Bradford Scholars
Bradford Scholars is the University of Bradford online research archive. Access is free to anyone interested in research being conducted at Bradford. In the repository you will find a range of materials from journal articles and conference papers to research reports and theses.
Contact the repository team via openaccess@bradford.ac.uk with any queries about Open Access or how to deposit your research papers.
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Publication Sociagogy. Uniting the social, spatial and learning experiences of university studentsHigher Education is focused on how students learn individually and the development of campus spaces to support teaching and learning, which has directed the attention of prior research. However, there are knowledge gaps which result in a partial understanding of how students learn at university: lack of connection between social groups and learning, emphasis on studying, single space research, snapshot studies, absence of student voice and lack of integrated findings on learning, campus, and student experience. The aim of this thesis is to build a student-centred understanding of social learning and use of campus over time. It reports on a student-centred, qualitative and longitudinal place-based study, that captured the COVID-19 era. New method protocols combined walking interviews, participant photography and researcher mapping with synchronic and diachronic analysis. This innovative approach resulted in new insights on how students use campus, why they prefer specific spaces and how the institution itself affects usage of space, student networks and the wider university experience. Novel findings on changes over time within social groups and students’ routines are also discussed. This thesis challenges staff assumptions and provides a unique student-centred perspective of university. This work concludes with presentation of sociagogy. This is the student-centred understanding that reveals the central role of campus and the importance of the social experience, as students do not learn in isolation from socialising.Publication Understanding The Lived Experiences of Being a Woman Leader in a Technology Organization(2020)Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of female senior managers in technology organizations and understand how they feel about themselves, their roles and their technology organizations. The study highlights the issues faced by women working in a gendered role, a masculine industry and a non-western, strong patriarchal society. Methodology/Design: A qualitative research methodology was adopted for this study. Eleven semi-structured interviews were used to collect empirical data from women senior managers in Nigerian technology organizations, which was thematically analyzed. Findings: The findings from this study indicate that women in technology are no longer reluctant to progress in this gendered career. Women technology leaders are ambitious and driven to scale the semantic barriers to top management roles. They experience workplace discrimination, insecurities and work-family conflicts, but do not punish themselves for sometimes dropping the ball. Rather, they show up to take on daunting assignments that prove their competence and choose to lead assertively in order to align their core values with the expectations of their role. Research Implications: This thesis makes a contribution to the wider literature on women leaders in technology by providing new insights on the role of patriarchal institutions in technology leadership, from a developing country in Africa. Practical Implications: Practical contributions are to support aspiring women in technology to fine-tune their leadership strategies in order to succeed in this gendered career and become beneficiaries of the vast opportunities in this dynamic industry. For technology organizations, to understand the issues faced by women leaders so that they can support women’s career aspirations by implementing and managing policies that support skilled and high-potential women employees to fulfill their career aspirations, and become change agents at the top management level. These efforts will disrupt stereotypes, change the narrative of inequalities in this industry and improve firm performance. Originality: This study is the first of its kind to focus on the role of patriarchal structures on women leaders’ careers in the technology industry within the context of an African society, which is rare in the literature on women leaders in technology.Publication A critical inquiry into the nature and promise of peace education in Cambodia. Using transpection to examine the theory and praxis, context, transformative potential, and possible model of peace education in Cambodia(2017)This thesis is a comparative case study which investigates both formal and nonformal peace education initiatives and situates them within the socio-political, cultural, and economic landscape of Cambodia. The research employs a participatory methodology with reflection and learning as key process components. Cambodian youth [ages 11 to 15] are the primary research subjects, and Cambodian youth [ages 18-25] are the co-researchers in this inquiry. Joint cooperation with local non-governmental organisations as the key stakeholders in this research ensure that the outcomes and findings are useful for praxis as well. Based in the ontology and epistemology of critical realism, the research investigates the practice of peace education in Cambodia. It posits the need for transpection as an analytical framework and a pedagogy which comprises retrospection [looking into the past], introspection [looking inward], extrospection [looking outward] and prospection [looking to the future]. The research describes the contextual factors that (dis)enable the practice of peace education and analyses the ways in which peace education contributes to conflict transformation at the personal, relational, structural, and cultural levels. The thesis argues that peace education in Cambodia makes a deeper impression on personal and relational conflict, but that via transformative agency and through the lens of both feminist discourse, can also make a contribution to cultural and structural conflict transformation as well. Peace education is effective insofar as it operates within an enabling environment where contexts align with mechanisms to catalyse positive change. The thesis proposes that critical peace education in Cambodia should be given greater attention and enfolded symbiotically into ongoing peacebuilding initiatives. Lastly, the model of peace education for Cambodia should be locally owned, focussed on modelling, hybrid (i.e. formal and non-formal), and transpective. That is, peace education should include study of the past, deep self-understanding, critical awareness and perspective taking, and futures thinking.Publication The feasibility of psychometric measures for body image and lymphedema for routine practice(Wiley, 2020)Research Question: To assess the feasibility of the MGSIS-5and G3L-20 in a community sample of cisgender men aged 40 years and older Research problem: Psychometric measures can aid urologic practice by prompting patients to talk about aspects of their body that are either too sensitive or a natural part of aging. Importantly, reliable and valid measures can also contribute to a an evidenced-based-practice-based-evidence cycle where they can establish the impact of changes recommended by research while using the results in turn to inform research. In this study, we examine two psychometric measures on the opposite ends of a psychological-physical continuum; the Male Genital Self-Image Scale (MGSIS-5) and the Groin and Lower Limb Lymphedema questionnaire (G3L-20) Methodology: Non-experimental psychometric design administering the questionnaires online to a community sample of cisgender men aged 40 years old and above. Validity and reliability analyses were conducted. Results: 30 men completed the study; 14 aged 40-49, 14 aged 50-59 and 2 aged 60-69. The MGSIS-5 and G3L-20 show acceptable reliability and validity with one- and three-component structures respectively. Conclusions: The MGSIS-5 and G3L-20 show sufficient feasibility to justify the resources for studies with larger community samples and for pilot studies with clinical populations.Publication Development of a Dignity Experience Scale in Mental Healthcare. Co-creating Empirical Measures with Service Users and Healthcare ProfessionalsDignity is enshrined in statute, healthcare professional (HCP) ethics and policy, yet worldwide, mental healthcare violates service user dignity. Dignity lacks empirical definition as an operational concept. The aim of this study is to operationalize dignity in mental healthcare service user experience, to inform service design and delivery. This thesis addresses concepts of dignity within a theoretical framework of service experience and proposes a new paradigm for understanding dignity which emphasizes the dynamic co-production of dignity experiences. It proposes a consensus model for the mechanisms of dignity co-production and the first Dignity Experience Scale found in mental healthcare, co-created with service users (SUs) and HCPs. The study uses a sequential mixed methods approach to knowledge co-creation which privileges SU perspectives, comprising: 1. a literature meta-synthesis to specify an initial scale; 2. 17 experiential narratives to develop the scale and a Delphi panel of 11 HCPs to refine it; 3. quantitative research with 160 SUs and HCPs to test the scale; 4. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) to identify latent factors. Study findings show the importance of dignity co-production in rights-based, person-centred, recovery-oriented mental healthcare across 3 domains: Relationships, Environment and Confidentiality. EFA proposes an internally consistent 25-item, 5-factor scale. The primary factor, Empowering Empathy, emphasizes collaborative therapeutic relationships in which SUs are met with understanding and empowered with information and choice for recovery beyond symptom reduction. Other factors emphasize Respect for Equal Humanity, No Informal Coercion and creating Safe Space for Difference within relationships; and developing Comfortable, Confidential Environments.