuningsnetwerke van enkel moeders. Die uitgangspunt van die navorsing is dat dit belangrik is dat maatskaplike werkers begrip sal hê vir die maatskaplike ondersteuningsnetwerke van enkelmoeders. Dis belangrik dat maatskaplike werkers die maatskaplike ondersteunings sisteme wat in die maatskaplike ondersteuningsnetwerk bestaan sal identifiseer, en om dan die sisteme wat relevant is tot die behoeftes van die enkelmoeder te selekteer. Die doel van die studie is om riglyne daar te stel vir maatskaplike werkers om enkelmoeders te bemagtig om maatskaplike ondersteuningsnetwerke te gebruik om hul rol as ouers te vervul. Die navorsings verslag sluit die volgende in: identifiserende persoonlike inligting, probleme wat enkelouer gesinne kan ondervind, die aard van enkelmoederskap, emosionele en funsionele veranderinge ondervind sedert enkelmoederskap en die maatskaplike ondersteuningsnetwerke van enkelmoeders in, Kennis van hierdie indikatore sal maatskaplike werkers se bewustheid van die behoeftes van enkel moeders verhoog. Vir die empiriese navorsing is kwalitatiewe en kwantitatiewe metodes gebruik om die teoretiese aspekte van die navorsing te ondersoek. Hierdie afdeling is in twee fases verdeel. Die eerste fase is uitgevoer om genoegsame begrip te verkry van die aard van enkelouerskap met die klem op enkelmoeders, asook om 'n beter begrip te kry van die enkelmoeder se bestaande maatskaplike ondersteuningsnetwerk. Die tweede fase behels die voer van onderhoude met enkelmoeders (N=10) met behulp van 'n vraelys, in Guguletu. Resultate en respondense is ontleed en vergelyk met die bevindinge van vorige studies wat deur verskillende navorsers onderneem is. Die bevindinge van die navorsing kan deur maatskaplike werkers gebruik word as riglyne om enkelmoeders wat behoeftes of probleme ondervind by te staan, en die enkel moeder meer spesifiek kan help om haar maatskaplike ondersteuningsnetwerk te gebruik.
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Dolan, P. M. "Adolescents in adversity and their networks of social support." Thesis, Queen's University Belfast, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.403270.
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Cramer, Lori A. "Contact, Support, and Friction: Gender Differences in Social Networks." DigitalCommons@USU, 1988. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/6164.
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This paper examines the extent to which personal social network ties serve as support or conflict systems, or both. It investigates the differences in perception of the extent of supportive/antagonistic ties by size of community of residence and by gender of network ties cited. It was found that both support and conflict networks were more extensive for the smallest and largest communities than for a second small community which recently experienced very rapid growth. This suggests that growth patterns may be more significant in understanding network relations than community size. The findings also indicate that range of contacts reported does not differ by gender but female support and conflict networks are somewhat larger than those of males. overall, males were identified more often as a tie in emotional support contexts and females in instrumental support contexts. Females were more likely to be identified as requesting support from both genders. Women reported more duplication of support and conflict ties than men. Both males and females are far more likely to designate same-gender individuals as contact, support or antagonistic ties. The study clearly supports the notion that networks include both supportive and nonsupportive ties.
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Milán, Pau. "The Social economics of networks and learning." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/393733.
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This thesis explores various economic environments where the structure of social interactions across individuals determines outcomes. In the first chapter, I study mutual insurance arrangements restricted on a social network. I test the network-based sharing rules on data from Bolivian communities, and I argue that this framework provides a reinterpretation of the standard risk sharing results, predicting household heterogeneity in response to income shocks. In the second paper, I study individual and collective behavior in coordination games where information is dispersed through a network. I show how changes in the distribution of connectivities in the population affect the types of coordination in equilibrium as well as the probability of success. In the third chapter, I explore a framework of learning and turnover in the labor market. I show that positive assortative matching (PAM) extends beyond the stable environment of Eeckhout & Weng (2010) to a situation of residual uncertainty that exhibits periods of unlearning. I also extend this setting to allow for career concerns and I show that PAM can only be sustained under strong assumptions.Esta tesis explora diversos entornos económicos en los que la estructura de las interacciones sociales entre los individuos determina los distintos resultados. En el primer capítulo, se estudia acuerdos de seguro mutuo restringidos en una red social. Utilizo datos de comunidades bolivianas para medir las predicciones teóricas y encuentro que los intercambios observados entre los hogares coinciden con la regla de reparto basada en la red obtenida por la teoría. Sostengo que este marco ofrece una reinterpretación de los resultados estándar de distribución de riesgos, prediciendo heterogeneidad entre los hogares en respuesta a los shocks de ingresos. En el segundo artículo, estudio el comportamiento individual y colectivo en juegos de coordinación, donde la información se dispersa a través de una red. Demuestro cómo los cambios en la distribución de las conectividades de la población afectan a los tipos de coordinación en equilibrio, así como la probabilidad de éxito. En el tercer capítulo, analizo un marco de aprendizaje y cambio de personal en el mercado de trabajo. Muestro que emparejamiento selectivo positivo (PAM) se extiende más allá del entorno estable de Eeckhout y Weng (2010) a una situación de incertidumbre residual que exhibe períodos de des-aprendizaje. También extiendo esta configuración para permitir elementos de career concerns y muestro que el equilibrio de PAM sólo puede sostenerse bajo fuertes supuestos.
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Lobel, Ilan. "Social networks : rational learning and information aggregation." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/54232.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Operations Research Center, 2009.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 137-140).
This thesis studies the learning problem of a set of agents connected via a general social network. We address the question of how dispersed information spreads in social networks and whether the information is efficiently aggregated in large societies. The models developed in this thesis allow us to study the learning behavior of rational agents embedded in complex networks. We analyze the perfect Bayesian equilibrium of a dynamic game where each agent sequentially receives a signal about an underlying state of the world, observes the past actions of a stochastically-generated neighborhood of individuals, and chooses one of two possible actions. The stochastic process generating the neighborhoods defines the network topology (social network). We characterize equilibria for arbitrary stochastic and deterministic social networks and characterize the conditions under which there will be asymptotic learning -- that is, the conditions under which, as the social network becomes large, the decisions of the individuals converge (in probability) to the right action. We show that when private beliefs are unbounded (meaning that the implied likelihood ratios are unbounded), there will be asymptotic learning as long as there is some minimal amount of expansion in observations. This result therefore establishes that, with unbounded private beliefs, there will be asymptotic learning in almost all reasonable social networks. Furthermore, we provide bounds on the speed of learning for some common network topologies. We also analyze when learning occurs when the private beliefs are bounded.
(cont.) We show that asymptotic learning does not occur in many classes of network topologies, but, surprisingly, it happens in a family of stochastic networks that has infinitely many agents observing the actions of neighbors that are not sufficiently persuasive. Finally, we characterize equilibria in a generalized environment with heterogeneity of preferences and show that, contrary to a nave intuition, greater diversity (heterogeneity) 3 facilitates asymptotic learning when agents observe the full history of past actions. In contrast, we show that heterogeneity of preferences hinders information aggregation when each agent observes only the action of a single neighbor.
by Ilan Lobel.
Ph.D.
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Silverman, Rachael Ann. "Satisfaction with Social Support Among Recent Widows." PDXScholar, 1993. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/4672.
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One of the important issues in research on social support has been the relationship between received support and perceptions of support. While most research has been unable to discover a strong link between these two constructs, three theories have emerged in the literature to explain how such a link might be discovered. One theory states that it is important to study support in the context of a stressful life event. Another suggests that when studying social support it is important to make distinctions between positive and negative interactions. A third approach focuses on specificity issues, predicting that it is important to specify the source, type and timing of support. This study is concerned with widowhood and satisfaction with support. It addresses the questions present in the social support literature by focusing on five hypotheses. The first hypothesis predicts that while there will be more reported support than problems, the effects of the problems will be greater than the effects of the support. The second hypothesis anticipates a stronger link between received and perceived support than other studies have indicated. This is because this study is focusing on a widowhood as a stressful life event and is also differentiating between positive and negative interactions. The third, fourth and fifth hypotheses focus on issues of specificity. The third hypothesis predicts that there will be a difference in satisfaction with family and non-family support. The fourth hypothesis looks at types of support and suggests that different forms of support and problems will affect satisfaction with family differently than satisfaction with non-family. The fifth hypothesis adds the temporal component, anticipating that satisfaction with different types of support and problems from family and non-family will vary over time. Data for this study comes from the first year of a three year longitudinal research project conducted by the Institute on Aging at Portland State University. The sample consists of widows who live in the metropolitan area of Portland, Oregon. Potential respondents were contacted if their names appeared as the surviving spouse on a sample of death certificates. Widows were first contacted by mail, and if they indicated interest they were contacted later by phone. Women who were interested and eligible to participate were divided into three groups depending on length of time widowed. All the data used in this study is the result of one and a half hour long face-to-face interviews with each of the respondents. Received support was measured by asking respondents detailed questions about the kinds of help and problems they received from different network members. Perceived support was measured on a seven point scale which rated how satisfied widows were with their family and their non-family networks. Other important variables have to do with length of time widowed, size of networks, and frequency of contact with family and non-family network members. Despite the overall prediction, that the amounts of support received will affect a person's satisfaction with support, the data only partially supported the five hypotheses. All the links between support, problems and satisfaction were in the non-family network. The only time that received support seemed to be significant was when examining non-family instrumental support among the most recent widows. Problematic interactions had increasingly stronger effects on satisfaction as the amount of time widowed increased.
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Huff, Ryan Francis. "Friendship Networks, Perceived Reciprocity of Support, and Depression." Scholar Commons, 2011. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/3160.
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Using social network analysis as a theoretical framework, the current study examined the associations between self-reported egocentric network characteristics and depression among a sample of United States college students. It is important to understand factors related to depression among this population due to the severity of its potential outcomes (e.g., suicide and interpersonal problems at school). Drawing inspiration from a recent study conducted by Christina Falci and Clea McNeely (2009), the current investigation used OLS regression to test for both linear and curvilinear relationships between egocentric network size and depression. Potential interactions between network size, density, and gender were also explored. As an additional line of inquiry, this project examined whether or not (and to what extent) perceptions of reciprocity mediate the relationships between network characteristics and depression. Data were collected using an online survey, which was proctored to students enrolled in three large undergraduate sociology courses during the fall 2010 semester. In contrast to findings reported by Falci and McNeely (2009), no significant relationships were observed between network characteristics and mental health. However, support reciprocity was found to be a significant predictor of depression at the multivariate level. Additional research will be necessary in order to confirm (or refute) the results of Falci and McNeely (2009) and to further assess the mediating effects of perceived equity.
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Minton, Brandon. "Examining Social Support Seeking Online." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/103264.
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Research across healthcare and organizational settings demonstrates the importance of social support to increase physical and mental well-being. However, the process of seeking social support is less well-understood than its outcomes. Specifically, research examining how people seek social support in natural settings is scarce. One natural setting increasingly used by people to seek support is the internet. In this online setting, people seek and provide social support verbally via social media platforms and messages. The present project seeks to further examine the nature of social support seeking in these online contexts by examining people’s language. This analysis includes discovering the common language features of social support seeking. By applying a data-driven content analysis approach, this research can examine the underlying themes present when seeking social support and build upon that insight to classify new instances of support seeking. These results would have important practical implications for occupational health. By identifying individuals who are seeking social support, future interventions will be able to take a more targeted approach in lending additional support to those individuals who have the greatest need. Subsequently, this application potentially provides the mental and physical health benefits of social support. Therefore, this research extends our knowledge of both the nature of support seeking and how to develop effective interventions.M.S.
Research suggests that social support has important effects on our mental and physical health. To this point, though, the process of seeking social support has largely been neglected in research. Specifically, there hasn’t been much research on how social support is sought online. We know that people seek social support online by posting and messaging on social media. The present study seeks to examine the language of online support seeking—this way, we can understand what people tend to say when seeking support. The present study is concerned with the content of support seeking posts; by analyzing this content, we can understand themes that are prevalent in online support seeking. This allows us to better understand support seeking and, hopefully, better identify people in need of support. By identifying those people in need of support, we can ensure that their support needs are met and that they don’t suffer the health consequences related to a lack of social support. Therefore, this research extends our knowledge of social support seeking, both theoretically and practically.
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Bastani, Susan. "Middle class community in Tehran, social networks, social support and marital relationships." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2001. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp05/NQ63788.pdf.
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Gabhainn, Saoirse Nic. "The relationship between social networks, social support and membership of Alcoholics Anonymous." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.299553.
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Tse, Shiu-po. "Informal social support network among Chinese families in Shenzhen." Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 1995. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B19470721.
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Heinrichs, Ashley Ann. "Investigating the relationship between teen pregnancy and social support networks." Honors in the Major Thesis, University of Central Florida, 2007. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETH/id/1031.
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This item is only available in print in the UCF Libraries. If this is your Honors Thesis, you can help us make it available online for use by researchers around the world by following the instructions on the distribution consent form at http://library.ucf.edu/Systems/DigitalInitiatives/DigitalCollections/InternetDistributionConsentAgreementForm.pdf You may also contact the project coordinator, Kerri Bottorff, at kerri.bottorff@ucf.edu for more information.Bachelors
Sciences
Psychology
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Magee, Cynthia A. "Age and gender-related differences among children's social support networks." Scholarly Commons, 1996. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/2787.
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Research with adult populations suggests that individual differences in social support may begin in childhood. It has been suggested that the makeup of people in a child's social support network could be indicative of the child's social development. Until recently there was not a measure available that could be used to report social support across the life span, therefore the ability to compare childhood social support networks to adult social support networks has been limited. The present research used a measure that has historically been used with adults and recently used with children as young as age 7, and used it with younger children (age 4). The measure used is a hierarchical mapping technique in which the children were asked to place the members of their social support network into three concentric circles. Four, 7, and 10 year olds (N = 286) participated in individual 20 min interviews. The social development of the child from age 4 to age 10 can clearly be seen in this research. For example, the older children have relationships of varying closeness and can made distinctions on the basis of closeness. In contrast, the younger child places most network members in the inner circle, possibly because the child is unable to make finer distinctions in relationships or possibly because the child actually has mostly relationships that would be described by placing them in the inner circle. Other findings include that as the child gets older, the social support network grows larger and includes more family members in the inner circles and more friends in the outer circles. The research also indicates that the reports of 4 year olds were just as reliable as those of 7 and 10 year olds.
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Weill, Joanna M. "Incarceration and social networks| Understanding the relationships that support reentry." Thesis, University of California, Santa Cruz, 2017. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10244913.
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Previous research demonstrates that social support is essential for successful reentry into the community after incarceration. However, little research examines how incarceration itself impacts social support and how individuals with different incarceration histories have different experiences of social support. This dissertation examined how individuals’ social networks, social support, and wellbeing are predicted by incarceration history. Formerly incarcerated men returning from jail and prison (N = 68) were interviewed in a procedure designed to collect information about their criminal justice histories, to map their social networks, to provide open-ended feedback about their reentry experience, and to collect a variety of other relevant demographic and scale measures. Analyses of the resulting data provided little evidence that an individual’s most recent incarceration impacts their social network, social support, or wellbeing. However, conditions of individuals’ previous and lifetime incarcerations did have significant predictive power. Individuals who were incarcerated for longer in prison in the past, incarcerated in any setting for longer in the past, incarcerated in any setting for longer throughout their lifetime, and/or incarcerated further from home throughout their lifetime were found to have less support available to them. Conditions of previous and lifetime incarceration also predicted alter closeness, the incarceration history of alters, and participant wellbeing. The relationships between previous and lifetime incarceration and these outcomes were not mediated by participants’ prisonization or by their identification with people inside or people outside of prison and jail. Qualitative analyses provided additional information about support during reentry, including highlighting the physical and emotional distance created by incarceration, the important role that technology and social media plays in support after reentry, and the complicated nature of relationships with other individuals who have been incarcerated. These findings can be used by correctional facilities, probation and parole officers, and non-profit and government service providers to help determine which reentering individuals are least likely to have support and close network members, and which individuals are most likely to have a greater prevalence of formerly incarcerated network members and poor wellbeing. Providing these individuals with additional reentry services has the potential to reduce recidivism and increase public safety.
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Yngve, Adam. "Resilience against social anxiety : The role of social networks in social anxiety disorder." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för beteendevetenskap och lärande, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-131140.
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Resilience refers to the capacity to quickly return to normal levels of functioning in the face of adversity. This capacity has previously been linked to social support. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of social networks in the association between resilience and social anxiety in a clinical group with social anxiety disorder (n = 41) and a control group of university students (n = 40). The results showed that controls were significantly more resilient than the clinical group. Controls had significantly larger, more diverse and active social networks than the clinical group. Resilience was negatively associated with social anxiety in both groups. In the clinical group, there was a significant partial mediation effect of resilience on social anxiety through the size of the social network, a x b = –0.33, 95% CI [–0.718, –0.111]. Potential clinical applications of these results were discussed.
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Hopper, Mark A. "A study of the social support construct with a group of cancer patients." Virtual Press, 2003. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/1266039.
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Since the mid-1970s, there have been an increasingly diverse range of research methods, instruments, and processes of studying social support (Cohen, Underwood, & Gottlieb, 2000) and many definitions of the construct (Hupcey, 1998). Along with the increased interest in the social factors that influence psychological and physical health (Cohen & Syme, 1985), the diverse ways of examining social support have lead to a large literature base ranging from work in the medical and epidemiological fields (Cohen & Syme, 1985; Hupcey, 1998) to social, clinical, and personality psychology (Cohen, Underwood, & Gottlieb, 2000).While there appears to be a great deal of interest in social support, some have argued that there is a basic problem with its definition (Cohen, Underwood, & Gottlieb, 2000; Hupcey, 1998; Shumaker & Brownell, 1984). In the present study, Laireiter and Baumann's (1992) taxonomy of social support was used to review 22 definitions. This taxonomy includes: a) social integration, b) social network, c) supportive climate, d) received support, and e) perceived support. Although most reviewed definitions lack an empirical basis, social support appears to be a valuable concept that deserves further attention (Hupcey, 1998; Laireiter & Baumann, 1992; Vaux, 1988).The present study uses data from a previous study of cancer patients' social support, personality characteristics, and adjustment to their illnesses (Barton, 2001). The five social support measures used in Barton, 2001 were: the Social Network Index, the Family Relationship Index, the Modes of Social Support scale, the Negative Interactions scale, and the Satisfaction with and Received Support scales, appeared to address each of the components of the Laireiter and Baumann's (1992) taxonomy.Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services
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de, Albuquerque Melo Cassio. "Scaffolding of self-regulated learning in social networks." Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, 2010. https://repositorio.ufpe.br/handle/123456789/2223.
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Previous issue date: 2010Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
Scaffoldings são apoios a aprendizes novatos através de uma simplificação do contexto de aprendizagem. Estes apoios são gradualmente removidos à medida que os alunos desenvolvem estratégias autônomas de aprendizagem (processo conhecido como fading ). Em ambientes de aprendizagem online, os scaffoldings podem ser implementados através de um conjunto de funcionalidades que promovam o planejamento de objetivos, auto-monitoramento, auto-avaliação, estratégias de aprendizado, procura de ajuda, e planejamento e gerenciamento do tempo. Enquanto scaffoldings do Aprendizado Auto- Regulado (AAR) têm sido discutidos em ambientes tradicionais de aprendizagem, as redes sociais online têm pouca ou nenhuma atenção neste domínio. O presente estudo é focado em scaffoldings do AAR em redes sociais, pois acreditamos que as redes sociais têm estilos de interação que influenciam mais notadamente as habilidades individuais e coletivas do AAR. Nós coletamos itens do AAR no estado-da-arte sobre metacognição e aprendizagem, definimos suas metas e sugerimos scaffoldings para o AAR em redes sociais. Cada item foi extraído a partir de vários estudos na literatura sobre Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) e o AAR; dados quantitativos e qualitativos a partir de relatórios; estudos de caso; questionários AAR e outros recursos mencionados ao longo deste trabalho. Nós implementamos os mecanismos de scaffoldings na rede social Rede Social Educacional (Redu). Redu oferece um espaço de trabalho compartilhado, onde os alunos são incentivados a publicar os seus documentos e notas de aula, enquanto o professor fornece documentos e faz comentários para a classe. Os mecanismos de scaffoldings sugeridos incluem: 1) Blogs, comentários e fórum; 2) Instruções sobre tarefas, 3) Ajuda contextual e políticas de uso; 4) Perguntas para reflexão; 5) Fluxo de atividades; 6) Criação e compartilhamento de recursos; 7) Perfil de aprendizagem, 8) Notas de aula; 9) Discussões e assitência par-a-par; 10) Exames formativos; 11) Feedback de desempenho e orientação; 12) Mecanismos de recompensa e; 13) Visualização de informação. Em resumo, este trabalho sugere que uma rede social de aprendizagem pode ser concebida para melhorar o aprendizado auto-regulado através de mecanismos de scaffoldings apropriados
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Keyes, Sarah E. "Mutual support : an exploration of peer support for people with learning difficulties." Thesis, Northumbria University, 2010. http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/3747/.
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Mutual Support is an in depth exploration of the role and impact of peer support by people with learning difficulties. Built on one of the seven aims of Centres for Independent Living, the project has constructed a model of peer support based on accounts of direct experiences from people with learning difficulties. The overall aim of the research was to construct and critique the Mutual Support model of peer support and people with learning difficulties. This thesis reflects the process of that construction. The overall aim was met through a research situation in which knowledge was constructed in the interaction between the researcher and participants. This provided an opportunity for people with learning difficulties to reflect upon their relationships with one another, and the emancipatory potential of that support. The focus of the research was two pre-existing settings involving people with learning difficulties supporting one another: a Theatre Company using Forum Drama to facilitate changes in attitudes and policy, and a course facilitated by people with learning difficulties who mentored small groups. Methods used within the research were based on an Inclusive Research process which prioritises meaningful research interaction that is accessible and guided by participants. The research process intertwined meetings with advisory groups, and contact with other local groups of people with learning difficulties, with formal data collection within the two main settings. One to one experienced-based narrative interviews with people from the two main settings provided multiple opportunities for participants to speak about their experiences of peer support. These interviews formed the data used in formal analysis, which was a continual process, with subsequent interviews being based on views previously expressed. A further comprehensive descriptive content analysis of data, using the tools of Nvivo8 and mind-mapping, took place prior to the outputs of the whole project being evaluated during group sessions with those who had taken part. The emerging model is one of collective support which challenges assumptions about the role and impact of people with learning difficulties supporting one another and their capacity to engage in insightful interpersonal interaction. Mutual Support has the potential to break down barriers to inclusion. Mutual Support also demonstrates the value that people with learning difficulties place on giving and receiving support from one another. The outputs of Mutual Support include contribution to current debate in the areas of service user involvement, inclusive research, and the academic field of Disability Studies.
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Santini, Ziggi Ivan. "The impact of social networks and social support on mental disorders and mortality." Doctoral thesis, Universitat de Barcelona, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/396669.
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INTRODUCTION: There is conflicting evidence regarding the role of social support networks in health and wellbeing and more research is needed to address the lack of information. The objective of this project is to categorize key indicators of social support and social networks, and further to determine the impact of such indicators on mental disorder and mortality.
METHODS: This project will include three research articles: paper I is a review of the literature which involves an investigation into the evidence on associations between social support networks and depression in the general population (systematic literature review). Paper II is an original research paper that involves an examination of how social network integration predicts all-cause mortality among older adults in six Latin-American countries, India, and China (prospective analysis). Finally, paper III is an original research paper involving an investigation into relationship quality (positive and negative aspects of social support) and social networks with depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation in a nationally representative sample of older Irish adults in intimate relationships (cross-sectional analysis).
RESULTS: I) A number of key indicators of social support and social networks were identified to be associated with depression. Generally, studies have found protective effects of perceived social support and large, diverse social networks against depression in the general population. II) For older adults in developing countries, survival time is significantly reduced in individuals embedded in restricted social networks. III) For older Irish adults in intimate relationships, we found that worse relationship quality with the spouse is positively associated with depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation, and that restricted social network integration is positively associated with depression.
CONCLUSION: A number of recommendations have been made for future research in order to make a more comprehensive assessment of the role of social support networks in relation to mental health outcomes. Further, being embedded in good social support networks is negatively associated with mortality and also a number of outcomes on mental disorder among older adults in the general population. Social care and public mental health interventions may be enhanced by tailoring interventions to improve the quantity and quality of social support networks in order to promote population mental health and health status. Implications for health research, policy and future directionsINTRODUCCIÓN: Hay pruebas contradictorias sobre el rol de las relaciones sociales en la salud y el bienestar y es necesaria más investigación para hacer frente a la falta de información. El objetivo de este proyecto es categorizar los indicadores clave identificados en relación con la salud y el bienestar, y determinar el impacto de este tipo de indicadores en la salud mental y mortalidad. MÉTODOS: Este proyecto incluirá tres artículos de investigación: El artículo I es una revisión de la literatura que investiga la evidencia sobre asociaciones entre las relaciones sociales y la depresión en la población general. El artículo II es un trabajo de investigación original con el objetivo de examinar cómo el tipo de red social identificada al inicio del estudio predice la mortalidad entre los adultos mayores en los países en desarrollo. El artículo III es un trabajo de investigación original que consiste en la investigación de las asociaciones de las interacciones sociales positivas y negativas y las redes sociales con la depresión, la ansiedad y la ideación suicida entre los adultos mayores irlandeses con una relación sentimental. RESULTADOS: I) Se identificaron asociaciones entre la depresión y un número de indicadores claves de apoyo social y redes sociales. En general, los estudios encontraron que el apoyo social percibido y tener redes sociales grandes y diversas tenían efectos protectores sobre la depresión en la población general. II) Para adultos mayores procedentes de países en vías desarrollo, el tiempo de supervivencia se reduce significativamente en individuos con redes sociales limitadas. III) En una muestra irlandesa de adultos mayores con una relación sentimental, encontramos que una peor calidad de la relación con la pareja se relacionaba positivamente con depresión, ansiedad e ideación suicida, y que redes sociales limitadas se asociaban positivamente con depresión. CONCLUSIÓN: Se hacen una serie de recomendaciones para hacer una evaluación más completa sobre el papel de las redes sociales de apoyo en relación con la salud mental en el futuro. Además, estar incluido en relaciones sociales de apoyo de calidad se asocia negativamente con mortalidad y con trastornos mentales entre los adultos mayores en la población general. La asistencia social y las intervenciones de salud mental pública podrían ser mejoradas mediante la adaptación de las intervenciones para aumentar la cantidad y calidad de las redes de apoyo social con el fin de promover la salud mental y el estado de salud general de la población. Se discuten las implicaciones para la investigación en salud, las políticas sanitarias y sociales, y direcciones futuras.
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Goodspeed, Robert (Robert Charles). "Planning support systems for spatial planning through social learning." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/81739.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2013.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 240-271).
This dissertation examines new professional practices in urban planning that utilize new types of spatial planning support systems (PSS) based on geographic information systems (GIS) software. Through a mixed-methods research design, the dissertation investigates the role of these new technologies in planning workshops, processes, and as metropolitan infrastructures. In particular, PSS are viewed as supporting social learning in spatial planning processes. The study includes cases in Boston, Kansas City, and Austin. The findings indicate high levels of social learning, broadly confirming the collaborative planning theory literature. Participants at planning workshops that incorporated embodied computing interaction designs reported higher levels of two forms of learning drawn from Argyris and Schöns' theory of organizational learning: single and double loop learning. Single loop learning is measured as reported learning. Double loop learning, characterized by deliberation about goals and values, is measured with a novel summative scale. These workshops utilized PSS to contribute indicators to the discussion through the use of paper maps for input and human operators for output. A regression analysis reveals that the PSS contributed to learning by encouraging imagination, engagement, and alignment. Participantsʼ perceived identities as planners, personality characteristics, and frequency of meeting attendance were also related to the learning outcomes. However, less learning was observed at workshops with many detailed maps and limited time for discussion, and exercises lacking PSS feedback. The development of PSS infrastructure is investigated by conducting a qualitative analysis of focus groups of professional planners, and a case where a PSS was planned but not implemented. The dissertation draws on the research literatures on learning, PSS and urban computer models, and planning theory. The research design is influenced by a sociotechnical perspective and design research paradigms from several fields. The dissertation argues social learning is required to achieve many normative goals in planning, such as institutional change and urban sustainability. The relationship between planning processes and outcomes, and implications of information technology trends for PSS and spatial planning are discussed.
by Robert Goodspeed.
Ph.D.
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Pehrson, Jakob, and Sara Lindstrand. "Support Unit Classification through Supervised Machine Learning." Thesis, KTH, Skolan för elektroteknik och datavetenskap (EECS), 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-281537.
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The purpose of this article is to evaluate the impact a supervised machine learning classification model can have on the process of internal customer support within a large digitized company. Chatbots are becoming a frequently used utility among digital services, though the true general impact is not always clear. The research is separated into the following two questions: (1) Which supervised machine learning algorithm of naïve Bayes, logistic regression, and neural networks can best predict the correct support a user needs and with what accuracy? And (2) What is the effect on the productivity and customer satisfaction of using machine learning to sort customer needs? The data was collected from the internal server database of a large digital company and was then trained on and tested with the three classification algorithms. Furthermore, a survey was collected with questions focused on understanding how the current system affects the involved employees. A first finding indicates that neural networks is the best suited model for the classification task. Though, when the scope and complexity was limited, naïve Bayes and logistic regression performed sufficiently. A second finding of the study is that the classification model potentially improves productivity given that the baseline is met. However, a difficulty exists in drawing conclusions on the exact effects on customer satisfaction since there are many aspects to take into account. Nevertheless, there is a good potential to achieve a positive net effect.Syftet med artikeln är att utvärdera den påverkan som en klassificeringsmodell kan ha på den interna processen av kundtjänst inom ett stort digitaliserat företag. Chatbotar används allt mer frekvent bland digitala tjänster, även om den generella effekten inte alltid är tydlig. Studien är uppdelad i följande två frågeställningar: (1) Vilken klassificeringsalgoritm bland naive Bayes, logistisk regression, och neurala nätverk kan bäst förutspå den korrekta hjälpen en användare är i behov av och med vilken noggrannhet? Och (2) Vad är effekten på produktivitet och kundnöjdhet för användandet av maskininlärning för sortering av kundbehov? Data samlades från ett stort, digitalt företags interna databas och används sedan i träning och testning med de tre klassificeringsalgoritmerna. Vidare, en enkät skickades ut med fokus på att förstå hur det nuvarande systemet påverkar de berörda arbetarna. Ett första fynd indikerar att neurala nätverk är den mest lämpade modellen för klassificeringen. Däremot, när omfånget och komplexiteten var begränsat presenterade även naive Bayes och logistisk regression tillräckligt. Ett andra fynd av studien är att klassificeringen potentiellt förbättrar produktiviteten givet att baslinjen är mött. Däremot existerar en svårighet i att dra slutsatser om den exakta effekten på kundnöjdhet eftersom det finns många olika aspekter att ta hänsyn till. Likväl finns en god potential i att uppnå en positiv nettoeffekt.
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Stitson, Mark Oliver. "Design, implementation and applications of the Support Vector method and learning algorithm." Thesis, Royal Holloway, University of London, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.325368.
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Tamkin, Penny. "The impact of whole-person development programmes on managerial learning." Thesis, University of Brighton, 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.311440.
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This thesis explores the impact of whole-person development programmes on the development of managers. The research on which this thesis is based is in two stages. The initial stage compared the ways in which personal development plans were created in 14 organisations and identified that the means by which the plans were created had a significant effect on the enthusiasm and commitment of the learners. This led to a review of management development programmes to try and identify in more detail the factors that influence impact and outcomes. Interviews were conducted with 55 individual learners, 11 subordinates and 21 line managers and explored how these managers learnt, what they learnt and what impact this learning had on them and their organisations. These participants came from five case study organisations who provided a range of management development opportunities. The learning that seemed to have had most significant impact centred around 'soft skills'. This is particularly interesting because it is these soft skills that have proved to be difficult to develop and assess. There emerged some key themes that help explain these changes. The first step in this journey of development is that managers should know themselves. Much management development focuses on the external world and the development of knowledge and skills that are 'out there' - understanding budgets, where business strategy comes from, what a good appraisal looks like and so on. The really effective managementdevelopment programmes placed considerable emphasis on the internal world. This development of the internal world focuses on both knowledge and skills - what are my strengths and weaknesses, how do I normally react when put under pressure, what techniques can I use to overcome my reluctance to deal with conflict? Two processes appear to be essential if individuals are to develop greater internal skills and self-knowledge: feedback opportunities and support mechanisms. Those that have received structured feedback within a supportive and trusting environment have used this to change themselves for the better, becoming more proactive, more self-confident and more empathic in their dealings with others. Feedback can play a positive role in enhancing self-esteem through increasing selfknowledge. However feedback is not always welcomed. In an unsupported environment, feedback can be perceived as threatening when it tells the individual something that they did not know about themselves and are not ready to integrate into their selfknowledge. In these circumstances a vicious circle is set up. Support from those that the learner has come to trust appears to be crucial if feedback is to be warmly received. Once an individual has integrated such feedback into their selfknowledge and accepted it, there would appear to be an increase in the value attached to feedback and the desire to seek it out
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Sham, Suk-ying Tammy, and 岑淑英. "Social support for the diabetic patients." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1998. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31978654.
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Casas, Irene. "Towards a learning atis : intelligence-assisted travel decision support system using neural networks /." The Ohio State University, 2002. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1486402288260508.
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Sheveland, Susan L. S. "A descriptive study on adolescent stress levels and social support networks." Online version, 2003. http://www.uwstout.edu/lib/thesis/2003/2003schuelershevelands.pdf.
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Barrett, Donna Marie. "Exploring Social Support Networks of African American Emancipated Foster Care Women." ScholarWorks, 2017. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/3428.
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Many youth exit the United States foster care system each year and face challenges related to housing, employment, health care, and education. After emancipation, foster youth can experience family instability, educational disruption, incarceration, unemployment, unstable housing, and emotional problems at a much higher rate than youth in the general population. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the experiences of African American foster women and the social support they received in finding housing upon exiting foster care system. Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory provided a conceptual framework of social interrelation for the study. Data were collected from a purposeful sample of 4 African American former foster care women, a foster parent, a social worker, and a director of a support service's programs through face-to-face interviews. Data were analyzed using a 5-step approach for coding and analysis. Key findings were that the mobilization of collaborative social network support from foster parents, social workers, and government officials before foster youth enters their transitional phase were keys to successful outcomes. According to the foster care women and supporting adults' reports, more collaboration among agencies may assist youth with transitioning to independent living. Additionally, one-on-one mentorship program could address housing, education, employment, and health plans prior to emancipation. This study contributes to social change by providing information to those who provide services to foster care youth and may lead to enhanced programs and services encouraging youth to pursue their goals, and promote economic self-sufficiency.
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Cowan, Jenna. "Self-efficacy and social support of academy cricketers." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1556.
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Self-efficacy is considered to be a significant variable for enhancing all aspects of human performance (Druckman, 2004). Social support may influence self-efficacy through each of the four channels of self-efficacy information which consist of performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion and physiological responses (Bandura, 1997). The primary aim of this study was to explore and describe the nature of change that occurred in selfefficacy and received social support of university-age academy cricketers over the duration of an academy programme. The secondary aim was to explore and describe the relationship between the two constructs, self-efficacy and social support. Sixty-five male, university-age (18-25 years) provincial academy cricketers completed a social support measure and a self-efficacy measure specifically designed for the purposes of this study. These measures were based on Rees and Freeman’s (2007) items and Cox, Martens and Russell’s (2003) revised Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2 - Martens, Burton, Vealey, Bump & Smith, 1990) respectively. The perceived pre- and post-academy personal ratings of self-efficacy and social support, obtained prior to the start of the South African Interprovincial Academy Cricket week, referred to participants’ perceptions before and after attending their respective provincial academies. An inferential pre-experimental post-pretest design was used. The results included significant changes found in self-efficacy, esteem social support, informational social support and tangible social support over the academy season. There were no differences attributed to the length of time a cricketer had spent at the academy or to the cricketer’s highest level of achievement in cricket. The only significant correlation that existed between self-efficacy and social support was the correlation between self-efficacy and x informational social support. This study provided an initial insight into the role of self-efficacy and social support in talented cricketers, especially in a South African context.